What to do with the story next?  Continue along, that's what.  It seems it got a
bit dark in the last couple chapters.  Well, I said it would, kind of.  The
story thus far can be summarized as... girl joins miniskirted superheroine
group.  Girl loses miniskirted heroine group.  Girl reverses time and saves
miniskirted heroine group.  Girl dies.  Or somesuch.  What happened, in even
shorter terms?

And then they all died...
But it was just a dream...

Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!!
Terra in Tokyo

---Chapter 7:  But the Dream Was Real!

	The girl drifted for a very long time through the dreamlike state of her own
personal paradise.  Everything was so bright and beautiful.  She finally
comprehended the universe and was able to explain it with one simple equation. 
Birds were chirping, the sunlight shone brightly, and everything made her feel
all right.

	And then she woke up.

	"Aahh... ughhhh," Terra groaned as feeling eased back into her battered body. 
"Mom?  What happened?"  Her vision was blurred as she opened her eyes and tried
to look around.  "Mom?  Are you there?"

	"No," said a woman's voice, "I'm Nurse Joy.  You're in the Intensive Care Unit.
 Your friends said you took a nasty fall."

	"Uh, yeah, right," Terra replied blearily.  "A fall."  Well, it was true that
she did fall a few times, like when she slammed at near supersonic speeds into
a concrete wall.  "I think I bounced a few times, too."

	Nurse Joy looked at the teen's chart.  "Hmm.  You must have.  The doctors had
to resuscitate you about a dozen times over the past two days."

	"I really thought I was dead."

	"Oh, nonsense.  You can't die.  You're a Pokemon."

	Terra froze, her mouth hanging open at the statement.  "What?!"  Then she
looked in a mirror, saw a big yellow duck, and started screaming, "PSY!  PSY! 
PSY!"

	Then she woke up in a cold sweat, screaming at the top of her lungs.

---

	"GYAAAH!" Terra cried, leaping out of bed and landing on the cold tile floor
into a crouch.  Hyperventilating, she looked around and took stock of her
circumstances.

	Am I human?  Check.  Still got bad hair?  Check.

	Then the girl stopped.  As a testament to her lack of experience in waking up
in strange places, there really wasn't anything else on her personal checklist,
though she wondered what her obsession with hair was all about.  It wasn't like
she could do anything with it, anyway.  She looked back and saw that her
hospital bed had a mirror behind it, and discovered that she appeared very much
like herself, if a bit more frazzled than average.  The view, combined with the
draft, let her know that her hospital gown didn't have a back to it, so she
climbed into bed again and covered herself with the sheets.

	Terra found a remote control and switched on the TV.  All that it had on was a
few talk shows, plus old Pokemon and Kamen Rider reruns, so she switched it off
again.  Now, if they had Rayearth or one of those hyper-painful game shows on,
that would have been different.  Not that she enjoyed pain and suffering as
such, but she had lately found such material rather cathartic.

	Things seemed so normal and natural to her, it took her about fifteen minutes
to realize what was wrong.  First of all, she was alive, but most disconcerting
was that she didn't seem to have any broken limbs.  That shattered arm of hers
now seemed to be in perfect working order.  In fact, she felt great, apart from
some sore muscles in her arms and legs.

	How could that be?  An experience like hers should take years to heal--if,
indeed, she managed to recover at all.  She checked her body to make sure she
hadn't grown up any more.  Terra would hate to have thought she just spent
years and years in a coma.  But no, everything seemed pretty much the same as
she remembered it.  Her muscles were a little firmer than she recalled, but
apart from that, nothing had changed.  That meant she'd only been out of it for
a little while.  Days, probably.  At most, a month or two had gone by, but not
very likely, since her ability to walk and move around hadn't atrophied any,
near as she could tell.

	But that didn't explain how all her mortal injuries had just up and vanished. 
She'd heard rumors that Japanese doctors weren't that good, due to apathy,
culture, or something like that.  And while Japan might have a few pretty
awesome doctors, surely they couldn't work miracles like this.  Perhaps one of
her friends had some sort of mystic healing power they hadn't previously
disclosed.  It was possible, after all.  She'd barely known Ami, Makoto, and
Rei for a couple of days before the fight with Jadeite.

