Hi!

Sorry for the delay in responding to the C&C. My work has switched my shifts 
on me again - I went from a graveyard shift to a morning shift, and it's got 
me all messed up sleepwise. Hopefully I'll be staying on mornings long 
enough to settle back into a routine that will buy me some more computer 
time. ^_^

 Chapter 5: The Ghosts That Haunt Me

	Once, long ago, the entire earth realm had been united under the
banner of the great King Hyperion. His people had called him the Golden
Emperor, and his dominion had stretched from one horizon to the other.

	So, about 35 miles in radius, then?

Hush. We're trying to be dramatic, here. ^_^

Hyperion: "Yeah, I, like, totally conquered that abandoned lot out back last 
week."
Endymion: "All hail the rulers of Strongbadia!"

I suppose you could expand that
by making the observation deck of the palace tower higher, but even

>from high orbit, you'd only be seeing half the planet at best.

It was olden times. The planet was smaller back then. And, uh, flat.

Yeah, that's the ticket... ^_^

Concerned with the welfare of his people, he marched his armies even into
their dreams, and quelled the various beings he found in that strange

	"We're from the Department of Dream Security, and we're here to help."

Hyperion was just sick and tired of all those darned monsters under the bed, 
so he tracked them home and started scaring them in *their* sleep. Fair is 
fair.

This, he
had decided, would not do. Leaving the mysterious 'Metallia' and her
people alone never crossed his mind.

	Oh, dear.  We *know* this won't end well.

Yeah, but it always seems like such a good idea at the time...

Hyperion was sort of right, in a way. Metallia was a potential threat to 
everything he held dear. He just managed to turn her into a *kinetic* threat 
much faster than would have otherwise been the case. Basically, he stumbled 
across a sleeping mountain lion and decided that rather than risk it jumping 
on him later, he had better poke it with a stick right away.

Had he been stronger, King Hyperion would
have led the advance himself, but in his weakened state it had fallen to

	Sug:  "but given his age,"

Good idea. I'll have to go back over this part.

his son Prince Orcus, the regent of the dreamlands, to carry his banner
into this twisted Dark Kingdom. The armies of the dreaming had clashed
for ages with the evil minions of Metallia and her realm of nightmares,

	"ages" is a bit vague.

Yes. One might almost say deliberately so. ^_^

Especially since we don't know what it would
mean, subjectively, to people that (presumably) had much longer
average lifespans than we do in RL.

I seem to recall some mention being made that back in the "old days" people 
could live for incredibly long times. I'm talking *biblical* ages, here. The 
kind where the fire department demands to be on call for your next birthday 
party on account of all the candles. And they bring a truck.

Suffice it to say, then, that Hyperion was older than the average mountain 
when this war started. And it lasted a very, very, *very* long time.

Surely there had to be a more peaceful way. After all, it had been Orcus
and Hyperion who had begun the assault. Metallia could not be blamed for
defending herself. Escalating the conflict was out of the question.

	Unfortunately, sometimes you don't get to choose to sit things out.

Well, after Hyperion went after her, Metallia started to wonder who might be 
planning to do it next. One lesson Hyperion taught Metallia very well was 
the concept of "pre-emptive strikes". Ironically, if Serenity had backed up 
Hyperion in the first place, they might have succeeded in wiping the DK out 
before they had a chance to retaliate.

Unfortunately, Serenity instead chose to sit back and remain aggressively 
neutral even when Metallia was knocking on her front door and carrying a 
garland of human heads. For all their power, the Sailor Senshi were never 
*used*. They were held in reserve until there was nothing left to back up or 
support. Queen Serenity was a peaceful ruler - she did not want to risk an 
open war.

Of course, we all know the response to that one: "Open war is upon you, 
whether you would risk it or not. This is an army bred for a single 
purpose... et cetera."

I ain't going to sit here quoting the whole movie. Tolkien is not *that* 
interesting to me. :p

The trophies and monuments to
Endymion and Orcus had been shattered or carted away long ago: good
riddance, in his opinion. It still sickened him to remember how he used
to faun over those so-called 'nobles' back in the old days.

	"Fawn."  A 'faun' is something like a satyr, IIRC.

Nuts. Willl fix. ^_^

	Repetition of "sickened."  Maybe 'nauseated' for one instead?

Good idea. I think I'll do it.

	"Quartzie," he said, smiling in recognition. "Long time, no see.
Tell me, how are the rest of the Doom and Gloom Girls?"

	Eh?  I'm pretty sure that each of the DGGs got killed off,
*decisively,* during the assault against Beryl that ended SM Season 1.

They sure did. Why, they're as dead as Nise Suiko and Badamon.

Getting suspicious, yet? ^_~

You'll see, Jadeite - this time, those Sailor Senshi won't come
back from what we do to them!"

	...so, who brought *them* back?

Same person who resurrected most of the other dead people in this fic. ^_^

No, not ME. I'm referring to the *actual* villain of this piece. We haven't 
been introduced to him yet, and we won't be for a little bit. He's still 
working through intermediaries like Badamon right now. Trust me: there is a 
master plan at work here. You are supposed to be asking these questions.

Jadeite scowled in the priest's direction and flicked his fingers
imperiously at the tattered old freak. Radanthus and Badamon could both
wait, as far as Jadeite was concerned.

	Heh.  Though it does raise the question, how powerful *is* Jed,
compared to Raddie.  Or, for that matter, Badamon?

Right now? Jadeite has a *lot* more raw power than Badamon: the old priest 
may be able to do things that Jadeite can't, but he needs time to prepare 
and the necessary spell ingredients. As a fighter, Badamon is the pits. 
Jadeite could wipe the floor with him. Heck, *Ami* could wipe the floor with 
him. Badamon's power is more subtle and malicious - not much use in a 
straight out fight. You may notice that Badamon turns into a snivelling wimp 
any time he gets threatened or confronted by someone stronger than him.

Radanthus, however, is the opposite. All power, no subtlety. Radanthus at 
his prime was able to stand up to both Arago and Queen Beryl and flip them 
off. That's why he's called "the Unconquered": because he was the only 
creature in the world who never served anybody other than himself. He may 
not have been able to kill or defeat either of those two, but he was able to 
convince them that it wasn't worth the pain to fight him. He could probably 
squish Jadeite like a bug if he wanted to.

So, with Badamon at one end of the "sneaky vs. powerful" scale, and 
Radanthus at the other, Jadeite falls nicely in the middle. He is about on 
par with Nise Suiko or one of the Masho of the Dynasty - not powerful enough 
to be considered a god, but mean enough to make you act like he is until you 
are sure that he has left the building.

	"But, Lord Jadeite-"

	"Come to think of it," Jadeite said to Quartzie, ignoring Badamon
completely, "why don't I just go with you and speak to Shale myself right
now? I'm sure she would appreciate it, and I'm not really doing anything
important at the moment. Shall we?"

<groan>  I really would have expected Jed to be smarter than this --
he's deliberately pissing off his host, with no real current intel, no 
backup, and no good reason (yet).  The smart thing would be to play along 
until he has more data.

True, but Jadeite is mostly just trying to piss off Badamon, here. Jadeite 
does not like Badamon, for no particular reason. Mostly because Badamon acts 
like Jadeite should listen to him, and Jadeite is of a much different 
opinion.

There is also something to be said for the tactical stupidity of walking 
straight into somebody's throne room to discuss the conditions of your 
service when you have no idea what is going on or how strong your bargaining 
posture is. And also you are surrounded by the other guy's troops with 
nobody to back you up. Jeddy was in a very nasty position here either way.

