Hi!
Wow, only four days late... wait, five? Man, I'm usually better than this,
but unfortunately yours was one of the many posts I simply have not been
getting from people lately. If it weren't for the Anime Forums, I wouldn't
even know that my own fic made it to the list, and I even sent a CC: to
myself! There is something rotten in the state of my hotmail, and it does
not seem to be going away. :(
(Phew! Finally done -- I think I've been C&Cing this, here and there,
for over two weeks now. AutoSave has my Drafts folder *full* of copies
of this thing)
Hehehe, I know what you mean. Someday I should show you how many different
copies I have of various scenes from my chapters. Sometimes I feel more like
an editor than a writer. :p
"Criticism batteries to power. Commentary turbines to speed.
Stream-of-Consciousness engine at 7500 rpm. Engage paradigm clutch!"
Dilbert: "What was that sound?"
Dogbert: "A paradigm shifting without a clutch."
"Convergence (n) - the approach of an infinite series to a finite
limit."
In other words, a veeery long ramp....
Personally, I always liked the example of the escalator that doesn't go
anywhere, myself. ;)
Radanthus the Unconquered did not sit in the throne room of the Crimson
Nadir: he *brooded* in it. Brooding had become a second
nature to
I'm no grammarrian, but I believe that the colon is misused in this
instance, and should be a double-dash.
Yeah, I have no idea about that either. Maybe if we wait long enough, Abdiel
will stop by and enighten us. Seriously, that guy caught me in grammar
mistakes I'm not sure I even knew existed. One of these days, I vow to get
my batting average as low as DB Sommer.
...
Hmmm, better make that ALMOST as low as DB Sommer. No point making it
impossible on myself. ^_^
him, recently, and one that he was loathe to give up easily. He had
I have always wanted to be able to use the word "loathe" in a sentence like
that. :p
For months, he had plotted the doom of
the Sailor Senshi - not out of any personal malice, but merely
because their deaths would prove his natural superiority to the rest
of the realm beyond any question. He had
Somewhere, Shale is rolling her eyes and going "Yeah, *Right*."
LOL! ^_^
Yeah, poor Shale and her gang don't get any respect, do they? Too bad for
the DGG that "almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades....
He had learned about the Sailor Senshi, and he had been
taught about the Samurai Troopers by those who knew them. Their
destruction should have been easy.
But they have the author on their side -- it's SO unfair.
I'm not so sure that all of the characters would agree with you. I have been
accused of authorial torture on certain occasions. :)
More to the point, the Good Guys (and Gals) have had a few lucky
breaks, while Raddy has factions within his own forces working to
undermine his plans.
As far as I can tell, Sailor Moon's preferred tactic seems to be one of
patiently waiting for her enemies to either renounce their evil ways or get
killed off by their own people. The funny thing is how often is seems to
WORK for her.
Think about it: who finished off Jadeite, Nephrite, and Zoicite? Not any of
the Senshi, that's for sure. The Black Moon Family? Heck, Wiseman was
responsible for more of their deaths than Usagi was. That's not to mention
Kaolinite, Eudial, Mimete, Viluy, or the Amazon Trio- they were all most
emphatically killed off by people who were NOT Sailor Moon. In fact, most of
them tended to get betrayed and murdered by their own allies right at the
moment of their greatest triumphs over the Senshi. So much for good things
happening to bad people....
Don't even get me started on how many of their arch-enemies the Senshi have
killed by ACCIDENT.
Now, with Suiko no Shin so fixated on
"Suiko no Shin"? Haven't heard that one before.
Really? Could have sworn I'd used it once or twice. Basically, that is how
the Troopers are known, by the name of their armour. Suiko no Shin, Rekka no
Ryo, Kongo no Shuu, Korin no Seiji, and Tenku no Touma. Not quite as catchy
as Sailor (fill-in-the-planet), but it seems to work for them. Of course,
they don't seem to even TRY to have secret identities, whereas the Senshi
do.
Which may go a long way towards explaining why the Troopers tend to get
specifically targeted by creatures a lot more than the Senshi ever do. Try
keeping those masks down a little more often, boys - you'll sleep better. :p
There was no telling when those two
would get wind of each other and start fighting again - it had
already cost him Vepres and his entire operation at Nango Beach.
Or, more to the point, Nise simply can't be depended upon to do
anything but target Shin -- which is what got Vepres&co wiped out.
This is very true - Nise Suiko has something of a one-track mind. He will
completely forget about whatever mission he has been given if the
opportunity to lay into Shin Mouri arises.
Nise would make a decent part of an overall plan, if *all* you want him
to do is tie down Shin while the other parts of the plan are working on
the Senshi or Troopers that Shin would otherwise back up.
Oh, Nise EXCELS at stuff like that. See, Arago's original plan was to use
Nise Suiko to attack Shin when he was alone and soften him up so that the
Masho could finish him off after he was exhausted from fighting his own
double. That is something that Nise is good at doing. Long-term, complicated
stuff? That is where he is not quite so useful.
But that's
about *all* the Nise can be *depended* upon for.
Well, he does also deliver a very good general-purpose ass-whupping, as long
as he is not distracted by Shin. Just ask most of Jadeite's troops. A lot of
them still wake up aching after some of the stuff he did to them. ^_^
...although, Badamon seems to have something of a grip on Nise --
witness his fights with Elios and Jed.
Yeah, Badamon has a bit of a leash on Nise Suiko. The question is whether he
can keep Nise on the right end of it long enough to avoid getting bitten.
<snip!>
The twisted old priest had been making a lot of convenient mistakes
like that lately, and Radanthus was beginning to seriously doubt
their accidental nature. The more he thought about it, the better an
idea it
Well, it's taken him long enough.
He's been toying with the idea of murdering Badamon on general principles
for several chapters now, actually. The biggest problem he's got is that
there is no real *proof* that Badamon has done anything disloyal. The last
thing he wants is to get a reputaton for killing and eating his own
subordinates at RANDOM.
seemed for him to just eat Badamon at the earliest possible
opportunity and save himself the headache of dealing with the vile
little creature. It
In exchange for one heck of a STOMACHache. I mean, I still recall your
all-too-vivid descriptions of Baddy. Eeeeeewww....
Badamon is starting to go through some changes. Odds are strongly against
him ending up as a pretty little butterfly. :p
If the priest was to be believed, they were already working
on a way to weaken Sailor Moon's connection to the ginzuisho, and
that was a goal too important for him to interfere with.
As long as he can be confident that that's what Baddy is really doing...
Oh, the Ankoku Priests are very good at preventing heroes from accessing
their powers. Those creepy flutes of theirs have sealed the Troopers'
armours on more than one occassion. In theory, they might be able to prevent
Sailor Moon from accessing her full power, too.
The other thing the Ankoku Priests are good at is making a giant ball of
evil energy the size of a small town and using it to blow stuff up. Think
something like Goku's "Spirit Bomb", only evil. And slimier. They can also
use their own connection to the source of all evil to possess and/or greatly
amplify the powers of their fellow villains. Oh, and they can drain the life
energy from humans and use it to create legions of Dynasty Soldiers. They
also have general purpose black magic abilities.
Basically, these are very useful guys to have around if you want to be an
Evil Overlord. Kind of like the magical equivalent of Duct Tape. Only evil.
And slimier. ^_^
Even if the disgusting little toad really *did* need to be eaten.
Not unless you want to start worshipping at the porcelain alter,
Raddy-boy.
Radanthus has no desire to actually eat Badamon, but he deeply suspects that
it might be the only way to make certain that the priest won't come back.
