Two Years Ago, On a Computer Not Too Far Away...

                                SAILOR
                                 WARS


                 Episode 5: Shadows Of Inner Darkness

It is a time of great chaos in the galaxy. Sailor Galaxia's forces, attacking
from her secret base in the Galaxy Cauldron, have finally been forced into a
stalemate in the conquest of the universe. Jurai Tree Ships and Galaxy Police
Cruisers operating together have blockaded the Galaxy against the invasions of
the Sailor Animamates.

This stalemate does not sit well with the most powerful of all Sailor Senshi,
and she strikes still at the undefended planets of the universe to harvest Star
Seeds in her never-ending quest to finally defeat the secret power of Jurai,
take over all worlds, force unending Chaos upon existence in the guise of
universal order, annihilate all opposition, and blow up any worlds where drunk
assholes hit on her in bars.

No, seriously, that last one happened in the actual manga.

Meanwhile, on Earth, the exiled prince of the Jurai Royal Family lives out his
life in relative peace on a backwater world known, unimaginitively, as Earth.
Apparently there was quite a lot happening on this world, regarding things like
vampires and genetically modified monsters and errant Sailor Senshi and a girl
who had been kidnapped by some psychic looney and vanished for seven years. But
he lived mainly outside of that chaos.

Apparently in a few months that will all come to a tragic end. Or sooner, if
Sailor Galaxia has anything to say about it.

(Note: She doesn't.)


                              C&A Productions Presents

                              A Time-Buying Sidestory


                             Hybrid Theory XP... Part 2!


                                   The Untitled



	War raged over seventy-five percent of the planet's surface. The rest
was presumably covered by water. Or something. She'd never checked. She walked
along the flaming remains of what was once a city. A few remaining civilians
were running around aimlessly, screaming. Most were being chased by Phages.
Sometimes the Phage would catch them and eat them or electrically shock them or
wrap them up in ticker tape or tickle them unmercifully. Sometimes the Phage
would trip over a rock and the civilian would get away.  A few soldiers were
holed up in a nearby building which they had blocked the entrances of. Laser
fire streamed from the windows, ripping into the Phages who screamed and clawed
at the building.
	Heavy Metal Papillon sighed. It was so BORING. And the work week had
just begun, too. She hated Mondays.
	With the sigh of the refined and elegant being that she was, she
unlimbered her scythe and cleaved the building in two. The surviving soldiers
were immediately set upon by the Phages. Turning her back on the screams,
Papillon ran a hand through her hair. It was dusty, she noticed with a tsk of
disapproval. Unacceptable. Wretched planet.
	"You... you did this..."
	Oh, one of the soldiers had survived. Papillon scowled. He was
struggling to raise his weapon with his broken arm. The other arm was grabbing
her ankle. TOUCHING her. Also unacceptable.
	She raised her weapon to end his miserable life.
	"Stop right there!" said a voice which was unfamiliar, but the cadence
of which was unmistakable. And about time, too.
	Papillon turned, nonchalantly kicking the struggling soldier away. She
surveyed the newcomer at a glance, pursing her lips in consideration. A fiery
red-head, her Sailor Senshi uniform was predominantly blue-green with darker
blue highlights. Not really the most tasteful combination, Papillon noted
disapprovingly. Certainly lacked the striking visual splendour of her own indigo
and purple colour scheme, nor the bold effect of her translucent pink skirt. It
went without saying that she lacked any feature as distinctive as Heavy Metal
Papillon's glorious, entrancingly beautiful wings.
	While Papillon had sized her up, the Sailor Senshi of this planet had
been delivering the standard sort of speech. No real flair for the dramatic
there, either. "...on behalf of the people of Planet Dwarf that you have
destroyed, I will take vengeance!" She was posed in an aggressive, fists-
clenched position that would have been more intimidating had she not been
quite so short.
	Papillon decided she must be fairly new to all this, no time to develop
her own individual style. "I'm sorry," she said politely. "I must have missed...
what was your name again?"
	"Sailor Dwarf!"
	Papillon winced. No melodious ring at ALL. Even if it did seem to fit
with the girl's unimposing stature. "How unfortunate for you," she murmured.
	Sailor Dwarf bristled. "What was that supposed to mean?"
	Papillon sighed, looking longingly up into the sky. "Why?" she
exclaimed plaintively. "Why must I come to such underachieving planets at this?
I'm surprised it even warranted a Sailor Senshi, really..."
	"Hey!"
	Papillon favoured her with a glance. She drew back her scythe, careful
to reflect the light of the setting sun from its polished blade. She was
particularly pleased with the way the reflected light highlighted the pattern of
colours on her wings. "Yes, well, I suppose in thanks for you coming to me, I
shall move this along. Allow me to introduce myself." A wind picked up,
fluttering her long indigo hair; she brushed it back with one delicate white
hand. "I am the most favoured servant of the great Galaxia, ruler of the galaxy.
My name is-"
	The punch caught her straight in the mouth. She tumbled backward,
smashing into a Phage which had been busy dressing an unconscious soldier in
gaudy women's clothing. Her head cracked into a piece of concrete from the
fallen building, and she sat there for a moment in dazed confusion. Abruptly she
noticed another punch arcing in towards her. With a small scream she rolled
away, and Sailor Dwarf's punch shattered the block she had been lying against.
Heavy Metal Papillon came up to her feet, backing quickly away. "What are you
DOING!?" she screeched. "How... how dare you!"
	"Let's see how you handle yourself when you're not butchering helpless
innocents, you coward!"
	"You... you barbarian! You punched me! A punch! That is NOT the way a
proper Sailor Senshi does battle!"
	"Yeah, well, I don't need any of that fancy pyrotechnic stuff to teach
you a lesson. Especially since you lost your weapon!"
	Papillon reached up and wiped at her mouth; her hand came away flecked
with a tiny bit of blood. She felt her eye twitch. "Unforgivable!" she growled,
her voice rising to a higher pitch. "Absolutely... completely... UNACCEPTABLE!"
	Then she ripped the nearest thing she could lay hands on from the earth,
vaguely realising it was the corner section of the ex-building's foundation, and
hurled it at the hateful girl. Sailor Dwarf's eyes bulged as the huge chunk of
concrete and earth came hurtling towards her. She threw herself flat on the
ground, the projectile passing just barely over her to crash into the ground.
Then she was forced to roll to the side quickly as Papillon tried to crush her
with another large piece of concrete moments later.
	"Normally this is where I should attempt to recruit you to our glorious
cause," Papillon snarled as her foe scrambled to her feet. "But for you, there
can be no mercy!" She held up her forearms, placing together her golden
bracelets, the sign of her allegiance to the great Sailor Galaxia. "Give up your
Star Seed and perish, you wretched insect!"
	"Who are you calling an insect, butterfly-girl?" Sailor Dwarf taunted,
nimbly sidestepping the blast of white light that arced out from the jewels on
the bracelets. Papillon smiled. The girl, intent on her foe, didn't notice that
the 'missed' blast had in fact struck the injured soldier that Sailor Dwarf had
originally arrived to save. The soldier, of course, didn't have a true Star
Seed. Though the blast did rip out the essence of his being, after a moment its
power faded. With but a thought, Papillon forced the now black and cold Star
Seed back into the man's body, which was then consumed in light as the magical
transformation overtook it.
	"Sailor Irony!" Papillon commanded the new Phage. "Restrain her!"
	Sailor Dwarf noticed then and whirled to confront her new foe, but too
late. The Phage looked like a hideous parody of a soldier, its sailor skirt a
mud-coloured camouflage pattern, its high heels and lipstick clashing horribly
with its black rifle. "It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a
knife!" it cried out, leaping forward and grappling with Sailor Dwarf. "Don't
you think?"
	"Let me go!" she cried. Sailor Irony was no match for her strength, as
she ripped her arms free and decked the Phage with a punch.
	"Too late!" cried Papillon in triumph. Her second blast smashed directly
into her distracted foe's back. She screamed, but only for a second, and then
the great glowing jewel emerged from her forehead as her eyes closed and body
went limp.
	The Phage eyed the jewel hungrily, but Papillon shoved it aside as she
stalked forward and took the Star Seed. Sailor Dwarf's body faded into motes of
light as her power, the crystallised Destiny of her soul, was removed. Her Star
Seed burned hot and bright in Papillon's hand, as if it sought to fight her
still. Papillon smiled spitefully at it. "I hope Mistress Galaxia gives you JUST
what you deserve. Wretched little girl."
	"It's like meeting the man of my dreams," Sailor Irony commented
nonsensically as it sat up again. Heavy Metal Papillon ignored it as she
secreted the Star Seed away and retrieved her scythe. By the time she picked it
up, the process had already begun. It was if the very colour was being leached
from the earth, starting from the place where Sailor Dwarf had been. Plants
touched	by the creeping greyness withered and died, becoming grey themselves.
The soldiers touched stopped fighting the Phages so hard, their shoulders
slumped as if they suddenly bore a great weight. Fleeing civilians slowed; some
continued walking aimlessly, others simply sat down against nearby walls. Even
the Phages became less energetically insane.
	"And then meeting his beautiful wife," Sailor Irony finished mournfully.
	"Why thank you! But I have to tell you that right now there's noone in
my life. Well, that is to say, noone of a romantic nature. I'm not a hermit or
anything, of course."
	Papillon spun around. "What are you doing here?"
	Aluminum Siren bowed politely to the Phage before turning to face
Papillon. "Why hello, Heavy Metal Papillon!" she said brightly, and bowed again.
"I hope you are having a wonderful day!"
	Papillon scowled. Normally she rather liked Aluminum Siren. The girl had
a respectable fashion sense, though she was just a little bit too lanky and
leggy to match the ideal form that Papillon embodied. Also, the x-shaped straps
over her face and seashell necklace were just tacky, no matter the virtues of
the rest of her sea-themed cornflower blue outfit. Some well-meaning fashion
advice had gone unheeded, but despite that, on the whole Papillon found Siren to
be pleasantly mannered, especially in comparison to some of the other Animamates
that served Galaxia. However, she was in no mood for politeness right now. "No,
I'm not. But this miserable planet is finished."
	Siren clapped her hands together in delight. "Oh, excellent! You're such
a hard worker, Papillon!"
	Papillon crossed her arms, feeling slightly mollified despite herself.
"Of course I am."
	"Almost as hard a worker as our senior, Lead Crow!"
	Papillon's eyebrow twitched. "Yes, well... what did you want, Siren?"
	"Oh!" Aluminum Siren put a finger to her lip, thinking for a moment.
"Oh, yes! Mistress Galaxia sent me to tell you that she has a new mission for
you!" She reached forward and grasped Papillon insistently by the forearm. "It's
very important, so we should go right away!"
	"Hmph," Papillon snorted, but allowed herself to be led off. "It had
better be in a less wretched place than this."

