Years before the fall of the Silver Millennium:

	Medgar was a very nervous man. It did not take any 
degree of psychic power to tell that he was going to get 
stomped on.  A dojo destroyer had come round to his little 
training school on Titan to challenge him for his dojo 
sign.  He guessed she must have heard of his combination of 
telepathic powers with martial arts and wanted to test her 
skills.

	Unfortunately, he'd already tested her mental 
defenses, and didn't rate his chances against them too 
highly.  Invading the mind of one of the Senshi of the Moon 
Kingdom or any of the various Planetary Defenders was 
neither easy or advisable.

	Senshi Saturn bowed to him.  "Are you ready?" she held 
her Glaive lightly in one hand, looking for all the world 
like a teenage girl someone had dressed up in a Senshi 
costume as a prank.

	He knew better, from the stories he'd heard.  Her 
powers were sealed away, only for use against the most 
horrific of threats, and so, unlike the other Senshi, she'd 
trained extensively in various forms of combat in order to 
defeat monsters without the use of magic.

	"While I hate to quibble, I don't suppose you could 
use something less deadly than your Silence Glaive for 
this?" he asked.

	"Alright."  She thrust it into a stone, and took a 
staff off the wall.  He gave a sigh of relief; I'll live 
through this now, he thought.

	He unleashed a psychic barrage on her as a prelude to 
leaping to her left and trying to sweep her legs.  She 
jumped out of the way of his attack and then darted back in 
and struck him in the stomach.

	Twenty minutes of combat ensued; he did better than 
he'd expected, though he could tell she wasn't going all 
out against him. He managed to surprise her once or twice, 
once he had penetrated her mental enough to anticipate her 
actions, but he hardly ever managed to hit her.

	Finally, he fell down and stayed down.  She bowed to 
him, took his dojo sign, and departed.  A minute later, she 
came back, laughed nervously, took her Glaive, and left 
again.

	She's not called the Mistress of Anything-Goes Martial 
Arts for nothing, he thought.  

*****************

       Children of Fire
       A Sailor Moon/Ranma Elseworld

       Chapter 16: Enter the Princess

       By
       John Biles

	http://maison-otaku.net/~rhea/SMR/

*****************

	“This is my daughter, Princess Ruby,” Beryl said to 
her assembled generals.  “You will show her the deference 
you show me.”

	All four surviving generals knew that Beryl didn’t 
have a daughter.  They also knew that protesting against 
this would likely earn them Jadeite’s fate.  Only 
Tourmaline actually knew where she had come from, though 
Nephrite had strong suspicions.  They all bowed.

	Nephrite asked, “What duties will she be assuming 
now?”

	“Ruby will be undertaking some special missions for me 
on Earth.  Should any of you suffer the fate of Jadeite, I 
will likely assign her to take over your duties.”  Beryl 
said.  “I hope this will not become necessary.”

	“Do Zoicite and Kunzite actually do anything useful?” 
Ruby asked.

	They both glared at her.

	“Besides providing gossip for everyone, anyway?”

	“We’re in charge of finding the Moon Princess,” 
Kunzite said.  “Our search continues.”

	“Well, I already found her, so I guess Mother will 
need to find you new jobs.”

	“...”

	Tourmaline snickered, and Nephrite smirked.

	“I’d have thought that you’d remember there wasn’t a 
Sailor Moon in the Silver Millennium,” Ruby said.  “I mean, 
she might as well put up a big sign saying ‘Here I Am’.”

	“...”

	“Now that she has been located, I am assigning you two 
to preparing our forces for the invasion.  Once we secure 
the remaining crystals and reconstruct the Silver Crystal, 
we should be able to easily gather enough energy to awaken 
Metallia, and then the Earth will finally be ours.”

	“At the current time, our forces are unable to go far 
from major magical nexuses,” Tourmaline says.  “Have we 
found a way to increase the Earth’s supply of magical 
energy to enable us to operate freely across the entire 
planet?”

	“Metallia has that much power,” Beryl said.  
“Especially when her might is combined with the Silver 
Crystal.  All things then will be possible.”  She turned to 
Nephrite.  “I expect to hear from you soon as to your plan 
to secure the remaining crystals from the Senshi.”

	“I am working on my next plan, your highness.”

	“Very good.  You are all dismissed, except for 
Tourmaline, with whom I wish to speak to in private.  That 
includes you, Ruby.”

	“Yes, mother.”  She bowed and departed.

	The other generals soon left.

	Tourmaline asked, “How may I serve you, my queen?”

	“I am sure you are aware of Ruby’s origins.”

	“Yes, your Highness,” she said.  “I hope you will not 
be expecting me to keep my father’s ludicrous promise to 
Gluttony.”

	Beryl laughed.  “Only if you fail me, Tourmaline.  No, 
this is a reminder that no one is to know of that.  And an 
order to prepare a plan to deliver the Moon Princess into 
our hands.  Given you’ve infiltrated the Senshi, I assume 
that you can achieve this more easily than Nephrite.”

	Tourmaline said, “I will develop a plan and present it 
to you as soon as it is ready.”

	“Good.  You have done well so far, Tourmaline.  I 
expect much of you in the future as well.”

	“Thank you, your Highness,” she said.  “I live to 
serve.”  

	“You may go now.”

	“As you command.”  Tourmaline quietly teleported out.

	Beryl sat alone in the darkness.  The Silver Crystal 
was the key.  Obtain it, and everything else would fall 
into place.  Without it, they were probably doomed.  
Princess Serenity might have to commit suicide to use it to 
stop Metallia, but that hadn’t stopped her mother.  This 
new warrior version of the Princess was even less likely to 
balk at such a stroke, Beryl feared.  

***************

	"She's Happousai's GRANDAUGHTER?" Nodoka asked in 
horror.  

	"Yes, she is," Usagi said.  

	Nodoka looked down at the cute twelve-year-old, who 
stood nervously next to Usagi.  Hotaru smiled at her.  "My 
name is Tomoe Hotaru.  Nice to meet you."  She bowed to 
Nodoka.  

	Nodoka smiled back at her.  "Nice to meet you.  
Your...grandfather trained my husband."  

	"Grandpa made me a really great martial artist!  I'm 
sure he trained your husband well too."  

	Nodoka looked her up and down.  "So how long have you 
been training with Happousai?"

	"For years now."  She counted in her head.  "Since I 
was five, when everything blew up."

	"Blew up?" 

	"I hardly remember any of it, but evil aliens blew up 
the house where I was staying.  I think.  Grandpa knows the 
story better than I do, but my parents got blown up, and 
the aliens stole all the underwear too."

	"..."

	"So we have to collect all the underwear the aliens 
are after before they can get it."

	"..."

	"And he taught us how to absorb energy from it to 
become stronger, though he says I'll have to get a little 
older before I get good at it.  But he also taught me the 
Happo-Goen-Satsu, to absorb energy from bad people."  
Hotaru demonstrated the pose.  

	Nodoka's eyes widened slightly.  "That's a very 
powerful technique."

	Hotaru nodded.  "When I absorb enough energy, I turn 
into an adult, so I have to wear clothing that's too big 
for me normally, so when I grow I don't end up with it all 
tearing and falling off."

	Nodoka nodded.  One of the Dark Kingdom Youma 
apparently knew that trick as well, according to what Rei 
had told her.  She thought for a moment.  "So who did 
Happousai teach you to use it on?"

	"Bad people like monsters and thieves, and agents of 
the aliens."

	"And how do you recognize the agents?" Nodoka asked.

	"They try to stop us from saving the panties," Hotaru 
said.  

	"Or from getting food?"

	"Yeah."

	"Well, the aliens have taken your sisters, Happousai, 
my ex-husband, and a lot of other people," Nodoka said, 
deciding she would have to work slowly on deprogramming the 
girl.

	"I remember all the monsters," Hotaru said, solemnly.

	"I'd like to see how good you are.  Would you like to 
spar with me?"

	"I need to get big first," Hotaru said, "if I'm going 
to fight a big person."

	Nodoka frowned.  There wasn't exactly a handy supply 
of 'bad people' lying around the temple for Hotaru to feed 
on.

	Usagi said, "You can borrow some of my energy.  I 
could use a good nap anyway," to Hotaru.

	Hotaru's eyes widened.  "Are you sure?  I know it 
doesn't feel very good."

	"Just be ready to catch me," Usagi said to Nodoka.

	Nodoka frowned slightly, then nodded.  

	"Happo-Goen-Satsu!" Hotaru shouted, holding up a five 
yen coin towards Usagi.  A bright yellow glow flowed out of 
Usagi and into Hotaru, who grew taller and older in 
appearance.  Her gi pants didn't quite reach her ankles any 
more, her hair now flowed freely down her back, nearly to 
said ankles, and her figure was fit to burst out of her gi 
if she wasn't careful.  

	She helped Nodoka lay Usagi down on the porch, then 
borrowed Usagi's staff and got into a fighting stance.  
Nodoka took a wooden practice sword and advanced on Hotaru, 
who moved swiftly to one side and struck a blow at Nodoka's 
ankles. The younger girl missed and had to leap backwards 
to avoid Nodoka's return blow.

	She was fast and nimble, one of the hallmarks of 
Happousai's fighting style, Nodoka quickly realized, which 
Happousai had developed to offset not being very strong.  
Hotaru's adult body was stronger than her child body, but 
not as strong as it would be one day when she reached 
adulthood in her own right.  

	Nodoka began to press her attacks harder, trying out a 
variety of strokes to see if Hotaru had any particular 
weaknesses of defense or body she could exploit.  Hotaru 
was not as good as Nodoka was, but she would have been good 
for an adult, and was quite excellent for a twelve-year-
old.  

	Nodoka jumped over one of Hotaru's sweeps, only to be 
surprised when Hotaru brought her staff up early, snagging 
one of Nodoka's legs.  Nodoka tumbled, rolled, and got up, 
then feinted right and moved left, getting in a solid blow 
on Hotaru's right arm.  

	Okay, I think I've taken her measure, Nodoka thought.  
She moved to go for a disarming blow, and took a staff to 
the chin instead.  She managed to get a solid poke in on 
Hotaru's chest, knocking her down, then tried to get her 
own balance back.

	Hotaru stood and bowed.  "You're very good, Saotome-
san."

	Nodoka smiled.  "Thank you.  You're very good also, 
Hotaru-chan."

	"I'm not half as good as Grandpa."

	Thankfully, Nodoka thought.  As you'd likely be freaky 
beyond repair, but I think there's still hope for you.  
"Did he ever teach you how to use chi to enhance the power 
of your blows?"

	"It tends to shorten how long I can stay grownup, so 
we never got around to me learning yet," she said.  
"Although I can do a few tricks if I have to."

	"Alright," Nodoka said. "Would you like to learn how?"

	"Sure," Hotaru said, smiling.  

	"Alright, now, this is what you have to do..."
	  
***************************
AAA

	Sailor Pluto stood in her backyard; her parents had 
gone to the grocery store, which meant they'd probably be 
gone for weeks.  She wasn't so easily rid of Ryouga, who 
did katas nearby.  But he knew who she was, so it didn't 
matter.

	She concentrated, trying to call forth the Gate of 
Time.  She could fix things if only she could call it.

	Sweat ran down her brow, and her whole body ached with 
tension as she concentrated.  Still it would not come.  
Losing her staff had greatly weakened her, and she hated 
it.  

	Finally, just as she was about to give out, the gates 
appeared and swung open.  She gave a cry of triumph, and 
staggered towards them.  Only to be blocked by herself as 
she had been in her days guarding the tunnel.  "No," Older 
Pluto said.  "You may not return for this purpose."

	"Why?" she shouted angrily.  "Why can't I go fix 
this?"

	"Some things must be, as we determined when you were 
me.  Not all of them are enjoyable, but we do what must be 
done."

	"I have to save him!" the 'younger' Pluto shouted.

	"You must find another way.  I shall not let you 
pass."

	"WHY?"

	"It is not necessary.  Time travel, as we both know, 
is very dangerous.  You nearly killed yourself summoning 
the gate.  Do not try it again until you have your staff 
once more, and even then, hesitate."

	The younger Pluto pounded on the chest of her 
implacable 'older' self.  "Dammit!  How else can I save 
him?"

	"You can't do it alone," her older self said.  "Not 
now that you've entered time.  Don't worry, he isn't dead 
yet.  But you've got to make sure you don't die before he 
does."  Then she stepped back inside the gates, which 
slammed shut and vanished.

	"Dammit!"

	"Stupid Ranma.  He probably let himself be captured so 
he could get a bunch of youma women to be his harem too," 
Ryouga said.  "And he can't go die before I get to kill him 
myself!"

	"Oh shut up about your stupid bread," Sailor Pluto 
muttered.  "I'm sick and tired of listening to you whine 
about how Ranma took your bread."

	"He owes me justice!" Ryouga shouted back.

	"I've waited for him for 25,000 years!  I think MY 
WAITING takes a little priority here!" Sailor Pluto shouted 
back at him.

	"You shouldn't have let them take him, then!" Ryouga 
shouted back.

	Pluto began to cry.  "I couldn't stop them!  I wasn't 
there!  Dammit, why did it have to happen this way?  WHY?"

	Ryouga began to flail with the look of a man who knows 
he made a woman cry and doesn't know what to do.  "I'm 
sorry, I didn't mean to, Setsuna, I'm sorry."

	She latched onto him and began to cry on his shoulder.  
"I might not ever see him again.  What am I going to DO?" 
she asked.

	"I don't know," he said softly.  "I don't know."

***************************

	Zoicite paced back and forth, making Kunzite jumpy.  
“Can you stop that?” he asked irritably.  “I’m trying to 
focus on this.”  He was trying to make sense of the jumbled 
hierarchy of Beryl’s armies.  Each of the generals had 
organized their forces on different principles, and 
Jadeite’s forces had never been properly reintegrated after 
his removal.

	“I don’t trust this ‘Ruby’.  Beryl doesn’t HAVE a 
daughter, unless I’m losing my mind.”

	“If Beryl says she has a daughter, she has a daughter.  
I remember the pony.”

	Zoicite shuddered.  “The pony.  Let’s not remember the 
pony.”

	“Anyway, probably she’s some new favorite of Beryl’s 
she’s adopted and put out to see if any of us strike at 
her, so as to test our loyalty.  I know you’re already 
plotting against Ruby, but I advise you to give up on 
that.”  Kunzite turned to face Zoicite.  “I remember what 
happened to Crysolite.”

	Zoicite frowned.  “Are you just going to sit back and 
let us be shunted aside like this?”

	“Better to let them destroy themselves against the 
Senshi, so we can then look better when we sweep in and 
clean up their mess.”  He sighed.  “You’re not listening to 
me.”

	“I am listening.  I’m just not convinced you’re 
right.”

