Hello again!

This is the next section of the new chapter.

For those wondering, this whole section has been designated, by the author's 
whim:
Chapter Ten, part two. There were ten chapters before I went away for a while.

For those reading for the first time, earlier chapters can still be found at:
http://members.tripod.com/DNyx/NETTG.html

Any and all comments, criticism, or methods to improve what has been written
here are greatly appreciated. I am under no illusion that this will be the 
final form
of the chapter.

Special thanks to:

Jason Hanks, who has stayed with me the whole time on this.
Jussi Nikander, who has rejoined the crew!
And many thanks to those who commented on the last section released.

And everyone else for keeping the vision alive.

So, all in all, here we go again.

<Continued from NETTG!! Ch10 P2 (1/??)

^_-

    "Whoah, that's harsh," Urd said, reading the formally-written
statement on how one of the many bugs afflicting Yggdrassil could
be corrected.

    "Turning him into a real goddess?" Belldandy asked, looking
somewhat worried. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

    "Look," Skuld began, "I went through some code, and it looks
like we can fix it if we just go in and," she struggled for a few
descriptive terms, "manually overwrite a few settings. He should be
really weak against any kind of magic right now, so if we go in, cast
some spells, turn him into some sort of weakish class four thing, we
can pick him up and drag him around until we can get him transferred
over to Stovo'Kor or something."

    "So you're trying to take the bug and sweep it under the rug
with all the Static Klingons?" Belldandy used a metaphor.

    Skuld nodded. "It's the best idea I've heard so far."

    "Great idea!" Urd agreed.

    "Wait a second," Belldandy picked up a printout. "I've heard of
him. He used to fight for the ancient Moon and Earth Kingdoms. A
great warrior. Are you sure taking him off Earth wouldn't cause
problems in the future? The Ultimate Force just might not allow it."

    Skuld shook her head. "I already checked. He's not _that_
important. Plus, he's boring, obsessed, and's on the Grim Reaper's
blacklist. I mean, he's scheduled to get killed off in a couple
months, so it's not a problem at all."

    "Actually," Urd smiled, "it sounds like we'd be doing him a
favor. Y'know, saving his life and sending 'em to Valhalla."

    "Wow," Belldandy beamed, "then let's get started!"

---

    "Uh oh, someone used a meta'phor!"

    AND?

    "This is a no meta'phor zone!"

    LET THEM HANDLE IT. YOU'RE DEAD AT THE MOMENT.

    "Spoilsport."

    WE'RE ALMOST THERE.

    "Can't this 'orse go any fasta'?"

    NO.

---

    "The stars know everything," Nephrite breathed, a line of
sweat moving down his forehead. "The stars know everything, and
I must be prepared for what the stars tell me."

    He stood from his seated position in the middle of his large
astronomical cathedral. The stars had told him that the world would
end because of the power he called down. Although the primary source
had been obliterated, there had to remain a highly dangerous residue
to deal with. The general had spent hours preparing the magic that
would be required to defend against such force.

    If his calculations were right, the moment he exited the
cathedral, he would be confronted by destructions, devastations, and
doomsday demons at every turn. He had to be ready for it, and to be
on-guard for opportunities to gather energy to aid his defense until
he could make it back to the Dark Kingdom.

    This building offered protection, but it could only last for
so long. Sooner or later, he would have to face the consequences of
his actions.

    Nephrite headed toward the exit, his hands raised to do
whatever necessary. He threw open the door and leapt outside. "Hah! I
am ready for you, you-" he trailed off.

    The sky was blue, the forest green, cuddly squirrels were
frolicking in the trees, and little birdies were chirping a happy-
joyful-sweet tune.

    "Oh," Nephrite relaxed, "there's nothing." He briefly wondered
why the stars kept on warning him about the great danger of stepping
outside if there were no great cataclysm or danger to him.

    The star general looked around, trying to think about the
situation. The stars wouldn't just lie to him. Was there some great
danger he was overlooking?

    All he recalled was that Zoicite had been trying to kill him,
was sending youma after him, had kidnapped Molly, and-

    Nephrite swallowed hard. "MOLLY!"