*

	Two swords clashed under the azure sky. Back and forth the fighters
danced. The harsh clack of wood on wood echoed across the valley. The only other
sound was the soft rustle of the wind in the trees.
	"You obnoxious old bastard! I'll kill you! DIEDIEDIE!"
	That, and the screams of one teenage girl.
	Rei sighed and leaned against a nearby tree. She pulled a cloth from
inside her oversized gi shirt and wiped her forehead. She cocked her hoe over
one shoulder and watched the fun unfold. She had seen this scene more than a
dozen times already, but it was one of those rare things that didn't grow any
less entertaining upon repetition.
	Angel was, of course, in an absolute frenzy. She was leaping from peg to
peg, not even bothering to glance around her environment. There was an
unconscious grace to her motions, an awareness of where she was that Angel never
seemed to lose, no matter how much Katsuhito ticked her off. Her sword flickered
and flashed, producing a staccato clatter as the elder Juraian swordsmen
effortlessly blocked her attacks. He was smiling, his eyes hidden behind the
shine of his glasses.
	And he was reading something in one hand. Rei saw his eyes flicker over
to her, and quite deliberately he began to read aloud. "Dear Chris...
	"I'm doing very well here at the Masaki Shrine. The forest is much nicer
than that stinky jungle and the caves and the other places you usually have me
train at. I like the people here and they treat me well. I even like the old
fart Katsuhito, though don't tell him that-
	"Why thank you, Angel, I never knew you cared."
	"Goddamn you! That's private!" Angel shrieked, leaping at him and
slashing down with a huge overhand blow. He stepped to the side and patted her
backside lightly as she flew past. The slight tap was enough to send her
spiralling into a tree. The trunk rocked and leaves fluttered down on top of
her.
	"Washuu is really strange. She seems to know everything! But she's
really busy trying to figure out how to defeat some evil alien called Sailor
Galaxia, so I only see her once a week or so. I spend most of my time hanging
out with Katsuhito's other students, a Sailor Senshi named Rei and a space
police officer named Mihoshi-"
	"Old man!" Angel screamed, leaping at him again, somehow having managed
to recover quickly. Rei chuckled as Katsuhito managed to deflect her wild attack
again and send her stumbling across the field. She tripped over one of the pegs
in the ground and flailed a bit before falling forward, face-first, straight
into another peg.
	"Ouch," Rei muttered in sympathy.
	"You should hear what she has to say about you, Rei," Katsuhito said,
waving the sheaf of papers around in front of him. "Want to read?"
	"Uh..." Angel slowly picked herself up, and her gaze turned on Rei. It
was flat and cold, and Rei swore she could see flames rising from the girl's
body. Rei shivered and turned her attention back to the old Shinto priest.
"Maybe some other day?" Rei demurred, waving her hands in an attempt to try and
let him know he had crossed a line.
	"But it's all mushy and cute-" Angel threw her sword at him. He
sidestepped it as the wooden blade whisked through the air. He smiled at her.
"Now, Angel, you are unarmed." He waved his finger at her disapprovingly.
	"No, I just got a bigger weapon," Angel pointed out. Katsuhito blinked,
then turned around just in time to see the tree Angel's blade had sliced in two
finish sliding off its trunk and land on top of him. There was a tremendous
crash and a muffled 'oof' as the old man was buried. Rei winced. If that were a
normal person, she'd be concerned. But Katsuhito was really an alien with
superpowers or something, so Rei thought he would be fine.
	And he kind of deserved it. Just a little.
	Angel walked over and stuck her hand into the mass of leaves. She
rustled around inside it for a moment, then pulled out her sheaf of papers and
stuffed them down her cleavage. "Stupid old man," she growled and started away.
	"Wait up, Angel," Rei said, running after her.
	"What is it?" Angel snapped. Rei paused. She considered telling Angel
that there was a perfectly circular red welt in the centre of her forehead, but
decided better.
	"I was actually coming to tell you that it's time for lunch," Rei
continued after a moment.
	"Oh..." Angel sighed and rubbed her forehead. She paused over the welt,
but continued without seeming to really notice. "Sorry. That old fart brings out
the worst in me, sometimes."
	"Sometimes?" Rei asked, smirking. "When was the last time you didn't end
the training session without walking off in a steaming rage?"
	"Uh..." Angel looked at Rei helplessly.
	"He's doing it for a reason," Rei said, looking away. She frowned and
shifted her hoe, examining the shallow blade with her thumb. "He may be
annoying, but he cares more than he lets on. When he and Washuu were trying to
find out a way to unlock my powers, they tried everything." She smiled. "Finally
they just pissed me off so much I nearly burned the old man to death."
	"Wow, that's harsh," Angel murmured.
	Rei looked around to make certain nobody was nearby. The woods were
scenic, but empty. She leaned over and whispered to the white-haired teenager.
"Yeah. But DAMN, was it ever satisfying."
	Angel had to lean against a tree, she laughed so hard. Rei waited for
the girl to finish, unable to keep from chuckling herself. Finally they
continued on their way. But now that they had exhausted the previous
conversation they moved along in silence. Rei could see Angel looking at her
every now and then. She mentally prepared herself.
	"Rei, I was wonder-"
	"No."
	"You don't even know what I was going to say!"
	"You were going to ask me if you could come along the next time I go
outside," Rei stated.
	"Well, yes. But I was going to butter you up a bit first. Maybe
compliment that dull hairstyle of yours, get you all happy before I broke the
question."
	Rei gave her younger companion a flat look. The girl grinned impudently
as she skipped around in front of Rei. She walked backwards across the uneven
forest floor, her feet somehow finding purchase without a single glance.
	"You're one to talk. How can you see with that thing over your eye?" Rei
used the hoe to point at the offending white lock.
	"It's a forelock. It's all the rage." Angel paused. "Yoko has one."
	"Yoko?" Rei blinked. "The girlfriend from Martial Artist Hunter Zoaman?"
she asked incredulously.
	"Yeah," the girl grinned and fished down the front of her training top
again. She pulled out an embossed card. It featured a girl with white hair on
it, in a style similar to but slightly more elaborate than Angel's. "She has
special zoanoid powers and uses them to fight evil and..."
	"She's a propaganda tool of Chronos!" Rei snarled.
	"Well duh," Angel snorted. "I hate Chronos as much as you, Rei. But just
because it's produced by a soulless evil organization that rules the world with
an iron fist doesn't mean it isn't cool."
	"I'm not having this conversation," Rei said, lifting her nose into the
air. She began to use the hoe as a walking stick.
	"You're just annoyed because they made you a villain," Angel teased.
	"I am not!" Rei snapped.
	"Worse yet, they made you the slutty evil witch," Angel said, now
somehow walking backwards while gyrating her hips and bouncing her breasts. "I
hear the direct to video disc contains a five-minute-long transformation
sequence..."
	"I wouldn't know," Rei growled.
	"I'm certain I could get a copy. Katsuhito would be happy to watch it
with me," Angel said, not laughing but clearly enjoying herself far too much.
	"Angel, I should remind you that I can produce fire from my fingertips
before you continue this line of thought," Rei warned.
	Angel stuck her tongue out at her and laced her hands behind her neck.
"At least you have a card and everything. How am I supposed to ever become
famous enough to appear if you and Katsuhito never let me go out and do any
heroing?"
	"It's not heroing," Rei sighed, rubbing her forehead.
	"You go out, blow up some Chronos stuff, kill zoanoids, save hapless
bystanders and pull kittens out of trees, what would you call it?"
	"I don't pull kittens out of trees."
	"Details."
	"I'm not doing any of that to be a hero, Angel."
	"Oh? Then why are you doing it?"
	Rei paused. "I'm looking for somebody."
	"Oh?"
	"Sailor Moon." Rei paused. "She's... very important. Very special. Her
power, it's..." Rei looked away. "Never mind. I just follow all the leads I can
find about her. Most of them are in Chronos."
	"Washuu could easily pull them out of their computers," Angel pointed
out. "You don't need to get involved at all."
	"That isn't the point, Angel!" Rei snapped. "Washuu might be able to
find Sailor Moon, but I have to do it!"
	"That's silly."
	"Maybe." Rei sighed. "But it's about faith. I... I abandoned my faith,
Angel. I turned away from her in her time of deepest need because I couldn't
handle what was happening. But now I'm going to make up for that. I'm going to
find her and make things right again."
	Angel had no witty comeback to that, so they walked in silence for a few
more minutes. Angel even returned to walking alongside of Rei, instead of in
front of her. Rei slung the hoe over her shoulder again. Finally Angel asked,
"Uh, this isn't the way to the house..."
	"I know, we're having a picnic under the tree." Rei resisted the urge to
smile evilly.
	"A picnic?" Angel blinked. "But... but who COOKED?"
	"Mihoshi, of course," Rei said.
	"But... but Mihoshi..." the colour drained from Angel's face.
	"There you two are!" Mihoshi said, waving to them as they stepped into
the clearing. She was on the tiny island in the centre of the pond. The
spreading limbs of the huge tree hovered over her. It was of a family that was
not quite like anything else on Earth. It most closely resembled an oak, but was
much more majestic than any mere oak had ever been. Its trunk and branches were
beautiful, with bark the colour of warm caramel. Its green leaves were of a
shade that was just slightly different than any Rei had ever seen before, and
they seemed to whisper in the wind. Stepping stones crossed the tranquil pond to
the magnificent tree.
	This whole place was holy, Rei reflected solemnly. More so than even the
Sacred Fire of her shrine on Cherry Hill... Rei shook her head. Best not to
think about that.
	Mihoshi waved her hand again and began to skip across the stepping
stones. There was a simple picnic set up under the tree, a pink blanket and five
sets of cushions and a giant basket that was steaming slightly. Halfway across
the pond, Mihoshi slipped on something invisible and fell with a startled yelp
into the water. Rei started forward but Angel was there first, helping the tall
alien woman with her exotically tanned but otherwise human-like features out of
the water. Her long blonde hair was plastered to her face now, leaving one of
her inhuman features - her longish, faintly pointed ears - clearly visible.
	"Thank you," Mihoshi said, smiling and showing her fang-like canines,
her final inhuman feature. Her grin was large and genuine, the kind of
unaffected smile that only children seemed capable of. It was impossible to stay
mad around Mihoshi for long. Even if she had just (accidentally) burned your
entire manga collection or (accidentally) catapulted your bed into the lake or
(accidentally) released a hundred shaved lab rats into your bed while you were
sleeping. Sometimes you wanted to (accidentally) tie her to a stake
and burn her alive for three days straight. Such feelings always passed quickly.
No matter how much of an annoyance she was, Mihoshi was just so genuinely nice
you found yourself not caring.
	"Where's Katsuhito?" Mihoshi asked, looking around.
	"Under a tree," Angel replied, grinning.
	"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Mihoshi laughed so hard she pulled Angel into
the pond when she collapsed. Angel sat in the water, spitting water out of her
mouth with as much dignity as she could manage. Finally Mihoshi stopped and
looked at Angel. "Wait, I don't get it."
	"Never mind," Rei said, walking to the island. "Let's eat." She looked
at the extra cushion. "Is Washuu going to join us?"
	"Mmm-HMM!" Mihoshi nodded. "I went into the lab to invite her and she
said yes she would come!" She paused and touched her jaw with her finger. "She
also said that I ruined five months of work. Also there was a lot of pretty
explosions! But when she finally put down the cannon, she agreed to come out and
join us." Rei chuckled and sat down, before gingerly opening the basket.
	It wasn't that Mihoshi was a bad cook. Her food was always edible,
though the kitchen often didn't survive the experience intact. It was just that
Mihoshi was an alien, and she sometimes forgot that Rei and Angel's tastes ran
to the more... terrestrial.
	"No need to wait for them," Angel said, drying out her shirt by wringing
it out. She was wearing a tube top underneath, but Rei tried to look away
anyway. She swore Angel had no shame.
	"You first," Rei said, pushing the basket full of unidentifiable...
stuff towards her.