	“Fine.  Go spy on Ruby and Tourmaline and Nephrite and 
get yourself punished by Beryl,” Kunzite said.  “I’m going 
to stay here and try to do what Beryl told us to do, so 
that when they screw up, I’ll be in a position to reap the 
benefits.”

	They glared at each other for a little bit, and then 
Zoicite teleported out.  Kunzite sighed.  Now I’m going to 
have to chase him all over creation.  Not that I wanted to 
shuffle papers, but...


***************

	Usagi said to her gathered Senshi, “So, does anyone 
have a good idea on how to lure out Nephrite and his 
crystals?  We have a fake we can use as bait, but I’m not 
sure of a good way to get him to come after them.”

	“Are we sure he’ll fall for it?” Setsuna asked.

	“Well, it should hold up to casual inspection,” Ami 
says.  “And we should be able to grab him before he has 
time to do more.  If he falls for it.”

	They were gathered in Ami’s backyard, sitting on the 
grass in a great sprawl which roughly resembled a circle.  
Luna lay in Ami’s lap, while Artemis perched on Minako’s 
head.  Mamoru’s team sat in a clump under one tree, though 
it wasn’t a very large clump, since Ukyou was still in 
Osaka and Ranma was in the hands of the enemy.  Usagi’s 
clump spread out under several trees, though Rei sat close 
to Usagi.

	Haruka sprawled out on her back, staring at the sky.  
"We could just try calling him out to a battle.  Rig the 
battlefield in advance against him.  If he's an honorable 
idiot, he'd go for it."
	
	"We can't count on that," Usagi said.  "And he may be 
working with Tourmaline, and we know she doesn't worry 
about honor."  She frowned slightly, not liking the way 
Haruka casually connected stupidity and honor.

	Mamoru said, "We probably should capture a Youma at 
our next fight, mention that we're planning some mystic 
ritual to yank the rest of the crystals to us, then let the 
Youma escape.  We can then use Haruka's idea of rigging the 
site to favor us."

	"That might work," Shampoo said.  "But that doesn't 
mean they'll bring their crystals.  If they're very smart, 
all theirs are in a locked vault in the Dark Kingdom."

	A gloomy silence settled over everyone at that 
thought.

	"Maybe we can capture Nephrite and trade him to get 
them," Mercury suggested.

	"Beryl will likely see the Crystals as more valuable 
than he is," Luna said.

	Artemis nodded.  "We need to find out if the crystals 
are in the Dark Kingdom and whether or not Nephrite has 
handed them over to Beryl.  If he hasn't, then we may have 
a chance."

	"I still say we challenge him.  Get him to bring his 
as part of it," Haruka said.  "Either that or we're going 
to have to find a way into the Dark Kingdom and raid the 
vaults, which would be pretty damn dangerous."

	"I suppose if we make it clear he has to bring his if 
he wants a chance at ours..." Usagi said.

	"Perhaps we should first try and find out if Nephrite 
still has them, then make a plan," Ami said.  

	"He's going to try something eventually," Shampoo 
said.  "Since the only way we can find him is one of 
Mercury's searches, we might wish to fortify the temple's 
defenses and keep our crystals there, under rotating guard, 
so as to force him to come to us on ground of our choosing, 
should he strike before we find out if he has them and 
where he is."

	Setsuna nodded.  "That's a very good idea, since now 
Grandpa knows about all of us from Nodoka finding out."

	"We'll need a shielded vault for the real one and an 
unshielded one for our fake," Usagi said.  "Keeping a 
rotating guard is going to be hard when all of you have to 
go back to school, but hopefully, we'll beat him by then."

	"We'll be pretty vulnerable if we don't beat him by 
then, though we'll get Ukyou back at that point," Haruka 
said.

	"Well, let's see about using our powers to make 
ourselves a vault, then," Usagi said.

	"I hope Grandpa will agree to us digging under the 
temple," Rei said.  "And none of us are exactly experts at 
excavation."

	"I suppose I should have studied Martial Arts Mining 
when I had the chance," Usagi said.  "Can you design us a 
vault with your computer, Ami?"

	"I can try," Ami said.  "I'll start working on a 
program right away."

	"Okay, then, I guess we'd all best practice sparring 
and stuff," Usagi said, rising.  "Unless anyone has any 
other business?"

	Makoto said, "Maybe we should ask the Kunous to help.  
They've got a lot of money, and they do know about the 
existence of monsters and so on."

	Mamoru nodded.  "I'll see if he and Kodachi can help."

	Usagi said, "That could be a BIG help."	

	Rei said, "There's also a fair chance that Tourmaline 
has one of them, given she and her family came after 
Gluttony and the blue crystal."

	"We may be able to draw her out by locating one of her 
energy draining operations and wrecking it," Haruka 
suggested.  "We might even want to focus on that first, as 
that way we'll have them all once we beat Nephrite."

	"I can try and scan for youma," Ami said, typing away 
on her computer.  "Hopefully, we'll turn something up."

	"Doesn't guarantee she'll show up," Shampoo pointed 
out.

	"Unfortunately, no, it doesn't," Rei said.  "But short 
of invading the Dark Kingdom..."

	"It's a good start," Usagi said.  "Second order of 
business."  Her voice caught in her throat.  "Ranma."

	Everyone stared silently at the ground.  Rei said 
softly, "They'll probably brainwash him and turn him 
against us."

	Luna said, "It should be possible to unbrainwash him 
pretty easily once we have the Crystal intact, and probably 
we can even do it with the fragment we have amplifying your 
natural abilties, Usagi.  But unless they do use him 
against us, it's too risky to try to rescue him."

	"We can't just leave him," Setsuna said.  "What if 
they decide to kill him instead?"

	"They didn't kill me," Michiru said.  "I think Beryl 
would rather subvert us or use us as bait than just kill 
us, the way she brainwashed four of Endymion's guardians 
before."

	Rei said, "We have to save him.  We HAVE to."  Her 
voice was tight with controlled passion.

	Haruka began to crack her knuckles one by one.  "We 
will.  Oh, we will."

	"Have you tried asking the Sacred Fire for help?" 
Shampoo asked.  "Perhaps it knows something."

	"I have tried," Rei said.  "But I will try again.  I 
can't just leave him in those bastards' hands.  Damn 
Tourmaline and her damn sisters!  Damn them all!"

	Naoko winced slightly.  "Getting angry won't help," 
she said nervously.

	"I want to make them PAY," Rei said.  

	"They'll pay," Usagi said quietly.  "They'll pay."

***************

	Rei woke up in the middle of the night, hearing 
movement in the bedroom.  Usagi seemed to be sleeping right 
through it.  She looked around warily in the darkness, but 
she could hardly see anything.  

	'Help, we're being kidnapped!' Rei heard a spirit 
voice shouting.  She turned and saw a short female slowly 
emptying her underwear drawer into a bag.

	Rei leaped and tackled the girl.  "No one steals 
my...Hotaru?"

	Hotaru's eyes were shut, though she now yawned and 
rubbed them.  "Oh, hi, Rei."  She looked around in 
confusion.  "Am I stealing underwear in my sleep again?"

	"..."

	"I'm sorry, let me put it all back."  She started 
putting it back, but periodically stopped to rub some items 
against her face.  "Wow, there's a lot of power in your 
underwear," she said.

	Rei turned red.  "Don't rub my undies against your 
face!"

	"But it's the easiest way to absorb the power," Hotaru 
said.

	Usagi yawned and sat up.  "Whazz goin' on?"

	"Hotaru got into my underwear in her sleep, 
supposedly," Rei said.

	"Aren't you supposed to be camped out with Shampoo?" 
Usagi asked.

	"I sleepwalked," Hotaru said.

	"Uh huh," Rei said.  "All the way here?"

	"I can sleep tightropewalk too."

	"..."

	"Grandpa wanted us to be sure we didn't fall down and 
hurt ourselves while sleepwalking, you see," Hotaru said.

	Rei picked her up.  "Back to bed with you, young 
lady."

	"Okay," Hotaru said.  "I see you sort yours by brand 
too."

	"..."

	"Brand, then color," Hotaru said.  "Natsumi likes to 
sort hers by age, but I'm not good enough to sense the age 
of underwear yet."

	"..."

	Usagi looked thoughtful.  "Hmm, I wonder if they'll 
try using Happousai to drain energy through one of those 
used underwear and sailor fuku shops."

	"I think we should discuss this at some far future 
date which hopefully will never come," Rei said.  "Go to 
bed."

	"Okay."

************

	Kunzite stood on a balcony, and watched the massed 
youma drill.  Normally, he wouldn't waste time on such 
things, as the individual nature of youma powers made 
massed drilling rather difficult and not much use for 
combat.  However, he hoped it would provide a good test of 
his reorganization of units, which had been necessitated by 
the breaking up of Jadeite's forces after his being sent to 
Eternal Sleep.

	It was also somewhat soothing to his nerves after 
hours of trying to restrain Zoicite from doing something 
suicidal.  He'd finally sent Zoicite off to check the 
armories.  

	Zoicite now appeared on the balcony next to him.  
"Hmm, the drills are going very well," he said.

	"Have you come up with another suicidal plan?" Kunzite 
asked.

	"This one is much better.  You see, this time I 
remembered we have a sleeper agent planted among them.  We 
can set up Nephrite to fall at their hands, then have our 
sleeper agent grab the crystals and run back to us with 
them."

	Kunzite frowned.  "I do not think our little pawn is 
good enough to pull that off.  However, she might be able 
to make off with the only one the Senshi actually have at 
the moment."

	Zoicite nodded.  "True, true.  I'm not sure if it's 
worth exposing her for just a single crystal."

	"Should the chance arise to take that one 
successfully, it would be good to have her do so.  But for 
the moment, best not to risk exposing her for nothing."

	"We also should have her watch for Tourmaline's 
agent," Zoicite said.  "Assuming she really has one."

	"Probably.  I don't see why she wouldn't," Kunzite 
said.  "Yes, she'll probably try to use hers to make off 
with the Yellow Crystal."

	"Hmm, if we use ours to expose hers, it'll help to 
ensure that ours is not suspected," Zoicite said.

	Kunzite nodded.  "Yes, it would.  Good idea.  Assuming 
we can figure out which one she's replaced."

	"Jupiter and Prudence are the most likely ones, 
assuming she's doing the infiltration herself."

	Kunzite nodded.  "I suggest we have them both 
watched."

	"A very good idea.  I will see about planting some 
spies."

	"And I will see if I can get any information from 
Nephrite's flunkies, since I know he and they don't get 
along too well," Kunzite said.

	"Good luck," Zoicite said, then kissed Kunzite 
farewell.

	"Zoicite, honey, you've turned female again."

	Zoicite sighed and turned back.  "Right.  See you, 
then!"  And then he vanished.

*****************

	"Things have fairly well gone to hell," Shampoo said 
to Cologne over the phone in Greek.  "I hate to call you 
in, but we've lost Ranma and things are not looking good 
for the mission you gave me."

	Cologne nodded.  "To know when one is in over one's 
head is the beginning of wisdom.  I will come as soon as I 
can."

	"Thank you, Great-Grandmother," Shampoo said.

	"Is she still seeing that Rei girl?"

	"Yes.  They seem to have mostly patched things up."

	"Do you think she would make a good Amazon?"

	"She's a very strong woman," Shampoo said.  "But it 
seems more and more likely that Usagi may never return, as 
neither Rei nor Ranma wishes to come to our village."

	"Then I will have to see about changing their 
minds..."

************

	A windchime rang gently near Nephrite.  He studied the 
map of Tokyo carved into the floor of the room; windchimes 
hung over every district.  "Sandstone," he said to the 
Youma near him.  "Assuming this worked correctly, Ruby has 
just entered that ward.  Go find her and keep an eye on 
her."

	"Yes, sir."  Sandstone teleported out.

	"What's the point of spying on Ruby when you're 
supposed to be making a plan?" Emerald asked.

	"I want to know what Ruby is doing, so I can factor 
her into my plans.  I have a very strong suspicion as to 
her origins, and I'd like to confirm it.  She could be very 
useful."
	
	"Or she could just be a loyalty test."

	"That's why I will watch and wait for now."  He turned 
to Iron and Pumice.  "You two will go and keep an eye on 
Kino Makoto.  We know she's Sailor Jupiter, so she can lead 
us to the others.  Emerald, select four of the others and 
begin watching the Hikawa Temple.  I believe the Sailors 
have an interest in it; hopefully you can spy them out."

	"And the rest of us?" Silicon asked.

	"Whoever Emerald doesn't select will remain here and 
assist my work and planning until I find specific work for 
you to do.  Now, all of you, go."

	Once the others left, he said, "Monitor this.  Contact 
me if it senses anything else."

	"Yes, sir," Silicon said.

	He then teleported off to an alleyway near Osa-P and 
changed his appearance.  He was going to need help he could 
trust.  It was time to recruit her formally; she had the 
potential to be far more than just cannon fodder like most 
of their reawakened warriors.  And her daughter had 
potential as well...

************
AAA

	"Grandpa, I need your help," Rei said to Grandpa.

	He blinked.  "Help?"

	"I've been trying to get a vision from the Sacred Fire 
to help me figure out how to save Ranma, but I don't know 
what to do."

	He smiled.  "Good, you do want to save him."

	"Of course I want to save him!" Rei snapped back, then 
tried to calm herself.  "I...I don't want to see him get 
hurt."

	"Alright," he said, getting out of his chair.  "Let us 
go and see what we can see."

************

	"You want me to what?" Negiri asked Mikado.

	"Follow him.  Find his dirty secrets so I can 
blackmail him," Mikado said.

	For a while, Negiri simply munched on the ice cream 
sundae she'd required Mikado to buy her just to listen to 
his request.  "So why aren't you hiring a real private eye, 
since you have so much money?"

	"It takes a woman to really destroy a man," Mikado 
said.  "Or vice versa."

	Negiri smiled.  "You're smarter than you look," she 
said.  "Well, if the pay is good, I'll give it a shot, 
though from what little I know of the man already, I think 
he doesn't have any dirty secrets."

	"Everyone does," Mikado said.  "Find them."

	"Alright, let's talk about price..."

	  
***************************
AAA

	Usagi sat quietly and stared into the depths of the 
one rainbow crystal they'd been able to secure.  The Dark 
Kingdom had been kicking their ass and kicking it hard.  
They'd managed to save most of the Shadows and turn them 
back to normal, but the crystals had mostly gone to the 
Dark Kingdom.  And with Ranma in their hands, they could 
know who everyone was, and make war very brutally and 
efficiently on everyone.

	Ranma.  Her heart ached when she thought about him.  
She missed him, and she knew she'd hurt him.  I should have 
been able to wait, she thought.  But she hadn't, and 
history couldn't be changed, and now she couldn't even say 
she was sorry to him.  They're going to use him against us, 
she thought.  The idea of fighting him was abhorrent to 
her. 

	I wish I could just rush off and try to save him, she 
thought.  But I can't.  We're not ready to invade the Dark 
Kingdom yet.  But we have to become ready.  They will come 
for us soon.  