	While she considered the possibilities, she sat up and scratched the
mushroom-shaped mark on her neck.  It was itching.  Using the mirrors behind
her to examine it better, she thought it looked slightly bigger than before. 
"What in the world is this thing?"

	"Oh, it's a Mystical Maligned Mutatin' Monosyllabalistic Myxocytic Cursed
Mushroom Mark.  It's Infectious!"

	When she heard the voice, Terra realized that this was going to turn into a
very, very long and agonizing day.  "Arby...."

	The ArbyFish hopped up upon her raised knee and bowed slightly.  "G'day.  'Ello
sez I to You to Me and You back in return!"

	"Ah, hello."

	"Roight nice job you did whackin' them Negamafoozles.  Got yourself COMPLETELY
ripped to shreds, you did!"

	"Thanks, I think."  Terra wondered if she was being congratulated for getting
the job done, or being reprimanded for getting so badly injured.  Arby was
smiling, but as she'd come to learn the hard way, that could mean anything. 
"By the way, why do you always taunt me about how I don't do anything?"

	"'Cause you'd never learn otherwise.  But'cha did.  And for that, you gets a
prize."  Arby took out something squishy and tossed it into Terra's hands. 
"There you go."

	The girl quickly identified it.  "Arby, this is a mushroom."

	"No, no, it's," Arby started to say, then stopped when he got a better look at
it when Terra held it up.  "Oh, so it is."

	Right about then, Terra's mind supplied her with a bright idea.  This was
rather unique, given how hard it usually had been before to think in the
presence of the ArbyFish.  "How about finally giving me my wand, instead?"

	"Wot?  This?"  Arby whipped out and held up a wand.  Its sweet pinkness and
heart-shaped motifs just screamed that it ought to be named something like The
Pink Sugar Heart Rod.  "What'cha want this hunk of junk for?"  Terra made a
grab for it, but he quickly chomped down on it and swallowed it.  "Roight
tasty, it is!  Thousands of years old and mouldy to boot.  You does MUCH better
without it.  Besoides, it'd just melt in the rain anyways."

	"Arby!  That wasn't very nice."  As the girl stared at the little smiling
creature, she thought through all the various other ways he might have been
getting into trouble.  Thinking back to the lack of sound in the hospital, she
cautiously asked, "You didn't hurt anyone on your way in, did you?"

	"A'course not.  Wouldn't be proper, this is an 'orse-spittle."

	Terra remembered that when she woke up and screamed, nobody had come rushing to
her aid.  "Arby, what happened to the nurses?"

	"Oh, well, they's... takin' a nap, y'see."

	The door fell open and an unconscious, snoring nurse slipped onto the floor. 
She had red hair in large cutesy ringlets as well as a doll-like nurse outfit
like what one might expect in a kids' show targeted mainly at preadolescent
males without totally neglecting females due to the added marketing
possibilities.  Her photo-ID nametag read in kanji, "Joi."

	A terrible sneaking suspicion tingled its way up Terra's neck.  "Arby, you
didn't turn me into a giant psychic duck, erase my memory, and then knock me
out afterwards before changing me back, did you?"

	Arby looked intrigued by the idea.  "Oh, well, Oye moight 'ave.  But that
wouldn't have been proper.  Can't very well go 'round turning people into
psychic ducks and erasing their memories.  If that started happening, all the
lakes and ponds'd get overcrowded, and property rates'd skyrocket, then there'd
be privacy issues and brain-readers' advocates bickerin' about their
intellectual impropriety roights....  The economy'd go straight to the birds,
it would!"

	"I'll tell you what," Terra replied in the most diplomatic tone she could
manage, "I'll just pretend I didn't hear any of that and live my life as if
what happened really was just a stress-induced dream flavored by my great
dislike for certain cartoon shows.  Do you find these terms agreeable?"

	The creature nodded pleasantly.  "Roight!"

	Then without another word, he fluttered off, out the window.

	It wasn't long before Nurse Joi woke back up.  "Unnh.  My head hurts," she
groaned, then blinked and looked around.  "W-where am I?"

	"You're still in the hospital," Terra said calmly.  There was no sense in
startling the poor woman.  Her best bet was to just act normal and pretend that
all was well, and with luck, her own questions could get answered by the
healthcare worker.  "You must have dozed off."

