Hi!

Well, glad I got this out of the way. I'd like to apologise to anybody who 
has not gotten a response to any C&C they may have sent me: I only recently 
discovered that for some reason the FFML is not sending me everything that 
is posted to it, and this seems to include a number of people's replies. 
Rest assured, I will be responding to everything as soon as I track it all 
down on the forums, so don't let that stop you from letting me know what you 
thought of this chapter! All C&C is appreciated, when I actually get it... 
^_^

Anyway, on with the fic!

NEW-AND-IMPROVED LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Legally, the Sailor Senshi belong to 
Kodansha and
Cloverway, and the Samurai Troopers are the property of Sunrise and Bandai 
Entertainment. Creatively, I can't lay claim to them either - that would be 
Naoko Takeuchi who made up the Senshi and Hajime Yatate who thought up the 
Troopers. I am only borrowing them for a few chapters, and I really do 
intend no lasting harm.

                      RONIN SUMMER: CONVERGENCE

  A Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over

                          by Morgan Hudson

"Convergence (n) - the approach of an infinite series to a finite limit."

Chapter 9: Red Rain and Riptides

	The fog lay thick over Minato Mirai 21, its roiling depths
obscuring any sign of the sun shining brightly overhead as it seeped
through the streets and billowed up the sides of the buildings until
the natural heat of the summer caused it to evaporate into nothing at
the edges of its domain. Within the pearly clouds of shimmering vapour,
even the massive bulk of the Yokohama World Porters was little more than
a shadowy blob, its ornate clock tolling with a sonorous tone that seemed
to hang in the air long after the individual chimes had stopped. In the
distance, a shimmering circle of blinking lights marked the far off
Ferris Wheel of Cosmo World, and a jagged spar of shadow jutted through
the mist to mark the place of the Yokohama World Tower. All lesser
buildings were not even able to impose their presence that much upon the
mass of the all-encompassing fog.

	There was no trace of the oppressive heat that had been baking
the rest of Yokohama for the past three days, only a deep and moist chill
that seemed to knead its way into the bones of those caught in it until
even their blood began to run cold in their veins. After mere moments,
any of the tourists who had thought to investigate the mysteriously cold
area found themselves slowing to a stop, gripped by an almost unnatural
stillness that left their breath caught in their throats, as if waiting
for permission to exhale. There were very few who could take more than
a handful of steps into its depths before they suddenly began to think
of very important things that needed to be done as far away from that
place as possible.

	Further in, past the wispy coils of mist and deep inside the all
but impenetrable centre of the fogbank, the silence was broken only by
the sound of running footsteps. Steam rising from their mouths in thick
plumes and dew forming on their exposed skin, two girls raced through the
mist as quickly as their legs could carry them.

	"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," one of them
gasped, her face contorted into a grimace as she clutched the side of her
head. "It's too hot here, Sailor Moon - I can't keep it cold enough to
maintain our cover!"

	"I know, Mercury," her blonde partner replied with a worried look.
"It'll be okay, I promise - we've just got to get far enough ahead of him
that we can lose him in the fog, all right? Just a few more minutes, and
once we're out of here, we'll find a place for you to rest."

	"If you want to rest, Sailor Senshi," a guttural voice snarled, as
a pair of glowing eyes pierced the gloom behind them, "then by all means,
stop running. I'll be more than happy to put both of you to sleep!"

	A clawed foot emerged from the haze, slamming down on the pavement
with enough force to crack the weathered ashphalt. The mists parted as a
monstrous form loomed forward, his lips drawn back from his massive,
sabre-like canines. His pointed ears rose from his dog-like head, and
his short black fur was slick with condensation. His entire body seemed
wreathed in wispy plumes of steam from the intense heat radiating out of
his skin. With almost casual grace, the youma grabbed onto a nearby
street sign and wrenched it from the ground, wielding it like a club.

	"You can't escape me," he huffed, advancing towards the two girls
with the bent sign raised menacingly. "No matter how far you run, no
matter how well you hide, I will scent you out. You think I need my eyes
to find you? You both reek of fear. I could find you in the DARK."

	The two Senshi skidded to a stop, their boots raising splashes of
tepid water from the pools dotting the ground as they turned to face the
youma. Sailor Mercury glanced over at Sailor Moon, who nodded silently.
Closing her eyes, the blue-haired girl lowered her hands to her sides and
bowed her head. Subtly, the puddles around them began to ripple and swirl
in strange motions, reaching upwards and then tumbling back down into
their own depths as the monster stepped forward.

	"We haven't been beaten yet, Orthrus," Sailor Moon reminded the
youma, raising her hands and curling her fingers into fists. "And trust
me, stuff way scarier than you has tried!"

	"Oh, you're beaten," Orthrus assured her, as his orange eyes
flared brightly. "Run, run, as fast as you can, but soon even your vaunted
stamina will fail you, and I will still be hounding your steps. There is
no escape for you now that I have your scent, girl! Sooner or later you
will have to rest, and then I will have run you to ground. My masters
wait for that moment with growing anticipation, Sailor Moon - they shall
show you the most delightful of tortures...."

	"If you think it's going to be that easy, you must keep your
brain in your other body," Sailor Moon taunted. Around them the mists
began to congeal, sinking to the ground and forming into large pools of
water that started to pulse and undulate in time with their smaller
cousins.

	"I'll tear that smirk off your face, girl!" Orthrus roared,
raising one clawed hand high above his head and leaping towards her, his
eyes blazing with hatred as Sailor Moon shrieked and flinched back.

	"SHINE AQUA RHAPHSODY!" Sailor Mercury cried out, pirouetting in
place as the water around her leapt from the ground and circled her form,
gathering in the palm of her outstretched hand. Dropping into a crouch,
the girl thrust her hands forward and sent a torrent of freezing liquid
gushing over the youma's massive form. There was a sharp crackling sound
as the water froze against his skin, leaving a vaguely humanoid shape
barely visible within a thick sheet of jagged icicles. Coated in frost,
his extended claws trembled with the effort of finishing their strike
less than a foot from Sailor Moon's throat. Slowly, his digits stiffened
and froze in place, a curled paw trapped in mid-descent. Sailor Moon
sighed in relief and quickly stepped away from the ice covered monster.

	"Okay, so much for that one," she said, casting a worried glance
over the fog-shrouded terrain. "Where's his better half?"

	"I don't know," Sailor Mercury said, nervously biting the tip of
her gloved finger. "I was hoping they would have merged again, but they
keep splitting up on us. We'd better just take our chances - I don't think
that's going to hold him for very long. Sorry, but it's just not my best
work."

	"Don't worry," Sailor Moon assured her friend, "I've got this one
handled. You just try to rest up for a second or two, okay? You don't
look so good."

	"I don't feel so good," Sailor Mercury replied with a wan smile
as she sank to the ground and rubbed the back of her neck. "This isn't
working, you know: we need a better plan."

	"I know." Reaching down to her hip, Sailor Moon curled her fingers
around the air as if she were gripping an invisible sword hilt. With a
flourish, she drew out a strange weapon that looked for all the world like
a child's toy. It was the size and shape of a short sword, with a pair of
cherubic wings at the hilt and a jewel-studded rod in place of a blade.
The gems flashed and twinkled brightly as she carefully lined up the
frozen youma in her sights and pointed the device at it.

	"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITA-"

	With a baleful howl, a lumbering black form burst from the fog
next to Sailor Moon, lunging forward and clamping its slavering jaws down
on her arm. The girl screamed, her weapon tumbling from her suddenly
nerveless fingers as she fell to her knees and tried to pull her limb
free from the second youma's locked fangs. Jerking its massive head from
Side-to-side, the creature worried at her, knocking her down and pressing
its weight on top of her as it twisted and tugged at her captured arm.

	"Get away from her!" Sailor Mercury cried out, scrambling back
to her feet and racing towards the hulking beast. Letting the blonde girl
fall from his teeth, Orthrus rose to his full height and chortled, easily
catching Sailor Mercury's wrist as she flailed at him. Twisting her hand
behind her back, the youma spun her around and wrapped his other arm
around her throat. Her wildly kicking boots scraped against the ashphalt
as the beast slowly arched his back and lifted her from the ground,
squeezing her tightly in his lethal embrace.

	Cradling her bleeding arm to her chest, Sailor Moon took a deep
breath and screamed. Her shrill cry split through the mist-veiled clearing
and echoed off of the shadowy buildings that surrounded them. The large
red garnets mounted in her hair gleamed dimly, and began to glow as she
screamed again. This time, her shriek somehow rose and fell at the same
time, the very air around her rippling and warping as her siren-like call
escalated through every possible octave at once. The echoes and
reverberations squealed and bounced against each other until the only
thing audible was a constant, high-pitched tone.

	Dropping Sailor Mercury to the ground, the dog-like youma clapped
his paws over his ears and reeled backwards, staggering like a drunkard.
Squeezing his eyes shut and shuddering, he lifted his head and howled
into the fog, a warbling, pain-filled noise that had nothing in common
with his previous calls. For a moment, his crazed eyes fell on the still
shrieking Sailor Moon, and his lips curled back from his bloodstained
fangs in a snarl of hatred before he broke away and scurried off into the
shifting curtains of mist on all fours, whining to himself with every
hurried step.

**********

	Rei Hino looked up from her coffee, her eyes narrowing as she
stared out the window of the crowded cafe. Beside her, Shin Mouri lowered
his chopsticks and gave her a concerned look, nudging his friend Shuu Rei
Fuan with one elbow.

	"What's the matter, Miss Hino?" Shin asked, as the raven-haired
girl rose to her feet.

	"What?" Blinking in confusion, Rei looked down at Shin and shook
her head as if trying to clear it. "Oh, nothing, Shin - it's just... did
either of you two hear anything just now?"

	"Sorry," Shin admitted, "haven't heard a peep. How you could pick
up anything over this awful racket is a mystery to me. Did you hear
anything, Shuu?"

	"Nope," Shuu replied, his voice muffled by the sandwich that he
was hurriedly stuffing into his mouth. The burly teen had filled his
entire side of the table with half a dozen plates, each loaded with a
different type of food. "Only thing I've heard is my stomach growling,
man - like usual!"

	"It must have been my imagination," Rei concluded, smiling
apologetically. "For a second there, I almost thought it sounded like
Usagi...."

	"Yeah, well, it wasn't," Shuu assured her as he switched plates,
grabbing a rice ball and taking an enthusiastic bite. "You're just feeling
guilty because you got into a big fight with her. Once we're done eating,
Shin and me will walk you back and you can apologise for being a jerk.
That should make you feel better - it always works for me."

	"You're probably right," Rei agreed, as she slowly eased back into
her chair. Almost as soon as she had seated herself, however, the girl
shot back to her feet and began looking around the cafe.

	"There it is again," she said, her brow furrowing in concern.
"That's definitely Usagi: she must be in trouble!"

	"All right," Shin replied, carefully wiping his fingers with the
moist towel that had come with his order and pushing his plate away from
him. "Let's go and make sure that she's okay, then. Shuu, be a chap and
settle the bill, would you?"

	"Shin, What are you doing, man?" Shuu asked, reaching out and
catching his friend by the wrist as the slender youth stood to let Rei
past.

	"Never hurts to follow a hunch, old bean," Shin explained with a
lopsided grin. "Rei and I will just pop off and check up on her friend,
make sure nothing is wrong. It's probably just nerves, like you said.
Just in case, though, maybe you should go and fetch Ryo when you're done
here."