	Ranma...  She stared into the gem, trying to force it 
to show him to her.  Unfortunately, this was beyond it's 
powers.  

	Hotaru loomed over her.  "What's wrong?" she asked 
softly.

	"The Dark Kingdom took someone I love," Usagi said 
softly.  "Right after I had a big fight with him, and never 
got to make up."

	Hotaru sat down next to her.  "That's not good."

	"I know.  It was all my fault, and I don't know if 
I'll ever get to say I'm sorry."

	"Don't worry," Hotaru said.  "We'll beat the Dark 
Kingdom.  The bad guys always lose in the end."

	"I wish I could be so optimistic," Usagi said to 
Hotaru.

	"That's what Grandpa taught me.  The goodguys always 
triumph in the end."

	It was hard for Usagi to imagine the old perverted 
underwear their saying that.  "You really care about your 
grandpa," she said softly.

	"After Daddy got blown up..."  Hotaru hesitated, 
looking depressed herself now.  "He took me in and took 
good care of me.  He's always protected me, and he helped 
me to be strong."

	"Well, now the Dark Kingdom has him."

	"I know.  I'm afraid they might brainwash him to stop 
liking underwear or something!"

	I wish their intentions were so innocent, Usagi 
thought sighing.  Or that I could be.


************

	Sandstone, having taken on his human form, walked 
along down the street, trailing Ruby, Morganite, and 
Aquamarine, all of whom were dressed as ordinary female 
humans, and seemed to be doing various things that didn't 
bear much resemblance to Dark Kingdom plots.  Unless Beryl 
had something secret planned involving large amounts of 
trying on dresses.

	After about five hours of watching Ruby, Morganite, 
and Aquamarine run various clerks ragged, Sandstone was 
starting to feel a little energy drained himself, or 
perhaps simply heading for a state of exalted zen-like 
boredom.  

	Surely they'll do SOMETHING interesting soon, he 
prayed.	

****************
AAAAA
	
	"And why exactly are we kneeling in the bathroom and 
dumping buckets of water over our heads?" Rei asked.

	"We don't have a cold waterfall to purify ourselves 
in," he replied.

	She sighed. "Okay, I've exorcised myself, hung by my 
foot from a tree, and now I've dumped buckets of water over 
my head.  Am I ready?"

	"You're still complaining, so no, you are not ready," 
Grandpa said.  "You must approach the sacred flame with 
purity of purpose and heart.  We will try again tomorrow."

	"Tomorrow????"

	"Tomorrow.  Now, go and pray and meditate."

	She sighed.  "I'd think you'd want Ranma back 
quickly."

	"The Sacred Fire must be approached with a purified 
heart, or it will burn you.  We will go to it when I say 
you are ready."

	"Yes, Grandpa."  She rose.  "I'll go and pray and 
meditate.  I just...I can't rest while Ranma is being held 
by them."

	"Good," he said.  "I wish you'd been this dedicated 
before you decided to sleep with the Amazon."

	Rei sighed.  "Yes, I screwed up.  Can we have this 
fight later?"

	"So long as you are conflicted, you will have no luck 
calling on the Sacred Fire," he said.  "Your love for your 
fiancee must guide you."

	"I can't just turn off my feelings!"

	"Until you are focused, the Flame's power will elude 
you."

	He's right, the bathroom floor said.

	Shut up, she told it.  "I'll go pray now."

	"Pray to be shown the true path," he said.  "And think 
of Ranma."

	I wouldn't feel so conflicted if I wasn't, she 
thought.  Dammit, Ranma, I'm sorry.  I will find you 
somehow, she thought.  Some way.  Somehow.

****************

	"A vault?" Kunou asked.

	Mamoru nodded.  "We're hoping to lay a trap to catch 
Nephrite when he comes for it."

	"You should challenge him to honorable single combat!" 
Kunou declared.

	"I don't think he'd say yes," Mamoru said.

	"Dishonorable cur!" Kunou shouted.  "The world seems 
beset by foul sorcerors of late."

	"Well, if we want to build a death trap, it's always 
been a bit of a hobby of mine," Kodachi said, smiling and 
taking Mamoru's hand.  "In fact, I've already got one set 
up under the mansion.  If you'll just come with me..."

************
	
	Iron stared down through the skylight.  "They're 
skating," he told Pumice.

	Pumice sighed, tugging irritably on one of the long 
black braids she'd put her hair into today.  "Amazing that, 
given this is an ice rink."

	"There's six of them.  I can hear them through the 
metal support beams in the walls.  It looks like four of 
them are skating for fun, while Jupiter is giving Guardian 
Pluto some kind of ice combat lesson," Iron said.

	Pumice came over to look; Makoto and Gosunkugi were 
practicing skating in tandem, while Minako, Tsubasa, Ken, 
and Naoko were all skating around together, having fun.  
"So, we have four people who might be more of the Senshi or 
who might simply be friends of theirs."

	"So they're associated with the Senshi?" a woman asked 
as she kneeled next to them, looking down.  "Interesting."

	Iron and Pumice looked over at the blonde teenager, 
who had her hair braided and wore thick glasses.  "Who are 
you?" they asked the woman.

	"You can call me Shusendou Negiri.  I'm just here to 
spy on the same people you are," she said.  "I take it some 
woman's jealous of this Gosunkugi guy?"

	Iron and Pumice glanced at each other, then Pumice 
said, "Yes.  She's just completely berserk over the whole 
thing."  Well, our human disguises are good enough to fool 
at least some people, I see, she thought.  

	"Well, he hardly looks like the mad womanizer I was 
told he was, but it doesn't matter much to me, so long as I 
get paid," Negiri said.  

	Pumice nodded.  "Money makes the world go round."

	"Exactly."

***************

	Mamoru dived to avoid a swinging blade, then watched 
Kodachi leap up on top of the blade and ride back and 
forth, laughing.  "I think turning off the death traps 
first would have been a good idea!"

	"But then we wouldn't get to test if they work!" 
Kodachi said, snagging a light fixture with a ribbon and 
swinging up onto a ledge.

	Exactly, Mamoru thought.

************

	Sandstone lurked, battling the icy hand of boredom by 
eating a triple-scoop bowl of strawberry, vanilla, and 
rocky road ice cream.  Watching Ruby, Morganite, and 
Aquamarine eat wasn't his idea of an exciting time, though 
Morganite's capacity for food was somewhat impressive.  And 
watching the servers become frantic as Morganite bellowed 
for more did have a certain entertainment value.

	Come on, do something EVIL, he thought.  Before I 
snap.

*************

	Ken sat with Naoko; Tsubasa and Minako and Gosunkugi 
and Makoto were still skating.  He took a sip of his soda.  
"I sense someone's a little jealous."

	"I'm not jealous," Naoko said, her gaze following 
Minako and Tsubasa's every move.

	"Well, if you wait too long, someone else tends to 
swoop in.  Although I'd heard you had a bit of a thing for 
Ranma."

	She sighed.  "That was...it's a long story, but I 
wasn't really interested in him."

	"Wise, as I think he must be secretly gay," Ken said.  
"Or else is really damn picky about his women."

	Naoko laughed.  "Something like that."

	Ken stared out across the ice.  "You think I have a 
chance with Rei now that Ranma's gone off on this training 
trip or whatever he's doing?"

	"Probably not.  But you might have a shot at Naru," 
Naoko said.  "She's not taken, and I know you think she's 
cute."

	"Hmm."  He stroked his chin thoughtfully.  "So you 
really want Tsubasa, hmm?"

	"I didn't say that," Naoko said, slightly embarrassed.

	"But it's obvious to anyone who isn't blind and 
stupid," Ken said.  "Except maybe Tsubasa, who could 
probably win a few awards for not noticing things."  He 
took another sip of soda.  "Hmm, maybe I can seduce Minako, 
and then you could get Tsubasa and we'd all be happy."

	"..."

	He held out his hand.  "How's that for a plan?"

	"You call that a plan?" Naoko asked.
	
	"It's a start," he said.

	"Alright," she said, shaking his hand.  What have I 
got to lose?  "How do you plan to seduce Minako?"

	"My native charm and good looks."

	"And we see how far that's gotten you."

	He winced.  "That was cruel."

	She sighed.  "Minako seems to be pretty smitten."

	"Hmm, she works for you, right?"

	"Right," Naoko said.  "For my family."

	"So, you could, say, order her to serve as my 
bodyguard against some imaginary menace, which would keep 
her away from Tsubasa so you could move on him, while I 
worked on her."

	Naoko blinked.  "Hmm, you know, that's a quite 
reasonable plan to start with."

	He smiled.  "Well, we can see how our luck goes, eh?"

	She nodded.  "Let's see how it goes."

**************
	
	"Grandpa-sama, will you come with me?" Hotaru asked 
Grandpa, who was in the middle of reading some sacred texts 
in his office.

	He laughed, and got up.  "Alright."  He put down his 
book and followed her around and into the parlor next to 
the bathroom.  

She pulled away several books on a low shelf, 
revealing a hole in the wall.  "Someone filled in all the 
peepholes, so I drilled you a new one."

Grandpa could hear the sound of bathing and one of the 
many lovely young women living at his temple singing a song 
to herself.  It was certainly tempting to take a look, but 
not with a twelve year old girl watching him.  "Hotaru, 
have you told anyone else about this?"

"Grandpa taught me that peeping is very important for 
old men; it keeps their skin healthy.  But that I should 
always be discreet about who I tell about it, as most 
people don't know this," Hotaru said.

Grandpa nodded.  "Yes, it would be a good idea if you 
not tell anyone about this."

"Or they'll fill in the hole."

"Exactly."

"Would you like me to get you some tea?" she asked.

"Yes, please," he said, putting the books back and 
resolving to come fill it in later before he could be 
tempted any further.  "You're a very good child, Hotaru."

She smiled.  "Thank you."  And then she left.

And very strange too, he thought.

***************
	
	"A vault?" Nodoka asked Rei.

	Rei nodded.  "Yes, a vault.  We're hoping the Kunous 
can help."

	"Hmm, I know someone who might be of some help, but I 
don't know if it's wise to bring her into this," Nodoka 
said.

	"You're thinking of Wasyuu-chan?" Rei asked.

	"Yes, I am," Nodoka said.  "She might be able to help 
with breaking into the Dark Kingdom, too."

	"That's true," Rei said.  "Well, we probably should 
ask."

	"Well, I should check on how my nephew is doing, 
anyway," Nodoka said.  "I'll give them a call later."

	"Thank you."

	"We may be able to get the help of the whole gang of 
loons," she said.  "For when we make our final assualt."

	"They're not all insane," Rei said.  "Well, not very 
insane.  Well, alright, yes, best to save them for when it 
won't matter how much property damage they do."

	"Ready for some sword practice?"

	Rei nodded.  "Let me get Usagi and Shampoo and see if 
anyone else is interested."

	"Don't forget Hotaru too."

	"Having any luck with her?"

	"Not yet," Nodoka said.  "She's got a lot of VERY 
strange ideas in her head."

	"Well, so did Usagi, and she's starting to get over 
some of them.  We just have to give it time."

	Hotaru walked by the doorway with a bag over her 
shoulder.

	"That had better be full of laundry and not my 
underwear!" Nodoka shouted.

	They could hear running footsteps.

	Nodoka sighed, and took off running after her, with 
Rei in close pursuit.  

**************

	Tuxedo Mask (Mamoru had transformed to increase his 
survival chances) leaped over the flaming pit and caught 
Kodachi, just barely landing on the far side of it.  "I 
think you overdid it with the traps, Kodachi-san."

	"I suppose, perhaps, that shutting them off before 
displaying them next time, would be good.  But do you think 
this is good enough?"

	"Your skills are very impressive," he said.  "If we 
weren't both much tougher than ordinary people, we'd be 
dead."

	"Good enough to protect your crystal?" she asked.

	"It's going to have to get even nastier, but it's a 
great start."

	She leaned up and kissed him on the lips.  To her 
surprise, he didn't resist at all.  Also to her surprise, 
he stopped moving and fell down off the ledge they'd landed 
on, tumbling towards the pit of flaming cream cheese, his 
paralyzed arms locked around hers.

	Note to self, do not ever wear paralysis lipstick 
again, Kodachi thought.

*****************

	"Hotaru, repeat after me," Nodoka said.

	Hotaru nodded.

	"Stealing underwear is bad."

	"Stealing underwear is good martial arts practice."

	Nodoka twitched.  "That's not what I said!"

	"I was only being honest," Hotaru said.  She held up a 
blue bra to Nodoka's face.  "Doesn't this feel soft and 
nice?"

	Nodoka twitched and moved back a step.  "Underwear is 
for wearing, not for snuggling up to."

	"Well, I'd have to...oh wait, you can't absorb any 
power from your OWN underwear," Hotaru said, slapping her 
forehead.  "Here, try some of Rei's."  The red panties were 
also soft and nice, but Nodoka didn't want THEM pressed to 
her face either.

	"Rei wouldn't like me rubbing her underwear against my 
face," Nodoka said.

	Rei nodded.  "Hotaru, people shouldn't steal each 
other's underwear."

	"Well, you can just steal it back when you need it, 
since I live here," Hotaru said.  "And you're welcome to 
steal any of mine you like."  She paused.  "Although most 
of my collection hasn't been worn in a while, as it's too 
big for me except when I'm grown up."

	"..."

	Hotaru climbed inside the bag of underwear.  "I found 
this one that was really, really powerful.  It's in here 
some...ahh!"  They could see her legs lengthen, and it was 
adult Hotaru who emerged from the bag holding a black lacy 
bra.  "I accidentally absorbed all the power, though.  
Sorry!"

	Nodoka snatched it out of her hand and turned red.  
"Hotaru, you didn't have to tell the whole world," she 
mumbled.

	"Did you wear that for your last boyfriend a lot?" 
Hotaru asked.

	Nodoka turned more red.  Rei stared at her.  Nodoka 
said faintly, "Hotaru, did Happousai teach you about... 
umm... those sorts of things?"

	"Grandpa taught me how to tell if someone wanted to do 
that to my adult body so I could beat them up," Hotaru 
said.  "Since I'm really only twelve and not old enough for 
it yet."

	Nodoka gave a great sigh of relief.  "How old did he 
say you had to be?"

	"He told me fourteen was the legal age, but that boys 
would only distract me from my martial arts studies, so I 
couldn't have a boyfriend until I got good enough to be a 
master."

	Nodoka frowned.  It seemed uncharacteristically 
responsible of Happousai to say something like that.  On 
the other hand, from the stories she'd told him, he really 
did seem to regard the three girls he'd taken in as his own 
grandchildren and treated them as such.  

	"Do you have a boyfriend, Nodoka-sama?" Hotaru asked.

	"No.  I don't even have my ex-husband because the 
aliens took him," Nodoka said.  "They took our son too."
	
