"My fellow Americans, it is with great sadness that I speak to you
today. But it is also with a sense of great hope.
	"Even as I speak these words, special forces under my direct command are
already engaged in battle at many sites across our great nation. They are the
finest men and women of our country, each one dedicated to fighting an enemy
that is more dangerous than all the madmen of history. My fellow Americans, we
are at war.
	"This war is not against communists, or terrorists, or drug dealers. It
is not a war against a nation, a society or an ideal. We are at war with
monsters. Yes, you heard me right, monsters. Vampires, shapeshifters, demons and
all the terrors of childhood. For centuries, they have walked among us, hidden.
Their immortal masters have oppressed humanity, culling us like they would herds
of sheep, guiding our destiny. You've seen the signs, over the last several
months.
	"Entire cities, overrun with plagues of the living dead. Our longest and
greatest ally fallen to darkness, natural disasters and fighting in the street.
The monsters have declared war on each other. Even now, the nation of Japan
burns. Even now, the darkness that destroyed England spreads into Europe like a
cancer.
	"But we will not go gently. We will fight. No more will the monsters
that stand over us shape our destiny. We have learned to defeat them, with
science and sorcery and the power of the human spirit. With the weapons we have,
and the weapons we will build. Our own special forces, the newly formed
S.T.A.R.S., are fighting as we speak. They will drive every last monster from
our shores. Our allies in Canada and Mexico stand with us, and I can only hope
that the rest of the world rises up with us as well.
	"We WILL win this war. This is a cause that goes beyond politics, beyond
race and religion and economics. This is a battle for the bodies and souls of
every living American, and I will not let us lose. The battle can not be won
with one strike, over even one year. It will go on for a long time. It will be
hard, it will be painful, and many fine people will die. But they will die
human. They will die to preserve our way of life. They will die to preserve
freedom.
	"We can not let their sacrifice be in vain. We must all rise up. We must
stand together, shoulder to shoulder. Not everyone can be a soldier, but
everyone can help. We need the doctors and nurses, the scientists and diplomats,
we need those who plan and those who build and those who cook and those who
serve in whatever way they can. Everyone will have to sacrifice, if we are to
win.
	"As of this moment I am invoking the emergency measures and powers of
the presidency and declaring martial law. I am freezing all prices and all
employment. As I speak, representatives of the US Government are contacting
industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical companies with orders for new forms of
production. I am grounding all international flights, and sealing the borders of
this country. I am invoking special executive orders to aid in this fight. All
able-bodied citizens who are not employed in vital industries will shortly be
contacted by the select service committee for enrollment in the war effort, in
whatever capacity they can best serve.
	"These may seem like harsh measures, but they are necessary. Understand
that this is still America, this is still our home. The newspaper will be
delivered tomorrow on time. Any data not vital to the war effort is now being
transmitted by wire to every major news organizations across America, and the
rest of the world. This is not a war that will be fought in secret. This is a
war that we will fight in the open, in the bright light of the sun. The
elections will still occur on time four months from now. The stores will remain
open. Life will go on.
	"Even in this unnatural darkness, there is still hope. Like the stars,
we each carry the light of hope within ourselves. We will pass through the long
dark night together. And when we emerge on the other side, our heads held high,
we will do so together. Stand together, and nothing can stop the power of the
human spirit.
	"Any questions can be answered by my chief of staff. If you'll excuse
me, it is going to be a very busy day. Thank you, and may God have mercy on us
all."



			      C&A Productions Presents

                          A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion


                                   Hybrid Theory


                                Chapter 20: Runaway




	The first clue that they were nearing their destination was the loud
swearing. Akane frowned. That was definitely one of the twins, although which
one she couldn't tell. She hadn't realised they had such a... advanced
vocabulary. She winced at one particularly nasty epithet. Then they burst into
the clearing and Akane staggered to a halt.
	Link was tied to a tree, her arms held above her head and her feet
tied so that they were a few centimeters off the ground. She was struggling
against the ropes, cursing up the proverbial blue streak, until she spotted
Shampoo and Akane. A loud sigh of relief escaped her lips and Link slumped as
much as her bonds would allow.
	"So Akane's here. I suppose you weren't planning on killing me after
all," Link said.
	"Huh," Shampoo replied, rubbing her chin. "I guess you were the real
one, then?"
	"Excuse me?" Akane asked.
	"Good plan, Shampoo," Link said cheerfully. Then her expression grew
serious. "Now cut me down."
	Shampoo considered it for a few seconds then shrugged and walked over.
There was a loud rasp as she swung her sword once, twice and resheathed it. Link
fell over, barely catching herself.
	"Plan?" Akane asked.
	Link sneered. "Oh, you didn't let little Akane in on this? Somehow, I'm
not surprised." Link stood up, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists.
Akane noticed that the shadow that had adorned her chest for the past few weeks
had vanished. She glanced at Akane, then looked at Shampoo sharply. "Shampoo, I
forbid you from leaving this clearing for the rest of your service to me. Nobody
can rescind this order, not even me."
	Shampoo also considered this for a moment, then shrugged and sat down on
a convenient rock. Akane turned to face her. "Shampoo! What's going on here?"
Suddenly, Akane wasn't certain it was a good idea for Akira to have stayed
behind to help her brother.
	"I killed Pink," Shampoo shrugged. Then she looked contemplative for a
moment. "Really, I would have settled for either, but Pink was the unlucky one,
I guess."
	Akane couldn't find the words to respond to that. She just stood,
hovering over her friend, unable to understand.
	"Taking too much credit, as usual," Link corrected. "She actually got a
patsy to kidnap me and move us so far apart that the bond created from the
Spring of Twins was severed. And since I'm here, that means Pink isn't."
	"I..." Akane spun to face the frowning twin, except she wasn't frowning
anymore. She was just leaning back against the tree, and she was smiling. It
wasn't a very good smile. It looked wooden, and forced. "You're... you're
HAPPY?"
	"Of course I'm happy!" Link snapped. "Not that I didn't already know I
was real. But after all this time, it's still pretty satisfying when the
universe supports you like this. In fact..." The Chinese girl walked over and
rummaged in her bag. Akane tensed up, her hand dropping to her sword, but
Shampoo didn't so much as bat an eye. Link stood up and tossed a small brown
bottle to Akane. Akane caught it easily. "There. One drop of that in any food
they eat will cause any of Pink's victims to forget everything that happened to
them for the last week." Seeing Akane's expression, Link chuckled. "What? You'd
prefer they remembered it and remained her slaves forever? Constantly striving
to relive an experience they can never have again? Oh, I'm certain they'll wake
up every now and then crying at what they lost. But at least living with what
they forgot is better than constantly being a slave to something like that."
	Akane stared down at the bottle. Constantly being a slave to something
that they had only experienced once? Her grip on the bottle tightened slightly.
	"Why are you doing this? Shampoo killed your sister. Shouldn't you be
mad? Shouldn't you care? You act like this doesn't mean anything at all!" Akane
accused.
	"Oh, it means something, Akane." Link gave her wooden, unpracticed smile
again. "EVERYTHING means something. Like the fact there were two of me. It means
I was split, copied perfectly down to my every memory while I was very young. It
was Jyusenkyou and the magic that did it to me. That I can explain away: that, I
can understand what it means.
	"But this world is full of things like me, Akane." Link stood up,
gesturing towards the city. "Things you've never even thought about. Like the
Orochi, for instance. What is the Orochi, Akane? You're Japanese, you ought to
know. Is the Orochi the great eight-headed serpent we fought at Ryugenzawa? Is
the Orochi currently calling himself Murakumo and leading the aragami as they
rampage across Tokyo? Or maybe it's the god that Goenitz worships and that Chris
has trapped in his body? Just how many Orochis WERE there in your legend,
Akane?"
	"I..." Akane frowned. "One. Just one."
	"Precisely!" Link threw up her arms in triumph. "Yet every one of them
is the Orochi. They are all the Orochi of legend, the basis of all your myths.
Undeniably. And at the same time, they are completely different. How could one
being be simultaneously a near-mindless monster, a chaotic energy being and a
conniving ruler of a race of plant people?
	"You just don't see it, Akane. You don't see what I saw back on the
shore of that lake in the forest. You don't see the world the way I do. You
haven't spent your whole life trying to put it all together. You haven't been
trying to understand the MEANING of it all. You just... do things. You just run
around guided by your feelings and your conscience like a blind, deaf puppet.
	"I could have been like that, too. I could have been struggling here,
trying to find some way to make it all make sense. But it was when I saw the
aragami that I knew the truth, even if it took me awhile to accept it. Our
village is renowned for our accumulated knowledge of plants. Villagers have
travelled all over the world searching for exotic plants and traces of lore. And
I've studied it all. Every single book, every single tale. And nobody, ever, had
heard even a hint of the aragami. Intelligent, monstrous plant beings that once
ravaged Japan, and we, maybe the world's greatest experts on plants, living so
close, knew NOTHING of them. Do you understand what that means, Akane?"
	"I think it means you're not as smart as you thought," Shampoo noted.
	"Oh, you would," Link sneered. "But this isn't a matter of wrong
information, or incomplete information. There was NONE. At all. Hundreds of
villagers over centuries going to Japan, and not even the slightest whiff of
information of giant plants that stomped all over your country. I could list you
every single plant, mundane or mystical, that has ever grown in these islands.
But giant centipedes made of trees? That somehow slipped past all of us."
	"Okay, fine," Akane said. "So there was no evidence of it. What are you
getting at?"
	Link turned back to her, and her eyes gleamed feverishly. "It's
IMPOSSIBLE, Akane.  It's impossible.  The aragami cannot exist and I not know
about them.  It's as impossible as three Orochis who are all Orochi and yet are
completely different, it's impossible for there to be an ancient kingdom of moon
people when the moon was thrown at this planet by aliens to blow it up, it's
impossible for a world-spanning conspiracy of monsters and a world-spanning
conspiracy of martial artists and a world-spanning conspiracy of chthonic death-
god worshippers to all be ruling every country from the shadows at once and just
not notice each other until now, just like it's impossible that up until seven
months ago, the man on the street didn't know ANY OF THIS EXISTED!  It doesn't
make the slightest iota of sense.  It just doesn't fit!  It can't have
happened!"
	"But... it DID, Link." Akane said slowly. "Because we're living it.  And
yeah, sure, it's a mess-"
	"Exactly," Link interrupted. "It happened.  It can't have happened, but
it did.  And who can make the impossible happen?  God.  Well, he or she might go
by some other name, but SOMEONE created this world and all of us in it.  And
they created it not making sense."  She stared down at Akane and Shampoo, her
lip curling. "You think I'm crazy.  But let me ask you something: when exactly
did your world start going wrong, Akane?  When did you start finding out things
were completely different than the way you always believed them to be?"
	Akane stopped herself from saying the first word that came to her lips.
But Link saw her reaction, and her expression turned triumphant.
	"Oh, we both knew what - or rather, who - you were going to mention.  It
all happened at the same time for everybody.  Which just so happened to be the
same time that Ukyou and Chris started entering our lives, knowing everything
about our futures... futures that could never have happened!  Futures that
didn't involve me ever noticing the aragami, or you getting married to Ranma
Saotome while Chronos took over the world, or the Sailor Senshi battling the
vampires in England!"
	"Link, are you even listening to yourself?" Akane asked. "Do you
understand how insane that sounds?  If what you're saying is true, then the
entire world was created... what, six months ago?  That's crazy!  I'm sixteen
years old, just like you!  I remember it all!"
	"How very little faith you have in God," Link chuckled. "He can create
the world and all the millions of things in it, he can create the particles in
the air, he can set the stars spinning in the sky in a pattern so complex that
man's mind cannot comprehend them, but you can't believe he could create sixteen
years worth of memories?  Well, I do." She crossed her arms.  "I believe God
created this world seven months ago.  I believe he created it in such a fashion
that it would explode as it is right now, that every power would fight each
other until there was nothing left.  And that the only people who could stop it,
who could do anything about it except watch as it crumbled around them, are also
the only people who know something is wrong.  Who know a thousand impossible
futures that were nonetheless supposed to happen.  Chris and Ukyou.  We know of
those two.  But it's a big world: there could be more.  However many of them
there are, this world was created for them.  And you, and I, and Shampoo, and
everyone else are nothing but players on their stage.  Our reality is defined
only by how big a role we have to play in God's plans.  And I don't know about
you, Akane, but I plan on playing my role to the fullest.  If that means I have
to work with Chris, despite how much he disgusts me, then I'll be his most loyal
ally for the rest of my life.  Because that makes me REAL."
	Link cocked her head to the side in the stunned silence that followed.
"Speaking of which, I believe he'll be here shortly. And quite put out, no
doubt. Shampoo's little role in life is just about over. I suppose it's time to
choose what yours will be, Akane."
	Akane's eyes widened. She turned and looked at Shampoo. The Chinese
woman was staring back at her. Her expression was stoic, determined. She rose to
her feet, and her sword rasped from its sheath once again. But the blade was
shaking, ever so slightly. Shampoo stared down at it, looking offended.
Growling, she gripped her sword hand tightly, steadying it. But not completely.
	"Shampoo! You have to get out of here!" Akane shouted. She realised
Chris might be able to hear her, but she didn't care. She had vague plans of
delaying him, of holding him back long enough for Shampoo to get away.
	"I can't leave, Akane," Shampoo replied.
	"Forget your stupid honour!" Akane shouted again, pushing her blade to
the side and grabbing her by the shoulders. "This is your LIFE. He'll kill you!
You have to get out of here!" Shampoo looked at Akane, and her eyes shifted
away. She took a step back. She was going to do it, she was going to run away!
Akane felt relief flood through her. It would work out. "That's right. If you're
not here, I can talk him down. He's mad now, but if I get him to look at it-"
	"No." Shampoo's voice was as hard as her eyes. She pushed Akane back.
"I'm not leaving."
	"Shampoo, I don't care about your honour..."
	"This isn't about honour," Shampoo snarled. "I told you, I have one last
thing to show you. One last thing you need to see." Her sword came up again, and
pointed at the forest. Akane could see the flames now, a steady plume of purple
light burning its way through the small park. "We saw it together, Akane. There
is a perfect light in this world. But that means there is also darkness."
	"WHY?" Akane screamed. She couldn't understand. "Why not just wait the
year? Why do it now? What was so important that you had to risk everything for
it!"
	Shampoo smiled. "Pride." Akane stared. "Maybe Link's right. The world
stopped making sense for me six months ago. I had everything, and then I lost
it all. I lost my reputation, my confidence, my freedom, and my pride. They took
it from me, because my great-grandmother thought I could use it. She wanted to
teach me a lesson, Akane. Well, she did. She taught me that some things are more
important than victory or strength. She wanted me to become someone else, to be
who she wanted me to be. But I learned that you become the person you choose
yourself to be, and I'll be damned if I'll let Cologne, or Chris, or Link or
even you say who that is!"
	"Shampoo..." Akane clenched her fists in impotent rage. "There has to be
another way!"
	"No, Akane." Shampoo smiled. "Because I chose. Back under that mountain,
I chose to be your friend. And you need to learn something that only I can teach
you. And this is the only way I know how."
	Akane wanted to scream, scream something, anything... but suddenly it
was too late. The wall of brush Akane and Shampoo had stepped through parted as
a curtain of purple flame burnt it away. The flames spread, encircling the
grove, rising high into the sky. Higher than any of them could hope to leap.
	Chris came through them. The flames licked across his body as he passed
through. His feet hovered above the ground, his toes lazily pointed downward.
His skin was jaundiced, streamers of flame swirling and snapping across and
between his open palms, collecting into balls every now and then. He was still
in the body of a child, a child no more than ten, but he did not look so young
and small anymore. His short brown hair whipped around his face and his one eye
glowed red, an awful dead glow. His other eye was gone, nothing but a torn ruin
leaking black gore down the side of his cheek, most of which had crusted solid.
A spark of red light flickered within the empty socket.
	Akane didn't think, she acted. Her blade hissed from its sheath and she
leapt between Chris and Shampoo. Chris gazed at her for a moment, his expression
unreadable. The awful deadlights of his eyes bored into her. Then he looked past
her, to Shampoo. His eyes scanned across the clearing and found Link.
	"She did it," Link offered, pointing at Shampoo.
	"I should have known," Chris said. His voice sounded older now. "Pink
told me I should have just let her kill you. I should have listened to her."
	Akane clenched her teeth. "Don't do this, Chris!"
	Chris didn't even respond. He simply raised his palm and a tongue of
flame leapt forward. It swirled and twisted through the air like a striking
snake. Akane desperately raised her blade as it homed directly in towards her
face. She screamed and closed her eyes... and the heat passed by Akane's cheek.
Akane threw herself to the side and stared as Shampoo leapt in the other
direction. The purple flames traced a path across the ground as they swerved to
catch her, but were not quite fast enough.
	Shampoo was sweating, not just from the heat, but also from fear. Akane
knew the look of a person who was facing death. She wished she didn't, but she
recognised that expression. She had worn it once herself, after all. But Shampoo
still moved with skill and grace. She tapped her foot against the stone she had
been sitting on and backflipped, arcing over the flames. With a wordless cry she
came down towards Chris, her sword gleaming in the purple light.
	Chris's form just blurred. Akane couldn't see it, but she could hear it.
She could hear Shampoo scream. She could hear the sound of tearing flesh and
cracking bone. Shampoo fell limply from the sky. Her sword landed point first in
the ground. Shampoo moaned. Her arm... oh god, her arm. It was torn to shreds.
Fragments of bone jutted gruesomely here and there, and the entire thing was
bent in several odd angles. Blood pooled on the now-parched grass.
	Chris stared down at her oddly. The corner of his lip twitched upward a
bit. He floated down, kneeling in mid-air. His hand reached out, stretching for
her throat.
	Akane roared and her hand clamped down on the stone. With a one-handed
heave she ripped it from the earth, soil and loam dripping from it. It was much
larger, and heavier, than she had imagined. Good. Akane spun and hurled it at
Chris like a fastball pitch. He paused and looked up. His hands came up and
caught the stone. Then it exploded as flames shot out from within it.
	"Chris, stop!" she roared, charging forward.
	"I thought you didn't like murderers, Akane," Chris replied. His voice
was calm, eerily calm. Akane stopped, her sword pointed at him.
	"And what about Pink, Chris? She murdered that boy! You can see it for
yourself! You can see it in his memories!" she yelled.
	"So?" Chris stared at her blankly, like she had just told him the sky
was blue or things fall down. "He was only going to die in a few years anyway."
	Akane opened her mouth, but no words came out. Chris stared at her
expectantly, the deadlights of his eyes boring into her. Then he jerked slightly
as the long point of Shampoo's sword emerged from his heart. Akane started and
Chris looked down, blinking. Shampoo was grinning ferally, clutching the hilt of
her blade in her unruined hand.
	"Please," Chris said. And the blade flashed white. There was the sweet-
sick scent of burning flesh and Shampoo screamed again, falling back. The sword
melted, the hot metal oozing down the front of Chris's shirt, tracing a passage
of destruction as it fell towards the earth. He didn't seem to notice. Instead,
he had turned back towards Shampoo. He snapped his arm out and Shampoo's cry cut
off as he latched onto her neck. He floated into the air, dragging her off the
ground. Waves of heat rose up around him. The skin of his arm was turning
charcoal black, lines of red heat tracing where his veins should be and patches
of purple flame bursting from the skin here and there. "You murderous little
bitch," he snarled.
	"No... STOP!" Akane shouted. "You... you promised! You promised me,
Chris! You would never kill anyone! ANYONE!"
	There was a long pause and everything but the sound of the flames went
silent. Shampoo fell to the ground, gasping and moaning. Chris floated there for
another moment, then nodded to himself. "You're right, Akane. I'm better than
that. I'm better than her."
	Akane slumped to her knees, releasing a breath she hadn't realised she'd
been holding. She felt so tired, but it had to be over, right? Right?
	There was a clattering sound, and Akane looked up. Chris had removed the
backpack he had been wearing. It was huge, and bulged with odd shapes. He
searched through the pack for a long time, then his hand came up holding a
leather and steel canteen. Akane blinked. It looked familiar. He had shown her
something like it before...
	Before she could catch the fleeing memory, it was too late. He stretched
out his hand, holding the canteen above Shampoo. Then his fingers clenched and
the container exploded. A shower of water fell down on Shampoo's body. She
paused, as the cool water rained down on her.
	She sat up slowly. She didn't look like she was in pain anymore. Her
expression was just clear, calm, centred. She levered herself up, hissing a bit
as her ruined arm dragged against the ground, leaving a trail of gore in its
wake. She began to stagger towards Akane, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
Akane could only stare, open-mouthed, as the girl came towards her. Chris just
floated back, his arms crossed, his lips curled upward in a slight smile.
	"Akane..." Shampoo croaked when she reached her. "I'm... I'm so sorry...
None of this happened the way it was supposed to..." Akane blinked as Shampoo
moved in to embrace her and part of her wanted to back off from the gruesome
creature in front of her. But Akane let her sword drop and moved to complete the
embrace.
	Then Shampoo's knee slammed into her gut with enough force that Akane's
breath exploded from her lungs. She curled forward, and Shampoo let her fall to
the ground. As Akane fell, Shampoo snatched the sword from her suddenly
nerveless fingers.
	"Please forgive me," Shampoo said. Akane fell face first into the dirt.
She didn't see it. Thank god she didn't see it. But she heard it. She closed her
eyes and started crying. She just lay there for a long time, sobbing. When she
finally worked up the courage to look back, Shampoo was laying on the ground.
The katana was buried up to its hilt in her chest. Her eyes stared up at the
sky, unmoving.
	"You... You BASTARD!" Akane rolled to her feet. Chris was just looking
at her, still smiling slightly. "You killed her!"
	"I did not." Chris tossed the remains of the canteen at her feet.
"Spring of Suicidal Person. One of the many treasures I took from Jyusenkyou.
Shampoo killed herself. I just... helped her make the right decision."
	"You... sick... MONSTER! I can't believe I ever thought you could be
saved!"
	Link stepped up to Chris's right hand, her smile looking slightly more
natural now. "Oh dear. How irrational."
	Akane wanted to grab her sword. She wanted to charge forward and lop her
smiling head from her body. She wanted to tear Chris in two. She wanted revenge!
She wanted them dead.
	But she didn't.
	Not just because he would stop her. She fell to her knees, staring at
the ground. She knew Shampoo wouldn't have wanted that. Shampoo had said she had
one last thing to show Akane, and she had. She had shown her that there were
some things in this world that could not be saved. She hated it. She hated this
feeling. It felt like hopelessness. It felt like ashes in her mouth. She cried
out and slammed her fists into the earth, hot tears leaking from her eyes.
"You... monster..." she said softly, because there was nothing else she could
do.
	"Well, I'll give you some time to recover while I take care of other
business," Chris said, his voice still calm. He snapped his fingers and the heat
suddenly vanished. "Be careful out there, Akane. The city is dangerous."

