REVAMPED LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Whatever else may have changed in this story of mine, trust me - the Sailor Senshi still belong to Kodansha and Cloverway, and the Samurai Troopers are the legal property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment. So are all of their related friends and associates. I am only borrowing them for a few chapters, and I intend no harm. So let's all remind ourselves that it's just a fanfiction and we really should relax... CONTINUITY NOTE: For those who are curious, this chapter is taking place shortly after the end of "Sailor Moon SuperS", and shortly before "Sailor Moon Stars" as far as the Senshi are concerned. From the Troopers' point of view, it is almost a year after the "YST: Gaiden" OAV, and a little bit before the "YST: Kikoutei Densetsu" OAV. Both of the casts are somewhere between the ages of sixteen and seventeen, and it is the third Monday in July (since it is Marine Day) in the middle of some year in the early twenty-first century. RONIN SUMMER: CONVERGENCE A Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over by Morgan Hudson "Convergence (n) - the approach of an infinite series to a finite limit." Chapter One: Revenge in Shades Of Red It was nearly ten o' clock, and as usual, everybody else was late. Rei Hino sighed and blew an errant lock of raven hair out of her eyes as she tried to pick a familiar face out of the bustling crowds. Even in a place as jammed with pedestrians as Shibuya, she would have thought that Ami's blue hair would have helped her stick out at least a little. Apparently she had been wrong in that assumption - the only thing Rei could see was a giant mass of shifting people, squeezing and working around each other as cars waited patiently on all four sides of the intersection. Checking her watch, Rei leaned back against the large dog statue that graced the front of the Toyoku station. Hachiko, the loyal dog who had waited every day for his master to arrive. At the moment, Rei could empathize. "You know something?" she asked the statue. "Waiting is really overrated. How the heck did you do this for eleven years? I'm going crazy after eleven minutes." For example, she added silently, she was starting to talk to dog statues. "Rei!" A voice cried out over the din of the people, and Rei glanced over to see a slim arm waving frantically over the heads of the other pedestrians. A moment later, a pair of bobbing blonde hair buns began jiggling towards her like a knife sawing up and down through the crowd. Rei shook her head and snorted. Even in Shibuya, there was only one person who could possibly pull off that hairstyle. Raising her hand, she waved back to Usagi and deliberately pointed at her watch. The blonde girl grinned sheepishly and lifted a gigantic bundle of shopping bags and other packages in silent explanation. "Wow, Shibuya sure has a lot of stuff!" Usagi clutched her packages to herself and jogged across the short distance between herself and Rei. "Sorry I'm late, Rei, but I just wanted to pick up some souvenirs for Makoto, and Minako, and Mamoru, and..." "And everybody, I get it." Rei brushed it off with a wave of her hand. "I just hope you remembered to save some of your money for the actual trip this time, Usagi. I'm not going to spend my summer vacation paying for your meals again." Usagi grinned and nodded feverishly. "I know, I'll be good! You won't even know it's me, I'll be so good!" Fishing around in one of her packages, the girl produced a small box wrapped in a bow and offered it to her friend. "Happy Marine Day, Rei! Thanks for inviting me!" "For me?" Rei blinked and gingerly accepted the gift as if it might explode at any minute. She hadn't really expected any kind of present for Marine Day - Marine Day wasn't even really a holiday so much as it was an excuse to leave school a day early. "Thanks, Usagi. I didn't get you anything..." "That's okay: you can just find some way to pay me back when we make it to Minato Mirai 21!" Usagi giggled and clapped her hands. "This is going to be so cool! Nobody but you and me and Ami, just like in the old days!" "I would hardly call it the old days," Ami interjected, as she finally wormed her way out of the crowd and joined her friends. Like Usagi, the blue-haired girl was carrying a large bundle of packages. Unlike Usagi, Ami's package was making the occasional beep and whir. Smiling nervously, Ami tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and hugged her package to her chest. "But I will admit it's going to be a little strange not having Makoto or Minako around." "Can't blame Minako," Rei said with a shrug. "Artemis got sick just yesterday." "Artemis shouldn't have eaten an entire package of cookies," Usagi argued, nodding sagely. "Luna's still mad at him for making her play nursemaid instead of letting her come to Yokohama with the rest of us." "I wonder why Makoto couldn't make it," Ami pondered, tapping her lips with her finger. "Did she even give you a reason?" Rei shrugged again. "Just said that she already had plans, and we should go without her this time. Seemed like some kind of big secret." "Smells like a boyfriend to me!" Usagi said, with a wicked twinkle in her eyes. "I'll bet you anything she's got her sights set on some poor guy right now. He'll be lucky if he ever finds out what hit him." A chime rang out, and Rei glanced down at her watch with a groan of frustration. "Oh, great - that's our train! Come on you two, or we'll never get to Yokohama!" ********** Shin Mouri shouldered his bags and inched his way deeper into the station, weaving around the thin white pillars that broke small pockets of space into the mass of people. Shading his eyes with one hand, the young man squinted up at the large grey sign handing from the exposed girders in the ceiling. The word "Shibuya" was displayed prominently in white letters, marked in both Japanese and English. Beneath a red and white stripe were further instructions as to which platform they should be heading for, and an arrow pointing to the right. Nodding to himself, Shin looked over his shoulder and waved his friend over. "Come on, Ryo! The Toyoko line should be over this way. Shuu's gone through seven kinds of trouble getting his parents to let us stay at his place over the break: the least we can do is be on time!" Ryo smiled as he pushed his way through the crowd, his baggage strapped securely to his back and clanking slightly as the dangling pots swung against each other with each step. "Yeah, old Shuu really pulled through for us, didn't he? Too bad they don't let animals on the train - Byakuen was really looking forward to seeing you guys again." Shin smiled back, and not merely from the mental image of sharing a train seat with Ryo's pet tiger. Ever since he had told Ryo about Shuu's offer, the other boy had been practically bouncing with every step. It was nice to see his leader back to what passed for normal - which was rather the point of the entire trip. Judging from some of the sketches he had been doing lately, Ryo was beginning to obsess about Luna again, and that was never healthy for him. The anniversary of her death was coming up in a few months, and it didn't take a genius like Touma to guess that their friend was starting to gear himself up for another lovely little ride through the worlds of self-pity