	"They're gonna pay for that," Rei muttered.

	"How old were you when your master let you have a 
boyfriend?" Hotaru asked.

	"I had my first boyfriend when I was sixteen," Nodoka 
said.  "I was twenty-two when I got married to Genma, and 
twenty-four when Ranma was born.  Now, I'm forty."

	"You don't look forty," Hotaru said.

	"My studies of chi and my healthy lifestyle have kept 
me younger than I should be," Nodoka said.  "Some martial 
artists live for centuries.  And my family is fairly long 
lived.  My great-grandfather is still alive, and he's one 
hundred and eight years old."

	"Wow, he's lived through a lot," Rei said.

	"Grandpa Happy told us once he was three hundred and 
sixty-six.  But then he was three hundred and fifty-eight 
at his next birthday.  I think he lost track," Hotaru said.


	Rei boggled, then asked, "So why do you steal 
underwear, anyway?"

	"Well, you see, the innermost layer of clothing next 
to the body absorbs chi as you engage in activities.  The 
more passionate the activity, the more energy absorbed," 
Hotaru said.  "And the more passionate the person.  Also, 
those with more native chi give off more than those with 
less."  She held up two bras, both sky blue  "I can tell 
this one on the left is Usagi's in two ways.  First, it's 
bigger.  Secondly, there's more chi in it."

	"Bigger?  Bigger?" Rei asked angrily, recognizing the 
other one as one of hers.

	"This one," she pulled out a green bra.  "Is obviously 
Nodoka-sama's, as it's larger than either of yours, and has 
much more chi."

	Nodoka was both pleased and embarrassed.  "Hotaru, 
it's not considered polite to discuss such things."

	Hotaru poked Nodoka's left breast.  "But it's true.  
You do have more chi and you are bigger."

	Rei said, "Usagi does NOT have bigger breasts than 
me."

	"One can't simply use one's own underwear, as it's 
hard to reabsorb one's own chi once it's been shed like 
that," Hotaru said.  "Unless one is really expert."

	"There are many other ways to gain and manipulate chi 
which don't require underwear," Nodoka said.

	"They aren't as fun, though."

	"You have a weird idea of fun," Rei muttered.

************

	Iron watched Negiri inhale food as he and Pumice sat 
with her in a restaurant, watching Makoto and Gosunkugi and 
their friends eat dinner.  I never should have agreed to 
pay for her meal in return for her agreeing to give us 
copies of the pictures she took, he thought.  Going to have 
to go steal my own camera tonight.

	"Are you sure you can eat that much without getting 
sick?" Pumice asked.  	

	"I'll be fine," she said.  "So, have you actually 
gotten any dirt on Kino yet?  Or still looking for 
something?"

	"No luck," Iron said.  "She seems to be pretty clean-
cut."

	"Yeah, same for Gosunkugi," Negiri said.  "But I'm 
getting paid by the hour, so I'll watch as long as I need 
to."

	"We get paid on results, unfortunately," Pumice said.

	"Well, that sucks.  Have you tried sneaking into her 
house yet?"

	Iron blinked.  "Hmm, good idea.  Might find 
something."

	"Yeah, she's likely got her love letters, pictures, 
and so on stashed somewhere," Negiri said.  "And with two 
people, one of you can keep an eye on her, while the other 
breaks in."

	"Oooh, good idea," Pumice said.

	Negiri finished her last bowl of soup.  "Well, I'm 
stuffed."

	Iron gave a sigh of relief.

	"I'll just barely have room for dessert."

	Iron resisted the urge to cry with effort.

***************** 

	"And thus, our warriors were reborn, unknowing of 
their true selves, here on Earth.  Even now, Serenity's 
reborn warriors seek to stalk and kill us," Nephrite told 
Misao Osaka, Naru's mother, as she lay in his arms in her 
bed.

	"That's horrible," she said.  A tiny part of her brain 
wondered why she was believing such a silly sounding story, 
but it resonated with truth to a much stronger part of her 
mind, while the rest of her simply wanted to believe in her 
boyfriend.  

	"I believe you are one such," he said.

	Her eyes widened.  "ME?"

	"Yes, you.  There are certain tests we can try if you 
like."

	"Yes," she said.  "I'll give it a try."

	"Good," he said.  "I'll come by tomorrow with the 
items I need, after you're done with work."

	"Do you think Naru might be..."

	"I think it's worth testing," he said.  

	She smiled, stroking his back with one hand.  "I 
always feel so safe when you're with me."

	"Thank you," he said softly.  "I am grateful the stars 
guided you to me."

	"I don't believe in destiny," she said softly.  "But I 
do believe in love."

	"The stars guide everything.  If we go along with 
their will, we will flourish.  If we try to fight it, they 
destroy us."  He sighed.  "They know what is best for us, 
to take any other course is to stray from what should be."

	"I create my own future," she said.  "Not the stars.  
And I want to create it with you."

	He leaned over and kissed her.  "It's not going to be 
easy, if you choose to walk this road with me."

	"I have never chosen to walk the easy path.  That's 
why I got out of the little farm town I grew up in and made 
something of myself.  From what you say, it will be 
dangerous, but these evil people have to be stopped before 
it's too late."  She began to run her fingers through his 
hair.  "I will do what I can."

	He smiled.  "You are a strong woman, and I love you 
for it," he said.  "I'm sure Beryl will be very pleased 
with you."

	"I hope so," she said, then yawned.  "I need to 
sleep."

	"Then let us sleep," he said.  

	Sleep took them swiftly.

***************

	"It isn't wise to let them sleep together," Grandpa 
Hino said to Nodoka.

	"If we try to stop them, they'll just find ways to do 
it anyway," Nodoka said.  "I have abandoned traditional 
ways, and that includes arranged marriages.  Unlike my 
husband, I will not push Ranma into something he doesn't 
want."

	"But he does want Rei," Grandpa protested.

	"What he wants is to be able to make his own choice 
without people pressuring him," Nodoka replied.  "As I know 
from having actually talked to him about it.  Usagi's 
family is hoping to move out soon, so this won't go on too 
much longer, anyway."

	"I hope so," Grandpa said.  "And I hope we can rescue 
Ranma soon, before Rei loses interest in men entirely."

	"I don't think she's going to lose interest in men," 
Nodoka said.  "I'm going outside to practice a while."

	"Alright," he replied.

	She went outside and began working on her swordforms.  
Unknown to her, Emerald was perched up in a tree nearby, 
watching her invisibly.  She'd had to assign her four 
subordinates to watching the approaches to the temple.   
Grandpa Hino and Rei were both sensitive enough to sense 
them.  Still, they'd learned quite a bit just from 
observing who frequented the temple.  

	She'd learned more, studying the Mooncats and quietly 
listening in on conversations.  She knew enough of recent 
events to have put together the pieces; this Ranma was 
obviously Guardian Saturn and probably had been turned into 
a woman and made into 'Ruby' as part of some strange plan 
of Beryl's.  Several of the others had given away their 
identities as well.  

	The question was how much to tell Nephrite, and how 
much to hold back and give to Beryl privately.  She sat and 
watched Nodoka practice with interest.  Nodoka was quite 
skillful, and also quite lovely.  And quite single.  While 
Emerald found herself becoming far more used to being a 
woman than she had wished to become, she was still more 
interested in women than men, and she found Nodoka quite 
interesting in both a physical and mental sense.  

	It might be possible to turn her, he thought.  She was 
a sensible woman, and her son might make good leverage.  
Her skills would make her very useful.

	Shampoo now came out of her tent, and perched on a 
bench to watch Nodoka practice.  Nodoka asked, "Would you 
like to spar with me a while?"

	Shampoo smiled.  "Shampoo would love that," she said.

	She came over and they bowed to each other, then 
started going at it.  As she ducked under one of Nodoka's 
swings, aiming a blow at Nodoka's right leg, Shampoo said, 
"Shampoo has asked great-grandmother to come help."

	"Thank you," Nodoka said as she leaped over the blow 
and kicked Shampoo in the head.  "We're going to need a lot 
of help for this."  She then whacked Shampoo in the 
shoulder as Shampoo tried to get back up.  "Which reminds 
me, I need to call Wasyuu tonight."

	Shampoo nodded and bowed, stepping back.  "Better go 
do that before you forget."

	Nodoka nodded.  "A good idea.  See you later, 
Shampoo."

	"See you."

	Nodoka picked up the phone.  Before she finished 
dialing, Wasyuu answered.  "Hello, Nodoka-chan!  I see you 
need the help of the greatest scientist in the universe, 
Dr. Wasyuu!"

	Nodoka blinked.  "How did you know..."

	"I've been bored, so I've been watching you for a 
while.   I saw you were about to call me, so I hacked the 
phone."

	"..."

	"I'll be right over."

	The wall shimmered and a door appeared in it.  It 
opened and Wasyuu stepped out.  "Hmm, so you need to build 
a large vault in order to protect this Rainbow Crystal 
thing?"

	Nodoka nodded.  "Yes.  If Nephrite doesn't accept a 
challenge to fight him for his crystals, we need a place to 
guard the one we have, so Usagi doesn't have to carry it 
everywhere."

	"They're linked, right?"

	"Right."

	"Well, I'll build you a vault, and I should be able to 
build something to trace the links through subspace and 
pull the other ones to you."

	Nodoka's eyes widened.  "Really?"

	"Really.  I'll get right on it, once I see the one you 
have."

	"Alright, I'll get Usagi."

	Usagi and Rei soon joined them in the living room with 
the Yellow Crystal, which Wasyuu began to scan.  Wasyuu 
soon frowned.  "Well, I have good news, and I have bad 
news."

	"What's the good news?" Usagi asked.

	"I believe I can build you a very good vault to 
protect this."

	"What's the bad news?"

	"It's magical, and I have little skill with magic.  So 
I can't trace the links to the other ones, as it involves 
magical dimensions, not technologically accessible ones."  
She frowned.  "But I think I could construct some fakes 
which would fool casual observation and the weak-minded.  
You see, while I can't duplicate magical energies well 
enough to fool anyone smart enough to detect them in the 
first place, I can build suggestion devices which will make 
people THINK they're sensing the magical energies."

	"That would be a great help," Usagi said.

	"Fortunately, many leylines converge at this point, 
which I can tap in order to provide power for the defenses 
here..."

	Emerald listened from the hallway, frowning.  This may 
be my best chance, she thought.  I can't teleport out to 
get help; they'll sense that.  But perhaps I can dart in, 
grab it quickly, and get out.

	Wasyuu cocked her head and said very softly, "Is there 
supposed to be someone invisible in the hallway listening 
in?"

	"No," Nodoka said softly.

	The soft voices were not, however, soft enough.  
Emerald decided it was worth taking the risk.  "Emerald  
WHIRLWIND!"  A whirlwind of green energy erupted across the 
room, flinging Usagi, Rei, Nodoka, and Wasyuu like straws 
in a hurricane.  The yellow crystal flew out of Wasyuu's 
hands and into the air.  Emerald tried to go for a dramatic 
dive to catch it, but missed it, and it rolled under the 
table.

	Thus, she was in a rather undignified position of 
fumbling under the table when Nodoka kicked her in the ass, 
sending Emerald sprawling and knocking the table over, in 
the process sending the crystal spinning away from both of 
them.  Usagi and Rei stumbled to their feet and 
transformed.  

	"Emerald Shield!" Emerald put up a wall of energy 
between herself and the Senshi.  Unfortunately, this still 
left Wasyuu and Nodoka on the same side as her.  The Senshi 
began trying to blast their way through the barrier.

	Wasyuu was diving for the crystal; an Emerald Bolt 
knocked her away from it and sent her tumbling.  But while 
Emerald did this, Nodoka drew and drove her katana into 
Emerald's side, drawing blood.  The chi-backed blow hurt 
tremendously.  

	Emerald formed twin blades of glowing green energy and 
began driving Nodoka back.  The woman was good, but Emerald 
had centuries of experience.  The lack of worthy foes had 
kept Emerald's skills far less than they might otherwise 
have become, but she was still far better than Nodoka.  

	She should have just blasted Nodoka full force, but 
she felt Nodoka might be useful in the future, and she did 
not wish to mar Nodoka's beauty, either.  Instead, she 
focused her power into a mighty blow which broke Nodoka's 
sword into small bits, then turned and telekinesed the 
yellow crystal into her hands right as Wasyuu dove for it 
again.

	Sailor Moon then did something Emerald had been afraid 
she'd think of earlier; she'd blown a hole in the wall 
behind her, and crossed over to the next room to get into 
the hallway and circle round the barrier.

	There was no need for Emerald to stick around, so she 
teleported away.

	Sailor Moon cursed and swore, then pulled herself 
together.  "We lost our last crystal!"

	Wasyuu reached into her pocket and extracted a small 
remote control.  She pushed a button and the yellow crystal 
appeared.  "No, we didn't."

	"You gave him a fake?"

	"I'm not fast enough to make a fake that quickly.  I 
just stuck a nano-homing beacon on it so I could pull it 
back."

	"I suspect Emerald's not going to be feeling too happy 
right now," Nodoka said.

	Wasyuu smiled.  "Well, he'll have something to keep 
him company."

*****************

	Emerald stared at the smiling Wasyuu plushie, then 
threw it on the ground and stomped on it.  I had it!  I had 
it in my hands! She thought.  She contemplated getting the 
youma she had been assigned to join her in a second 
assault, but decided it would likely be too late; the 
Senshi would be on alert.  Better to report to Nephrite 
that she knew who had the crystal and where, and let him 
call up all his resources to make a play for it.

	The information she'd gathered would be valuable.  And 
it was probably time to report to Beryl, as well.

*****************
	
	Ken finished changing into his pajamas and got ready 
for bed, but he had a nervous feeling, like something was 
watching him.  

	He sat down on his bed, and got out the latest novel 
in the Defenestrator series, _Fifty Stories to the 
Concrete_, in which Mack Bolo, the Defenestrator, went up 
against a Colombian drug cartel.  He'd just reached the 
part where Mack was trying to survive clinging to the 
outside of a speeding bus in six-lane traffic on a four-
lane road.  

	Then there was a rustling noise in his closet.  He 
rushed over and opened it, but didn't see anything.  He 
closed the closet, picked up the book, and heard a sneeze.  
He went and looked again.  Still nothing.

	After doing this four more times, he finally said, 
"Tsubasa, if that's you disguised as something in my 
closet, please come on out."

	"I am NOT a guy!" Minako proclaimed.

	He blinked, and opened the door again.  Minako's head 
was sticking out of one of his boxes of magazines, which 
was now full of Minako instead.  "Why are you in my 
closet?" he asked.

	"Naoko told me a Dark Lord of the Sith was after you, 
so I needed to bodyguard you.  I figure they'll never find 
me here."

	"..."

	"I'm starting to get a cramp, though."