He was still stupid and arrogant to do something like this just because he 
wanted to prove a point to Badamon, but at least he was less idiotic than he 
might have seemed. ^_^

	But, like I said before, getting brainsucked by Beryl appears to have 
supressed the Fab Four's higher intellect functions, while
exaggerating the worst parts of the personalities.

This is true. Aggressiveness is something Jadeite does not lack. He is also 
fully stocked with arrogance and bad temper. It's *common sense* he seems to 
be lacking most of the time.

	"Follow them, Nise Suiko. We don't want Jadeite getting any of the
wrong ideas about who is running things, here. If he wishes to oppose
Radanthus, then he is welcome to join us. If he does not wish to join
us, well..." Badamon shrugged eloquently. "Accidents do have a way of
happening around you, don't they? Make sure one happens to him."

	"Why?  He's not Shin Mouri.  I only wanna kill Shin Mouri.  Will this get 
me closer to killing Shin Mouri?"

Nise Suiko still thinks that Shin died in Chapter Two.  Once he finds out 
that he was mistaken, trust me: he will be charging back to Earth as fast as 
his little booties can carry him. Until then, he's really just going through 
the motions. Badamon says go catch the intruder, Nise Suiko goes to catch 
the intruder. Badamon says go kill Jadeite, Nise Suiko goes and kills 
Jadeite.

Badamon: "Nise Suiko! The time has come... to destroy Cleveland!"
Nise Suiko: "Yeah, whatever. I don't even care any more."

Looking down at his
master, the monster in the crimson armour nodded his understanding.

	<boggle>  "Master"?  I *really* don't see NS calling *anyone* that.

Nise Suiko would never call Badamon his master.

That does little to affect the reality of the situation, however. Badamon 
really is in charge of Nise Suiko, whether Nise Suiko wants to admit it or 
not. Most of what Nise has done so far has been at Badamon's command.

rest of the small group with his steady gaze. The table in front of him
was littered with charts and maps of the nearby waters, covered in his own
carefully pencilled notes and measurements.

	Gah.  They're trying to chase down a target that isn't there, anymore.

True, but they don't know that. Nise Suiko is the only lead they have at the 
moment, since they blew up Vepres back in Chapter Two. Plus, Shin is a 
little bit fixated. He and Nise are more alike than either of them is 
willing to admit - at least when it comes to finding and killing each other. 
^_^

Forget about Nise Suiko - let's just hit the streets, find some
youma, and pound some answers out of them!"

	Riiiight.  Because Youma are around selling fake rolexes and
counterfit Guchii bags in every shady alley.

Well, not exactly, but Ryo is not known for his ability to sit still and 
wait for the enemy's next move. Ryo is by nature an agitator. He'd rather be 
out doing something than sitting around and cooling his heels. At least 
running around the city searching for youma that might or might not be there 
would give him something to do.

Arguably, it would be about as pointless as what he is doing at the moment 
(lying on the couch and waiting for Shin to be brilliant), but at least it 
would *feel* more like he was helping. And it could hardly be less useful 
than his current job (see above).

 What does Ryo think this
is, a Spillane novel?  Or maybe a Buffy episode?

He *wishes* it was that easy. ^_^

Ryo is pretty accustomed to dealing with the Dynasty, though, and they do 
not usually rest on their laurels. Most of his usual enemies would be up to 
*something* by now, whether it be attacking the populace or taking over 
sections of the city. Love him or hate him, at least Arago was hard to 
ignore. He was always sending out the armoured soldiers to mess with the 
Troopers. Heck, half the time, they had to actively hide just to avoid 
getting ambushed.

All this "show up, attack, then vanish" stuff is new territory to Ryo. Even 
Shin is assuming that Nise must be *somewhere* nearby - the idea that their 
enemy might be using hit and run tactics has not occured to them.

	"Ooh," Shuu cooed, "going to go check out the Sailor Senshi?"

	<ahem>  "Ryo and Ami, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S--"

That part comes later. ^_^

	"I think you meant 'check up on' the Sailor Senshi, Shuu." Ryo

	The sad part is, he's serious.

Yep. So noble you want to kick him in the head.  Poor boy can't even pick up 
on some perfectly decent innuendo. >_<

	"Oh." Ryo thought about for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, either
way, that's where I'm going to be. Catch you two losers later. Ja ne!"

	Yes, the degree of bonding and teamwork here is a wonder to behold.

The Samurai Troopers get along about as well as any other group of teenaged 
boys would. They have their moments where they are closer than brothers, and 
they have their moments where so help them GOD, if Shuu makes that slurping 
noise with his straw ONE MORE TIME, they are going to freak out and kill 
him. ^_^

	"Oh, no," Shin said, suddenly bolting to his feet and casting a
worried glance at the door. "My God, Shuu - it's today, isn't it? Today
is the day that Luna...."

	uh oh.

I'll bet you had forgotten the reason that Shin dragged Ryo down here in the 
first place, hadn't you? Shin and Shuu sure as heck did. ^_^

I mentioned it way back in chapter one: Ryo was brought down here to be with 
his friends because they were worried about him. He was starting to sink 
into a deep depression, and Shin had guessed that it was because of the 
anniversary of Luna's death.

I do *not* refer here to Usagi's cat. I got enough questions about that the 
last time I brought her up. :p

	"What?" Shuu glanced over at the calender and his mouth fell open
in astonishment. "Oh, man! No way we could forget something that important
to him! Ryo, he must think.... Why didn't he SAY something?"

	Because Real Men, being idiots, don't share their pain with their
brothers.

Pretty much, yeah. Ryo is more of a "blame myself, hide my pain, act like 
it's okay while I'm falling apart inside" kind of guy. The whole reason he 
never thinks is that not focusing on anything is his main way of staying 
functional. Canonically, Ryo often suffers from bouts of long, severe 
depression. He tends to slip into "stoic and brooding" without warning.

I suspect he needs a hug. ^_^

If anybody could find a way out of this realm, it
would be Touma Hashiba. Toshitada Koma was counting on it: although he had
only entered this vile realm to assist his fellow heroes, his own escape
now lay in their hands as well. The Castle of Eternal Regret let no soul
out of its clutches easily.

	Well, I was wondering about that.  Point to Toshi for guts and loyalty.

Oh, yes: Toshitada is the personification of Loyalty. Literally. ^_^

	"You tied me up," he said, an accusing tone in his voice.

	"Would you prefer being tied *down*?"
	"Only by Mak-- nevermind."

Heh. ^_^

	"First of all, nobody asked you to come here. Secondly: how the
hell can you carry me, anyway? I thought you were supposed to be a ghost!
What's going on, here?"

	Oh, yeah, yell at the guy who's saving your butt because you didn't
*ask* him to.  I've *never* understood that particular streak of illogic.

I normally can't either, but in Touma's head it sort of makes sense.

Toshitada showed up without being asked. He is there of his own accord, and 
Touma did nothing to make him come. In fact, Touma is pretty sure that he 
doesn't *need* Toshitada's help - he would probably be okay by himself. 
Toshitada, however, is bitching about everything and acting like it's all 
Touma's fault that he is there at all.

Touma's argument: "I was doing fine by myself. You decided to come by and 
lend a hand. How is it *my* fault that you're having a hard time? When, 
exactly, did I force you to be here?"

Toshitada's counter-argument: "Shut up before I smack you."

	Besides, Toshi was able to bandage Touma up, earlier, so why
*wouldn't* he be solid enough to carry him, too?