*

	The sun should have been rising. The black moon had set, its orbit
spinning it inexorably around the earth. In the east, the sky was darkness. The
thing that was rising was not a sun, but a hole in heaven. It radiated darkness.
It radiated despair.
	But it was not here. It was in the east. Half-way across the world. The
dark sun was rising, and the dark moon had set. On the other half of the world,
the opposite would be happening. And when the dark moon reached its apex, right
above the city of Tokyo, Pharaoh 90 would enter this world.
	Ukyou leaned against a windowsill, watching the black sun rise. It was
too far away. She could not get there in time to make any difference. Or maybe
she could. Maybe she could just use the power she had stolen from Hotaru and be
there in the blink of an eye. Maybe she could look up into Telulu's smirking
face and watch as the woman realised that she was facing the awesome power of
Sailor Saturn, wielded by a woman who had trained her entire life to turn
polearms into deadly weapons.
	Together, she and Aaron could stand under that dark moon and wait for
the monster to come. They could stride into it, wielding the Silence Glaive.
They could destroy it.
	But they stood there, staring at the sun.
	Because that could be it.
	They could evoke the Third Circle, traverse time and space and be there
just as the clouds parted and something horrible came down. They could reach up
for the Silence Glaive and then... what? Would they lose control? They almost
had, back at the fight. Aaron had tried to duplicate Pluto's power, and it had
been growing out of his control. They had seen it opening up the world, tearing
it apart. And that had been when they had tried to only do something as simple
as travel a few hundreds of meters to rescue a child. What would happen if they
tried to strike down a god?
	I could be just like that, Ukyou knew. She didn't have to want it
anymore. The Third Circle, it destroyed everything it touched. When they had
held it in their body, tried to use it to focus around them, it had destroyed
their body. When they had focused it outside their body, to manipulate the flows
of the world, it had destroyed the world. Chris held it in his mind, using it to
feed on the memories of those whose bodies he inhabited, and it was destroying
his sanity piece by piece.
	It was anathema. It was rejected by all the world. This power inside her
was unnatural and wrong. No matter how it was used, it destroyed. Something was
always lost. And if the gamble was big enough, if the odds were high enough and
Ukyou reached for too much... it would destroy everything. Every time she evoked
the Third Circle, she was putting the entire universe at risk.
	And she wouldn't stop.
	Ukyou turned around. Hotaru was lying on a bed. She had been dressed in
new clothes and cleaned up. Ukyou walked over to her and her hand hovered over
the child's face. She stroked her hand through the air, following the curve of
Hotaru's chin, her nose; resting just above her brow. She looked so peaceful.
There was no darkness to haunt her dreams now. There was no Destiny to hang over
her head anymore.
	"One life..." Ukyou murmured, too silently to be heard. She had saved
this small life, this one soul. It had almost cost her everything, almost cost
everyone everything. But she would do it again, without hesitation. A part of
Ukyou, a part of Aaron, a part they both shared now... it loved Hotaru. It
wanted to protect her. It wanted her to be safe. They would risk anything
for her.
	And Ranma. Yes. They loved him too. And Akane. Yes. They loved Akane,
like a sister loves a sister. It seemed strange, to suddenly realise these
things. Maybe it had to do with Aaron finally accepting his feelings for Ranma?
Once the genie was out of its bottle, and all that. But they couldn't deny it.
They loved all three. They would risk anything for them.
	Hotaru. Ranma. Akane. Three lives. Three people. For those three people,
she would destroy the world. She knew it was true. She could see it, stretching
out in front of her. How many more times would she draw on the Third Circle for
them? How many more times until it was one time too many?
	No way of knowing. No way of turning back. She could no more let them
die than she could cut out her own heart. She closed her eyes.
	The poets said that love was the most powerful thing in the world. They
were right. She just wished... wished it didn't have to hurt so much, what she
had to do.
	"Yomiko," Aaron said, opening his eyes.
	The woman was standing in the doorway. She was blushing slightly,
obviously feeling like she had stepped in on something private. She had, but
Aaron didn't really care.
	"I'm sorry, I just heard you wanted to talk to me and..." she trailed
off, her shoulders slumping slightly.
	"It's okay," Aaron said, gesturing for her to enter. She did so
hesitantly, but with more force once she was closer to Hotaru. She looked down
at the sleeping child, her sad brown eyes shining behind her glasses. She
reached into her pocket and pulled out a small book, half as big as a paperback.
It was weathered and worn. The once-pink covers had almost come off entirely.
The pages were dog-eared and fraying at the edges. She smiled and leaned over
Hotaru, placing the book gently between the child's sleeping hands. Hotaru
clutched the book reflexively.
	Seeing the question in Ukyou's eyes, Yomiko chuckled a bit. "It's...
Treasure Island. It's the first book I was ever given, as a child. My father
gave it to me just to shut me up one day. I wasn't even old enough to read at
the time. I've... always treasured it. It's precious to me. But... I think she
needs it more."
	"So she can return home..." Aaron smiled. "Her adventures with the
pirates are finished now, are they?"
	Yomiko laughed a little. "I guess they are."
	Aaron sighed. "I wish it was that simple." He looked down at the girl.
"She is still Sailor Saturn. I don't think I could take that away from her. Not
without killing her. Maybe she'll never awaken to her power. I hope she doesn't.
But it's inside her. She is a Sailor Senshi." He held up one hand. "All I took
from her was the Glaive, and all it represented. Without the Silence Glaive,
Hotaru can never call the Silence. Without it, she will never be a threat to the
world. She won't be the target of so many madmen and psychos and tyrants. I've
given her a chance at a normal life, but that's all."
	Yomiko nodded. Of course, she knew that Hotaru was still not entirely
normal. Her curative powers had been used extensively after the battle. She had
healed whatever Rose had done to Ukyou's back, and then moved on to everyone
else. Many of the soldiers had been too far gone for her healing to help them,
and those ones Ranma and Yomiko had carefully kept out of her sight. Hotaru had
moved among the soldiers, her touch granting release and health. She had been
smiling. She had been laughing. She had pushed herself so hard, she had fallen
unconscious after the last man was healed.
	Ukyou had been there to catch her. She had carried her all the way out
of the swamp. She had ordered them to stop in the first town they reached. Ukyou
had simply taken Hotaru into the first clean house she found and laid her to
rest.
	"Yomiko, I have a favor to ask you."
	The woman looked up. It was hard to tell if her gaze had been lingering
on Hotaru, or on the book. Oh well, some things never changed. "Considering what
you did back there in the swamp, ask away."
	"I want you to take Hotaru. Get her out of England. Away from this war.
Away from all this pain."
	"I..." Yomiko was stunned, not just by the request, but by the cold
voice Ukyou delivered it in. "I don't understand."
	"I can't leave here." Ukyou frowned. "But she doesn't belong here, and
neither do you." Yomiko started a little bit. "I know you came back to England,
after Bison... after whatever happened on the I-Jin base when he showed up. I
know you wanted to find Joker, or the Gentleman, or someone to help you. But
they aren't here, Yomiko. This nation is a charnel house, and the only things
that belong here are dead things."
	"I..." Yomiko sighed. "You're right. I just... I wanted to visit the
library, one last time. And I was chased, by all the vampires... and Miss
Integra found me. She helped me out. She listened to me. It was hard... with
what happened to Nancy... and Drake... and everyone else."
	"Bison is a monster," Ukyou agreed. "He may not be a vampire, but he
makes up for it with a soul that is even darker."
	"I'm not leaving Nancy with him." The words came out with more force
than Aaron would have suspected the mousy bookworm to be capable of. "I can't
take Hotaru with me, because I'm going after him."
	"You'll die, or worse," Aaron pointed out coldly. "None of us can beat
Bison." He paused. "But he has a weakness. A way you can save Nancy." Yomiko
looked up, her eyes glittering with hope. "If you help Hotaru, get her away from
England..." Away from me, Aaron didn't add. "If you find somewhere safe for her,
then come find me again and I'll tell you how to save her."
	Yomiko blinked. "I..." She looked at Ukyou oddly. "You're a very strange
person. You very much like getting your way, don't you?"
	"When it comes to people I love, I'll do anything I need to."
	That made Yomiko smile. "I'll do it. I have a friend who lives in Japan.
She's an author, a very good one. She can look after Hotaru."
	Aaron nodded. That would be good enough. He would have preferred that
Hotaru end up somewhere safer. But where was safe?
	"Thank you," Aaron reached out and cupped Yomiko's hands in her own.
"Take care of her." He released her and started towards the door.
	"Wait, aren't you going to wait until she's awake... to say goodbye?"
	"I..." Aaron didn't say that he was scared to. He didn't say that if he
looked into those purple eyes, eyes full of laughter for the first time since he
had met her, that he was afraid his will would crumble. He had dedicated his
life to saving Hotaru, and it had grown into love, and he was too afraid he
would never let her go. It hurt too much, even just leaving her now, knowing
that they would never see the girl again. "Tell her I'm sorry for everything."
	They left without another word.