Badamon and his minions have an annoying habit of turning up unexpectedly at
a later date and being MUCH less dead than you left them. Rest assured, I'll
be explaining that little trick of theirs in a later chapter, too. :p
There
were only five of them, after all, unless one counted Tuxedo Kamen.
"And we all agreed, Tux doesn't count. We took a vote and everything!"
Hehehe... nice quote. Where'd you get it from? ^_^
Seriously, a lot of people noticed that Raddy is having severe problems
counting, here. Gosh, I sure hope that doesn't come back to bite him in the
ass at a later date....
He knew that Xiang Yao had not killed Tuxedo Kamen, despite her own
insistence to the contrary. If something were to happen to that man,
Radanthus would have felt it reverberating through his bones. As it
was,
...Ohhhhh? Innnnteresting.
Glad you picked up on that. I was afraid I was being too subtle. :)
It was the same thing that Tuxedo Kamen
-that Prince Endymion- had always done, even back when Radanthus had
known him.
Hmmmm.....
Hmmmm, indeed. You realise, of course, that I will neither confirm nor deny
what you are thinking at the moment. But I *am* very glad to know that I
have got you thinking it. ^_^
That meant Radanthus would need to work quickly, if he wanted to
strike at the Senshi before their protector could reach them.
This is where most SM-canon fen would snicker, but personally, I've
always thought that Tux/Endy was much more dangerous than he ever got a
chance to show in canon. I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle
him.
Tuxedo Kamen may not have shown it yet, but he is actually going to be a lot
more important to this story than it seems at the moment. Hopefully he has
been performing slightly above par as far as his combats so far have been
concerned - I really do intend to show off just how tough he can be. In
general, I place Tuxedo Kamen about equal to most of the Troopers in terms
of general strength, although slightly faster and not quite as
well-armoured.
Wiith a slight twist of his clawed fingers, he began the
task of keying the portal to the appropriate realm. Once, Radnathus'
father had used this portal to keep in touch with his masters back on
Earth - now Radanthus had taken
Now, I'm pretty sure that this is the first we've ever heard of
Raddy's father.
It is the first time I have specifically *referred* to Raddy's Daddy,
yes....
And we know that Hyperion's preemptive strike was the
first contact that the DK ever had with our universe. Which leaves a
rather small time window...
To quote Wayne's World: "Isn't a good thing we got all of that information?
It seemed extraneous at the time." ^_^
Theory: Raddy was, once, part of the Earth Kingdom's invasion force.
Perhaps, even... oh. Well, *that* would explain why he knew Endymion.
I wonder how long it'll take to find out if I'm right....
Probably a few more chapters. I'll try to make sure it isn't TOO many. ;)
<snip!>
"Do so," Radanthus said through Fei Lian's mouth, "and I would be most
disappointed in you, Xiang Yao. The conditions of your release
were very specific. Should you wish to change those conditions, this
is not the way to do it."
Does this suggest that Raddy had a means of communicating with XY while
she was locked up in the CoR? And if so, is that something that Touma,
Mako, and Toshi could use to get out?
To answer your questions: 1) Yes, Radanthus was able to communicate with
Xiang Yao while she was locked up in the Castle of Eternal Regret. He was
not silly enough to let an incarcerated serial killer out of her prison
until he was sure she would be willing to obey the conditions of her parole.
2) Yes, it is something that Touma, Makoto, and Toshitada might be able to
use to get out, if they are able to find it and figure out how it works.
I'll go into more detail on that in Chapter 10, when we get back to them.
^_^
Aside from the bed
that Fei Lian's body was lying on, the only other things in the room
were a wooden table with a number of knives and bottles stacked on it
and a mirror that was mounted in the ceiling for some reason,
reflecting the light of a
<choke>
(blinks innocently) ^_^
score of small candles that littered the floor. Red light streamed in
through the cracked and dirty window, casting Xiang Yao in a hellish
glow as she stared at him petulantly.
<snicker> A love hotel. A *cheap* love hotel, no less. And none of
the three present have any appreciation for irony...
Glad you picked up on that. Yeah, Xiang Yao dragged Fei Lian off to the
cheapest, seediest place she could find that wasn't going to ask too many
questions. They are, at the moment, in a love hotel. I didn't want to just
come right out and say it, but I'm glad you caught the hints. ^_^
fitting a cigarette into her ebony holder. Picking up one of the
nearby candles, she held the flamt to it until it lit. The serpentine
tattoo
"held the flame to" what? There's no noun in that sentence to
associate to "it." Sure, it's clear in context, but it's bad grammar.
And I need to do *some* concrete C&Cing here, after all....
Yeah, I see here that I mis-spelled "flame", too. Well, that's about two
grammar rules right there... Oh, well, there's always next chapter. Thanks
for pointing out that little mental gap, pal - will fix!
"You know the Sailor Senshi are in Yokohama," he said, and she nodded
in silent reply. "I want you to go there, alone, and deal with them."
<blink> Oookay, so much for subtlety. Although I can't help bu think
that Raddy's got another arrow in his quiver...
Yeah, Radanthus is using a bit of psychology, here. One of the simplest
things he's relying on is that Xiang Yao does not do well with following
specific orders. If he keeps her *official* parameters as loosely worded as
possible, he can trick her into doing what he wants without seeming like
he's asking too much of her. ^_^
"Okay," Xiang Yao said, after a moment's silence. Leaning back in the
window frame, she contemplated the curlicules of smoke rising from
her cigarette. "I'll do it. Consider them dead."
Scary thing is, she might be able to pull it off. The Senshi (and
Troopers) really *aren't* well-suited to dealing with knife-in-the-back
attacks from someone of her skill level.
Or any level, really. They are used to dealing with enemies who want to
fight them. Xiang Yao is not a fighter, she is a KILLER. The distinction is
subtle, but important. Killers tend to focus more on the ends than the
means.
If they get half a chance to
see her coming, they can probably drive her off, but...
Don't be so sure. The only reason Xiang Yao hasn't engaged in any battles
yet is that she prefers not to. Just because she would rather strike someone
down while they aren't looking, it doesn't mean she can't take them out just
as easily when they're face-to-face.
"I have one condition, though," Radanthus warned her. "Do whatever you like
to Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury, but the Moon Princess is
not to be harmed. She is too powerful for us to confront directly at
this time."
Which means he's aiming her straight at Moon, right? Subtle. Of
course, obsessive personalities are always easy to manipulate, as long
as you understand (and can control) their obsessions.
Yep, he figured she would go gunning for Moon if he specifically told her
not to.
Hey, if she's able to kill the Moon Princess for him, he doesn't need
Badamon around to block her powers, does he? I wonder if he had considered
that. ^_^
subordinate. "Sailor Venus is probably already on her way to assist
them - as is Tuxedo Kamen."
Heh. Dangle a forbidden target in front of her, then sting her pride
with the one she missed.
Yeah, a little reminder that she screwed up last time is a good way to make
sure she will be more determined to finish the job this time around.
"Found an antidote, did he?" she mused, with a cheerful smile. "Well,
good: I was afraid this might be getting too easy."
My amazing psychic-reader powers indicate that XY's ego will be a key
element of allowing Our Hero(in)es to defeat her.
One of them, yes. ^_^
"Powerful or not, oh high and mightily concerned, Sailor Venus and Tuxedo
Kamen can do nothing if
they cannot get to Yokohama. I think I can find a way to slow them
down."