	"Fetch Ryo? He's still sleeping back at my house!" Shuu
complained, beginning to cram some of the still-wrapped sandwiches into
the pockets of his overalls as he tossed a handful of cash onto the table.
"What if it's not just nerves? What if it's something bad? What if you
guys need me and I'm still halfway across town?"

	"What if it's something *really* bad," Shin argued, "and Ryo is
still fast asleep? Rei and I will try to hold the fort as long as we can
if it turns out that her friend really is in trouble. Besides, this way
if it's nothing, we can poke around for a bit and then call you at home
to let you know not to bother."

	"Okay," Shuu drawled, giving his friend a lascivious grin as Rei
edged past them and headed for the door, "so we've established your
official alibi. What's the *real* reason?"

	"Well," Shin admitted, lowering his voice as he leaned in closer
to his friend, "I would rather like the chance to spend some time alone
with Miss Hino, if that's quite all right with you. I think there might
be something quite special about that girl."

	"Why you crafty little horn dog," Shuu said with a chuckle as he
ruffled Shin's hair, "I thought you might be a little interested in
her...."

	"Of course I'm interested," Shin replied. "When Nise Suiko showed
up, she was the first one he attacked. Usually that blackguard goes
straight after me, so if he was willing to pass over a chance to rumble
with his favourite enemy just to pick a fight with her, there must be a
reason. I'm betting there must be something about that girl that makes
her a threat to Nise Suiko, and I'm going to find out what."

	"You're a hopeless romantic, buddy," Shuu sighed in resignation,
as Shin gave him a confused look.

**********

	Across town, a frozen statue quivered in place as the mists began
to recede around it, sinking to the ground and settling into a knee-deep
fog. Slowly, a small series of fissures began to form in the frosty
surface, inching their way along the length of the outstretched claws and
running into each other in a massive spider web of cracks. With a series
of sharp popping sounds, several pieces of ice broke free and tumbled to
the ground before skidding away across the road. Orthrus reared his head
back and howled, breaking his head free of its frigid cage as he flexed
his muscles and felt the frost crumble and fall away from his body. Eyes
burning with flame, the youma snarled and dug his talons into the ashphalt
with enough force to fracture the street.

	"Where are they?" he growled. "When I get my claws into them, I
swear, I am going to-"

	"Hello, there, Sunshine! Spare a moment?"

	Orthrus turned to look in the direction of the interruption, as a
slender young man stepped out from a side alley. He was small, even for a
human, which meant that Orthrus positively towered over him, but there was
no sign of fear in the boy's dark eyes. Thrusting his hands into the
pockets of his baggy white pants, the crimson-haired teen sauntered over
to where the seething youma stood hunched over the melting remnants of his
icy prison and smiled.

	"Well don't just stand there like a bump on a log," he said,
tilting his head to one side, "be a good little doggy and tell me where
the birds have gone."

	"Move along, weakling," Orthrus spat derisively. "Before I decide
that you are worth the effort of removing from my way. I have more
important prey to hunt."

	"Yeah, about that," the youth replied, scratching behind one ear.
"Hate to break it to you, but that won't be happening. See, I've sort of
come here to kill you."

	Orthrus looked down at the disturbingly placid-looking human and
felt the hackles on the back of his neck begin to rise. There was
something about the young man that was not quite right - a certain aura
of menace that seemed to radiate out from his skin until it made him take
up much more space than he had any right to. Their gazes met, and the
youma took a step back instinctively. Something in the boy's eyes
glittered with an unholy light that Orthrus had seen only once or twice
in all his many years. It was the same gleam that shone in the gaze of
his master, Xiang Yao; an evil so pure and intense that it had burned
away even the smallest residue of sanity.

	"You will not find me an easy target," the youma growled, baring
his fangs as the flames inside of him flickered around the edges of his
mouth. "Whoever you may be, I will be more than a match for you."

	"My name's Nise Suiko," the slender youth explained, "and I
seriously doubt that." Running his fingers under the edge of his collar,
he fished out a plinth of gleaming purple crystal that dangled around his
neck on a silver chain. The gem was chiseled in a rough and twisted
pattern, as though it had been made by someone who had been deliberately
trying to avoid any pretense of symmetry or aesthetics. As he gently
cupped it in his palm, the amulet was surrounded by a faint nimbus of
scarlet energy that caused shadows to dance over his grinning face.

	Orthrus lunged forward, and Nise Suiko leapt over his head with a
graceful somersault, landing behind the youma as it staggered to a halt
and turned to face him. Orthrus shook his head and snorted, then breathed
a long jet of flame that lanced towards the young man and enveloped him
in a pillar of swirling fire. Thick clouds of steam billowed from the
ground as the last remnants of the nearby mist boiled off, and Orthrus
paused to check his handiwork.

	Nise Suiko stood in the centre of a pulsating bubble of water,
its surface still steaming from the impact of Orthrus' fiery breath. The
red-haired youth smirked and checked his watch, banishing the shield with
a wave of his hand. As the liquid sluiced back down into the pools and
puddles that he had pulled it from, Nise Suiko wagged one finger
disapprovingly.

	"Fifteen seconds?" he asked with a sneer. "You're going to need
more wind than that to blow me down, mate."

	With a wordless roar the youma rushed towards him, claws flashing
in the sun as he caught Nise Suiko in the chest. The boy was hurled into
the air, tatters of shredded fabric trailing after him as he flailed
wildly for something to catch onto. Orthrus' other hand swooped in and
wrapped around Nise Suiko's face, plucking him out of the sky and driving
his skull into the blacktop. Orthrus growled and leaned hard on the boy's
head, twisting his hand and grinding Nise Suiko further into the ground.

	The hand that rose to clamp around Orthrus' throat was sheathed
in crimson and charcoal, with scarlet mist swirling in its wake. As the
youma gagged and staggered back, Nise Suiko slowly pushed himself to his
feet. His entire body was encased in plates of chitinous armour, with
only his gleaming red eyes visible behind the smoked glass of the ivory
visor concealing his face. Orthrus choked and pawed at the steely fingers
clenching his throat, trying to pry them away from his windpipe. The
youma's face contorted as fire flickered around his lips and died
unbidden, unable to struggle past his opponent's vice-like grip.

	"Okay," Nise Suiko said, his voice echoing from within his armour,
"now you have started to piss me off."

**********

	Seiji Date hit the ground hard, his armoured body bouncing across
the steel rails of the subway. Scrambling back to his feet, the young
samurai shook his head and rubbed his eyes with his fingertips as he
waited for his vision to clear. Further down the tunnel, Tuxedo Kamen
nimbly avoided a monstrous punch not unlike the one that had knocked
Seiji sprawling and retaliated with a vicious strike from his enameled
walking stick. There was a loud crack that experience suggested was the
cane breaking, rather than the ribs of their lion-like opponent, and
Tuxedo Kamen barely ducked under a swipe that sent his top hat flying.

	With a groan, Seiji rubbed his aching shoulder and tried to work
some feeling back into his arm before returning to battle. It seemed like
they had been fighting in this dimly lit hole for hours, and it didn't
take a genius to see that they were starting to lose. Seiji's once
pristine emerald and gold armour was pitted and scratched in more places
than he could count, battered and warped from bouncing off of their
enemy's invulnerable hide. Only Tuxedo Kamen's agility had kept him from
suffering the same fate, and Seiji's partner was clearly starting to slow
down. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before either Seiji's
armour finally gave or Tuxedo Kamen dodged a little too sluggishly, and
then the beast would have them.

	The youma was showing no signs of tiring - despite being
outnumbered and surrounded, the monster fought on with an intensity
matched only by the utter disregard it seemed to have for any of their
attacks. Seiji and his comrades were doing a good enough job of keeping
the creature busy, but none of them seemed able to do anything more than
inconvenience it. The best they had managed had been a long and protracted
stalemate, which Seiji suspected was exactly what Xiang Yao had been
hoping for when she had sent it after them.

	Reaching down as he ran back towards the fight, Seiji scooped up
his helmet from where it had fallen and jammed it back on his head. The
sculpted silver mask slid down over his face automatically as he spun his
massive no-dachi around his body and brought it down in a twisting
overhead strike that jarred against the youma's raised hand and skidded
down the length of its arm without leaving so much as a mark. Taking
advantage of Seiji's distraction, Tuxedo Kamen crouched low and dove into
the youma's abdomen, slapping a crimson rose from his lapel against its
exposed stomach. The rose exploded in a blast of scarlet energy and
swirling debris that sent loose dirt raining down from the cracked
concrete above them, and the youma was forced back a few steps. Seiji
shifted his grip on his sword, wielding the massive blade like a spear
and thrusting its tip into the monster's chest with all his might as they
continued driving it back down the tunnel.

	The youma shook its mane and roared, a throaty bellow that caused
even more dirt to shake loose and tumble onto the struggling young men.
Seiji shook the debris off of the beak of his helmet, thankful for the
thick shag of blond hair that was shielding his right eye from all of the
grit and dust that choked the air. At least Tuxedo Kamen's mask had lenses
built into it - the person who had designed Seiji's mystical armour had
been focusing on things other than eye protection.

	A small black cat darted into sight, scampering out from the
shadows and crouching protectively behind Seiji's legs as he parried the
youma's claws with his blade. Catching hold of his greaves, the tiny
feline scaled up his armoured back and perched on his shoulder.

	"We're nearly ready," the cat said quickly. "Sailor Venus says she
has a plan, but she's going to need a little more time. Can you two keep
him busy for a while longer?"

	"As long as it takes," Tuxedo Kamen assured her, slipping under
the monster's raised arm and sliding his cane between its jaws. Bracing
the walking stick in both hands, he forced the beast's head back.

	"Which better be about ten minutes," Seiji clarified, ramming
the spiked hilt of his no-dachi into the youma's exposed throat before
reversing his grip and swinging the six-foot blade at its head. Tuxedo
Kamen quickly ducked out of the way as the glowing sword slammed into
the side of the youma's skull and sent it reeling. The beast retaliated
by swiping at the young samurai, its claws screeching off of his facemask
and tossing him into the side of the tunnel with bone-jarring force.
The cat leapt from his shoulder and bounded away, its smoky fur fading
quickly into the gloom of the tunnel.

	Tuxedo Kamen swooped in again, moving between Seiji and the
advancing youma. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed another of his
exploding roses at its face as a distraction and dove out of the way.
Swatting aside the rose with one hand, the youma reached out with the
other and caught the edge of Tuxedo Kamen's flowing cape. Hurling him off
of his feet, the beast swung him around its head and then smashed him
into the ceiling before tossing him at Seiji like a guided missile. The
armoured youth barely looked up in time to for his partner to collide with
his chest and send both teens to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

	"Man, this is starting to suck," Seiji groaned, as he rolled the
other boy off of him and shook his head in a vain attempt to make the
world stop spinning. "No matter what we throw at this guy, he just keeps
tossing us around like rag dolls! What are we supposed to do?"

	"We keep getting back up," Tuxedo Kamen said grimly, as he
struggled to his feet, "and we pray that Sailor Venus has one hell of a
good plan."

**********

	"Gosh, I hope destroying railway property isn't illegal," Sailor
Venus mused to herself as she examined her handiwork. "If I get the cops
after me again, Artemis will never let me live it down."

	It had been a very long time since Sailor Venus had needed to
worry about cops chasing after her, but she had no urge to start doing it
again. If her time as Sailor V had taught her anything -and she was
willing to admit that it might not have- it was that it could be very
difficult for a well-meaning super-heroine to save the day when people
kept trying to arrest her in the middle of it. If she hadn't run away to
England, faked her death, and then changed secret identities, she would
probably still be in trouble.