*


	ZX-Tole fell back, the laser cannons on his right wrist unloading a
constant stream of energy. Murakumo parried the blast with his blades. The
energy split, arcing along the edges of a translucent blue shield that bubbled
around him. Then he was blasting forward, the ground literally parting in his
wake.
	ZX-Tole snarled and raised his left hand, catching the blade on his own
armour. It bit deep, but not deep enough to strike the flesh underneath. The
chitin rang with the impact, and then Murakumo was flying back. This wasn't
working out well. He couldn't overpower the creature in front of him, nor was he
fast enough to duel it in hand to hand. Unfortunately, he couldn't gain enough
space to engage it with all his lasers, like he had hoped.
	"Thancrus! I need your help here!" he shouted.
	Thancrus didn't respond, and ZX-Tole risked a quick glance to see how
the rest of his team was doing. The answer was not well. Thancrus himself was on
one knee, his blade-like hands crossed above him as he held off a giant scorpion
intent on skewering him. Elegen was floating back, his tentacles whipping around
him, holding off a dozen or more swarming mosquitoes the size of pitbulls.
Derzerb was the only one of them currently having any effect on the enemy. He
was holding a giant snake between his massive hands; with a roar, he tore it
apart, sending a shower of green blood spraying across the yard.
	The problem was that there were hundreds more where that came from. They
rose up out of the ground, burst in through the walls and fell from the skies.
Even if one fell, it would only rise again if the thing's soul was left intact.
"DERZERB! The seed, you have to destroy the seed!"
	Then there was a green and white flash. ZX-Tole couldn't blink, his
segmented insectile eyes were not designed that way. But he saw out of the
corner of his hive-like vision the shape of the little old woman passing through
the melee. Her staff was flashing out here and there. Then he saw blue flashes,
clouds of dust like you might see from tiny firecrackers in her wake. She was
taking care of the mitamas for them? Why?
	But ZX-Tole had been distracted for too long. He felt the blast of
energy building up, but could only turn in time to see it blazing in towards
him. He screamed and crossed his arms, catching the attack against the thick
armour there. The chitin began to flake away, burning and blasting apart. He
felt the energy singe against the soft flesh underneath and begin to burn
through, then mercifully it stopped. He let out a long breath, collapsing to one
knee. Murakumo was smirking at him. There was another ball of energy forming
between the horns that rose from his shoulders. ZX-Tole did not like his chances
of surviving the next attack.
	"I think that's quite enough!"
	Purgstall stepped in front of ZX-Tole, and the blast that was meant for
him slammed harmlessly into the man's palm. The soil under his feet rippled and
furrowed as he was pushed back almost a meter by the force of the attack. But he
stood firm.
	"I see you finally stepped in, old man," Murakumo observed wryly,
crossing his arms.
	"Enough of this farce," Purgstall declared. "You are an abomination.
Your species has declared war on humanity. I view it as my genetic duty to
eradicate you from existence."
	Murakumo only smirked as the flesh on Purgstall's forehead peeled back,
revealing a glowing yellow-white slit. An aura of energy flooded the air around
him, and the smell of ozone accompanied it. Then Purgstall raised one hand into
the sky, and clenched his fist sharply.
	ZX-Tole had seen many lightning storms. He had once watched a blast
strike a tree and reduce it to splinters and charcoal. He had seen Elegen
deliver electric shocks that could flash fry humans in seconds. He had never
seen something like what happened next.
	The first bolt of lightning came down on the scorpion that was fighting
Thancrus. It didn't just strike the beast: it smashed through it in its
relentless quest for the ground. The entire midsection of the aragami exploded
outward. A second later another bolt struck down, hitting another of the
creatures dead in the head, vaporising it. A dozen more came down, striking the
insects hovering around Elegen with pinpoint accuracy and precision. The rain of
lightning accelerated, faster and faster with each beat of the heart, until
there was nothing left of the world but endless blinding white-hot flashes and
the roar of a million thunderclaps at once.
	When ZX-Tole regained his senses, he was kneeling in the middle of a
hundred craters. What had remained of the estate they had taken over had been
razed to the ground, as well as most of the neighbourhood out for the next two
dozen meters. Purgstall was standing, silent and calm, in the centre of it.
	Murakumo was the first one to rise. His body was singed, his hair
standing at odd angles here and there. Green blood dripped from a cut on his
forehead. He was smiling.
	"An impressive display," the aragami noted softly. His eyes flashed red.
"But it did not kill me. And you will not get a second chance like that."
	Murakumo threw back his head and roared, and his body changed. It
happened quickly, his clothing exploding outward in all directions as he
expanded too fast for it to accommodate. His human flesh seemed to melt and
harden at the same time, large spines erupting from his body at all angles. His
head faded away, becoming a huge thing with too many teeth. It looked like the
head of a dragon made of white bone. Two more heads erupted from his back, then
two more. Eight heads in all, each growing away from his body at the ends of
long serpentine necks.
	"Don't just stand there!" the old woman shouted. "ATTACK HIM NOW!" She
charged forward and thrust her staff. White hot light exploded around the tip,
slamming into Murakumo. ZX-Tole needed no more prodding, he raised his arms and
deployed all his bio-lasers at once. Twelve streams of light followed the old
woman's charge in. But they all bounced harmlessly off the shell being formed
around the thing now. Murakumo didn't even seem to notice.
	And he grew. He grew and grew. ZX-Tole stopped firing and fell back one
step, then five. Then he was running, just trying to keep from being crushed
under the massive weight of the thing. Finally it stopped growing, and ZX-Tole
could only stare. His wide segmented eyes could take in the entire thing at
once, and he felt a shudder run up his spine. He had never seen anything so
huge. He had never believed a creature so massive could exist.
	It looked like a turtle, a massive shell out of which eight dragon-heads
emerged. The shell itself had to be ten, fifteen stories tall and the heads that
climbed into the sky rose up higher than the tallest buildings in Tokyo.
Purgstall stood in front of it, looking very, very small.
	The thing laughed. Its voice was as massive as it was, and ZX-Tole
watched windows all across the district exploded at the deep rumble of his
laughter. "I am the Yamato-no-Orochi! You can't stand against me, men who play
at being GODS!" All eight heads yawned their mouths open at once, and brilliant
blue orbs of light began to grow between their teeth. ZX-Tole yelled for
Purgstall to run, but the man simply held up his hands and the blasts came down
at him.
	Some of them missed, and those that did traced a line of destruction
across the landscape. Buildings exploded like they were made of glass if the
beams came anywhere near them. One ran along the ground and touched the base of
a fifty-story skyscraper. A massive cloud of dust erupted across the city and
the building fell down, suddenly missing its bottom ten stories. Only five beams
struck the shield Purgstall had formed, but those five were enough to drive him
to his knees.
	The other three heads were drawing a bead on Purgstall. He was putting
everything he had into his shield. ZX-Tole was about to order his men to attack,
when he felt a cry echo through his mind.
	"This is Reichmann Gyro, commanding ALL zoanoids! As of this moment,
your number one priority is the capture of Akane Tendo, Mamoru Chiba and all
those associated with them! This edict supersedes all orders! You will find them
at these locations..." ZX-Tole felt information cram itself into his skull with
the force of a sledgehammer. "Capture them at once! I must have them!"
	"Gyro!" Purgstall growled, and ZX-Tole could hear the other zoalord's
mental power sweeping across the city as well. "What are you doing? We don't
have time for this!"
	"On the contrary, Purgstall," Gyro's mental voice called back. "This is
the perfect time. During the confusion of the aragami attack on the city, we
shall capture the friends and relations of Sailor Moon. Once I have them, I
shall find out where that girl has been hiding!"
	"We need to defeat these monsters!"
	ZX-Tole grabbed the sides of his head, rocking back and forth. With each
exchange he felt the wills of the two zoalords smashing into his psyche. Gyro
trying to force him to leave at once, and Purgstall ordering him to stay and
fight.
	"You can do that yourself," Gyro sneered. "Transform into your battle
state and annihilate that creature."
	ZX-Tole looked up: the rest of his team was already scattering. With
Purgstall distracted, they were scrambling to fulfill Commander Gyro's request.
He held on, however. Gyro had not won the contest of will, and ZX-Tole did not
like being told to abandon a battle to chase down children. He preferred to
fight here, where there was an enemy worth facing.
	"Very well," Purgstall replied. He stood up, throwing back his cape and
closing his eyes.
	"NO."
	ZX-Tole wanted to cry, but lacked tear ducts to do it with. That single
word, that one imperative mental command had been delivered with a psychic force
he had thought impossible. The world was suddenly filled with a presence so
awesome, so mind-numbing that ZX-Tole thought he would explode.
	"L-lord Arkanphel!" Purgstall gasped.
	"You will not transform, zoalord Purgstall." The voice was calm, and
beautiful. So beautiful that ZX-Tole could hardly breathe. "You are too valuable
to me to risk against such an opponent."
	"But my lord..." Purgstall stuttered out.
	"I have sent a new combatant."
	ZX-Tole looked up. Murakumo had not been idle. Once he noticed that
Purgstall was distracted, he had begun to charge up his deadly breath weapons
again. Purgstall had no clue he was about to be struck. ZX-Tole wanted to yell
for him to look, to run away, to defend himself. But with that supreme presence
filling his mind, all he could do was kneel in awe.
	Then a blue streak flashed across the sky. Murakumo roared as the small
object struck it, hurling the monster's enormous bulk almost five city blocks
backward. As it descended to earth, the blue flash tumbled back through the air
toward them. It landed in a crouch in front of Purgstall.
	It was humanoid, with soft purple skin covered in thin blue plates that
ran up and down the length of its body. Out of its biceps, forearms, thighs and
shins eight strange-looking organs grew. Each of these glowed, radiating a soft
blue light into the air that rose up around the creature in waves. It had a
human face, complete with short blue hair that looked artistically tousled. It
was certainly more human-looking than any zoanoid ZX-Tole had ever seen.
	The zoanoid rose to its feet. "Lord Purgstall, I am the pinnacle of
Doctor Valkus's new research: Neo-Zoanoid, Ikazuchi." It smiled, an arrogant
and proud smirk. "Allow me to handle this pesky beast for you."

