+++++++++++++++++

    Trunks sat in a boardroom style area of the room. It had a long
table and three walls on all sides, with one leading out to the open.
The gods were sitting around him and Urd had just explained that
Keiichi had been kidnapped while at work.

    The boy hung his head and rubbed at his temples in irritation.
"Well, that's definitely not good. Still, I wasn't expecting a lot of
help from the gods anyway. It's most likely L-sama will tell you to
stay out of the way of this one. It's sort of a personal matter
really."

    Mars frowned at this, but the others seemed to nod. Trunks
suspected it was because he didn't like the idea of missing out on all
the fun. Not that he was all that involved in the first place, but it
was probably the principal of the matter.

    "At any rate, I thought I'd give you the rundown of what I've been
doing with the Senshi. I've got lots of film clips, made them for my
own personal amusement later on really, but it's nice to know that I'm
prepared." He held up several disks. "This is really just a highlights
reel more than anything else. I'll show you how they're doing now
after we're through."

    "What's going on here? What are you doing to them?" muttered Shiva
icily. She didn't appear to have much of a personality.

    "Watch and see," said the boy cheerfully.

+++++++++++++++++++

    Usagi Tsukino frowned as she stared at the doorway that barred
their entrance into the compound. It was a huge bay door that was
raised with the help of a motor inside the building. It was also about
a foot off the ground. A light snow fell all around the group of girls
as they stood together on a hilltop. The guards below could be seen
milling about, but hadn't noticed them.

    They ducked behind the hill together and stared at each other.

    "What are we gonna do?" muttered Rei irritably.

    "We don't have any weapons, we were ordered to procure them on
site," said Ami with a slight frown on her face.

    "Nabiki?" muttered Makoto as she turned towards their silent
leader.

    "Our best bet to find weapons is to get inside unnoticed. That
won't be easy with all those guards."

    Usagi nodded at this with a frown on her face. "How do we do
that?"

    "We'll have to move in as a group," said Nabiki with a small sigh.
"We'll move ahead one at a time, while the others keep track of where
the guards are and when it's safe to move."

    "Great! Let's go then!" said Usagi cheerfully. She stood up and
started moving forward, only to hear a dry click under her foot. "Aw
shit."

    The rest of the team's eyes went wide as a loud boom tore across
the silence. There was a flash of light and a spray of red. Usagi's
body fell to the ground, with her entire left side torn to little more
than a bloody pulp.

    "Mines!" cried Rei in alarm.

    "No duh!" snapped Minako as she growled and searched the area
around her in vain. The snow hid any traces of any of the deadly
devices.

    The girls all froze in place as the sound of around twenty dry
clicks sounded from the forest around them.

    "We've been spotted!" muttered Nabiki quietly.

    The roar of gunfire filled the forest, tearing into the girl's
bodies as they fell to the ground rather quickly after the shooting
started.

+++++++++++++++++++

    "Well, that went well," said Trunks as he looked at Nabiki with a
smirk on his face.

    The girl was glaring at him angrily. There was a one-hour minimum
time limit on hell, once they died; they were there for at least an
hour before they were brought back. "We did what we were ordered too."

    "Actually, you never even cleared the first objective," said
Trunks as he looked down at a report of the operation that was done up
by Hotaru. She had free run of the area, and did nothing more than
watch them. It was her job to report back to the boy about what had
taken place, even though he didn't really need it. He could watch any
area from his office, or play back things that had happened at his
leisure.

    "You set us up!" snapped Nabiki.

    "Actually, the AI did. It will actually get smarter as you
progress, and it's responsible for the defense of the compound."

    "Nabiki blinked at this."

    "It works just like a real squad would actually. It can't make
mines magically appear they have to be set. You were the ones who
decided to walk into the middle of it. Not to mention, you stood on a
hilltop as if no one would be looking that way. You might as well have
raised a flag."

    The girl blushed slightly at this.

    "In any case, you failed to even enter the compound. You'll try
again tomorrow. Don't expect the defenses to be the same, the interior
of the building will change with each failed mission as well. I expect
you to keep that between us for now, let them figure it out on their
own."

    "Change?" muttered Nabiki dumbly.

    "Of course, you don't expect me to send them through the exact
same exercise every time do you?" said the boy as he looked at her and
blinked. "Mission objectives will vary as well. You might be going up
against a single squad one day, and an entire army the next."

    Nabiki nodded at this and stood up to leave. "If there's nothing
else?"

    "Dismissed," replied the boy as he chuckled at the report in his
hand.

++++++++++++++++

    "Great job Usagi," muttered Rei as she glared at the girl cleaning
her weapon on the other side of the room. She didn't know why the girl
was bothering anyway; it wasn't like they were allowed to take them
along on a mission yet. "She got us all killed."

    "Stupid mines," grumbled Minako as she rubbed at her leg. She had
lost it just before she died due to stumbling over one of them in her
attempt to find cover. It felt strange to still have it.

    No one spoke of the place they had been sent afterwards. The hour
in hell had a sort of odd silence about it between them.

    "We can't blame her," said Minako calmly as she glared at Rei. "We
were all careless that time."

    "She's right," agreed Makoto.

    Ami simply stared forward at the group from her own bunk. She
looked over at Usagi and then back at the others.

    Usagi noticed this and glanced up at them, before turning her head
back down to the maintenance of her weapon.

++++++++++++++++++++

    "What's the job today?" said Nabiki as she stared at Ranma. The
Senshi were all standing in a row behind her at attention.

    "Well, I thought I'd do something a little simpler this time.
Seeing as how you can't even get into a building."

    None of the girls even flinched.

    "Today, you're going to find me..." the boy paused and watched
them for a few seconds. "A shrubbery."

    "A what?" said Nabiki as she narrowed her eyes at him.