    He whipped out the Star Crystal, found a directional indication,
and took off at full-throttle in search of that one special little
girl.

---

    Sam Beckett tried to analyze his situation.

    Let's see... He was a girl named Molly that has a friend called
Nephrite that he had to save from being killed by a bunch of girls,
only the girls aren't out to kill Nephrite, it's really a lot of
horrible superpowered monsters and it was these same monsters who
kidnapped him and are using him as bait for Nephrite, and everyone
seems to have magical powers.

    "Grr," a lobster-style monster growled, failingly trying to flip
a little copper coin with another held in its oversized pincer-claws.
It let out a shriek of frustration and held the coin in front of Dr.
Beckett's face. "CAN _YOU_ FIGURE THIS ONE OUT!?!??!!?"

    Dr. Beckett was a scientist; a hard-headed theoretical analyst.
He simply wasn't ready for shocks like this.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sam screamed, then lost consciousness
from the incomprehensibility of it all. He fell limp in the chains
that held him secure to the wall.

    "Oh, leave the poor girl alone," another monster said, looking
at a few cards she held in front of her. "Go fish."

    "Hmph," a circle of youma near the other picked up a few cards
from a deck in front of them.

    "Blackjack."

    "Mah-jhong!"

    "Gin!" They all put down their cards.

    "This is boooooor-iiiiiiing!"
    "You saiiiiiid it."

    "Augh," a trio of similarly-dressed youma groaned. One had a
big, spined arm, another had a hand full of red nodules, and the
other had a big mouth.

    "I hate this job," the one with a big mouth said. "Let's quit
and go plant some fields, or ANYTHING other than sit around and wait
for Nephrite to come into the trap."

    *SMACK!* "Shut up! You've got a big mouth!" the other two
slapped the youma with the oversized oral cavity.

    Teary-eyed, the slapped monster held its cheek. "What? I didn't
say anything wrong!"

    "Yeah, but you've got a big mouth! Close it."

    Some of the youma began to nod in agreement. The big-mouthed
individual sniffed and began to cry, singing offkey.

    o/I'm Serenity the eighth I am, Serenity the Eighth I am, I am!
     I got married to the prince next door!
      He's been married seven times before-\o

    *Wham!* "No singing!"

    "WAAAAH!" One youma stopped, but another soon began.

    o/When, oh when will my Neffy-kun come?
      Where, oh, where could he beeeeeeee?\o

    "Arrrrrggggghhhh," the main command trio groaned again.

    Yes, they'd gone and captured the little jeweler's daughter. The
execution of the plan had been perfect. Nobody had noticed that Molly
had been captured. Nobody had any clue whatsoever where they were
hiding, nor how to get there. The building inside which they were
hiding was heavily shielded against magical detection, and all
defenses were ready. No one could find the hideout, and no force on
the Earth could scan or localize them.

    "Wait a second," the bigmouthed youma thought again as she dried
her tears, "if nobody knows where we are, and if nobody can detect us,
then Nephrite's NEVER going to come!"

    Everyone stopped and pondered this for a few seconds, then
they started griping, stomping, and hitting things.

    "OH, NO!"
    "We've just been wasting our time!"
    "This blows, seriously!"

    The lead group folded their arms in thought. "If Nephrite can't
find us as it was, and we actually _want_ him to find us to fall into
our trap, what do we do to let him know we're here?"

    There was a lot of murmuring and indecision of what course of
action to follow. Some suggested lowering all the stealth magic,
others suggested forgetting the trap idea and to simply start hunting
their prey, but at the end, someone with a big mouth just had to come
up with her own brilliant idea.

    "We could make pretty posters and stick 'em up in public places
so Nephrite can see them and make his way over here."

    "Hmmm..."
    "Could work."
    "I like it."

    It was agreed. So, all present got down on their knees, took out
some paper and crayons, and started to doodle their stuff.

---

    Molly Baker was dealing with her situation much better than was
Sam Beckett. She could adapt to things a lot better and quicker than
the average person. After all, she had been subject to a number of
monster attacks in the past, and it was just something she had gotten
used to. This was new, however. She never had been temporally
displaced and put into the body of some scientist from the future. In
this aspect, it helped to have Al's company. It kept her from losing
her grip on reality, sort of.