*

	Ranma was moving through the streets of the small Scottish town. The
streets were deserted, empty. There were no signs of violence or bloodshed. The
people here had been far enough away that they must have heard of the coming
evil and fled long before it arrived. He could picture it now, families pouring
into cars, clutching only those possessions they could carry. They would have
run north, away from the evil.
	He wondered if they made it. He liked to think they did. He liked to
think that they had found a ferry across the sea to the continent. What country
was it that was near here? The one where all the Vikings came from? It didn't
matter. He liked to think that they had taken in those families, protected them.
	It was nice to think that the good guys won, even a small victory. In
all this horror, every small victory mattered even more.
	Ranma passed by a group of soldiers. They were cleaning weapons,
stocking supplies. All of them were busy, filled with a frantic energy. They
moved about constantly, obviously uncomfortable being in one place. They wanted
to move on. To fight. He could feel it in the air, the sharp vibrant air that
only existed when you were preparing for battle.
	Ranma could appreciate their feelings. He felt... agitated, himself. It
was a feeling he was only beginning to get a grip on. Feelings were complex
things, and Ranma was not a complex man. He enjoyed thinking about things in
simple terms, in the here and now. He didn't like considering how they would
unfold.
	But he felt like something profound had happened: not to Ukyou, but to
himself. It had happened while he was fighting Leona. He played through the
battle constantly in his mind. Her disciplined strikes, her elaborate tactics,
her complex maneuvers... they had been the product of years and years of study.
The kind of study Ranma had dedicated his life to. But she had been little more
than a machine, a weapon that killed whatever came in front of it. He knew he
couldn't have beaten her. She was as skilled as Vega, but even faster, even
stronger. Ranma had trained every step of their journey and he still hadn't been
a match for that killing machine.
	He was close to something. Fighting her had been like waking up from a
long nightmare. He had seen something during that fight, and it had changed him.
He just wished he understood it. He sighed and pushed those thoughts away. It
wasn't his style to worry so much about stuff. Besides, he was almost there.
	Ranma blinked as he saw Minako leaning against a doorway in a building
just down the street from where Ukyou should be. She was in her civilian
clothes. Her attention was entirely focused on what was happening inside, and
she didn't even notice him coming up to her.
	"Hey, Minako, what's up?"
	She gave a little scream and leapt a few centimeters into the air. She
almost came down striking, but his easy smile and relaxed posture caused the
tension to drain away from her in moments. She gave him a hard glare, which he
returned with a smirk. Sighing, she turned back to the door.
	"I'm eavesdropping, obviously," she hissed at him softly.
	"On who?"
	"Keep it down!" she whispered harshly. "Integra and Ukyou, if you must
know."
	"Oh great, I just have to talk to them both and..."
	He was about to step around her, when he felt her hand clamp onto his
bicep like a vice. He gave her a confused glance, but she wasn't looking at him.
	"No, don't go in there."
	"But I..."
	"Just don't!" Her grip tightened and he fidgeted uncomfortably. She was
pretty strong. "Listen, this shouldn't be interrupted."
	"Why not?" Ranma couldn't think of anything that important they could be
discussing.
	"I..." Minako faltered. "I don't know. Just don't. Something important
is happening."
	"Something..."
	"I just know, okay!" Minako hissed releasing his arm. "I just know."
	Ranma frowned at her, resisting the urge to rub his arm. Finally he
shrugged and pushed her a bit. "Make room then. I wanna hear, too."
	"..don't tempt me, woman," Integra was saying. She did not sound happy.
Then again, Ranma guessed she didn't have much reason to be. Over half her men
were dead. That other girl, the blonde one with the guns, the human one... she
hadn't made it either. It was a devastating blow.
	"You think I'm just a weapon, don't you, Hellsing?" Ukyou replied. Her
voice was cold, cold and brittle like sheet ice. "That's all any of us are to
you. Resources to be expended. Lives to be squandered, fighting a losing
battle..." Ukyou trailed off, like she had just noticed something. Then she
continued smoothly, before Integra had a chance to get a word in edgewise. "This
is meaningless anyway. I wasn't here to ask permission."
	"You think I care?" There was a loud slamming sound. "You are the weapon
we need! With you and V, the magic you wield, we can destroy Millennium once and
for all. I will not let this opportunity slip through my fingers."
	"I can't do that."
	"Can't, or won't?" Integra shot back.
	"You don't realise what you're dealing with, do you?" Ukyou's voice had
grown warmer, but only fractionally so. Her voice was filled with pity now. "I'm
not like Minako, or Hotaru. I'm not like Ranma or Victoria or anything else
you've ever seen. I am the end of the world, Integra Wingates Hellsing. I know
that I will destroy the world one day, and there is nothing I can do to stop
it."
	Ranma was about to reach for the door when Minako grabbed him and
stopped him. He looked at her, and she shook her head. He pulled his hand back
slowly. He knew he should be in there telling Ukyou that she was wrong. He
should go in there and support her. It was what friends did, right? But he just
couldn't work up the will to resist Minako's suggestion. Sighing, he settled
back in to listen.
	Integra had paused, but only momentarily. "What do you mean?"
	"I mean what I said," Ukyou replied. "I've seen the future. In the end,
I destroy it all. I will raise up this Glaive I stole and the universe will
unravel around me. I am a threat that is more dangerous to anything on this
earth than a million vampires and a thousand Bisons."
	She spoke with such finality, such stoic acceptance, that Ranma did not
doubt she believed it. His hands almost curled into fists, and then relaxed.
	"If that's true, then I should kill you where you stand." There was a
pause, then a loud click. Ranma recognized it. A gun being readied. There was
another pregnant pause.
	"Go ahead and shoot," Ukyou said slowly. "You won't kill me. I won't
even try to defend myself. All my chi, all the power I have... it's gone. I can
turn it off like a switch. At the moment, I am as human as you. One bullet to
the head, and I'll die. So go ahead and shoot me." There was a pause. "You won't
succeed. I can't be killed. Not here. Not until I do it. It's fate. It's
destiny. Something will happen to stop you."
	Integra began to chuckle. "You think I believe this?" She chuckled
again. "I've seen you, Ukyou. You aren't that kind of monster. You risked
everything for that girl..."
	"And I let another die."
	Ranma felt his heart skip a beat. He felt Minako's hand clutch tighter
on his shoulder. He could feel it, that energy that happened just before a
battle. It had reached a fever pitch.
	"I can watch as people die, Integra," Ukyou's voice had regained its
arctic tone. "Back in Japan, I let a young woman die. I had the power to save
her, and I didn't use it. There was a sword, a sword that could have saved her
life and a billion more besides and I could have taken that sword from its owner
just like I took the Glaive from Hotaru and..."
	Ranma wasn't aware he had entered the room until the door fell
clattering into the center of it. Integra had spun on him, her weapon drawn, but
he ignored her. Ukyou was gazing at him. Her eyes were level and betrayed no
emotion. He crossed the floor to her.
	"Is that true?" he asked.
	Ukyou inclined her head slightly, then nodded once. She didn't say
anything.
	"You..." Ranma's hands did curl into fists now. He felt something inside
him, something burning. His stomach twisted. His jaw ached. He could barely
breathe. "You could have taken it. The Wishing Sword... you could have taken it
back."
	"Indeed."
	"You could have wished her alive."
	"Indeed."
	Ranma took one step forward. Suddenly he was in Ukyou's face. His nose
hovering a hair's breadth from hers. She didn't back away. She didn't show fear.
She didn't show anything.
	"WHY DIDN'T YOU!?"
	"Because it wouldn't have been right, Ranma."
	"Right... RIGHT?" Ranma couldn't believe she was saying that with a
straight face.
	"I'm not God, Ranma." Ukyou now backed up a step, and looked down at her
hands. "I'm a human being. I was never meant to be given that power. To choose
who lives and who dies. I can't, I won't, accept it."
	"Won't accept it..." Ranma pushed forward, and suddenly Ukyou was backed
against the wall and his palm had slammed into the wood panel next to her. "It
was just RAN! You could have saved her!"
	"And where does it end then, Ranma?" Ukyou replied coldly. "Do I bring
back Akane's dead mother? My dead father? What about Hotaru's? I could bring
back Integra's father too, with that power. I could save every life that was
ever taken. I could end DEATH."
	"This isn't about that!" Ranma screamed.
	"Yes it is!" Ukyou roared back. And suddenly she pushed him and he was
stumbling back. "This is exactly about that! Because that's the fruit of the
tree of knowledge, Ranma. Choice. Because when we can make choices, we can make
the wrong ones. Every time we get to make a decision, we can choose to do evil.
Except we might not always realise it!
	"Except I don't make the kinds of choices you make, Ranma. I don't just
choose to let one person live or die. I choose to let the universe live or die.
That's the kind of power I have! But I can't make that choice, because I know I
won't do the right thing!"
	And Ranma stared at her, because Ukyou was crying. He had never seen her
cry, not since she had been a child. Long streams of tears leaked from her eyes
and ran down both cheeks. Her cold voice had cracked, and it was worn and dry
with pain.
	"I never have! I manipulated Akane because I had the power to do so, I
broke Hayato's spine, I killed Vega, I let Ran die... I did it all because I had
the CHOICE! And every time it was wrong, every time I knew it was wrong. But I
did it anyway. Because I'm not God. I'm just human, and I make mistakes. I can't
do it! I won't do it! Not anymore!"
	But Ranma wasn't really listening anymore. He closed his eyes, and felt
his body shake. The anger was inside him. It roared and it raged. It had been
building ever since she had died. Ever since Vega had died. He had just wanted
to end it, end it clean. Avenge her. And Ukyou had taken that away from him. She
had chosen to do it, and leave him with this feeling inside. He didn't care
about her reasons. He didn't care about her logic. He wasn't listening to her
anymore.
	"Would it have been so wrong, to just save one person?" he asked, very
softly.
	"Yes," Ukyou replied, her voice broken by sobs.
	"Get out of here."
	"Ranma..."
	"I... I can't stand to look at you!" Ranma squeezed his eyes shut
tighter, so tight it hurt. He could feel the tears welling up, but he willed
them away. He burned them away with the heat of his anger, and they didn't come.
	"Ranma... I..." Ukyou was hurt. He didn't care.
	"Ran was right about you." Ranma snapped. "You're a poison. You destroy
everything you touch!"
	"Ranma...no..."
	"I don't know who you are, but you aren't my friend." Ranma turned away
from her.
	"No, Ranma, I didn't mean it! I was just trying..."
	"SHUT UP!" he roared. And he did turn to look at her one last time. She
was kneeling on the ground, staring up at him. Her alien black lotus eyes
quivered, tears ran down her face. Her expression was one of anguish, her mouth
twisted into a gasp of denial. Her hand was stretched towards him. "No more
words, Ukyou! " Ukyou tried to say something, but all that came out was a dry
whistle. He knew he would regret it before he said it, but he couldn't seem to
care, so he said it anyway. "I hate you! I wish you would just vanish forever!"
	And he turned and sprinted from the room, before he really did begin
crying.