	"What am I doing in a hospital?" Joi asked.  "I'm a veterinarian!  Umm, what
happened to my hair?  And what in the world am I wearing?!"

	Terra slapped her forehead.  She probably wouldn't be getting any answers from
the individual in question.  Actually, she was probably going to have to try
and fill in some blanks herself.  "Oh dear."

	Arby strikes again, it would appear.  Hmm, Veterinarian, Terra thought.  She
sincerely hoped the woman's real name wasn't "Murray."  Then she abruptly
decided to stop thinking about it.  The paths her mind were pursuing started to
get rather painful and disturbing.  "No, just... no!"

---

	Terra eventually phoned home, found a clean set of her clothes in a sack near
her bed, and got dressed.  She tracked down a doctor to get herself declared
okay to go, then she was discharged, and had her mother pick her up.  Their
insurance would probably take care of the medical costs.  Or if not that, maybe
the government supplied free socialized health care.  Crossing over countries,
she hadn't paid attention to such things.  Terra hadn't exactly planned on
visiting the hospital so soon.  Back in Ireland, she'd hardly visited anything
besides a doctor's office for a regular checkup since she was six, so she
didn't remember right off hand if medicine back there was government or
insurance-funded.

	On her way out, a couple of doctors dropped their clipboards and fainted when
they saw her, like they'd seen a ghost.  A trembling nurse--a real nurse,
employed at the hospital--wordlessly shuffled through a filing cabinet and
handed her a folder, which Terra thanked her for and said she would read later
when she felt up to it.

	The ride home was unusually quiet.  Under normal circumstances, her mother
would be zipping around corners and peeling out in front of stop lights.  This
time, though, Kasumi was strangely behaved while driving.  Under her control,
the hum of the engine was soft, like the solemn aftermath of a funeral.  The
lack of expressed emotion unnerved Terra, who still wanted answers, like how
she could have survived her ordeal.

	She picked through the contents of the folder she had been handed.  There were
some X-rays, a few doctors' reports, and a gruesome death certificate with her
name on it, rubber-stamped "Cancelled."  She held up some of the X-rays to the
window against the sunlight.  They were apparently hers, but she couldn't see
any bones that weren't broken in at least five places.  "Wow," she whispered,
"these look pretty bad."

	"Terrible doctors they have here in Japan," Kasumi commented as they turned a
corner.  "They called me up and wanted me to come down and identify your body. 
Those silly people.  You weren't dead.  Just passed out."

	"Uh-huh," Terra replied while looking over her files.  "It says here I was
admitted in terminal condition, not expected to survive, and I finally bled out
on the operating table when they tried a desperate, last-ditch treatment on me,
but couldn't, since they found that all my bones and blood vessels were
smashed.  One doctor comments here that, 'Nothing in that bad of condition has
any right to be alive.'  So, they must have thought something was up."

	Kasumi gently took the file and tossed it into the back seat.  "Yes, well,
don't believe everything you read.  There was probably a mix-up.  I brought you
a change of clothes and visited you for a few hours every day.  You were fine. 
You just weren't waking up."

	"But I thought I did break all my bones and get bashed up when I fought last
night.  I didn't think it was quite THAT bad, but I certainly could die from
it."

	"It wasn't last night.  Today's Tuesday.  It was two and a half days ago."

	"Hmm.  Well, whatever.  I'm sure there's some sort of reasonable explanation
for it."  Terra shrugged.  "My friends and I have been dealing with magic, so
maybe one of them came in and healed me."

	"Yes, that's probably it, dear," her mother replied in her usual tone, though
it did seem like she was trying to avoid the subject, especially when they
screeched to a halt and nearly hit someone while turning left.  "Oh my.  That
was close."  She waved to the startled individual and moved on.

	Terra's mind came out to look and see if it was safe to think again.  It seemed
all right, so she wondered why her mom was trying to avoid the subject.  Then
she was provided with the answer.  Of course she wouldn't want to talk about
it!  Her only child nearly died in a terrible, terrible way, and didn't want to
be reminded of it.  So, it was very likely her mother would continue to avoid
the subject as much as possible in the future.  Therefore, she might as well
stop talking about it.  She would get no answers this way.  Perhaps she didn't
want to know, either, especially if Arby was involved.