	She was not entirely certain she would be able to do that again,
if she needed to. Artemis had seemed very adamant that this was the only
other secret identity she had left, and she had questioned him very
thoroughly. If she managed to screw things up as Sailor Venus too, she was
pretty sure that would be the end of the rope for her. On the other hand,
this was the best plan she had come up with in months, and it would be a
real shame to let something as silly as the legal system get in the way
of trying it out. After all, her cat would probably not have given her a
disguise pen if he had not been expecting her to need to hide from the
authorities every once in a while....

	A small black cat scampered around the corner, skidding to a stop
and nearly falling in before it caught its balance and gave Sailor Venus
a strange look.

	"Venus," it asked cautiously, "why are you at the bottom of a pit?
And why is there a pit?"

	"Hi, Luna!" Venus said with an enthusiastic wave. "I dug a pit!
Pretty swanky, huh?"

	"It's gigantic! We could fit Usage's whole bedroom in there!"

	"Yeah, well, a Crescent Beam is not a shovel," the blonde girl
explained, dusting off her hands. "I did the best I could with the tools
I had available, okay?"

	Luna shook her head sadly, as Sailor Venus continued.

	"Anyway, what do you think? I figure since we can't do anything to
hurt that creature, we could just knock him down this hole I dug and then
collapse the ceiling on him. By the time that big lug is done digging
himself out, we'll be back from Yokohama with some reinforcements, and
Sailor Moon can vaporize him. No fuss, no muss."

	"But you'll destroy the entire tunnel! Every subway in Japan will
be delayed for months!"

	"You can't make an omelet without breaking some legs, Luna,"
Sailor Venus said, nodding sagely. "The important thing is that once he
gets down here, there's no way that monster is getting back out."

	"And have you given any thought as to how *you're* going to get
back out?" the cat asked irritably.

	"I hadn't really planned that far ahead," Sailor Venus admitted
with an embarrassed chuckle. "Don't worry, though: I'm sure I'll think of
something brilliant."

***********

	The world was burning, and there was nobody left alive to care.
Coughing and retching, Ryo Sanada staggered through the stinging clouds
of black smoke and fell to his knees on the cracked and shattered marble
floor. Blood dripped from the jagged wounds in his chest and shoulder,
staining the creamy stone crimson as the young man clumsily grabbed hold
of the broken sword blade still jutting from between his ribs and tried
to pull it from his body. The sword slid out partway, and a fresh gout of
blood poured from the wound as Ryo gagged and tumbled forward, clasping
both hands tightly against his side to staunch the flow. With a sickly
groan, he rolled onto his stomach and managed to push himself over to
the shattered remains of an ivory pedestal. The bust that had once rested
upon it lay nearby, its face a twisted mass of molten bronze. Their
enemies were being thorough, this time: soon, there would be nothing left
to even remember them by.

	Wheezing for breath, Ryo gritted his teeth and propped himself up
against the fallen pedestal. The steel was slick between his fingers as he
eased the blade out another inch. He had lost his own weapon somewhere in
the confusion of the melee at the southern gate - the one stuck inside of
him would have to do until he found a better replacement. He had to keep
fighting. People were depending on him.

	"You're going to let them down," a voice rumbled in his ear, and
he turned to see who had spoken. There was nobody there, save for the
swirling smoke and the crackling sound of the fires raging throughout the
castle.

	"You always let everybody down," the voice continued, as Ryo
focused on drawing the blade out of his chest. "You always have, and you
always will. Don't you see, young Sanada? You were never meant to be a
hero."

	Shadows moved in the smoke, and Ryo struggled to his feet. They
had found him. Even in the midst of the entire city burning, patrols were
being sent out for each and every person. There were to be no survivors,
this time. The Dark Kingdom had grown weary of playing around.

	"They're going to kill you, Sanada," the voice growled. "Does that
frighten you? You're going to die unless you listen to me. Summon your
armour."

	His armour? Ryo blinked and looked around in confusion. What
armour? He didn't have any-

	Wait. Of *course* he did.

	"BUSSO, REKKA!"

	The world warped and changed around him, folding and bending
itself until he stood proud and tall in the ruined corridor, clad in the
scarlet armour of Rekka. His silver mask retracted into the beak of his
horned helmet as Ryo looked down and ran his fingers over his chest. A
moment ago, he could have sworn that he was injured. He had actually
felt the blade grating against his ribs, felt the blood draining from his
body. Now, the whole thing seemed like nothing more than a dream.

	"Very good," the voice said, with a deep chuckle. "You've grown
more powerful since last we met, Sanada. The old Rekka no Ryo would never
have had the strength to call his armour in this place."

	"What's going on here?" Ryo asked, placing his hand on the hilt
of his katana. "Who are you?"

	"Who do you think I am?" the voice asked, with another chuckle.
"As for what's happening... take a look behind you."

	Turning slightly, Ryo looked down at the floor behind him. There,
leaning against a crumbled ivory pedestal, lay a bloody figure with the
broken remains of a sword resting on the ground nearby. As the blood
pooled beneath him, the man looked up at Ryo, who stepped back in surprise
and partially drew his katana. The man's eyes dulled, and his head lolled
back down to rest on his shoulder, staring blankly at the armoured boy.
Ryo slowly eased his sword back into its scabbard, kneeling down next to
the corpse. It was dressed in a long red cloak, charred and smoldering
from fire and streaked with soot. Beneath the cloak it wore the remnants
of what had once been a finely wrought suit of golden armour before it
had been crushed and dented out of shape. The dead man's long black hair
was tied back in a thin braid, and a pair of small, star-shaped earrings
hung from his ears.

	"That's me," Ryo said quietly, as he looked down at his own face.

	"That *was* you," the voice corrected him. "He's dead now, and has
been for a very long time."

	"How?" Ryo asked, slowly rising back to his feet. "I mean... why?"

	"He didn't listen to me," the voice explained. Ryo cocked his head
to the side and raised one eyebrow. Was it him, or did that voice sound a
little bit smug when it said that?

	"Never, Jadeite!" another voice called out in the distance,
echoing through the hallway over the sound of clashing steel and roaring
flames. "You shall take not one step further, so long as I stand!"

	"Kaos!" Ryo yelled in recognition, bolting in the direction the
sound had been coming from. He knew that voice all too well: he had heard
it often enough during his training. If the monk was in some kind of
trouble, then whoever had been stupid enough to pick a fight with him
would live to regret it.

	 Cresting a mountainous pile of rubble, Ryo found a vast courtyard
opening out beneath his feet. Dark and shadowy creatures were streaming
over the walls and through the shattered gates like a living tide of
snapping fangs and glowing eyes, swarming around the small number of
armoured men and women trying to hold their ground in the centre of the
open area. As he watched, a blue-haired man with a golden bow was caught
up by one monster's pincers and tossed into the depths of the screeching
mob behind them. Twisting in mid-flight, the young man managed to draw and
loose three arrows even as he fell, landing atop the bodies of the youma
he had killed before disappearing beneath a sea of bludgeoning arms. Ryo
looked away, turning his gaze back towards the front doors to the giant
palace.

	Kaos stood before the doors, sword in hand. The ageless monk was
dressed in an intricate suit of green and silver armour, with a long
flowing cape the colour of fresh cream clasped to his shoulders. His white
hair stirred freely in the breeze, and he wore an emerald cap whose beak
cast his eyes in shadow. Just the sight of him was enough to fill Ryo's
body with a surge of renewed strength.

	"I never knew what you saw in him," the voice in his head said
sourly.

	"Just you watch," Ryo replied fervently, cupping his hands over
his mouth. "Kaos! Kaos, it's me! I'm here! Tell me what to do!"

	A single figure emerged from the swarm of youma, their dark bodies
parting before him respectfully as he marched towards Kaos. The young man
was clad in a grey uniform with crimson trim, carrying a bronze shield and
a gleaming short sword.

	"Really, Kaos," Jadeite said with a smirk. "This is such a waste
of time. Look around you - Sailor Jupiter is dead, Prince Klarios has been
captured, and your forces are crumbling as we speak. Even if you did
manage to slow me down for a few minutes, do you think this is the only
battlefield? Are you too blind to see the smoke? Kunzite and Zoicite have
already taken the city and Nephrite has broken through the southern gates
of this very palace."

	"Then Nephrite is a fool," Kaos replied grimly. "Sailor Uranus
has a battalion of our finest guard there waiting for him. Make no
mistake: your assault will not get past the Outer Senshi."

	"Oh no, the Outer Senshi! Whatever shall we do?" Jadeite said,
with a malicious laugh. "Your 'finest guard' have all been on our side for
months, you idiot. Sailor Uranus was dead before this attack even began.
Do you really think young Mercury can hold against Nephrite's forces all
by herself?"

	"Perhaps not," Kaos admitted, after a moment's pause, "but even
so, it would seem that I am still standing between you and this door."

	"A temporary delay," Jadeite snarled, all trace of humour gone
from his face. Raising his sword, he pointed at the white-haired figure
in green. "Youma! Deal with him!"

	"Hold on, Kaos! I'm coming!" Ryo yelled, leaping off of the
mountain of broken masonry and drawing his katana in mid-air. He hit the
ground running, his sword chopping off the head of an overly ambitious
youma that tried to lunge at him as he entered the fray. Blades swirling,
the young samurai cleaved a path through the crowd marked by arcs of
glittering steel and fountains of blood where he passed. On the other
side of the courtyard, the stern warrior in the emerald armour was buried
beneath a heap of youma, the monsters clawing and biting and stabbing
furiously as they threw themselves on top of the growing pile.

	A barbed tail swung towards him and Ryo parried without looking,
thrusting one sword through the youma's neck automatically as he batted
aside the claws of another and struck it in the face with his fist.
Spinning the katana in his hand, he stabbed down into its stomach as
it recoiled from his punch and moved on. He crouched as a bat-like
creature lashed out at him, lopping its leg off at the knee and running it
through with his sword when it landed on its back. A lizard man with steam
curling from its nostrils spun noticed him and inhaled deeply, flames
crackling in its throat. With a swift kick to its ankle, Ryo knocked it
off balance, punching it in the stomach as he rose and doubling it over.
As the youma bent forward, Ryo twisted out of the way and brought his
katana down through the base of its skull.

	"Very good," the voice in his head rumbled approvingly. "You're
showing more promise every time I see you, young Sanada."

	"Shut up!" Ryo snapped, backhanding one youma into another and
then spitting them both with his sword. "You think I like this? I've got
to help Kaos!"

	"Still trying to be a hero? I thought you would have learned by
now." The voice sighed disapprovingly, and something in the air rippled.

	Ryo's sword swung through the air towards his next target, only to
come to a bone-jarring halt with the clarion ring of steel meeting steel.
Glancing down, Ryo saw a wicked scythe blade blocking his strike. With a
sinking feeling in his stomach, he turned to face his new opponent. The
armoured figure smiled behind his enameled mask, clad in plates of steel
as black as midnight and a flowing leather overcoat.

	"Shutendoji," Ryo said flatly, taking a step away from the Masho
of Cruelty.

	"Rekka no Ryo," the Masho drawled mockingly, seeming to savour
each word as it came out of his mouth. "Shall we?"

	Ryo cast a glance over the taller man's shoulder, to where Kaos
was still straining to crawl his way out of the swarming youma. He looked
back at Shutendoji, deep into the other man's eyes, and saw only madness.

	"What are you doing here?" he asked, giving the Masho a suspicious
look. "And why are you wearing your armour? Where's your staff?"