*

	Rei was tired. Her arms would have been dragging behind her, had they
been long enough. It was times like this she wished she could just walk back to
campus in her senshi form. When she was Sailor Mars, she didn't notice things
like fatigue and pain. They existed still, but faded to the background.
	The worst part was knowing they would have to go out again soon. The sun
was still gone, and the monsters out there would still be rampaging. It had
taken all three of them to convince Usagi it was best to return and get a bit of
rest before their next mission. They had been fighting for four hours,
travelling from town to town with a speed Rei found almost unnatural. At each
town, the monsters had been there. Dire beasts, not zoanoids, something else.
They'd been made of plants and shaped like insects or hunting animals but on a
giant scale.
	The senshi would arrive, confront the monsters and, after a tense
battle, destroy them. This had continued until Rei had lost count of the number
of places they had been. By the end, she was running on automatic.
	"How much further is it?" Usagi whined.
	"Not much further now, Miss Usagi," Anthy replied with hollow good
cheer. She had always been the one to lead them in and out of Ohtori. Akio had
greeted them once, when they were leaving. He had informed them that without a
guide, they would never find their way back into his school. His enchantments
were too powerful for the monsters of the outside world to penetrate, and would
work equally as well on the Sailor Senshi.
	"I just hope we haven't missed too many classes," Ami said, sounding
genuinely worried.
	"I think they would have cancelled school today," Makoto pointed out.
	"Oh? Why?"
	Everyone looked at Ami for a moment.
	"Don't worry, Ami," Usagi said conspiratorially, sidling in close to
her. "I'm sure if you missed any classes then Miki would have taken notes for
you."
	Ami blushed and tried to shoo Usagi away. "That isn't the point!"
	"Oh, I've been told to ask you," Anthy broke in with her usual cheerful
vapid tone. "Since I've been so busy helping you, I've fallen behind in my
studies. Could you do my homework for me, Ms. Mizuno?"
	Ami blinked. "Well, it really isn't supposed to work that way. I'd be
happy to..." Ami trailed off. Anthy had stopped in the middle of the street,
beaming a high intensity smile at her. Everyone just sort of stumbled to a halt.
Rei resisted to urge to sit down. She was tired but not about to admit it. She
would have gone ahead, but she had no idea how to get back to the academy
without Anthy. "Uh... Anthy... we should get going." Anthy just stood there, her
hands lowered and clasped together. Ami looked at her a moment later, and
finally sighed. "I suppose I could... it really isn't a good idea, though."
	"Great!" Anthy turned and started walking again. Rei and the others
followed her.
	"Don't worry about it, Ami," Makoto said, clapping the shorter girl on
the shoulder. "Anthy's just weird like that. Juri told me all about her."
	"Oh?" Ami said. Rei frowned slightly. She had never met Juri, so she
knew it was unfair to dislike her, but her friendship with Shiori almost
compelled her to. Not that Shiori disliked Juri that much. The girl was adapting
well these days. It was just that the subject was still a little tender.
	"Yeah, Juri says that Anthy just does stuff like that. She's weird, and
you have to accept it." Makoto paused and tapped her cheek. "She also said
something about the 'Rose Bride', but then clammed up when I tried to ask her
about it."
	"You shouldn't talk about Anthy like she isn't here," Usagi said
reproachfully. Anthy didn't acknowledge the defence.
	"Juri says Anthy doesn't mind." Makoto looked slightly offended.
	"If Juri said it was a good idea to jump off a cliff, would you do it?"
Rei snapped.
	The other three glanced at her askance. Rei knew she should apologize,
but didn't feel like it. It was just that Makoto constantly talking about how
cool and smart and skilled and perfect Juri was kept getting on Rei's nerves.
They didn't spend a lot of time together as it was and it didn't help that all
the tall brunette wanted to talk about was her fencing instructor.
	Rei was so busy ignoring her fellow senshi, that she almost missed it
when the girl leapt out of a bush and landed in front of them with a shout of
"AH HA! I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST!"
	All four of them went as stiff as statues and began to reach for their
henshin wands. Then Rei got a good look at the person and sighed in recognition.
She was shorter than Rei, with bright yellow hair and a garish tight pantsuit of
the same color. She was pointing imperiously at them.
	"Usagi Tsukino! I am Nanami Kiryuu, Acting Student Council President and
I have finally found you!" The girl sneered. "What have you done with my
brother? Did you lure him away to some sort of evil shadow city? Also, what is
THIS?" Nanami gestured and suddenly there was a pink bell in her hand, attached
to a heart-shaped handle. "I CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY! Did you do this to me? Did
you steal my brother..." The girl trailed off as she noticed everyone staring at
her.
	"I'm sorry, let me start over." She cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Nanami
Kiryuu. I've been looking for you for awhile now. Can we talk?"
	"Oh... what seems to be the problem?" Ami finally broke the stunned
silence that followed.
	"Geez, Nanami," Rei muttered. "You just do NOT know how to make a good
first impression."
	"Hey!" Nanami protested.
	"Don't worry about Nanami," Anthy pointed out in her annoyingly cheerful
voice. "She's just excitable."
	Nanami frowned at the girl. "Oh, Anthy Himemiya. I didn't know YOU were
here." She crossed her arms. "I should have suspected as much. You are
associated with just about everything weird that happens at this school."
	"Why is everybody so mean to Anthy?" Usagi asked. "She seems like a nice
girl to me." Anthy smiled.
	"I think we're missing the point," Ami insisted. "She did ask for our
help."
	"I asked for HER help," Nanami said, pointing at Usagi.
	"Oh?" Usagi blinked and laughed nervously. "How could I possibly help
you? I'm just plain old everyday Usagi! I'm certainly not magical or legendary
or anything!" Rei rolled her eyes.
	"I just want to get rid of this thing," Nanami pointed out, holding up
the little bell with the heart-shaped crystal in it."And find my brother. Also,
maybe get rid of the dreams. But really, I like them... the horse is nice. So I
don't want to get rid of them. Just mainly I want to find my brother. Well,
except maybe I don't. The horse told me I shouldn't look for him, and he seems
trustworthy. After all, he's in MY dreams, so that means he's part of my mind,
right? So I have to trust myself."
	Rei stared. As Nanami had rambled, she'd been shifting from pose to
pose. The entire thing reminded her bizarrely of a kabuki play she'd seen once.
	"Oh-kay..." Ami said slowly, blinking. "So, basically you want to get
rid of the bell?"
	"Well, if you want to simplify it, of course I do!"
	"If it bothers you that much, why not just put it down?" Anthy suggested
vapidly.
	"You think I haven't TRIED that, Anthy Himemiya?" Nanami snarled and
stalked up to her. "It just keeps coming back!"
	"Oh..." Anthy placed a finger by her lips. "Like the cat in that old
children's rhyme?"
	Nanami turned white. Not from rage, but from something else. Something
deeper. Finally she shook it off and the red fury appeared on her face again.
"If you know so much about it, here, YOU take it!"
	She shoved the bell forward. Anthy tried to back up, tried to dodge the
bell, but she stumbled and her fingers brushed across the edge. There was a
flash of golden light and a cry like a wild horse bucking, followed by a scream.
	Rei staggered back, her mouth opening, but she couldn't breathe. She
could hear the other senshi falling back as well. The person that was screaming
was Nanami. How could she be the one screaming? How could Anthy not be
screaming?
	There were thousands of them, millions of them. Swords; long and
straight and glittering in the light. As Rei watched they continued to appear,
again and again and again without end. Soon, she would no longer be able to see
Anthy for them. But she had seen. She had seen the girl's clothing
disintegrate as the swords tore into her. Her hair, unbound, had fallen down to
her waist in lustrous violet waves. Blood had poured down her naked flesh in
rivers. Her head had been bowed. Her arms raised pliantly into the air above
her, a single sabre pinning the hands together and nailing her to the sky.
	The swords had been tearing at her, piercing her from every angle. Blood
had flowed like water. Her body could not possibly survive it. But that had not
been the worst. Rei could still see Anthy's eyes. Anthy was looking straight
ahead, and her eyes met Rei's.
	Those eye were not eyes in pain. Those eyes were not eyes pleading for
release. They were empty. They were hollow. Rei had looked into those eyes and
seen nothing human. They just stared back at her, empty of everything except
some alien, inhuman emotion.
	And suddenly Rei understood. This was the secret of Ohtori Academy. All
the deceptions and layers had been designed to conceal this. Not that this girl
was in torment. Not that this girl was the source of it all. They were
concealing that this girl DESERVED the torment. Maybe she hadn't, at first, but
there was nothing left there to save now.
	Rei turned away, unable to look any more. She heard Usagi gasp, finally
catching her voice. "No... no! I won't let this happen!" Rei felt the power
surge. She spun, trying to stop her, but Usagi was already holding forward the
crystal. It glowed, and like the golden light before it, the silver light filled
the world. "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" Usagi screamed at the top of her lungs.
	The light of the crystal washed over Anthy in waves. There was nothing
there anymore, nothing but a cocoon of steel the size of a woman. Blood ran
from it, tiny gruesome waterfalls falling to the earth. As the light of the
silver crystal flowed over it, the blood on the ground vanished. But the crimson
liquid never stopped flowing. The power of the crystal washed over the prison of
swords and the prison did not so much as waver.
	Usagi was gritting her teeth. There was sweat on her brow. Her hands
were trembling. She screamed again, "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!" Nobody could do
anything. Ami was knelt against a building, shielding her eyes. Makoto was
crouched nearby, her face a mix of awe and horror. Nanami... Nanami was right in
front of them, standing before the prison. The light of the silver crystal was
washing around her, tracing out a dome that had somehow covered the girl. Every
now and then the dome flashed gold and Rei thought she saw a phantom figure, a
tall horse with a golden horn. Its feathered wings were stretched down to
protect Nanami.
	"WORK!" Usagi screamed.
	"Usagi, stop it!" Rei yelled.
	"I won't!"
	"You'll kill yourself!" Rei warned, taking a step forward, "It isn't
doing anything!"
	"IT HAS TO!"
	Rei didn't realise what she had done until Usagi fell to the ground. The
girl looked up at her, her eyes wide with pain and shock. She touched her red
cheek gingerly. The silver crystal had fallen at her feet. Rei lowered her hand,
taking deep breaths.
	"It won't work," Rei explained. "You can't save her with that."
	Usagi looked up at Rei for a long moment, until Rei couldn't stand it
any longer. Finally, she turned and left. She had no idea where she was going,
except away.

*

	The red sports car skidded to a halt with a screech, leaving a trail of
burnt rubber along the road. The monster dwarfed the vehicle by several orders
of magnitude. It was a tremendous lizard, a creature like a dinosaur come to
life. It stood almost fifteen meters tall, standing upright on two legs, with
tiny arms and a head surrounded by flaring horns that spiraled off in all
directions. From those horns hung trails of moss and lichen. Its flesh was thick
wood. Its eyes were one meter diameter pools of almost liquid amber. On its
face, just above its eyes, was a tiny blue seed.
	It roared and reared back one foot, bringing it down on the car. A man
flipped out the door at the last second. He had long brown hair and wore a pair
of tan slacks and a matching jacket. The car exploded in a fireball as the
thing's clawed foot smashed through its hood. A moment later the tyrant lizard
reared back and exhaled sharply. A cloud of green mist flooded over the area.
Metal and concrete melted, dissolving into sludge at the slightest contact. A
dozen people, too slow or scared to get out of the path, died screaming.
	The man had somehow dodged to the side. For a moment, there had been a
flash around him. It was like a shield of starlight had deflected some of the
damage away from him. He leaned on one leg, and faced the beast.
	There was a commotion from the other end of the street. Hundreds of
people running, screaming. The cause was another of the tyrant lizards. It
screamed, something like a lion and a bear but more primal. As the crowd ran, a
dark van rolled down the street. It came to a halt in front of the fleeing
crowd. The top of it exploded, and the sides fell apart. Inside were half a
dozen creatures. They had red skin and the heads of hairless rats. On their
shoulders were massive pods that snapped open, one after another. There were
weapons in those tubes, weapons unlike anything the watcher had ever seen
before. They glowed with sharp red light.
	Then lasers lanced from the smaller monsters, a dozen rays of violent
light. They slashed through the air - and the crowd - without hesitation. The
beams converged on the second lizard, and it roared as its body burst into
flames. A second later the barrage ended with a ear-shattering bang as a hole
the size of a city bus erupted through the lizard. It fell over. A few people
who had begun running from the humanoid artillery platforms were caught and
crushed under its weight.
	The crowd had scattered in all directions now. The people were
screaming. In the distance, a lance of blue light as wide across as a city block
traced across the skyline, annihilating everything in its path. The top of a
nearby skyscraper exploded upward, a giant flatworm rising through the blossom
of dust and raining deadly debris. It was immediately surrounded by a small army
of winged creatures. They screamed, the sound muffled by distance, but still
piercing and painful. The flatworm rocked back and forth, then a geyser of green
blood spurted from its forehead and it fell. Its weight tore the side off the
building.
	"Back, beast!"
	The watcher's attention refocused on the man who had escaped the ill-
fated sports car. He was holding up a single hand towards the monsters. Sometime
in the moments when other things had served as a distraction, the man had
acquired a sword and shield and changed into a grey uniform. A flash of
starlight flared from the man's hand and the tyrant lizard staggered back, a
crater as wide across as a truck appearing in its hide. It roared and tried to
crush him, but he leapt back, his sword coming up. There was a flash of green
blood as the sword bit through thick wood like it was nothing. The creature
pulled back. With another cry the man gestured again, and this time the thing
fell back a few paces.
	The observer had seen enough. He stepped forward, out of the screaming
crowd. Others were following him. They could see his confidence. They could
sense that he was not going to die. They wanted him to protect them, to guide
them. Very well, it would do for now.
	"You have to strike the seed on its forehead," the observer noted once
he was within earshot of the man. The man looked at him, but turned back almost
at once. Another spray of deadly green mist had descended from the monster.
Somehow, he held it off with his shield. Then he leapt up, traversing the space
like a bird. His sword flashed and he landed on the other side of the tyrant
lizard. It swooned, then fell back, missing him by inches.
	The creatures in the van had begun to disembark. They were moving in
their direction now. The pods on their shoulders were still open. Lines of light
were beginning to trace along their bodies, converging on the strange battery-
shaped guns inside.
	"You had better deal with those ones, too," the observer told the
warrior. The man glanced back at him. He had piercing eyes that went well with
his long brown hair. He snorted and turned to the approaching humanoids. They
launched their blasts, all at once. The man gestured and the blasts curved
around him at all angles, flying clockwise and widdershins to carve long glowing
lines into the glass towers. The creatures could only stare as he gestured again
and a field of stars seemed to surround them. Suddenly out of the stars a lion
formed. It pounced and sunk its claws into the nearest creature. Then there was
another lion, and another. Soon, the laser-bearing monsters were too busy to
concern themselves with the warrior anymore.
	"Thank you," the man said, walking towards the crowd. The observer
nodded. "But if you think I'm here to save you, then you are mistaken." He
turned to leave and the observer grasped his shoulder. The man stiffened.
	"I don't want you to save me," the observer noted. "But..." He glanced
back at the crowd that was forming. There were hundreds. This was a sea of calm.
The entire city had become a killing field in less than an hour. This was one of
the few safe places. "A wise man knows when an opportunity presents itself. A
wise general knows that of such opportunities, armies are born. These people,
all of them, will be grateful to the end for respite from this chaos."
	The man looked at the observer for a long moment. When he spoke, it was
mainly to himself. "'Find out how humans make war', is this what she meant?" He
looked up at the observer, his eyes narrowing. "I can take only so many. My
magic has been strained. But I can offer respite. All I ask in return is
obedience. Obedience to myself and my queen."
	"They will offer it." And the crowd roared its assent. Anything was
better than this. Anything was better than anonymous death in a war between
monsters. At least, for now.
	"Good. I am Nephrite. And you?"
	"Me? You can call me Touga. Touga Kiryuu."

*

	The streets around Gedo High were quiet. The wind blew through them.
There was not a soul in sight. The distant ring of explosions, the distant echo
of screams, they were the only sounds. Inside the building, hundreds of people
crouched and prayed. To Buddha, to God, to the Kami, to a thousand names. To
whoever was convenient.
	Akira stood on the wall, one foot raised up on the gate. Her brother
stood beneath her. The ends of his coat rustled slightly around him. His two
lieutenants stood on either side. Gan's head rose up so high his eyes were level
with Akira's boots. Edge was running the edge of a switchblade along the brick
wall, causing a stream of sparks.
	In the walls of the school, in the courtyard, there were the students.
They held bats and planks of wood, they carried sticks and rocks. They had all
gathered here. Hundreds of them. Not just from Gedo, but every student that felt
they could fight from the entire ward. There were many adults among them too:
teachers, parents, and others. Akira had spent the last few hours screening
them, looking over them. She had learned the trick of sensing battle spirit from
Ukyou. Those that had the power, she let stay. Those that did not, she sent back
into the building. No matter how well-intentioned, they would be nothing in the
fight that was coming.
	The only thing that worried Akira was that there were no aragami.
Certainly she and the other fighting students of the ward had cleaned out a lot
in the last few weeks, but surely not all of them. Yet, even though Akira could
see them in the distance, none had come here. It was well enough. The giant war
machines that were plaguing the other parts of the city... she wasn't certain
they could have dealt with them.
	Akira snapped her head to the side. She could see them. They were just a
shadow, growing closer under the black sky. But they began to become more
distinct. More and more joined the advance, sliding in from side streets and
alleys, coming out of buildings and vehicles. Some started out human, but
quickly shed such pretenses.
	It was an army. There were apes with wicked claws, giant men with horns
and skin the color of jade, creatures covered in spines and other less pleasant
things. There were hundreds of them.
	"This is it," Akira muttered. She saw her brother nod. He stepped
forward. Just him, by himself. Akira resisted the urge to jump down with him.
That wasn't part of the plan. Daigo continued forward, until he was halfway
between the horde and the school.
	He threw open his coat and clenched his fists. With a stamp of his foot,
the entire street shook. The horde stumbled to a stop.
	"This is OUR school!" he declared, his voice ringing so loudly it could
probably be heard a dozen blocks away. "We will protect it with our lives! Now
turn back!"
	"We aren't interested in your lives," a voice replied. It sounded like a
buzz, like the hum and crackle of great turbines roaring to life. A glow was
stepping through the crowd of monsters. It was accompanied by a sizzling sound,
like a live wire snapping at the ground. The creature was like a humanoid eel,
its body purple and silver with a long neck and rainbow lights floating across
his body. Four long tendrils extended from its back, snapping through the air.
"We've come for Akane Tendo. We know she's here. Hand her over, and none of you
humans need be harmed."
	Akane? Why could Akane be so important? Akira clenched her fist. When
Shampoo had arrived and taken Akane with her, Akira had chosen to stay here. It
was more important to save people, to gather them to safety within these walls,
than to deal with Pink and Chris. For now.
	Daigo chuckled grimly. "I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said she
wasn't here," he said stoically.
	"Not really," the creature snarled, its voice raising an octave.
"Besides, I'll enjoy tormenting the information out of you, human."
	"Okay." Daigo held up his hands. Akira tensed. She could feel the energy
of the situation rising. It was like a thick mist, filling the air all around
them. But this mist was hot. The fog of war. Akira smiled grimly. "Then I guess
that's that." And with a second roar he brought his foot down again. The ground
shook. The monster pointed and his army charged. Daigo stood firm, and brought
his foot down once more. The pavement beneath him buckled. The roaring horde
grew closer.
	The fourth blow did it. With a sound like an avalanche the entire street
collapsed in. Akira cheered. This entire neighbourhood was old, run down. The
sewers here were large, from before modern construction. With his last strike,
Daigo had caved in the entire thing. The monsters roared in pain as they tumbled
into the sudden moat. Daigo himself was running back, his footsteps two paces
ahead of the collapsing street. He leapt at the last moment and Akira did as
well. She felt Gan catch her legs, his huge hands swallowing her entire shins.
Her hand caught Daigo's. He smirked at her. Then Gan was swinging them back up
onto the wall.
	They landed gracefully and locked back. The approach to the school was
now a sea of wreckage. While Daigo and the others had been rounding up as many
people as they could, Akira had been in the sewers, weakening key locations.
With Daigo's action, it had set off a chain reaction. Even now, Akira could hear
it encircling the school, spreading out on both sides. It would form a moat, and
the walls of the school a battlement.
	But the leader of the zoanoids floated above the wreckage, his body
sheathed in electric light. The zoanoids that had fallen in were rising. None of
them were harmed. None of them out of the fight. Akira clenched her fists.
	"And I was just going to show you snot-nosed punks a little humility,"
the leader said in his buzzing electric voice. "Kill them! Kill every last one
of them!" And with a roar, his army rushed to obey.
	"Stand together!" Daigo shouted, and the students within the walls
roared back.