*

	It wasn't that Iron Mouse hated her job, exactly. When she'd surrendered
to the power of Galaxia, it had been a simple act of self-preservation. The rest
of the population of her planet? Well, they hadn't been so keen on self-
preservation as Iron Mouse, obviously. Assisting Galaxia in her conquest of the
universe was more self-preservation, though that didn't mean it couldn't be
fun... in small doses. Iron Mouse didn't consider herself a great aficionado of
hard work. But she DID believe, very strongly, in self-preservation. So she
worked (pretty) hard for Galaxia's goals, and did her best to enjoy it. All in
all, she'd done a good job for both aims, and she felt she'd definitely come to
the point of chipperly facing each new assignment. No, she certainly did not
hate her job.
	Now, the PEOPLE she had to deal with in her job? That was another matter
entirely.
	The highway, one of the major lines heading about fifty kilometers north
from Tokyo, was a mess. Vehicles had been scattered all around, most rended into
pieces, some having flipped off the road in vain attempts to avoid the
devastation. The pavement too was more or less destroyed, by slashes, by acid,
by missed laser beams and who knew what else. Pieces of zoanoids were scattered
here and there. Thankfully, only from the ones who hadn't been finished off yet.
Zoanoids dissolved when killed, a handy clean-up feature that Iron Mouse (not a
connoisseur of up-close death and destruction) appreciated.
	And in the middle of the chaos, screaming incoherent epithets and waving
her oversized weapon at every zoanoid who dared come close? Iron Mouse's so-
called partner on this assignment, of course. What a great start to the work
week.
	Iron Mouse, for her part, hadn't made her presence known yet. She was
hiding behind a tree a couple dozen meters from the small-scale war on the
highway. The problem with zoanoids was, you killed them, Chronos just sent more.
She'd hoped Heavy Metal Papillon would realise this and run away, but
apparently she was content to kill everything that came within her sight. Of
course. And if the zoanoids everywhere weren't bad enough, by now, quite a crowd
of reporters had gathered, too. Not at ALL good for Iron Mouse's cover if she
leaped out to drag off her so-called ally. Plus they'd have to fight their way
out, and fighting was another of those things Iron Mouse wasn't so keen on.
	The problem was that the situation was coming to a head. The zoanoids
had drawn back. Chronos seemed to instill the silly things with no regard for
their own welfare, so that could only mean Papillon had done enough damage to
have some bigger guns called in. And Iron Mouse didn't fancy explaining to
Galaxia why she didn't do a thing while her fellow Animamate was mowed down by
Earth's warriors. Even if the stupid jerk completely deserved it.
	The line of zoanoids barely parted in time as a car roared through where
they had been standing, coming from the direction of Tokyo. It swerved to a
stop, and two figures emerged. Iron Mouse hissed and gnawed her nails in
frustration. She knew these two.
	They were both Japanese men, looking to be in their twenties. The driver
of the car was the older of the two. His straggly black hair fell down around
his thin-featured face, and his eyes were hidden by reflective black sunglasses.
He wore a snappy black suit, tailored expertly to his wiry frame. He was
grinning viciously. The passenger was somewhat taller than his companion, with
short, artistically tousled hair and a fine-lined face. He also wore black
sunglasses, but his outfit was a more traditional hakama and gi... although it
was also black. The two sauntered forward towards Heavy Metal Papillon, who
watched them with casual arrogance. The crowd of paparazzi muttered excitedly
and there were a few camera flashes.
	"And just who might you be, girl?" asked the leader.
	Iron Mouse winced, but luckily, Papillon was still too angry to give
them one of her 'proper introductions'. "You're not worthy of my name, dog!"
	 "Izzat so?" the skinny one sneered. "I don't think she knows who's she
dealing with. Why don't we show her, Ikazuchi?"
	A bright blue flash ripped across the field, causing Iron Mouse to
squeak and hide behind the tree. When she ventured to look again, the two
zoanoids had transformed.
	The leader, now a hideous fish-like monstrosity with swords for hands,
stepped forward and snapped his arm sideways, causing the air to crack. "Fool
girl, I... I am THANCRUS, hyper-zoanoid and member of the Elite Five, the
greatest warriors on Earth!" He pointed one of his sword hands at her. "What do
you think of that, little girl?"
	"Claiming to be the greatest warrior on this planet is not a laudable
achievement," Papillon said with a snort.
	"But I am his companion," the much more human-looking monster said,
flicking his hair with one hand and snapping one wrist, causing a clap of
thunder and a shaft of blue lightning to appear in the distance. "Ikazuchi, the
prototype Neo-Zoanoid! With a combat power that rivals even that of a zoalord,
and the skills of the great traditions of this land!" He slowly drew his hand
across his body, forming a crackling blue sword.
	"Oh please, teal and powder-blue?" Papillon snorted again. "Hardly the
colours of manly warriors."
	"What's wrong with blue?" Ikazuchi shouted, leaning forward and wagging
his sword at her.
	"Nothing, but such pale and... quite frankly, sissy-looking blue is not
a very masculine colour."
	"Surely you jest!" he shouted, standing back. "I am the pinnacle of
masculine evolution. The ultimate expression of human potential to be handsome
and attract females. Certainly even you must feel the quiver in your heart at
the very sight of my lady-killing smile?" He smiled then, and there was a glint
of light off his white teeth.
	Well, those two would be busy for the next few minutes, if she knew both
Heavy Metal Papillon and Ikazuchi. She had to act fast, however, before Thancrus
decided to turn this into a bloodbath. She grabbed a tree branch off the ground
and snuck up to the back of the cluster of paparazzi. She singled out one woman;
she had long brown hair and was wearing a brown vest and huge bell-bottom jeans
with yellow stars on them. The woman was so busy trying to take pictures that
Iron Mouse managed to get her good right behind the ears before anyone noticed.
	She was taller than Iron Mouse - not much of a boast - which presented
two problems. One, she had to drag the heavy woman back into the woods. This was
accomplished with some truly heroic effort. Two, Iron Mouse had to fit into her
clothes. This was more tricky. Finally, she decided to just run with it. Maybe
the oversized clothing would make her look 'cute' or something. She peeked out
to look at the two...
	"These wings represents my ability to soar over the heads of the
unwashed masses, which gives them more purpose than those glowing beach balls
you have embedded in your arms!"
	"Foul woman! These are the organs that generate my mighty lightning!
Dare you mock the perfect form of Ikazuchi, I will not have it!"
	"Your perfect form is-"
	Still plenty of time.
	She ran over to the various satellite vans parked around the periphery
of the carnage zone. One overeager news crew had come too close earlier and been
cleft in twain, but the rest pretty much knew what kind of distance they needed
to stay out of the splash zone of the major metanatural cockfights. She spotted
a man cleaning a camera nearby and marched up to him before hitting him in the
shoulder with all her strength.
	"Ow!" he rubbed the arm. "What was that for?"
	"You idiot! What are you doing just standing here? This is the scoop of
the century!"
	"Huh?" he blinked. "But it's just another..."
	"Come with me! We're going to get exclusive close up shots of all this!"
	"Are you insane and- wait... who are you?"
	Iron Mouse puffed out her cheeks to look more intimidating. For some
reason, that never seemed to work, but she did it anyway. "I'm Nez... Nez..." Oh
crap. She'd spent years establishing her cover identity on this paranoid planet.
She needed to come up with a new ID. "I'm... Nezanaji*cough* Takawatmashimaru!
Don't question me!"
	"Neza-what?"
	"Takawaytokamatchi!"
	He stared at her. "Didn't you just say 'Mashimaru' or..."
	She hit him again and he yelped, rubbing his arm. "Shut up, that isn't
important!" She grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him off towards the
wall of paparazzi. Or that was the plan. Since he was twice her size and weight,
she mainly ended up digging little furrows in the gravel and grunting a lot.
Finally with a sigh he stood up - lifting her off her feet in the process - and
started towards the battlefield.
	"If it'll get you to leave me alone, fine."
	"Chu Chu Chu!" Iron Mouse laughed, thinking about how much of a genius
she was. She yelled and bullied her way through the crowd, who were more than
willing to let her and her cameraman pass when they discovered she was intending
to enter the field of battle. Probably because "hyper-zoanoids kill yet another
violent psychopath metanormal" wasn't as good a headline as "beloved media
personality struck down in her prime in battle between Chronos and alien space
babe". Iron Mouse snorted. Vultures.
	Finally she stopped just behind the arguing Elite Five (er, Two) and
told her cameraman to set up. Thancrus looked back at her. His face was
expressionless, but he looked slightly surprised. Seizing the moment, Iron
Mouse shoved a microphone into his face, "I'm... Nezahmadinejad
Takoyakiandnoodles from... Galax... I mean Solar System TV! I understand you
brave heroes of Chronos are going to kill a woman with giant wings on her back!
Butterfly wings! How do you respond to allegations that you are, in fact,
nothing but a bully beating up a woman dressed like a butterfly?"
	"Nobody's saying that!" Thancrus yelled.
	"I did! Just now!"
	"I'll show you what I think of uppity humans interfering in..." He
paused. "Damn, Purgstall keeps telling us we need good PR..." He lowered his
sword-arm, and Iron Mouse's heart started beating again. "I mean, I have the
greatest respect for the opinions of the media, and of course we wouldn't strike
down an innocent, but... uh, well, she killed a bunch of people."
	"A likely story!" Iron Mouse accused, pushing him aside and confronting
Heavy Metal Papillon directly. "And you, miss nice please don't kill me lady,
how do you respond to accusations that you 'killed a bunch of people', as this
obvious zoanoidist put it?"
	"Zoanoidist?" Thancrus muttered. "Is that even a word?"
	"What trickery is this, Iron Mouse?" Papillon frowned at her. "And what
is with that ridiculous outfit? It's three sizes too big for you."
	Iron Mouse began to sweat, again. "Haha! I have no idea who you are
talking about! I am most certainly not the fashionable and lovely Sailor Iron
Mouse, scourge of the galaxy! I'm.... Nezuarbysmakesyourhamburg... Oh forget
it!" She spun and flung her clothes to the side, standing revealed in her white
Sailor Iron Mouse costume. "I am Sailor Iron Mouse, and I have fooled you all!"
	Ikazuchi gasped. "By Arkanphel! It's a trick!"
	"You think?" Thancrus growled.
	"And..." Iron Mouse grabbed Papillon's arm."I'msorrybutwe'rejustleaving,
bye!" She stepped backward, into a old-fashioned phonebooth that just happened
to appear out of nowhere behind them. It was a tight squeeze with both of them,
but they could fit enough for the door to close.
	"By Arkanphel! They're getting away!" Ikazuchi gasped again.
	"Don't just say that, do something about it!" Thancrus yelled, jumping
towards the booth. Iron Mouse squeaked like, well, a mouse and covered her head.
Then there was the familiar woosh of the teleportation chamber vanishing and
placing them somewhere else.
	"It's about time you showed up," Papillon said with a snort. "I've been
waiting for you for almost an hour. The people on this planet are ignorant
hicks."
	"What were you doing, anyway?" Iron Mouse said as she stepped out of the
booth. It had taken them to the offices of Galaxy TV, so they should be
relatively safe. "Do you have any idea how dangerous this planet is?"
	Papillon turned up her nose. "I asked the first inhabitant I met for
directions and the rude creature just zoomed past me without so much as a pause.
Then the second did the same. I know Galaxia told me to be circumspect in this
mission but after three snubs I had to teach the next a lesson."
	Iron Mouse blinked. "Were these inhabitants large, made of metal and
running on wheels?"
	"Yes, what of it? I have encountered stranger life forms in this
universe. Why the Makaiju of the dark sector galaxy are giant sentient trees
that create a servitor race of green-skinned humanoids who-"
	"Those were cars, Papillon," Iron Mouse explained with a sigh.
	"No, they were humanoid servitors."
	"I meant the 'locals' you killed. They were cars. Transports. They're
sealed from the outside so noise can't penetrate well and they were going too
fast to hear you anyway."
	Papillon snorted. "Whatever. What matters is I am here on a errand of
great import. The battle between Galaxia and the Jurai Fleet is at a stalemate."
She smiled, a dangerous smile. "We two are going to end that stalemate, once and
for all!"
	Then she broke out into a bout of full blown megalomaniacal laughter,
complete with forming her fingers into claws and waving them randomly at the
ceiling as she threw back her head. Iron Mouse pinched her nose. If she went
along with this plan, she'd likely get killed. If she defied Galaxia, she would
definitely be killed.
	It was times like this she wished she had a spine.