and guilt. Enter Shin, Shuu, and the lottery they had won last year that still had their bank accounts bulging at the seams. A few well-placed words in the right ears, and Shin and Ryo were on their way to lovely Yokohama to spend the summer in scenic Chinatown. The basic plan was to make sure Ryo was so busy with amusement parks, fireworks displays and crowded beaches that he might forget that he was supposed to be bumming everybody out. So far, the excitement of the trip combined with the rush of seeing Shuu again after almost seven months had been more than enough to distract Ryo from his doldrums. The black-haired youth seemed to be almost radiating energy, as if the mere act of having to stand still was slowly driving him crazy. Ryo didn't move, he snapped: sudden, jerking moves that seemed to almost teleport him from one position to the next without any actual steps in between. His head was in constant motion, his head bobbing and nodding like a curious sparrow as his wide blue eyes tried to take in everything at once. There was something in those eyes, a constant gleam that combined with the confident smirk he habitually wore to convince people that he was about to do something dangerous. From experience, Shin could attest that he usually was. Ryo mixed with crowds badly; he was one of those people who needed a lot of space and adult supervision if at all possible. By contrast, Shin was so smooth and mellow that he had sometimes been accused of falling asleep. He tended to take his time, and moved with slow and certain purpose. While Ryo jammed his hands in his pockets and bounced up and down in his shoes, Shin stood calmly and looked down at his watch as though he had all the time in the world to get where he was going. He wore a constant look that was best defined as 'politely interested' no matter how hectic or chaotic his surroundings. In a packed train station like Shibuya's, it made him a single pillar of calm in the surging mass of commuters. "Hey, Shin! Sounds like something's up." Ryo tapped his friend on the shoulder and pointed over at the gates, where a blonde girl with twin ponytails was competing with the alert sirens for volume as she wailed in panic. The gates were firmly locked shut on either side of her, and the poor girl was nearly in tears. Shin groaned as he recognised that particular gate as the one he and Ryo needed to get through in the next five minutes. "Calm down, Usagi," another girl ordered as she dug through her purse. "We'll have you out in a second, okay?" She was dressed in a short black skirt and long crimson knee socks with buckled ankle boots and a black denim jacket over what appeared to be a sleeveless red turtleneck. Her sable hair hung down her back until it nearly brushed her calves, and had been tied back loosely by a red (surprise) ribbon. The whole look was somewhat monochromatic, Shin thought as he walked over, but it worked. "Excuse me," he said politely, "but is something the matter?" "No, we're fine," the girl replied without looking up, "my friend just got stuck in the security gate. We'll be out of the way as soon as I find some change..." "I'm so sorry, Rei!" The blonde girl -Usagi, Shin assumed- cried from inside the security gate. "I forgot to check my pass!" "It's for the wrong rail system, you..." Rei growled and bit her lower lip as she continued rummaging through her purse. "Just give me a second and I'll dig up some money so we can get you a ticket, okay?" Shin glanced over at the approaching security guards and deftly popped his own ticket into the turnstile. With a cheerful buzz, the gates lifted and Usagi leapt out onto the platform on the other side like a freed gazelle. "There you go," he said, running his hand through his thick shag of mousey brown hair. "Enjoy the trip." "Thanks," Rei said solemnly, actually looking at the strange fellow for the first time. He wasn't so bad, she thought idly - dressed a little frumpy in that beige blazer and white dress shirt, to say nothing of the grey slacks, but his face was cute enough in a puppyish kind of way. He just looked so darned eager, as if the world was about to hand him a candy, or something. She had almost thought he was a kid at first, but on closer inspection he might be a little older than she was. "That was really nice of you, uh..." "Shin. Shin Mouri. Please, don't worry about it; I'll just buy a cheap ticket and make up the difference when I get there." Shin bowed slightly and gestured for Rei to go through the gate. "Ladies first?" "Rei!" Usagi called from the other side of the turnstile. "We're going to miss the train! Stop flirting!" "I am not flirting, you meatball-brained-" Rei clenched her fists and visibly shuddered before turning back to Shin and giving him her most dazzling smile. "I'm so sorry," she said sweetly, "but I have to go. Thank you again for all your help." "You're welcome," Shin said, as the dark-haired girl brushed past him and quickly swept through the security gates before chasing after her friend. She seemed like a nice girl. ********** "Usagi, if you ever do that to me again, I will murder you," Rei hissed angrily as she pinched her friend by the elbow and dragged her a safe distance away from the gates. "Do you understand me? I will find a place where nobody will ever find your body, and I will have you disposed of!" "Are you blushing?" Usagi asked teasingly, tilting her entire body to one side and looking up at Rei's downturned face. "Hey, neat! You are blushing! Well, my job here is done!" "Shut up," Rei grumbled, as she pulled her turtleneck up to the tip of her nose and wrapped her arms around herself. "I am not." "Oh, relax, Rei. I think he looked pretty hot - you should totally go for him." "Even if they search for years," Rei growled, "they will never find your body..." Usagi merely giggled as the two girls made their way over to the edge of the platform where Ami stood waiting by their packages. Glancing over at her friends, Ami noticed the impish look on Usagi's face and the tomato-like color of Rei's. Raising one eyebrow slightly, the blue-haired girl simply sighed happily and smiled to herself. It was nice to see that her friends were getting along like usual: as long as Usagi Tsukino was still able to get on Rei Hino's nerves, all had to be well in the world. "So," Ami asked carefully, "are we all ready to go?" "You bet, Ami!" Usagi chirped. "All present and accounted for! Next stop, Yokohama and the best Marine Day ever! I'm going to eat cotton candy and ride roller coasters 'till I'm sick!" "Oh, THAT will be a fun ride back to the hotel," Rei groused, covering her eyes with one hand. "Did Makoto have plans before or after you shared your goals for this trip with her?" "Roller coasters?" Ami drummed her fingers on the handle of her suitcase trolley, biting her lip and looking a bit nervous. "I was rather hoping we could stop by the Yokohama museum of Art, or the Maritime Museum - did you know that they have a genuine trading ship from 1930 docked there? It's full of all sorts of wonderful exhibits." "Unless any of them involve me, candy, and things that spin really fast, no deal," Usagi interjected bluntly. "It's Cosmo World all the way!" "Maybe the Doll Musuem?" Ami asked, squirming slightly. "They have a log flume, Ami! If museums want to compete with that, they need either more logs, or more