    "Okay, so is there anything else you know about Nephrite, Molly?"

    The girl shook her head.

    "Alright, that's fine, Molly-"

    Molly grimaced. "Don't caul me that," she said in her weird
New-Yorker/New-Jersey accent, "Aye hate that nayme."

    "So, what do I call you?"

    "Caul me Naru-chan!"

    "Nay-ru-chan?" Al pondered. "Why? Molly's a nice name."

    "Cawz Aye loyke Naru betta'."

    Al sighed. "Molly-"

    "Sooooou!" Molly shouted in a thick Oriental accent and pointed
a finger at the man, looking rather irritated. "Bakana inu, watashi o
Naru-chan yobinasai!"

    Al stared. _That_ hadn't happened before. "Huh?"

    Molly grabbed the man by the collar and started shaking him
around. "Jyoou o shitake ni tsureteiitte soushinaito supriin o
tabette, tsubo-atama!" She thwapped him on the head. "Atarashii
tomodachi wa toirei ni imasuka? Anata no heya wa hidoi chirakariyou
desu." The girl let go of him and walked away. "Watashi ga yaku no o
kyokashitte." She spun around and pointed a finger at Al. "Doshite
toi nan kotae desu ka?!"

    "What the-!?"

^_^

    "Three thousand nine-hundred-two, three-thousand nine-
hundred-three, three-thousand nine-hundred-four..."

    The hospital was silent other than the counting of a single,
blue-haired girl in the Intensive Care Unit.

    "Three thousand nine-hundred-nine, four thousand," Amy
finished counting the little holes in the sheet-rock ceiling.
"Hmm," she spoke to herself, "There are exactly four thousand
holes. Wow, what are the odds? Now, if we make an average for
each square, that would be..." She started making equations to
calculate the holes in the ceiling of the entire building.
"Averaging fifteen rooms per floor and a total of six floors, that
would be," she thought for a second. "Three hundred sixty thousand
holes in the entire hospital."

    There was really nothing better to do right now. After
resting for the night, she had promptly begun taking account of
every detail in the room. There were four white walls, one door
with a small rectangular window, two large windows overlooking
the neighborhood, one empty bed, two semicircular curtains, one
ceiling with exactly four thousand holes in it, one floor with
approximately six hundred tiles (she had to look off the
reflection in the window to estimate the data), a sort of shelf
with her smashed Mercury Computer on it, an IV drip with a needle
in her right arm, and one of those dang assembled and framed
jugsaw puzzles of ET, the Extraterrestrial.

    Amy was not very happy. She was glad that the battle was
over and that all her friends were alive, but she was somewhat
distressed over the fact that she was losing valuable study time.
Oh yeah, there had been horrific damage to her body and nothing
would probably ever be the same again in her life, but still,
she maintained a great desire to go to school with everyone else.
This was a close cousin to impossible due to the fact that a two-
thirds body-cast had left her pretty well immobilized. To add
insult to injury, the doctors assigned her a three month recovery
time, plus eight months of rehabilitation therapy.

    The girl took a breath. Her mother had explained to her
the seriousness of her injuries. Though her condition was stable
for the time being, there existed a host of rather exotic and
thorough damage to her left side, going from ribs to lungs to
muscles to major blood vessels, and so on.

    Basically, she'd gotten pretty well trashed last night.

    "That's what I get for trying to fight someone with a base
power-level over three hundred million Mercury Standard Battle
Points," she mused, recalling the reading she got before her
computer exploded. She was still a bit miffed about that loss, too.

    Amy was in no pain, but that was probably due in great part
to the generous amounts of medication that were being injected into
her bloodstream every few hours. Like right now, for instance: With
a soft 'beep' from the automatic IV dispenser, a sudden burst of
euphoric, pain-supressing chemicals flowed into her body.

    "Oh yeah, that's the good stuff."

    Once in a while, she had heard some doctors outside joking
around with the idea that they could rebuild her, having the
technology and everything, but putting the price tag on such an
operation at six million dollars.

    "Ha hah, very funny," Amy felt her cynicism rise. But, on
second thought, maybe being a cyborg or something like that would
be better than just lying around for months. Even after just a few
hours, she was getting genuinely bored!