	"That's none of your concern," Shutendoji growled, beginning to
twirl the clawed weight on the end of his kusari-gama. "When I'm finished
with you, little samurai, you will be beyond the need for questions."

	"He means it," the voice in Ryo's head insisted. "He's the most
deadly enemy you have ever faced, and in this place he will not be
weakened by mercy or compassion! You have to kill him, before he destroys
you! Listen to me if you want to live!"

	"Shutendoji is not like that any more," Ryo replied, lowering his
swords. "He's a Samurai Trooper now. He would never harm me."

	"This is not the same man! This Shutendoji will not hesitate!"

	"I refuse to believe that!" Ryo yelled. "If he is the threat you
say he is, then he's not really Shutendoji! Shuten can't be wearing the
armour of Oni: he gave his yoroi to Kayura! He's as fake as all the rest
of this!"

	"You have to save Kaos! If you hesitate here, you're only going to
fail him again!"

	"I can't save Kaos," Ryo said sadly, sheathing his swords and
folding his legs under him as he sat on the ground, "and I can't kill
Shutendoji, either. They're both dead. None of this is real. I'm being
manipulated."

	"Most impressive," the voice boomed, as the battle and the palace
faded into nothingness. "You figured it out. This was, indeed, nothing
more than an illusion. I see your strength has increased mentally, as well
as physically. Soon, you will indeed be worthy of serving me."

	"We've played this game before, Arago!" Ryo replied, leaping to
his feet as the world erupted into searing flame. "You already know my
answer - FLARE UP, NOW!"

	A surging torrent of glowing plasma seared through the inky
shadows, piercing them and exploding in a sphere of brilliant light that
nearly blinded Ryo as it bounced back and splashed over him. Covering his
eyes with his arm, the young samurai lowered his silver faceplate and
waited for the light to fade.

	"That accomplished very little," Arago said chidingly, as his
ghostly visage rippled into being from deep within the shadows. His
long and tangled mane of silver hair stirred constantly in a wind that
was not there, and two small points of light glowed within the eyeholes of
his empty mask. His jaw was agape, sculpted into a fanged demonic grin
that made the Demon Lord Emperor seem as though he were constantly
enjoying a joke at the expense of whoever was looking at him.

	"Yeah, well, it's the thought that counts," Ryo countered,
retracting his own mask once again. "How dare you try to use Kaos against
me? You're not even worthy of saying his name, let alone spreading lies
about-"

	"Oh, that part was quite true," Arago assured him. "I was there,
young Sanada: I saw the entire battle with my own eyes. A shame, that the
monk survived, but aside from that it was a very good day."

	"As if I'd believe anything you told me," Ryo growled. "You're
nothing but a bad memory."

	"What I am," the floating death's head said placidly, "is a doting
father, patiently caring for his wayward sons. All this heroic nonsense
is nothing more than youthful rebellion - in time, you will see the true
path that waits for you at my side. You will all come back to me, my sons,
and together we shall rule this world as our own."

	"You," Ryo seethed, "are *not* my father."

	"I am more of a father than any you have known," Arago argued,
looming over the young samurai until he filled the boy's entire field of
vision. "All these years, I was the one who cared for you, I was the one
who was there for you! You could never depend on that useless fool of a
man who sired you for anything, could you? You can count on me, though,
young Sanada - you will always be able to count on me."

	"Count on you? To attack us, maybe! To try to kill us!"

	"To make you strong! To help you grow in power and teach you the
ways of the Dynasty! I would have made you princes of this world, young
Sanada, but time and again you have rejected me! I extend my hand to you,
loving parent that I am, and you Samurai Troopers slap it away!" Arago
growled, his hair writhing like a nest of serpents as it batted against
Ryo's armour and began to coil around his arms and legs. "You still don't
understand, do you? Look at what you are without me! Look at what has
become of you!"

	Ryo backpedaled, flailing his arms to break free of the thick
ropes of ghostly hair tightening around him. Something gave under his
foot, and he fell backwards into the air as a world flooded into existence
beneath him. Broken plains of jagged rock spread as far as the eye could
see, barren and lifeless as it baked under the heat of shimmering crimson
sun. Arago's hair slid around the falling boy's waist and arms like a
harness, jolting him violently as it stopped his fall. Far beneath him,
a girl with long brown hair stepped out from the mouth of a small cave
and scanned the terrain, shading her eyes with one gloved hand. The pink
bow on her chest ruffled in the breeze, and her green pleated skirt
stirred about her legs as she looked into the distance. Ryo blinked and
craned his neck for a closer look. That suit of hers almost looked like
the one Ami had been wearing when they first met: was she a Sailor Senshi?

	Satisfied with her scan, the girl turned back towards the cave
and gestured. Emerging from within the cave, a young man dressed in blue
armour quickly strode over to her. He was wearing his arm in what appeared
to be a makeshift sling, and flexed his fingers experimentally as he
walked over to where the Senshi was standing.

	"Wait," Ryo said, his eyes widening in recognition, "that's Touma!
Hey, Touma! What are you doing here, man? We need your help!"

	Touma placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, and they spoke for a
few moments. Ryo strained to hear them, struggling against the silvery
bonds that held him, but could not make out a single word. After a short
pause, the girl nodded and they both made their way back into the cave.

	"Your friend Touma is trapped in this hellish place," Arago hissed
from behind Ryo, his breath washing over the boy like a wave of cold in
the blazing desert air. "There is no escape for him, or any of his little
friends. Time is running out, and their enemies are closing in on them
even as we speak. Soon, young Hashiba will have no choice but to crawl
back to me, or he will be obliterated."

	"No," Ryo growled, glaring over his shoulder at the face of his
captor. "Touma would never join you. He'd rather die!"

	"Perhaps you're right," Arago agreed with a chuckle, as the world
around them shifted and changed again. "But can we say the same for your
dear friend Shin Mouri?"

	Ryo shook his head to clear it and looked up at his new
surroundings. They were somewhere in Yokohama, he realised, not very far
away from where Ami and the other girls were staying. Beneath his dangling
feet, laundry hung limply from lines that stretched over the concrete of
the alley below and he could faintly make out the sound of cars and trucks
in the distance. It all seemed so far away, and yet he couldn't shake the
feeling that if he just stretched his hand out he would be able to feel
it. The ground receded as Arago pulled him higher, and Ryo began to kick
and strain as hard as he could against the hair that tangled thicker and
thicker around his body. Was that the monster's plan? Was it just going to
lift him up and drop him to his death in some nameless alleyway?

	"Do you see him?" Arago asked, in a hushed tone. "Over on that
rooftop, there? Look."

	Despite himself, Ryo glanced over at the rooftop as they floated
above it. There, dressed in a simple pair of white slacks and a black
dress shirt with red suspenders, stood Shin Mouri. The red-haired young
man had one foot braced against the steel railing that ran the length of
the ashphalt roof and his hands in his pockets, completely at ease as he
looked out over the city. His massive trident rested against the railing
next to him, its tines embedded in the surface of the roof. Ryo raised an
eyebrow. Now that he looked at it, that trident didn't look quite right:
he did not recall Shin's weapon having serrated edges like that, or those
creepy little bones and shark teeth hanging off of it on leather straps
like some kind of weird trophies, or something. Come to think of it,
Shin's hair was really more auburn than red, wasn't it?

	"Nise Suiko," Arago explained as they hovered near Shin's evil
twin. "Glorious, isn't he? He is everything that your friend was ever
supposed to be: ruthless, bloodthirsty, and completely devoted to my
cause. Can you imagine how wonderful it will be when Shin joins him at my
side? Together, they will be unstoppable."

	"Shin would never work with Nise Suiko," Ryo spat. "He wants to
kill him!"

	"Nise Suiko is stronger than your friend could ever dream of
becoming," Arago replied scornfully. "I set him loose upon this world for
the sole purpose of breaking Suiko no Shin. The only hope that Shin has of
defeating Nise Suiko is to *become* him."

	"That's never going to happen," Ryo said adamantly.

	"It has already begun," Arago replied with a deep chortle. "There
is nothing that you can do to stop it, now."

	"I don't have to listen to this," Ryo argued. "You're always
trying to trick us into fighting for you, and it never works! Even your
own servants turned against you in the end!

	"My Masho have served me well over the centuries," Arago said. "I
am willing to forgive them their slight insubordination. Rajura, Anubis,
Naaza, and Kayura will all return to me of their own free will, in time.
You, however, clearly need more convincing."

	Ryo froze as the world began to shift around them once again.

	"Don't do this," he said softly.

	"I was hoping we wouldn't have to," Arago replied, with a tone of
menace in his voice, "but you just refuse to learn."

	"Ryo, honey? Is that you?"

	"Oh, god," Ryo moaned, squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn't have
to see the person he knew was there. He would know that voice anywhere,
no matter how many years it had been. Arago was playing dirty.

	"Ryo, what's the matter? Is something bothering you, sweetie? It's
okay: you can tell me."

	A soft hand caressed his cheek, and Ryo bit his lip to stop from
crying out. His hand clenched into fists, trembling impotently as he
strained against the Demon Lord's vice-like grip. She even smelled like he
remembered.

	"Ryo, look at me."

	"Mom," Ryo croaked, as he slowly opened his eyes and turned his
head to face her. She looked just like she had in all the pictures, from
before she got sick. Her long brown hair was tied back behind her head in
a thick braid, and she was dressed in the soft pink sweater and a dark
grey skirt that he had known she would have on. They had buried her in
those clothes. There was a smudge of flour on her face, and she smiled
sweetly as she smoothed back his bangs with her thumb.

	"Hey, kiddo," she said softly, crouching next to him and resting
her arms on her knees as she leaned in close. "What happened this time?
Did you find another baby bird?"

	Ryo shook his head dumbly, as he reached down with his suddenly
freed hands and felt the coarse timbers of his cabin floor, back in the
woods. He was sitting on the floor, wearing his usual blue jeans and a
red short-sleeved shirt. What had happened to his armour? Where was Arago?

	"Well, it's always something when you mope in here with that look
on your face," his mother continued, ruffling his hair playfully. "Come
here, honey, give Mommy a hug, and it'll all seem better...."

	Moving as though he was on autopilot, Ryo rested his head on her
shoulder and slid his arms around her as she held him close. Almost
immediately, she went cold, and he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

	"Let her go, son," his father said sadly. "She's in a better
place, now."

	Stepping back from the coffin, Ryo straightened his tie and rested
his fists on the edge of the viewing table. He knew where he was this
time, too, and it still sucked just as much as he had remembered. He and
his father stood alone in an empty room full of vacant chairs, with the
funeral director discreetly peering through the door to see if they were
done yet. Nobody else had even bothered to show up.

	"We should have dressed her up, or something," he said, staring
down at the floor. "She had lots of nice dresses. We could have picked out
something nice."

	"That was her favorite sweater," his father replied with a shrug.
"No point in sending her off in something she didn't want to wear. Now
come on - this is costing money."

	"Well, god forbid this cost us money," Ryo said bitterly, turning
on his heel and marching towards the exit.

	The door opened, and a young woman staggered in clutching her
stomach. She was dressed in denim shorts, with a jean jacket and an orange
ribbon tied in her long black hair.

	"Oh, no," Ryo groaned, as she turned to look at him, her golden
hazel eyes wide with fright. "Not here, Arago, not this again...."

	"Ryo," the girl gasped, falling to her knees as a crimson stain
began to spread across her shirt. "I looked everywhere for you, Ryo. You
said you'd be there...."

	"Arago, this isn't funny!"

	"You were supposed to protect me, Ryo; you promised...."