Being able to affect small things (like a roll of bandages) can be done by a 
ghost or spirit. Lifting an entire person and carrying them for several 
miles tends to be beyond the pale for even an aggressive ghost like 
Toshitada. It's a case of mass over time.

Float a book across the room? Okay, I'll buy it. Haul an entire bookshelf 
across town? Hang on a minute, something is fishy, here.

	"Figures.  I finally get my body back, and the only girl in the whole 
realm is Mad Crushing on the guy *I'm* carrying across this desert!"

Yeah, and the only one who might be able to explain what the hell is going 
on is not just merely dead, he is truly and *sincerely* dead. Kaos ain't 
coming back from where he went.

Uh... any more than he already has. ^_^

Was this the first
sign that Arago might once again rise to menace their realm?

	Whoa, now.  Just b/c everybody *else* is coming back from... um.  You 
know, let's NOT go down that road.

Hehehehe.... ^_^

	Although... aren't the Troopers *much* more powerful now than they
were when they defeated Arago?  Why be so worried about him staging a 
comeback?

The Troopers *are* more powerful than they were the last time they fought 
Arago, yes. But Arago himself draws his strength from... (dum, dum, duuuuum) 
...their mystic armour. The stronger they get, the more powerful it makes 
him by comparison. Arago's strength is supposed to be equal to the combined 
might of all nine mystic armours, because that is what he is: the ultimate 
source of all nine armours. He always comes back bigger and stronger than he 
was the last time they fought him, because defeating Arago makes them 
stronger. Which makes Arago stronger. So the only way to beat him is to get 
more powerful. Which makes him... you see where this is going.

Usually, the Troopers are only able to win by using the Kikoutei, because it 
is the only power they have that is not connected to Arago, and therefore is 
able to trump him. The armour of Kikoutei is summoned by Ryo when he absorbs 
the power of the other Troopers because their combined virtues turn him into 
a paragon of such awesome stature that the armour mistakes him for its true 
owner and responds to his call (this is canon).

So, who was the real bearer of the Kikoutei? In the show, they never say. 
They merely state that the armor existed from the dawn of recorded time, and 
that it was once worshipped as a god by the people of the Earth. The full 
name of the armour is "Shiroi Kikoutei Yoroi" which is roughly translated as 
"White Sun Emperor Armour".  I have built on that to help better integrate 
the Troopers into the SM universe.

Remember: I do my research, and I like to have fun with names. I know who 
the Sun Emperor was in this fic, and by now you should have everything you 
need to figure it out, too. ^_^

	"A good theory," Toshitada admitted, nodding to himself, "but the
O-Bon is not for several weeks. Also, I shudder to imagine what

Just a little note, here: Toshitada is wrong. Although some parts of Japan 
celebrate the O-Bon in August, there *are* some places where they believe 
that the festival falls in late July. So technically, the O-Bon might be 
taking place right NOW, as far as the fic is concerned.

kind of
cruel and sadistic universe would consider *you* to be my family."

	Well, they're all Kaos's 'children,' in a sense.

Yes, that they are. Brothers-in-arms, at the very least. And you could 
easily argue that they are the children of Arago just as much as of Kaos, if 
you want to take the Masho point of view.

	Besides, Tohsi, right now you're practically the poster boy for
brotherhood.  Sarcastic, bitter, acerbic, in-your-face brotherhood,
yeah, but...

Well, that just makes him the older brother. Which he is. ^_^

If it meant even a chance that one or more of their old
enemies might escape the afterlife, then Toshitada had no desire to
return to the land of the living. It was best for everyone involved if the 
dead stayed dead, friend and foe alike.

	Yabbut, HOW many times have the main characters in this fic come back from 
the dead, now?

The Troopers? About twice, by my count. The Senshi? Closer to four or five. 
Remember, we have to count their flashback deaths in the Moon Kingdom, too.

Heck, even Arago can claim at least three returns from the dead. He died, 
conquered hell, came back, was killed by Kaos, came back, was killed by Ryo, 
came back, and was killed by Ryo again. We're still waiting to see if that 
stuck. His ghost made a cameo in the Gaiden OAV, so some people are willing 
to call that four. I am a little more stringent, which is why I don't count 
Shuten as resurrected at the moment. Ghosts don't count. ^_^

room increasing. What in the world was he doing here? Why wasn't he
anybody other than him?

	Tee hee!  I just *love* how Ami's thought process go completely to
*pieces* whenever Ryo's around.

Yeah, me too. It's cute, but it might also get old after a while, so I will 
be working to cure her of it. In this very fic, actually. ^_^

	Ami forced herself to nod again and held her book a little bit

	The mental image of Ami hugging a textbook for security the way
someone else might hug a pillow or a stuffed animal is just... squee!

Thanks. I got the idea from an image of Ami hugging a pillow that just 
seemed wrong to me. I figured, if anything, she would be clutching a book 
for comfort. Then the mental image wouldn't go away until I agreed to share 
it with others. ^_^

Maybe if she told him that there was
nobody interesting around, he would go away and let her work on her...
things. With the books, and the paper, and such. Whatever that was

	I'm dying here.

I'm glad you liked this part. Ami is really fun to work with when she is 
flustered.

Sounds like it's as dull here as it is back home."

	That could be taken as an insult...

Even though it isn't meant as one, of course. Ryo can only insult people 
when they are his fellow Troopers (who know he doesn't mean it), or have 
been proven to be evil (in which case they deserve it). Other than that, he 
is a perfect gentleman.

So... noble... kick... in HEAD... >_<

	Ami nodded gratefully. There it was, he was just bored, and this
was no place for a handsome guy with a short attention span. It was dull 
as dirt around here.

	...but of course, *that* never occurs to her.

Ami is very aware that she is boring. She doesn't *want* to be boring, but 
she has come to accept that she is. Ami is too smart to think that everybody 
likes doing advanced algebra by hand.

Of course, Ryo has a reaction to 'boring' that Ami is not expecting... ^_~

Ami sighed almost imperceptibly. He even smelled fantastic.

	Darn it, Ami, don't let him get AWAY!

Please note that her wistful, romantic little sigh was *almost* 
imperceptible. Almost imperceptible and totally imperceptible are a 
distinction that Ryo's ears are proving right about....

	Ryo froze in the doorway, one hand still braced on the frame.

...NOW.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was where Ryo figured it out. Please do not blame 
him for being slow; he did not have access to any of the interior monologues 
that we did. ^_^

	"Uh," she stammered, "Was there s-something you wanted, Ryo?"

Heh. Sorry, but I was just reading this in Ryo's head, and he is thinking 
things he would never say in response to this one. ^_~

	Then again, he supposed getting sealed in a giant block of ice
and left to float out in the rings of Saturn for - how long HAD he been

	<boggle> If they can travel interplanetary, I hope it doesn't occur
to someone to just dump a few dozen middlin' asteroids on Japan...

By logic, they must be able to travel interplanetary, or they could never 
have attacked the Moon Kingdom or any of the other planets that the Senshi 
were supposed to be ruling. Magellan Castle and Io Castle would still be 
occupied by the people of Venus and Jupiter, respectively, if the DK hadn't 
been able to storm them and kill everybody. We're just lucky that the modern 
DK were never about killing people (aside from each other), or they might 
very well have dropped a comet on Tokyo.

Besides, where better to hide a random chunk of ice? I mean, would anybody 
even notice one extra in there?

At least, the other girls tell me
that we did: personally, I don't remember too much after Sailor Ve-"

	Shot you through the brainpan with a laser beam, yeah.