And this is what makes her dangerous. Our Hero(in)es think fairly
linearly. She most definitely does *not.*
You can say that again. Xiang Yao has a very convoluted mind, but that's
okay: I've had to write how RAJURA thinks, and compared to that guy, she is
as simple as a pre-schooler. Rajura's plots are so twisted that they end up
doubling back on themselves in infinite loops of recursive scheming that
constantly reference each other. :p
"So," he said to himself, his fingers twisting and forming themselves
into the proper sigils to end his scying spells, "our master Radanthus
wishes to send Xiang Yao against the Senshi, as I had
feared. Clearly, this will not do."
Oops. I forgot the *other* element in XY's eventual defeat: Baddy-boy.
Yes, Badamon is not the sort to just sit idly by and let someone succeed at
a mission that he has been very carefully messing up for some time now. ^_^
Nise Suiko responded by stepping forward into the feeble
light cast by Badamon's crystal ball and staring impassively down at
the smaller robed figure. The youma was clad in his distinctive
scarlet and
Sug: comma after "smaller," otherwise they both sound "robed."
Yes, that's a very good idea. I think that I will do that. Thanks for the
suggestion!
"Yeah, whatever," he said in a sepulchral tone. "What's the big idea,
dragging me back up here, old man? I thought we discussed this."
I wonder what he was doing that he resents being pulled away from?
Nise Suiko: Darn it! One more Pokemon, and I would have finally caught them
all! >_<
"Xiang Yao will soon be interfering with our plans, Nise Suiko," Badamon
explained, still staring into the depths of his own crystal
ball instead of bothering to face the armoured warrior. "I think it
is time that you went to Yokohama."
Now, does Nise know yet that Shin is still alive, well, and *in*
Yokohama?
Badamon? Yes. Nise Suiko? No. But he will find out very soon. ^_^
<snip!>
According to the guy he had patched up, they had random fights with
the forces of evil every other week around these parts.
<beating head against desk> ARGH! Somebody, PLEASE, ask the OBVIOUS
QUESTION!!!!!
LOL - Don't blame Seiji, he kind of suffers from tunnel vision when it comes
to bad stuff happening. He just assumes that it is going to happen to him or
one of his friends, so the idea that someone else might have been involved
wouldn't occur to him.
He shook his head and sighed. Logic be damned, he could tell that this was
going to end up involving him somehow before it was all
over. Something about the whole situation was giving him the same 'I
am about to be cosmically screwed' feeling he used to get every time
Ryo told him that things were "under control". It was like a sixth
sense that warned him
<snerk>
Seiji is sort of like the Rei of their group - he's the guy who tends to
think the rest of the team are being dumb and need to slow down and think
about stuff. He gets listened to about as often as Rei does, too. ^_^
First of all, Touma was the smartest human being that Seiji
knew, and exactly the kind of guy that you wanted to have around in a
fight. If someone had targeted him first, that meant they knew the
Troopers far better than Seiji wanted them to. With Touma missing, it
also meant the
Finally, someone who grasps the importance of intel.
Seiji and Touma are the two smartest and most sensible of the Samurai
Troopers (well, Shin usually places pretty high up there, too, but he gets
stupid fast when Shuu is around to talk him into stuff). Basically, the
Troopers in Yokohama are the worst possible group to have making a first
impression. Imagine if the first Sailor Senshi you met were Makoto, Minako,
and Usagi, and you'll get a good idea of what I'm talking about.
Good in a fight? Yes. Stalwart warriors? Definitely. Are they going to do
something stupid and/or embarassing? Without a doubt. :p
rest of them couldn't form the Kikoutei armour, and that left them
Quick on the uptake, Seiji is. Of course, he's still not asking the
OBVIOUS QUESTION!
For those not in the know, the Samurai Troopers are able to let their powers
combine and form Captain Planet. THEY may call it the "Kikoutei armour", but
WE know better, don't we, kids? ^_^
*snicker* Shuu is Earth, Ryo is Fire, Touma is Wind, and Shin is Water. I
guess we all know which one that makes Seiji, don't we? ;)
vulnerable. Seiji just hoped that the Sailor Senshi knew a trick or
two that would help them compensate.
Well, the Senshi aren't vulnerable that way.
True enough. The funny thing is, the Troopers not only have the Kikoutei
Armour, they *also* possess the Jewel of Life (it's sort of like the
ginzuisho). Of course, the last time anyone saw the Jewel, the Troopers were
all playing BASEBALL with it, and their pet tiger ran off with the darned
thing in his mouth. >_<
I would like to point out in the Troopers' defence that Sailor Moon has been
known to use her family heirloom and ultimate weapon (at the time) to crack
nuts and smash open her piggy bank. By comparison, using one of the most
powerful mystic talismans in the universe as a stand-in for a baseball is...
well, it's still STUPID, actually. Never mind.
OTOH, they don't really
have a "Unite Into Senshi-Tron" trick like the Troopers. Well, except
when they've gotten killed recently, and... oh, just forget it.
It's okay, I know what you mean. ^_^
there were no other men in this section of the train - its
windows bore the distinctive pink seals of a 'lady's car', a car
normally reserved for women only in order to protect them from
perverts. Another bad side effect
<boggle> I knew Japan's trains had a serious gropage problem, but I
never heard of this before.
Oh, I'm not making them up. Many of the subways in Tokyo actually do mark
off one of the cars as a "girls only" car by placing pink seals on the
windows. They don't really enforce it - it's more of a polite suggestion for
men not to go in that car if they have another option. Of course, this is
Japan we're talking about, so even a polite suggestion has a remarkable
effect on people.
...oh, dear. This is probably Utter Hell for Seiji, given his natural
magnetism for anything with an X chromosome.
He may actually be the one in danger of getting groped, yes. ^_^
The last thing he wanted any of these girls to do was think he might
be some kind of deviant. The trick was to keep his hands in sight and
above his head at all times, so that they knew he wouldn't be doing
anything untowards.
Smart boy. Look harmless. Hope they don't take it as a sign of
weakness and decide to attack.
Yeah - and if that fails, he's planning to go limp and play dead until they
get bored with him and go away. ^_^
I was just thinking that
since we're going to working together for a while, maybe we should
get to know each other better."
<facepalm> Oh, he's trying so HARD... and manages to sound like a
Teflon-smooth pickup line, instead. Oh, poor Seiji.
He doesn't even try. He really doesn't. Which is part of the tragedy of the
whole thing, really - he'd be less successful if he was actually TRYING to
pick up women. >_<
"Are you sure?" the girl asked, raising one eyebrow. "I mean, I am willing
to make an exception, here. It seems kind of rude to not ask
a girl out when she's already accepted. A lesser woman might think
you were uninterested."
Minako logic. Oh, crud, I can feel my grasp on reality starting to
slip already...
LOL! Yeah, Minako's head does not quite work according to the same rules
that most people do. I still recall her trying to convince Artemis to give
her some kind of reward every time she saved people because "otherwise, I
might not feel like doing it".
Of course, she also once tried to force him to give her every magical item
he had for her all at once. As I recall, that ended badly... I believe
shaking was involved. ^_^
"Well, if he *hasn't* been completely awestruck by my amazing good looks
and impeccable poise yet, then why did he come over here?"
Minako argued with her bag. "It's the only logical reason!"
I'm cringing and laughing at the same time. I think that means you're
nailing Mina's dialog.
Oh, good. Minako can be really hard to write, sometimes. It's hard to know
when you're going too far and when you have not gone quite far ENOUGH. :)
"Luna, you should never interrupt a boy when he is talking about how
cute he thinks I am!" Minako said sternly. "That is no way to repay me for
smuggling you onto this train - at great personal expense to myself, by the
way."