*

	"Ah, this looks marvellous," Katsuhito said, smiling pleasantly as he
sat down. Mihoshi idly pulled a leaf from his hair, which he barely noticed. He
pulled a pair of chopsticks out of nowhere and began to dine enthusiastically on
the... whatever it was that Mihoshi had prepared. "Ah, this is excellent,
Mihoshi. You've really improved!"
	"I have?" Mihoshi said, blinking.
	"Uh, yeah. of course you have!" Angel added. Out of all the people here;
heck, out of all the people she had ever met in her long apprenticeship, Mihoshi
had been the nicest to her. So she felt the need to reply kindly, regardless of
reality. "This stuff is hardly poisonous to humans at all!"
	"Yes," Rei agreed, grimacing at the entree at the end of her own
chopsticks. "At the very least, all the stuff you fed us this time is dead."
	"By the way, girls," Katsuhito said, putting down his food and frowning
at the three of them, his expression grim and serious. "I must insist that you
clear things with me in the future."
	"Hey, if you're complaining about the tree thing, you deserved it, old
man," Angel protested.
	"No, no," he waved his hands. "That's all part of the training. I was
referring to your party."
	"Party?" Rei said.
	"Oh..." he frowned. "So they aren't friends of yours, Rei?"
	"Who are you talking about?" Angel said, frowning.
	"AH-HAH! We have you at last!"
	"Them."
	Everyone craned their necks and looked around. A crowd of figures was
emerging from the forest, surrounding the tiny pond on all sides. They were, one
and all, perhaps the strangest group of people Angel had ever seen in her life.
They had hair in every colour of the rainbow, and wore bizarre outfits: here a
nurse, there a policewoman, and over there a disco-dancing queen complete with
platform shoes and a shimmering disco ball for hair. Every single one of them,
including the men, were wearing a sailor collar and a pleated skirt. It was
rather disturbing, actually.
	Then the leader stepped forward, or at least that's who Angel assumed it
was. She was taller than most of the others. She had long indigo hair held back
by an elaborate tiara. She was wearing a bikini with a translucent pink skirt
attached, thigh-high stiletto boots and fingerless opera gloves. From her back
grew a pair of faintly luminous butterfly wings coloured violet with black tips.
Strangely enough, she wore a pair of golden bracers on her wrists that didn't
quite fit with the rest of her outfit. In her hand she carried a giant scythe, a
weapon of terror and death as designed by a hyperactive ten-year-old girl with
an unhealthy obsession with pink.
	"At last I have found you after all my minutes of searching!" the woman
said, posing with one hand held up to her mouth. "Did you really think you could
escape me? I am the great champion, Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon, guardian of the
Graveyard of Dead Stars!"
	"Well, that answer my first question," Katsuhito said, adjusting his
glasses. "Is there something we can help you with young lady?"
	She spun her scythe sharply - forcing several of the nearby sailor-
suited circus freaks to duck and leap for cover - and pointed it at the old man.
"Do not feign confidence in the face of your doom, pathetic Earthman!"
	"Juraiman."
	"Excuse me?"
	"I'm from Jurai. The proper term is thus 'pathetic Juraiman'."
	"Oh, pardon me." She cleared her throat and swung her weapon around a
few more times - causing more panic in her minions - before pointing it at
Katsuhito in the exact same pose. "Do not feign confidence in the face of your
doom, pathetic Juraiman!"
	"Better."
	"I have been sent to this backwater planet to collect the Star Seed of
your great superweapon." She struck another pose. Out of the forest around her,
tiny glowing butterflies began to emerge, surrounding her in aesthetically
pleasing patterns. "I am a servant of Sailor Galaxia, who will bring order to
this universe. I am the last scion of the planet Cocoon, destroyed by my own
hand, who will shatter your dreams of defiance with my insurmountable power."
	"Oh," Katsuhito looked at Rei. "So, not a friend of yours, I take it?"
	"You stupid old man," Rei leapt to her feet. "She's going to kill us!"
	Heavy Metal Papillon - just thinking the name made Angel wince -
snorted. "Oh please, I would not sully my hands with such lowborn field workers
as you."
	"Field worker?" Rei growled.
	"Is that not dirt I see under your nails?"
	"I... uh... it is, but..." Rei slapped herself in the forehead. "Forget
it. MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!" There was a flash of red light and fire and
Rei appeared in her abbreviated school girl suit. She posed and pointed at
the evil Sailor Senshi. "Servants of darkness who threaten my home and call me a
field worker deserve to be punished! I, Sailor Mars, will defeat you!"
	"Oh, so you're a Sailor Senshi, are you?" Papillon snickered behind her
hand. "Sailor Iron Mouse, appear and deal with this upstart!"
	"Do I have to?"
	"YES!"
	A girl dropped from the trees and landed beside the other Sailor Senshi.
She was short, very much so, and dressed in a white outfit that looked like the
kind of thing a five year old would wear to bed. She had springy white hair
drawn up into two buns that looked like... no, they actually were mouse ears.
Also, she had a tail.
	"I..." the girl stared at the four of them. "I'm Sailor Iron Mouse,
champion of... planet..." She trailed off. They blinked at her. "Uh... minions
attack!"
	The horde of freaks around them charged forward, splashing across the
pond.
	"Minions attack?" Papillon said with obvious disgust.
	"I haven't done this in seven years! I'm out of practice!"
	Then the horde was upon them and Angel had no more time to pay attention
to the bad guys' conversation. She leapt up, spinning in place and kicking out
at the first three that approached, knocking a circus midget, a piano teacher
and a street vendor-like creature falling back into the press. Rei pulled up her
hands and released a stream of fire which rocketed through the crowd, sending
the monsters scurrying in all directions, many of them jumping into the pond to
try and get away from the flames. Mihoshi made a small sound and jumped away as
a giant man wielding a croquet mallet smashed apart their picnic.
	"Hah! Watch this, Rei, I'll prove I'm good enough to fight monsters!"
Angel reached around to pull out her sword and... her hand grasped around for a
few moments. "Umm. Where's my sword?"
	"Back at the house, I believe," Katsuhito pointed out. He was using his
bokken to fend off a few more ridiculous-looking sailor monsters. "Also, I think
you threw your other one away."
	"Damn it!" she yelled. "This is your fault, old man!" She dodged
sideways to avoid an attack that involved giant pink and blue musical notes
trying to wrap her up like chains and drove her elbow into the attacker's solar
plexus. She then smashed her hand into the thing's jaw as it bent forward,
knocking it out instantly.
	"Get behind me then, Angel," Rei said, stepping forward and forming a
long fiery tendril from her hands which she used to drive the monsters back.
"Grab Mihoshi and head back to the house while Katsuhito and I handle this!"
	"Forget that!" Angel crowed, slipping around beside her and gut-kicking
another monster - this one a bus driver - across the pond and into the tree with
enough force to cause a few leaves to fall.
	"You'll just get in the way!" Rei roared, igniting a woman wielding a
giant pair of tweezers with a snap of her fingers.
	"Only because you're only good for wanton destruction!" Angel retorted,
jumping up and doing the splits to kick aside two monsters at once.
	"Oh, why thank you, Mr. Baker!"
	"Mihoshi, what are you doing?" Angel shouted, twisting and kicking off
another monster to land beside the airheaded alien. The blonde in question was
accepting a large bun from a man with purple skin wearing a giant chef's hat and
an apron (with required sailor collar and skirt).
	"Mr. Baker was giving me a bun," she explained, showing Angel the baked
good.
	"He's a monster!" Angel said, slapping away the bun. "It's probably
poisonous!"
	"Zailor Baker doez not poizon hiz goodz!" the thing roared in a faux
French accent, pulling out a baguette which it held like a fencing foil. "You
have impugned my hon-AIR! En garde, madame!"
	"Hey, that's a good idea!" She grabbed the baguette away from him and
kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying away. She then swung the long thin
bread a few times, putting a slash through a nearby rock with it. "Cool."
	"Angel, you hurt Mr. Baker!"
	"He was a monster, Mihoshi," Angel explained.
	"No, he was Mr. Baker, from in town. You can bet he won't sell us
any more of those rice buns you like if you keep kicking him like that."
	"That's ridiculous, Mihoshi."
	"No, actually she's right," Katsuhito said, suddenly appearing beside
Angel to parry an incoming barrage of razor-sharp ice cream cones. Angel
blinked.
	"Did you just say Mihoshi was right?"
	"Yes," Katsuhito said. "You see, these are Phages. Sailor Galaxia and
her minions can remove the Star Seed from a human being. Then they can transform
the victim into a dangerous magical monster with powers based on their skills
and talents."
	"So these are human beings?" Angel gasped.
	"Yes, yes they are and..." Katsuhito paused. "Uh, Angel, that means you
should stop lopping off their limbs."
	Angel turned around, waving her bloodstained bread. "What? So they were
once human. So were zoanoids. It's okay to kill them, right?"
	"Well, yes, but this is different. These people didn't ask to..."
	"Neither did most zoanoids," Angel pointed out with a shrug. "And when
Rei says she roasted them, I don't think she meant she was making jokes at their
expense."
	"Uh..." Katsuhito blinked. "Then I order you to stop?"
	"Oh fine." She sighed and stepped back. "It's not like they're much of a
challenge individually anyway." She grinned. "So, I'll just take out the
leader!"
	"Angel, don't do anything stupid..." Angel was already running across
the shoulders of the Phages by the time he started speaking. He sighed.
"Never mind."
	Angel came to the edge of the crowd of transformed humans and leapt. She
pulled her baguette-sword into a double-handed overhead grip and screamed as she
came down towards the tall lithe figure of Heavy Metal Papillon. The woman
raised an eyebrow at her. Then there was a flash of pink and Angel fell back,
still screaming but in surprise this time. She landed in the pond with a splash.
	Angel held up her baguette, which had been cleft in two. She blew air
out through her lips and flipped her now-wet hair out of her eyes. "Well, I
should have expected as much."
	"Normally I would be so indifferent to such a pathetic attack on my
person that I would not even deign to destroy you, little girl," Papillon
explained, adjusting her grip on her scythe. "But to subject me to the indignity
of using my minion's weapons against me demands that I slay you out of hand."
	She struck quickly, and Angel leapt. Water flared up around her, a
waterfall in reverse and Angel spun, skipping off the haft of the weapon and
leaping into the woods. Papillon followed her with the blade, spinning and
slashing. The tree Angel bounced off of split down the middle a millisecond
later, and the branch she swung around was cut from the tree almost before she
left it. It was when the woman rose into the air and began spinning her scythe
around her, ripping the entire forest apart, that Angel began to worry.
	"Of course she flies," Angel muttered as she fell to the ground and
rolled under the sphere of death that had formed around the winged woman. "And
she's faster than Kiima," Angel groaned as she rolled further into the woods.
She leapt to her feet again. "At least she doesn't have Kiima's area-destroying
ranged..."
	"GALACTICA SCALES!"
	The forest exploded, ripped to shreds by spinning purple discs of light
that tore through everything. Angel screamed and ran. There was no complex
tactics or intricate manoeuvring involved, just running for her life.
	Finally the forest stopped exploding around her and Angel fell down,
taking deep calming breaths. "I had to say it, didn't I?"
	"Urchin!" the sailor woman said as she floated towards Angel. "You
survived my attack? Impressive! But not nearly impressive enough! I will-"
	"FLAME SNIPER!"
	The woman screamed as the blast of flame sent her flailing through the
sky. She grabbed her wings and began to blow on them, putting out the tiny
fires. Rei landed in front of Angel, holding up her hands with her crimson bow
etched in flames. "Angel, are you insane?" she shouted over her shoulder.
	"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
	"You singed my wings!" the woman screamed, rising to her feet.
	"I'll do a lot more than that!" Rei declared, firing off another flame
blast. The woman snarled and blocked it with a sweep of her scythe.
	"'I'll do a lot more than that?' Rei, you have got to work on your hero
dialogue," Angel complained. She busied herself looking for a suitable length of
wood among the torn-up trees to serve as a weapon. Rei, meanwhile, was busy
firing arrow after arrow of flame at the evil Sailor Senshi.
	"I'm busy!" Rei shouted.
	"You see, a proper hero has to have a dry cool wit," Angel explained,
picking up a good-sized branch. She swung it a few times for balance. "Like, if
the butterfly girl says 'you singed my wings' you respond with 'you know what
they say about moths and flames' or something."
	"I am not a moth!" Papillon shouted, blocking another shot.
	"That's the point! Comparing you to a moth would annoy you, thus making
you slip up at a critical moment," Angel explained, leaning against a tree that
had been nearly sheared in two. The blasts from Rei were still being deflected
by the arcing sweeps of the woman's pink scythe.
	"What a laughable strategy!" Papillon laughed, to demonstrate how
laughable it was, apparently. "I'll crush you both!"
	"But we're not the insects here," Angel pointed out with a smile.
	"A butterfly is not an insect!" Papillon shouted, her eyebrow twitching.
	"Actually it is. Order Lepidoptera of the class Insecta in the phylum
Arthropoda," Rei said.
	"Haha!" Angel pointed at the violet-clad woman and bent over laughing.
"You're a flying weevil!"
	"Damn you!" Papillon shouted, turning to strike at Angel. Angel ducked
as the blade passed overhead, removing the remaining pieces of the tree trunk.
	"Rei, now!"
	The blast of fire took the evil butterfly-woman straight in the back,
even as Angel slashed out, smashing her branch into the woman's side hard enough
that the wood shattered into splinters, which immediately burst into flames from
the heat. Angel then slid between her legs and flipped to her feet, landing
beside Rei. She turned to the older woman and shrugged at Rei's raised eyebrow.
	"Told you it would work," Angel said.
	"Not so fast," Papillon roared, flapping her wings and blowing away the
cloud of smoke that had enveloped her. She was covered in black scorch marks,
but looked otherwise unharmed. "Did you think any of your attacks could even
harm me?"
	"Well, I was kinda hoping," Angel deadpanned.
	"YOUR HOPES ARE DASHED!" Papillon yelled, charging them and swinging her
scythe, forcing them to leap away in opposite directions.
	"That hardly makes any sense," Angel complained.
	The evil Senshi snarled and swung her weapon backhand, forcing Angel to
duck. Rei tried to attack but the woman leapt up over her, kicking Rei in the
back and sending her crashing into the dirt. Angel rolled forward, striking with
an elbow, but was blocked with a single palm and thrown to the side as the woman
took another swing at Rei. Thankfully, Rei managed to roll to the side before
the blade bit into her back. Then Papillon laughed as she ripped her blade
through the earth, chasing Rei along the way.
	Angel landed with a grunt. Damn, that woman was fast! She kicked to her
feet, spinning and pushing off a stump. She flipped over the woman's head,
punching four times to force the woman to dodge and block, distracting her from
Rei. Rei barely had a chance to get to her feet before Papillon reversed her
scythe suddenly and caught Angel in the chest with the haft, driving her into
the ground with enough force to crater it.
	"ANGEL! FLAMING MANDALA!"
	Rings of fire orbited Rei for a moment as she posed and gestured,
sending them out in a steady stream at the evil Senshi. Papillon snarled and
rushed straight into the cascade, slicing with her scythe. It tore through the
rings, causing them to tear apart in puffs of smoke. Then she rammed into Rei
hard enough to send her flying.
	"Enough of this," Papillon snarled, rising into the air with a wave of
her wings. "Surrender your Star Seed!" She snapped her wrists together and the
golden jewels on her bracer began to glow...
	Then a bowl of potato salad slammed into her face. For a moment she hung
there in mid-air, the bowl slowly sliding off but leaving a white goo sticking
to her face. She blinked, causing clumps to fall to the ground like oversized
tears. Angel swore she saw veins bulging in the woman's forehead despite the
culinary coating.
	Katsuhito tsked as he approached, tapping his bokken on his shoulder.
"Really, picking on two girls like that. I have to say, it's hardly dignified."
	"You..." Papillon spat, sending a piece of potato to the ground.
"YOU!!!"
	Katsuhito flashed HIS smile, that special super-annoying old man
arrogant smile that said he knew more than you and always would. The kind that
made Angel, who was his student and his friend, want to eviscerate him with a
spoon. On Papillon, it had the expected effect. She screamed in incoherent rage
and lanced down at him. Her scythe blurred out of even Angel's enhanced sight,
nothing but a pink shimmer in the air.
	Then there was a brown flicker and a loud thunk. For a moment Papillon
floated in mid-air, her eyes wide. Katsuhito was holding his bokken backwards
across his body, deftly blocking her strike. The huge metal blade was being
held back by a simple piece of caramel-coloured wood. Then he dumped a bowl of
noodles in her hair.
	What followed was perhaps the strangest fight that Angel had ever seen.
Papillon was a whirling dynamo of destruction, her grand scythe cleaving air and
ground and water with equal ferocity. Katsuhito seemed barely to move, his body
blurring into motion only at the last second to just barely block her strikes or
dodge by a hairsbreadth. He never once attacked her; instead, he seemed to have
gathered up all the unused food of the picnic, and was busy using it in the most
interesting fashion. He slapped her with sandwiches, dumped shrimp-like things
down the back of her skirt and sprayed a can of soda in her face.
	Rei frowned. "This isn't good," she said somberly.
	"But he's handling her like a child!" Angel said.
	"Yes, but not attacking," Rei pointed out. "I don't think he can hurt
her, and he knows it. She's not getting any madder, so why bother at this point
with all the clown antics?"
	"Because it amuses him?" Angel replied seriously. Rei blinked. Then
shook her head.
	"No, even he can take things seriously if he has to," Rei pointed out.
	"Oh..." Angel frowned and rubbed her chin. "Well, then we have to do
something, I guess. You got any ideas?"
	"No." Rei looked around. "What happened to all the Phages, anyway?"
	"Oh, I dealt with them."
	Both girls leapt nearly five feet into the air. Angel clutched at her
heart as she landed. "Washuu!" she shouted, turning to face the deceptively
child-like scientist. Washuu was sitting on a cushion in the middle of the
ground, her huge red pile of hair barely coming up to Angel's waist. She was
eating from a bag of popcorn as she watched the 'duel' between Katsuhito and
Papillon.
	"Call me Little Washuu!" she admonished, slapping Angel on the wrist.
Angel hissed and withdrew her hand.
	"Little Washuu, how long have you been here?" Rei asked, her voice
edging on the precipice of demanding.
	"Oh, most of the fight, really," Washuu replied cheerfully.
	"Why didn't you do anything, then?" Angel demanded.
	"Oh, you're right. That's been very rude of me." She frowned and stared
at the battle in progress. "Popcorn?" She offered the bag to Angel.
	Angel stammered for a bit. Meanwhile Katsuhito seemed to have gotten the
upper hand. He finally struck with his sword, driving the bokken into the bottom
of Papillon's chin and sending her flying up into the sky. The Senshi cursed and
looked down. Washuu waved her fingers at the woman in the air.
	"WASHUU!" Papillon gasped in shock.
	"That's Little Washuu!" Washuu called out.
	"Damn... I'm not prepared to face you!" She beat her wings and propelled
herself backwards into the air. "I'll be back! You fools have not defeated me!"
	"See you later!" Washuu called out calmly.
	"Shouldn't you stop her?" Rei asked.
	"Why?"
	"Because she's a bad guy!" Angel screamed.
	"But I already have a butterfly collection," Washuu explained.
	Angel had no response to that, so she just stared. Washuu rose up and
tossed the bag over her shoulder. A little trash can appeared just long enough
to swallow it as Washuu patted her hands. "Besides, she isn't the real problem.
The problem is what do we do with the hundred people she turned into monsters."
	She started back towards the pond. Not having anything better to do,
Angel and Rei followed. Katsuhito came along too, but he remained mostly silent.
When they got to the water, they saw why none of the Phages had shown up for the
fight. Each and every one of them was caught in a huge blob of some sort of
clear yellow goo-like stuff that stuck them in place perfectly. It made the
entire scene look like some macabre circus that had been caught and preserved in
amber.
	Mihoshi was giggling and holding a laser gun at the head of the other
Senshi, the white-clad short girl... though she was slightly taller than Washuu,
if you didn't count hair. The girl's eyes widened as Washuu and the others
entered the clearing; Angel refused to look at the giant zone cleared out by
their battle just behind them.
	"ACK! It's Washuu!" the little woman cried in genuine fright.
	"Yes, I am the great and powerful Washuu!" Washuu said, in a booming
voice. "Fear my immense undefined cosmic powers!"
	"No way am I sticking around to fight you!" Iron Mouse shouted, stepping
backward as an old-fashioned telephone booth popped into existence behind her.
Mihoshi blinked.
	"Oh, that's a neat trick!"
	"It is, isn't it?" Iron Mouse agreed. Angel started forward, but there
were a lot of frozen Phages between her and the island and she wasn't about to
risk touching any of the confining goo. Iron Mouse grabbed the handset of the
phone and held it out towards Mihoshi. "Here, it's for you!" she offered
cheerfully.
	"Mihoshi, don't!" Rei shouted, but to no avail.
	"Oh? Hello?" Mihoshi grabbed the headset and stepped into the booth with
Iron Mouse. "Hello? Is anybody there?"
	"CHUU!" Iron Mouse shouted triumphantly. "You fell for my clever trap!
You better give us the Star Seed, suckers, or she gets it!" Then the door closed
and the booth vanished.
	"Mihoshi!" Angel cried, having reached the island a second too late.
	"Damn, now what do we do?" Rei said.
	"What would you girls do without me?" Washuu said with a sigh. She was
now floating in the air and tapping on a holographic keyboard that had appeared
under her fingers. She glanced at a yellow screen in the air. "What a simple
teleportation system. It only takes them to one place." She snorted. "Amateurs."
She tossed a small device to Angel, who caught it. "Here, this will track them
down. Why don't you three go save Mihoshi while I see what I can do for these
poor souls?"
	"You mean, I get to go be a hero?" Angel clutched the device to her
chest.
	"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Washuu waved her hand. "I'd do some speech here
about finding your inner strength or power or child or whatever the buzz word
is, but I actually think you need to tone down the enthusiasm a bit." Washuu
looked at Angel. "Coming from me, kid, that tells you something."
	"Hmmm. I wonder what they were really after here?" Katsuhito said. "This
attack seemed too uncoordinated. As if victory wasn't their real objective."
	"Maybe..." Rei looked away.
	"They just seem like idiots to me." Angel started skipping towards the
house. "Let's go beat them up and save Mihoshi!"