    "Nii!" cried Trunks as he whirled around to face her.

    "A shrubbery. Right," said the girl as she sighed and turned to
face the others. "You heard the man, let's go find a... shrubbery."

    "Something nice!" said Trunks as they all piled into the back of a
large green truck.

    "Right," muttered Minako as she spared him a rather weary looking
glance.

    "And not too expensive!" called the boy as Nabiki started the
engine.

++++++++++++++++

    "Where are we going?" muttered Minako as she jumped out of the
back of the vehicle.

    "Down there," said Nabiki as she looked down at the tiny village
that had somehow appeared on the road through her binoculars.

    "Seems quiet," said Ami calmly.

    "That's what scares me," grumbled Nabiki. She turned to look at
her troops, each of them was armed. He'd even allowed Rei to bring
along a rocket launcher. She didn't like the look in the girl's eyes
when she held it, but it was strapped across her back and largely
forgotten at the moment.

    "We should move in," said Makoto.

    "Right, won't do us any good to stand here," agreed Usagi.

    "Makoto, you've got point," said Nabiki as she glanced at the
girl. "This is about as close as I want to drive."

    The girls all nodded and readied their weapons for the hike to the
village. It was at least two miles away at the moment though.

    It didn't take long before they reached the edge of the village.
They moved in, hugging close to walls and hiding behind barriers.
Every obstacle in their path was a potential threat, and they kept
their eyes on every door and window as they moved through what
appeared to be a residential area.

    They moved silently, using hand signals and quick glances to
communicate. Everything was going smoothly, just like in training as
they neared the business section of the small town.

It was a great deal more populated as they moved into the main street
area. They had seen several people watching them off their porches in
confusion, but they hadn't been attacked yet.

    Finally, after getting a large number of confused glances as the
pedestrians moved out of their way. Usagi stopped as Nabiki signaled
her to move forward. "What the hell am I doing?"

    Minako, who had been squatting down beside her blinked, "Huh?"

    Usagi shouldered her weapon and stood up, walking out into the
middle of the street. Everyone tensed up nervously as they watched
this. Nabiki was cursing under her breath.

    "Usagi! What the hell are you doing?" she hissed angrily at the
girl.

    "Shopping," replied the girl with a small shrug. She turned and
looked up at a sign on one of the buildings, 'Roger's Shrubbery'. With
a small sigh she strolled inside and left the rest of the senshi
staring at her dumbly.

    About ten minutes later she came out holding a shrub in her arms.
"Okay. We can go back now." She turned and started walking down the
street, noting that the others were still hiding behind cars and
forcing people to give them a rather wide area of clearance.

    "What the?" muttered Minako in shock.

    "This seems too easy," said Ami as she narrowed her eyes and
glanced around.

    "Maybe that's just it?" said Makoto as she looked at her.

    "You mean...there's no hostels here?" said the girl as she
returned the brunette's stare with a sort of blank frown.

    "I don't think so," said Nabiki as she appeared over them, walking
out in the open. "He's just messing with our heads again."

+++++++++++++++++

    "Great! You got it!" said Trunks as he accepted the plant from the
girl. "Thanks."

    "We've completed a mission?" said Makoto with a sort of proud
smile on her face.

    "That's right," said Nabiki as she looked at her and smirked. "I
think that deserves something."

    "You're right. I'll give you a little extra time off tonight,"
said Trunks cheerfully. "Just don't expect it too much."

    "Right," grumbled Minako.

    "But first..." said Trunks with a wide grin on his face.

    The girls all groaned.

    "You must fetch me..." he paused to soak up their misery for a
moment. "Another shrubbery!"

    "What?" said Nabiki as she stared at him.

    "Yes. We'll put one slightly higher than the other, so it forms a
little path down the middle."

    "We could have just gotten two while we were there the first
time!" snapped Minako.

    "This is how we do things in the military," snorted the boy as he
frowned at her. "Plus, after you've done that, you must cut down the
mightiest tree in that forest." He pointed at a nearby patch of woods.
They were about to voice a protest when he spoke up again. "Wiiiittth,
a herring!" He held up a small fish.

    "We most certainly will not!" snapped Nabiki.

    "Oh come on, please?" said Trunks as he grinned at her.

    The girl blinked as if she suddenly realized this was some kind of
joke she just didn't get.

    "Ah well. Enjoy your time off ladies," said Trunks as he turned
away from them. "Just be back and ready to go back to work by sunrise
tomorrow. That means well rested, so be sure to get some sleep."

    There was a resounding cheer from the group as they immediately
rushed away.

+++++++++++++++++++

    The next day, the girls all returned at a reasonable hour much to
the boy's surprise. They had returned to the town and spent much of
the day there, shopping, or eating. They actually had a paycheck,
which surprised them when Nabiki informed them.

    Trunks appeared at sunrise, just as promised. He had a grin on his
face as he strolled into the room. "Welcome back ladies, time to go
back to work."

++++++++++++++++++++++

    "Usagi! On top of the tower!" screamed Nabiki as she kept her
hands stuck on Minako's throat as blood oozed between her fingers. The
girl's eyes were wide, and she had a desperate expression on her face
as she tried to breathe. Nabiki's expression was frustrated and almost
panicking. She kept herself under control though, and noticed the
flash of a lens in the large tower about a hundred yards away from
their position.

    The blonde girl nodded grimly, knowing that Minako's fate was
practically sealed. The girl would soon be suffering in that horrible
place again. She raised her rifle up to bear and frowned deeply as she
pressed the sight up against her eye.

    Rei watched calmly from her position next to Ami against a
shattered looking brick wall. Her face was frozen in a dead state; it
took Ami a moment to realize that Rei wasn't watching at all. She
wasn't there anymore.