See? You remember which one Quartzie was! ^_^

Almost
as an afterthought, the gigantic creature was wielding what appeared to
be a medium-sized tree in one paw as a makeshift club.

	I wonder if this is who I think it is...

Yes, it is Takenoko the Minotaur. He was the number one requested original 
character from my old RS series that people wanted to see come back. Rest 
assured, I am not so cruel as to only bring him in for a cameo and then 
forget about him. He will be back again later. ^_^

	"Takenoko is blind as a bat," Quartzie whispered to Jadeite as
they passed the guard. "Can't see a damned thing unless it's three inches

>from his own nose. Why he's on sentry duty, I'll never know."

	He's got a nose, and ears.

It's more about intimidation than precision. Besides, it's not like Takenoko 
is a sniper: he swings trees at things. He can afford to be off by a couple 
of inches - it will still hurt. ^_~

Jadeite had prided himself on never sleeping on the same ground
twice. He and his legions had constantly scoured their lands for any sign
of resistance, and he had learned to love life in the camp. This was the
kind of place that he belonged, not that wretched castle.

	A sentiment Sun Tzu would have appreciated.

Jadeite has his strengths. If he plays to them, the Senshi might just be in 
trouble. If he can remember to play to them, of course.

One of Jadeite's strengths is that he tended to have the best relationship 
with his troops. Jadeite's youma were, on average, more intelligent and 
willing to speak their own minds around him: the other generals seemed to 
have youma who were either simple (like Nephrite) or converted human beings 
with no real loyalty to them (like Zoicite or Kunzite). Jadeite had troops 
who could be left to their own devices, and several of them actually came up 
with his plans for him.

Being known for a higher class of cannon fodder may not be the best place to 
start, but with a good tactician he could put those numbers to his 
advantage.

	"Korran looks... familiar..." Jadeite commented, scowling at the
ivory-skinned youth with the crimson hair.

	Uh oh.  Does that mean what I think it means...?

Yes. Yes it does. ^_^

	"I'd watch my tongue if I were you, Verdelith," Quartzie said
angrily, standing on her toes to poke the taller youma in the chest. "You
might regret talking like that about Jadeite!"

	She was just WAITING to do that, wasn't she?

Since the second she realised that she could. Quartzie is the youngest and 
least experienced of the DGG, and the others tend to pick on her. Bringing 
in Jadeite is her big chance to rub something in all of their faces. ^_^

The candlelight gleamed off of the tiara she wore over her
wings as a sign of her rank, and the cracked stone that rested there.

	<Spocked eyebrow>

The stone in Shale's tiara used to be able to cast realistic illusions to 
confuse her enemy. It got broken when Ami Mizuno realised that her Mercury 
Computer could double as a blunt object. That was shortly before Shale 
killed her.

"After all, you are the greatest of Beryl's generals."

	"And what would make you say that?"

	Shale shrugged. "The rest are dead.

	Welllll...  If Beryl hadn't frozen him, he probably *would* be dead.

Not necessarily. Jadeite may not have managed to kill Sailor Moon, but he 
*had* taken Tuxedo Kamen out of the game (as far as they could tell) and he 
had gathered a lot of very useful information. Remember that with Jadeite 
still on the job, there would have been no chance of Nephrite falling in 
love with Naru, and Zoicite would not have had the opportunity to betray and 
murder him. Neither Zoicite nor Kunzite had anything against Jeddy: it was 
only Nephrite who Zoi hated. Zoicite might have lived, too, since it would 
not have been him who fought Tuxedo Kamen over the rainbow crystals. With 
Zoi alive, Kunzite would not have been driven to self-destruction.

The Senshi never actually killed a General themselves in the anime. There is 
no reason to assume that they could have beaten Jadeite if he had not been 
taken out by Beryl. And if they had tried to assault the DK while *all four* 
Shittenou were still alive and kicking? They might have still won, but the 
odds would have been a lot worse IMHO.

In theory, it could have gone either way. That's what fanfic is for: working 
with fun little "what-ifs" like that.

	Neither was his.

Yes, but Shale is giving him points for sheer effort. Not too many other 
Generals went for the whole "you and me, in the cage, for the belt" approach 
to challenging the Sailor Senshi. Jadeite was willing to go head-to-head 
with every single Senshi that existed at the time. Even Zoicite only 
challenged Tuxedo Kamen alone.

Sure, Kunzite did it, but that was only at the very end. His final battle 
with them always seemed more like assisted suicide than anything else to me.

Her smile became less friendly
than it had been a moment before, and Jadeite began to feel a little bit
vulnerable. "Make sure to tell the cook that you'll be recieving some of
my special reserve tonight."

	Why do I not like the sound of that?

Man, *nobody* liked the sound of that! ^_^

A lot of people are thinking that Shale might be planning to kill Jadeite, 
or something. Odds are that she'll try to mate with him first, though, so 
it's kind of a "good news/bad news" deal...

For one thing, she was looking at him like her interests
were not completely tactical or military in nature. That made him a little
nervous: he was beginning to doubt exactly why he had been led here. Maybe
he should have stayed in the castle and met with Radanthus, instead.

	...my, my.  Jaedite has a weakness?  Or, rather, an arena in which
lacks his typical confidence?

Jadeite is beginning to realise that he has walked out of a frying pan and 
into a place that seems to be a little hot and smokey, yes. ^_^

	"I have nothing against Radanthus," Jadeite said sternly, as he
crossed his arms and leaned against the edge of the larger table in the 
main room. "He did free me, after all, and I suppose he would be as good a 
leader as any other we have ever had. He is of the nobility, at least."

	Now, how does he know that?

Oh, Jadeite knew Radanthus back in the day. Well, maybe not *knew* him, but 
knew *of* him, at least. And Radanthus is of the nobility, so he does have a 
valid claim on the throne. Raddy was around back then, he was just refusing 
to side with anybody. Radanthus was sort of like Treebeard the Ent, back 
then: he was on nobody's side, because nobody was on his side.

"The Doom and Gloom Girls are warriors without peer, the
strongest and most lethal members of Beryl's army! When the Dark Kingdom 
hung in the balance, where were Radanthus and his priest? Nowhere! It was

	Good question:  where *was* Raddie?  Badamon was, presumably, still
tied up with Arago.

Like I said above: Raddy was refusing to participate in the attack *or* the 
defence. He and Beryl had irreconciliable differences - he thought she was 
stupid and ugly, and she clearly disagreed.

it was my girls and I who killed them! I held Sailor Mars' broken
body in my arms - I crushed Sailor Mercury with my own hands! And what

	And, IIRC, Mercury bashed your head in with her computer.

Yep, broke her tiara. Shale lived through that, though: IIRC, it was Shale 
who stood triumphant at the end over all four Inner Senshi. She was about to 
go after Usagi when Sailor Mars pulled a last ditch kamikaze attack and took 
them both out with it. Credit where it is due: the Doom and Gloom
Girls held in there a *lot* better than most of the previous youma we had 
seen that far.

Why should you have to bow and
scrape to the likes of Radanthus as if you were his servant? Let us serve
you, and you can meet with him as an *equal*. You deserve to be his
equal, Jadeite. I offer so much, and I ask very little in return. Please, 
do not make me beg for your consideration."

	Gee.  Our Hero(ine)s could just about sit back and wait for the DK
snakepit to fang itself to death.

This is a calculated move by Shale. Her honour won't let her serve 
Radanthus, since he treats her poorly and she hates him. She *can* serve 
Jadeite, though, and Jadeite can serve Radanthus if he wants to. Jadeite is 
somebody that a youma can feel good about serving - especially one who 
prizes aggressiveness and fighting skill.