	"That's the smartest thing you've said all day," Terra whispered.

	"Hmm?" Kasumi asked.

	"Oh, nothing, Mom.  Just talking to myself."

	"I'm afraid you've missed a couple days of school," Kasumi added.  "But I made
sure to pick up your worksheets and study materials so you could have them when
you got better."

	"Thanks, Mom.  I'll do them when we get home."

	"And I didn't cancel your interview for today.  Were you still wanting to go to
that?"

	"Interview?" Terra asked.  Then she remembered the call they'd gotten just
before she'd gone off to whack some Negamafoozles.  "Oh, right, that!  Yes,
yes, I still want to go.  Modeling, pop idol singing and all that stuff.  It's
probably more practical to go into something like accounting... but I don't
want to miss this chance.  Who knows?  I might get the job, and I might even
like it."

	"That's the spirit, sweetie."  Her mother smiled at her.  "It's in a couple of
hours, so when we get home, you might want to hurry and get ready."

	The girl nodded.  You're supposed to look good for job interviews, she knew. 
It's how you tell potential employers that you're serious about it.  "Right."

---

	At home while looking through her wardrobe, Terra wished she had a tee-shirt
with a logo like, "I beat four Dark Kingdom Generals and all I got was this
lousy tee-shirt."  Mainly, she felt a little put off by the fact that despite
the incredible thing she did, she didn't have anything appropriate to wear for
a job interview.

	She had some casual outfits, but the only semi-formal things she had were a
white Halloween princess dress, a green ballgown, and a bunch of sailor school
uniforms.  She didn't even have anything remotely dressy with which to attend
church on Sundays, but that was probably to be expected since she and her mom
never went for as long as she could remember.  In theory, they were Anglican,
and if she looked, they might have a bible somewhere, but they weren't exactly
devout.

	Right now, Terra sort of wished they had been, because that would at least mean
she'd have some kind of formal dress somewhere.  A white button-up blouse and a
black skirt might work, but she didn't even have those.  Or the right shoes to
go with them, for that matter.

	Terra looked at the clock.  She'd taken half an hour to bathe and try to fix
her disobedient hair, leaving her an hour and a half before the interview.  Not
really enough time to do any proper shopping.  Of course, in her mind, clothes
shopping meant a three-hour minimum, plus checkout time, so that wasn't an
option.

	So, that meant she'd need to find someone quick she could borrow clothes from. 
Who could she ask?  Her mom was much bigger than her and the woman's style was a
couple years out of date, so that wouldn't work.  There were also her immediate
friends.  But Usagi was way too skinny, Makoto was much too tall, Ami lived too
far away, so that left Rei.  She was about the right height and build, and
seemed the sort that would have formal things to wear.  They'd just met a short
while ago, but surely she'd help her out.

	Terra found Rei's number and dialed it up.  "Hello, is Rei there?"

	"This is her," Rei replied.  "Who am I speaking to?"

	"Hi, Rei.  This is Terra.  Say, do you mind if I come by right now and borrow
something to wear to an interview?"  She frowned when she heard a crashing
noise, as if someone had just fallen over in an excruciatingly painful manner. 
"Um, hello?  Rei?"

	After a moment, Rei seemed to find her voice again.  "Terra-chan, you're not
dead?"

	"No, my pulse is good and I'm feeling great.  A little sore, though."

	"But... we took you to the emergency room, and they came out and told us what
happened.  Usagi even ran into the operating room, saw you, and went home
crying afterwards.  It was like something out of a horror movie!  And you're
telling me you're Terra, and you recovered from THAT?!"

	"Yeah, I got better," Terra replied.  Her mind nudged her about something. 
"You mean, it wasn't one of you that came in and healed me?"

	"There's no magic I know that heal so much damage!"

	Terra nodded.  Okay, this wasn't as simple as she thought.  "All right, but you
know about magic that can heal.  Maybe somebody else came in and did it, and
we'll thank whoever it was when we find him or her.  But right now, I'm in a
real bind.  I've got this really important interview in an hour--"

	"You come back from the dead and you're worried about a JOB INTERVIEW?!"