*

	Kunikida looked up as the door slid open. There was a large shadow
blocking the way. A huge mountain with coarse grey flesh stood there, carrying a
woman by the arm. It laughed and threw her inside.
	"Koume!" Ryoko cried.
	"Even she couldn't get away..." Yaegashi hissed. His glasses had been
broken and hung oddly off his nose. But he was moving over to her carefully. The
girl had landed badly against the wall and lay on the floor moaning. Her arm was
bent at an angle arms were not meant to bend.
	"Of course she couldn't," the monster laughed, its voice cruel and
mocking as it rumbled. "Did you think mere humans were any match for a hyper
zoanoid? You can't possibly defeat us."
	"So is that the way it is?" Kunikida sneered. "We're just supposed to
give up and make way for you? Evolution in action, is it?"
	"Heh, just that, human!" the creature laughed once more. Kunikida looked
away as it slid the door closed. He unclenched his fists. It was useless to
fight back now. He just wished there was something he could do, something he
could accomplish!
	He had been such a fool. Did mere humans have any strength at all in
this world? He had thought he could at least help the champions, the warriors
organise and fight when this moment came. But he couldn't even protect Momiji
from one monster. He felt bile rise in his throat as he remembered the metallic
creature that had burst into the safehouse. They couldn't even dent it. Just
like the day that Kaede had been taken from him, he had been able to do nothing.
Nothing but watch.
	In the chaos that had followed the attack, the entire TAC had been easy
pickings for the zoanoids that had come for them. It appeared that now, with the
need for secrecy gone, they had no more use for him or his team. But...
	Why not just kill them?
	He remembered the massive creature picking up Yaegashi, its paw almost
large enough to wrap completely around his waist. The computer specialist had
gasped and cried out as he was drawn into the air by the rhinoceros-like
monster. When it had asked where 'the girl' was, Kunikida had first thought it
meant Momiji. It was the obvious solution for the zoanoids. Why bother fighting
the aragami openly, when they could just kill one girl and end it all? The truth
of the matter had surprised Kunikida.
	Yaegashi's pain-filled confession about how Momiji had been captured
didn't seem to faze the beast. It had asked about 'the other girl', the martial
artist. Then Kunikida had thought it meant Ukyou. But that also wasn't the case.
It meant some girl named 'Akane'. Whoever this Akane was, she was very important
to Chronos. They wanted her badly. Enough that they were keeping the TAC alive
because they felt they MIGHT have some connection to her.
	Kunikida wanted to laugh.
	"I think she'll be okay." Yaegashi looked up. "She's unconscious, but
not too badly hurt aside from her arm. They're being surprisingly gentle with
us."
	Kunikida nodded and sighed.
	Minutes passed. It was hard to tell how many. The room they were in was
dark, lit only by what light leaked in from under the door. He could hear the
distant sound of explosions. He remembered what little he had seen as the
zoanoids dragged them to this place. Tokyo was being torn apart. He wondered if
anything of it would survive. No matter who won, humanity was going to lose.
	The door opened again, and the massive figure was there again. He was
carrying another dark shape over his shoulder. With a flip of his arm he sent it
stumbling into the room, where it came to rest in a pool of light.
	Ryoko gasped. Yaegashi growled. Kunikida just stared.
	The door closed, and the face of Matsudaira was once again plunged into
shadow like everything else. From what he had seen of her, she had not fared
well. Her face was a mass of bruises, purple and black welts eradicating what
remained of her beauty. Her body was little better: thin cuts covered her from
head to toe, and her dress had been torn and bloodied. But she was breathing.
	"What is SHE doing here?" Yaegashi snarled.
	"They must have captured her, just like they did us." Kunikida stood up.
"I kept sending reports to my superiors, reports that Chronos must have
intercepted. I never mentioned Matsudaira's betrayal. I just kept saying that
everything was going on as normal. They must have assumed that she was still
with us."
	"Good," Yaegashi said with finality. He was moving towards the woman,
but Kunikida stopped him with one arm. "What are you doing!?" he demanded.
	"I was going to ask you that," Kunikida replied.
	"I'm going... I'm going... to get back at her!" Yaegashi snarled. "She
works for THEM now. If we can interrogate her, we can find out what they plan!
What they want Momiji for!"
	"And what good would that accomplish, stuck in here?"
	"You should let him go, Kunikida." He looked down, and Matsudaira was
rising up to a sitting position. Her eyes flashed brown in the half-light. "If
he wants to throw his life away, then let him."
	"You're awake?" Kunikida said needlessly.
	"Of course I am," she answered. "I don't have the same human weaknesses
you do." She looked pointedly at Koume, who was resting as peacefully as she
could with a fractured arm.
	"Yes..." Kunikida sighed. "Can I just ask why, Matsudaira?"
	"That isn't my name anymore." She pushed over and leaned against a wall.
"I am Azuma, of the Deathbusters. The heralds of Lord Pharaoh 90." She hissed
and winced when she had to shift her leg.
	"I see that Chronos did as good a job on you as you did on us," Yaegashi
snapped.
	"Chronos?" Azuma chuckled. "This was done by Kusanagi. He was quite
upset with me."
	"Kusanagi found you?" Ryoko replied. "I'm surprised you're still alive."
	Azuma snorted. "That boy is too soft-hearted for his own good." She
sneered, nothing more than a flash of white teeth in the darkness. "Back before
all this started, back before I met Ranma and we found all the other martial
artists, do you know what he did? He threatened me. He was warning me away from
Momiji. He thought I was going to do diabolical experiments on her." She
laughed. "But I knew he didn't have the guts. I knew that was just a show. Even
when he had me helpless, after all I've done, he didn't finish me off."
	"You underestimate him," Kunikida said. "But I'm surprised you're still
here. Don't you have magic powers, the kind that could break you free from
here?"
	"Why bother?" She shrugged. "It's all over, Kunikida. I can feel it. He
is coming. Pharaoh 90 is finding his way to this world, and when he arrives,
everything ends." Her voice began to grow rapturous. "It will all be made so
simple. A complex, flawed, broken world that makes no sense, all brought down to
a single truth. The grand unifying theory, Kunikida. The principle on which the
entire universe turns. The holy grail of science. I discovered it from him. I
discovered the truth."
	"And what did you discover?"
	"Everything ends."
	"Was it worth it, then?" he asked.
	"What?" She tilted her head at him.
	"Giving up everything, abandoning your friends, your family, your free
will, your humanity. Was losing all of that worth it, Azuma? Was the answer you
got one that made you happy?"
	"Happy?" she chuckled. "I KNOW, Kunikida. What does happy matter? I
know, and soon the entire world will know with me." She paused. "Besides, what I
lost hardly matters. Friends? Family? Illusions we craft around our lives.
Chemical processes in the brain that have been hard wired into us by thousands
of years of evolution.
	"Free will? A pathetic grasp at straws. Ever since the universe started,
it has all been cause and effect. One thing leading to another, inevitable. From
the movements of the largest galaxy to the smallest particle of matter. It's all
predicted by formula. At the beginning of time, all this was set in motion by
the first collision between two things. Ever since then, it's all been an
unstoppable and predictable chain reaction leading to this moment, to this
point. It's destiny, it's fate, it's chance... whatever you want to call it.
	"And humanity? Nothing but a word we created to separate ourselves from
animals. A word that makes us feel good about ourselves when we slaughter our
brothers and sisters, because we do it in the name of 'humanity'. A word that
divides. You should be happy I'm helping to put an end to it, Kunikida. Finally
this hypocritical human race, and the even more hypocritical zoanoids and
aragami and everything else... finally, it will all come to an end."
	"So that's what they did to you," he said, sitting down.
	"What?"
	"They took away your faith, Matsudaira."
	"Don't call me that," she snarled.
	"The woman I knew, she had faith. She knew that she could never learn
all the answers, but it wasn't about that. Because she knew when she moved on,
someone else would take her place. She knew she wasn't the best mother, the best
person, but she struggled on because she knew that she loved her family and her
friends, even if she didn't always know how to express it. Azusa Matsudaira was
one of the best people I knew, because she believed in something that couldn't
be defined by science, or society or even words." He looked down at his hands.
"That's why I chose her. Because she would never accept the final answer. She
struggled every day to find a way to save Kaede's life. Even when Kaede was
gone, she kept struggling. Even though it looked like there was no hope. Even
though it looked like there was no way to save Momiji, she continued fighting.
Because she knew that it wasn't winning that was important. It was fighting. She
had faith, that in the end, if she fought, it would all work out."
	"A... a foolish fantasy." Azuma crossed her arms. "I've moved beyond
such things now."
	"No." He looked at her. "You haven't. This thing, this alien monster
inside you. It consumed your faith. Or you think it has. But that's the thing
about faith, Matsudaira. It can't be consumed. It can't be exhausted. Even when
all you can see around you is darkness. Even when everything seems lost, you
still have faith. All you have to do is believe.
	"Just like I believe in you, Matsudaira." He lowered his eyes again. "I
have faith that you're here for a reason. That I'm here for a reason. I believe
in you, wherever you are inside that monster that is trying to eat your soul. I
forgive you. Please, come back to us."
	"What nonsense," Azuma sneered, but her voice was not filled with
conviction. Kunikida said nothing, and so they waited a long time in the
darkness.

*

	Chizuru walked through the crowds of screaming people. They were all
running in all directions. It had happened so fast. One moment, it had been a
festival. An eclipse that nobody had expected, and suddenly all the people of
Tokyo had a reason to celebrate. Then this. Chaos, destruction, death...
	A monster was in the crowd, dueling with another beast. Chizuru walked
up to them casually. She grabbed one by the back of its neck and snapped it with
a single practiced motion. The other staggered back, stunned by this sudden
intrusion. Chizuru moved forward, gliding across the blood-slick pavement. Her
hand came up and caught it in the sternum, right above where she could sense its
heart lay. The blow looked gentle, almost feather-light, but she could feel bone
shatter. The creature continued stumbling back, blood trickling from its mouth.
It was staring... behind her?
	Chizuru spun in place, her long hair spinning about her. The thing that
rose above her was massive. It was humanoid, but its body was covered in grey
plates. Dozens of thick spines rose from those plates in all directions. It
looked like a grotesque humanoid spiked club. Its arms were coming down at her,
the spikes on its forearms threatening to crush her to death.
	She made to move back, but stopped. The creature had stopped moving. A
fist had emerged from its torso. A fist made of black chitin. The fist retracted
and the thing vomited up blood before it was shoved aside. Chizuru frowned at
the thing that faced her now.
	She had seen it only a few times before. It was humanoid, like all the
zoanoids. But it was also not like a zoanoid in many other ways. This one had
bits of metal on it, a circular medal in its forehead and an orb on its waist.
Despite its organic appearance and demonic bearing, it reminded her more of a
suit of armour than a monster. Steam jetted from an exhaust port on the thing's
right cheek.
	"Are you alright?" the thing asked, its voice human if distorted
slightly.
	"I'm fine." Chizuru flicked her hand, sending a few stray drops of blood
flying. "I've seen you before. You've been stalking Uranus and Neptune."
	"I wouldn't quite say that," the man inside the armour replied. He
glanced towards the outskirts of the city, where a titanic dragon with eight
heads was ravaging everything in sight. Chizuru stared at the spectacle, a mix
of wonder and horror filling her. "I've been trying to contact them for weeks.
I need to get in touch with their leader."
	"Sailor Pluto?"
	"No, Sailor Moon."
	"Who?"
	He paused, staring at her through the glossy black eyes of the armour.
"Listen, do you know how to contact this Sailor Pluto?"
	"Pluto..." Chizuru sighed. "Yes. I know exactly where she is."
	"Is she in the city?"
	"No. Not anymore..."
	"Good." Chizuru's eyes snapped up at the sudden relief in his tone.
"Listen, we have to get out of here. This city is going to explode. We don't
have much time. I can get us both safely out, if you promise to lead me to
Sailor Pluto."
	"I..." Chizuru looked around. A crowd of people had gathered. Why
wouldn't they? These two had killed monsters and weren't trying to kill them.
Who else could they trust? Where else were they going to go? "But what about all
these people?"
	The armoured man looked at them. The demonic mask that covered his face
was expressionless. "What about them?"
	"We can't just leave them!" Chizuru snarled.
	"Yes we can, yes we will." He held out his hand towards her. "This isn't
a battle we can win. It's a tragedy, but we have to leave to fight another day.
Gather our forces. Find allies. Then, then we can take Chronos down, once and
for all. But not today. Today all we'll do if we stay here is die."
	She knocked his hand aside. "I have to find Neptune and Uranus." She
began to walk away. "Do whatever you want."
	"Isn't there something more important you have to fight for, Chizuru
Kagura?"
	She stopped at the sound of her name. Then she sighed and ducked her
head. He was right, just not about what he thought he was. There was something
more important to fight than Chronos today. There was a message she had to
deliver. If Pluto didn't know... if she didn't know that there were OTHERS. That
there were things beyond Ukyou that had that terrible power... then she would go
on fighting a war with one eye blinded.
	"Very well." She looked back over her shoulder at him. "But I do have to
find Uranus and Neptune. They are under my guard. They are my responsibility."
	He nodded. "Then meet me there." He pointed at the shadow of Mount Fuji,
floating serenely on a blanket of mist despite all the chaos. "I can get us out
of Japan, away from Chronos, without them being able to track us. I'll wait for
you until midnight."
	With a single leap he flashed up onto a nearby rooftop, and then was
gone. Chizuru watched where he had vanished for a moment, then returned to her
search.