She kind of is pouring the honey in his ear, though, isn't she? ^_^

	Hm.  So, will Jed choose his old life over vengeance, or...?

	"So," he said, as he stretched out on the pillows next to her and
plucked a shred of meat from the meal on the table, "tell me again about
how you crushed Sailor Mercury with your bare hands...."

	I guess that would have been a sucker bet.

The trick here is that Jed can have both. The two do not conflict if he 
sticks with these youma. He gets to live his life in the manner he is used 
to - in a camp and on the move - while at the same time going after the 
Senshi with a core team of servants who can honestly claim to have already 
killed them once. Jadeite is forming a plan, here.

The scary thing is, so is Shale.

	The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open with a pneumatic
hiss. Ami peered around the edge of the door, stepping almost tentatively
out into the lobby. She was wearing a pair of new blue jeans and a garish
orange and yellow striped sweatshirt with purple sleeves, and she looked
like she might scream and bolt at any moment.

	Is she trying to colorblind him so she can get away?

Sadly, Ami has worn this shirt. I have a picture of her in it. She is able 
to pull it off, but only because of her own inherent cuteness. She is trying 
her damndest *not* to make this a date, though. If this was a date, she 
would not be able to force herself to go on it. The sweater helps to 
convince her that she is safe. After all, she would not wear something this 
atrocious on a date, so that means she is not on one. And thus can go.

Ami has the damnedest logic sometimes. I swear, when it comes to Ryo, she 
can rationalize anything. Nothing like pairing the guy who never bothers 
explaining himself with the girl who is obsessed with figuring things out, 
eh?

if we're willing to walk a bit, we should be able to make it to the 
Yokohama Daisekai museum back in Chinatown." That seemed like a safe bet.

	Good grief!  A *thought*!  In *Ryo's* head!

Ami brings out all kinds of strange reactions in this boy. ^_^

Ryo: "Uh-oh. This one seems kind of smart. Better start thinking."
Ryo's Brain: "Aw, man... do we *have* to? "
Ryo: "Shut up, you!"

guessing that a smart girl like Ami would enjoy going to the museum.
Unless she hated museums. Did girls like museums?

	...do I detect just a *bit* of Ami-style jitter here?  Maybe she's
affecting him a bit more than we thought.

Just a little. The problem is that most of this part is told through Ami's 
eyes, and Ryo is an enigma to Ami. He acts, and speaks, but she can't tell 
what the hell is going on inside of him. I think this is the only part of 
the whole chapter where we get even a slight glimpse into his head. I'll try 
to give a more balanced view of how Ryo views the whole affair later.

Judging from the terrain she had seen so far, it wasn't like there
was anywhere more pleasant to go.

	I wonder how long they've been there, subjective time?

About a week, give or take. Time is weird in this place: it doesn't always 
go in a straight line. For one thing, the sun never sets, so with no night 
and no clocks, it is very hard to be sure where one day ends and the next 
one starts.

Typically, whatever they had been fighting about was apparently not
important enough to keep them all from ganging up on her. That was just 
one of the many perks of being a Sailor Senshi: always bringing people 
together.

	Nice to see Mako-chan hasn't lost her sense of humor.  Yet.

Yeah, she's still a little too optimistic to let this place break her. Yet.

Since then, she had valued silence
over resistance. Talking back only seemed to make the voices stronger.

	No dummy, our Makoto.

Ironically, she's dealing with it better than Touma was. Touma knew the 
voices were evil, so he wasted his strength trying to argue with them. 
Makoto is taking the path of least resistance and just trying to ignore 
them. In the short run, it's better, but in the long run it might not be 
such a good idea.

It was the same dark shade of regal blue as his hair, which was
nearly black in the shadows of the ravine. Noticing Makoto, his eyes 
widened slightly before he let out a relieved laugh.

	Well, it's about bloody time.

My thoughts exactly, which was why I decided *against* putting it off for a 
chapter. I had originally planned all of the Touma/Mako/Toshitada scenes 
here for next chapter: the original chapter had a lot more Ryo and Ami 
focus. Then I realised that I didn't want to leave things hanging over my 
reader's heads, so I decided to get Touma and Mako-chan together again right 
now.

The armoured boy stumbled back slightly
under her weight before his leg buckled and both teens collapsed onto the 
ground.

	Go ahead, Mako-chan, turn the rescue party into casualties.

He still has that bum leg from a few chapters back, or he would not have 
gone down so easily.

That had been a little embarassing. She hadn't meant to lunge
at him like that, but it was just such a relief to see a friendly face 
(especially such a smart, cute, handsome face) after so many days that she 
had acted without thinking. She hoped he hadn't thought it was too forward 
of her - guys liked girls who were all shy and demure, right?

	Girl, if you aren't forward with *this* guy, you'll never pry his
attention away from the Invention Of The Week.

Yep: Touma needs someone who can keep his attention when there is an atomic 
something-or-other in the living room that is crying out to be tinkered 
with. Luckily, Makoto is spirited enough to *make* Touma pay attention to 
her, by ambush glomp if necessary. ^_^

	"Oh," Makoto nodded in understanding. "Well, thanks for taking the
time to come and help us, Koma-sensei..."

	"Spare me your thanks," Toshitada grumbled, crossing his arms and
tilting his hat down over his face. "If the boy weren't so utterly
besotted with you, I never would have had to come here in the first
place. I only helped the fool because the fate of the universe depends on 
him not succumbing to his own idiocy."

	Way to make a girl feel appreciated.

Well, he *did* just tell her that Touma is in love with her, if she was 
paying attention to his actual words instead of the nasty way he was saying 
them. Toshitada can be sneaky that way. He also works heavily through 
reverse psychology. ^_~

	"I'd say he gets better once you know him," Touma apologised, "but
really, all it does is give him more things to criticize you about. The 
scary thing is that of all the Masho, he's actually the MOST pleasant one 
to be around. He does have a point though: we'd better get moving before
that spiky guy comes back with more reinforcements."

	Actually, I kinda liked Anubis in "Dark Crusade" -- he wasn't bad, in a 
hardass kind of way.

True, but Toshitada Koma is still better overall company. He may bitch and 
moan and criticise, but he'll also carry you across the desert, bind up your 
wounds for you, come and get you when you are stuck in a hell dimension, and 
fight off all the monsters while you take a time out to snuggle with your 
girl. If Touma had earplugs, Toshitada Koma would be the best travelling 
companion a guy could hope for. ^_^

Basically, Anubis and Toshitada are not too different - Toshi is just a 
little more bitchy and Anubis is more likely to threaten you with bodily 
harm.

And Naaza was actually kind of likeable, once
you got a handle on his sense of humor.

And the fact that he was a raving lunatic, too! ^_~

Aww... I notice no mention of Rajura. Where's the love for old one-eye?

Although I guess of all the terms to describe Rajura, Hotaru is the *only* 
one who might use "pleasant to be around". And even she would have to think 
really hard about it. At least he never treated her like she was a little 
girl, or acted like she was fragile. Rajura gave Hotaru exactly as much 
respect and consideration as he did any other human being. None. ^_^

	"I know what you mean," Ami admitted sadly as they continued
walking. She guessed that her house was pretty vacant at the moment - her
mother was off at another symposium in Chicago about caring for children 
with learning disabilities. Before that, it had been the medical
convention in Antwerp, and before that it had been an exciting new
research lab in Buenos Aires. The whole reason Ami had been able to get 
away for this vacation was that her mother had no idea she was on it.

	...oh.  Ami....