	"I mean it, Arago! I am seriously not in the mood for this!"

	"Aw," Arago crooned, as he shouldered aside the doors and forced
his way into the funeral parlour, the walls crumbling and crackling as his
giant armoured body smashed through them. "What's wrong? I thought you
would be happy. All the women who have ever loved you, all in one place.
True, there aren't many of them, but it's not my fault you don't get out
more."

	"Ryo," the girl called out again, reaching for him with one hand
as she crawled forward slightly. "Please, Ryo, I'm so cold... it hurts so
much...."

	"You see now, don't you?" Arago interjected, striding forward and
stepping down on the small of the girl's back. He ground his heel in, and
she threw her head back with a wail of anguish. "These women, these people
who tried to take you from me, they *had* to die. It could not be avoided.
You were never meant to be with them. You were meant to be with ME."

	"Just keep talking, Arago," Ryo spat. "The Samurai Troopers will
make you eat every last one of those words, you hear me? We're not afraid
of you!"

	"Hmmm... could it be that our dear, departed young Luna's cries of
pain no longer move you?" Arago stroked his chin thoughtfully as he idly
prodded the prone girl with the tip of his spear. "Do you no longer care
for her? Has she been replaced so quickly? I see by your shocked
expression that I have come close to reaching my mark. How cold and
unfeeling your heart is, young Sanada - how fickle and disloyal a lover
you must be! Is it that blue-haired girl I saw you with the other night?
Little Miss... Mizuno, I believe her name was? I'm not sure I approve of
my heir spending his nights with strange girls: perhaps I should introduce
myself to her. What do you think?"

	"If you lay so much as one finger on Ami," Ryo said, his clothes
bursting into flame as they shifted and changed into his gleaming crimson
yoroi, "I'll make you wish you'd stayed where we put you, do you
understand me? I'll make you *beg* to be dead!"

	"Now that is how I like to hear my Masho talk!" Arago replied
with an evil chortle. "Why don't we make a deal? You meet me at the foot
of Mount Osore before the O-Bon, and we will settle our affairs like
gentlemen. If you choose to decline, well, I'm afraid your little
girlfriend will be in a great deal of trouble. Perhaps I will even send
her a small sign of my affections right now, just to welcome her to the
family...."

**********

	"Ryo? Ryo! Snap out of it, man! You're going to wake my parents
if you keep freaking out like this!" Shuu Rei Fuan grabbed the flailing
boy as tightly as possible and slapped him in the face. After taking a
moment to gauge the results, Shuu backhanded him hard enough to rock his
head back and moved in to slap him yet again.

	Moving instinctively, Ryo's hand shot up and grabbed Shuu's arm,
his eyes fluttering open as he gazed around the room with an unfocused
look in his eyes.

	"Shuu?" he asked, his voice croaking hoarsely.

	"Yeah," his friend said, slowly releasing the smaller boy and
taking a step back. "Shuu Rei Fuan, remember? Your buddy? You're staying
at my house? And, apparently, trashing my bedroom?"

	"Your room?" Ryo asked, running his fingers through his dark hair
and taking another look around. Sure enough, he was sitting on the cot
that had been laid out for him in his friend's bedroom. The walls were
festooned with wrestling posters and pennants for the Yokohama Baystars,
and a giant framed picture of Bruce Lee hung over the bed. The far wall
contained a television and a cabinet that was usually full of videos, and
a rice cooker lay on the floor amidst a pile of spilled rice. He also
couldn't help but notice that the cabinet was missing its doors, and there
were some very large holes in the walls that he did not remember being
there when he lay down. A glance down at his throbbing hands gave him a
pretty good idea what had happened.

	"You were thrashing around like a madman," Shuu explained, with
a deep sigh of relief. "You nearly threw yourself through the window
before I tackled you! Not to mention all the screaming. Are you okay?"

	"Yeah, I'm fine," Ryo said, rising to his feet. "Guess I must have
been sleepwalking, or something. Bad dream."

	"Sleepwalking is when you go down to the kitchen and accidentally
eat an entire tub of butter," Shuu replied sternly. "This was sleep-
wrecking-my-house. You were seriously out of it, dude: yelling all sorts
of weird stuff about your mom, and Kaos, and...." Shuu glanced around and
leaned in close, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You were talking about
HIM, Ryo. Arago. Is there something you wanna be telling me?"

	"Look, I told you I'm fine, all right?" Ryo argued, pulling on a
fresh shirt and checking the pockets of the jeans he had slept in to make
sure that none of his change had fallen out of his pockets. "Arago's dead,
Shuu. He's dead and gone, and he's never coming back, so there's nothing
for you to worry about, okay? It was just a stupid dream. I've been under
a lot of stress lately."

	"Well, if you say so," Shuu agreed reluctantly. "Listen, I came
here for a reason - Rei thinks that the Sailor Senshi might be in trouble!
She and Shin are already on their way there, and they wanted us to give
them some heavy backup in case they needed it. So, what are you waiting
for? Hit the showers, and let's saddle up, dude! If I gotta get stuck
playing the cavalry, the least we can do is be there on time!"

	Ryo froze in the middle of pulling on his socks and gave Shuu
a worried look. "The Senshi are in trouble? You mean, like, somebody's
attacking them?"

	"We won't know until we get there, dummy!" Shuu retorted, giving
his friend a playful smack on the back of the head. "Come on! Get the
lead out and let's go see what's happening!"

	"A sign of his affections," Ryo muttered darkly. Grabbing the
crystal that contained his mystic armour and slipped it around his neck
as he followed Shuu out of the room.

**********

	Worlds away, Badamon snickered to himself as he rose from his
seated position in the middle of a large pentagram that had been chalked
out on the floor. With a ragged corner of his tattered sleeve, the
wizened old priest rubbed the mystic sigils from his forehead and
carefully snuffed each of the candles that marked each point on the
circle where it was broken by the five-pointed star.

	Manipulating Ryo Sanada was such fun that it was practically a
hobby for him, these days. Using his powers to enter the boy's mind and
fill it with images of his choosing was child's play to a master of the
dark arts. There was no chance that the warrior of Rekka would ignore
the chance of Demon Lord Emperor Arago returning to the lands of the
living: when he stumbled onto Radanthus' foolish and clumsy attempt to
destroy the Sailor Senshi, young Sanada would surely assume that it was
merely 'Arago' making good on his threat. He would be at Mount Osore,
right when Badamon needed him there.

	"Hurry along, Ryo Sanada," the wizard cackled softly to himself.
"Play your part, like the finely tuned puppet you have always been. Know
it or not, YOU shall be the ultimate instrument for our revenge on that
grotesque fool Radanthus, as well as everyone else who has wronged me!
How better to punish you for what you have done, than to turn you against
the very people you care about the most? The Celebration of the Dead
cannot come soon enough for me, and it shall be all too soon for you...."

	Still laughing and murmuring under his breath to himself, Badamon
scuttled out of his chambers and sealed the doors behind him. After a long
moment of silence, a single shadow detached from the wall and crept
quietly over to where his chalked pentagram and open spellbooks still lay
upon the ground. A match flared, and the girl holding it carefully lit
a single candle as she knelt over the open tomes. She was dressed in the
form-fitting garb of a kunoichi, and a mask covered the lower half of her
face. Brushing her lavender hair out of her eyes, the female youma
traced her finger along one of the lines in the book as her lips moved,
silently forming the words.

	Taking a look over her shoulder to make sure that Badamon wasn't
returning to pick up something he had forgotten, Oniwabandanna set the
candle down on the floor and framed the book in a square formed by her
thumbs and index fingers. Her eye flickered and made a soft click as she
recorded the image, and she quickly moved on to the next tome. Quickly
snapping pictures of all the books, she took a few quick shots of the
pentagram and the mystic sigils that surrounded it before snuffing out
her candle and disappearing back into the safety of the shadows.

**********

	Sailor Mercury darted down a side alley, pulling Sailor Moon after
her, and the two girls took refuge behind a large steel dumpster. Orthrus
had recovered from his earache all too quickly, and it had been a constant
struggle just to keep ahead of him. It seemed as if every time they
turned around, he was bounding out of the fog and nipping at their heels.
Worse, every time they thought they might have shaken him long enough to
catch their breath and come up with some kind of battle plan, he would
drop out of the sky and start trying to roast them with his fiery breath.

	"I don't even think it's the same one," Sailor Moon whined,
cradling her injured arm to her. "I think there must be, like, dozens of
him out there. Who said there were only two? Maybe he's got a whole army!"

	"There can't be that many of him," Mercury assured her friend.
"If he had that many duplicates running around, my visor would have picked
them up by now, and I've only seen two. He's just... really fast. And
really good."

	"I don't think that made me feel better," Sailor Moon whimpered.
"I wish Sailor Mars was here."

	"So do I," Sailor Mercury agreed solemnly. "I just wish I was able
to get a call out before Orthrus wrecked my communicator."

	"We could try mine," Sailor Moon offered, fishing into the bow at
the back of her uniform and pulling out a pink device with a silver
crescent moon embossed on its top. "See? I hung onto it the whole time,
even when we had to jump that fence."

	"I'd rather find out how he's tracking us through this fog first,"
Sailor Mercury said, drawing out a small computer and beginning to type
rapidly on the keyboard. "There must be some way we can analyze the
recordings I was able to get off of him, maybe give Sailor Mars a better
idea of what to expect...."

	"What's to analyze?" Sailor Moon asked, peeking over the top of
the dumpster and nervously scanning the mouth of the alley. "He's smelling
us. He said so!"

	"Smelling us?" Mercury blinked. "In that case, maybe we could find
some case to change our scent. I would think all the soap bubbles in my
Shabon Spray would have had some affect on that... unless...."

	"Unless what?" Sailor Moon chimed in, glancing down at her friend.
"Think faster, Mercury, think faster! He's going to be here any minute!"

	"Unless there's something about our Senshi forms that is unique,"
Sailor Mercury said thoughtfully. "Perhaps we have some sort of magical
signature that Orthrus is able to sense? If we were to change back into
our normal forms, we might be able to escape notice."

	"Change back? With a drooling, slavering monster on our tails?
Let's save that for Plan B," Sailor Moon suggested. "If he attacked us
and we didn't have our powers, we might not have time to transform again
before he really hurt us, Mercury! I say we call for Sailor Mars, and
Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Jupiter, and everybody else we know who can
make stuff explode, and tell them we need help right now!"

	"I like that plan," Orthrus said dryly, as he leered down from
the top of the dumpster with a sly grin that showed off every last one of
his dagger-like fangs. "The more of you Senshi I'm able to lure in here
the better, as far as my masters are concerned. Go ahead: call them. I'll
just wait here until you're finished."

	Sailor Moon screamed and ducked behind Sailor Mercury, who
reflexively raised her hands and leapt to her feet, a nimbus of blue
energy swirling around her fingers. Orthrus opened his mouth in a wide
smile and waggled his tongue at them dramatically before leaping off of
the dumpster and landing in their midst, jaws snapping as they dove out
of his way in a panicked scramble to avoid his razor sharp fangs. The
two Senshi linked hands again and began running, the dog-like youma
capering after them with a joyful howl.

**********

	"Did you at least hear THAT?" Rei asked, gesturing in the
direction of the eerie howl that still lingered in the air. Stepping off
of the bus behind her, Shin waved a friendly farewell to the driver and
waited as the vehicle drove away with the gurgling roar of its engine
before responding.

	"Yes, Miss Hino, I most definitely heard that particular sound.
Rather 'Hound of the Baskervilles', don't you think? I'd say you and I
better find a quiet place and change into something less comfortable
before whatever made that dreadful sound finds us."