    "No!" muttered the girl in horror as she stared into her friend's
dead eyes. "No! No! Don't leave me here Rei!" she muttered in horror.
"Damn it...I...I can't..."

    Usagi took the shot, it was clean and she saw the tiny silhouette
fall away as the bullet struck home. "I got him!" she cried in
triumph. Her cheer was short lived as her brain splattered across the
ground a moment later from another sniper on a rooftop nearby.

    Nabiki looked on, still clutching Minako's throat wound, despite
the fact that the girl had already moved on. Ami was breaking down,
and Makoto was pinned on the other side of the large open field in the
center of the complex by a group of machine gun toting soldiers that
were just out of sight of her position. "Shit. Shit! Shit!" she
muttered as a hail of bullets tore up the ground around her.

    She dove down beside Ami; the girl was crying and clutching her
head in horrified fear. "Damn it! Snap out of it! You're all I've got
right now!" Without bothering to do any more than that to check on the
girl, she glanced at Rei to find out where the shot she had been hit
with came from.

    Nabiki gasped as she realized that the wound was on the front of
the girl's chest. That wasn't good, considering that she was facing
the same direction they were. "Crap."

    A trail of smoke followed the rocket that blasted towards them.
She never even saw who had fired it.

++++++++++++++++++++

    Makoto wanted to scream, she wanted to blast everything within a
mile of her position with everything she had, unfortunately, she had
nothing but an M-16, and two clips of ammunition. Her senshi powers
had been gone for some time, and she had used all her grenades in
earlier attempts to move from her current position.

    "Damn. Where the hell is everyone else?" she muttered angrily.
With a grunt of effort she hefted her weapon and fired it as one of
the soldiers exposed himself slightly. She missed, but the fire
pinning her down died down for a moment. "Shit. I think I'm all that's
left!" she grumbled in frustration. "What the hell do I do now?"

    Just as the words escaped her mouth her blood ran cold at the
sound that rumbled from around the corner. She'd only heard it a few
times during her training, but it was distinctive none the less.
"Shit."

    A huge tank rolled around the corner and stopped as it became
fully visible. The turret slowly turned towards her and she tensed her
body. "No way! I am not goin back to that place again!" She pulled
herself to her feet in a sheer display of will and forced herself to
run, despite the numbness in her legs. Bullets shattered the ground at
her feet as she charged away, and a massive shower of dirt flew into
the air from when the tank's shell blasted the area she had been lying
on away.

    She screamed and cursed as she dove back into the complex. The
warm air hitting her skin and creating a maddening itch all across her
skin as she continued to run forward. "Damn! Damn! Damn!" she screamed
in frustration as the sounds of soldiers charging in behind her seemed
to haunt her every step. She ducked behind a wall as a bullet cracked
the concrete surface of the large warehouse style interior. There were
a lot of boxes lying around, and the bodies of those they had killed
in their entrance were still hidden away behind some of them.

    She stopped cold as she found the hallway she and the others had
entered through. "Oh no."

    Ami had mined the hallway, to stop someone from sneaking in after
them and taking them by surprise. She couldn't see the lasers, but she
knew they were there, and could see some of the carefully hidden
explosives if she looked hard enough. Not that she had time to find
them. "What the hell?" she grumbled in frustration as she glanced
around for some kind of escape. She could probably hide in the maze of
boxes. The game of cat and mouse would end soon enough though, and she
would be on the bad end of that deal.

    She turned as the sound of the soldiers rushing after her grew
ever closer. "Damn!" Makoto fell to her knees and started to sob,
knowing that there was nothing she could do. That was when her eyes
fell on the small grate in the wall. "What the?" She raised her weapon
and fired into the thin metal that blocked the airshaft.

++++++++++++++++++++

    Trunks smiled as Minako sat before him with a pensive looking
frown on her face. She knew she was in trouble.

    The boy shuffled some papers on his desk and sighed. "I really
wish you idiots had figured out that you can run when you have too
sooner. I was getting tired of sending you all to hell every time you
went up there."

    The girl blinked. She had her arm in a sling, and several nasty
looking cuts. After the blast in the hallway took out a majority of
her pursuers she didn't have much trouble picking the rest off after
crawling through the shaft and into the next room before they reached
it. She didn't dare continue forward, knowing she'd die if she did and
came back with her head hung low. "What?"

    "You're starting to think outside the rest of the group. I like
that. Using that airshaft was a good idea. Every time you've gone up
there, you've walked through the front door, shooting anything that
moves to clear your way. You're the first one to come back alive, even
though you didn't fulfill any of your mission objectives."

    "I was outnumbered! I couldn't win!" she snapped.

    "I suppose so," replied Trunks calmly. "It's a matter of stealth
and tactics. You idiots are rushing that damn place like you're in the
Marines or something."

    Makoto simply stared at him in shock.

    "There are some missions you won't be able to turn back from, no
matter how bad it gets. Some of them you can retreat from if need be,
or simply fall back to a safer position and try again later. I'm going
to have a talk with Nabiki about her forward only tactics. It's
admirable, but not really practical."

    "If this is her fault, why is she leading us?" grumbled Makoto
sourly.

    "Because she's smarter than you, she just has to learn to apply
these kinds of situations."

    "By getting us all killed?" growled the girl angrily.

    "At least you come back here," replied Trunks with a dark frown of
his own. "That's a luxury you don't have outside this room."

    "That place you send us might not be so bad after a while," she
grumbled.

    "Heh, the stronger you become, and the more used to it you get,
the worse it will become," he replied calmly. "Don't forget that
Makoto."

    The girl swallowed and stared at him numbly for a moment.

++++++++++++++++

    The others had returned once Makoto had set foot on the base.
Trunks had debriefed them all with Makoto being the last of them. They
had learned something new that day; the suffering ended once those who
didn't die came back from a mission. It didn't matter whether the hour
was up or not.