	"Well, of course," Terra said.  "I mean, you've got to have job interviews when
you come back from the dead.  How else would you pay for living costs if you
didn't?"  She shook her head at herself.  That sort of logic she'd expect from
Arby, not from her own mind.  Perhaps on some level the creature was
psychologically affecting her.  "So, can I come over to see if you've got some
sort of formal wear I can use for it?"

	Rei seemed to be catching her breath and sorting things out in her mind before
replying, "Yes!  Yes, please!  Come over.  The others will want to know about
this, too.  I'll tell them you're coming.  I'm sure they'll be over here fast."

	Despite there being no one to see her, Terra nodded.  "Okay."

---

	Terra put on a sailor uniform and rushed outside.  Her mom wished her luck on
her way out.  It was, like, a ten-minute half-run-half walk over to the Hikawa
Shrine.  The only reason it took her hours and hours to get home that one time
was because she was disoriented and had taken the bus route home the wrong way.

	What on Earth am I doing? she wondered.  I nearly died, I should still be
resting, and I should be taking a lot more care of my bones than running around
like this.  And for what?  For a job interview; for a job interview for
something I've always wanted to do since I was a little girl.  I've come back
from the dead and now I can follow my dreams.

	Putting it that way, it really didn't seem all that odd after all.  If she
could just forget everything she'd been through, she could be perfectly content
with what she was doing right now.  She had great friends, a great mom, a sharp
mind, and it'd be all right.

	However, when she entered the shrine, there was a sad stillness about the whole
place.  Rei's grandfather led her into the back room where all her friends were
waiting.  The solemn expressions on their faces showed that they still hadn't
quite recovered from the trauma of having to cart their dying friend off to the
hospital to have her apparently die in a horrible manner.  This experience would
be with them for the rest of their lives.  Perhaps they'd never be all right
about it, despite her being alive once more in their presence.

	What a bunch of pansies, her mind supplied.  Oh death, where is thy sting?  Oh,
grave, where is thy victory?

	Terra smacked her head for having produced that remark, though she had said
nothing.  "Hi, everyone," she greeted in what she hoped was a bright and
cheerful manner.  "How are you doing?"

	She kicked herself.  Perhaps striding in and acting like nothing had happened
wasn't the best thing she could have done, given their responses.  On the other
hand, maybe there was no "right" way of going about breaking the ice on this
occasion.  One by one, they broke into tears, starting with Usagi, and
finishing with Rei.

	"Sorry about the scare I gave you," Terra said, attempting to ease the pain. 
Three of them she'd only known for a short while, but even a couple of days as
fellow Sailor Soldiers was enough to create a bond between them.  It was as if
her "death" let them know how serious this war to whack the Negamafoozles
really was.  "You're not mad, are you?"

	It was about then that Usagi came up and hugged her.  "Terra-chan!  No, we're
not mad.  We just missed you so much!"

	"Please, call me Terra.  No suffixes; they confuse me."  Terra patted the
blonde on the back and moved with her over to the table, sitting down.  It was
a little while before Usagi finally let go, like she was afraid the Irish girl
would vanish if she released her hug.

	"Glad to have you back, Terra," Makoto said.

	"We've had a lot to think about the last few days," added Ami.

	"On the other hand," considered Rei, "how do we know it's really you?  We did
see you basically smashed to pieces, and here you are without a scratch on
you."

	Terra nodded.  Proof, yes.  She needed proof that she was who she was.  But if
it came to that, was she really sure that she was herself and not some sort of
clone or robot programmed to think she was who she was?  Her eyes widened as
she considered the possibilities.  "I... I don't know.  Maybe I'm not really
who I think I am.  I remember fighting, then I thought I died, and then I woke
up in the hospital, good as new.  Maybe I'm a clone or something.  Maybe
somebody's got a huge fishtank full of me in their basement, ready to come out
whenever I die.  Maybe I'm Terra the Second.  Oh!  I can't remember much of
anything from before when I was seven.  Maybe this has happened before!  Maybe
I'm Terra the THIRD!  Maybe--"

	Rei waved at her in an embarrassed manner.  "Umm, I was just saying--"

	Usagi glared at Rei.  "Rei-chan!  Don't confuse her like that!"

	"But we do really need to know about this," Ami interjected.

	Makoto shook her head at Terra's reasoning.  "You're the same as ever, Red. 
Really paranoid and so sharp you might cut yourself."