*What* exp-- nevermind.
She was forced to ditch several of her favorite Sailor V pez-dispensers to
make room for Luna in her bag.
Minako: "Those were COLLECTOR'S ITEMS! They don't make those any more, you
know!"
And where's Art, anyway?
Still sick, I'm afraid. We won't be seeing Artemis for another few chapters.
"You sealed me in your handbag!" the purse objected, hopping a few inches
off of the seat. "You'd never do this sort of thing to
Artemis!"
Only b/c Artemis has learned when to stay out of reach.
And even then, only after years and years of experience... Minako can be
very fast, and she tends to strike without warning.
"Of course not," Minako admitted. "I'd just wear Artemis around my neck and
claim he was a scarf. You clashed with my blouse and
wouldn't stay still."
....my ghod, that actually makes SENSE. Help! Minako is MELTING my
BRAIN!!!!
The real joke here is that Usagi once actually did that exact thing with
Luna in order to sneak her into a jazz club where no pets were allowed. She
didn't like the idea much when Sailor Moon suggested it, either. ^_^
"Won't your talking purse object?" he asked, scratching his head.
...Did... *Seiji*.... just make a... JOKE???
With Seiji, it's hard to tell. He may actually have been concerned about
offending the talking purse.
"Not if it knows what's good for it," she answered, shifting over slightly
and patting the cushion next to her. "Besides, it's not
really a talking purse: that would be crazy. It's actually a talking
cat that's hiding INSIDE my purse."
<blink> He didn't meet Luna yet? Or did he just not put the pieces
together?
Luna was hiding in the bushes during the fight with Fei Liang, and she was
sneaking around behind him while he healed Tuxedo Kamen. They have not been
formerly introduced, no.
For that matter, the way he accepts a talking purse w/o so much as
blinking says something (again) about what kind of lives the Troopers
have been leading, the past few years.
Compared to some of the stuff he's seen? A talking purse is practically par
for the course. :p
"Oh," Seiji said, nodding wisely. "Well, that makes a lot more sense." The
disturbing thing was that it kind of did, to him. After
all, everybody who was anybody in the Sailor V fan club knew that she
had a talking cat who helped her solve all of her crimes. It wasn't
too hard to imagine that the other Sailor Senshi like Minako might
have talking pets, too....
Hold it.
Okay. ^_^
He knows that V is a Senshi, he knows Minako is a Senshi,
he's Mad In Love with V -- hasn't he thought of asking Minako to hook
him up, yet?
Not yet, but he *is* kind of assuming that Sailor V is somewhere in Yokohama
with the other Senshi that Ryo mentioned. Rest assured, Seiji will be having
this thought very soon - he is the sort of fellow who would feel the need to
be introduced to a girl. And with his luck being what it is, I can assure
you that the girl he picks to introduce him to Sailor V will be the
obviously worst possible choice. >_<
Seiji: "Can you introduce me to Sailor V? I think she is the coolest, most
gorgeous Sailor Senshi ever!"
Minako: "See? That's what I keep SAYING, but nobody ever listens! Tell me
more about how fabulous you think she is...."
the usual blend of teens who were taking the 'gothic and lolita
bible' way too seriously, but no sign of any demons or Masho.
Gothic AND loli? That's a combination that *really* doesn't bear
thinking on-- argh! Too late. Gah! Ugh!
Again, I did not make it up - that is an actual thing in Japan. They have a
BOOK that tells them the appropriate and acceptable way to be rebels. :p
blend into his surroundings much better than the tuxedo and
domino mask that Tuxedo Kamen usually wore in battle. Judging from
the look on his face, he was probably going to change into his
evening wear at any moment.
You typed that with a completely straight face, didn't you?
If it makes you feel any better, it did take me a couple of tries to pull it
off. ^_^
"I'm honoured you remember me," Xiang Yao replied with a demure smile
as she bowed slightly. "Racing to the rescue, are we? How heroically
They're close enough to talk w/o yelling? Why did it take so long for
Seiji's Danger Sense to go off? Did she just come in from another car
(in which case a narrational mention would be appropraite), or did she
just switch out of silent running?
And on a train car this crowded, how many people are between them?
Whoosh. In the order you asked:
- Yes, they are close enough to talk without yelling. Seiji, Minako and
Mamoru are about halfway down the car from Xiang Yao. Normally, that would
be a little far, but the other people on the train have been placed into a
hypnotic trance so they will not interfere.
- Seiji's Danger Sense is not like Rei's sixth sense: it's more like
Spider-Man's Spidey Sense. Basically, he does not sense evil in general, he
only senses evil intent towards him specifically. Someone having a gun, for
example, would not set him off, but someone who was aiming a gun at him
would. He did not sense Xiang Yao until now because she only now decided to
make a move against him, and thus became a threat. In other words, the
"silent running" thing.
- There are a fair number of women in the car; it is crowded enough that
they are standing so close together Seiji had to push his way between them
earlier. However, they are all in a hypnotic trance right now, and not
really in any position to do anything.
"Well, since none of you are going to give me an excuse, I guess I'll
have to just handle this on my own," Xiang Yao said with a smirk. She
gestured emphatically, and one of her purple talons flew down the
length
Detached, or is she just growing it real fast? Details, man!
Oops. I meant detached, not growing long. This scene seemed to have a real
lack of proper description for things, didn't it? ^_^
of the train. Quickly intercepting himself in front of Mamoru and
Minako,
ITYM "interposing" Allso, the *train,* or the train *car*?
Groan. You are abolutely right, on both counts. Will fix!
I swear, I really do try to catch these things.... >_<
Seiji crossed his arms in front of his face and braced himself.
Whatever was in that thing, his armour made him the best able to deal
with it....
When did he armor up?
He hasn't, yet. He's counting on his undergear to do-do that voodoo that it
does so well. :p
Halfway to them, the crystal shattered into a coruscating ball of energy
that grew in size until it was almost filling the cabin. Seiji
flinched back slightly as a giant pair of clawed hands burst out of
the oncoming wall of purple fire and slammed into his chest. Gasping
for breath, the young man was hurled backwards with violet flames
trailing after him like the tail of an angry comet. The rear wall of
the train gave
Train car, again, not train.
No, this time I meant the actual train. They were in the last car, so by
extension the rear wall of the car was also the rear wall of the entire
train. I wanted to make it clear that Seiji was being knocked clean out of
the vehicle, not just into another compartment.
Of course, I failed. What was it I said about this scene needing proper
description? ^_^
Mamoru and Mina must have ducked.
See above for my crappy description skills in this scene. I really need to
go back over it and touch it up, starting from Xiang Yao's appearance and
leading all the way into Seiji's landing on the rails. Rest assured, will
fix.
like tinfoil, and he hurtled into the cool damp air of the subway
tunnel head first.
Oh. They're in the last car.
Yeah. Sorry - I needed to make that more clear earlier.
A pair of eyes gleamed at him from the depths of the fireball, and he
heard a thunderous growl as a shape began to take form from the
massive swirl of eldritch flame. Glancing over his shoulder, Seiji
saw the cold gleam of the steel rails flashing past beneath them and
growing ever
The fireball followed him? Ah, okay -- For some reason, I thought the
fireball stopped inside the train car, and the claws just reached out
and hit him.
That would probably be my fault again. ^_^
Like I said, this part of the scene needs fixing. Badly. >_<
closer. He hit the ground in a flurry of sparks, skipping back into
the air and slamming back down again with the squealing sound of
metal on metal. The two of them skidded back down the tunnel for
several feet before the friction of Seiji's body scraping against the
tracks finally brought him to a shuddering halt and the crushing
weight of his attacker was hurled free of him. The young man lay
where he had fallen, smoke curling around his body as it rose from
the ground beneath him.