flumes." Usagi smacked her fist into her open palm emphatically. "By golly, if our government wants to build a gigantic Ferris wheel, it is our patriotic duty to ride it until we can stand no more!" Rei scratched the back of her head and rolled her eyes. "Well," she drawled, "I would hate to seem unpatriotic... and they DO say it's pretty big... I may have to go with Usagi on this." "Oh, Rei," Ami moaned, and sighed dejectedly. "Although, we will be there for a few weeks," Rei quickly added. "There's no reason we can't do a little bit of everything, right? I'm sure at least one of those museums will be near Cosmo World, so we could hit it on our way there..." "Fair enough," Usagi agreed, "but I stand by my right to gorge myself on sugary treats and go in circles until I get dizzy." "And how," Rei asked sarcastically, "is that different from every other day we've known you?" "This time," Usagi explained as the train pulled in, "I'm going to do it in Yokohama." ********** Very far away from Shibuya, a complex and intricate universe revolved around itself in an interesting and endless loop. It did not necessarily obey all of the same laws that governed Japan, or even the Milky Way in general. Much of its nature was made up of the sheer will of its inhabitants, and there was little more annoying than having to live in a place where stuff ceased to exist the second anybody stopped thinking about it. It was a harsh world, with little beauty: as desolate and alien as the dark side of the Moon, and glimpsed only in the depths of the worst nightmare. All who even guessed at its existence knew it to be an evil place, a hard and merciless land where monsters and demons squabbled constantly amongst each other for position. Might did not make right in this realm only because might preferred to rule alone. It was a realm known by many names - most who discovered it were convinced that they were the first ones to do so, and usually went mad or died before they had a chance to compare notes. In ancient texts it was known as Carcosa, and then later dubbed Tartarus. Even its own inhabitants did not know its true name, for it had been ruled for so long by the same harsh masters that they called it only what their rulers had claimed it to be. Arago, the Demon Lord Emperor, was a vile titan of strength and power, existing only to conquer and raze everything that his cruel eye beheld. His lands became known as the Evil Dynasty, and spread beneath the light of a thousand suns as his shadow fell upon countless worlds. His borders had stopped only twice: once upon brushing against the realm of Earth, and once when meeting with the holdings of his nearest equal. Queen Beryl had been a simple woman of Earth until the powers of this twisted realm had reshaped her in its own dark visage. Her mastery of black sorcery and legions of monstrous youma had grown large enough to eclipse even the legendary Moon Kingdom, and her ambition had brought its downfall. Her Dark Kingdom had held its borders firm even in the time of her long slumber, pitting their forces against the massed ranks of Arago as they waited for the proper alignment to break the curse that the Moon Queen had placed them under. Over millennia, the monsters and beasts of these twin nations had fought and slaughtered each other in a war that had seemed endless; the minions battling at the will of masters so far removed from them that most never even knew what they looked like. This world of blood and shadow was quiet, now. The most powerful of their followers had faded into legend, and both Beryl and Arago were mouldering in their crypts - dead at the hands of their ancient enemies on Earth. Without the will of their leaders, the lands of the Dark Kingdom and the Evil Dynasty crumbled and withered to ash. Thoughts of war and glory were far from most of the monsters who still lived amongst the shattered wastes; only survival mattered. It was a time of confusion, of chaos. There could be opportunity in chaos, Radanthus knew. After all, the Dark Kingdom had no leader at all, and the child empress Kayura was little more than a joke to anybody other than her Masho. A dangerous opponent, perhaps, but she ruled only the land upon which she stood, and her kinder, gentler teachings had earned her many enemies among the people of the Dynasty. Both lands were ripe to be conquered anew by somebody strong, somebody who could infuse them with the energy and the vitality they so painfully lacked. With Arago and Beryl safely disposed of, there were no youma or demons he knew that could hope to match his power - in his time he had stood against both of those legendary rulers and bellowed his defiance into the skies. He was Radanthus the Unconquered, the sole creature in both realms who had maintained his neutrality through centuries of conflict. It had been beneath him; he had always known that the true destiny of both empires was to be joined under his own rule. There was, however, much more to claiming a throne than merely walking into the empty room and sitting on it. Radanthus had not waited for thousands of years to have his reign cut short by the same heroes who had been so violently opposed to Arago and Beryl's rule. No, before he made his move, those disgustingly ethical and pushy mortals needed to be safely out of his way. With their interference cut short, and the heads of the Sailor Senshi to bear as trophies to his power, however, his reign would be almost assured. After all, who in the Dark Kingdom would dare to oppose the slayer of their greatest enemies? A tattered figure in ragged black robes drifted out of the shadows with a sound like the tinkling of small glass chimes. Startled from his reverie, Radanthus jerked his head up and glared at the comparatively diminutive priest. "Badamon," he growled, his deep voice causing the very rocks to quiver despite his hushed tone. The priest preened and smoothed his wispy beard with one skeletal hand as he allowed his filthy and tattered robes to form some semblance of their funeral garb. "I am at your eternal service, oh great and powerful master whose wrath shall shake the very firmament." "Tell me of the Sailor Senshi, Badamon. Are our troops ready?" "Nearly, oh great one, nearly." Badamon looked all too pleased with himself as he stroked his drooping moustache. The cadaverous priest gestured behind him, his needle-like fingernails clicking softly against each other. "Even now, our agents are scouring the depths of space to locate your sacrificial lamb, wondrous one. As you have ordered, we shall endeavour to convince the Senshi that this... Jadeite... is the one behind everything, leaving you free of their suspicion." "Excellent," Radanthus crooned, leaning back slightly in his seat. "With the Senshi convinced that they are facing an old opponent, we will be able to control their responses to us. Have you selected our first agent to enter their world?" "Yes, oh surprisingly intelligent one," Badamon assured him, "I have personally chosen this one to meet all our requirements. He should be most capable of handling the Sailor Senshi." And more importantly, Badamon reflected, drawing the attention of the Samurai Troopers. Radanthus the Unconquered might be correct in his assertion that the Evil Dynasty and Dark Kingdom needed to be united under a single fist, but his designs on who that