	"I knew Usagi was in trouble," Rei groaned. "I don't know how I
knew it, but I knew it. Every time I let that meatball head out of my
sight for more than thirty minutes, something like this happens...."

	"Quite a bit of water around here," Shin noted, lifting his foot
out of the puddle he had accidentally stepped into. "Seems a bit odd,
since we haven't had any rain recently. Bit strange to see fog when it's
been so bloody hot out lately, too. Is that a piece of ice over there?"

	"Ami must have been in a fight," Rei concluded, as she knelt down
next to one of the puddles and dipped her fingers into it. "The water's
still cold, see? Besides, I've worked with Sailor Mercury for years: I'd
recognise her Shabon Spray with my eyes shut. We must have just missed
them."

	"Well, here's something you don't see every day," Shin commented,
as he crouched over something further up the bicycle path. "Some beastie
has put a pair of bloody great footprints clear through the tarmac. Must
be a big fellow, whoever he is."

	"If they ran off, they'll be over there," Rei decided, pointing
towards the glittering lights of the Cosmo World Ferris Wheel. "The fog
gets thicker in that direction: Sailor Mercury must be laying it down as
a smokescreen. My bet is they're somewhere in the middle of all that
mist. The only question now is how we're going to find them in it."

	"Oh, that'll be easy," Shin said confidently. "Fog's just water
that's learned how to fly, my dear Rei-chan, and when it comes to water I
am definitely the guy to have on your side."

	"What are you talking about? They could be anywhere in that mess!"

	"Ah, but they're not," Shin explained. "They're only in the place
where the fog is touching their bodies, and with my powers - eh?" Staring
at something in the nearby grass, the young samurai quickly hopped over
the safety rail and walked over to where it lay. Stooping down, he picked
the object up and turned it over in his hands.

	Shin whistled softly to himself. The dagger in his hands was
almost half a foot long, with a series of jagged serrations running along
one side and a razor-like edge on the other. The grip was wrapped in
straps of sharkskin, and had indentations for each finger that fitted his
hand perfectly. Sharkskin, so that the blade would not slip in someone's
grip while they used it underwater. He had seen a knife exactly like this
one before. He *owned* a knife exactly like this one. Of course, his was
usually not covered in blood, which this one was.

	"Nise Suiko," he whispered to himself as he folded his fingers
around the blade of the dagger and gently tapped the handle against his
open palm. "Dropped something, did you, bastard? Well, now I know you're
here."

	"Come on, Shin! Are you going to help me find Usagi and Ami, or
are you going to sit around enjoying the sunshine all day? We need to get
moving!"

	"Don't worry, Rei," Shin called back to the raven-haired priestess
as he stood up. Quickly, he wrapped a handkerchief around the blood-soaked
knife and slipped it into the back of his pants. "I wouldn't miss this
little party for anything!"

**********

	Xiang Yao sat in the mists, and waited. Orthrus seemed to be
doing a good enough job of keeping their primary bait entertained, but she
was beginning to doubt that Sailor Mars would be willing to accept the
invitation. Surely this could not be - as Xiang Yao recalled, Mars had
always been the most loyal of the Moon Princess' protectors. If nothing
else, Tuxedo Kamen should have shown up to rescue her by now. Perhaps
Nemeios had been a tougher opponent than she had imagined. She had only
meant to cause some damage to that armoured buffoon who had ruined her
fun the last time, not actually finish off Sailor Venus or Tuxedo Kamen.

	Someone was supposed to have come to the rescue. That had been
the whole point of attacking the Moon Princess; to lure in her little fan
club so that Xiang Yao herself could pick a few of them off when nobody
was looking.

	Well, there was also the advantage of getting to rub in to
Radanthus the Insufferable that she was not his servant. Honestly, to
think that he would have the nerve to tell her to leave Sailor Moon alone!
As though he had any right to tell her who to attack and who to spare: she
was Xiang Yao, and she killed because she liked to kill. Just because she
was willing to listen to Radanthus' occasional suggestions on who to make
her next target did not make him her master. There was only creature that
had ever been able to make her its slave, and as long as she stayed far
away from that cursed magic puzzle box, she would not have to worry about
seeing him for some time. Let him stay in that palace of his, wallowing
in his misery and waiting for the world to rebuild from his last
appearance. His day would come again, eventually, and then the fun would
really begin.

	The Leviathan never told her to spare people. In a perverse way,
it was one of the many reasons she loved him. They had a... special...
relationship - she prodded him on to greater evil, and he gifted her with
the power to make her own ambitions a grim reality. Plus, she would never
have had her pets without him. They had made each and every one of her
darlings, together.

	"All your world is but a dream," she whispered to herself with a
wicked smile, "and I am the mother of all nightmares. Come to me, Sailor
Senshi, for I have so many delightful things to show you. Can you not hear
your princess crying?"

	A spark flared in the distance, and Xiang Yao smiled. So, Sailor
Mars had finally arrived. Good. She had grown tired of waiting.

**********

	Shin strode into the fog, his blue and white armour seeming to
glow with an inner light as he was enveloped in the pearly mist. The sigil
on his forehead flickered softly as he slowly extended one hand and
pointed.

	"Over there," he said, his breath puffing from his mouth in a
cloud of steam. "Your friends are that way, Sailor Mars. Just stick with
me, and I'll lead you straight to them."

	"How can you know that?" Sailor Mars asked, trailing a respectful
distance behind the armoured boy and watching the shadowy rooftops for
any sign of imminent attack. "I mean, I can tell that something creepy is
going on here, but I haven't got any idea where Sailor Moon and Sailor
Mercury are."

	"I'm the Samurai Trooper of Suiko," Shin explained in a hushed
tone. It was so quiet inside the mists that even their softest footsteps
were echoing, and neither one of them wanted to draw more attention by
yelling at each other. "Water is my element, all right? I can feel them
moving through the fog. As long as they're surrounded by water, it's the
same as if they were touching me."

	"Wow. Really?" Sailor Mars looked down and hugged her arms around
her chest. "So, uh... you can feel *anything* that's in this cloud?"

	"Yes, Rei," Shin said with an exasperated sigh. "I'm groping you
as we speak."

	"WHAT?"

	"That is where you going with this, right?" Shin looked back over
his shoulder and winked at her. "Don't worry, Sailor Mars - I'm one of the
good guys. I'd never do something like that."

	"Oh, yeah." Sailor Mars grinned and scratched the back of her
head. "I guess that was kind of silly of me...."

	"Unless I had permission," Shin added innocently, as he turned
his back on the Senshi and continued walking through the fog-shrouded
streets. "Now that I think about it, that could prove rather educational.
Remind me to stop by the public baths when this is all over."

	"Hey! Could you please keep your mind on the mission? I've got
enough trouble without you teasing me. Plus, if I thought for a second
that you were actually serious about that kind of thing, I'd turn you into
a scorch mark."

	"Sorry," Shin apologised with a sheepish grin. "Just trying to
lighten the mood a little. I suppose I've been spending so much time
around Shuu and the rest of the guys that I forget I was in the company
of a lady. Shall I place my coat on this puddle for you, madam?"

	"Just point the way like a good little compass and leave the
thinking to me," Sailor Mars said sourly.

	"Very good, ma'am," Shin agreed, and the pair moved on in silence.
For several minutes, the only noise was the sound of their feet clacking
off of the blacktop and the faint chiming of a clock in the distance.

	"So," Shin said, after a while, "have you been giving any thought
into what exactly our enemies are after? I mean, so far they just seem to
be attacking people at random. It's a bit difficult to pick out an
ultimate goal from all that, isn't it?"

	"Not really," Sailor Mars replied. "They want us dead. That's
the whole thing, Shin; there is no more plan beyond that point. At least,
not anything that we're going to be in any condition to care about."

	"Yes, but who exactly do they want? And why? I mean, Nise Suiko
basically lured you out of that train station the first day we met. There
were lots of other people in that station he could have attacked - why did
he single you out? Why not Ryo, or Ami, or Usagi?"

	"I don't know," Mars said, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe he was
just drawn to my sparkling personality."

	"I think there might be more to it than that," Shin suggested.
"Do you suppose it might be possible that the reason he attacked you-"

	"You know," Shin's own voice said, interrupting him before he
could finish his sentence, "it's kind of rude to talk about people when
they aren't around. It's even worse to do it when they can hear you.
Catch."

	A vaguely spherical object hurtled out of the fog, twisting and
spiraling as it flew into Shin's open hands. Catching the thing, Shin
staggered back from the surprising weight and looked down. A doglike face
stared up at him, its lips still peeled back from its fangs in an angry
grimace. With a yelp, the slender youth dropped the head to the ground
and leapt back.

	"What? You don't like my handiwork?" Nise Suiko asked as he
emerged from the mist, clad in his full armour. "I had to go through hell
to pick up that little souvenir. Thought maybe I could use it to club his
little packmate to death later: you know, really drive home the irony."

	"Nise Suiko," Sailor Mars said in a strangled tone, stepping
forward with her fists clenched. "If you've done anything to hurt my
friends, I swear-"

	"Oh, relax, sweetheart," Nise Suiko said, waving his hand in her
general direction as if trying to shoo away a particularly annoying fly.
"We'll have some private time later, okay? Right now I'm a little more
interested in the dead man walking beside you. Looking a bit sprightly
for a corpse, aren't you, Shin old boy?"

	"I could say the same to you," Shin replied, drawing the knife
he had found earlier. "By the way, you dropped this outside. Sloppy."

	"Bad luck to take another man's knife," Nise Suiko replied. "I
suppose I shall let it slide this time because we are such good friends."

	"You left me at the bottom of the ocean to die," Shin growled.

	"You should have bloody STAYED there," Nise Suiko snarled in
response, and lunged forward with his trident raised. Shin ducked as the
massive blades speared through the air above him and batted the haft of
the weapon with his forearm to knock it out of his way. Nise Suiko spun
the trident with the motion of the strike, bringing it around in a tight
circle and thrusting at him again almost before he could stop his own
forward charge and dodge it. Deflecting the blow with Nise Suiko's own
knife, Shin riposted and struck at the thin eye slot in his double's
visor. Nise Suiko jerked his head back instinctively, and Shin dropped
into a crouch before sweeping the other samurai's legs out from under
him.

	Rolling with Shin's attack, Nise Suiko flipped back into a
handstand and then pushed himself into the air, landing atop a softly
humming streetlight on the other side of the street.

	"Nice recovery," Shin said grudgingly. "Where did you learn that
counterthrust?"

	"Same place you did, mate," Nise Suiko answered with a chuckle.
"Sitting right on Mommy's knee. Care to come up and have another go?"

	"Sailor Mars," Shin said, without taking his eyes off of his
doppelganger, "your friends are just a few blocks north of here. Can you
make it by yourself?"

	"Shin, I'm not going to leave you alone with this sociopath-"

	"I happen to be a psychopath, thank you very much! The least you
can do is get it right!"

	"Nobody is talking to you!" Sailor Mars snapped at Nise Suiko,
before turning back to Shin. "Shin, every time you fight this guy alone,
things go bad for you. If we work together we can beat him a lot faster."

	"Hey! Nobody said this was a handicap match! Where's *my* Senshi?"

	"Shut up!" Sailor Mars yelled, shaking her fist in the armoured
warrior's general direction. "Listen to me, Shin - we have to be smart
about this."

	"You're right, Sailor Mars," Shin agreed.