Metal armor... watch that third rail, Seiji!
With his armour? It would probably be like a quick hit of Gatorade between
rounds. :p
BTW, this is more or less where the description seems to get back up to
speed. Sorry about that rough patch in there - I really have no idea how I
missed it. Abdiel's right, I need to spend more time pre-reading and less
time skimming over stuff when I go through these.
After a moment, Seiji coughed and sat up, his cream-coloured shirt falling
away from his back in long tatters of silk to reveal the
emerald green plates underneath. Looking down at the smoldering and
filthy rags
Hm. Wearing his undergear under his civvies, I take it?
That's where they usually appear, yeah. It's like a second skin on them, it
is.
that *used* to be one of his nicest outfits, he sighed in disgust and
shook his head. Tearing the rest of the suit off with a sharp tug,
Seiji tossed it over his shoulder and turned to face his opponent,
clad in sleek green and white armour that he had not been wearing a
few minutes ago.
Or that he *had* been wearing the whole time, just not visibly.
No, he was legitimately not wearing it until a few seconds before impact.
Otherwise, his metal gauntlets and boots might have been visible under his
clothes. ^_^
Hm... actually, I've seen the Troopers go from undergear to armor, but
I don't recall offhand seeing them go from civvies to undergear. Does
the gear appear under their clothes, or in place of them?
Well, the armour in its inert state is a small crystal sphere with a glowing
kanji in it (We see Ryo sleeping with his yoroi crystal on the desk in
Episode 20, and Touma and Shuu are both shown carrying their crystals during
the Gaiden OAV). In Gaiden, Shuu uses his crystal and does a transformation
sequence from civvies to undergear, so we know that they can summon it on
purpose like they do their full armour. When they do that, it appears in
place of their clothes.
In Episode 1 of the show, Ryo is attacked in his civvies and when his shirt
is torn open, his undergear is shown underneath. In Episode 20 (again),
Seiji and Touma are attacked by Saranbo, and when they rip off their
clothes, they are wearing their undergear underneath. In the Kikotei
Densetsu OAV, Ryo gets tossed through a skyscraper in his civvies, and he
comes out in his undergear. In those instances, the undergear seems to
summon itself automatically when it senses danger, and forms under their
clothes.
So as far as I can tell, the undergear replaces their clothes when they
summon it on purpose, but appears under their clothes when it summons itself
in order to save them from a split-second death.
I do way too much research on junk like this. :p
Seeming to have the same idea, the youma growled menacingly and wrapped its
paw around the young samurai's wrist, twisting and
wrenching at his arm until his fingers opened of their own accord and
the no dachi
Missing dash in "no-dachi"
Rassum-frassum spell-checker. Remind me to have it sacked. :)
"THUNDERBOLT CUT!" he yelled, his voice nearly drowned out by the howling
of the wind that rushed past them both as he snapped his
sword
Unfortunately, the tunnel roof was too low and the blade snagged in the
reinforced concrete overhead...
Nah, Seiji can use that cut to slice through small mountains and most
residential structures. The top of a subway tunnel would not be enough to
snag it, methinks.... ^_^
down and sent a wavering arc of energy flying from the edge of the
blade
"Wavering" implies weakness, to my mental ear. Maybe "scintillating"
or something?
Good point. I don't want to make it sound weak, but his attack really is
sort of... wiggly. Not in a bad way, just in that rapidly fluctuating arc of
pure lightning way, you know? :)
Tuxedo Kamen parried
the youma's claws with a twirl of his cane and flicked the rose off
of his lapel into its face. There was an explosion of crimson light,
and when the smoke cleared the beast was completely unharmed.
Roaring, it swiped
...yipe. Tux's roses usually penetrate *anything.* They may not pack
a killing punch,
Tell that to Queen Beryl - she didn't seem too comfortable with the one he
gave her....
but I don't recall ever seeing them be totally
ineffective before.
They never have been, contrary to some fans' opinions. Then again, Seiji's
Thunderbolt Cut tends to kill anything it touches, too. This youma has very,
very, VERY tough hide. :)
"So, any ideas why Xiang Yao would just toss a youma at us and run?"
Minako asked, watching as Tuxedo Kamen ducked under its claws and
The "spectator sport" aspect of this section is snickerworthy.
To quote Galvatron: "What? I was willing to help, but I knew you didn't NEED
me!" ^_^
**********
"I'm telling you, man, this is the perfect plan!" Shuu Rei Fuan
That line, all by itself, is enough to give me a sudden desire to run
for the hills.
Oh, good. That means I'm doing it right! ^_^
"Isn't that what you said about your plan to make popcorn in the industrial
rice cooker?" Shin Mouri asked, with a note of concern in
his
...note to self: buy industrial rice cooker for further feasibility
study.
Warning: it will not work. Actually, that can be applied to almost anything
Shuu Rei Fuan suggests.... :p
He frowned and ran one hand
through his auburn hair self-consciously. "I seem to recall spending
rather a lot of time picking caramel out of my hair after that
incident...."
...aren't you supposed to put the caramel on *after* the popping is
done?
Shuu: "The POINT was to make it EASIER. Doing it RIGHT would have been
HARD."
"Hey, that was a total fluke," Shuu argued, waving his hand as if to
brush away the other boy's concerns with it. "Touma spent all day trying to
overclock that thing, and he was as surprised as we were
when
<faceplant> Please, PLEASE tell me he left the plutonium OUT of this
one. Glow-in-the-dark Samurai Troopers with Gojira Breath(tm) is just
too much for me to take...
Hehehe... Now I just have a picture of the Troopers emerging from a crater,
glowing green...
Troopers: "Must.... destroy... city...."
(Touma's watch beeps)
Troopers: "Ooh! Lunchtime!" (shake off glow, go back inside)
it blew. Nobody could have predicted that was going to happen."
Except anyone who knows Touma even a little.
Yeah, they really should have known better. And yet, they never do.... ^_^
"Ryo is still sleeping off his date with Ami Mizuno," Shuu
...no. Not gonna touch that one. Nuh-uh.
He was out all night, and he is very tired. I swear, that's all I was trying
to imply. :)
reminded him with a slight frown. "Besides, that boy has had enough
fun to last him for a while. He is on fun rationing until we can
catch up."
Ryo's got a very deep fun deficit to make up yet. As compared to Shuu,
who is so over-budgeted on fun he could probably provide debt relief for
the ST's *and* the Masho and still be flush.
Yeah, Ryo's life is very short on the "fun" level. Shuu would argue that he
needs more, though, because he has a much larger and more aggressive party
animal to keep fed. You don't want to see what Shuu's inner party animal
does when it starts to feel hungry. :)
"I don't want to catch up with Ryo," Shin said plaintively. "I want
to find Nise Suiko and get to the bottom of all this! Come on, Shuu; can't
we just nip back to the house and go over those charts one more
time? I'm sure we must be overlooking something-"
Okay, I'm with Shuu on this one -- drag waterboy off and force his mind
off oh his evil twin.
Shin tends to obsess about stuff. He needs people like Shuu to drag him away
from hs work and force him to turn off his brain for a while.
There is no reason
that two guys as cool, rich, and handsome as us should be forced to
spend this much time
Well, unless this is going yaoi...
What, like 90% of all other YST fics? :p
No thank you.