ruler should be left much to be desired. Badamon had far more interesting plans in mind - plans that required the presence of Ryo Sanada and his merry band of mystical samurai. Badamon had not crawled his way back from the brink of death just to take revenge on a couple of girls in sailor fuku and help a self-important would-be tyrant gain the throne that belonged to his true master. Yes, Nise Suiko would serve quite well for both Radanthus' purpose and Badamon's. When the dark priest had seen one of the Senshi so close to Shin Mouri, he had known the time was perfect to strike. Nise Suiko would make it personal. He would guarantee that Shin and the rest of the Troopers would chase him straight into their trap. Then Ryo Sanada would be theirs, and step one would be complete. ********** Rei Hino made it roughly twelve feet into the station at Minato Murai 21 before it hit her. She had never been able to accurately describe what 'it' was - all jokes aside, the closest she had gotten was to quote that old movie about millions of voices screaming out and then getting silenced. It was that, and worse; it was that creepy feeling you get in the shower when you know you're alone and you hear a noise outside the bathroom door. It was the sensation you got when you looked at an angry dog and knew, just KNEW, that it was going to bite you and there was nothing you could do about it. It was the cold chill of dread in your heart when your boyfriend is about to break up with you and you suddenly know what he is going to say before he even opens his mouth. It was all of those things, but on a cosmic, planetary level. Usually, Rei just called it 'bad vibes'. Generally, she only got it when somebody nearby was actively hurting the universe. Pressing her fingers against her temples, the raven-haired girl winced and shook her head in an attempt to clear it. She was not in Yokohama to track down forces of evil. She was here to have fun with her friends and act like a normal girl who didn't have creepy magical powers for once. Judging from the intensity of the feeling she was getting, whatever was out there hadn't done anything yet: this was just the residual lingering aura of evil that pervaded anyplace a youma was hiding in. "Rei? Are you okay?" Ami looked over, placing her hand on Rei's shoulder. From the look on her face, Rei could tell that what Ami was really asking was 'Rei? Do we need to find a quiet place where we can transform and go fighting monsters?' "It's okay," Rei lied, shaking her head a final time and forcing a smile onto her face for Ami's benefit. "I'm fine. Just a little tired from sitting on that train for half an hour, I guess. Got a little overheated in that crowd." Ami looked skeptical. "If you're sure..." "I'm sure," Rei reassured her, patting the other girl's hand. "It's getting pretty close to lunch. Maybe we should grab some food at the hotel before we hit Cosmo World?" "Sure!" Usagi chimed in. "I was wondering if we were ever going to get anything to eat around here - I'm starving!" "Our hotel should just be a few blocks from here," Rei said, looking around to get her bearings. "We could drop off our bags and check in, too. There's no point carrying this stuff with us everywhere we go." "Hey, look, Rei! It's that guy you saw earlier!" Usagi pointed, and Rei followed her friend's finger to see a young man in the crowd. His hair was flaming red, and he seemed to have changed clothes, but Usagi was right: it did look almost exactly like the boy they had met at Shibuya. He noticed them looking at him, and smiled at them, and Rei felt the feeling in the pit of her stomach worsen. Was it him? Was he the source of the evil that was filling the air here? He had seemed so nice earlier... Rei looked back at her friends for a moment, and bit her lip. Just a few seconds, she promised herself. She'd check it out, find out if it was something they needed to worry about, and then come right back. No need to worry Usagi over nothing - having to deal with yet another case of youma possession was the last thing Sailor Moon needed to do. "I think I better go talk to that guy," she said, handing Ami her purse and palming her transformation wand as she did so. "I mean, he was nice enough to give Usagi his ticket. The least I can do is lend him some money to pay the difference at the counter, right?" Ami noticed the wand halfway up Rei's sleeve and nodded slowly. "Of course, Rei. Usagi and I will be right here if you need us." "Oh, I'll just be a second; you guys go ahead." Rei smiled and eased her way into the crowd. She didn't worry about keeping her eye on the boy with the crimson hair as she tried to work her way towards an abandoned corner - now that she knew he was the source of the feeling in her stomach, she would be able to track him back down soon enough. What was a little more important at the moment was getting somewhere she could transform into Sailor Mars without drawing too much attention to herself. ********** If Rei had been paying a little more attention to her surroundings as she slipped off to change, she might have been very confused to see Shin Mouri, sans red hair and still in his original clothes, leaving the train on the other side of the platform. Ryo was only a few steps behind him, eagerly scanning the crowd for a familiar face and finding- "Shuu!" The stocky Chinese boy in the crowd beamed even wider and began jumping up and down, waving his homemade sign over his head. It was crude, but clearly read 'Here to save the day' with some cartoon drawings of all three of them. There were also a number of exclamation points and some colorful starbursts, for emphasis. Despite the long and exhausting journey, Shin could feel a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Good old Shuu had pulled through for them again. Somehow, there was something about his friend's exuberance that seemed to make everybody around him feel that much more energetic. "Hey, Ryo! Yo, Shin! Check it out! It's ME!" Shuu laughed and lowered the sign, pointing first at the cartoon, and then at himself as though to make the connection clearer. "My little sister drew it for us. See? I'm in the back, eating a picnic!" "Wow," Ryo replied with a smirk, "she must really know you well, huh, Shuu?" Clapping his friend on the shoulder, Ryo quickly slid off his gigantic backpack and tossed it into Shuu's waiting arms. While the burden had been more than enough to wear down on Ryo, Shuu easily caught the bag with one hand and flipped it over his shoulder as though it weighed nothing at all. His prodigious appetite aside, very little of Shuu Rei Fuan's bulk was fat: Shin had seen the wrestling trophies that lined his friend's room. "Hello, Shuu," he said, passing over his bags as well. It was easier to just surrender them now than have them forcibly taken from him; Shuu did not believe in making his guests do anything for themselves. If they weren't careful, he might try to carry them both back to his house to spare their feet the walk. "So what's with the bruise? Did Yokohama's most promising tighthead prop finally meet his match?" "Hey, you should see the other guy," Shuu responded, chuckling as he rubbed the large bruise covering his left cheek with the fingers of his free hand. "I may have caught his elbow, but I also got the ball. Besides, it was the last rugby match before summer