    Trunks had also made it clear that it wouldn't be the case on all
of the missions either. Some had to be completed, or failed completely
for them to return. They weren't anywhere near that level just yet
though.

    Usagi was being rather silent as usual, keeping to herself and
cleaning her gear.

    Ami was the focus of the rest of the room though. She was a pale
white, and held her knees while shivering in terror. She hadn't spoken
since she had awoken from death.

    "Ami? Are you all right?" muttered Rei as she moved up to the girl
carefully.

    Makoto was quickly by her side, staring fearfully at the girl. "Is
she sick?"

    "She's in shock!" cried Rei.

    Hotaru frowned as she strolled into the room and looked at Ami for
a moment, shoving the others aside and grasping the girl by her
shoulders. "Something...is..."

    Ami screamed; it was a painful wail as she simply looked up and
cried out at the top of her voice.

    Usagi jumped up from her place and rushed over to the scene, the
others stepped back with shocked looks on their faces.

    Everything had come down on the girl at once. Fear, anger,
frustration, the faces of those she'd killed, and those she'd seen
die. Her eyes rolled up and she slumped down onto the mattress
unconscious.

    No one had a clue what to do. Hotaru gave her a worried looking
frown and stood up.

    Usagi shook her head and walked away with tears flowing down her
cheeks. "Oh Ami..."

    "What do you care?" snapped Rei angrily.

    Usagi simply looked at her with an unreadable expression on her
face. "I may not like any of you anymore, but I will always care."

    Rei reacted as if she had been physically slapped. Her jaw dropped
and she stepped away from the girl. "Wha?"

    Hotaru was kneeling at Ami's side with what looked like a small
wrist mounted computer. She was frowning in confusion as she peered
into it. "She seems fine. She's sleeping quite peacefully."

    Makoto looked at the woman in confusion. "But...you saw what just
happened to her! What the hell was that?"

    "Don't tell me that was nothing!" cried Rei.

    Usagi's face flashed with something none of the others could
place, but it was dangerously familiar to them all. They all felt
ashamed at the sight of it, but couldn't quite place why. "That sound,
was the death of a soul. Ami will not be the same when she wakes up
again. She will never be the same." The girl turned away and moved
over to her bunk.

    Trunks was standing in the back of the room unnoticed. He frowned
deeply at what had just happened, and what Usagi said chilled him to
the bone. "What did we just do to that girl?"

++++++++++++++++++++

    Ami Mizuno woke up the next morning. She sat upright and glanced
around at everyone surrounding her. They were getting dressed and she
stared at them all for a moment before standing up and moving to her
locker.

    "Oh! Ami!" gasped Makoto. "You shouldn't be up. You've got the day
off today!"

    The girl blinked at this. "Why? I am not injured or sick."

    Makoto stared at her for a moment. "Well, you don't have to come
today. You should just stay here and rest up."

    "I see no reason for that," replied the girl as she opened her
locker and started to shuffle around inside.

    Nabiki watched her carefully from the other side of the room. She
didn't interfere and watched the girl put on her gear. "Something is
up."

    Ami was the first one done, despite the fact that the others had
all started before her. She walked outside and waited in her place for
the others to form up to receive their orders for the day.

    Nabiki strolled out of the building and frowned at them all.
"Today is pretty normal. Our objective is to find a disk. It's encoded
and we have to use the computers in the complex to decode it before it
can be of any use to us. Intelligence tells us that the room we need
to find is on the second floor. The disk is probably in the possession
of this man." Nabiki pulled out a photo of an older looking soldier;
he had a buzz cut and a gruff expression on his face. "He'll be
commanding the men we'll be facing today."

    There were muttered grumbles from within the group. Ami said
nothing and simply watched.

+++++++++++++++++

    They were being driven to a point where they could proceed on
foot. The entire squad of girls was huddled in the back of a green
military transport truck. There was about a foot of snow outside, and
the green cloth covering did little to protect them from the elements.


    There was a large amount of silence within the group. Makoto would
occasionally try to start small talk with Ami or Rei, but neither was
receptive. It was a grim scene for all involved.

    It was somewhat of a surprise to everyone when Ami stood up and
walked over to Nabiki. Their attention was quickly elsewhere as the
girl leveled a stare at Usagi that no one could read.

    "Did you want something Mizuno?" grumbled Nabiki gruffly. She had
a cup of coffee in her hands and a rather sour looking frown. She
still wasn't a morning person, and the girls largely avoided her when
it was as early as it was.

    "Permission to speak, Ma am?"

    This caught Nabiki off guard and she stared at the girl for a
moment. "Um. Granted..."

    "This mission requires stealth, we should eliminate Tsukino before
we go in. She will endanger the mission."

    "What?" muttered Nabiki in shock. "What do you mean eliminate?"
growled Nabiki quietly.

    Ami noticed that Rei had overheard her, but no one else could over
the roar of the diesel engine. The black haired girl sucked in a quick
breath and her eyes went wide. She didn't speak or move and waited
silently for either one of them to continue.

    "Tsukino is an excellent shot, but she is clumsy and loud. She
will threaten the mission, and our lives. We should eliminate her
before the mission begins. It will give us a much greater chance for
success."

    "You're not being very clear, Mizuno," grumbled Nabiki with a
tense tone. "What do you mean 'eliminate'?"

    "Forgive me, I thought my meaning was clear. I will shoot her,"
replied Ami calmly.

    Neither Rei nor Nabiki spoke for a moment. Rei wasn't sure if she
thought it was a good idea, or if she was afraid that Nabiki actually
seemed to be considering it.