*

	"AAAAH!  My arm!"
	"Hmm? Is there something wrong? Does it hurt?"
	"It's... it's BLUE!"
	"Sorry, temporary side-effect. You have to admit it's better than no arm
at all. Darn overenthusiastic kids going around inflicting unthinking violence
everywhere! Why, no daughter of mine would... actually, forget I said that."
	"How will I explain this to my wife!?"
	"Awww, it's okay, she was turned into, I dunno, Sailor Wife Of
Schoolteacher or something. I forget. She's got an eggbeater, maybe Sailor
Housewife? What do you think?"
	"Oh my god, you mean that's HER?"
	"Yep! But don't worry, none of you will remember any of this anyway. Now
look into the nice red light..."
	"What do you mean? Who are y- uuuuugh..."
	The former Phage turned around and stiffly walked to a corner of the
lab, lining up with the rest of the healed townsfolk. The lab was an interesting
sight, less... over-the-top than it's owner would lead you to expect. It was
somewhat darkened, lit largely by a soft blue glow emanating from... somewhere.
Large pipes and other equipment of unknown use were scattered around the
laboratory, soaring through the air, or disappearing into the walls, but overall
the room was surprisingly uncluttered and roomy.
	Washuu wiped her brow theatrically, then clapped her hands sharply and
moved up to the next entombed victim. "So, moving right along, then," she said
sharply. "Name?"
	The Phage struggled vainly at her bonds for a moment. "You will all be
destroyed!" she growled.
	"Yes, yes, but what's your NAME?"
	"Sailor... Fashionista!"
	"Right, right..." Washuu made a few notes on the holographic keyboard
that had appeared in front of her. "Huh, I didn't think there was anybody in
that field in the village..."
	"I will destroy you... for your poor fashion sense! And haircut!" the
Phage said hastily.
	"Hey!" Washuu said, looking up and pointed accusingly, shaking her
enormous mane of spiked red hair. "I'll have you know my hair spawned a fashion
trend that lasted five thousand years! They even named a nebula after it!" She
paused. "And anyway, you shouldn't talk, with that tacky outfit. It makes you
look like you have wings."
	"How dar- that is, you are a fool and your planet and hairdo will be
destroyed! Grr!"
	"Yes, yes," Washuu said. She held up a small ball-peen hammer in one
hand. "Now, this'll only hurt for a moment or two... or five or six."
	She whacked the Phage on the forehead, right above the veil that
concealed her features. She slumped back, going	slightly cross-eyed, and the
amber gel that had been holding her suddenly dissolved away. A great glowing
light gathered at her forehead, and then... nothing.
	Washuu blinked. "Wow, that's strange. The corrupted Star Seed should
have-"
	"HA!" screamed Sailor Fashionista. Her hand whipped out, grabbing the
little-girl scientist by the shoulder. "Taste my true power! GALACTICA BANISH!"
	A great hole in space-time ripped open-
	"Hey, that's a hole in space-time!" Washuu commented unnecessarily.
	-and with a wail like a thousand dying stars, great black tendrils of
dark power wrapped around her body.
	"Not tentacles! I've seen these sort of comics before!" Washuu wailed.
	They began dragging her into the portal.
	"Nooooo, noooo, I don't wanna go! I'm too young, brilliant, gorgeous,
brilliant, witty, charming and brilliant to die yet!"
	The Phage gritted her teeth, and ripped away her veil. "Give up,
Washuu!" the revealed Heavy Metal Papillon crowed in triumph. "Even you can't-"
	"That's LITTLE Washuu!"
	"Shut up and fall into the abyss!" Papillon growled.
	"But it looks so scary!"
	"It doesn't matter! This power was granted to me by Sailor Galaxia
herself! Noone can resist it! Not even you!"
	"Oh, come on, can't she make an exception just this once?"
	"No!" Papillon clenched her fists. Impossible as it seemed, Washuu
almost DID seem like she was holding off the power of the Galactica Banish. She
wasn't escaping, but despite all the straining of the dark power, the self-
proclaimed 'greatest genius in the universe' wouldn't budge. Papillon stalked a
few steps away, looking around, and pointed at a piece of complex-looking
machinery that took up a large section of the wall. "Well, fine, then! I presume
THIS is precious to you! Perhaps I'll just sent it ahead of you, and then if you
ever want it back, you'll have to surrender-"
	"Actually, I threw that together one night last year after too much
sake. I think it makes coffee."
	Papillon stared.
	"Really good coffee. I should remember to actually use it sometime."
	"Well, how about this?" She pointed randomly at something else.
	"That's the garbage can."
	"This, then!"
	"...I don't even know what that does. Did Mihoshi leave it in here?"
	Papillon stamped her foot in impotent rage. Her plan had been BRILLIANT!
Why did these sort of complications always set in? Then she smiled evilly. "Very
well. Since you persist in being... difficult, I suppose you force my hand... so
to speak."
	"That's kind of weak. You need to work on your witty repartee."
	"SHUT UP!" She seized one of the glassy-eyed former Phages. "GALACTICA
BANISH!" The portal this time worked much more smoothly, and the hapless ex-
Sailor Schoolteacher was sucked into the void between worlds.
	"Well, that just wasn't nice."
	"If you want to save his miserable life, you will have to follow him!"
Papillon crowed, pointing at Washuu. "I have sent him to Zero Star Sagittarius!"
	"Well, I dunno. He might like it there, after all. Is it a vacation
spot?"
	"NO!" Papillon paused for a moment, counting under her breath, before
brushing an errant hair back into place and continuing more calmly. "Zero Star
Sagittarius is the graveyard of the galaxy, the last refuge of the flames of
dying stars. It is a place few have seen, and fewer still have lived to speak
of!"
	"Oh," said Washuu. "THAT Zero Star Sagittarius." She paused. "There's
not even air there, is there?"
	Papillon laughed. "None whatsoever!"
	"Well, I suppose I'd better go, then." Washuu stepped backwards, the
portal snapping shut hungrily the moment her body passed through it.
	Papillon ran a hand through her rich violet hair, and laughed. "Fool!
Zero Star Sagittarius lies near the heart of the great Galaxy Cauldron, the seat
of the power of Galaxia! You have given up your life for a single foolish human,
and with your life, so to will perish this very planet!" She looked around
triumphantly. The restored humans stared at her with glassy eyes. The remaining
Phages had stopped struggling in their bonds, but also didn't seem to be paying
any attention. Papillon laughed again anyway, adding a good satisfying hands-on-
hips pose for good measure. It felt good to be triumphant.
	Familiar, but good.
	But it was, alas, still just the beginning of the work week. Ignoring
the trapped Phages, Papillon located the door and exited Washuu's lab, emerging
in a moderately-sized dwelling of mostly wooden construction. She paused,
glancing back at the door to the lab. It seemed to be ensconced in a nook under
the stairwell of the house, but was in fact far larger than should strictly have
been possible, given that. Well, no matter.
	The house was empty. Papillon smiled. It appeared Iron Mouse had
actually managed to carry off her part of the plan and draw the other fools
away. Well, even a pathetic coward could be good for something, properly
directed. Without any opposition, she sauntered out of the house and back to the
site of the previous battle.
	The tree stood there. Papillon allowed herself to admire it for a
moment. The Juraian trees were truly magnificent: great glorious boughs and
brilliant foliage, though nothing betrayed the great magical power within.
Though none could match the powers of Galaxia or her consort, total victory had
been hindered by the Juraian tree-ships which formed the backbone of the
Alliance fleet. Though some had been destroyed, the accursed Juraians had
ensured none could be captured... until one had been discovered here, stranded
on this remote planet far from the fighting.
	Supposedly, this tree could no longer soar through the heavens.
Nonetheless, with its soul, Galaxia would no doubt discover the secrets of the
trees' power, and from there, destroy them.
	Laughing one more time for good measure, she raised her hands, bringing
her bracelets together. A flash of light sprang from the jewels on the
bracelets, arcing into the great tree.
	And nothing happened.
	Papillon stared.
	Then stamped her foot. Again. "DAMN IT! Why is nothing going right
today!?"
	Muttering, she stalked off to find her scythe, which she had hidden
before disguising herself as 'Sailor Fashionista' and joining the crowd of other
trapped Phages. It looked like she would have to find the man bonded to the
tree, the exiled prince of Jurai, Katsuhito Masaki. And... question him.
	Then again, that wouldn't be so bad.
	She gave her scythe a few experimental swings, smiling as she began
planning precisely how she was going to force the man to talk.