	"You're right Sailor Mars," Nise Suiko parroted, then made a rude
noise. "My God, of all the people on the planet, why did I have to be
*your* evil twin? It's like being the enemy of Mary freaking Poppins!"

	"Look, we *do* have to be smart," Shin continued, placing his
hand on Sailor Mars' shoulder. "Whatever is threatening your friends right
now, it's not Nise Suiko. I can handle anything this blowhard feels like
throwing at me, but your teammates need you right now. So I want you to
leave me here to handle this, and you go help your friends. Don't let him
slow us both down long enough to make it too late."

	Sailor Mars looked up at Nise Suiko, perched on the lamp like a
crimson demon with his jagged ivory facemask and dimly glowing eyes. He
radiated evil, like the spiritual equivalent of raw sewage. It made her
feel sick just staring in his direction. Every sense of justice in her
body screamed at her that the world would not be right until this walking
disease had been burned away forever.

	But somewhere out there, Sailor Moon was in danger. And as much as
she hated to admit it, that was more important than staying behind to help
Shin wipe his evil twin off the face of the planet.

	"I thought she'd never leave," Nise Suiko commented dryly as
Sailor Mars turned and ran off into the fog, her rapidly fading footsteps
echoing coldly on the hard concrete sidewalk. "Yet at the same time,
there's something almost hypnotic about watching her go. Know what I
mean?"

	"You talk too much," Shin said, and raised his hands above his
head. "BUSSO, SUIKO!"

	"Well, then, by all means," Nise Suiko replied gleefully, as Shin
summoned his full armour, "let's stop talking and get down to business.
Get up here, water lily, and I'll show you how the *real* Suiko fights!"

**********

	Rei Hino was two blocks away before the first explosion rang out
behind her. The shockwave from the blast was strong enough to blow away
the fog around her, clearing a wide swath of the street and ruffling the
bows on her uniform. Shading her eyes with one hand, the raven-haired
Senshi turned and looked back the way she had come just in time to see a
twenty foot high fountain of water crest above the rooftops of the nearest
buildings. Squinting slightly, she could just barely make out the the two
armoured figures riding atop the geyser as they raced towards each other
and clashed their tridents before disappearing behind a veil of frothing
liquid.

	"Good luck, Suiko no Shin," she said softly, and continued down
the street as the first droplets began to fall from the sky. There was a
second resounding blast, and the light spray turned into a torrential
downpour. Yelping in surprise, Sailor Mars covered her head with her arms
and began to run as the fire hydrants down the block from her started to
erupt from the ground like rockets, propelled by gushing pillars of
water. Her high heels splashed noisily in the street as the road quickly
flooded in a surging tide that soaked her feet even as it drenched her
from above. There was a single terrifying moment where she nearly felt
as though the pounding torrent was about to sweep her off of her feet and
wash her away, and then it was over just as suddenly as it had begun.

	"Stupid Samurai Troopers," Sailor Mars groused, as she twisted her
long raven hair into a thick braid and tried to wring some of the water
out of it. The storm sewers gurgled hungrily as they sucked at the small
flood in an attempt to drain it away, but she was still up to her ankles
in the frigid stuff as it formed eddies and whirls around her legs. A
constant series of droplets fell from her skirt and hair, pattering softly
on the sidewalk as she wiped her face dry with one glove and shot an angry
look back in the general direction of the fight. There were a few more
explosions, softer in tone as they got farther away, and one of the
smaller buildings trembled shortly before taking a sudden tilt to the
right and starting to gush water from all of its windows.

	Sailor Mars sighed and shook her head. She had tried to warn him,
but Shin had just refused to do the sensible thing and leave Nise Suiko
alone. Now she would have to come up with some way to save Usagi and Ami
all by herself.

	Except that there was a tickling feeling in the back of her neck
that told her she was *not* all by herself. Acting on instinct, Sailor
Mars turned and threw up her hand just as a hail of bilious green darts
flew from the shadows of a nearby doorway. There was a hissing sound, and
Sailor Mars' nose crinkled as the smell of burning rice paper filled her
nostrils. With a frown of distaste, the dark-haired Senshi threw aside
the handful of ofuda that had deflected her enemy's attack even as the
poison in the darts ate away the last vestiges of the sacred papers.

	"There's no point in hiding, demon," she said with a scowl. "I
know exactly where you are. Come out here and face me honourably!"

	"Thanks, but no," her opponent replied in a sultry tone. "I prefer
my odds much better staying where I am. If you really know where I'm at,
why not come and get me?"

	"FIRE SOUL!" Mars cried, as a bolt of flame leapt from her fingers
and lanced into the doorway that the voice had been coming from. There was
a blur of movement, and the door shattered in an explosion of flaming
kindling.

	"Ooh, so close!" the voice taunted. "You'll have to be a little
quicker than that to catch the great Xiang Yao, mortal."

	Sailor Mars spun on her heel and fired another blast of flames
towards the sound of the voice. A storefront window shattered and the
display within caught fire, thick clouds of smoke billowing out from the
broken glass. Another green dart hissed through the air and she quickly
pulled her head to the side as it flew past close enough to make her hair
stir in the wake of its passing. Scrambling for cover, Sailor Mars hurled
herself behind a metal newspaper receptacle as Xiang Yao's darts pinged
off of the ground behind her. Much as she hated to admit it, the monster
had a point: as long as Xiang Yao stayed hidden, it was going to be hard
to take her out. What Sailor Mars needed to do was find a way to flush her
out into the open.

	"Akuryou Taisan!" she called out, and hurled one of her ofuda.
As soon as the scroll left her fingers, it stiffened into a thin blade of
paper and spun across the street before detonating in a brilliant flash.
Dazed by the sudden light, Xiang Yao stumbled out into the street with
her hands shielding her eyes. Pinching another of the sacred scrolls
between her fingertips, Sailor Mars vaulted over the steel box that she
had been using for cover and thrust it towards the demon.

	Eyes widening, Xiang Yao weaved out of the way of Sailor Mars'
attack and brought her knee up into the girl's abdomen. The Senshi gasped
for air and fell to the ground as Xiang Yao plucked the scroll from her
and gave it a cursory glance.

	"So," the woman said, her face taking on a strange expression as
she idly crumpled the paper in her fist, "you're a PRIEST, are you? Well,
that just changes everything...."

	"Not for me it doesn't," Rei groaned, crawling to her feet. With
a flourish, she fanned out a handful of ofuda and held them at the ready
as she slowly sank into a defensive stance. Extending her empty hand, she
beckoned the demon closer.

	Xiang Yao lifted her hand, her elongated green talons quivering
with the urge to launch themselves towards the brash young Senshi. After
a moment, the woman reached up with her other hand and slowly pulled her
arm back down to her side.

	"No," she said, giving Sailor Mars a secretive smile. "I can't
shoot you - not a priest. Shooting a priest would just spoil the intimacy
of the moment. A chance like this needs to be... savoured. After all, I've
put so much effort into making everything so perfect for you. It would be
a shame to rush things and spoil the mood."

	"What in the world are you talking about?" Sailor Mars asked, as
the pair began to circle each other, each alert for the slightest twitch
in the other that might give away some sign of weakness or warn of the
inevitable attack.

	"Can't you feel the tension, priest?" Xiang Yao asked, running
her tongue over her lips and giving a throaty purr. "This is my favourite
moment, you know. I'd just like to tell you in advance how very close I
feel to you right now."

	"You," Sailor Mars said cautiously, "are a very sick woman."

	"It's just been such a long time since I've had a priest," the
demon replied, her crimson eyes alight with sadistic glee. "Old Man
Hashiba was nothing but a tease, and those two yummy little children of
his were nowhere near as fun as I thought they would be. I do hope that
you'll make up for it: I would hate to think that you're going to be
another disappointment."

	"I'm not here to entertain you," Sailor Mars said warningly. "I've
come to save my friends!"

	"Your friends?" Xiang Yao laughed. "Oh, my poor child. I told
Orthrus to stop toying with them as soon as I knew you had arrived - your
darling little friends are already dead."

**********

	Orthrus snapped his jaws, and the world exploded into a massive
ball of flame. Gathering Sailor Moon under one arm, Sailor Mercury leapt
into the air and kicked off of the top of a chain link fence as the
roaring conflagration engulfed the alley below them. Soaring upwards, the
two Senshi only paused their flight long enough for Mercury to find a
toehold on one of the windowsills and launch them even higher. The massive
youma hurled himself after them, digging his claws into the brickwork and
scrabbling up the side of the building with murder in his eyes.

	"MOON TIARA ACTION!" With her good hand, Sailor Moon plucked the
tiara from her forehead and lobbed it down towards the rapidly climbing
monster. Surrounded in a glowing nimbus of energy, the spinning disc
slammed into the wall and tore a groove of shattered brick as it hurtled
towards him. Orthrus leapt out of the way, flipping in midair and catching
himself on the opposite building as her attack flew past him and responded
with another gout of searing flame.

	Mercury deftly snagged a stray clothesline as they flew by,
swinging both of them out of the way as Orthrus' flames burst past with
a wave of scorching heat. Catching another line between her ankles on
the upswing, the blue-haired Senshi let her momentum carry her around like
a pendulum and crouched briefly atop the thin wire to catch her breath.
Below them, Orthrus barked and growled in frustration as he hauled his
weight up the side of the building with the sheer power of his arms.

	"Persistent, isn't he?" Sailor Moon asked, giving her comrade a
wry look.

	"Just stay alert for the other one," Sailor Mercury reminded her.
"We haven't seen him in a while. Judging by past behaviour, they're
probably setting us up for another ambush."

	"Foolish girls!" Orthrus ranted from beneath them as he scaled the
wall. "You think this will prevent your fate? You are only prolonging the
inevitable! Where do you think you will escape to? There's nowhere to go
from here but down!"

	"Then down you go, pal!" Shuu Rei Fuan crowed as he fell from the
sky like an armoured orange meteor. Laughing maniacally, the boy hurtled
past the two Senshi in freefall, his limbs curled tight around his body
as though he was preparing to cannonball into the local swimming pool.
Kicking his legs out at the last moment, Shuu thrust his arm out to one
side and caught the startled youma in the throat with his forearm. Torn
free from the side of the building by the force of their impact, the youma
howled as he and Shuu plummetted back down into the all-concealing mists.

	"Sorry we're late," Ryo Sanada said breathlessly, as he dropped
down onto the clothesline where the two Sailor Senshi were perched.
Quickly sheathing the twin katana he had been weilding, the dark-haired
youth retracted his silver mask into his helmet and carefully walked over
to Sailor Mercury's side. "Are you okay?"

	"Just a little tired," she replied with a weary smile, "and very
glad to see you."

	"Yeah, I'll bet you say that to all the samurai," Ryo said with
a wink, and Mercury blushed furiously before coughing into her fist.

	"Uh, Sailor Moon got her arm bitten," she said, quickly changing
the topic. "I think it might be pretty bad, but we haven't really had a
chance to examine it, yet. She may need to see a doctor."

	"Do you think they give needles to people who get bitten by
demonic hellhounds?" Sailor Moon asked, looking worried. "Because if so,
I think I'm already feeling better...."

	"You're *going* to see a doctor," Sailor Mercury said firmly, as
her friend pouted. Turning back to Ryo, the blue-haired girl continued
talking. "You may want to get down there and help Shuu, Ryo: that big
youma is a lot more dangerous than he looks. His name is-"

	"Orthrus," Ryo interjected. "Works for some lady called Xiang Yao,
right? Shuu told me all about it as soon as he saw the guy."

	"How would Shuu know that?"

	Ryo shrugged. "Apparently, they go way back. We may want to get
back down on solid ground soon."