    "Mizuno, if you ever even suggest something like that to me again,
I will..." Nabiki thought for a moment. What kind of leverage did she
have over them really? "I will..." She couldn't think of anything more
than a little extra exercise. Finally she turned her head away in
shame. "Trunks will not be pleased to hear this. I'm sure he can find
an interesting way of punishing you if you try it."

    Ami merely nodded at this. "Understood." She stood up and returned
to her seat. Rei stared at her with wide eyes and a horrified
expression for a moment. The others were confused, but Ami merely sat
back and closed her eyes to wait for the ride to finish.

+++++++++++++++++

    Ami found herself in a storeroom with Usagi about five hours
later. The soldiers inside were alert to the group's presence in the
building, but didn't have any clear idea where they were exactly.
Makoto and Minako were gone; Nabiki and Rei were on the lower level
searching for the computer.

    Ami stared through an air vent into a large warehouse like room
below. It was clear of boxes and a group of soldiers were standing in
front of the old soldier holding the disk.

    "There is the target," said Ami calmly.

    Usagi looked up at the girl. She was standing on top of several
boxes to look inside the next room. "What?"

    "I've found him," replied Ami calmly. "There are five others with
him, he appears to be briefing them on something. Probably
coordinating the search for us."

    The blonde nodded seriously at this. "What can we do?"

    Ami turned to look at her with a cold expression on her face. The
only one she'd had since she'd woken up. "You will remain here and
cover me through this vent. I will go and retrieve the disk. Take out
the target first, and then eliminate the others with him. I will clean
up what remains while I retrieve the disk."

    "Then what?" muttered Usagi fearfully.

    "Then we will contact Lieutenant Tendo, and wait until they find
their objective. We will then take the disk to them for decoding."

    Usagi nodded at this numbly and shivered. She clumsily mounted the
boxes and climbed up to her firing position while Ami moved towards
the door.

    "Wait thirty seconds and begin. If he starts to move out of range,
take the shot anyway. Don't miss."

    The blonde nodded at this and swallowed. "A...all right."

    Ami left her alone and moved into the hallway that connected the
room to the warehouse. She moved along the wall and peered around the
corner that would lead her into the room carefully. Finding no
opposition, she slowly stalked forward with her weapon held ready.
"Three, two, one..."

+++++++++++++++++++

    Usagi looked into the sight of her rifle. It was a bolt action
forty five millimeter sniper rifle. The crosshairs trembled as she
placed them over the man's chest and slowed her breathing. A cold
sweat formed on her forehead as she counted down. "Three, two, one..."

    A crack echoed through the room. The man fell face first on the
ground and a feminine scream filled the air as the men all hit the
ground and pulled their own weapons to the ready.

    "Daddy!" cried a voice. A girl of about ten rushed up from an area
the girls couldn't see and ran to the man's body. One of the soldiers
grabbed her around her waist and pulled her down with him as he
scrambled for cover. The room was mostly empty, but there were a few
boxes that could be used.

    Usagi was frozen in horror. The little girl's face burned into her
mind as she saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Oh no! What have I
done?" she muttered to herself. She slowly lowered her weapon and
simply looked at the scene for a moment. "What have I..."

    "The air shaft!" cried one of the soldiers as he pointed towards
her position.

    She didn't even realize that she had done it. The only thing she
remembered was pulling the rifle away from her face and staring at the
smoking barrel for a moment. "I...I'm sorry..." She set herself again
and waited for one of the men to reveal enough for a clean shot.

    She didn't even take the time to realize that she had no tears in
her eyes.

++++++++++++++++

    Ami stared forward as the second man fell. She could see two of
the others, but it was painfully clear that she'd misjudged the number
of people in the room. Her objective was down, and lying in the middle
of the room face down. Simply rushing towards him would get her
killed, and she knew it. With a small sigh she pulled her M-16 up to
bear and switched it to burst fire.

    The two men never knew what hit them, with a single squeeze of the
trigger, she managed to them down. There was at least one more that
she couldn't see. She glanced back behind her. She briefly wondered if
she could trust Usagi that much.

    She rushed forward towards the target.

    Turning as she ran she found the fifth soldier. There were what
appeared to be several civilians standing along the wall. One of them
was a woman with tears in her eyes, and the others simply looked
afraid. She brought her weapon up as the soldier started to react to
her. He was still hidden from Usagi's line of fire. He was also
holding a little girl in his arms.

    Ami paused, she gasped as she noticed it and faltered on the
trigger.

    Unfortunately, the soldier didn't. She felt a painful force slam
into her gut. It was the first time she had such a wound; it burned
badly and almost knocked her off of her feet.

    She grit her teeth and grunted in pain and anger. Bringing herself
up to bear, she twisted and fired her weapon. The man fell to the
ground and fired off a few more rounds as he died. The hit the ceiling
as he slammed into the ground, the little girl was dead, but she had
unwittingly shielded him from the bullets.

    Ami frowned at this, and staggered forward as he groaned in pain.
She stared at her for a moment down the barrel of her rifle. With a
rough snort, she shot the man in his chest, silencing him completely.

    The people along the wall gasped in shock and horror as she
trained her weapon on them. The woman was screaming now, and had
fallen to her knees. The girl was probably her daughter.

    "This isn't real," muttered Ami to herself as she staggered over
to the target. She kept the weapon trained on them the whole time and
kneeled down to inspect him. It took about a second to search through
his pockets and find the disk. Her arm was growing weary, and she
could feel the blood flowing from her open wound. "Damn. I've almost
finished!" she muttered as she struggled to keep herself from
collapsing.

    Finally, she struggled to her feet and slowly moved back across
the room. She walked over to the wall and leaned against it just under
the air grate where Usagi was still watching.

    Ami found herself smirking despite it all; she could hear the
girl's sobs from above her. She held up the disk and slid it between
the grate. "Take it, finish this damn it."

    "But...you're..."