    She looked forward to visiting hours. Everyone promised to
come in and talk to her, sign her cast, and most importantly, bring
over her textbooks so she could study in the meantime! How was she
supposed to get into High School unless she kept studying and going
to cram school?!

    "You could goof off and bribe the principal," a small, refined
voice suggested. "Humans are _very_ greedy, you know."

    Amy turned her head. "Who is it?"

    "Forgive me if I do not greet you formally, I am in a bit of a
hurry; I have to get to a funeral in a few minutes," the still-unseen
individual replied.

    "Whose funeral?"

    "YOURS!!!" the voice shouted malevolently, then paused for a
second. "Errr. I mean, mind your own business. Er, AHEM! Anyway, I
heard you thinking very loudly, and I am very impressed. Call me
Bruce. To make a long story short, I have a gift for you."

    *Poof!* In a flash of smoke, a six-by-six inch wrapped green
and white polka-dotted package with a black bow plopped onto Amy's
chest.

    "?" was Amy's general response.

    "It used to belong to a good friend of ours," the refined
voice said. "Eat it, heh, in good health. Farewell."

    "What is it?" Amy asked, but got no response. "What is it?"

    The reply was only silence and the far-off murmurs of
doctors. Therefore, her curiosity piqued, she examined the package
and began tugging on the bow with her one working hand. Who knows?
It could be a teddy bear, it could be brownies, it could be a
miniature thermonuclear explosive device with a button on it.

    In any case, she just loved surprises!

---

    Raye had decided to skip classes, partly because she felt she
needed to concentrate on other things, but mostly because her school
had been vaporized in last night's battle. They were temporarily
shifting classes all the way over to Furinkan High's building, and
she didn't have much of an idea how to get there, and was too busy
to try and find out.

    Meanwhile, with her being the only Sailor Scout with power
left to her, she had to stay behind and prepare, keeping her senses
attuned to any Negaverse activity and gather her strength in case of
an attack.

    Sitting in front of the great bonfire in the center of her
home, she concentrated, trying to find a new way to focus herself
enough to be able to use some of the more advanced Shamanistic magic
scrolls she'd snuck away from her grandfather. A spell called
"Ra-Tilt" looked to be of extra special promise.

    Last night, in a fit of overexertion, she had managed to cast
a single fireball--which was nice, and much more powerful than "Mars
Fire, Ignite," but she couldn't cast anything to brag about yet.

    What she really needed was someone who actually knew and could
teach her; train her how to use this variety of magic. Where was she
going to find someone like that? Raye didn't know, but she could find
out through a version of a fire-reading.

    It was time to get started. She concentrated and started making
all sorts of hand-gestures and reciting arcane phrases. The room grew
dark.

    *Brr-Zeow!* The red fire flickered upward to nearly reach the
roof, and turned a bright green.

    *OOOOOOOOooooooooooooooh* A faint, echoed groan could be heard
in the distance, but it gradually grew closer.

    *OOOOOOOOoooo-OOOO-oooOOOOOH!*

    Raye took a startled breath and glanced around frantically.
After a moment, she caught sight of a light descending through the
fire to settled down in front of her. The light shimmered, then
coalesced into a medium-tall, grey-robed figure with a bit of cyan
hair poking out of the hood.

    "Oooooh," the figure groaned, "OOOOOOOH, my aching head."

    The robed individual pulled back the hood, revealing a grainy-
grey masculine face with pointy ears, and began to rub his forehead.
His fingers made the sound of stone against stone as he did so.

    "Wh-who are you?" Raye stuttered.

    "My name is Zelgadis," the ghostly stone man replied, looking
around. "Why am I here?"

    "Zelgadis?" Raye thought for a second, and recalled that she
had seen the word on one of her grandfather's scrolls. She dug it
up. "Zelgadis," she skimmed, "high-class magic user, good friend of
Linna Inverse, cursed as a stone chimera, died in battle, whosoever
possesseth this scroll may summon to learn the ways of the
sorcerer... Oh!" she blushed. "I should have tried that in the first
place."

    Zelgadis listened. "So I'm dead and got summoned as a ghost to
help teach you how to use magic?"