break! You don't really think I'd let some blindsiding thug push me around, do you?" "I don't think you'd let a sumo wrestler push you around," Ryo interjected, popping back into the conversation with a familiar sparkle in his blue eyes. "Anybody else hungry? I'm famished. Let's hit Chinatown and grab some grub!" "You two go ahead," Shin said, making a face as he looked down at his ticket. "I need to pay off this stupid ticket." "You got a cheap seat?" Shuu looked as if Shin had just told him that, for safety reasons, they were going to have to shoot his dog. "Shin, man, if I knew you were hurting this month I would have lent you some money..." "Hurting? The schmuck bought two tickets!" Ryo interjected. "He gave one of them away to some random girl he met!" "Was she hot?" Shuu asked, curious. "Does it matter?" Shin asked back, jamming the ticket in his pocket. "The point is, I've got to get in that bloody great line over there and pay off the rest of my fare or they'll never let me ride this train again!" "Or worse: they might make you pay it next time," Ryo added. "Come on, Ryo," Shuu said, draping his arm around the other boy's shoulders. "You and me can go grab some takoyaki off that cart I saw outside while Shin pays his ticket. We'll hit my parents' place as soon as he's done." "I guess that'll be okay," Ryo agreed. "I mean, it's not like he's in the middle of the Evil Dynasty, or anything. What kind of trouble could a guy like Shin get into in a crowded train station?" ********** Whistling nonchalantly, Shin's red-haired double sauntered out of the train station and began making his way down the street towards the waterfront. As he walked, he spun a small black crystal on a silver chain in a constant circle with his left hand. The right hand he kept safely in his pants pocket, jingling his change as he eyed the various people on the street with him as if daring them to rob him. The crystal glinted with a soft violet light that seemed to grow brighter in shadow than in light, as if the gem somehow reflected darkness instead of light. Few were willing to keep their eyes on it -or its owner- for more than a few seconds. Gradually, as the youth moved away from the center of the city, the crowds began to thin. After several blocks, he was nearly alone. "So," he said, turning to look over his shoulder, "don't you think you should come out now? I might get up to all sorts of things if you don't hurry up and stop me." With a flip of his wrist, the rapidly spinning crystal stopped in mid-air and fell limply into his open palm. The wind moaned softly, and a stray tin can clattered across the street. "I don't know what you're doing here," Sailor Mars said sternly, "But I'm not going to let you get away with it. Surrender now, and we don't have to do this." Standing with her arms crossed over her chest atop a nearby street sign, the Senshi was silhouetted from behind by the glaring sun. Her shadow stretched across the empty street to envelop the form of her enemy as her long cloak of raven hair stirred gently in the breeze. "Now, how exactly do you intend to stop me," the red-haired man asked curiously, "when you don't know what I'm doing? Maybe I'm doing it right now." "I know that your mind is clouded by all sorts of dark and evil thoughts-" "Lady," the youma interrupted, "you don't know the HALF of it." "But you don't have to give in those temptations!" Mars relaxed slightly, lowering her hands and looking into the boy's eyes. There was good in there: she knew that she had seen it earlier. "I know that you're not like this. You're a generous and kind person!" "You seem to have me confused with somebody else," the youma argued, placing the crystal around his neck and putting his hands on his hips. "And if it's who I think it is, you are in for a very serious whuppin'." "Listen to me, Shin-" Nise Suiko growled deep in his throat, a gurgling sound that seemed to bubble up from his feet and made the nearby windows tremble. "You just had to go and say that name, didn't you?" His hair ruffled and rose from his scalp as his clothes rippled and flapped in an invisible wind. The growling grew deeper, and crimson lightning flashed and crackled around his slim form as his eyes turned into blank pools of swirling red energy. "I was just going to rough you up, before, but now? You DARE to compare me to that mother-hugging, nature-loving, sweater vest-wearing little freak? ME?" Sailor Mars leapt off of the lamppost as it shattered into a cloud of shrapnel and tucked into a ball as she fell to the concrete below. Landing on all fours, the Senshi rose into a crouch and lifted her right hand, fanning a handful of thin paper scrolls covered in writing. Taking to the air again she snapped her arm and sent a swirling tornado of ofuda spiraling towards the glowing youth. Nise Suiko bellowed, and the scrolls caught fire on their way to him, fluttering away as they twisted and burned to ash. Crimson plates of what seemed to be leathery chitin flashed into place over his body, quickly sheathing him from head to foot in armour. A large crescent blade jutted up from the crown of his helmet, and his face was sealed behind a featureless visor of ivory. Thin trickles of dark red goo oozed from between the plates as he moved, and there was an almost palpable emanation coming from his body. Rei covered her mouth and gagged as her eyes began to water: the sheer level of evil energy coming off of his aura was like a festering boil on the face of the world. "This won't take nearly as long as you deserve," Nise Suiko growled, and advanced towards her. With each step, the ashphalt cracked and buckled under his armoured feet. Rei took a step back reflexively, then steeled herself. Clenching her teeth, she raised her hands in front of her and clasped them together. Heat poured from her body in waves as she focused her power, feeling it grow and churn inside of her until there was a sudden rushing sensation like a firework going off inside her mind, and a jet of flame gushed from her extended fingers to wash over the armoured figure. Raising his arm, Nise Suiko snapped it down and the curtain of raging fire flickered and died like a birthday candle in a hurricane. Rei herself was blown back by the force of the wind, struggling to maintain her footing as her hair and skirt flapped furiously in the gale. Losing her balance, she cried out as the raging wind flung her back into the side of a storefront. Glass shattered, and she bounced twice before landing heavily amongst a pile of well-dressed mannequins. "You think this a game we're playing?" Nise Suiko boomed, his voice a guttural snarl from within his armour shell. "You think a few cheap tricks and a pathetic attack like that will be enough?" Rei pushed herself off of the ground, blood trickling down her face. She must have cut herself going through the window, she realised, and filed it away for future reference. Whoever this monster was, he was no pushover: she should have known better than to rely on a weak attack like the Fire Soul. Just because he might be a victim didn't mean she could go easy on him, especially since he wasn't showing any sign of showing her the same compassion. Glass crunched underfoot, and Rei froze. He was near the window, his helmet moving left to right as he scanned the interior of the shop. Her chest heaving, Sailor