    "Already dead. Get the hell out of here. I'll see you when you get
back," muttered the girl as she coughed and glared at the people as
they cowered away from her. She was between them and the exit.
"There'll be more in a few minutes. Get going!"

    "I won't leave you!" cried Usagi. Ami couldn't see her, but oddly
enough, she could imagine the look on her face.

    "Don't make this for nothing," growled the girl as she stared at
the teary eyed woman. She was still sobbing, and didn't look like she
would recover any time soon. Those with her held her back forcefully,
fearing what might happen if she ran to her daughter's body.

    "You killed that girl..." muttered Usagi as her voice became
clearer suddenly.

    "Go, or I'll kill you as well," growled Ami weakly. She didn't
even have the strength left to hold her weapon upright. She closed her
eyes and listened. There was no sound; she wasn't sure if it was just
the blood loss, or if Usagi had actually managed to leave that
quietly. "Guess I'll never know..." she said calmly as her head
drooped down.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    "Enough!" cried Urd as she stood up with tears in her eyes. "I've
seen enough..."

    The images stopped playing suddenly, pausing on that scene. The
gods were sitting around the table with Trunks at the head. Each of
their faces was lit up by a different colored light that shined up
from the edge of the table in front of them. The boy had his hands
folded in front of his face; he was wearing white gloves, and a pair
of lightly tinted sunglasses. He smirked at them from behind his hands
and said nothing.

    "Not very pleasant is it?" said Venus quietly.

    "No, it is not," said Amaterasu. She looked only slightly upset
really.

    Mars snorted and looked rather pleased. Shiva merely nodded her
head and said nothing, and Zeus muttered to himself for a moment
before looking at Trunks. "Did they complete the objective?"

    The boy arched his eyebrow at this; he pushed his glasses up his
nose as he started to speak. "No, but they came very close. Nabiki
didn't manage to escape with the disk. They had it decoded, and she
was almost out though."

    "My avatar seems to be making progress rather well," noted Shiva.

    "She was the most changed," agreed Trunks with an uncertain frown
on his face. "I'd have to say Usagi would be second in that category."

    "I do not know what to think about what you have done to Usagi,"
said Amaterasu calmly.

    "What have you done to them?!" cried Venus in horror.

    "Seems like he's preparing them for a war," commented Mars.

    "Yes, I do not agree with some of this, but I admit it is rather
effective," agreed Zeus.

    "In any case, even if I win, they will still have to face Mistress
Nine, possibly the Dark Moon Family although I doubt that one will
come into play, and Galaxia," said Trunks with a serious looking nod.
"I still have my doubts on whether or not they can take on Galaxia
alone, but they'll have help if everything goes well."

    The gods all looked at him for a moment and said nothing.

    "At any rate, shall we go see how they are progressing now? What
you just saw was a compilation of several weeks actually. They are
much improved at this point. It's almost time."

    "Almost time for what? I thought you said they had another six
months!" cried Urd.

    "Why, it's almost time for me to give them back their powers. I'm
almost glad you guys came along actually." He grinned at them all
widely. "I was planning on synthesizing them after I shut down the
barriers that hold them in check. Yggdrasil is strong enough to enter
this dimension on it's own, but your powers would have still been
blocked. They probably would have lost their powers anyway because of
that, but I didn't want them clinging to any residual power that might
have been left behind." The boy steepled his fingers and glared down
at all of them. "However, I think I'll wait a day or two for that.
They'll need a bit of time to adjust to having them back as well."

    Urd nodded at this and seemed slightly relieved. "Why train them
like this then?"

    "So they don't have to rely on their powers," replied Trunks.
"Also, so they understand what real combat is. I couldn't train them
as martial artists, because they just don't have the ability to meet
the levels they'd need to in order to fight what they'll be against.
This was the next best thing I could think of." The boy paused to
smile at them all in a somewhat unfriendly fashion. "In any case, I'm
sure you're eager to see the results. Shall we?"

+++++++++++++++++++++

    Rei frowned as she glared down between the grates at the scene
below her. There were several dozen people tied up in the room, with
about four guards posted among them. "Usagi, you in place yet?" she
said quietly into the tiny microphone that curled down from her ear.

    "Almost," replied the girl on the other end. Ami and Makoto aren't
in position yet either.

    "Ami?!" muttered Rei. She almost gasped.

    "We ran into some resistance," commented the girl coolly. "We're
in position now though."

    "Cut down the chatter ladies, I want radio silence. We may be
scrambled, but that doesn't mean someone can't break in," said
Nabiki's voice. "As for this operation, you may fire when ready
ladies."

+++++++++++++++++++++

    Various muffled screams erupted from the hostages as a pair of
female soldiers burst down from the air vents above them. They were
dangling from their feet by a thin chord of black rope and had a pair
of sub machine guns in each hand.

    The shocked guards didn't have time to react as they spun in the
air and blasted everything that wasn't sitting. Unfortunately, that
meant one or two of the hostages as well.

    Three more of the female soldiers burst into the room from
opposite sides and performed a clean sweep of the interior. The first
two landed on the ground and quickly replaced their weapons with
assault rifles after removing their masks to reveal long blonde hair
that was tied up in a bun on each of them.

    "Rei," said Ami as she pulled off her mask as well. The two
blondes were forcing those near the wall to move back, shoving them
aside almost carelessly.

    The girl smirked and leveled a grenade launcher at one of the
walls. "Instant exit, coming up." The room filled with shards of
cement and a thick cloud of dust.

    Outside, after the dust cleared, a huge half-track truck waited
for them. Nabiki opened the door as the girls paused at the sight of
the machineguns that were pointed at them. "It's all I could scavenge.
Shut up and load them up! I want to be gone before they can react."

    "Rei, did you disable their transportation?" said Ami coolly as
she strolled by the girl.