	"Why don't you just come out and hide under my bed 
where you can stretch out?" he asked.

	"Good idea," she said, unfolding herself and emerging.  
"Hmm, so why is this Dark Lord after you anyway?"

	"Damned if I know," Ken said.  "I probably figure in 
some prophecy of his destruction or something."

	She nodded.  "The usual.  And of course, you'll only 
destroy him because he came after you, whereas, if he had 
left you alone, you'd have remained a nerfherder forever."

	"Something like that," he said.

	She scrambled under the bed.  "Don't worry, you're 
safe under my protection."

	Well, this is going well so far, Ken thought.  Now I 
just have to win her over with my charms, and Tsu will be 
free for Naoko to grab.  I can't see WHY she wants Tsu, but 
to each their own.

	He sat down on the bed again.  Minako said to the bed, 
"You picking up any Dark Lords yet, Tsu?"

	From inside the bed, Tsubasa said, "Not yet.  Hey, 
Konatsu, you heard anything?"

	From inside the dresser drawers, Konatsu said, 
"Nothing over here."

	"..."

	"I thought it best to bring backup," Minako explained 
to Ken.

	I hate my life, Ken thought.

*****************

	"A vault?" Beryl asked Emerald.

	"Yes, my Queen.  It might be possible to make an 
immediate assault before they are ready."

	"It also might be possible to get our forces 
slaughtered.  We are still low on energy, and cannot afford 
to transport enough troops to make our victory guaranteed, 
and the Senshi are many and strong.  None a match by 
themselves for any single one of my generals, but their 
luck is good.  Too good.  We have enough energy to avoid 
starving to death, so we need not rush ourselves.  Our 
strength will grow faster than theirs as we recruit and 
train more people from the city.  People not bound to the 
high magical energies of Tokyo as we are.  In time, we can 
drown them if we must.  We need to get the Princess, and 
then they will be unable to make adequate use of the 
crystal even if they collect all the parts."

	Emerald said, "We also have to worry because their new 
ally seems to have some knowledge of dimensional barriers 
and the like, and may be able to help them break through to 
us."

	"That is not entirely a bad thing," Beryl said.  "As 
anything that can be used to get in, can be used by us to 
get out.  But yes, we will have to heighten security.  I 
will talk to Moonstone about it."

	"You seem to trust her very much," Emerald said.

	"She has made our survival possible, and given us the 
way by which we may finally escape this hellhole.  Her mind 
is brilliant, even if she is weak in power.  She is 
dependent on me to supply her with what she needs, and in 
return, I get what I need from her.  We need each other, 
and that is the basis of any healthy relationship.  Neither 
of us is expendable to the other."

	Emerald nodded.  "How much of this do you wish me to 
tell Nephrite?"

`	"Tell him everything.  He will need the information to 
build a successful plan to recover the last crystal."

	Emerald nodded.

	Beryl looked thoughtful at Emerald.  "You have served 
me well in the purpose for which I set you since I gave you 
new flesh, Emerald."

	"Thank you, your highness."

	"Tourmaline was very broken up when she heard of your 
condemnation to Eternal Sleep."

	Emerald stared at the floor.  "I am glad to know that 
she cared."

	"I will not inquire as to how far your relationship 
had gone.  So long as it does not interfere with your 
obedience to my orders, I care not of such things.  Should 
you serve me well enough, I may come to see fit to 'release 
you from Eternal Sleep' that you might resume your 
relationship."

	Emerald bowed.  "You are quite generous, my queen."

	"I know."  For a moment, the harshness of her features 
softened.  "Love often betrays us, lovers fail us, hope 
perishes, and joy dies.  And yet, we find ourselves chasing 
it again and again.  Perhaps it is our nature."

	"Perhaps it is, your highness."

	"Go now and tell Nephrite what you have learned."

	"He is likely in bed with his harlot," Emerald said.

	"Likely, but best you pass him the news immediately," 
Beryl said.  "Any other effects are merely a side benefit."

	Emerald smiled slightly.  "Yes, my Queen, I go to do 
thy bidding."  And she vanished.
	

*****************

	"So, I understand you know everything that goes on 
around here," Negiri said to Umino.

	"Before it happens, sometimes," Umino said.

	"I, like you, am a collector of information," she 
said.  "Perhaps we can make a trade."

	"Hmm, got any dirt on the next Star Wars movie?" Umino 
asked.

	"I'm afraid not.  I have managed to acquire some 
information on the tennis scandal at Torio, though..."

	His eyes widened.  "With the instructor who was 
turning the tennis team into his personal harem?"

	"Pictures, private accounts, etc," Negiri said.

	"Ooooooh.  I'd trade quite a bit for that."

	She opened her carrybag and extracted a folder.  "Take 
a quick look, so you know I'm telling the truth." 

	He quickly paged through it, eyes bugging out.  
"Alright, this looks good.  What are you wanting in 
return?"

	"Information on Gosunkugi Hikaru."

	"Oooh, I know him.  He's a good photographer, and very 
lucky with dice and cards and all."

	"He cheats at them?" Negiri asked.

	"I've never caught him cheating; he's just lucky with 
them.  And I hear he and Ken are into freaky jello 
wrestling."

	"..."

	"With each other."

	"..."

	"Then again, I've also heard he's dating Kino Makoto 
of the Golden Pair, but I can't find that too plausible 
either."

	"Hmm, tell me a little more about this Ken fellow..."

**************
	
	"Well, sir, I can say that they didn't really do 
anything."  Sandstone stood rigidly at attention in 
Nephrite's cathedral.

	"Didn't do anything?" he asked dubiously.

	"Unless going to a movie, several restaurants, 
multiple clothing stores, and an ice cream parlor counts," 
Sandstone said.

	"They just ran around all day being frivolous?" 
Nephrite asked in disbelief.

	"Yes, sir.  And several other Youma were there spying 
on them."

	"Did you recognize any of them?"

	"Boron works for Zoicite.  I didn't know the others."

	Nephrite frowned.  "Well, I suppose it was inevitable 
that we'd all get a little curious."

	Sandstone nodded.  "Yes, sir."

	Nephrite frowned.  "Return to your station. Should I 
sense Ruby's return, I will send you to observe her again."

	"Yes sir."  He vanished.

	Ruby...Guardian Saturn had been named Ruby, but Ruby 
was a male.  He knew Gluttony had been captured on 
Tourmaline's recent venture out into the wilds, along with 
one of the Crystals.  Perhaps Guardian Saturn had fallen 
into the hands of Tourmaline as well.  By why turn Saturn 
into Beryl's 'daughter'?  It made no sense.  It couldn't be 
Guardian Saturn; gender changing magic was possible, 
(Zoicite's problems illustrated that well)  but if the 
intent was to hide his identity, why name him 'Ruby' when 
all of the Generals but Tourmaline remembered the old days 
and would recognize the name?

	Then again...His eyes widened.  The Sailors might 
know; some of them seemed to have some knowledge of the 
Senshi of the Silver Millenium.  And indeed, might well be 
those Senshi reborn.  If Guardian Saturn HAD fallen into 
the hands of Beryl, then this Ruby might be a fake intended 
to snare the Sailors.  As for Ruby being a woman, well, 
most Youma (for reasons which remained unclear to Nephrite 
or anyone else, so far as he knew) seemed to be female.  
Men were outnumbered somewhere around ten to one, even 
though the bulk of the original youma, millennia ago, had 
been male.  But all of them had died out over the years 
except the Generals.  

	Alright, so this was probably some trap of Beryl's.  
No doubt she was watching Ruby, in the hopes the Sailors 
would find her, and then use her to lead them into a trap.  
He frowned.  The woman thing still bothered him.  There 
must be something I am not understanding, he thought.

	Iron came in.  "Sir, I'm here to report."

	"Very good."

	"We've assembled a massive list of associates, but 
they didn't do anything yesterday which gave away who is 
and isn't a sailor.  At least not when we could get close 
enough to listen in.  But these people can be watched, and 
hopefully, we'll have better luck today."  He passed the 
list to Nephrite, who studied it.

	"Hmmm, interesting, interesting..." he said.  
"Alright, you seem to be making progress.  Continue the 
observations."

	"There's another thing, sir."

	"Yes?" Nephrite asked.

	"There's another person, a mortal named Shusendo 
Negiri, spying on Jupiter's boyfriend, Guardian Pluto.  
Working for someone named 'Sanzenin Mikado'.  Might be an 
agent of another general.  Or just a jealous rival, as this 
Mikado is apparently Jupiter's skating partner."

	"Hmm, I believe further conversation with him would be 
good.  Have Pumice keep an eye on Jupiter.  Take Carbon and 
Granite and go get this 'Mikado' and bring him to me."

	Iron saluted.  "Yes sir.  Any further orders?"

	"Grab me this Negiri as well."

	"Yes, sir!"  Then Iron vanished.

	Time to prepare for the testing, he thought.

************
   
	"Well, we could just improve Kodachi's deathtrap," 
Mamoru said.  "It's already quite impressive."

	"But the temple is our headquarters," Rei said.  
"Well, more or less.  And several of us live here and can 
thus defend it better."

	"Simply solved," Wasyuu said.  "I'll remove it into a 
subspace pocket, then tow it over and anchor it 'under' the 
temple."

	Kodachi said, "But then there will be a big hole under 
our mansion."

	"I'll terraform it into your own private zoo," Wasyuu 
said.

	Kodachi clapped her hands.  "Can we have a water part 
for Mr. Green Turtle too?"

	"Of course."

	"How quickly can you do this?" Usagi asked.

	"In just a few days," Wasyuu said.  "Barring 
disaster."

	"Good, you'd best get onto it," Usagi said.

	Wasyuu smiled.  "I haven't built a good deathtrap in a 
while."

	Setsuna's eyes widened.  "Hmm, are you any good at 
breaking chains?"

	"Chains?" Wasyuu asked in confusion.

	Setsuna explained the Chains of Love to Wasyuu in 
great detail.

	Wasyuu replied, "Hmm, come to my lab.  I'll see what I 
can do for you."

*************

	Ken looked up at the ceiling; Minako was still up 
there between the rafters.  "Are you going to stay there 
all day?" he asked, sitting on the couch in the living room 
of his family's house.  His folks were at work. 

	"I have to be ready for any Dark Lords of the Sith," 
Minako replied.  "They won't expect a ninja on the ceiling 
and another one in the couch."

	At least Tsubasa had finally gone home, Ken thought.  
This wasn't working out like he'd hoped for at all, though.  
"You'd best change out of ninja garb and sit on the couch 
with me," he said.  "That way, you'll be hidden in plain 
sight, as you won't look like a ninja."

	"Hmm, good idea," she said, dropping down and tossing 
a pepper grenade to hide her quick change.  Unfortunately, 
pepper grenades make poor cover, though the heavy sneezing 
which followed DID cover the SOUND of the quick change.

	He began flipping channels.  "So what's up with you 
and Tsu, anyway?"

	"Mad passionate sex every night until we pass out."

	Ken turned red.  "Daaamn."

	"Hmm, Konatsu was right, you did turn beet red."

	"..."

	"Actually, I'm still a virgin, though I wouldn't be if 
I hadn't gotten the love potion and the itching potion 
backwards."  She sighed.  "Tsu's a nice boyfriend, but 
every time I try anything, the furniture starts talking to 
him, and he just loses the mood."  She sighed.  "Do you 
know how to make spirits shut up?"

	"..."

	"I suppose not," Minako said.  "Are you still mad at 
me about that disaster with the love potions?"

	"No," he said.  "Although if it ever happens again..."

	She leaned over and kisses his cheek.  "That's sweet 
of you to be so forgiving."

	Well, that's further than I've gotten with anyone 
else, he thought.  "So you serve Naoko's family?"

	She nodded.  "Yes, as she won me away from the 
Gambling King.  He won me away from the teahouse where I 
was trained."

	"You must have had a strange life."

	"Yes, I certainly have," Minako said.  "Tea House 
Ninja, Sailor Senshi, dating a man who talks to spirits, 
and all."  She paused.  "You didn't hear me say the Sailor 
Senshi part."

	"You're one of the Sailor Senshi?" Ken asked.

	"I meant to say...I sailed with Mensa.  Yes.  I was a 
Mensa Sailor."

	"Minako, please don't insult my intelligence with that 
claim."

	She sighed.  "Yes, yes, I'm one of the Senshi.  But 
don't tell anyone, pleeeeaaaasssse."

	He was thoughtful.  "I can do it on one condition."

	"I'll do anything!!!"

	"Hmm, I'd like a kiss."  Here's my chance to wow her 
with my raw masculine appeal, he thought.

	"I can't do that!  I have a boyfriend!"

	He sighed.  "Bitter and alone, I must go and shout out 
my sadness to the heavens."  He rose.  "How the Senshi of 
Love couldn't grant my request for just one tender kiss."  
I'd better lay it on thick, he thought.

	"And I thought you liked guys, anyway."

	"That was YOUR fault!"

	"Oh, right."  She sighed.  "Okay, one kiss."

	He smiled where it couldn't be seen, then turned to 
face her.  "I'm ready."

	She whipped a roll of tape out of her sleeve, taped 
his mouth shut, then kissed the tape.  "There you go."

	"Mrrrr!!!!"

	"Don't worry, I'll pull it right..."  She yanked and 
yanked and yanked, and it wouldn't come off.  She checked 
the label.  Oh no, I used my special super sticky ninja 
tape!  "Hey, Konatsu, do you have any Ninja Tape Remover?"

	Konatsu rolled out from under the couch, holding a 
sword.  "Does this count?"

	Ken waved his arms wildly.  Minako said, "No."

	"We could dissolve it with acid."

	Ken shook his head no.

	"Well, I'll run to the nearest NinjaMart and see if I 
can get some tape dissolver."

	"Thanks," Minako said.

	Konatsu took off.

	"You know, this would be a really bad time for the 
Dark Lord of the Sith to attack," Minako said.

	There was an ominous pause.

	And another.

	And another.

	Because, in fact, nothing was going to attack any time 
soon.

*****************

	Nephrite felt quite proud of himself for having 
figured out the basic principle on which the transformation 
items of the Senshi worked.  It was partly magical, and 
partly psychological, and he believed he could use it to 
test out potential recruits much more easily and 
familiarize the reincarnated with using their abilities 
much quicker than the methods they'd been using.  The 
downside was that it did take a while to actually make the 
appropriate item, and it had to be hand-tailored to the 
subject.  Fortunately, his intimacies with Misao had given 
him enough knowledge of her to make something appropriate, 
combined with his observation of her at the Temple.  

	She looked around his 'cathedral' nervously as she 
stood in the center of the Zodiac wheel he'd carved into 
the rock.  Various symbols glowed and various lines formed 
as it traced out her horoscope for the day.  

	He stepped forward and handed her a broach, a 
carnelian set in the center of a zodiac wheel.  "First, put 
this on."

	She did so.  "Alright, what is next?"