Ami's parents are divorced, and she never sees either of them. Not too 
different from Touma, only in her case it is her *mother* who is always too 
busy working to pay attention to her.

Music cue: "All Alone" by the Gorillaz. ^_^

	"My dad's in Africa," Ryo said, as though her were reading her
thoughts. "Zimbabwe, I think. At least, the postcard was from Zimbabwe. 
He's taking photographs of the endangered white rhino, or something. We 
don't really keep track of each other much."

Ryo's mom died when he was a toddler. He only knows his dad is alive because 
the checks keep coming every month. If his friends didn't come and get him 
every once in a while, he would be living up in the middle of that forest by 
himself all the time.

And *this* is the boy they ask to save humanity. The one who would be the 
last to notice if they all died. The rest of the human race could be wiped 
out, and Ryo would just wonder why the place was so quiet all of a sudden.

Yet we wonder why he has bouts of depression. :(

	Good grief.  Self-pity.  From Ryo, of all people.

Yeah. Ryo *never* talks about this kind of stuff with *anybody*. Mostly 
because he assumes that they won't understand where he is coming from, and 
he doesn't want to bother them.

Yet here he is, confiding in Ami for no discernable reason. Like I said, 
it's all enigmatic from her perspective.

Stupid! What was she going to next, just
blurt out how handsome he was?

	Nah, that would start the romantic subplot moving before the author
has had enough of torturing you.

Water tastes all the sweeter when you have known thirst. ^_^

I just wish it felt like we were actually getting
somewhere. When we fought Arago, we knew exactly what was going on and

	Oh, yeah?  ISTR a whole lot of confusion and stumbling around in the dark.

Yeah, and that was when they had Kaos to point the way and clear the path 
for them. Compared to this, that seemed easy. At least Ryo could see Arago 
from where he was standing at any given moment: you looked up, there was a 
giant spooky castle in the clouds. This time out, he's got nothin' to work 
with. ^_^

It was fascinating, how his fingers could feel so powerful, and yet hold 
her hand so gently. She would have liked to take
the time to enjoy the sensation, but Ryo was tugging her along as fast as 
her feet could carry her, and most of her concentration was on keeping her 
balance as they ran.

	Hudson, as an author, you make a good hopeless romantic.

Blame my music list. Random track while I was writing this scene was "I 
Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany. Darned Tiffany. ^_^

	Cue:  Bon Jovi, "Shot Through The Heart"

No, but the later scene at the park was written to "Every Rose Has Its 
Thorn". ^_~

And, of course, the title track (literally) - "These Ghosts That Haunt Me" 
by the Crash Test Dummies:

"There are nights when all my aching bones won't let me sleep
And demons come to plague me as I lie in bed
But I know if you were sleeping there beside me then
That you could fend them off and they would let me rest

'Cause you're so kind
I know you would not mind
You'd send away the ghosts that haunt me now
And the things I fear
Just wouldn't seem so near
And when I stroll out late at night
There would be nothing rattling at my heels..."

There was no way that he could possibly know what he was doing to her.
She hadn't given him the tiniest sign.

	No, just EVERYBODY ELSE.
	Speaking of... we've seen Shuu and Shin's perception of her feelings, but 
what are Usagi and Rei thinking?

That will be covered next chapter.

Short story: Rei is less than pleased, and Usagi will need to have it 
explained to her in order to realise that she knew all along. ^_^

Being no strangers to horrifying figures, the youma responded as
only youma could: they leapt into battle.

	Well, Jed and Shale are about to lose their troops.

I like that it's pretty much assumed at this point. Have I been watching too 
many badly-dubbed old kung fu movies? Is it starting to show? ^_^

	"I'm not playing with you, Kirin," Korran insisted, drawing his
shining blade as mystical energy glowed in his eyes. "You're staying here, 
where it's safe.

	Hm.  At first, I thought he was just the smart one.  But now it just seems 
like he thinks his brother isn't much good in a fight.

Korran is very protective of his little brother. Never lets him do anything 
that might be dangerous. You know the type: he cuts all of Kirin's 
sandwiches into circles so his brother won't poke himself on a corner.

	"SUPER WAVE SMASHER!" The ground erupted in a geyser of rushing
water, carrying the screaming twins into the sky and leaving them to 
tumble gracelessly onto the damp ground below. They lay where they fell, 
wet and quivering.

	Does NS share Shin's weakness of fighting outside his element?

Nope. Which is yet another reason why Nise insists that he is the "real" 
Suiko. When he was created by Arago, he was made with all of Shin's power 
but none of Shin's weaknesses. Nise Suiko is the person that Shin Mouri 
would be if Shin Mouri was willing to join the Masho and serve Arago without 
restraint.

	"I think the technical term is 'distraction', sweetheart," the
ninja replied, as she lifted her hands in front of her masked face,
forming a rectangle around her eye with her thumbs and index fingers. 
"Now, don't forget to say 'cheese'!"

	The world lit up, and Nise Suiko cursed as he covered his eyes

	You'd almost think she saw Elios's fight.

Yeah, like I said at the time, this is one of Nise's weaknesses. He still 
needs to see, and there is nothing special about his eyes. He can be easily 
blinded, or disoriented. That gives his opponents an advantage.

	"Doesn't matter," the ninja mumbled in his ear as she slumped
forward onto him. "Still... got my exclusive. Doom and Gloom Girls
slaughter intruder... film at eleven..."

	A youma... ninja... reporter?  Oy.

I swear, I did not make her up. She's *canon*.  ^_^

Looking ahead, he saw Verdelith sliding
through the mud towards him as though she were trying to steal second 
base. He flinched back and threw his hands in front of him as she slammed 
into his face, boots first.

	Wow.  I wonder if...

No, not quite. This was good enough for a two-count, though. ^_^

As the green girl gasped for breath, Nise Suiko fumbled for the knife in 
his shoulder sheath and drove it deep into Garnet's thigh. She screamed, 
and let go of his waist to clutch at the dagger as he twisted it in her 
leg and rolled to safety.

	Nope.

Though in their defence, they did have him down and disoriented for a bit, 
there. That's about as good as Shin or Sailor Mars ever got in their fights 
with Nise Suiko, and it took them a lot longer to pull it off.

	"I don't know who you are," the youma said, hefting his sword
warningly, "but if you do not leave this place, you will be destroyed."

	"Oh, really?" the armoured warrior chuckled and looked at the
youma strewn about the campsite. "I hate to break it to you, but you're
going to need a lot more men."

	He definitely seems to have them outclassed.

Their tactics were bad. Leaping at him without a strategy was not smart. Not 
only that, but their attack came in staggered waves: first Kamisori, then 
Thornz, then the Twins, then a breather, then Oniwabandana, then a few of 
the DGG... he was able to break the combat down into a series of smaller 
battles that were easier for him to handle.

	"How about a few more girls?"

	Nise Suiko gagged as a thick burst of writhing tentacles wrapped
securely around his throat and torso. He gripped at them, to claw them 
off, and screamed as a thousand volts of electricity rippled through his 
body.

	Man.  I actually thought they had him, for a minute there.  What does it 
TAKE to kill this guy?

I'll let you in on a secret: they almost DID kill him. Nise Suiko is weak 
against electrical attacks. It comes from his nature as a water elemental 
(of sorts). One more Doom and Gloom Girl chipping in here, and he would have 
died a quick, yet agonizing death. Quartzie and Anthracite alone just 
weren't quite enough. They hurt him very badly, though.

People who read the old RS may also recall that Nise Suiko can be stopped or 
slowed down if you use fire and ice attacks. Fire screws with his healing 
factor, and cold makes him sluggish and slows down his reactions.