	"That DOES sound a lot like me, doesn't it?" Terra said.  "But how do I know if
I can trust myself?  If I'm some kind of secret robot assassin disguised as me,
I'd really want to know."

	Luna crawled out from under the table.  "Look, if you're so frightened about
it, there is a way we can tell if you really are our Terra," she said, touching
the crescent moon mark on her forehead.  "I can read minds, to a certain
extent."

	"Can you?" Terra asked skeptically.  "Can you really?  Then how many fingers am
I holding up behind my back?"

	A large sweatdrop appeared on Luna's forehead.  "Err, you're holding your hands
up in front of you."

	"Wow!" Terra said, wild-eyed and twitching.  "You're good.  Let's do this!"

	"She's lost it," Ami noted.

	"Have I?" inquired Terra.  "Have I really?  Maybe I'm just programmed to THINK
I've lost it and without my knowledge am really plotting to destroy the world. 
Figure THAT one out, will you?"

	I really have lost it, thought the crazed Irish lass.  One second of doubting
myself combined with the need for proof as to my true identity and my brain's
caught in a feedback loop trying to figure it out based off of unavailable
information.  The doubts keep growing!

	Terra scrunched her eyes closed and yelled at herself to stop thinking.  Her
mind, however, remained surprisingly strong.  "Shut up, shut up!  Everyone just
shut up!!!"

	Usagi and Makoto took the frightened and paranoid girl and tried to steady her.
 "It's okay," soothed Usagi, "just stay still and Luna will help you.  Won't
you, Luna?"

	The cat nodded emphatically.  "Yes, yes!  Luna Mindmeld!"

	With that, a beam of yellow energy shot out from Luna's crescent mark and
connected with Terra's forehead.

...

	The next thing Terra remembered was waking up on the floor, looking up at Luna
and her friends.  She felt surprisingly calm, considering how frantic she'd
been just before.

	The redhead sat up.  "How long was I out?"

	"About two seconds," said Makoto.

	"Was that all?  Hmm."  Terra sat back up and looked at the cat.  "So, am I
really me?  Or am I something else?"

	"I have no idea," Luna replied succinctly.

	Usagi frowned.  "What do you mean?"

	"Her mind's a complete and total mess," continued the dark-furred kitty.  "It's
like this beautiful, elegant mansion turned into a college bachelor pad--really,
really messed up, textbooks and sticky aluminum cans all over the place.  Not
unlivable, but... eew!"

	"That sounds like the Terra I know," Rei said.

	Makoto nodded.  "Same here."

	"I've also been in this mind before," Luna continued.  "I'm sure of it!  It
must have been a very, very long time ago, though.  I'll need to work on
remembering when and where.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go off
somewhere quiet for a while."

	The others watched the cat hop out the window and land with a squelch.  "Eeew!"
cried Luna.

	Rei turned a little red.  "Oh, the sewer line's broken, right about there,
outside.  We're getting it fixed in an hour."

	"YUCK!" Luna shouted.

	After a short pause, Usagi patted Terra on the back.  "Well, I'm sure you're
yourself, Terra.  You've got my vote of confidence!"

	Terra smiled faintly.  "Thanks, Usagi.  That... actually helps a lot."  She
looked at everyone else.  "So, who wants to, like, go to the arcade or mall or
something?"

	Before Usagi could shout out her desire to go, Ami held up a hand and said,
"But Rei said you had to go to an interview in just a little while."

	Terra snapped her fingers.  "That's right!  I have to go to my four o'clock
interview over at that one place downtown.  It should only be about a
ten-minute bus ride, but I'll need something to wear.  Rei, can you help me
out?"

	The dark-haired girl nodded slowly.  "I'll see if I can find something for
you."

---

	As it turned out, the shrine maiden had plenty of outfits perfectly appropriate
for occasions like interviews or schmoozing with random stuck-up businesspeople.
 The reason she had such an ample supply was that Rei's father was one of those
stuck-up businesspeople.  She obviously didn't like him very much, since she
avoided talking about him when Terra asked where he worked and what he did.

	"You could just use the pen Luna gave me," Usagi suggested, holding up a small
pink gem-tipped pen.  "You just say 'Moon Power' and tell it to transform you
into... whatever you like!"