	The lines on the wheel glowed brighter, and now they 
duplicated themselves on the broach itself.  "A good sign," 
he said.  "Now, you must say, Carnelian Transformation, 
Activate!"

	She blinked.  "Alright.  Carnelian Transformation, 
ACTIVATE!"  

	The broach and the wheel flared in unison, and 
thousands of stars rained down around her, forming a 
glowing sheath of energy.  She could be seen rising off the 
ground inside it, her clothing ripping itself apart and 
reforming into Greek-style armor (a helmet with a crest, a 
sleeveless breast-plate and back which covered the torso 
and neck, but left the arms mostly bare except for just 
below the shoulders, and a short skirt of overlapping 
plates), the outfit being made of magically reinforced 
carnelian.  The broach fused with the armor itself, just 
above her left breast.  Her skin had turned fairly pale, 
and her hair had grown out to several times its length and 
turned blood red.  Her eyes glittered violet.  She bore a 
spear in her right hand.  After looking down at herself, 
she asked, "Do you have a mirror?"

	He nodded and handed her one.  She studied herself.  
"I look rather different."

	"Your powers have been awakened, though it will likely 
take a while for you to recover all your memories and build 
your body up to whatever your old power levels were, 
Carnelian."  He stepped forward, pushed her helmet back a 
little (it left the face bare, but the crest got in the way 
of what he wanted to do, since he was taller than her), and 
kissed her softly on the lips.  "You are very beautiful to 
me."  He looked contemplative.  "You look rather like the 
Queen."

	"Perhaps we were related," Carnelian said, listening 
to her own voice, which sounded different.  "Do I sound 
different?"

	"Yes, your voice is a little deeper," he said.  "We 
will need to present you to Beryl soon, but I'd like to 
spend a few days training you up in your powers first."

	She nodded.  "Alright."  She shyly took his hand; she 
felt strange and wonderful, full of power and strength.    
"What do I do?"

	"The first thing is to learn your basic attack.  It is 
called 'Gemstone Strike'."

	She nodded.  "More shouting and pointing?"

	He laughed.  "More or less.  Let me see about getting 
you something to shoot at..."

	After some thought, he called up an image of Sailor 
Jupiter.  "What does she evoke in you?"

	Carnelian frowned.  "I don't remember meeting her, but 
I don't like her at all."

	"Good, good.  She will be your target.  She's just an 
illusion, but I will do my best to make her give you a work 
out."

	She nodded, and got into something she hoped might be 
a fighting stance.

	Jupiter began to run back and forth.  Carnelian 
studied her movements, then shouted, "GEMSTONE STRIKE!" and 
aimed where she hoped Jupiter would be.  Jupiter leaped out 
of the way, but Carnelian's hands glowed, and a barrage of 
gemstones erupted from them, firing off across the 
cathedral, then exploding when they hit the wall.

	"Very good," he said.  "Try again."

	On the fifth try, she nailed Sailor Jupiter, who 
exploded.  "Got her!" she crowed triumphantly.

	"Very good," he said.  "Now, let's work on 
defenses..."


******************
 
	"Spin," Usagi spun, then kicked.  "And kick.  Got it?"

	Naru, who had been following along, now tried to do 
the kata herself.  She got most of the way through it, then 
got lost right after a triple punch.  "Wait, how does it 
end?"

	With Ranma and Genma both gone, the martial arts 
lessons had come to an end, but Usagi was still working on 
training Naru.  They were out in the courtyard, working on 
a new kata.

	"Leap, then a low punch, a kick, then you land, then 
you spin and kick."  Usagi demonstrated.

	Naru nodded, and redid the kata from the start.  The 
kick during the leap threw her off balance and she landed 
on her side instead of on her feet.  Usagi ran over to her, 
but she was already getting up and dusting herself off.  
"Are you alright?" she asked Naru.

	"That wasn't fun," Naru said, then she moved into the 
opening stance.  "But it doesn't hurt half as much as when 
you kick me, so..."

	Usagi sighed.  "I'm sorry, Naru."

	"Don't be sorry.  I've got to be able to take being 
hit if I'm going to do this," Naru said, trying to make 
herself smile.  "I want to get good enough to help you 
fight the monsters so I can try and help you get Ranma 
back." 

	Usagi's eyes widened.  "Naru-chan..."  She felt a 
flare of guilt that she hadn't been able to do anything to 
help Ranma yet.  

	"I guess I've mostly gotten over the crush I had on 
him, but I still...I know you love him, and he's my friend, 
and I want to be able to help him."

	It would be a while, probably quite a while before 
Naru was good enough for Usagi to be comfortable with 
letting Naru help fight the monsters.  But she didn't want 
to discourage her.  Naru was practicing a lot harder 
lately, Usagi now realized.  She probably started because 
she had a crush on Ranma, Usagi thought.  But I bet I can 
make a strong warrior of her.  She did her best to smile, 
which wasn't easy after being reminded again of Ranma's 
plight.

	"Thank you, Naru-chan," Usagi said.  "It'll be a while 
before you're that good, but I can tell you're getting 
better every day."

	"I'll do my best!" Naru said, smiling, then tried the 
kata again.  Some parts of it were wobbly, and a few moves 
were out of order, but she got through the whole thing this 
time.

	Usagi corrected her, and after four more tries, Naru 
got everything in the right order without any accidents.  
"Good," Usagi said.  "Now, do it ten times."

	"Ten times????"

	"It'll help you learn it well enough to be able to 
practice it at home."

	Naru laughed nervously, then began doing it, over and 
over.  Usagi began running through it alongside her, 
synching herself to Naru's speed; she could do it much 
faster, but that wouldn't help.

	Shampoo came out of the temple and sat down and 
watched them, then said, "You keep hesitating after the 
back kick, Naru."

	Naru laughed nervously.  "I have to pause and remind 
myself of the second half of the kata."

	"Hesitation in battle can be fatal," Shampoo said.

	"Which is why we practice these until they become 
second nature," Naru said.

	Shampoo's eyes widened slightly, then she smiled.  
"Exactly.  Perhaps you've got the makings of a warrior more 
than I thought."

	Naru frowned.  "I'm learning as fast as I can."

	"Oh, you could learn much faster if you tried," 
Shampoo said.  "But most Japanese women are soft."

	Naru frowned.  "That's because we learn to make our 
brains strong instead."

	"Strong brain won't stop a sword," Shampoo said.  She 
moved in a blur, and stopped with her bonbori each an inch 
from Naru's head.  "Now, a strong woman would have blocked 
those."

	"I didn't know you were going to attack me!" Naru 
said.

	"Enemies usually don't bother to send invitation to 
die," Shampoo replied.  "Strong women must always be ready 
for attack."  Her hand came up and caught Usagi's foot as 
it lashed out at her head.  "Like that."

	"Don't be mean to Naru-chan, big sister," Usagi said.  
"She's doing her best."

	"If that's her best, it's not good enough," Shampoo 
said.  "Naru wouldn't last three minutes against a youma.  
She's going to have to do a lot better."

	Naru glared at Shampoo, then stepped back from her, 
and started doing the kata with a look of grim 
determination on her face.  Shampoo watched carefully; 
there was no hesitation at the midpoint this time.  "Hah!" 
Naru said at the end.

	Shampoo said, "Better.  Not good enough, but 
definitely better."

	"That was very good, Naru-chan," Usagi said.

	"Usagi is too kind.  Shampoo not want to see Naru die 
pointlessly.  That was not adequate either.  But keep 
working, and in a few years, you might make it."

	"Years?"

	Usagi frowned.  She didn't need Shampoo discouraging 
Naru  "Shampoo..."

	"Shampoo not lie to Naru.  Naru has potential, but it 
takes many, many years to get as good as Shampoo or Usagi.  
Monsters are dangerous, powerful fighters.  There's no 
point in getting yourself killed because your training 
wasn't good enough."  Shampoo folded her arms across her 
chest.  "When you good enough to hit Shampoo, then you good 
enough to fight monsters."

	To her surprise, Naru didn't immediately lash out at 
her to try to score the hit.  Good, she thought.  The girl 
can keep a rein on her temper.  Martial artists who 
couldn't tended to quickly end up dead.  

	"I'll show you!" Naru said.  "Sooner than you think!"  
She turned back to her kata and began practicing it 
intensely.  

	Shampoo turned and walked away, smiling once Naru 
couldn't see it.  That would light a fire under the girl's 
feet, Shampoo thought.  And she needed to know the truth.  
No point in getting Usagi's friend killed or too 
overconfident.  

	Usagi ran after Shampoo.  "That was mean."

	"Shampoo just administering a dose of truth.  Great-
Grandmother would never approve of Shampoo letting Usagi's 
friend get killed because Usagi filled Naru's head with too 
much hope."

	"You have to encourage people so they don't give up!"

	"And you have to make sure they don't get false 
hopes," Shampoo said.  "Teachers can't always just be 
kind."

	"She's learning very quickly."

	"Not as quickly as you did," Shampoo said.  "Or I.  
Part-time training takes much longer."

	Usagi sighed.  "Naru doesn't have time to train all 
the time like we did.  Especially since once the summer 
break is over, she'll be back to school."

	"Shampoo understands.  Shampoo just doesn't want Naru 
to get crazy ideas about trying to fight monsters when 
she's not ready."

	Usagi nodded.  "I know.  I don't want her to get 
killed either.  But you catch more flies with honey than 
vinegar."

	"Naru deserves to know the truth.  Shampoo thinks she 
has potential and wants her to live to fulfil it.  Naru 
will work hard to make Shampoo eat Shampoo's words now, and 
hopefully think twice about anything crazy."

	Usagi paused and looked her up and down.  "That 
sounded just like Great-Grandmother."

	Shampoo laughed.  "Grandmother used same trick on 
Shampoo long ago."

	"I'm glad she's coming; we can use her help," Usagi 
said.

	"We'll see if Usagi thinks that once Great-Grandmother 
puts her on full-time training again."

	"Eeeep."

	"Exactly.  See you later, little sister."

	"See you."


******************

	"You want me to WHAT?" Haruka yelled at her mother.

	Her mother smiled.  "It's time to take you to the 
beauty salon, and finally do something with your hair."  
Ten'ou Momoe patted her own curly black hair.  "We'll get 
you a nice perm like mine."

	Haruka cringed.  "I don't WANT a perm."

	"Sure you do.  It's good for you."

	"Good for me?  I can't go racing with a PERM.  All the 
guys will laugh their asses off."

	"If their asses are so poorly attached, they deserve 
to lose them.  Now, I've already made the appointment, so 
we're going, and that's that.  Don't worry, I'll ask them 
for the most masculine perm they have."

	Haruka sighed.  "There's NOTHING masculine about a 
perm."

	"Hmm, we could get you an afro, maybe."

	Haruka twitched.  "Okay, you win."

	Momoe smiled.  "It'll be lots of fun."

	For you, Haruka thought.		
	

*****************

	Iron, Carbon, and Granite threw their two captives 
down on the ground.  "We've got them, sir," Iron said to 
Nephrite.

	Nephrite looked down at the woman and the man.  "So, 
what is your interest in Sailor Jupiter, Mr. Sanzenin?"

	"Who?  Is she cute?" he asked.

	"He doesn't seem to be aware of that," Carbon said.

	"Hey, he's one of the Golden Pair," Carnelian said.

	"Golden Pair?" Nephrite asked.

	"He and Kino Makoto.  They're pretty good skaters."

	"So, he's just a stupid jealous mortal, and this is 
some woman he hired to spy on her?" Nephrite said.

	"That would seem to sum it up, sir."

	He frowned.  "Hmm, well, I may find a use for them 
anyway."

	"You can't stifle the Press!" Negiri shouted.

	"You're not a reporter," Granite pointed out.

	"Had to try," she muttered.  "So what are you going to 
do with us?"

	"Are you familiar with the concept of 'cannon 
fodder'?" Nephrite asked.

	"I didn't realize cannons eat," Mikado said.

	"I think I'm smart enough to qualify to operate the 
cannon," Negiri said.

	"Really?" Nephrite asked.

	"Or at least I don't want to die anywhere near this 
moron," Negiri said.

	"Alright, I can appreciate that sentiment."  Nephrite 
looked thoughtful.  "I'll give you a chance to make 
something of yourself."

	"Good.  You won't regret it."

*****************

	Ryouga stared at the giant buzzsaw.  "Do you really 
need to make it that big?"

	"Yes."  Wasyuu grinned.

	Setsuna suspected Wasyuu was lying, but she was the 
best hope they had.  "So what do we need to do?"
	
	Wasyuu punched away on her keyboard, after which two 
tables moved over close to each other.  "Lie down on these 
tables and extend your chained arms towards each other."

	They both laid down and extended their arms.  Then 
Wasyuu manuevered the buzzsaw into position to slide 
between them.  It moved through the space between their 
arms.  "There you go," Wasyuu said.

	Ryouga blinked.  "That was easy."

	"Well, the trick, you see, is to extend the 
polydimensional buzzsaw through all possible dimensions to 
cut the actual energy conduit connecting your chains," 
Wasyuu said.  "They should now no longer be linked, so I 
can cut them off, easily."

	Setsuna said, "Let's test that."  She went over and 
walked out of the room.  A few seconds later, she fell from 
the air onto Wasyuu.  "Didn't work."

	"They must extend through magical dimensions.  I'll 
have to see if I can hack their defenses.  This way..."

	She lead them to a huge machine full of switches, 
dials, and knobs, with a large arm-shaped hole in it.  
"Okay, Ryouga, put your arm in there."

	Nervously, he did so.

	Wasyuu began pounding away at her keyboard, 
periodically telling Setsuna to flip various switches and 
turn knobs for her.  Finally, she said, "Very, very 
ingenious.  And rather magical, which is making things 
difficult.  So, I will have to take drastic measures."

	"Like what?"

	"Clone your bodies, then transfer your minds into the 
clones, leaving your old bodies chained together," Wasyuu 
said.

	"..."  Ryouga stared at her.  

	"Umm, I think maybe we should exhaust less radical 
solutions first," Setsuna said.

	"I could cut off your arms and grow you new ones or 
give you cyberlimb replacements," Wasyuu said.

	"Mmm...no." Setsuna said.

	"But they could be a lot of help to you!"

	"Not the kind of help I need."

	Wasyuu sighed.  "Hmm, we'll have to try the precision 
laser, then."

	She took them over to a ten foot wide, one hundred 
foot long giant laser.  "Alright, Ryouga, stick out your 
arm."

	Ryouga said, "Uhh, is this the right cannon?"

	"Don't worry, it doesn't damage human flesh."

	Ryouga frowned.  "You sure?"

	Wasyuu lead him around to the side.  "Here's the 
label, you see."

	"Model X-$-7 Laser Cannon.  Fries human flesh to ash 
in 3 seconds flat.  Warning:  Do not point at friends."