*

	"I think they were expecting us."
	It was a squat tower, five stories high and the colour of fresh fallen
snow. It also had two giant mouse ears, like something from a Disney cartoon
except white, sticking out from both sides. Two huge 'eyes' were on the front,
with eyes pointed down and towards them. The entrance was a huge laughing
rodent's mouth, complete with buck teeth. The tongue served as a red carpet
leading into the structure. A giant pink neon sign above the tower buzzed,
alternately flashing the words "Chuu" and "House" and a large heart.
	Angel looked down at the device in her hands and sighed. "Well, this is
kind of useless," she said, stuffing it into a pouch on her belt. She grabbed
her sword and looked over at Rei. "So, what kind of trap is it?"
	Rei frowned. She wasn't used to being the 'experienced' one in these
kinds of situations. Angel was looking to her for advice and encouragement,
which was a major responsibility. She didn't want to let the younger girl down.
	"It's probably an ambush," Rei said softly. "I should go in alone."
	"Oh great, there she goes again," Angel said, rolling her eyes.
	"There I go again?" Rei frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"
	"You're going all martyr on us." Angel said, leaning forward and poking
Rei in the centre of her bow. "Don't bother denying it, you have that look on
your face."
	"Look?" Rei smacked her hand away. "I do not have a 'look'!" She turned
to Katsuhito. "Tell her she's crazy," Rei insisted.
	"Well, you do have a look," Katsuhito said, rubbing his chin
thoughtfully.
	"I do not!"
	"Yes you do. It's that 'oh no, my tragic fate has created angst and now
I must atone through needless sacrifice' look you get."
	"How can you even get that specific of a look?" Rei shouted.
	"Generally like this," Katsuhito said. Then he removed his glasses and
sighed, staring wistfully off to the side. His eyes shimmered in the light and
his ponytail fluttered forlornly in the breeze.
	Rei blinked. "Well, okay, I'll admit that looks kind of forlorn and
martyrish, but I do not get that look!"
	"Yes you do!" Angel pointed out. Rei sighed and looked away. "You just
did it again!"
	"Well, it's understandable," Rei grumbled, crossing her arms. "If it
weren't for me, none of this would have happened."
	"That's silly," Katsuhito pointed out.
	"Don't you understand what I'm saying, Katsuhito?" Rei pleaded with him.
"They're after the Star Seed, they said as much themselves! MY Star Seed! The
one that gives me my power! If it weren't for me, none of you would be in
danger!"
	"Oh, I understood what you meant, it's just silly," he replied. "You
see, Rei..." He placed a hand on her shoulder in a fatherly gesture and smiled
benignly. "Your powers are so weak and meaningless that I can't see anybody
going through this much trouble just for them!" he explained cheerfully.
	Rei was still standing in the exact same pose as the two walked into the
building ahead of her. She felt a vein in her forehead throb painfully. Finally
she clenched her fist and felt the air around her literally raise ten degrees.
"I can't kill him," she told herself. "Not until after we save Mihoshi."
	She stalked into the building, seeing that Angel and the old fart were
just in what looked like a lobby. It consisted of a single circular room, with a
huge metal door on one end with a heart - with mouse ears - carved into the
centre of it. There was a huge purple speaker positioned just over the door, and
nothing else in the room except the plush-looking walls and ceiling. Katsuhito
was standing with his hands folded in his sleeves, while Angel stood with her
hand on one hip and her feet widely spaced. Rei resisted the urge to smack
Katsuhito in the back of the head.
	"There doesn't seem to be any way to open the door," the grey-haired
monk said somberly.
	"Hah. Watch this, old man," Angel said, drawing her sword with a rasp.
	"I wouldn't try that!" Everyone looked up at the speaker. A obnoxiously
cute young woman's voice was coming through it, and the speaker vibrated visibly
with each word. "CHUCHUCHU!" the voice laughed. "Welcome to Sailor Iron Mouse's
TOWER OF NASTY PERIL!" There was a pause. "Wait, wait..." There was a rustling
and clanking sound from the speaker. Iron Mouse cleared her throat, causing a
wince inducing shriek of feedback. "Welcome to Sailor Iron Mouse's TOWER OF
NASTY PERIL!" There was a click as if somebody was pushing a button, followed by
a crack and roar of ominous thunder.
	"I don't suppose you'd just be willing to hand over our friend and leave
without a fuss?" Katsuhito asked nicely.
	"Oh, no, sorry... I mean, NO! CHUCHUCHU! This place will be your doom!"
Rei rubbed her forehead and looked at Angel, who shrugged. "The door before you
is made out of solid adamant, the strongest material in the entire universe! Not
even the mightiest martial artists can break through it, not even the sharpest
sword can cut it! This building has five such doors, leading from one floor to
the next! CHUCHUCHU!
	"Behind each door is an increasingly more dire peril! Nefarious traps
and opponents which will test even your considerable skills to the utmost. Even
if you survive one nasty peril, you will only be faced with an even more nasty
peril in the next room, but too tired and drained of resources to possibly
survive!"
	"So, you built this place to trap us?" Angel asked.
	"You catch on quick!" Iron Mouse's voice replied without a hint of
irony.
	"So, in other words, you built a better mousetrap?" Katsuhito said
cheerfully.
	Rei and Angel hit him in the back of the head at the same time. He
ducked and apologized as they continued to smack him.
	"Gee, even I realise how cheesy that was!" Iron Mouse said reproachfully
through the speaker.
	Katsuhito opened his mouth and raised a finger. Angel and Rei glared at
him. He wisely shut his mouth. Angel cleared her throat and looked at Rei
meaningfully. "So, Sailor Iron Mouse, I bet that adamant stuff is expensive."
	"Oh yes, more expensive than anything else! It's collapsed in the core
of a neutron star and forged in the gravitation field of a black hole before
being tempered by a gamma ray burst! Not even the most greatest artificers in
the universe can manufacture it without help!"
	"So, I'm guessing you didn't make the entire building out of it?"
Katsuhito said, rubbing his chin.
	"CHUCHUCHU! Are you crazy? I don't have the budget for that!"
	"Right," Rei said.
	 She stepped to the centre of the room and drew her hand back, forming
the Mars Flame Sniper in her hands. "You fool, I already told you nothing can
destroy my adamant doors!" She frowned and dumped as much mana as she could into
it, trebling the size of the flaming tip in a faction of a second. She kept
drawing on her reserves until the arrowhead was a blinding flare of light that
not even Rei could look into. "CHUCHU! Use all the power you want, all it means
is you will not have enough left for the diabolical challenges..." Rei then
tilted back and pointed the arrow at the ceiling. With a wordless cry she
unleashed the attack. "Oh, fiddlesticks..."
	The ceiling vapourised instantly. Then the ceiling after that, and the
ceiling after that. Finally the arrow vanished into the blue sky overhead,
winking out as it cleared the atmosphere. It left a tunnel straight through the
tower.
	Angel and Katsuhito were already climbing, jumping from level to level
with easy strides. Rei took a moment to catch her breath before following. She
got to the top level just seconds after they did. The room they were in was
probably the entire top floor. It was wide open with a number of computer
control stations along the walls. Iron Mouse was sitting in one, holding an old-
fashioned microphone-headset combo up to one ear. She was also looking slightly
scorched. She coughed out a cloud of smoke.
	"Hechuhechu..." She gave the three of them a big false smile. "I don't
suppose you guys would be willing to go through all my traps? Just so I can
justify the expense report to my boss?" They shook their heads slowly. She
sighed and looked away.
	"See Rei, she has the exact same look!" Angel pointed out.
	"Will you stop it with that?" Rei snarled. "This is serious! We have to
save Mihoshi!" Rei turned to the mousegirl. "Speaking of which, what have you
done with her?"
	"Well... since you asked so nicely!" Iron Mouse laughed and smashed a
button on her console. Nearby, a portion of the wall began to spit out a cloud
of steam. With a loud whirr and click a section indented, revealing that it was
a huge iron door which slowly rose into the ceiling with a grinding clank of
chains and the hiss of hydraulics. The entrance was obscured with a cloud of
steam for a long moment as a shadowy figure stepped forth. "Witness the fate of
those who defy Sailor Galaxia!" Iron Mouse called and gestured. An errant breeze
from the hole in the roof blew away the steam to reveal...
	Well, it was Mihoshi. Except she was wearing a giant yellow cone on her
head and clad in a sting bikini that was threatening to fall off at any moment.
Also her skin had turned pink, her eyes had become giant balls of red that
reflected the light and her normally slightly pointy ears had grown out to
almost a foot long each. She also had a sailor collar and a tiny pleated skirt
on her bikini bottom.
	"SAILOR KLUTZ!" the Phage said, posing and laughing at them all.
	"CHUCHUCHU!" Iron Mouse laughed with her hands on her hips. "How do you
like that, heroes?"
	Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. "We pretty much figured that
was going to happen," Angel explained.
	"Yeah, I mean, it's kind of an obvious ploy, don't you think?" Rei
pointed out.
	"In fact we all agreed that we'd just knock her out until Washuu has a
chance to restore her when you pulled this," Katsuhito finished.
	Iron Mouse deflated a little. "Oh... I..." She looked around. "MINION
ATTACK!"
	"Sailor Klutz!" the possessed Mihoshi yelled, charging at them.
Katsuhito smashed her in the face with his bokken, Angel ducked to sweep her
legs out and Rei punched her in the gut. Sailor Klutz flew backward, smashing
into the wall hard enough to crack it. Her eyes were spinning around dizzily
when she staggered forward. "Sailor Klutz doesn't feel so good..."
	"Well that was useful," Iron Mouse grumbled.  Sailor Klutz continued to
wobble drunkenly across the room, the three giving her a wide berth. She frowned
and leapt back, snapping her wrists together. "Then I'll just have to make one
of you into my minion as well!" Her bracelets glowed and a pair of golden bolts
launched forth as she laughed again.
	The blasts seemed to scatter across the room randomly, but Rei realised
they were actually homing in on her after a second. She jumped to the side but
the attack followed her in a wide arc. She bit her lip; if those things kept
tracking her, then-
	The transformed Mihoshi drunkenly stumbled into the path of the golden
bolts. There was a flash of blinding light and her entire body stiffened as she
screamed. As the light dimmed she fell to her knees and a flower bloomed from
the centre of her forehead. Out of the petal of the flower a shining diamond-
shaped object appeared. "Her Star Seed!" Rei gasped.
	Angel walked over and pushed on the Star Seed with one finger, pushing
it down into the flower, which folded around the gem and retracted back into
Sailor Klutz's forehead. There was another flash of golden light and then
Mihoshi was kneeling there, blinking. "Oh, my head..." she mumbled. "I think I
drank too much last night..."
	"That's all it takes?" Iron Mouse shrieked. "The transformation's
supposed to be irreversible!"
	"It seems that is not entirely true," Katsuhito murmured, rubbing his
chin. "Just in case Washuu ran into any problems, I guess we need her alive,
then. Girls?"
	Angel and Rei ran forward, each grabbing one of Iron Mouse's limbs and
pinning her against the wall. The tiny woman was lifted off the floor. She began
to sweat as the two glared at her.
	"You know, you're really bad at this," Angel pointed out. "Perhaps if
you help us out, we'll help you find a new career you'd be more suited to."
	Iron Mouse looked at her and smiled evilly, her teeth gleaming. "Oh, bad
at this, am I? Chuchuchu! You fool, you don't realise what our real plan is!"
	"Why don't you enlighten us?" Rei prompted.
	"It's simple." She looked over Rei's shoulder. "I'm the distraction."
	Rei looked back, and just say Heavy Metal Papillon floating down through
the hole in the ceiling. Katsuhito was too busy checking over Mihoshi to notice.
Rei opened her mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late. With a vicious
slash of her pink metal scythe, the indigo-haired Senshi knocked Katsuhito
aside. He screamed and smashed into the wall, before slumping down. A pool of
red began to grow underneath him.
	"And that is about all you are useful for," Papillon said, raising her
weapon. "Now that I have defeated both Washuu Hakubi and your swordsman, it is
time I taught you two to fear the power of Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon!"