    "Huh? Oh yeah," said the girl as she waved off the comment.
"Taking care of it now." She pulled out a small remote and pressed the
single button on it after flicking a toggle switch on the side.
"Done."

    The confused looking hostages screamed in terror as the sound of
an explosion a short distance away shook the building and caused a
shower of dust to fall on them from above.

    "Move it ladies!" snapped Nabiki sharply.

    "She is correct, the mission is not yet completed," agreed Ami.

+++++++++++++++++++++

    That night, there was a large party going on at the tavern in the
small town that Trunks had created for their off time.

    "Hey Larry! Another round!" cried Makoto as she slapped Rei on the
back and called to the bartender.

    The man grinned at the call and began to fill up several mugs.

    Ami was sitting quietly beside Usagi, neither one appeared all
that interested in the other. The shorthaired girl had her eyes closed
and was leaning back in her chair, simply listening to the sounds
around her. The blonde was playing with a knife that was stuck into
the table casually. She seemed happy, but distant.

    "Well, hello ladies," said a voice that made the whole bar go
silent.

    "Sir!" barked the girls as they jumped to their feet and saluted
Trunks.

    The boy chuckled at this and strolled inside. "Relax, you're off
for the night. I don't have anything new for ya." He sat down at the
table they had for themselves and grinned. "I do have some news for
ya."

    "What's that?" said Nabiki a little sourly.

    "Yes, tell us," said Usagi with a cheerful smile.

    "It's not something bad either," grumbled Trunks as he looked away
from them. "Jeez, even I give you good news sometimes."

    "Yes, but not usually," commented Nabiki coolly.

    "All right. Fine, here you go." The boy placed several familiar
looking pens on the table, and a brooch.

    "These are..." muttered Rei dumbly.

    "Our transformation pens," said Minako in shock. A broad
shouldered man was acting as her chair, and she had her hands around
his neck. She had looked quite happy until Trunks had walked into the
room.

    He glanced at her for a moment and frowned. "Um, you do realize
he's not real. Right?"

    "Yeah? So?" said the girl as she blinked at him, her attention
away from the pens on the table.

    "What good do these do us?" muttered Rei.

    Trunks almost slapped her. "Don't be stupid! You've got your
powers back of course!"

    Usagi simply stared at him for a moment. "What?"

    "You can become Sailor Moon again starting tomorrow. The exercises
will start being tailored for it actually. You'll need them."

    "That's nice, but what good does that do me?" grumbled Nabiki
sourly. She had no desire to become one of the senshi, but she did
feel a slight dread creep up to her. She didn't want to be alone
again."

    "Oh, that. Well, it's pretty simple really. When was the last time
you saw more than a little combat anyway? You're an officer and
they're the grunts. Do your job like always."

    Nabiki blinked at this. "What?"

    "You've always been more of a supporting role in combat situations
Nabiki. You give orders and plan things, they follow the orders.
Nothing's changed; you've just got stronger weapons at your disposal
so to speak. All I ever really do is give you objectives, how you meet
them is your problem."

    "Oh," said the girl as she realized what he had said was mostly
true.

    "Well, enjoy the rest of your evening off ladies," said the boy as
he stood up and left them to their party.

    Once he left the door he paused and glanced over his shoulder.
"Wonder how long it'll take them too..."

    A multicolored flash of light shined through the window for a few
seconds. The boy smirked to himself and shook his head as he walked
away. Various shouts of joy from the senshi could be heard from
within.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

    The next day...

    "I am Sailor Moon! On behalf of the Moon! I shall punish you!"

    "There they are!"

    Boom.

++++++++++++++++++

    "What the hell were you thinking?" said Trunks lamely as he stared
at the girls as they hung their heads in shame and looked at him
rather pathetically.

    "Well, it always worked before," muttered Minako.

    Trunks slapped himself in the face in frustration. "All that
training, and you blow your first outing with your powers because
you're too stupid to remember that standing on rooftops and spouting
poetry makes you a target?"

    Ami frowned at that. The boy was right; she hadn't posed with the
others, and had been too surprised to really react once Usagi started
her usual routine. Nabiki had been the only one to survive that
encounter, and she was still limping from the wound.

    "Jeezus! You'd think people who have seen their own intestines
before would know better than to pull crap like this!" cried Trunks as
he glared at Usagi.

    The girls all went slightly green at the mention of this. They had
all been in that position at least once during the past several
months. It was not a pleasant memory.

    "At any rate, tomorrow you go back again!" snapped Trunks.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

    Usagi frowned as she glared at the thing standing over the town.
She wasn't sure how long it had been since they started training with
their powers, but things hadn't gotten any easier for them since that
day.

    At the moment, they were fighting what appeared to be a three
hundred foot long giant lobster.

    "Tsukino! Pay attention!" snapped Nabiki from her headset.

    "Right!" muttered the girl as she focused her power into her
palms. It was a ball of white light.

    "How much longer?" growled Makoto as she moved up beside the girl.
She was holding a bolt of lightning in her hand with a sour looking
frown on her face. The electricity moved and writhed in her grip, but
still retained a spear like shape despite it.

    "It's too big, and that damn armor isn't denting," commented Rei
from the headsets.

    She was down on the ground directly in front of the creature. It
lumbered forward. The girl jumped back to avoid one of its claws and
growled in anger. "Mars Fire Cannon!" cried the girl as she dropped to
one knee and positioned her arms as if she was firing a rocket
launcher. Flames burst to life in her grip, taking the shape of a
rather large version of such a weapon. With a resounding boom, a huge
ball of flame shot from the barrel of the fire weapon and slammed into
the thing's armored hide. It covered the monster completely, but did
no real damage. The monster was slightly irritated by this, and
continued to lumber after her.