	Wasyuu laughed nervously.  "Oops, the X-$-7 looks just 
like the X-%-7, which doesn't damage human flesh."

	"No lasers," Ryouga said firmly.

	"Hmm, hmm."  Wasyuu began pounding away on her 
keyboard.  "Going to have to take drastic measures."

	"Drastic measures?"

	"I'll marry you to each other, so you can get the 
chains off, then give you a quickie divorce."

	"You can do that?" Setsuna asked in surprise.

	"I am a mail-order bishop."

	"..."

	Ryouga said, "I'm not sure if the Chains acknowledge 
mail-order bishoprics."

	"Well, we can try it.  Either they will or they'll 
ignore me completely, and I'm sure the marriage ceremony 
won't explode," Wasyuu said.

	"Well, I suppose it can't hurt," Setsuna said.

	"Worth a try," Ryouga said.

	"Alright.  Give me a second to find my hat."  Wasyuu 
wandered around, and finally extracted a tall white hat, 
covered with images of brightly colored fish and marmalade 
jars.  She put it on and her clothing transformed into 
similarly decorated priestly robes.  "Alright, where's my 
staff..."

	She reached behind a bookcase and extracted a long 
staff with a hooked end.  It was decorated with fish and 
marmalade jars.  "Alright.  You two ready?"

	"Umm, I guess," Ryouga said.

	She tapped each of them on the head, then began 
reciting from a holy book.  This went on and on and on as 
the two of them stood nervously, worried that something 
would go horribly wrong.

	Ryouga began wondering if maybe Wasyuu was secretly 
working for his parents and once she got him married off to 
Setsuna, then she'd refuse to grant the divorce, and he'd 
be stuck.  Once the idea got in his head, his depression 
began to swell, worse and worse.  He was going to end up 
having to marry Setsuna, and then he would never know true 
happiness.

	Setsuna felt her danger senses beginning to twitch.  
Something was wrong.  "Wasyuu-san," she began.

	"Call me Bishop Wasyuu-chan," Wasyuu said, then 
resumed the reading.

	"Bishop Wasyuu-chan, I'm sensing danger."

	Setsuna tried to focus, and realized she could feel 
pulses of energy from the chains.  Her head was starting to 
swim.  Her nerves began to jangle.  Something horrible was 
going to happen, she could feel it.  Something...  She 
glanced over at Ryouga, who was starting to glow blackly.  

	Dammit, she thought.  His shadow self must be trying 
to break free or something.

	Wasyuu said, "Dan...uh oh.  As Bishop, I declare you 
both man and wife!  Chains be gone!"

	There was a bright flash of light from the chains, 
which appeared again and fell to the ground.  Ryouga stared 
at them in shock, and the black aura around him grew 
higher.  

	Wasyuu glanced at him, as Setsuna transformed, just in 
case.  Wasyuu said, "Unfortunately, I must now annul this 
marriage, because Setsuna's status as foster sister to 
Ryouga imposes a blockage of affinity.  Or is it 
consanguinity?  Or maybe fosterinity or..."

	Ryouga stopped glowing black as it sank in that he was 
now chain-free.  

	The chains suddenly glowed black.

	There was a terrible silence.  

	And then hundreds of chains with a manacle attached to 
one end erupted out of the manacles on the ends of the 
Chains of Love, and began to snake out in all directions.

	"This is going to be one of those very painful 
learning experiences, I see," Wasyuu muttered.

*******************

	Michiru sat back and let her usual hairdresser, 
Biyoshi, ramble on about her love life, politics, and 
gossip about the stars while she simply enjoyed being 
waited on hand and foot.  As she drowsed, Biyoshi said, "I 
hear there's some band, the Three Stars, they're very 
popular with the younger girls these days."

	"I hear they're cross-dressing freaks," Michiru said a 
little loudly, as she saw Haruka come in the door with some 
older woman.  

	Aiyoshi, the tall, hefty hairdresser who was sitting 
in her own service chair next to Michiru got up and said, 
"Now, now, one shouldn't be judgmental at such a tender 
age, Kai'ou-san."

	"That's our job, after all," Biyoshi said.

	Momoe guided Haruka over to Aiyoshi.  "This is my 
daughter, Haruka.  She needs a perm."

	"And etiquette lessons, and some proper clothing," 
Michiru said.

	"Getting yourself all prettied up before you go 
perform for your two boyfriends?" Haruka asked Michiru.  
"Better make sure her hair can't fall down over her eyes, 
when she's taking off..."

	Momoe put a hand over Haruka's mouth.  "Now, now, hair 
salons are meant to be places of peace and happiness, where 
our hair is transformed, and we're made to feel pretty, 
inside and out."

	A redheaded teenager a few chairs down, who was 
getting her hair done along with two of her friends (one 
tall and dark haired, one shorter with brown hair,) said,  
"Exactly.  And where you can get people to pamper your 
every whim."  She turned her attention to the hard-working 
hairdresser, "Don't forget to scrub down to the roots."

	"Yes, ma'am."  

	"I don't want a perm," Haruka muttered.

	"I could use my special hair-growth tonic, and grow 
your hair out and give you a pony-tail," Aiyoshi suggested.

	"Not the hair-growth tonic again," Biyoshi moaned.  
"Every time you use that stuff, we have some sort of 
horrible disaster."

	The redheaded woman twitched every so subtly.  "Hair 
growth tonic?"

	"Yes, I got it from this Chinese salesman a while 
back.  It works very well," Aiyoshi said.

	The redhead's hair dresser, Seiyoshi, said, "If by 
well, you mean 'abject catastrophe'."

	"May I see it?" the redhead asked.

	Aiyoshi passed the bottle over to her.  The redhead 
studied it carefully.  

	Haruka sat down in the chair, feeling her skin crawl 
at the thought of a perm.  

	Michiru could feel her skin crawling at the thought of 
being stuck next to Haruka.

	The redhead said, "So you have to heat it before you 
use it?"

	Aiyoshi blinked.  "Heat it?"

	"Right here.  The instructions are so small, you can 
hardly read them."

	"Ahh, heat it, not beat it."

	"..."  Biyoshi stared at Aiyoshi.

	The redhead passed it back to Aiyoshi.  "There you 
go."

	"So, would you like to try it?" Aiyoshi asked Haruka 
hopefully.

	"Oh hell, why not.  I can always have you cut my hair 
short again afterwards if it looks terrible," Haruka said.  
Might as well do something to make mom happy; she's always 
wanting me to grow my hair out.

	"Alright, let me heat this up..."

*****************

	"Ruby is doing WHAT?" Zoicite asked 

	"She's gone to a hairdresser.  With Neptune and 
Uranus!"  Boron shouted.

	"Are you sure it's Uranus?"  Zoicite asked.

	"Yes.  Assuming the information we got from Neptune 
about the Senshi when you had her captive is correct, 
anyway," Boron said. 

	"And what are they doing?"

	"Getting haircare."

	"Just getting haircare?" Zoicite asked dubiously.

	"Yes."

	"They can't JUST be getting haircare!"

	"Umm, well, maybe Ruby is secretly controlling 
everyone who gets a perm or something."

	"How cunning," Zoicite said.  "But not cunning enough.  
I bet she's planning to betray us to the Senshi!"

	"Or maybe she just needs a good hair washing.  She has 
enough hair for three women."

	"Hah!  I'll go and spy on them myself and get PROOF!"

	"I'll just go let General Kunzite know about this."

	"You do that. I'm off to crush this MENACE!"  Zoicite 
turned into a woman.

	"Sir, you..."

	"This time, I MEANT to do it," Zoicite said, turning 
her uniform into a frilly dress.  "They'll never recognize 
me in this cunning disguise."

	"As you like, sir." 

	Boron and Zoicite both teleported out.

*************

	"Okay, now aim the punch like..." Usagi had to cut 
herself off to leap up high over the chains erupting out of 
the temple.  

	Naru was not fast enough.  A manacle clamped onto her 
leg, and then glowed brightly.  "What the..."  A second 
later, she vanished.

	Another one came after Usagi, who ran.  She saw 
manacles grab Shingo-neko, who vanished.  Grandpa sprinted 
out of the temple, only to be grabbed by a manacle and 
vanish as well.  

	The manacles were multiplying. Usagi fled across the 
yard and tried calling people desperately, while running to 
stay ahead of the manacles.

	It took her a while to assemble her strike force.  
Rei, Grandpa, Nodoka, Naru, Shingo-Neko, Hotaru, Wasyuu, 
Setsuna, and Ryouga were all captives of the manacles, 
trapped in Wasyuu's lab by them.  Shampoo had managed to 
evade them and hooked up with Usagi.  Mamoru soon arrived 
with Ami, Gosunkugi, and Makoto.  Minako wouldn't come 
because she seemed to think Darth Vader was after Ken or 
something (although she said she could come if they really, 
really, really needed her), and Haruka, Naoko, and Michiru 
weren't taking calls.  

	Sailor Moon petted Luna absently while Mercury scanned 
the chains, which were now latching onto everything they 
could, though fortunately they didn't seem able to teleport 
trees and the temple buildings.  "Found anything?"

	"The Chains of Love have gone berserk," Mercury said.

"We sorta noticed that already," Jupiter said.

	"They're coming out of Wasyuu's laboratory through the 
dimensional door in the living room," Mercury said.  "If we 
get through it and shut it, we can keep the chains from 
reaching out all over the temple."

	"But then we'll be trapped inside with the chains," 
Guardian Pluto pointed out.

	"If we all pool our powers and back up Tuxedo Kamen's 
dispelling abilities, with Guardian Pluto guiding the 
attack to the weakest point in the chains, we should be 
able to knock out the chains once we get through to the 
heart of them," Mercury said.  "How does that sound?"

	"Sounds reasonable to me," Sailor Moon said.  "We'd 
best form a wedge to make our way through the chains to the 
door."

	She and Shampoo formed the apex of the wedge with 
Jupiter and Tuxedo Kamen backing them up, followed by 
Guardian Pluto and Mercury at the ends of the wedge.  
"Okay, LET'S GO!" Sailor Moon shouted, and they charged 
across the courtyard and towards the temple.

******************

	"Yes, it would appear some sort of giant chain monster 
is attacking the Hikawa Temple," Emerald reported to 
Nephrite.  "This might be our ideal moment to strike."

	"Hmm, it would be good to have more time to prepare, 
but yes, if they're in the middle of fighting a monster, 
this might well be ideal.  Is it one of ours?"

	"I have no idea whatsoever where it came from, but 
it's grabbing anything that gets too close to the temple."

	"Alright, let's gather our forces, and see what we can 
do."
	
****************

	Haruka could feel her hair growing; it was kind of 
creepy. I'm not going to look like me at all by the time 
this is done, she thought.  I should have just taken the 
perm, but no, I had to decide to experiment.  I'll end up 
looking like Michiru or something, I just know it.

	Michiru laid back and tried to ignore Haruka, while 
Biyoshi rambled on.  She gossiped a bit with the redhead, 
who had introduced herself as Jacqueline Ruby (her friends 
were Mary and Morgan Water).  She seemed much more feminine 
than that thug Haruka.  

	A tall, thin blonde woman now entered, wearing a very 
expensive looking dress.  Another one of the hairdressers 
ushered her to a chair and soon began tending to her needs.  
Haruka and Michiru could feel their nerves jangle just 
looking at her.

	She's probably a youma, and I'm going to end up having 
to blow up Mom's hairdresser, Haruka thought.  Hmm, this 
may not be so bad after all.

	If she's a minion of evil, she'd better not attack me 
before I get my nails done, Michiru thought.  And if I chip 
a nail, someone dies.

	
********************

	Nephrite, Carnelian (who had insisted on coming, 
though Nephrite wasn't sure if she was ready), Emerald, and 
the rest of the Dirty Dozen, teleported into the temple 
grounds.  There were chains everywhere, trying to grab 
everything.  Half the Dirty Dozen got grabbed and vanished 
in the first few seconds.  The rest formed a circle and 
began blasting their way through the chains and into the 
temple.

	"This is going to be very annoying," Nephrite said.

	"You're telling me?" Emerald replied.

	"They're coming out of that..."  A manacle grabbed 
Carnelian's ankle.  "Ahh!"  She vanished.

	"CARNELIAN!" Nephrite shouted, blasting more of the 
chains apart, and running towards the door Carnelian had 
been pointing to.

	"Nephrite, no, we..." Emerald shouted.  

	Nephrite running left a gap in the circle.  The chains 
flowed in through the gap, soon overwhelming the remainder 
of the Dirty Dozen, except for Emerald, who teleported out.  
Going to have to get help, she thought.  Much as I hate 
Nephrite, I can't leave him to die while he has five of the 
crystals.

	Time to go find Tourmaline, she thought.

*****************

	Zoicite listened carefully to Ruby and Michiru.  It 
all seemed to be insane, incessant prattle about makeup and 
dresses and rockstars and other things.  Her brain was 
starting to melt just from listening.

	It must be a code, Zoicite thought.  She's subverted 
our sleeper agent, and now Michiru is reporting to HER.  I 
should just kill them...no, no, can't be hasty.  Beryl 
might have approved this for some insane reason.  I'll just 
listen carefully, and report it all to Beryl.

	Haruka looked at herself in the mirror.  The long hair 
wasn't bad looking, and she had to admit Aiyoshi had done 
it up very well.  Even the two 'antenna' strands arcing up 
in front looked kind of neat.  But it didn't look like the 
hair of a racer.  She looked too feminine.

	Moemi smiled.  "You look beautiful."

	"You actually look less thuggish than usual like 
that," Michiru said.

	"Hmm.  Well, I sort of like looking thuggish," Haruka 
said.

	"Which is why you don't have a lover," Michiru said.

	"Better than having two like you."

	"I think you look very lovely like this," Moemi said 
to Haruka.

	"I do not have two boyfriends!  My parents are making 
me get engaged to Kunou, and Mamoru is not my boyfriend!" 
Michiru said heatedly.

	"When Kunou is looking," Haruka said.

	"At any time!  Not that you, who has never had a 
boyfriend, would understand!" Michiru shouted.  I don't 
even like men, Michiru thought.  Although if Mamoru was a 
woman...  But best not to think of silly things like that.

	"I could have as many boyfriends as I want," Haruka 
said.  "Even looking masculine."

	Michiru laughed sarcastically.  "Uh huh.  No one could 
ever fall for you."

	"Oh yeah?" Haruka said.  "I'll show you!  I can get a 
boyfriend any time I want!"  A tiny part of Haruka's brain 
told her that she was being an idiot, but the part which 
was too competitive for its own good was in the driver's 
seat.

	"Well, then, willing to put something on the line, 
hmm?" Michiru asked.

	"Any time!"  

	"You have one month to get a boyfriend.  If you get 
one in that time, I'll cut my hair short and dress as a man 
for a month," Michiru said.  "If you can't find one, 
then..."

	"She has to try to seduce Umino," Jacqueline Ruby 
suggested.