*

	Angel stepped in front of Rei, holding her sword up across her chest.
Now she was back in her element. She'd duelled Kiima for months, and that woman
was ten times the martial artist this ditzy Sailor Reject was. Kiima could fly
better, was a better fighter and even had as destructive a super-attack. True,
Angel had managed to hit the woman exactly once in all their sparring sessions,
but that was back when she hadn't been nearly as good as she was now.
	Plus, Heavy Metal Papillon had managed to place herself inside, where
Angel had much more in the way of walls and ceilings to use against her. She
smirked.
	"So, the tables have turned, haven't they? CHUCHUCHU!" Iron Mouse said,
laughing as she walked up behind Papillon.
	"What are you doing?" the other Sailor asked.
	"Well, I thought we could defeat them together and..."
	"And nothing. You already had a chance to defeat them. You failed
utterly. Now, you will sit back and watch a real warrior defeat them!"
	Iron Mouse blinked and stared at Papillon. Then her eyes narrowed.
"Fine. See if you can beat them without MY help." Crossing her arms, she made a
huffing noise and walked over to the corner.
	"That wasn't very clever," Angel pointed out. "At the very least, she
could have been used as a meat-shield."
	The violet-clad woman smirked. "Don't be so confident. Today, you
become... a FALLEN ANGEL!" There was a long pause. Angel swore she heard
crickets chirping.
	"Uh... that's the best witty repartee you could come up with?" Angel
asked, relaxing her stance a bit.
	The woman tilted her head and began to gnaw on her sailor-style collar
as she spoke. "But I spent the entire trip over here thinking up that one," she
muttered.
	"It's okay. Not everyone gets to be good at it," Angel soothed. Then she
paused. "What am I doing?" She looked over at Rei. "Hey, will he live?"
	"Yes..." Rei stood up. "The wound is shallow but long. I think she hit a
nerve cluster of some kind. It looks worse then it is."
	"Oh good." Angel looked back at Papillon. "So, let's see how this goes
when I'm armed with an actual sword!"
	She rushed forward, then leapt at the last moment, spiralling up and
over the woman. Her feet pressed against the ceiling and she rebounded to the
side, spinning and landing in a crouch. Whipping her entire body to the side she
slid under a table, kicking it up to provide cover and then abruptly reversed
direction and cartwheeled to the side. Finally she struck, a single perfect chop
to the neck.
	It clanged as Heavy Metal Papillon caught it easily where her blade met
its haft. "You know..." She twisted her scythe, forcing Angel to turn her body
to keep a grip on it. "I may not be good at this talking you excel at." Angel
tugged on her sword, but the woman had it caught firmly. "But I am good at
planning. For example, the last time I fought you, I was planning to lose."
	Angel gasped as the woman swung her weapon sharply. The hilt of her
sword burned her palm as it was ripped from her grasp and sent flying towards
the wall. In fact, it flew so fast it smashed straight through the wall and
continued going. Angel was so busy staring after it that she didn't see the
indigo-haired woman reverse her sweep and drive the haft of the scythe into her
temple.
	After that Angel wasn't quite certain what happened. Stars exploded
across her vision and she was pretty certain she spun a complete three-sixty.
She was also vaguely aware of Heavy Metal Papillon working her over like a
punching bag. From both sides she was struck and crushed. Her body was battered
from side to side, kept from falling by the fact that the blow that would have
knocked her over was immediately followed by a blow that knocked her in the
other direction.
	Again.
	And again. Until finally the world just dissolved into a grey haze of
pain.
	Finally a sharp pain in her scalp brought her vision back into focus.
She was slumped over, and Papillon was holding her off the ground by yanking on
her hair. Angel tried to protest, but only managed to cough and hack. She saw
red drops spatter across the floor, adding to the carnage already there.
	Her ears were ringing, so she couldn't hear anything. It gave the next
few moments a surreal quality. Rei was charging towards Papillon, screaming
something. She seemed to be moving in place, charging nowhere in slow motion.
Papillon's scythe snapped up and intercepted a blast of fire. Then she swung it
back around and struck, catching Rei in the stomach.
	A red line formed, arcing out from the fire Senshi in slow motion. It
glistened as it flew through the air. Rei's eyes widened, almost comically, as
she fell backward. Her face went pale and her mouth opened and closed like a
fish. Angel felt the bizarre need to laugh.
	She realised dimly that she had a concussion.
	Red light flashed through the air. Papillon turned, wrenching Angel
painfully. Mihoshi had retrieved her pistol and was firing away. Her face was
not kind or laughing now. Her eyes were hard and her mouth was a thin line. Her
hands were steady as she gripped her weapon with both, firing short, accurate
bursts with the laser pistol. It wasn't even fazing Heavy Metal Papillon. The
bolts just harmlessly blasted into her as Papillon dragged Angel forward, while
pulling back her scythe with her other hand.
	Then she realised that Papillon was going to remove Mihoshi's head from
her shoulders with a single swipe. She reached up and feebly grasped at the hand
holding her. She needed to stop it, but she didn't have the strength.
	No. That wouldn't happen. She had been trained by the greatest martial
artists in the world. She had seen techniques that normal human beings couldn't
conceive of. She was not about to let something like concussions and probably a
whole set of broken bones stop her. She ground her teeth to hold in the shout of
pain as she seized control of the chi flowing through her body and forced it to
MOVE. This wasn't about muscles or nerves or bones. This was spirit, raw and
pure. She made her entire body a puppet and paid for it with pain.
	Then Mihoshi slipped and fell, letting the scythe pass harmlessly over
her. A few blonde strands floated to the floor. Angel had pushed herself to her
feet and was struggling, but got shoved down harshly for her effort. She
released a scream as she collapsed. Papillon released her hair and shoved one of
her stiletto heeled boots into the small of her back.
	"-lie down and be quiet," the woman was saying. Angel blinked away
tears. Well, at least she could hear again.
	"Mihoshi, stop," Katsuhito said suddenly. Angel turned her head
painfully and saw that he was now leaning against the wall. The pool of blood
around him had stopped growing, and he had his hand pressed into his back, with
the other being used to help prop him up.
	"But she's hurting..." Mihoshi said, sniffling.
	"No matter," Katsuhito said, his voice serious. "She'll just hurt Angel
more if you continue attacking."
	"I'm glad you see the way this works," Heavy Metal Papillon said with a
sneer. "You see, I'm not here for them. I'm not even here for this wretch's Star
Seed," she continued, gesturing to Rei. Rei was cradling her stomach with both
hand, moaning and trying to keep from bleeding too much. "I'm here for you,
Katsuhito Masaki... or should I say, Yosho of Jurai!" Papillon looked around, as
if expecting everyone to be surprised about that.
	"I told them all my true identity long ago," Katsuhito explained with a
shrug. Papillon frowned.
	"Nevertheless," she continued, "I'm here for the soul of your space-
faring tree. But it appears that your tree does not have its own soul. Which
means that it has passed it on to another. Which means YOU!" She pointed her
scythe at him triumphantly.
	"Oh." Katsuhito rubbed his chin with the hand he had been using to brace
himself. "I don't have it."
	Angel realised that Papillon was getting annoyed... well, more annoyed.
More importantly, she could sense that the woman was growing impatient with
Katsuhito's game. Sooner or later she'd try and use those bracelets on him...
	"Don't be coy with me!" Papillon sneered. "You are that tree's master,
so you must have its Star Seed!"
	"Nope, sorry, you'll have to go somewhere else for that," Katsuhito
repeated.
	"Don't toy with me, little man! I am Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon, the
most beautiful and powerful of the Sailor Animamates! I personally fought the
great space pirate Ryoko to a standstill!"
	Angel glanced over at Rei and Mihoshi. On the one hand, Rei was injured;
badly at that. On the other hand, while Mihoshi wasn't injured, she was Mihoshi.
Somebody needed to do something before Papillon got angry enough to finish off
the injured Jurai prince.
	"Oh really?" Katsuhito adjusted his glasses. "Does she still only have
the one power gem?"
	"Yes, but don't let that fool you, I can-"
	"I defeated her when she had three."
	Papillon blinked. "Well... I defeated you, didn't I?"
	"Did you? Did you REALLY?" Katsuhito raised an eyebrow.
	"Yes! I'm standing, and you're bleeding to death on the floor."
	"Hmm. Point. Or am I just faking until you present an opening so that I
can defeat you?"
	"You are not!" Papillon shouted.
	"Oh really? Prove it. Leave an opening, and then when I don't exploit it
you'll know you really defeated me."
	Papillon's eyebrow twitched. "Do you truly think I'm that stupid?"
	"Yes?"
	"Enough of this foolishness! Give me the Star Seed or I'll kill both of
these girls!"
	"I don't have it. My grandson Tenchi has it."
	"Your grandson..." Papillon's eyebrow twitched. "Fine. Tell me where he
is. I'll go rip it out of his corpse."
	"He's on Jurai." Katsuhito paused. "If you've fought Ryoko, you've
probably met him. Unassuming boy, short black hair in a ponytail, can create the
Light Hawk Wings with an act of will?" The blood drained from the woman's face.
"Ah, I see you have met him."
	"That's neither here nor there!" Papillon shouted again. "I don't
believe you. I defeated the great Washuu, so I must be smarter than all you
people."
	"You defeated Washuu?" Katsuhito snorted.
	"I did! I sent her to Zero Star Sagittarius! The graveyard of dead
stars!"
	As Angel watched in frustration. However, movement caught her attention
as Iron Mouse walked over to Rei. Angel grit her teeth. If that bitch tried to
hurt Rei... But the woman only smirked and leaned over the fallen girl. She
began to whisper softly into Rei's ear. Angel frowned, what was going on here?
	"Oh. That place." Katsuhito rubbed his chin. "Why is that special,
again?"
	"You fool! It is in the heart of the entire universe, the cauldron from
which galaxies are born! But Zero Star Sagittarius is the realm where stillborn
star systems are captured. It is an inescapable miasma of negative energy that
not even Washuu can survive!" She laughed.
	"That does sound nasty," Katsuhito agreed.
	"Feh. Enough of this! I'll simply rip out your soul and turn you into my
loyal Phage." Papillon set her scythe aside and brought her wrists together.
"Even if what you say is true, I'm certain your grandson will negotiate for your
life!"
	The gems on her wrists began to glow, and then Rei acted. She spun in
place, drawing her arm back. She didn't shout or scream or even so much as open
her mouth. The golden blasts emerged from the Animamate's wristbands. Katsuhito
flinched. An arrow of flame erupted from Rei's fingertips, and spiralled through
the air. It slammed right into the dimming gems on the woman's wrists.
	There was a single sharp crack. Heavy Metal Papillon gasped and
staggered back. The golden orbs halted in mid-air, hovering just in front of
Katsuhito's chest. There was another crack and this time Angel saw the gems on
her wrist visibly vibrate. A thin line appeared in them, then another. With a
sound like a glass smashing against concrete, the gems shattered.
	"NO!" Heavy Metal Papillon screamed. "Lady Galaxia! Save-"
	She never finished, as her body seemed to become nothing more than a
human-shaped flash of gold light. Then with a sound that Angel would never
forget, she simply vanished. The balls of light she had summoned vanished with
her. A second later there was a tinkling as the empty bracelets hit the ground.
There was something else there, too, something that looked oddly like a
seashell. But a moment later, both of them dissolved into motes of light and
vanished.
	"Good job girls," Katsuhito said, sighing. "But did you have to cut it
so close?"
	"Angel!" Mihoshi leaned over her. "Are you okay? Here, let me help, I'm
trained in CPR!" The blonde flipped Angel over and began to pound on her chest.
	"ARGH! Stop helping, Mihoshi!"
	"Yes, you may want to place the other bad guy under arrest," Katsuhito
said mildly.
	"Who?" Mihoshi looked up and everyone else turned their attention to
Iron Mouse, who was trying her best to look inconspicuous.
	"Chu? Could we... uh... just forgive and forget?"
	"Actually..." Rei frowned. "Without her, we wouldn't have defeated
Papillon."
	"That's right! So you should let me go!"
	"But she's a space criminal!" Mihoshi asked.
	"She told me that the weakness of the Animamates is their magical wrist
bands. If those are destroyed, the Animamate dies from lack of a Star Seed,"
Rei explained. Everyone looked down at Iron Mouse's wrists.
	"Except... uh..." She smiled thinly. "My wrist bands are invincible!
They're like Wonder Woman's! They stop bullets and make people tell the truth or
something!" Katsuhito and Rei raised eyebrows in unison. Even Mihoshi did not
look convinced. "That's right, so you can't even kill me if you try and I helped
you, so you should let me go, CHUCHUCHU! I'm so clever!" Angel realised the girl
was talking mostly to herself at this point.
	"Nevertheless, we can't let you go until we find out a way to rescue
Washuu." Katsuhito informed her.
	"There is no way!" Iron Mouse whined. "Not even the most powerful
beings in the universe can escape it!"
	"That's impossible," Angel said. "Washuu's too smart to get caught like
that. Tell her, old man."
	"Actually.." Katsuhito rubbed his chin. "When we first met Washuu, she
was caught in an alternate dimension that even she couldn't escape from."
	"No!" Angel gasped. "There has to be a way!"
	"Uh... nope!" Iron Mouse said cheerfully.
	"She's right, there's absolutely no way even I could escape from Zero
Star Sagittarius," Washuu said, crossing her arms.
	"See, even Washuu agrees that she can't escape!" Iron Mouse pointed out.
	"Damn it... wait a..." Angel looked up at the tiny red-head.
	Washuu smiled down at her. "That's why, before I was sucked through the
portal, I just changed the destination." She chuckled. "I would have been here
sooner, but I didn't think you four would really have that much of a problem
with Ms. Fashion Victim." She looked up at Iron Mouse. "Shouldn't you be running
away now?"
	"Uh... you're letting me go?"
	"Of course." Washuu sighed. "I don't kill people if I can help it,
unlike you or your boss. In fact, if I could I would save you." She held out her
hands. "If you really want, I can try. I can protect you from Galaxia, you know.
Maybe together we can find a way to restore your Star Seed to you, so that you
won't have to be her pawn... until she grows tired of you."
	"I..." Iron Mouse looked at Washuu. Then suddenly her face hardened.
"No. I'm not going to fall for your tricks!" She stepped backwards into the
phone booth that suddenly appeared behind her. "You're a fool for not destroying
me while you had a chance!" With a click, the door of the booth closed and the
Animamate vanished.
	"Why did you let her go?" Angel demanded.
	Washuu sighed. "I just said it, Angel. I don't kill people if I have a
choice. I really do think she can be saved. Maybe if I'd gotten her shortly
after she'd been 'turned' by Galaxia, there might have been enough of her old
personality for me to..." She trailed off. "But no, Chaos has her now. It
infects the bodies of Galaxia's minions just like it does Galaxia herself. If
I'd killed Iron Mouse, I would have just played into that thing's goals."
	She looked at the four of them. "Oh man, you people are a mess. I leave
you alone for ten minutes and look what happens." Then she smiled. "Well... I
can fix this..."
	"Oh god, please, not the tube again..." Rei moaned.