Mars slipped behind some of the fallen store mannequins and tried to quiet her breathing. He couldn't see her, he didn't know where she was: that gave her a chance. Reaching into her glove, she pulled out a crumpled and smudged ofuda pinched between her fingers. With a moment's thought, the battered scroll snapped straight and clean as the day it had been made, standing stiffly at attention. "You think you can hide from me?" Nise Suiko called out, stepping over the knee-high ledge and through the broken panel window into the shop. "I don't have to know where you are to destroy you! I could bring this whole building down on top of you!" "Akuryou taisan!" Rei shouted, and hurled the scroll with a practiced flick of her fingers. The creature ducked and turned, gesturing with his hand and disintegrating the scroll before realising that his real target was somewhere else entirely. He turned back as Sailor Mars lunged past him on the other side, smiling grimly as she blasted him in the face with another gout of flame. Clawing at his eyes, Nise Suiko stumbled forward into one of the mannequins, catching its sequined wedding gown and gauzy veil ablaze. It fell to the carpet, its burning head setting the carpet alight as the fire spread throughout the store. Rei tucked and rolled back through the window and started running as soon as her high heels touched the street. It was a real shame about the store, but she couldn't really bring herself to feel too guilty about it when that creature had already told her he was planning to destroy it anyway. What she needed now was some time to form a plan and maybe admit that she needed some reinforcements. "I suppose you found that funny," an angry voice snarled beside her, and Rei glanced over. Somehow, despite the weight of that armour, the youma was keeping perfect pace alongside her as she ran. Great: it was strong AND fast. His arm lashed out and she ducked, grabbing his wrist for leverage as she swung her feet into his smoldering faceplate. Jolted sideways, the two tumbled uncontrollably into a metal newspaper dispenser and flattened it. Copies of the morning edition fluttered to the ground like an early snow as the two combatants landed on their backs several feet apart. Rei stared up at the sports page. With a sense of detachment, she noticed that the Yokohama BayStars were going to be playing the Hanshin Tigers in the next few days. Shame Makoto couldn't make it: they might have been able to catch the game. Maybe they would catch it anyway, and bring her back all kinds of souvenirs to make her jealous. That would be awesome... "Hey, what's going out here?" The voice was oddly muffled by the paper over her face, but Rei recognised the almost universal cry of the innocent bystander. "You kids quit playing around out here - someone's going to have to pick all this up!" Ripping the paper off of her face, Rei forced herself to her feet and tackled the elderly gentleman. She cradled his head as they hit the ground and Nise Suiko's attack roared over them, clearing the street of paper and blowing her hair over them both like a black shroud. "Who... Wha..." The old man wheezed for breath, a shocked look stuck on his face. Rei rolled smoothly to her feet and flipped her hair back behind her in a single, fluid motion. "Get out of here!" she shouted, and pointed in the opposite direction of the snarling Nise Suiko. Nodding eagerly, the old man staggered to his feet and took off down the road as fast as he could run. "Turn your back on me, will you?" Nise Suiko snarled, and rammed his knee into the base of Rei's spine. With a sharp cry, she arched her back and fell forward, twisting out of the way as his armoured foot crashed into the cement where her head had been lying moments earlier. Rei rose to her feet for what felt like the hundredth time since the fight had begun, and rubbed her left shoulder. It felt like she must have hit the dispenser with it - her entire arm was telling her that it would really prefer to grab some Aspirin and lie down for a few hours in their nice air-conditioned hotel room, and it was not being polite about it, either. Nise Suiko glared at her, and Rei lifted her arms protectively, flames licking at her fingertips and forming a cat's cradle in front of her. Deep within the intricate web of flame, something began to stir, and the youma jerked back instinctively. "Mars Fire Soul Bird!" Rei yelled, and a shrieking phoenix composed entirely of fire leapt from her hands and soared across the space between the two. Nise Suiko backpedaled furiously as the flaming bird homed in on him like a cruise missile and exploded violently against his torso with enough force to hurl him through a second-story window. Rei pumped her fist victoriously and pulled her arms behind her to stretch her back. Tilting and rolling her head, she felt the vertebrae in her neck pop and crackle. "Okay," she groaned, "now we're getting warmed up." ********** Several blocks away, Shin Mouri was standing in line. He had been standing in line for nearly twenty minutes, and it had to be the single most boring thing that he had ever done. Despite himself, he rolled his eyes and checked his watch for the twelfth time. For a moment, he was afraid that Shuu and Ryo might have gotten tired of waiting and left without him. After a moment, he shook his head and chuckled at the idea: knowing Shuu, they would still be eating when he got out. No matter when that was. The person in front of him was counting out exact change, sorting through the coins on the counter in front of them with one finger and squinting as if they were doing advanced calculus. Every few seconds, Shin would shudder at the sound of another coin slowly scraping across the hard surface of the counter and fight the urge to scream at every single person in the line. He was as patient as the next guy, but for the love of Pete, it was a train ticket, not brain surgery! You paid your blinking money and you got the blazes out of the way so the next person could go! How hard was this? Another coin scraped slowly across the counter, and Shin felt his eye twitch. This fellow, he thought to himself, was in line in front of me for twenty minutes. Why did he wait until now to count his change? Was this something he needed to do in front of the ticket master for some reason? Was it a compulsion? And what ever happened to carrying paper money? Shin carried paper money: it was not only convenient but also didn't drive people mad with constant scraping. Sighing noisily, the boy looked around the station in desperate search of something to keep him from bashing the man in front of him with the nearest blunt object out of sheer frustration. Hanging above the terminal, he saw a large screen of televisions. Looked like some kind of local news show - the weather girl was giving a report on location at Yamashita Park. Shin exhaled and tried to relax as he focused on the colorful display of flowers behind the weather girl. It was sunny and warm in Yamashita Park, just a few blocks away from this dreadful station and its crowded lines. He could use a chance to get away from all these people for a bit; after that cramped ride on the train and the constant bustle of both Shibuya and Yokohama, he was really on edge. Something moved in the background behind the cheerful weather girl as she bantered with the