*

	Akane moved forward, step by step. She was swaying a bit. Or was that
the world? It was so hard to tell. There was an overturned police car nearby. It
was on fire. A woman was curled up in a doorway, rocking back and forth and
muttering. There was smoke in the sky, and the sun was still dark. In the
distance the moon was rising, a pale ghost shadow in the darkness.
	The moon... Akane stared up at it. It had brought her back. She had been
dead. She had been saved. Sometime between the two, she had been changed. She
didn't know how, or why. She just knew.
	Akane suddenly started yelling. She kicked a nearby vending machine and
it exploded, scattering merchandise across the street. "Damn you!" she roared,
her face turned towards that ghost moon. "What do you want from me? Why me? What
did I do that was so special? God damn you!" She fell to her knees. "Why not
someone else? Why not Shampoo? Why not anyone else! I'm not ready! I can't do
it! Whatever you want from me, I can't do it!"
	Akane wasn't sure who she was yelling at, but it felt good. She had been
keeping it inside. Ever since... ever since Narita. Ever since her sister's life
had depended on Akane holding in her temper. She had been holding it in and
holding it in. She had to be strong. She had to be in control. Ukyou had said
that to her. Tofu had said that to her. She had to be the strong one, the one to
take charge, the one who knew what to do. The Sailor Senshi had trusted her.
Cologne had trusted her. Chris had trusted her.
	So she had kept it inside. But why? Why bother? Why not just charge down
that street, screaming? Why not find the first zoanoid or other monster and
behead them? Her hand curled around the hilt of her sword. It was still stained
with Shampoo's blood.
	Akane would never let this sword go. She would never forget.
Sometimes... sometimes there were things that just had to be defeated. Some
evils were so insidious, so pervasive, that the only solution was destruction.
Akane rose to her feet again, lifting the blade in front of her. The fire
glinted off the steel, turning it red.
	It felt good to be angry again. It felt good to not have to think about
being in charge, about setting an example. It felt good to just seethe and rage
against it. It felt good to lash out. She stalked down the street, kicking a car
to the side as she did. There were tears running down her cheeks again, hot
tears, but the pain felt better now.
	Akane could see the monsters in the distance. There was a battle
occurring around the corner. Akane slid the sword down behind her. She would
give them no warning. She would strike without mercy. It would feel good to have
something she could fight and kill. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block
out the tears.
	She had to do this. It was the way. She could feel the pulse of destiny
around her again. The invisible hand of whatever higher power had touched her
when she had died. She could feel its hands on her, steering her. It wanted her
to fight. It wanted her to win.
	She just had to take one step forward. She just had to turn the corner
and strike. It was just two steps away now. Her heart was beating so loud she
could hear it echoing in her chest. Her breathing was so sharp it hurt. Her
knuckles turned white as they gripped the shaft of her sword. Just be angry,
Akane. Wasn't that what a fire aspect was? Fury and rage. The power of unbridled
passion. She could master that power, if she just stopped resisting it in
herself.
	The sword fell from her fingertips. It clattered on the street. Akane
slid against the wall, slowly lowering herself to the ground. She placed her
head in her hands and wept. She couldn't... she just couldn't go through with
it. She needed the kind of power it would give her. If she was ever going to
protect this nation. If she was ever going to defeat Chronos. If she was ever
going to stop Chris. She needed that power.
	But she couldn't. She was too weak. She was too human.
	Akane heard the battle around the corner come to a close. Two monsters
turned the corner. Akane looked up. They were zoanoids. Chris had given them all
files about them. Descriptions of what they looked like. Descriptions of their
powers. But for the life of her, Akane could remember none of that now. They
were just monsters, monsters that served Chronos. They paused when they saw this
pathetic human girl, crying against the corner.
	"Hey, look at this..." the one on the right said. "Let's have a little
fun!"
	"We don't have time for this," the other responded.
	"But..." Then it paused, and looked closer. "It's... it's her!"
	"Her?"
	"The Tendo woman!" the thing pointed. "Quick, we have to tell Commander
Gy-"
	Akane blinked. The zoanoid had stopped in mid-word. Its body had frozen.
It looked like a statue of a beast, just standing there in the middle of the
street.
	"Akane..."
	Akane started to her feet.
	"Nabiki!"
	Akane ran towards her sister. She looked like hell. Her hair was mussed
and her clothing was ripped and torn. She was clutching a sword in one hand. No,
not just clutching, cradling. She wasn't even looking at Akane. Her eyes were
focused on the two zoanoids. Akane was about to throw her arms around the other
girl but stopped. Nabiki was sweating, little beads of effort trickling down her
brow.
	"Get out of here, meet me around the corner," Nabiki said through
clenched teeth.
	"Nabiki, what are you?"
	"Just go! I can't keep this up forever!"
	"I..." Akane nodded. "Right."
	Akane ran down the block, turning a corner. A moment later Nabiki came
running as well, as if the devil was on her heels. She grabbed Akane and walked
up to a door. She twisted the handle and led Akane inside, then slammed it
behind her.
	"Nabiki, what's going on? What happened back there?"
	"A little trick I'm beginning to pick up," Nabiki said idly. She was
leaning against the wall, taking deep breaths. "It.... takes a lot more out of
me than I thought it would."
	"Those monsters..."
	"As far as they know, you just vanished." Nabiki looked up, as if she
was listening to something. "We don't have much time. Gyro is already sending
more zoanoids here. Lots more. We have to keep moving."
	Akane only nodded as Nabiki led her down to the basement. Nabiki didn't
hesitate, didn't pause for an instant. She opened a grate in the basement floor
and led Akane down into the sewers. Nabiki began to move through them at a brisk
walk, and Akane followed.
	"What are you doing, Nabiki?"
	"I picked the information out of a sewer worker's mind," Nabiki
explained. "In case I needed to make a quick escape."
	"Picked the information..." Akane trailed off. That sounded entirely too
much like what Chris did for Akane's taste. "What's happened to you, Nabiki?"
	Nabiki looked back, but it was impossible to make out her expression in
the gloom. "I wished for it."
	"Wished?"
	Nabiki gestured with her sword. "Three wishes. I got them from this
sword. It's why I stayed in Nerima. Why I didn't leave with Daddy." She paused.
"And I wished I could read minds."
	"Psychic?" Akane blinked.
	"Don't worry," Nabiki said. "I wouldn't look in your mind." She chuckled
grimly. "God knows what kind of mental diseases I could pick up from you."
	"Hey!"
	Akane suddenly staggered to a stop. She grabbed Nabiki's sleeve. "You
still have wishes left! You only used one, right?" Akane could feel hope welling
within her again.
	Nabiki looked at her. "No. I used two."
	"Two..."
	"Never mind." Nabiki pulled herself free. "I know what you're going to
ask, Akane. I don't need telepathy to do that. The answer is no."
	"But the city, all these people!" Akane grabbed her again, and this time
it wasn't a tender sisterly touch. This time it was an iron grip, like a vice.
"You could end it, right? Just one wish and you could end this entire stupid
war!" Nabiki stared at Akane levelly. Akane snarled and slammed her against the
wall of the sewer. "Damnit, Nabiki! This isn't a game! People are dying up
there. Real people, with real lives. You have the power to save them!"
	"Don't lecture me about real people, Akane," Nabiki snarled, pushing
Akane back. Akane let go, surprised at Nabiki's sudden resistance more than
actually moved by her strength. "You think I can't feel it? It's impossible to
tune out. All this fear and horror and death, it's pounding into my skull like a
thousand sledgehammers! I KNOW it's real, Akane. I know it in a way you never
will." Then she straightened. "But I have to think in the long term, Akane."
	"The long term..." Akane's temper was rising again, but Nabiki cut her
off.
	"Yes, the long term!" she snapped. "You think this is the worst it's
going to get, Akane? This little war here is NOTHING!" She gestured up at the
ceiling. "Up there is a creature with a mind so filled with twisted greed and
malice it can't even be called human anymore. That mind happens to be the mind
of a man so strong he could shatter this entire city! You've met him, Akane.
Reichmann Gyro. Familiar?"
	"Gyro..." Akane shuddered. She remembered him. His cold, manic laugh.
His deadly incision wave...
	"And he's just the tip of the iceberg." Nabiki looked down. "There are
twelve of them, just like him. Just as strong. I could feel it when two of them
battled. I could feel the psychic duel all the way across the city. I thought my
head was going to explode. I wanted to tear out my own eyes and die, just to
make it stop." Nabiki looked down. "And then there's Arkanphel..."
	"Arkanphel?" Akane recognized the name. Chris had mentioned it.
	"His power..." Nabiki shuddered. "He makes them seem like ants, Akane."
She looked up. "And I don't think he's the only one. I know he isn't. There are
forces in this universe that are so awesome we humans can't begin to compare."
Nabiki held up her sword. "And you want me to waste this on one little opening
skirmish in the war? Maybe I could wish away all the zoalords. Maybe I could
wish away Arkanphel and Murakumo and a dozen other threats. But there are a
dozen more I don't know about. I can't waste this wish! Not unless everything is
on the line!"
	"Nabiki..." Akane was torn. She was making sense. But then again, Chris
had always made sense too. Something in her told her that there had to be
something Nabiki could do. "Can't you just... wish that everyone would be
alright?"
	"It doesn't work that way..." Nabiki said almost too softly. Akane was
about to ask something else but Nabiki cut her off. "It just doesn't!" she
snapped. She took a deep breath and pinched her nose. "Just drop it, Akane.
Unless you want to start breaking my arms you aren't going to get me to change
my mind. And I don't think you have it in you."
	Akane hated to admit it, but she was sorely tempted. Instead she sighed
and nodded.
	"Good." Nabiki started down the tunnel again. "Because I didn't just
come here to rescue you." Akane blinked. "Remember, I'm tuned in on all Gyro's
commands. He wants you, Akane. He wants to get a hold of you badly. He wants to
know how you came back to life. He wants to know what secrets you can tell about
the silver crystal." Akane blanched. "He doesn't know I can read him. He can't
feel me yet, because I've been subtle. But I know that if he catches you he'll
do... things to you. To your body. To your mind. You'll become one of them, and
his slave." Nabiki sighed. "He'll make you turn on Sailor Moon, lead him to
her." Akane shuddered.
	"But we have a bigger problem."
	"How is that possible?" Akane groaned.
	Nabiki stopped and looked at Akane. "It's easier if I just show you.
Show you what I saw." Nabiki reached out and grabbed Akane's forehead, and Akane
saw.
	It was the memories of a monster. The monster Aptom. His memories of
everything Telulu had done to him. And the memories of the thing inside him. The
memories of their mission. Pharaoh 90. The end of the world.
	Akane staggered back, blinking away tears. "What... what was that?"
	"You have to stop it, Akane." Nabiki grabbed her hand and Akane felt her
push something into her palm. "I could feel it the moment I touched these. It's
all that's left of Sailor Uranus and Neptune. They... they were meant for you."
	Akane looked down at her palm. There were two glittering oval seeds
there. One was a soft aquamarine, the other a hot orangish-yellow. They felt
so... right. It was like a key fitting into a lock. It felt perfect.
	"You can stop Pharaoh 90." Nabiki said, beginning to walk down the left-
hand passage. "But not alone. There's someone you know. Someone else who is
important that needs the other one. Together, you can save the world, Akane."
	"Wait, Nabiki, how do you know this?"
	"I..." Nabiki reached up, flexing her hands. "The seeds told me, Akane.
I could feel... something. Something through them." She paused. "You'll need to
find Telulu. Aptom was never trusted with the location of her final plan.
There's a woman who can tell you, but she's been captured by Chronos." Nabiki
looked down the path. "You better hurry, Akane. When the sun would have set...
it will be too late."
	"Nabiki, where are you going?"
	"Away," Nabiki replied shortly.
	A final thought struck Akane. "What about Ryouga? Wasn't he with you?"
	Nabiki stopped dead in her tracks. When she next spoke, it was with a
voice so thick with pain and sorrow that Akane had a hard time believing this
was her sister speaking. "He isn't anymore. Go, Akane. Go now!"