    "We are set," said Ami's voice. "Mars, do you almost have it in
position?"

    "Why do I have to be the bait!?" cried the girl in frustration as
she dodged again.

    "Because, you're the only one who can irritate it enough to make
it follow you," replied Nabiki calmly.

    "Damn," grumbled the girl as she rushed across a bridge that ran
across a rather large river. The monster followed after her as she
pelted it with small fireballs, egging it on and keeping it angry
enough to follow after her.

    The bridge groaned under the weight of the monster as it crawled
onto it, it crushed the concrete easily under its claws as it rumbled
across and it was clear that the structure would not hold.

    The other senshi were all standing on the other side of the river
at this point, having moved together from wherever their hiding places
had been before, waiting patiently. Finally, the monster was in
position.

    "It's all the way on the bridge. Go!" cried Nabiki. She wasn't
with them at the moment, and was watching over from a small mobile
command center.

    Ami pressed a small detonating switch and the remains of the
bridge exploded, sending the monster into the river with a mighty
splash.

    "Hino! Kino! Do it now!"

    The pair nodded and jumped into the air.

    "Jupiter Thunder Storm!"

    "Mars Fire Cannon Barrage!"

    Hundreds of fireballs and dozens of lighting bolts slammed into
the water from the sky. The water glowed orange for a moment beneath
the surface and started to boil instantly, then there was a red flash
of light and a huge boom tore through the air, shattering every window
in the small town in its wake.  A huge cloud of steam rose into the
air from the now dry riverbed.

    Ami stared at it with a pair of goggles that allowed her to see
through the thick cloud. She saw a giant dead youma at the bottom of
the riverbed. "Mission complete."

    "All right! Giant steamed lobster!" cried Makoto.

    Usagi gave out a sigh of relief. Even if the tactic hadn't worked
and killed it, they would have lured it away from the town at least.
That would have made using their more destructive attacks much easier.

    "That was too easy," muttered Nabiki with a small frown. They
hadn't had to deal with something so large, clumsy, and stupid in a
long time. Most of their enemies as of late had been intelligent
beings, much smaller and more agile. She had to admit, they hadn't
fought anything with that much resistance to damage before.

    Trunks floated down from above and clapped his hands as he watched
them for a moment. "Excellent. Very well done. Your patrons are quite
impressed."

    The senshi looked uncomfortable at the mention of the patrons.
Trunks had told them about the gods who gave them their powers, and
the idea didn't sit well with some of them. Others didn't really care,
but it seemed to bother Usagi the most. She believed that it was her
own power and will that allowed her to succeed before.

    Trunks confirmed that belief, stating that she wouldn't have been
able to access as much power as she had unless that was true. Still,
the power had to come from somewhere. Why not gods? He wasn't sure why
it bothered some of them, but it did slightly. Only Ami and Minako
seemed indifferent to it.

    The girls hadn't met any of the gods since they arrived. The gods
themselves were looking at it as some sort of vacation really. They
spent most of their time in a self-contained 'heaven' that the boy had
made for them shortly after their arrival. They lent their powers, and
watched the show for the most part.

    "That seemed too easy," said Nabiki as she glared at the boy.

    "Oh? Well, I thought I'd take it easy on you today," replied the
boy as he smirked at them all. "Thought keeping you busy would be the
best way to keep your mind off waiting."

    "Waiting for what?" said Usagi dumbly.

    As if on cue, a door opened from thin air behind him and he
smirked at them all. "That of course."

    The girls simply stared at the opening in their reality for a long
time. None of them were able to speak at all really.

    Nabiki finally managed. "It's...it's been?"

    "A whole year," said Trunks as he nodded at them cheerfully.
"You've all done rather well actually." He paused at the dumb looks he
was getting from them. "What? You mean you -all- lost track of the
time?!" he said as he stared at them for a moment in shock.

    "Well, we have been busy," said Usagi nervously.

    "Oh, well, we can go now," said Trunks with a small shrug.

    The boy didn't react fast enough and quickly found himself
trampled under a large group of teenage girls. "Of all the
ungrateful..." he muttered painfully.

    "Well, that was interesting," commented Hotaru as she walked up to
him and helped him up. "Fun's over again?"

    "Yeah, shame it is. We've got one more day in this room. Won't be
the same though." He sighed and smirked at the girl. "Did you tell the
gods?"

    "Yeah, that's them," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the
group of immortals who were walking up to them.

    "It's been fun," said Venus cheerfully.

    "Yeah, right," grumbled Urd lamely. "It's bad enough I've been
here this long! Who knows what might have happened to Keiichi since
I've been gone!?"

    "He might have found some peace and quiet?" offered Trunks as he
twisted his pinky into his ear for a moment.

    "Gah! That's horrible! Um...I mean I should find him before
Belldandy gets worried!" She rushed out the door and the other gods
followed after her.

    Mars hung back and smirked at Trunks. "So, I finally get to meet
the New Lord of All? Not as impressive as I imagined."

    The boy peered at him for a moment and shrugged. "I'm a lot more
impressive when I'm all there ya know?"

    "Lord of All?" said Hotaru dumbly.

    "It's a long story, and you don't need to hear it," said Trunks
with a heavy sigh. "It's just this title thing I picked up on a really
weird adventure. Doesn't mean anything really."

    "Indeed," commented Mars with a slight chuckle. "Not to this
version of you anyway. I'll be seeing you."

    "You'd best remember who you're teasing, Mars," snorted Trunks
calmly. "The real me isn't nearly as forgiving as I am."

    "Well, that made absolutely no sense. I've decided that I really
don't want to know," commented Hotaru as she walked out the door with
him.

+++++++++++++++++

TBC...

    Finally! It's done! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

    Still a bit darker than I intended with this part. It got better
though. Next time: Free at last!

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'