	"Nnno, I don't think so."  Terra shook her head.  "Sorry, Usagi.  But I haven't
had the best luck with magic.  What if it fades in the middle of the interview? 
It might not last long for me."

	"I guess not," the blonde said glumly, but then brightened back up.  "Dressing
up's more fun anyway."

	They found a black skirt, white blouse, and black blazer that looked great on
Terra.  She was slightly shorter than Rei, but not enough to make a difference
for these purposes.  They also found a pair of black pumps that worked with the
rest of the outfit.

	Rei examined how her selection looked on the Irish girl.  "Hmm.  You look all
right, but you're more like some slouching schoolgirl dressing up for fun. 
Stand up straighter."  Terra did so.  "That's better.  If you're going
downtown, you'll want to look confident, like you know where you're going and
what you're supposed to be doing.  That way, nobody'll bug you."

	Terra nodded.  "Right."

	"It needs something else."  Ami came up and straightened the blazer and tied a
long scarf around the collar.  When she was satisfied with how it looked, she
said, "There, you'll fit right in.  Where were you going again?"

	"I forgot the company name," Terra said, "but I have the address written down. 
It's that one modeling agency that does the pop idol singing and other stuff."

	"Oh, that one," Ami said.  "They do a lot of 'extreme makeovers' as well.  At
home I'm always hearing about the radical plastic surgeries."

	"Yeah, well, I don't think I'll have to worry about that," Terra replied with
just a hint of pride that she was well spoken for in the looks department. 
"Thanks, everyone--"

	She was cut off when Makoto grabbed a brush, pulled it down, and sprayed an
awful lot of hairspray into Terra's unruly red mane.  "Hey, what's the deal
with your hair, anyway?  You'd think you were related to Goku or someone like
that."

	"There's a thought," Terra said evenly.  "Does that make me the spiky-haired
heroine of our team?  In cartoons, it's always the one with the spikiest hair,
isn't it?"

	"Nah," replied Rei.  "You're the comic relief.  We're just glad you're not our
dead comic relief.  You should get going, and be careful."  She smiled.  "I
want that outfit back when you're done."

	Terra looked around at them.  While it may have been an adequate life to die
protecting her friends, it felt so much better to be quite alive and surrounded
by caring people whom she cared about in return.  "You gals be careful, too. 
Don't get ambushed by Negamafoozles while I'm gone."

	"Don't fall into any snake holes," Rei said back.

	Terra couldn't help but grin.  If there's one thing her mind ought to be able
to provide her, it's a snappy retort.  "Don't forget to mind that temper of
yours."

	"Don't burn your hands on any energy blasts," Makoto said.

	"Don't get your heart blown out."

	"Try not to strain any muscles," Usagi advised.

	"Yeah, well," Terra fidgeted while attempting to come up with an appropriate
reply.  "Don't eat any plastic yen!"

	As the Irish girl walked out, the others looked at Ami, who had yet to deliver
a proper fencing phrase.  She shrugged.  "I have no response to that."

---End Chapter 7

And now it's time for... MIND YOUR MANNERS! with Sailor Nuke!

(Scene of the girls playfully taunting each other.)

Sailor Nuke:  Today, we learned that you should beat each other up at every
opportunity!

(Terra gets dressed up and doted upon by her friends.)

Sailor Kawaii(pops up):  WRONG!  (smiles)  Today, we learned that being cute is
the only way you'll ever get doted upon like a princess.

(Sailor Chibimoon knocks Zoicite's energy blast right back at him.)

Sailor Nuke:  BULL!  Beat the tar out of the villains and everyone'll love ya!

(Arby smiles at Terra while she's lying down in the hospital.)

Sailor Kawaii:  But if you're easier on the eyes, they won't even hesitate to
help out.

(Chibimoon smashes Nephrite's face in.)

Sailor Nuke:  Hey!  Violence gets you to where you can make demands.  Sailor
Nuke sez.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!

Sailor Kawaii:  Looking cute gets you more willing friends.  Sailor Kawaii says.
 Tee-hee!


--
Benjamin A Oliver
boliver@email.arizona.edu

Second-Year Management Information Systems Graduate Student
Eller College of Management
University of Arizona

Writings: Fan Fiction
http://boliver.florestica.com/

Webcomic: Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!! The Early Years
http://nettg.com


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