*

	"Come out, Mamoru Chiba!" The creature's voice was forced out of
distorted, inhuman vocal chords, and had a gurgling liquid undertone.  But the
arrogance in it was as clear as any human's could be.  "Don't think that
building can protect you from me."
	Mamoru stepped out of the door.  The long black cape swept around his
feet.  It was heavy.  In fact, the rented tuxedo was heavy in general, and he
had to raise a hand to keep the wind from sweeping the top hat from his head.
The whole getup wasn't ill-fitting, but it was hideously impractical.  Had his
previous outfit somehow been less restrictive?  Or had he just not noticed?
	The zoanoid had been staring at the upper floors of the building, but
the tendrils on the side of its head twitched as the door swung open, and its
gaze dropped to regard him.  The unblinking red eyes seemed to twinkle with
amusement, and the teal armour plates that covered most of its body shifted
slightly as it moved.  A faint hum, like that of electrical equipment,
surrounded the zoanoid; its source were the two giant blades, each a meter long,
that took the place of its hands.  The bony material that formed the "stem" of
the blades was reminiscent of a claws of a crab, but the edge itself was
impossible to see except as a humming blue blur.
	"How boring." the zoanoid commented. "I thought you'd at least leap from
a balcony."
	Mamoru was sweating under the tuxedo.  Even though the sun had long
since vanished from the sky, it was unseasonably hot.  Or was that nervousness?
He fingered the rose in his hand, managing not to react when a thorn pricked his
palm.  "And I'm surprised you came alone."
	"Don't underestimate me, human," the creature sneered. "I am no mere
zoanoid, but a member of the elite of Chronos!  A hyper zoanoid, Thancrus!"  It
crossed the humming blades across its chest. "Lesser zoanoids would merely have
slowed me down.  Will you come quietly with me, Mamoru Chiba?  I truly hope not.
After the disappointment of the Sailor Senshi as opponents, I have looked
forward to a challenge."
	Mamoru smiled with all the confidence he didn't feel.  "Then I hope we
won't disappoint you."
	At that point, the explosives went off under the monster's feet.  Mamoru
stumbled back a step at the detonation, but the charges had been set to be a
"focused" explosion, and nothing more than a few pieces of debris bounced off
his formerly immaculate lapels.
	Unfortunately, Thancrus was hardly any more inconvenienced.  The hyper
zoanoid had landed in a crouch across the street.  The blood-red eyes locked on
Mamoru.  One blade dropped low, slicing through the asphalt of the street like a
hot knife through butter.  And then it was in motion.
	Or so Mamoru assumed.  In fact, he never saw the attack, and it wasn't
because of the annoying reduction of his peripheral vision from the (slightly
lopsided) domino mask.  He literally didn't even see the zoanoid move until it
stopped short halfway to Mamoru, just as a hail of bullets screamed through the
path it was presumably going to travel.  The creature's head swung to face the
source, a low-lying window at another nearby apartment, and then it leaped
backwards gracefully as Marz tried to track his movements with the machine gun.
	Mamoru felt a chill run down his spine.  Neither he nor the girls could
hope to match that thing's speed.  It was as fast as Vega had been, and none of
them were anywhere near what they had been.  None of them were at Vega's level
even back then, either, came the unbidden and unwelcome thought.  But they had
to stick to the plan.
	Thancrus was running now, the claws of its feet tearing divots in the
mangled asphalt of the road.  The bullets came close to it, tantalisingly
close, but never quite touching the teal armour.  The hyper zoanoid was
laughing. It could move faster than that.  It was playing with them.
	Well, that at least was going according to the plan. Abruptly, Thancrus
tired of the game and vanished.  Mamoru's eyes relocked onto it just as its
blades tore into the building.  The machine gun fell silent.  Marz had assured
him she had predicted its attack vector.  He could only hope she was right.
	Loud cracks echoed over the street, and Thancrus slid to the side like
greased lightning.  One bullet had grazed the hyper zoanoid's armour before it
had moved, but only a small dent marked the impact.  Both Thancrus and Mamoru
looked up.  At the balcony Mamoru had not jumped from stood Fevrier.  Her short
fuchsia hair tossed in the wind as she coolly adjusted her aim and fired her
pistol at the zoanoid again.
	"Useless!" Thancrus sneered.  Five cracks from Fevrier's gun followed,
but the zoanoid didn't bother dodging.  Instead, its blades blurred before it,
and there was a sizzling pang as each bullet went flying away, cut precisely in
two.
	That was his cue.  Mamoru dashed forward, desperately concentrating on
not tripping on that stupid cape.  He held the rose high.  He wasn't even
looking at Thancrus, but the zoanoid had to have glanced at him.  Between his
attention to what he thought was his true opponent and Fevrier's bullets, he had
to be distracted...
	"And what's this?" the zoanoid said mildly.  Mamoru looked up.
	Satsuki had leapt from the alleyway as planned, but was now sprawled on
the ground. Her sword lay next to her.  If she had struck at all, she hadn't
even dented the monster's armour plating.  One more bullet from above was
casually swatted from the air like a bothersome fly.  Mamoru's heart sunk, even
as he saw Fevrier duck to frantically reload her pistol.  Thancrus had not been
distracted enough.
	"Was that your plan, Mamoru Chiba?" the monster laughed.  "To throw
little girls at me?  Pathetic."  Satsuki was scrambling to her feet, grabbing
her sword, but Thancrus was raising his own blade.  The zoanoid's lithe but
massive frame, easily over two meters tall, towered over the former Doll.  "See
the consequences of defiaAUUUUGH!"
	The hyper zoanoid screamed as the elbow joint of its raised arm simply
disintegrated.  The now lifeless blade fell to the ground as it spun.  "How..."
and then it cut off with another cry of pain as Satsuki took advantage of its
distraction to dash in low.  Her blade, which she had proclaimed "adequate"
after she had sliced three concrete blocks in two with it, sunk deep into the
back of the creature's knee, where a gap in the armour plates revealed tightly-
wound black muscle fibres.  The hyper zoanoid attempted to turn again, but its
leg crumpled beneath it and it toppled, yanking the sword from Satsuki's hands.
She rolled backwards, barely getting out of the way before Thancrus's massive
frame crashed to the street.
	With only one functional arm and leg, the hyper zoanoid struggled
painfully back to a sitting position, levering itself up on the backside of its
remaining arm.  "I'll kill you..."
	"No, you won't," Marz said.  She has clambered out of the crumbled ruins
of the window.  A large bruise decorated the side of her face, but she was
smirking.  She held a large pistol in one hand, trained on the zoanoid.
	Thancrus eyed her for a long moment.
	"Don't even try," Fevrier stated.  Both hands grasped the pistol that
had blown off the zoanoid's arm, far larger than the one she had first shot
with.  "In your current condition, we'll kill you before you can even attempt to
attack."
	Mamoru blinked.  That wasn't part of the plan.  Satsuki was also staring
at Fevrier, and Marz glanced slightly at her before returning her attention to
the enemy.  Marz was supposed to be the distraction that let Fevrier land the
decisive second hit.  But now the zoanoid was fully focused on her.
	"Impossible!" snarled Thancrus.  "You're... you're just humans!"
	"Humans who have defeated you," Fevrier stated simply.  "Transform,
zoanoid.  Go back to your human form, pick up your bleeding carcass, and limp
away from here. Don't give me time to change my mind and kill you here and now."
	Thancrus snarled, but Marz took a single step forward.  "All right!"
His form blurred, collapsing in upon itself with a disgusting wet sucking sound,
punctuated by a clang as the sword fell to the ground.  The human Thancrus
glared at them.  He was a small, weedy Japanese man, not rendered any more
impressive by his lack of an arm or clothing.  "Don't you think I'll forget
this!  Enemies of Chronos end up-" he broke off with a yelp as one of Marz's
bullets impacted the ground next to his head.
	"We don't care!" she explained cheerfully.  "Now run along like a good
little whipped dog."
	When the limping, naked Thancrus had vanished down the street, Mamoru
was nearly knocked down as Marz jumped into his arms, giving him one of her all-
too-familiar bone-crushing hugs.  "Oh, Mamoru dear!  You were perfect!  So
dashing!  The zoanoid didn't suspect a thing!"
	"Are you unharmed, sir Mamoru?" a tentative voice asked.  Satsuki wasn't
actually touching him, but was hovering solicitously so close to him that it was
somehow just as uncomfortable.
	"I'm fine," he said , levering Marz off him.  "How about you, Marz?
That's a nasty bruise."
	She blinked, then laughed.  "Oh, that?  Absolutely nothing, Mamoru dear.
I simply slightly miscalculated the vectors of his probable attack pattern."
Her eyes gleamed naughtily.  "But for you to be so concerned for me..."
	"Yes, yes," he interrupted hastily before she could try to force herself
on him again.  He turned a suspicious eye on her. "Speaking of that... since the
fight's over... what was the ACTUAL chance that plan had of working?  Just out
of curiosity?"
	Marz smiled brightly.  "Oh, Mamoru, you're so suspicious.  Just like I
told you, there was an eighty-six percent probability of us all emerging more or
less unharmed, and-"
	"Sixteen percent was what you said to us," Satsuki interrupted softly.
Marz's smile froze.
	"Satsuki, you idiot!  That wasn't what I told you to... uh..." she
trailed off and looked nervously back at Mamoru.  "Well, it worked and we're all
here, right Mamoru dear?  What's a few percentage points matter now?"
	"You..." Mamoru sighed.  He should have guessed. "No computer hacking
for a week. Do combat practice instead."
	Marz's mouth dropped in dismay.  "But..."
	Satsuki was suddenly sidling beside her, smiling ever-so-slightly. "I
think that's probably best.  I mean, if your aim had been better, he could have
been lured further to the right, closer to my ambush point."
	"But Mamoru deaaaar..." Marz protested, then her voice trailed off at
his gaze, which he was trying to make as stony as possible.  She kicked a rock
sullenly.  "It's not fair!  Fevrier departed from the plan more than I did,
anyway..."
	"Don't blame me for your incompetence, Marz," Fevrier snapped as she
drew near them.
	"Though it's a good question," Satsuki noted. "Why did you let the
zoanoid live?  That was unusual for you."
	"I guess Fevrier's getting soft," Marz noted cattily.
	"Shut up!" Fevrier snapped.
	"Stop teasing her," Mamoru ordered, feeling - as was not uncommon - as
if he were managing a children's daycare.  "There's nothing wrong with not
killing when it's not necessary.  In fact, I think it was very brave of you to
let him go, Fevrier."  He turned and smiled at her, then paused.  "But are you
all right?"
	Fevrier was pale and sweating, a fact hidden somewhat by the angry blush
that had covered her features.  "D- don't insult me!"
	He blinked. "What?"
	"I didn't let that thing live on purpose!"  She painfully raised one
hand.  "The recoil of the first shot fractured my wrist.  I wasn't sure I could
follow any movement it made, so I needed to bluff it into thinking it'd lost."
	"Oh dear," Satsuki said. "I guess that pistol was intended for
metanormal use.  Well, Marz said it was experimental when we stole it from the
Shadowloo base."
	Mamoru rushed forward and began examining Fevrier's arm, then suddenly
looked at her suspiciously.  "Fevrier, how did you get down here so quickly?"
	"I... that is..." her angry expression wavered slightly, then returned
in full force with its usual dose of stubbornness. "I climbed down the fire
escape."
	"With a broken wrist?" he snapped, feeling his patience fray again. "Why
do something so stupid?  The danger was over!"
	"I was just checking to see if you were, I mean, if the situation was
secured!" she declared back, face still flushed with anger... or something.
	Mamoru felt a headache coming on.  Or perhaps it was the stupid hat.  He
tore it off his head and tossed it to the side, then ran one hand irritably
through his damp hair.  Damn, this tuxedo was stuffy.  "We'll need to bandage
this up tight.  Satsuki, could you go get the bandages?" A quick nod of assent
and Satsuki was dashing	towards the apartment.  He considered telling Fevrier
she was banned from target practice, but considering the condition of her wrist,
she couldn't do that anyway.  She still wasn't back at the level where she could
fire a gun with her off-hand, much to her irritation.
	"Getting a lot of attention from Mamoru dear there, Fevrier," Marz said
slyly, stepping closer.  "My head is really starting to hurt, actually, now that
I think about it..."
	"Shut up!" Fevrier snarled again. "Stop being foolish and go start
packing up.  We'll need to be out of here before Chronos can send a second
force."
	Marz laughed lightly and began sashaying back to the apartment.  Fevrier
was glaring ferociously at the back of the other ex-Doll, but her voice suddenly
emerged, taut and controlled.  "Hey, wuss.  You are all right, aren't you?"
	Mamoru sighed, but then he suddenly found himself grinning.  The former
Dolls might argue like children, but they'd certainly made life more
interesting.  And even though they were all now at far more human levels, they'd
still faced one of the monsters... and won decisively.  No matter how tragic the
events of this day were, he suddenly felt a lot better about the future. "Yeah.
I'm fine, actually."
	"Good."

*


	Akira retreated as Gan finally arrived. The massive green-clothed man
was like a living mountain. With a loud shout and a single thrust of one of his
shovel-sized hands, he sent a dozen zoanoids flying. Then a dozen more. He could
hold the gap in the wall, especially with Edge to provide ranged support and
keep them from flanking him. Akira herself had to leave: she would be needed
elsewhere.
	There were going to be other fires. Zoanoids that had broken through the
lines. Wounded that had to be covered while they could be evacuated into the
school. Thrusts that had to be parried. Feints that had to be countered. She
moved, running towards the closest disaster. Her body was aching all over, but
she continued on. It was like there was an infinite spring of power in her, a
well she could tap without limit. Her body was moving purely on the power of her
chi now. It had long ago exhausted every other reserve she had. But no matter
how endless it seemed now, she knew her power wouldn't last forever.
	But she had to hold out. Hold out long enough for the tide to turn.
	That had been the plan. She was going to be defence. Daigo was supposed
to be offence. She had lost track of him a long time ago. She could only hope he
knew what he was doing, that he could turn the tide of the battle somehow. As it
stood, they were going to lose. The zoanoids just kept coming. Worse, they
fought intelligently, with feints and flanking and even more advanced tactics.
They had artillery and air support. The best the humans could do was endure.
	Akira came to the latest war zone, and had no more time for idle
thought. A cadre of the bio-laser zoanoids were on a building across the
street, firing with impunity into the schoolyard. The wall had been blown to
shreds and the defenders were pinned down by the larger and faster skirmishers.
As she watched, one ripped a boy who couldn't have been older than twelve in
half. She resisted the urge to avenge him. Akira wanted to help the students,
but her priority had to be those snipers.
	She grit her teeth. She couldn't think about the people she couldn't
save. She had to think about the people who would die if she failed. She flashed
out of the school. The monsters were reaching for her. She snapped her hand up,
deflecting one paw. The other hand caught a beast by the shoulder. She levered
up over it, and landed on the back of one of the big green ones. It tried to
shrug her off, but she pushed down viciously with both feet, knocking it down
and sending herself rocketing over the head of the others. One of the flying
ones wa