anchorman in tones too quiet for Shin to hear anything over the constant drone of the crowd. Tilting his head to one side, Shin squinted at the blurry image. There was something familiar about that form, something that was filling him with a sense of unease. The crimson figure noticed the camera and stormed towards the reporter, grabbing her by the shoulder and shoving her roughly into the cameraman with enough force to knock them both down. The frame jiggled and rattled out of focus before settling down to a shot of the brick pathway and a stampede of retreating feet. Shin felt his eyes widen as he recognised the man in red. It was impossible, but there were only two people who had armour like that, and Shin was one of them. As for the other... Shin scowled. Some people clearly needed to learn when to stay dead. He for one had gotten quite enough of Nise Suiko the last time that imposter had shown up. The television went blank and began displaying something about 'technical difficulties', but Shin had already seen enough to know what he needed to. Shouldering the man ahead of him out of the way, he jammed his hand into his pocket and threw his ticket stub in the general direction of the ticket master and followed it with a fistful of money that was probably enough to pay for everybody's ticket in the whole line. By the time the cashier could respond, the brown-haired youth had already melted into the crowd and begun pushing his way towards the door. Yamashita Park was only a few blocks away; he could be there in minutes. No need to warn Ryo or Shuu - they'd only slow him down. Nise Suiko was something that Shin needed to handle alone. ********** Sailor Mars was beginning to wish that she hadn't come alone. She had always been one of the more (okay, she admitted, one of the MOST) aggressive of the Sailor Senshi, but the sheer physicality of this fight was beginning to wear her down. It seemed like every time she tried to grab a breath, there would be a knee to her stomach or an elbow to her face to keep her busy. She had been giving as good as she had been getting, but the simple fact remained that one of them was in armour and one of them was not. How much tougher was she as Sailor Mars? It was a source of concern for Rei as she ducked under yet another roundhouse kick and punched up into her opponent's abdomen to knock him back a few steps. She knew that she was far stronger and more resilient when she transformed, but she also knew that even Sailor Mars had limits. How close was she to those limits? Was she getting her second wind, or taking her last gasp? Nise Suiko charged forward and they fell to the ground, kicking and clawing and gouging blindly at each other for a few frantic moments before Rei managed to plant her foot against his stomach and thrust him back off her again. Wearily, she lobbed her Fire Soul at him again and felt a flicker of surprise when it actually struck him and knocked him sprawling. Perhaps he was getting tired, too: she could see his armoured shoulders heaving as he wheezed for breath. Rei dropped to one knee and dug her fingers into the soft earth of the tulip bed she had landed in. She ached in places she hadn't known existed, and it felt like a thousand small scratches and bruises were crying out for attention. She fought to get up and finish the beast off while he was down, but her trembling legs refused to obey her. On the other side of the large clearing, Nise Suiko clattered noisily to his feet and wobbled over to a nearby cedar tree. Gripping the thick foliage for support, he cast a murderous glare at Sailor Mars through the translucent screen of his visor. "This is a temporary setback," he moaned, drawing the crystal he wore around his neck out from under his cuirass and letting it dangle freely. "I'll be killing you momentarily." "So you keep saying," Rei called back across the clearing. "Seems to me you'd have done something by now if you could." "There you go," Nise Suiko said chidingly, "thinking you know what I'm up to again. I keep trying to tell you there's more going on here, but you just keep refusing to get it!" "There's nothing going on here that I haven't seen a dozen times already," Rei spat, bracing her hand on her raised knee and pushing herself upward. "It doesn't matter what you're up to: you're just another bloody-minded psycopath with delusions of grandeur." "Perhaps," Nise Suiko admitted, and pushed away from the tree. "But I am also done playing with you. Time for my toy." Snapping his hand open, he extended his arm and slowly curled his fingers towards Rei as if reaching for something she couldn't quite see. The aura around him intensified, suddenly visible as a swirling nimbus of scarlet energy that poured form his body and gathered in his open palm as Rei tensed herself to leap out of the way of whatever was coming. With a flash of light and a visceral tearing noise, a long and gleaming trident appeared in his grasp. Its tines were curved, with long barbs and a serrated edge along one side. Tiny bones dangled from the gleaming black shaft on leather straps and clicked softly against each other as Nise Suiko spun the weapon in a deliberate circle. Rei began to move, sidling to the left as Nise Suiko began to circle to the right. They paced around each other slowly, the youma steadily twirling the weapon in his one hand as if it were forming some kind of physical shield. She could tell that it was a powerful talisman, whatever it was; the evil that radiated from it was strong enough for her to sense from across the clearing. Whatever he was planning to do with that thing, she could already feel the power building up behind it. She couldn't afford to let him unleash that much dark energy in one attack; she would never be able to withstand it. Steeling herself, Mars began to draw on the last vestiges of her strength. Her hair began to stir in the breeze as she turned and extended her arm towards the armoured youma. Flames sparked and swirled around her fingers, leaping from her hand to form the shape of a giant bow. Rei shook her head sadly as she pinched the center of the bow and slowly drew back an arrow of boiling plasma. She had been trying to hold back from using this attack - she couldn't be sure that he would survive it, and there was still a chance that there was an innocent boy somewhere inside that cursed shell. "I don't want to hurt you," she said warningly. "That'll make this really one-sided," Nise Suiko replied, and dropped the tines of his trident to face her. A glowing point of light appeared nestled in the crook of the wicked blade, and grew quickly into a throbbing orb of energy as the entire park filled with a deep and threatening hum. "Let the fury of the oceans come forth at the command of its true master!" the youma called out, as the undulating light of the energy crackling at the tip of his trident filled the park with rippling waves of azure blue. "Be doused in the merciless power of the tides, and repent! SUPER WAVE SMASHER!" "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Rei released her shot, a meteoric streak of blazing fire that jetted from her hands and grew in intensity as it streaked towards Nise Suiko. At the same moment, the surging energy at the tip of her enemy's trident burst into a roaring torrent of water, gushing forth with the power of a tidal wave