	"Ooooh, that's evil.  I like it," Michiru said.  "And 
you have to dress like a proper woman for a month."

	Haruka scrunched up her face.  "Then, if I win, YOU 
have to go seduce Umino.  Fair's fair."

	Michiru smiled.  "Alright."  Even with beautiful long 
hair, that thug could never win a man's heart, she thought.  
I can't lose.

********************

	Nephrite tried blasting the chains as he hung from a 
giant laser by his foot, but here, they seemed to 
regenerate as fast as they were blasted.  Most of the 
Senshi, his youma, and various other folk all dangled from 
various objects.  "Damnation."

	"This isn't even how they're supposed to work!" 
Setsuna said.  "They didn't do this before."

	"They're malfunctioning," Wasyuu said.  "I fear my 
marital powers didn't read properly, and a magical 
subroutine crashed, and now the chains are thrashing."

	Naru said, "I feel woozy," as she swung back and 
forth.

	"Oh, the chains are slowly draining all our power to 
make more chains," Wasyuu said.  "I have to say, when these 
things go berserk, they go berserk."

	"Maybe Emerald will rescue us," Carnelian said.

	"Emerald will probably only show up to laugh at us," 
Nephrite said.

	"Look, if we all work together, we can beat this 
thing," Sailor Moon said.  "I know we're enemies, but I 
also know you don't want to get killed by these stupid 
chains any more than we do."

	"What do you propose?" Nephrite asked warily.

	"I suggest we pool our powers, and augment Tuxedo 
Kamen's dispelling abilities, like we tried to do earlier.  
All of us together ought to be able to do it."

	Wasyuu said, "I could try marrying you all to each 
other again."

	"NO," Ryouga said firmly.

	Nephrite nodded.  "Alright.  That seems reasonable 
enough."  Once the chains are off, we can attack while 
they're all tired, he thought.  

	Everyone began concentrating, and trying to pool their 
power.  It was a good plan, and might have worked, except 
that trying to pool good and evil magic together is not the 
wisest of ideas.  Black and white strands of power came 
together, and for a moment, there was silence.

	And then there was a huge explosion of magical energy.  

	Everyone felt very tired, and the chains had all 
vanished.  Instead, everyone now had an invisible bracelet 
on, and could feel someone else in the room.  Nephrite was 
joined to Sailor Jupiter, Iron to Tuxedo Kamen, Carnelian 
to Guardian Pluto, Hotaru to Silicon, and so on, one person 
from each side linked to someone on the other side.  Sailor 
Pluto wasn't sure if being chained to Sandstone was a step 
up or down.  

	Hotaru tried draining energy from one of the youma to 
restore her own energy, but it was like trying to get water 
from a stone; there wasn't enough energy to take to make up 
for the amount of energy she had to spend to get the 
process going.

	Exhausted, Sailor Moon said to Naru (Who hadn't been 
able to contribute any chi or magical power to the whole 
deal, and found herself unchained), "Go get help!  If 
someone who isn't exhausted gets here, we can...catch them 
all!"

	Naru took off running.

***************

	"There's been an attack at the temple?" Haruka asked 
Naru over the phone.

	"Almost everyone but you and Minako and Naoko and 
Michiru are down there, too tired to fight," Naru said.

	"Right.  I'll be over as fast as I can."

	"Can you, umm...pick up Michiru?  She needs a ride," 
Naru asked nervously.

	Haruka sighed.  "Alright."

	"And Minako too."

	"This is gonna slow me down," Haruka said.

	"I'm sorry."

	"Do I get to pick up Naoko too?"

	"She's not answering her communicator," Naru said.

	"Right.  I'm on my way, then."

	"There's a magic door in the living room to get into 
Wasyuu's lab," Naru said.

	"Magic, door, right.  Okay, NOW, I'm on my way."

*************

	Uranus, Neptune, Artemis, and Venus ran up the steps 
into the courtyard of the temple at the same time that 
Emerald appeared with Tourmaline, Feldspar, Gluttony, and 
Amethyst.

	Emerald smiled.  "You can't possibly stop all five of 
us," she said.

	"We don't have to," Uranus pointed out.

	"What?"

	"I'm not dumb enough to explain my plans," Uranus 
said.  "Everyone, follow me!"

	Uranus, Artemis, Neptune, and Venus took off running, 
with Tourmaline and company in hot pursuit.  They all ran 
at high speed through the temple for a while, and then 
finally ended up in Rei's bedroom.

	Tourmaline looked around in confusion.  "And the point 
of this was?"

	"OUT THE WINDOW," Uranus shouted.

	The Senshi went out the window.  By the time the Dark 
Kingdom folk reached the window, the Senshi were gone.

	"What the..." Amethyst began.

	"They teleported!" Tourmaline replied.  "Dammit."

	In the living room, Uranus hustled them all through 
the door, then quickly closed it behind them.  "Hah!" she 
said.

	Venus asked, "Umm, Uranus-chan, can I ask you a 
question?"

	"Mom dragged me to the hair salon."

	"It's not a wig you bought to be like me?"

	"NO!"

	Venus looked disappointed.

	They soon found everyone sitting around exhausted in 
one of Wasyuu's labs.  "Grab Nephrite!  Get the crystals!" 
Sailor Moon shouted.

	"Fork 'em over or die," Uranus said to Nephrite.  
"We've got you surrounded.  Give up if you like living."

	He summoned his willpower, and tried to use the 
crystals he had to strengthen what few sparks of energy the 
stupid chains hadn't stolen.  Uranus and Neptune were 
already rifling through his pockets.  Uranus brought a hand 
up, holding two of the crystals and grinning, right as the 
rest all flared to life.

	The crystals Nephrite still had flared, and the Dark 
Kingdom folk all vanished.  Everyone with a manacle on them 
felt a tugging and began to fade.  Then they turned solid 
and the Dark Kingdom people appeared as ghosts.  Then it 
reversed again.

	"What's going on?" Sailor Moon shouted.

	"The chains are trying to reunite the chained couples, 
but I don't think they were designed with dimensional 
travel in mind!" Wasyuu shouted.  She typed very slowly, 
trying to push herself to type faster.  "We've got to 
dimensionally seal this place, or else we may be yanked out 
and into their dimension!"

	"Or it might bring them back, right?" Venus said 
hopefully.

	"Probably some will come and some will go, and those 
of us who go will be in big trouble," Wasyuu said.

	"How do we stop it?" Uranus asked.

	"Well, I have an idea."  She pushed a button.  
"Alright, plug all your crystals in there."

	A large metal box now opened up, and something which 
rather resembled a hi-tech egg carton slid out.  Uranus 
slid the two crystals into it, and got the one Sailor Moon 
was carrying.  "Now what?"

	The egg carton closed and slid back into the metal 
box.  "I use those to power up the defenses long enough to 
try and come up with a better solution."

	"I have a computer that is designed for analyzing 
magic.  Would that help?" Mercury asked.

	"That would be VERY helpful," Wasyuu said.

	Mercury staggered over to her, and plugged her 
computer into a port Wasyuu called up.  They then began 
studying the chains using Mercury's visor and computer, 
which had the technical data and sensory capacity they 
needed, backed up by the massive computing power of 
Wasyuu's system.

	By the time they figured out what to do, everyone was 
starting to feel somewhat better.  Uranus was only gloating 
a little.  "Uranus to the rescue as usual."

	"It's the long hair," Venus said.  "You can't lose 
with long hair."

	"Guardian Pluto, can you help us?" Mercury asked.  
"Your powers should help us find a weak point in how the 
chains work."

	"Uh, sure," he said, coming over and helping as best 
he could.

	Tuxedo Kamen sat down by Neptune.  "You okay?" he 
asked.

	"I'm fine," she said.  "Fortunately, my salon 
appointment finished before things fell apart here."  She 
looked over at Uranus.  "Don't forget our bet.  I won't let 
you wiggle out of it."

	"I don't wiggle out of bets.  I'll...I'll win it, no 
sweat."

	"Bet?" Tuxedo Kamen asked.

	Neptune explained the bet.

	"I thought you were into women," Sailor Moon said to 
Uranus.

	"It would be too easy if I had to find myself a 
girlfriend within a month," Uranus said.  "Not that this 
will be very difficult."  

	"Just ask Ken out.  He'll date anything with breasts," 
Shampoo said.

	"Heck, I could probably get two if I wanted to be like 
Neptune here," Uranus said.

	"I do not have two boyfriends!" Neptune protested.  
"Mamoru is not my boyfriend, and I didn't have a choice 
with Kunou!"

	"Nothing wrong with having two boyfriends if they 
don't mind," Sailor Moon said, then stared at the floor, as 
did Mars.  "When it works out, anyway."

	"I'd settle for just one," Sailor Pluto said softly.  

	"So, if I was, to say, ask Mamoru out, you wouldn't 
care," Uranus said to Neptune.

	"Being a man of taste and distinction, he would never 
say yes to you," Neptune replied.  "Right, Mamoru?"

	"Being a man who is not suicidal enough to get in the 
middle between two angry women, I refuse to get involved in 
this," Tuxedo Kamen said.

	"Now, now," Grandpa said.  "Pretty girls shouldn't 
fight."  He came over to them.  "I'm sure Mamoru would be 
willing to date both of you."

	"Mamoru wants to live," he said, getting up and going 
and sitting over by Sailor Pluto.  "I'm just going to sit 
quietly over here, out of the blast radius."

	"Ahah!  Found the problem," Wasyuu said.  "Let's just 
kill this out of control magical subprocess..."  She 
pointed to the screen of Mercury's computer.

	Fingers flew, and then all of the manacles on people's 
wrists vanished, except for two; one was around Hotaru's 
wrists and another on Guardian Pluto's.

	"Much better," Sailor Moon said, staring at the 
manacles.  "Now we just need to get the Chains of Love off 
Hotaru and Gosunkugi."

	Venus asked, "Have you tried playing that Erasure song 
at them?"

	Everyone stared at her blankly.

	"I guess not," she said weakly.

	"This could be really bad, given Hotaru lives here, 
and Gosunkugi lives with his parents, and it might be a 
little hard explaining to them how she keeps turning up," 
Sailor Mars said.

	"I'll tell his parents he is possessed, and has to 
come live at the temple for a while," Grandpa said.  "It's 
not like half the population of the Earth doesn't live here 
already."

	Nodoka sighed.  "I'm sorry, Hino-san."

	"Dad's found us a place, so we'll move out soon," 
Sailor Moon said to Grandpa.  "I'm sorry."

	"Some things can't be helped," Grandpa said.  "Unless 
someone has a better solution?"

	"Not really," Guardian Pluto replied.

	"This was a really close call," Sailor Moon said.  
"We're going to have to heighten our security.  And we're 
going to have to try to find some way to force Nephrite 
into a battle as soon as possible.  As it looks like they 
know where to find us."

	"I will build you the best defenses I can.  But if you 
all remain scattered all over, it's going to make them less 
useful," Wasyuu pointed out.

	Sailor Moon sighed.  "I know.  Our secret identities 
don't seem to be able to hide us very well now.  Unless we 
can eliminate everyone who knows, we won't be able to have 
normal lives much longer."

	"What passes for normal with us," Sailor Mars said.

	"Well, I suggest we detransform to save energy, and 
then we need to do some brainstorming," Sailor Moon said.

	It would be a long planning session.

******************

	Beryl contemplated all the reports from her generals.  
They knew the Senshis' base, they knew the identity of many 
of the Sailors.  Once she had raised enough forces and 
secured the crystal, it would be easy to put forth her 
strength and destroy them.

	Once they had the crystal.  That was the sticking 
point, really.  Too risky to try anything too large until 
she had it.  She sent out a summons.

	Tourmaline appeared.  "Yes, my queen?"

	"Have you prepared a plan as I asked?"

	"Yes," she said nervously.

	"Good, tell me about it."

	"Alright, it all starts with this..."

****************

	Setsuna did a little jig as she walked home.  No more 
stupid chains.  No more engagement.  No more stupid 
parents...okay, the parents would still be there, but no 
more stupid chains and no more getting lost.

	"So, Ryouga..."  She paused, Ryouga was gone.

	He must have gotten lost, she thought.  Well, I'll 
just go...

	Setsuna stared at the huge wall in front of her, which 
stretched to both horizons.  Oddly, she was now in open 
countryside.

	She looked up the wall and at the farmland and sighed.  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   "WHERE THE HELL 
AM I NOW????"

****************

	Gosunkugi tried to sleep, but he kept hearing an odd 
hissing noise in the darkness.  He sat up and looked around 
the dim room.  He spotted Hotaru, sitting on the floor next 
to his bed.  Moving a little closer, he saw she was busy 
ironing and folding a large pile of underwear.  Some of it 
looked very familiar.  "Hotaru, what are you doing?" he 
asked.

	"Sorting and folding and pressing my new items for my 
collection," Hotaru said.

	"..."

	"Am I keeping you awake?"

	"A little."

	"Okay, I'll go to sleep, then."  She went and 
disconnected the iron and put it up on a shelf, then 
climbed into the bed.

	"What are you DOING?" he asked.

	"Going to bed."

	"With me?" he asked.

	"There's plenty of room," she said.  "And it's warmer 
at night if you cuddle up to someone."

	"But...you're only twelve, and I mean..."

	"I can go drain chi from the underwear and get big if 
it helps," she said.

	"Yes.  No.  Aaaargh."  Makoto will kill me dead, 
Gosunkugi thought.  "Shouldn't you sleep where you normally 
do?"

	"Too far away. I'll just get teleported back."

	Gosunkugi scooted as far over as he could.  "Okay, 
okay, get in bed."

	She did so.  "Can you tell me a bedtime story?"

	Gosunkugi rolled onto his back.  "Once upon a time, 
there was a frog.  The frog sat in his lily pond and 
watched beautiful princes and princesses go by.  But they 
never really noticed him.  Then one day, a princess picked 
him up and kissed him, and he turned into a prince, and she 
asked him to be her friend.  So he went and had lots of fun 
with her."

	"But he knew that she had only kissed him to make her 
prince boyfriend jealous because he ran around with other 
princesses.  So, he didn't know how long she'd want to be 
his friend, or when she might walk away and leave him to 
turn back into a frog."

	"So how did it end?" Hotaru asked softly.

	"I don't know," Gosunkugi said softly.  "The princess 
hasn't left the frog-prince behind yet, but he doesn't have 
an answer either."

	Hotaru frowned.  "That's not a very happy ending."

	"It's not an ending, but it's the story on my mind."

	"Does the frog-prince love the princess?" Hotaru 
asked.

	"The frog-prince is falling in love with her," 
Gosunkugi said softly.

	"Then he ought to trust in the one he loves," Hotaru 
said.  "I'm sure anyone whose love could turn a frog into a 
prince wouldn't throw them away."

	"I hope you're right," he said softly.  "I hope you're 
right."