There were several rips and tears in her clothes, revealing patches
of pale green skin, and her entire body was smeared with dust and
grime. "It's hot, and muggy, we're probably surrounded by things that
want to eat us, and worst of all, everything in this stupid dimension
smells like eggs! This is the worst secret mission ever!"
Fresh eggs, or rotten ones?
...what? These details are important!
Rotten ones, actually. It's mostly because of all the brimstone.
You know, I was expecting more questions about which parts of Ann's suit
were ripped open, and how revealing the tears were. Instead, I am asked
about the smell of eggs. That says a lot about my audience, I think. :)
"Elios said that Radanthus wasn't watching us, remember?
That's the whole reason he sent us out here in the first place."
Doesn't mean he doesn't have sentries watching *this place.*
You and Ail think an awful lot alike. Usually, that's not a compliment, but
in this case, it's meant as one. ;)
"I could so," Ail argued, placing his hands on his hips and frowning
slightly. "I've been working very hard at it, lately. I've practically got
one or two of them willing to listen to me."
How... confidence-inspiring.
It's canon that Ail cannot actually control his cardians very well. He
carries them, and he is the one who summons them with his flute, but most of
them will only listen to Ann. Proving that even a cardian is smart enough to
know who is REALLY in charge. :)
"That's easy," Ail scoffed, reaching into his vest and drawing a large
white card. "I'd go with Nixeen."
"Nixeen?" Ann laughed. "Nixeen can't fight at all! She's a healing cardian!
The only thing Nixeen could do after the fight is heal your wounds by
kissing-" Stopping in mid-sentence, the girl narrowed her
eyes and glared at her partner.
Uh oh. <Gauntlet Voice> Plant Boy is About to Die.
The funny thing is, Nixeen is not that bad a choice, for Ail. He's probably
going to get beat up, anyway. At least Nixeen listens to him, and she can
patch him up fast when the fighting is over. It's just the way she does that
patching that has Ann... concerned. ;)
"Give me the card, Ail."
"I don't think I should," Ail said cautiously, tucking the card back
inside his vest and taking a step further away from the girl.
Decent instincts, if a bit too slow.
By this point he's learned that any cards Ann takes away, he tends not to
see again. ^_^
"There you go again," Ail moaned, sitting on the other side of the
same boulder and resting his chin on his fist. "Honestly, Ann, how can you
be so insecure? You're the only female in our whole species!"
Now Insert Ankle. Go ahead, give her an excuse to think that's the
only reason you're with her.
Ail: "You're the most beautiful girl in our whole species. Of course, you're
also the ONLY girl in our whole species, so I guess that technically makes
you the ugliest, too.... What? You won by default! That's a KIND of
winning...."
<snip>
"Really? Because their axes and spears all seemed to agree." Ann scowled
and shook her head. "I still can't believe Fiore convinced me
to save you that time."
Someday, Fiore will be revered as the savior of their species.
There are a lot of side-stories to this fic that I would love to tell: how
Touma and Shuu first met Xiang Yao, for example. Ail and Ann's adventures in
space with Fiore is fairly high on that list. Frankly, I think there's a lot
of potential for a fun story, there. I'll have to revisit it some day, when
my main plot is caught up again. :p
It had been a miracle that they had managed to stumble across little
Fiore when they had - the poor child had been nearly as lost as they
were.
Seems he followed Hotaru's path, after R.
Pretty much - the last time we saw Fiore, he had reverted to the child-like
form he was in when he first met Mamoru. I am assuming that he was de-aged
in a Hotaru-esque fashion and simply went back into space (like before, he
could not survive on the planet indefinitely), where he eventually ran into
Ail and Ann and their little sapling.
I always felt Ail and Ann got the most hopeful ending of all the SM
villains. And they didn't even need to rely on Usagi's Magical Reset Button
(tm) to solve everything. ^_^
"He's just a child, Ail! What do you expect him to do, *garden* people to
death?"
Weellllll....
Yeah, notice how nervously Ail responds to that. He knows a few things about
Fiore that Ann does not....
The two female
youma were dressed in pale tan leotards, marked with jagged slashes
of chocolate brown fabric and what appeared to be large circular saws
rising from their shoulders like epaulets of jagged steel. The only
way to tell that they were not clones was that one had her
rust-coloured hair hanging over her left eye, and the other preferred
to cover her right.
That just means they're mirror clones.
Good guess! Nah, they just happen to be identical twins. Well, *nearly*
identical - one is taller than the other by a few inches.
"As if you look any better," one of the twins growled angrily. "Who
wears a leotard with a vest, anyway? What are you two, one of those couples
who always have to dress alike?"
Meow! Hiss!
Even YOUMA find it annoying when people do that. :p
"Oh, thank you, Ail," Ann muttered, as she rolled her eyes. "My hero.
How dashing of you, placing my safety above your own."
Hey, *she's* the one with all the Cardians!
Who, Ann? She don't need no stinkin' Cardians! Ann can take care of herself
just fine. :)
"I don't," Kamisori replied, and Ann's eyes widened as a sudden torrent of
blood sprayed forth from her lips. The world shivered and
lost
Mmmm... "torrent" suggests a level of blood loss that would be
near-instantly incapacitating, if not lethal. Maybe "spray" or
something a bit less... flood-like?
Yeah, good idea. I'm going for dramatic, here, not purple. I'd better
re-word it.
colour as she dropped to one knee, clutching her abdomen. She was bleeding,
she noted numbly. He had... cut her? She hadn't even seen a
blade. It didn't even hurt.
Hm. If he hit her in the stomach, and she's bleeding orally, that
usually means he penetrated a lung.
Not always. She might be coughing up blood, in which case probably a lung
puncture, but she could also be vomiting blood, in which case he likely
damaged her gullet. Above the stomach, since the blood would be black if it
had been exposed to stomach acid.
A cut (as opposed to a stab) that
penetrated that deep would be *very* serious, especially since it would
mean severing a good chunk of ribcage. Assuming Ann's physiology is
sufficiently similar to human, of course.
Nah, her ribcage is still intact. The blade went in diagonally - sliced
through her abdomen, cut up under the ribcage, and sliced open her
esophagus. She is still able to speak and breathe fairly
normally, but he did a serious number on her just now. Kamisori is downright
vicious against an opponent who isn't encased in steel, like Nise Suiko was.
The skin tightened slightly around his mouth as his gaze met Ann's, and
there was a dangerous light in his
eyes as he turned over his first card and laid it down on the boulder
in front of him.
...oh HO! I never even caught on. Clever boy.
Hm. Bet Ann wishes he still had Nixeen.
Ail is very good at seeming harmless, and Ann is *very* good at keeping
everyone focused on her, but never forget that HE has the cardians.... ;)
There was a soft racheting sound, and another of the blades swung
into position on his other foot as well. A matching pair of blades
slipped into place on each of his hands, as the youma brandished all
four before letting his leather cloak conceal his form once more.
Behind the cracked remains of his visor, a trio of thin, glowing red
eyes narrowed even further.
...oh, how lovely. Four-foot straight razors. <shudder>
Yeah, he's also got saw-toothed edges on his cape when he botheres to
unsheathe them. "Kamisori" means "razor" in Japanese - he has something of a
motif working, here.
Shakily, she raised her hand
to her ear, where she used to have the most adorable earrings....
Pulling her hand away, she looked at the blood coating her fingers
with a sense of disbelief.
Yipe.
Yeah, he nearly got her for good, there. If she had been a little bit slower
he would have done a lot worse than just sliced open half of her face.