    Raye thought about that. "I think so."

    "Just my luck," the chimera suddenly sounded very, very down
about life.

    "So, can you help me?"

    "Sure. Why not? I'm DEAD. I'm not going anywhere."

    Raye winced at the complete and utter depression underlying
the ghost's words, and began to respond when the door to the chamber
was suddenly flung open, the sudden burst of light causing the
ambience to evaporate. Zelgadis vanished and the fire was restored
to its normal state.

    "Raye, you haven't been trying out black magic again, have
you?" old Grandpa Hino called from the doorway.

    The priestess quickly jammed the shamanistic scrolls in her
robes. "Uh, no, Grandpa! What gave you that idea?"

    "No reason," the old man said, his expression unknowing. "Look,
a couple of your friends came over and they want to see you real,
real bad!"

    *Stomp*stomp*stomp!* At that moment, Serena ran in, stumbling
over him on her way in. She dragged Jade close behind her and half-
tossed her in front of Raye. "Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayeeeeeeeee!!!"
Serena shouted frantically. "There's something wrong with Jaaaaade!"

    Jade was panting slightly, her eyes were wide, and her cute
face was full of concern. She grabbed Raye by the collar and
shouted, "I'M POSSESSED!!!" Her tilted back, her expression going
blank and eyes glassed over. "Yes," she said in a man's voice, "and
it's no use trying to stop me, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!" Her
expression returned to normal. She took Raye by the shoulders and
started shaking her. "You're a priestess, so DO SOMETHING!"

    Raye nodded, her mouth hanging open in surprise. She could feel
the evil energy radiating from the poor girl. Definitely, definitely,
definitely had something evil taking control of her. "Right!" she
snapped to attention and ran Jade over to a pedestal on the other
side of the fire. "Sit here!" She rushed to sit down where she
could see her subject through the flames. "Sacred Fire, show me the
one responsible here!"

    *Wharsh!* The flame burned an intense red, Jade's agonized,
kneeling image wavered from the blonde girl in a school sweatsuit
into the visage of a blond _man_ in a grey uniform.

    "She said something about 'Jadeite living once more,'" Serena
added. "I think he's trying to resurrect himself using Jade!"

    "This is _very_ bad," Raye said urgently, standing up. "We have
no time to lose!" She rushed over to a large chest in the corner of
the room, opened it, and pulled out a canvas sack.

    Grandpa Hino looked up from his squashed position on the floor.
"Raye! If she's possessed, you'll have to pull out the Special
Transylvanian Uber-Exorcism Mark Three(tm)! Remember, just like I
taught you!"

    "Got it!" Raye replied, opening the bag and dumping its
contents on the floor beside Jade. The shrine maiden pulled out
several cloves of garlic and began stuffing them down the bemused
girl's sweatpants.

    "Heeeey!" Jade whined.

    "Here, let me help!" Grandpa called, grabbing some vinegar-
soaked pig intestines and stuffing them into Jade's mouth.

    *MMMMPH!*

    "I think I got it!" Serena said, pulling back Jade's collar
and pouring hot chili sauce down her back.

    *GRFFFFH!*

    "Quick! Get the roman candles!" Raye cried.

O_O

    Oh yeah, thought Guardian Jadeite triumphantly, take THAT!

    In the mental ether, he sat back with a psychic bag of
popcorn and a soda and watched the fireworks go off.

    *Munch-munch*

    Oh my, gerbils?! thought he. No, that's just plain WRONG! I
can't bear to watch!

    Occasionally glance, yes, but watch, no.

    *Siiip*

    o/Oh, say, can you seeeeeeeee...\o he smiled as he sang the
Martian Planetary Anthem.

    Ah, the beauty of the rockets' red glare against this foul
corruption's backside!

O_o

To be continued...

I'll probably end up turning the whole plotline on its head by the time I'm 
done, but...

What does everyone think so far?

-------------------------------
Benjamin A. Oliver
boredcollective@aol.com

    "We are the Bored. Lower your shields and surrender your fics.
     We will add your standup and slapstick comedy to our own.
     Your humor will adapt to entertain us.
     Resistance is and always has been: Futile."
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