*

	"So you see, Mistress Galaxia, it was completely her fault!" Iron Mouse
said. She made a dismissive gesture, which she felt truly added to the
presentation. "Heavy Metal Papillon was a complete incompetent! She failed to
dispose of Washuu, failed to kill any of them, and was defeated herself! She
also drew the attention of the planetary authorities! I basically had to run
damage control through the entire operation, and cleverly put the authorities on
the wrong track so they would never track us back to Galaxy TV! Unfortunately,
Papillon botched the operation while I was, uh, that is, occupied with that. She
also forged my signature on my expense account, I think, though of course I
wouldn't have any idea what wasteful thing she might have used it-"
	"Enough."
	Iron Mouse fell instantly silent, and deciding it couldn't hurt,
immediately bowed deeply to the dark figure on the throne before her. Once,
Galaxia had outshone the gold and crystal of her throne, but in the last seven
years, she had changed. Her once-healthy skin had faded to a dark, almost purple
grey. Her hair, once magnificently golden, was now stained blood-red. Her
uniform, the mark of a Sailor Senshi, still clad her in golden armour plates,
but shadows gathered around it in an almost unnatural way. But she was still the
same person, without question. In the centre of her chest still glittered her
great scarlet Sailor Crystal, shining through the darkness that surrounded her.
And her piercing eyes, crimson like her crystal, also shone from the shadows. On
her wrists, she wore the same bejewelled bracelets as those of her servants.
Iron Mouse had often wondered if that meant Galaxia, too, somehow lacked her
Star Seed. But she'd never had the courage to ask. No one did.
	"Sailor Iron Mouse," she stated, and her voice was the same as it always
had been, too. It was the voice that radiated command in every tone and
inflection. It was a voice that had broken more than one strong Sailor Senshi
who had been determined to fight to the death rather than become Galaxia's pawn.
"I am surprised you returned. That is," she said, and her shadowy lips seemed to
smile, "I am surprised you dared return empty-handed."
	"B-b-b-b-ut I didn't, Mistress Galaxia!" Iron Mouse stammered. "While
Papillon was busy failing, I... that is, I interrogated Yosho of Jurai! The Star
Seed of his great tree was not on Earth, but in fact in the possession of his
grandson, Tenchi Masaki!"
	"And you believed him."
	Iron Mouse paused, considering what answer was least likely to lead to
her untimely demise. "I... that is..."
	"Did you take his Star Seed?"
	"I didn't get a-"
	"How can you be certain if you did not? Do you mean to send me on a wild
goose chase? Or perhaps you wish your next assignment to be to track down and
bring Tenchi Masaki to me?"
	"I... I..."
	"I have no tolerance for failure, Iron Mouse."
	She just stared, eyes wide, ears quivering. Galaxia smiled again.
	"How fortunate for you that you did not fail, then."
	"Oh great Galaxia, please forgive your most humble and obed... chu?"
Iron Mouse looked up from her hasty genuflection. "I didn't?"
	Another figure had moved from the shadows behind the throne. Iron Mouse
couldn't see much of him beyond his silhouette, but the glow of his violet alien
eye made his identity clear anyway. "You did not," Z said smugly. "Oh, we gave
you the mission of retrieving the Star Seed and disposing of Washuu; but of
course, that was a task completely beyond your capabilities, so you must have
known your true mission lay elsewhere."
	"Of... of course!" Iron Mouse squeaked. She had no idea what the heck Z
was talking about it, but it sounded like a lifeline, so she grabbed onto it
with all her might. "You are so clever, Mistress Galaxia! And Z! Chuchuchu! They
didn't suspect a thing!"
	Z stepped a bit further forward. If you ignored the alien eye, and the
pointed ears, and the purple growths on his forehead, and the fangs, he didn't
look so bad in Iron Mouse's estimation. His normal eye looked, well, normal, and
his shock of green hair was kinda fetching. She thought they'd always gotten
along rather well. Right now, she was praying they had. "As you no doubt
guessed, then, the true purpose of your mission was reconnaissance."
	Another figure stepped out of the shadows beside him. Aluminum Siren
smiled the same blank, facile smile she always had, nodding her head cheerfully
to Iron Mouse.
	"Papillon successfully penetrated Washuu's laboratory, beyond her
defences, and observed her powers directly, as well as those of her friends.
This was all watched by Aluminum Siren.  That kind of information is worth a
life... or two. Not that we're displeased you returned with this information, of
course."
	"Chuchu!" Iron Mouse laughed weakly. "Of course n-" She suddenly froze.
"Wait, umm... h-how much did she see?"
	Aluminum Siren sighed, sweeping a lock of her long, luxurious blue hair
from her face. She was still wearing that face mask Papillon had always
complained about. "Oh, I don't know. I'm still writing up my report, of course.
Why, dear Iron Mouse, was there something you were wondering if I saw?"
	Iron Mouse stared at her, sweating.
	Siren stared back at her. Her smile was still easy, innocent, cheerful.
But her eyes glittered.
	"So, once this information is collected," Z continued, "we will be able
to show Washuu precisely how temporary her victory was."
	"No, that will not be necessary."
	Z paused. His face didn't look exactly angry at the contradiction, but
the good humour had drained suddenly out of it. Iron Mouse noticed, nervously,
that he still wasn't wearing any bracelets of his own. "Is that so?" he said,
giving Galaxia a sidelong glance.
	Galaxia didn't bother to return his gaze. "As long as she remains on
Earth, Washuu is nothing but a bystander. There's no need for either of us to
dirty our hands on her."
	"Then what was the point of-"
	"If she chooses to involve herself directly, we will now know. Until
then, this war is... adequate." Galaxia smiled oddly. "I wouldn't wish to do
anything to disturb it."
	"Of... course," Z said slowly. "But I still believe we should work to
counter her, and the other powers on that planet."
	Galaxia raised a hand thoughtfully to her cheek, and Iron Mouse could
have sworn that her baleful red eyes glowed a little brighter for a moment.
"What makes you think I haven't already?"

*

	The forest was tranquil under the azure sky. Leaves rustled in the
breeze and the birds sang for the sheer joy of being alive. The smell of pine
and oak mingled together in a heady fragrance.
	This was all lost on the two girls as they tried their best to break
each other's skulls.
	"I have you now!" Angel screamed, running across the wooden pegs and
swinging her bokken around her. Rei shifted back and snapped her own sword up,
catching and deflecting the strike to the side. Her baggy priestess robes
billowed around her as she was forced to take steps backward, deflecting a
series of blows from the younger girl. "What's the matter? Slowing down in your
dotage?"
	Rei's eyebrow twitched and she braced herself, meeting the next blow
with a hard block rather than a deflecting parry. Angel's sword snapped back,
throwing her off her stride. She tilted back on one of the pegs. Rei yelled and
thrust. The tip caught the other girl straight in the sternum, driving the wind
out of her.
	"Damnit," Angel gasped, clutching her chest. "When did you get so
strong?"
	Rei smirked and chuckled, tapping her bokken on her shoulder in just the
same way Katsuhito always did. "Come on, Angel. You don't really think you can
beat me. I've been studying with the old man for almost six years now. You've
been here, what... eight months?"
	Angel narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I guess." She stood up and sighed,
letting her sword hang loosely in her grip. "You are the senior student and his
first apprentice. I should expect that-" Suddenly the girl screamed and slashed
out. Rei blinked. There was a breeze on her front. She looked down at the giant
gash that now ran down the front of her gi and into the top of her hakama. The
pants slid off slowly, revealing her red flaring skirt. The bow on her chest
fluttered in the breeze.
	"Eh-heh..." Rei rubbed the back of her neck.
	"You cheating jerk!" Angel snapped, waving her sword at her. "This was
supposed to be an unpowered training session!" She crossed her arms and pouted.
"No wonder you were able to counter my attacks, with all the magically enhanced
strength." She stuck up her nose. "You don't see me cheating with magic powers."
	"That's only because you don't have any," Rei deadpanned. "Also, you
destroyed my favourite robes!" She shouted the last part as she tackled the
girl. Angel yelped and lost her grip on her sword, sending it flying over her
shoulder. They rolled across the field, knocking loose pegs and stirring up
leaves as the wrestled. Of course, Rei had the advantage in raw strength, it
ended with her holding Angel's head under her arm and applying her knuckles to
the girl's brow.
	"Think of it as a lesson, Angel," Rei explained. "Expect your opponent
to cheat, and react accordingly."
	Angel struggled for a moment, then she smirked. "I did."
	Rei blinked again at the creaking sound overhead. She looked up just in
time to see a tree branch falling towards her.
	When the stars cleared from her vision, Angel was sitting next to a
tree, laughing her ass off. Rei rubbed her forehead and glared daggers at her.
"Little brat."
	"If you can't keep track of your environment, you deserve to get hit,"
Angel grinned.
	"Don't get cocky," Rei grumbled. "That almost got you killed against
Heavy Metal Papillon."
	Angel's face suddenly fell. Rei held up her hands apologetically. "Hey,
it's okay. I almost did too."
	"I know," Angel sighed. She looked off towards the setting sun for a
long moment. "It's just... I thought I was ready. I wanted to tell..."
	Her voice dropped off, but Rei knew who the younger girl was referring
to. Unseen, she scowled briefly, but then composed herself, trying her best
'older sister' voice. "I don't think there's any point when you're 'ready',
Angel. When I go out there, I still run all the time into situations I don't
expect. Sometimes I barely make it back. Nobody is ready for any situation. You
just have to do the best you can."
	Angel shook her head, and when her voice emerged it was thick with
emotion. "No way. I can't accept that, Rei. People, good people, are dying out
there every day. People who didn't do anything wrong except fight for what they
believed in and those they cared about. People like my mom and dad. People like
you, and me. Entire planets. There's got to be a way to stop it. There's got to
be somebody who can step up and end it all."
	"You can't wish for the impossible, Angel-"
	"Why NOT?" Angel snapped, whipping her head around to face her. "Look at
us! I've trained with some of the greatest masters in this world and I'm not
even 20. You're a reincarnated magical princess from a beautiful kingdom where
there was no war! The old man's a seven-hundred-year-old prince of another
planet! What's all this power, all this everything GOOD for if we can't make any
difference?"
	"Well, Washuu..."
	"Washuu's Washuu, sure. She's amazing. But Chronos is still ruling the
world, aren't they? Despite Washuu?" Rei could only nod. "Then she can't do
anything... or she won't. I don't know which. Either way, she's not going to
stop what's happening. But somebody will. Somebody has to." She looked away
again. "One thing's for sure, it won't be either of us, when we're just sitting
here."
	"Angel..." Rei said, then stopped as she realised she had nothing to
say. She gritted her teeth. Knowing what to say... it had never been her strong
point. Funny, coming from a Sailor Senshi, but making speeches and changing
minds weren't the same thing.
	Sailor Moon would have known what to say.
	The thought flew unbidden to her mind. So did another. 'A kingdom where
there was no war...'
	It was impossible. Nobody could just bring peace to a world, a universe
as chaotic as this one. Rei would scoff at the thought... until she remembered
that beautiful silver light.
	But even if Sailor Moon could be the hero Angel was looking for, it
didn't matter while she was locked away in that terrible, beautiful prison. And
Chris had been the one who'd taken her there, who'd given Akio the key and
walked away, smirking. Rei clenched her fist.
	"Hey, there you guys are!"
	Both looked over. Mihoshi had entered the training field. She looked far
more worse for wear than either the fight or becoming a Phage had made her. Her
hair was awry, clothes dirty and torn, and her exposed flesh was covered with
scratches. Her hands were behind her back, and she was sporting a huge smile.
	"Hey, Mihoshi," Angel said, surprised. "What the heck happened to you?
And where've you been, anyway? You vanished right after we got back home."
	"Welllll..." she said, stepping forward. Angel eyed her warily as
Mihoshi got close, and then suddenly she whipped her arms out, causing Angel to
cry out and fall backwards to avoid getting decapitated by... the sword.
	Mihoshi was holding a sword. It was a beautiful, polished curved silver
blade, whose hilt sported a jewel the colour of the sea.
	"Hey!" Angel said testily. "Be more careful, Miho- hey, that's..." she
trailed off, staring at her sword.
	"Surprise!" Mihoshi laughed, oblivious to how she'd nearly slashed Angel
with the weapon. "I found it!"
	"But..." Angel stared. "I tried to find it... she must have knocked it
miles away..."
	Mihoshi smiled again, blushing a bit. "I wanted to thank you for coming
to save me! So I looked and looked. I guess I'm just lucky!"
	Angel stared for a moment longer, then she smiled warmly and took the
proffered blade. "Thanks, Mihoshi. This means a lot to me."
	"I'm glad." Mihoshi turned and bowed apologetically to Rei. "I'm sorry I
didn't get anything for you, Rei. But I'm really grateful you came too."
	Rei smiled as well. "It's okay, Mihoshi. It's not like I was clumsy
enough to lose anything, unlike some people." Angel stuck her tongue out at her,
but Rei loftily ignored it. "Anyway, it's getting late. Why don't we get back
for supper?"
	"Okay! I know what I can do for you and Katsuhito, I'll cook!"
	"Uh, actually, that's all right," Angel said hastily. "Why don't you
help me instead?"





				Never To Be Continued...?


Epsilon: Unless, you know, you count the events in Hybrid Theory.

Blade: But ah, if there was one massive parallel side-story we'd love to finish
based in the Hybrid Theory universe, it would be the Sailor Wars.

Epsilon: Indeed.

Blade: Of course, that's never going to happen. Unless somebody pays us.

Epsilon: No, seriously. We'd do it for like $50 (Canadian) per chapter you
wanted us to write.

Blade:It'll star whatever characters you like! We'll even turn them into
lesbians! We're good at that by now!

Epsilon: Tenchi/Seiryo yaoi? For fifty dollars, WE WILL WRITE IT!

Blade: We'll even include series that have no fricking right to be in the
Hybrid Theory mythos! You like Naruto? Dragonball Z? Oh My Goddess?

Epsilon: There is no level of artistic integrity we are not willing to sell out
for fifty dollars Canadian!

Blade: So uh... awkward segue... so, uh, somebody who has only read synopsis'
about Sailor Stars may want to take us to task for perceived canonical
inaccuracies, say, vis a vis the actual status of the Animamates as relating to
being Sailor Senshi.

Epsilon: Let us just say that there is not a single accurate synopsis of Sailor
Stars on the internets.

Blade: Or Sailor Moon Super S. AND I HAVE NOT FORGIVEN YOU FOR THAT,
INTERNETS!!!!11112!

Epsilon: Normally we'd put in the next chapter preview here but, uh, there is
not going to be another one.

Blade: Yup, we did this sidestory because we'd finished Chapter 27 two weeks
before the release date and... hahahhaha... no.

Epsilon: So, this.

Blade: Which we won't be doing again, because apparently I can not complete
these things without losing too much sleep.

Epsilon: Wimp.