"You... sliced my ear," she said numbly, as blood began to pour down
her cheek, the almost invisible wound that ran the length of her face
opening wider as she spoke. "You cut my face."
Ear, or earS?
Jut the one. Keep in mind that Ann has anime elf ears. There is a lot of ear
there to cut. Ann wears two gold earrings in each ear.
Uh oh. In most anime, this (and the hair) is usually the prelude to a
Major Female Beatdown.
You noticed my mention of the pink hair that was floating around between
them, eh? He managed to take care of that, too. ^_^
"Man, first Nise Suiko kicks our butts and now this," the younger twin
sighed dejectedly, her bladed shoulders slumping in defeat. "Is
it too late to just admit that Dad was right about us not being cut
out for this and go home?"
Hah! I *knew* "Kamisori" sounded familiar. But who're the twins? Now
I gotta go re-read that chapter again, dangit.
I'll save you the trouble: those girls would be the Terra Twins: sawblades
in their shoulders, they were the first ones to attack Nise Suiko, and he
took them out by sticking his trident into the dirt and blasting a Super
Wave Smasher directly into the ground. They and Kamisori are one of those
teams that Jadeite told the Doom and Gloom Girls to form, so that they could
train and improve their skills. That would be why Kamisori mentioned that it
was "our eagerness led to our defeat the last time" and that "our master
wishes us to improve our skills", and such.
<snip!>
Still, could anybody really blame her for not guessing that? It
wasn't like Ami was the sort who got out much. Then, as if that
wasn't bad enough, to have Usagi of all people talking about setting
her up... as if she needed the help!
She does, though.
I think that's why she got so defensive when the topic came up. :)
Well, except for Yuuichiro. Where *is* he, anyway? Same place Ryo
Orawa went, I'm guessing.
Yuuchiro is still at the Hikawa Shrine, with Grandpa Hino, Motoki, and Maya
Touno. They were attacked by Fei Lian a few chapters ago, and Yuuchiro hit
him in the face with a broom.
As for Ryo Orawa... well, heck! He was psychic, right? I'm sure he saw this
coming. :p
Seriously - by this point, it's been more than THREE YEARS since Ami even
mentioned him, let alone saw him or spoke to him. He's been missing in
action for so long that we could technically have him declared legally dead.
I'm going to assume that he and Ami never had any kind of behind the
scenes romance, since her crush on Mercurius was called "Ami-chan's FIRST
love", not "Ami-chan's SECOND love".
Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised if he got reset with the rest of the world
at the end of the first season. He probably doesn't remember ever meeting
Ami, or that she was a Senshi, or any of what happened to him.
Them's the breaks, Orawa - you walk out on a girl like Ami for three years,
don't be surprised if you come back and find some other Ryo in your place.
^_^
"Lord, that line was atrocious!" a boy commented, as he eased through
the door and held it open for his friend. "I'm almost glad that we
got kicked out, if there was much more of that to look forward to."
Three guesses. And the first two don't count.
I think we can all safely assume who these two are. :p
"I still say that it wasn't my fault!" the other boy replied defensively.
"If those players don't want people bugging them, then
what are they doing walking past us on their way to the stadium? The
classy thing to do would have been for them to sign my balls and get
it over with."
<strangling noises> Not... even... GOING... there....
And the sad thing is, that's EXACTLY how he put it when he asked them. Like
he said, he was trying to get some autographed souvenirs for Touma, so he
bought some baseballs, and then when he saw the players walking past...
well, it's SHUU. He pretty much did the worst possible thing in the worst
possible manner. ^_^
A shadow fell over her table, and Rei looked up into the beaming face
of Shin Mouri. As usual, the boy had an almost expectant look that filled
her with a strange urge to check her purse and find some
Condoms? Sorry, sorry, the line break made me do it!
Rei: "What? How DARE you! I happen to go to a CATHOLIC school, thank you
very much! I place my bets, and I take my chances."
peppermints for him. His mop of shaggy brown hair was even more
tousled than usual, and there were the beginnings of a nasty bruise
under one eye.
Oh, dear. Things must have gotten a beat heated.
Shuu didn't want to leave precisely when the nice security guards thought he
should, and, well... nobody pushes Shin's friends while he's around, so....
The important thing is that it distracted him from his troubles. ^_~
<big snip!>
beginning to lose her respect for the Senshi. Maybe her old age was
getting to her, but she had distinctly recalled them being tougher
opponents the last time she fought them. Perhaps the intervening
centuries had made them soft.
ANOTHER Silver Millenium native? Geez, it's getting so you can't toss
a brick w/o hitting one, these days...
Well, Xiang Yao was in that box for a VERY long time... ^_^
'Soft' was not a word that anybody would apply to Xiang Yao, no matter what
century she was in. At her peak, she had been more than a
match for any of the Senshi, and her time in the Castle of Eternal
Regret
So what made her immune to the Voices of Despair?
It's kind of hard to drive someone nuts with despair when they are already
crazy and insane in the head with madness, I suppose. ^_^
had done very little to dull her reflexes. There was not a single
ounce of fat on her whipcord frame, and her glittering crimson eyes
were devoid of any trace of mercy or compassion. She had honed her
entire being for the sole purpose of bringing death to her master's
enemies, and in his
Her master? Whozzat? And why do I think it's going to be important?
Because you are a very astute reader. :)
<snip-snip!>
"Oh, come on! What's the big deal? So it shows off your shoulders a
little bit."
"It's not my shoulders I'm worried about showing off," Ami whispered
back. "I'm scared to breathe in this thing, Usagi! And this
Now I really want to see it.
You're not the only one to say that, actually. :)
Basically, it is just a tube top. Ami is only overreacting to it because she
is a prude. :p
skirt is much too short for my liking. I've never worn something as
short as this before."
Whoa. Given the average SM fuku length...
Which Usagi mentions, actually. It's only about as long as her usual fuku
skirt. The trick is psychological. To Ami's mind, it is okay for SAILOR
MERCURY to wear a skirt that short, because when she wears it, it is part of
her uniform and nobody really knows that it is her, anyway. AMI MIZUNO, on
the other hand, would not be caught dead in a skirt like that without having
a convenient secret identity to hide behind. ^_^
"What are you talking about? You wear a skirt that short all the time!
Heck, you were wearing one when you met him, remember?"
"That was different," Ami whimpered. "I was in uniform. That skirt
was official. This one's just.... short."
Plus, technically the Senshi fuku has something more bikini-like than
panty-like beneath it.
Anoher very good point, actually. Plus, there is nothing like being able to
turn anyone who looks at you funny into a walking icicle to really help a
girl's confidence. The girl with the missile launcher looks good in anything
she wants to wear....
Usagi groaned. "You have great legs, Ami. You need him to notice them! How
else can he become blind with passion for you? I thought
you said you wanted my help with this."
Wouldn't they want him to *burn* with passion instead?
In Ryo's case, that might be literal. It's probably best for property values
if they try to keep him at least slightly under control. :p
"Can I at least wear a different shirt?" Ami asked quietly. "One with
sleeves? And shoulders?"
Not to be hentai or anything, but a blouse with no shoulders suggests
the necessity of a side trip to a lingerie store, too.
Oh, you're absolutely right. Ami is not so clueless when it comes to fashion
that she would think that walking around with her bra straps hanging out was
chic. Really, if she was wearing one at the moment, she would not be quite
so worried about popping out of her top.