His short blond hair was mussed, and he was dressed only in the grey 
trousers and purple undershirt of his uniform. Upon seeing Nise Suiko, he 
snarled and extended one hand in the armoured youma's direction.

	Wow, he and Ryo have the same shirt.

LOL! ^_^

	Now, let's see how well a (pseudo) Trooper stacks up against a General.

Not well. This is the second time that Nise Suiko nearly died this fight. 
Jadeite was crushing him inside his own armour. A very good reason not to be 
wearing any, if fighting Jadeite.

Grabbing one of Kamisori's razors from the ground, Nise Suiko held it to 
Jadeite's left eye.

	Good grief, he's like the Energizer Bunny.

Yeah, but he's running on fumes, here. He's got no armour, and no weapon. On 
top of that, he's been kicked in the head, flash fried by pissed-off 
lightning bolts, and folded into a couple of new and interesting shapes. 
That's why he gave up and ran away from Jadeite's next attack.

Nise Suiko made a good showing of himself, but he *lost*. The Doom and Gloom 
Girls left him too weak to do anything to Jadeite. He was supposed to drag 
Jadeite back for a stern talking to from Badamon, and instead he had to run 
off with his tail between his legs.

For those keeping track, that makes his record 2 losses, 1 draw, and 1 win. 
He has lost to the Sailor Senshi (in chapter 1) and Jadeite (right here). He 
was able to beat Shin Mouri (in chapter 2), but his fight with Elios was 
more of a draw than a decisive victory (since Elios got away, and Nise was 
*supposed* to capture him).

	"Kirin! Korran!" he ordered, pointing at the fallen youma on the
ground. "Let's get these people to the surgeon's tent before we lose any
of them! Oniwabandana first, then Garnet and Quartzie and Takenoko. We'll
move the rest based on need, but I want those four in that tent now!"

	???  When did he get all their names?

Well, he already knew Garnet and Quartzie. He met Takenoko outside of the 
camp, and Quartzie was talking to him about Kirin and Korran while she was 
taking him to Shale. The only name we don't see him learning is 
Oniwabandana's. I'm willing to assume that Shale told him a few of the 
people that were in the camp while they were inside the tent together.

**********

	Ami had to admit, the Daisekai museum had managed to be both fun
and educational. After Ryo had paid for their tickets at the front gate,

	His dad must have told him that guys are supposed to pay.

Yep. That, and to make sure to go slow with everything he did, because girls 
always want things to last *forever*. Ryo is still not sure exactly what he 
meant by that. ^_^

they had been filed onto a brightly-lit elevator and carried up to the

	Sug:  filed<>shown/ushered/guided

Good idea! Will fix!

	She was still wasn't sure how they had ended up at the park. She
had made some vague mention of how she had wanted to get a better look at 
the city, and the next thing she had known Ryo was scooping her up in his 
arms, and the world had turned into a rushing blur, as though they were 
suddenly moving at incredible speed. By the time it was over, they had 
been in this secluded grove, miles from the rest of the city.

	Who does this guy think he is, Ranma Saotome?

No, but the Samurai Troopers *can* move at superhuman speed without needing 
to fully
transform. They've been shown moving fast enough to outpace police cars, and 
fast enough to run horizontally along the outside of a building without 
falling off. They can also leap buildings in a single bound, just like the 
Senshi. And Superman.

Not that you ever see him bounding anywhere these days. Lazy bum just 
*flies* everywhere now.

Maybe she had finally reached her limit; maybe she had
just spent so much time around Ryo now that whatever it was that melted 
her brain had just worn off. Or she had finally gotten used to it to the 
point that she couldn't notice any more. At the moment, she didn't really 
care which.

	Remember that comment you made about girls being like rare, exotic birds 
to Ryo?  He used to charm them right out of the trees when he was running 
around the forest, didn't he?

Which: the birds, or the girls? ^_^

Ami feel a little sad: Ryo was slightly less adorable when he was worried. 
The difference was negligible, and the cute little wrinkle on his forehead 
almost made up for it, but all in all she preferred it when he was cute 
and happy instead of cute and sad.

	Mweheheheheeeeh!  *This* is the girl who was so desperately wishing that 
he would stop being so CUTE and HOT and EVERYTHING, not so long ago?

Yes it is. She is starting to give in to it. For one thing, Ryo has made it 
safe for her to do so. This has got to be the least aggressive pursuit of 
any girl ever. If he came on too strongly, Ami would get scared and run 
away. She needs to be teased out of hiding so that she can feel comfortable 
with the feelings inside of her. So here Ryo stands: still as cute as he was 
earlier, but now having proven himself to also be goofy and harmless.

Ryo: "What can I say? Some people jump in the lake and try to grab a fish in 
their hands. Some people just bait a hook and wait for the fish to feel like 
biting. Me? I don't jump in lakes."

	Wait. She did?

	Uh oh.  Intellect is attempting to re-assert its traditional control over 
Emotion.  Fight it, Ami-chan!  Fall free!

It's not easy for her to turn off that brain of hers. It is used to being in 
charge. ^_^

	Ah, whatever. He was cute. She was willing to admit it - what, was
she supposed to be blind, now? Lack taste? Any girl would fall for a guy 
with those chiseled features and dreamy eyes. Ami frowned prettily. Well, 
that wasn't exactly true. Haruka and Michiru would need to be excluded

	<chokes on pretzel>

What? They have a PERFECTLY VALID reason to be excluded from that 
assumption. ^_~

Well, Haruka does. Judging from past behaviour, Michiru might still make a 
pass at Ryo just on the grounds that he deserved it and she had always 
wanted to see Haruka turn purple with jealousy.

the usual reasons. But, since those reasons did not apply to Ami, then 
logically she had no reason to pretend she didn't think he was attractive. 
It was almost a relief to have finally figured that out.

	...really?  How nice for you.  <goes off to beat head against telephone 
pole>

Brain is trying to justify what heart has already decided. As I said, when 
it comes to Ryo Sanada, Ami is turning into the queen of rationalizing 
things. Give her a few minutes, and she'll be able to convince herself that 
she only kissed him because he looked like he was choking and she was 
attempting mouth-to-mouth. She may also decide that he looks like he is 
choking again. ^_^

really worried about that for a while. First thing tomorrow she was going 
to tell Usagi that she thought Ryo was cute. Usagi would know what to do 

>from there: Usagi knew everything when it came to this kind of stuff.

	...oh, ghod.  Run.  RUN, while there's STILL TIME!

Usagi: "The first step to getting a boyfriend is to let him rescue you from 
mortal danger."
Ami: "How do we do that? And why are we on the roof?"
Usagi: "Well, the second question kind of answers the first one. Now quit 
whining and strap this cord to your foot in case he didn't get my letter..."

	"I, uh, just wanted to say thanks. You know, for coming with me
tonight. This would have been a real bad night for me without you keeping
me company."

	Oh, I just can't STAND it!  Not only does he manage to completely capture 
the heart of the cutest, smartest girl for three parsecs in any direction, 
NOW he's going to do the 'vulnerable baring of his pain' thing.  It's just 
not FAIR, dammit...

Kick him in the HEAD, I know...

Also, Rei, Usagi, and Minako would like to know exactly how far a "parsec" 
is and whether they should be mad at you. ^_^

	"Well, it's just that..." Ryo cleared his throat and looked down
at the rose he was twirling between his fingers. The entire park was full 
of rosebushes, but most of them weren't flowering this late in the season. 
There had only been a few late bloomers for him to pick through. "I, uh,

	Actually, Tuxedo Mask was lurking around doing his tertiary job of making 
sure there are always roses available when any Senshi has an Impending 
Romantic Moment.