	"In case Shuu needs our help?"

	"I was thinking more along the lines of in case he starts an
earthquake, but your reason sounds good, too."

**********

	"What's the matter, Orthrus?" Shuu asked, as he pounded his fist
into the side of the youma's head and sent him reeling back. "Don't like
the odds anymore? Life sure sucks when you aren't picking on women and
children, doesn't it?"

	Growling, Orthrus swiped at his strangely familiar opponent with
a taloned paw, catching him in the chest and knocking him aside. To the
youma's surprise, Shuu merely staggered slightly before coming right back
at him with a series of blows that felt as though they were coming from
sledehammers instead of fists. Orthrus knew that there had been enough
power in his strike to send the armoured boy flying, and yet he had barely
even budged! What kind of strange power did the child possess?

	"Funny," Shuu said with a cocky grin, "I remembered you being a
lot tougher than this. Maybe it's because I'm only fighting half of you.
On the other hand, maybe I've just started rocking more after the last
time Touma and me kicked your ass!"

	"Touma?" Orthtus rubbed his jaw and squinted at the boy standing
in front of him. "The Hashiba boy, yes... I vaguely recall him. He did
have a friend with him, didn't he? Was that small child you?"

	"Yeah, that's right," Shuu said, as he stepped in with an uppercut
to the youma's abdomen that left Orthrus doubled over and gasping for air.
"Shuu Rei Fuan, at your service, and my pal Touma and me have been
slapping around creeps like you ever since!"

	"Xiang Yao will be most pleased to learn of your presence," the
youma wheezed. "She was quite upset to hear that she had missed her chance
to gain revenge on Hashiba."

	"Xiang Yao?" Shuu's face paled as a look of horror filled his
eyes. "She's here? How could she.... WHAT DID YOU DO TO TOUMA?"

	"You'll never live to find out," Orthrus vowed, and a river of
flame burst from his mouth. Caught off guard, Shuu barely had time to
lower his mask before the crackling flames washed over his body. Standing
in the middle of the inferno, his armour beginning to steam as the metal
plates heated until they glowed, Shuu slowly sank to his knees with a
grimace of pain. He could feel the skin around his eyes blistering even
as he tried to shield them with his hands, the tips of his shaggy eyebrows
crinking as they caught alight and began to burn.

	As suddenly as they had begun the flames were gone, and Shuu
moaned as the cold air hit his seared flesh like a slap in the face.
Dropping to all fours, the young samurai opened his eyes and looked up
just in time to see Orthrus lunging towards him with a street sign in one
hand. The improvised club rang like a bell as it slammed into the side of
Shuu's helmet and twisted his head back. Even as he struggled to regain
his footing, the sign swung back the way it had come and smashed into his
face hard enough to make the metal pole buckle from the force of the
impact. Shuu fell to the ground with a clatter, his eyes rolling back in
his head. With a nasty chortle, the youma stood over his fallen foe and
raised the twisted metal pole over his head to finish the boy off.

	"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

	A wave of frigid water flew past Ortrus, splashing against his
makeshift weapon and coating the entire sign in a thick layer of ice. As
the icicles rapidly stretched towards his hand, the youma growled and
tossed aside the useless club.

	"You won't get me with the same trick twice, girl," he snarled,
as he spun to face his new opponents. Sailor Mercury frowned prettily at
him, her hand still stretched in his direction as tendrils of azure light
danced around her fingers. Beside her stood another boy, this one clad in
crimson armour and carrying a pair of swords. Fire danced in his eyes as
he stepped forward and swung the twin blades together, connecting them
at the hilt into some kind of spear and spinning the new weapon in one
hand as he slowly lowered his silver facemask.

	Orthrus scowled and moved to attack the armoured boy, only to find
himself stuck. Looking down, the youma saw that the puddle he was standing
in had turned to ice, its frozen tendrils snaking up around his ankles
like a pair of manacles. Looking over at Sailor Mercury, he growled and
laid his ears back flat against his skull.

	"I only missed with the first one so you'd turn around," she
explained. "And just for future reference, I *never* use the same trick
twice."

	"I'd tell you to warn your master about messing with us," Ryo
said menacingly, "but by the time you see him where you're going, it will
be way too late. FLARE UP, NOW!"

	A jet of glowing plasma lanced out from the tip of Ryo's blades,
boring into the centre of Orthtus' ribcage. The youma howled and gurgled
as his entire body began to glow from within, bucking and straining
against the grip of the frozen chains that bound him to the ground. There
was a deafening crack as the ice shattered, and the stream of fire
suddenly warped and bent, arcing upwards. Orthrus was sent wailing into
the sky on top of a shimmering beam of superheated energy, sparks of light
trailing from his body as he was blasted above the rooftops and exploded
in a burst of flame that boiled away before touching the ground. A fine
ash drifted to the ground where he had been standing, steaming gently as
it formed a small pile of smoldering embers.

	"Shuu!" Retracting his mask again, Ryo broke his swords apart and
ran over to where the stocky Chinese boy lay in the street. "Shuu, snap
out of it, man! Can you see? How many fingers am I holding up, pal?"

	"Uh... twelve?" Holding his head, Shuu winced and groaned. "Which
one of you am I supposed to be counting, dude?"

	"You're okay," Ryo assured him with a pat on the back. "Just walk
it off and you'll be back to normal in no time."

	"That's easy for you to say," Shuu complained. "You *like* being
on fire! Not everybody finds volcanoes soothing, you know - that was very
uncomfortable for me!"

	Ryo smiled and opened his mouth to say something in response when
the air was split by a blood-curdling scream. It was a primal sound, a cry
of pure anguish that seemed to carry on for an eternity before it was
suddenly cut short.

	"What the hell was that?" he asked, looking over at the Senshi.

	"Rei," Sailor Moon replied, sounding as though she was about to be
sick. "I think it might have been Rei!"

**********

	"You're dead, mate," Nise Suiko hissed, clamping his hand over
Shin's face and twisting his head at an unnatural angle. "I'm going to rip
that dainty little head of yours clean off!"

	The monster was crouched on top of the young samurai, small
droplets of crimson goo falling from between the gaps in his shell-like
armour and splattering on the ground next to Shin as the concrete hissed
softly and began to smoke. Straining against his doppelganger's inhuman
strength, Shin managed to slip his hand up between Nise Suiko's arms and
wrapped his fingers around the creature's throat. With a loud ratcheting
sound, the steel claws mounted on his gauntlet snapped into place, their
blades pressing against the side of his double's neck.

	"You try it," he spat between his gritted teeth, "and we'll bloody
well see what happens... MATE."

	"Double jeopardy, eh?" Nise Suiko asked, his eyes gleaming with
scarlet energy. "Oh, I like where this is going. What say we both just
have off and see who the last man standing really is? Bet you'll flinch."

	The two youths stared deep into each other's eyes, both alike in
their utter disgust for the person before them. Nise Suiko's grip began
to tighten, and Shin pressed the blades against his double's neck just a
little bit harder. Why not? It might just be worth it, to finally know
that they would be free of each other.

	A scream pierced across the debris of the battlefield, and Shin
pulled back with a start. What had that been? For a second, he had almost
forgotten all about-

	"Oh, no," he breathed, "Sailor Mars!"

	"What?" Nise Suiko asked, as he shook his head and leaned back,
allowing Shin the chance to escape from underneath him. As the meaning
of the boy's comment dawned on him, his eyes widened behind his visor.
"Oh, bloody HELL! Sailor Mars!"

	Scrambling to their feet, the twin warriors of Suiko bolted off
in the direction of the screaming, keeping perfect pace with each other
as they raced side-by-side down the empty street.

**********

	The intersection looked like a war zone. Craters pitted the
street, and several of the nearby buildings were burning. Debris covered
the ground, twisted and melted beyond recognition, and the sidewalks were
cracked and pitted as though they had been struck repeatedly with a large
jackhammer.

	Sailor Mars lay sprawled in the middle of the crosswalk, her
uniform torn and covered in soot. Her bows lay limply around her in
ragged tatters, and one of her gloves was missing completely. The golden
tiara she had been wearing lay nearby, its ruby cracked and broken. Her
chest rose and fell as she took deep, ragged breaths, and there was a
gurgling sound every time she exhaled. The entire side of her face was
one continuous bruise, and there was a trickle of blood coming from her
nose.

	Sailor Mercury took one look and shook her head sadly, stepping
back and leaning against Ryo's side. Looking down at the girl, Ryo
glanced around for some sign as to what he should do, then shrugged and
gingerly slipped one arm around her before resting his chin on top of her
head.

	"Damn you, Xiang Yao," Shuu muttered, holding his clenched fist in
front of him as he bowed his head. "We're going to get you for this, I
swear we will...."

	"My god," Shin said quietly, as he looked up at Sailor Moon from
where he was kneeling next to the fallen girl. "This is all my fault. I
never should have left her alone like that. I would have been here, I
could have *helped*, if I hadn't been so damned obsessed with fighting
that damned Nise Suiko!"

	"Don't just stand around like a bunch of idiots!" Sailor Moon
snapped, storming over to where Sailor Mars lay on the ground. "We have
to do something! Why are you all just standing there? You're all supposed
to be heroes, aren't you? Get over here and save my friend!"

	"U..." Rei moaned, her eyes fluttering open slightly as she turned
her head to face the blonde Senshi. "Usagi...."

	"It's okay, Mars," Sailor Moon assured her, taking her friend's
hand and hugging it to her chest. "I'm right here. We're all right here,
and we're going to make sure everything turns out just fine. Okay?"

	"I messed up," Rei croaked, swallowing thickly. "G-got beat...
She's more powerful than...."

	"Don't talk," Sailor Moon said, cupping her friend's face in her
hand. "You can tell us later, when you're better!"

	"N-not so sure I'm g-going to be...."

	"Yes you are! Shut up! You're going to be fine!" Usagi yelled,
tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she punched the ground beside
her in frustration. "You're going to get over this, and we're going to
get whoever did this to you, and you're going to be there! B-because I'm
the Moon Princess, a-and I... and I *say* so... so stop trying to scare
me!"

	"Give it a rest," Sailor Mars joked with a weak smile. "You can't
win *every* fight with that...."

	Closing her eyes, the raven-haired Senshi let her head loll back
onto the street. After a moment, her hand went limp in Usagi's grasp, and
slipped free from the other girl's fingers to drape over her chest.

	"I'm sorry," Shin said quietly, placing a hand on Sailor Moon's
shoulder. "You must have been very good friends."

	"We still are," Sailor Moon replied, wiping her eyes dry on the
back of her glove. "She's not dead, Shin: not yet. I'd know if she was.
There's still time to save her, if we hurry."

	"Tell me what to do," Shin said, reaching down and lifting the
unconscious girl onto his back. For a second, he looked up and saw Nise
Suiko standing on the outskirts of the crowd, eyes glowing crimson behind
his ivory visor. With a scowl, Shin forced himself to look away and
adjusted his grip on Rei as he rose to his feet. When he looked back, his
doppelganger had faded from sight again.

	Whatever. There would be another day for him to settle his scores
with Nise Suiko - some things were more important than getting revenge.
He had forgotten that for a while, and Sailor Mars had paid the price for
it. If letting his double escape was the cost of saving her life, then
Shin Mouri would gladly pay it. After all, what was the point of defeating
a monster like Nise Suiko if he let it turn him into something just as
bad? He wasn't like that creature - he cared about people, and they cared
about him. He wasn't alone.

	And he wouldn't be alone the next time they fought, either.

**********

TO BE CONTINUED....

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