Not to sound hentai or anything, but sometimes girls don't wear bras with
certain types of clothing. Backless evening gowns come to mind. Tube tops
would be another such occasion. Now, we've seen Ami wear dresses that were
open-backed before (the haunted house beach episode comes to mind), so it's
a safe bet she knows about this little rule. Depending where exactly that
hole on her other shirt is located, she may not want a bra with that either,
in case part of it shows through. Given how tight that shirt is, I would go
so far as to suggest that (gasp!) she may not even *want* to wear one, since
it would show through pretty obviously if she did.
There, I'm finished. Aren't we glad we were all able to discuss that like
adults? ^_^
"We'll get you a boyfriend if I have to drag you kicking and
screaming every inch of the way!"
The terrifying part is, she's not kidding.
The *really* scary part is that she so rarely is. ^_^
"So, how do I look?" Ami asked, trying to tug the skirt down a little
bit and blushing furiously.
Like someone who should stay out of drafts and light breezes.
LOL. I'm guessing that is NOT the reaction that she would be hoping for from
Usagi, here. Something like that would send her back into the changing room
until Doomsday. ^_^
"Well," Usagi said, tapping her chin, "I think if he doesn't notice
you like this, we'll have to declare him legally dead. Give me a little
spin, could you? I want to make sure that skirt's not too
short, after all."
Nice little bait&switch psych work, there -- set her up with stuff too
racy, then let her tone it 'down' to something that she would never have
been willing to wear if she'd tried it first.
Usagi can be decidedly tricky when it comes to manipulating people. She does
not have a lot of book smarts (best clases are lunch and nap time), but out
little Moon Princess does possess a very large number of people skills.
"Are you kidding? In that outfit? I'M starting to want to ask you
out," Usagi assured her friend, placing her hands on her hips and
...SO not going there....
I am allowed to tease. ^_^
Ami stopped turning so abruptly she almost fell over. "There's a phase TWO,
now?"
Ami, sweetie, you *don't* want to ask how many phases there are in
total.
Phase three is profit! ^_^
Which reminded her: she might want to pick up some coloured
markers, in case Ryo proved especially dense. Phase four involved
diagrams.
<Plotz> ROFTLMAOASTCs!
And, again, the scary thing is that she's *not* kidding.
Yeah, she's done it before, when she was trying to jog Mamoru's memory
during the start of the R season. Personally, I thought it was cute - not to
mention a great try.
Hmmm... I wonder if Usagi's romance diagrams would look anything like
Rukia Kuchiki's instructional diagrams....
No, Usagi's drawings may not be great, but they at least look like what they
are supposed to. As we all know, Rukia's drawings "render the comprehensible
incomprehensible".
A panicked scream pierced the air, and Usagi felt every muscle in her
body tense. Dropping into a crouch, the blonde girl quickly scanned the
area to see what all the commotion was about. Maybe somebody just
saw a mouse, or something...
Yaright.
Hope springs eternal for Usagi - she is always hopeful that this will not
involve her needing to do anything. ^_~
"Two against one is hardly fair," a voice called out, as the lights
in the store suddenly cut out. As they slowly flickered back to life,
a thick fog bank rolled across the floor and filled the store with
glimmering rainbows as the bright lights reflected off of the
moisture in the air. The door to the change rooms creaked open, and a
shadowy form strode forward through the advancing wall of mist, a
glowing blue visor the only thing visible until she stepped through
the concealing blanket of fog and took up a position next to Sailor
Moon.
...so...cool...must...have...Ami-chan....
I've been trying to make sure each Senshi gets at least one Cool Entrance
(tm). This one of Ami's just topped Makoto's entrance back in chapter 3,
methinks.
"I trust nobody will mind if I even the odds a little?" she asked, as
the turquoise on her tiara flashed briefly and the visor retracted
away from her eyes. "I am Sailor Mercury, the warrior of balance, and
in the name of the planet Mercury, I shall right wrongs and triumph
over evil! At the moment, that appears to be you."
"Warrior of balance"? Haven't heard that one before.
I know she's used it before, but for the life of me I cannot recall when. I
liked it, it stuck in my head, so I used it. :p
"MOON TIARA ACTION!" she cried, and hurled the glowing headpiece towards
the advancing youma. Lunging out of the way, the creature
threw himself out of the way as the gleaming disc screeched past him
Repeated "out of the way"
Dagnabbit! Will fix! >_<
"Hey, Sailor Mercury!" she yelled, as the youma regained its senses
and took chase after her. "I don't think I like this one any more! Wanna
trade?"
...they're *identical.* What good is *that* gonna do?
Usagi: "Well. the other one is less angry at me, and he can't breathe fire
'cuz his mouth is frozen shut. Besides, this one is being mean."
Responding to her signal, Sailor Mercury reached out and grabbed her
leader by the wrist. With a twist of her hips, she pivoted in place and
hurled Sailor Moon into the muzzled youma's face as hard as she
"MERCURY...MOON...PRINCESS...MISSILE!"
Hm. "Hurled" suggests "throw," but lower down it sounds like they
didn't let go of each other.
Good point. I need a better word.
....
Maybe "swung"? I am at a bit of loss. Let me think about this, and I'll get
back to you.
Sailor Moon swatted the club aside with a flick of her Kaleido Moon
Scope and stood between the youma and her friend, rod held in a low
<cringe> I know it's canon, but that term is just... painful.
I was on the Internet for HOURS trying to find a better name for it... There
just isn't one. I think from now on I will just describe it, and we can all
know which one of her many sceptres I am referring to. >_<
Stupid question: why didn't Mina call ahead as soon as they got thrown
off the train?
They are busy fighting that lion youma.
Sure, there was a youma, but she had enough time to
banter with Seiji while Tux was playing Sticks&Roses with it.
Yeah, that's true, and a very good point. The best response I can give is
that Minako Aino is not a very good strategic thinker. Don't get me wrong -
as a TACTICAL thinker, I'd take Minako over Ami or Touma, any day of the
week. Let's not forget that Sailor V used to defeat her enemies by making up
entirely new finishing moves on the spot that were specifically designed to
target each one's individual weakness. Versatile, Minako most definitely is.
Big pictures, however, tend to escape her - I point to the fact that she has
TWICE in her life nearly passed out because she donated too much blood and
didn't stop to realise that losing so much might be bad for her. She gave
them blood, they gave her a cookie, and she wanted another cookie. That was
the whole picture for her.
Basically, Minako is the type of girl who would focus on the problem in
front of her (the lion) and not have the ability to think about the bigger
issue (Xiang Yao attacking other Senshi). Seiji thought of the possibility,
but he would not know she had a communicator, and thus could not tell her to
use it.
And even after, it looks like XY spent at least an hour or so finding
the girls and getting things lined up -- it seems pretty unreasonable
that with that kind of time window, one of Team Train didn't think of
calling ahead to Yokohama to let the rest of the crew know something was
coming.
They are very, very busy with that lion. He's pretty much invulnerable, and
he's got a real knack of grabbing someone's attention by bouncing their head
off of various flat objects. :)
Aw, man, that's IT? Now I'm gonna have to wait a whole MONTH or more
before I I know <Paul Harvery> The Rest Of The Story. </PH>
Well, I think I made it a little less than a month for you - Chapter 9
should already be in your Inbox, if the FFML is working properly. Hope you
enjoy, and thanks for writing! Sorry it took me so long to respond to you. I
really do appreciate the comments, and I'm going to need to tweak a few
things in some of the areas you pointed out to me. Yay, more work for me! :p
Regardless, I will try to Chapter 10 out as soon as I write it. Which should
be sooner, rather than later, I suspect.
Ah... one down, and (looks at other missed responses) a whole LOT to go...
Gee, wish me luck, man. :p
Later!
-Morgan Hudson
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