Mamoru: "Let's see, here... First Job, give inspirational speeches. Check."
Usagi: "Where am I on the list?"
Mamoru: "Hang on, dear. Second Job, get beat up to prove how tough the new 
villain is. Check."
Usagi: "What about me?"
Mamoru: "Almost done, honey. Third Job, provide ambiance for romantic 
moments... Check."
Usagi: "Wait a minute... are you saying I come FOURTH?"
Mamoru: "Uh, sure. Okay. We'll just *say* that..."

"How did they... was it an accident?"

	This... seems almost a little too sudden, too casual.  Then again, I 
suppose Ami might be trying to match Ryo's determined matter-of-factness...

Yeah - Ryo is being pretty blase about the whole thing, so Ami is trying to 
match him. He's faking, of course. ^_^

	"No," Ryo said huskily, turning away and gripping the safety
railing that ran along the edge of the bay. "No, it was on purpose. I 
promised that I would look after her, and I let her down. Shikaisen just 
cut her down like she didn't even matter, and I... all I could do was 
watch. I swore I'd never let anybody down again, no matter what it took."

	Despite my current Burning Jealousy, I have to feel for him here -- that 
Truly Sucks.

Shikaisen was a master of evil. Strapping the Troopers up to occult symbols 
and torturing them while he drains their power? Sure, that's bad. But why 
settle for that when he can *also* string up all their mortal friends over a 
Well of Souls and threaten to drop them in? And hey! While he's at it, he'll 
just pick one of their friends and cut her down with a sword! Ha-ha, look at 
all the little Troopers crying. What fun. :(

'Course, when they all broke free and come after him with blood in their 
eyes, *maybe* he regretted that earlier decision... I never *saw* Ryo armour 
up to Kikoutei so fast. >_<

Pausing, he took a deep breath and looked over at her. "Can you keep a
secret, Ami? I mean, if I tell you this, you can't tell anybody - not the
other Senshi, not the other Troopers, nobody."

	"Of course, Ryo."

	Again, a little too.. easy.  I dunno, I'd expect Ami to at least have a 
momentary heart-stoppage at being taken so deep into his confidence like 
this.

Yes, there should be a bit in here about that. I agree completely. ^_^

I could have sworn that I *meant* to put a paragraph or two in here. Huh. 
Must never have made it from brain to paper. My bad. Will fix!

	And, I'm a little surprised she doesn't react more to his revelation -- 
trying to comfort him a bit, or at least asking 'her' name.  Then again, 
maybe she's picking up on something in his manner that I'm not.

Actually, in the original ending I wrote for this, she did try to comfort 
him. I didn't *mean* for that part to get edited....

	"Well, he's been talking to me lately. At least, I think it's him.
Mostly it happens while I'm sleeping. He's calling me, Ami: he says it's 
time for me to join him, and I'm scared.

	....oooooKAY.  *This* is new.

Actually, this is old. It was a plot thread in the old RS that I never got 
to elaborate on. I'm just bringing it in a little earlier and making more of 
a deal out of it this time out. ^_^

And isn't Arago DEAD?  I mean, just how many confirmed-killed people are 
going to show up in this story?

Yes, Arago is dead. This has never really gotten in his way before, of 
course.

And, as I said, the people retrning from the dead are supposed to be making 
you go WTF? at the moment. It's all part of a master plan that someone very 
nasty is using the Troopers to play on the Senshi. There are a few villains 
still hanging in the wngs - their time will come later.

	Anyhoo, the idea of Arago having some kind of hold on Ryo's mind is... 
disturbing.  If not downright terrfying.

Good. I'm glad that had the result I was hoping for. There will be more 
elaboration on this later in the fic proper, but the gist of it is that 
Arago can never be *all* dead, not everywhere. Don't forget, Arago was the 
Emperor of the Demon Lords, the King of the entire Netherworld.

So who becomes the King when the King is killed?

And who killed the King? ^_^

	"Maybe it's just my way of dwelling on the past," Ryo suggested
with a smirk as he cast his rose over the side of the railing and took

	'smirk' doesn't really match the mood I'm getting, here.  Maybe "attempted 
smirk" or "halfhearted smirk."

"halfhearted" works for me. Thanks for the suggestion! ^_~

	"Ryo," Ami breathed, looking up into those earnest, smoldering
eyes of his and feeling slightly dizzy. What was he trying to say?

	"Give me your heart, Ami... and I will GIVE IT TO LORD ARAGO!! 
BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Hey, it worked for Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, right? And last I checked they were 
still friends... ^_^

	Their lips parted, and Ami craned her neck to briefly bring them
back into contact again; rising on her tiptoes to prolong the experience 
as much as possible. The summer breeze stirred through the park, filling

	Boy, once you light her fire, she quits being shy *fast*, doesn't she?  :)

Anything under that much pressure is going to take any way out that it can 
find. Besides, for all she knows this kiss may have to last her several 
years until the next one. She has a lot of repressed urges to get out, here. 
;)

the air with wisteria blossoms and ruffling their hair like the hands of
an old friend. Ami slowly lowered herself back down to the ground, still

	Dunno, that doesn't work for me.  I'm trying to think of a better way to 
describe her settling back off tiptoe, but I'm coming up blank...

Me, too. Stupid Ami being shorter than Ryo and not having a good way to get 
down from her own toes. I vote we just leave her up there until *she* comes 
up with a decent way to write herself down. ^_^

	Ryo nodded as he let her go and backed away, still gazing straight
into her eyes in the disturbingly perceptive way he had. "Yeah, you're
right - we should really get back to where we started."

	Errrr... that sounds strangely ominous.

Ryo: "Yeah! We'll grab Setsuna, go all the way back to the start of the 
chapter, and then act like none of this ever happened! What do you think?"

Ami: "Great idea, Ryo! Of course, you realise that I will have to kill you 
if you try that...."

Ryo: "Fair enough."

	With a shrug, Ami leaned against Ryo's arm and wandered off into
the night. They were comfortable, she decided. That was what they were. 
Maybe for right now, that was all they needed to be. They were Ami Mizuno 
and Ryo Sanada. Everything else would work itself out later.

	Okay, Makoto, what did you do with Ami?

Heh. The big difference here is that Ami is just happy to have Ryo "like" 
her. This is a comfortable place for her to be. Makoto sees "like" as a 
staging ground for her next assault on Touma's affections. So, while Ami is 
enjoying the scenery and wondering what comes next, Makoto is breaking out 
the maps and discussing tactics with the rest of her troops. ^_^

Makoto: "No excuses, damn it! Whatever it takes, this boy is going DOWN! 
We're not stopping until we reach 'she's kind of hot'! And after that, we 
call in the heavy artillery...."

	She hoped it would be soon.

	Well, as soon as your layabout author gets cracking on the next few 
chapters, Ami-chan.  So start zapping him -- a few flying icecicles where 
the sun don't shine should motivate him.  :D

Hey! Don't do that - I get enough trouble with the characters in my head 
wanting fic time without you giving them any ideas on motivation! ^_^

Seriously, I've been slogging away on Chapter 6 for a while, now. It's going 
a little slower than the last one did - I think I lost a little steam with 
that month delay in my posting. Thanks for the C&C; it's always appreciated. 
Nothing like a little chat with somebody about your work to get the old 
creative juices flowing, you know?

Thanks again for writing! Later!

-Morgan



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