and the precision of a fire hose. Rei screamed as the water enveloped her, lifting her off of her feet and hurling her back as though she had been caught in the path of a raging bullet train. Trees bent and concrete was torn from the ground in her wake as she hurtled into the guardrail that protected visitors from the canal and hit it hard enough to bow the steel around her body. A glimmering arrow of superheated plasma tore through the raging waters in a cloud of hissing steam. Nise Suiko cursed violently and tried to dodge as it slammed into his chest and exploded like a small nuclear bomb. The youma flew back, shards of molten armour cascading off of his body in a shower of crimson metal. He hit the ground and bounced three times as he skidded across the park on his head, small fires still burning merrily on the shattered mess of his armour. Thick smoke rose from the mouth grille of his facemask, and curled around the edges of his visor. The two warriors lay where they had fallen, as still and silent as the grave itself. The only sounds were the hiss of sizzling flesh and the soft tapping of water falling from the leaves of the toppled trees. A bird sang out, its lonely cry echoing through the park. Rei coughed, and gagged, and tumbled forward onto her hands and knees, vomiting out what felt like litres of brackish seawater. Her fuku was soaked, her long black hair clinging to her body like a wet towel and nearly blinding her as it stuck to her face. Pushing the slick black mass out of the way with the back of her hand, she looked across the park. Nise Suiko's gloved fingers twitched slightly, and his arm lifted to press against the ragged wound in his chest. "Just for that," Nise Suiko wheezed, "I am going to turn you into a decorative rug. You are getting really annoying." "Stick around," Rei said weakly. "I get better." Nise Suiko began to sit up, only to find the razor sharp tines of a massive trident levelled at his throat. The bearer of the trident was clad in a suit of blue and grey armour that perfectly matched Nise Suiko's own crimson gear save for the color. The enamelled steel glinted wetly in the afternoon sun, as though its wearer had only just emerged from a dip in the nearby canal. Behind a featureless steel mask, Shin Mouri's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh, goody," Nise Suiko said blandly, "here comes Suiko, to ruin my vacation. Long time, no see, water lily. How's tricks?" "I should spit you like a frog," Shin said menacingly. "Yeah, but you won't." Nise Suiko spread his empty hands expressively. "I am unarmed, not to mention clearly injured. Wouldn't be very cricket of you to go stabbing a guy when he's down. I'd do it, but then again I'm the EVIL twin. You've got rules and stuff." "Get up and get out of here," Shin answered after a moment's hesitation. "Never let me see you or hear of you again, or I will show you no further mercy." "Admit it - you were tempted to just finish me off and be done with it, weren't you?" Nise Suiko chuckled, a nasty and gurgling sound devoid of any real humour. "See, that's what I love about you, Suiko: you have that aura of holier-than-thou with just a touch of hypocrisy to make it all worthwhile. At least I've made peace with my demons. You just bury yours under a pile of manners until they can't see the light." "I don't know how you came back from the dead, imposter-" "It's a pretty neat trick. Ask me nice, and maybe I'll let you try it next time." "But," Shin continued as though he had not been interrupted, "if you try my patience I swear I will find out where you came from and put you back. Do you understand me?" "Yeah, yeah, go suck an egg. It's easy to make a bunch of empty threats when that little chippy in the miniskirt's already done all your work for you, isn't it?" Nise Suiko clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "I mean honestly, letting a girl do your fighting? That's just bad form, Suiko." "Girl?" Shin turned, looking over his shoulder at Sailor Mars, who was trying to pull herself up the mangled railing. With a snarl, Nise Suiko struck out, the bladed claws on his gauntlet sliding into place with a metallic click as he used them to bat away the trident holding him to the ground. Shin staggered back, and Nise Suiko rolled over to where his own trident rested on the cracked and steaming ground. Snatching it from where it lay, the youma drove its tines into his double's breastplate with a vicious thrust. Shin gasped as the weapon sheared its way through his mystical armour and dug into his flesh. Grabbing it by the shaft, he jerked back with all his weight and shook Nise Suiko off like a dog trying to rid itself of fleas. "That," Shin growled, "was the last chance you're going to get, monster. Pity that you couldn't make it count." With a sharp tug, he yanked his double's weapon free from his chest and broke it across his knee. "Is it?" Moving with unnatural speed, the youma darted over to where Sailor Mars was struggling to her feet and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Jerking her head back with a fierce tug, Nise Suiko lifted his clawed gauntlet and rested its bladed tips against her exposed throat. Rei struck out at him, and he used his free hand to twist her arm behind her back and drag her in front of him. "When in doubt, go for a hostage, I always say. This little piece of fluff's already given me enough trouble today to make her worth it, Suiko: don't tempt me further." "Wait." Shin raised his hands, his faceplate retracting into the beak of his helmet. "There's no reason to hurt her - she has nothing to do with this." "She invited herself into this!" Nise Suiko snapped, jostling Rei angrily as she tried to plant herself well enough to kick his legs out from under him. "Besides, what do you know about this, anyway? My master happens to be very interested in the heads of these Sailor Senshi. The chance to draw you out from whatever rock you Samurai Troopers hide under was just the icing on my cake." "Samurai... Troopers?" Rei's eyes fluttered open, staring about in confusion before focusing on Shin's armoured form. She could almost feel the tranquility flowing from his aura, a force of such pure good that it smacked aganst her spiritual senses like a snowball to the face. Their eyes met for a moment, and Rei suddenly felt as though she were plunging into the crystal depths of a moutain stream, luxuriating in the steaming waters of a hot spring, and sailing free across an endless landscape of rolling waves all at the same time. Slowly, she could sense the strength beginning to return to her, filling her limbs with renewed vigour. "Hey, wait a minute..." Nise Suiko looked down at the girl in his arms as a flaming red symbol flared to life on her forehead. "You! You're doing something to her, you son of a-" Pushing Sailor Mars forward, the youma drew a long dagger from its scabbard on his back and hurled it at Shin in the time most people take to blink. Shin cried out as the twisted blade struck home, slamming into his shoulder with enough force to knock him down and breaking his mental contact with the girl. He had been hoping that if he sent her a portion of his power that it might help her break free of his double's grasp. He clattered to the ground, clutching at the knife handle jutting out of his body. Rei lashed out with her foot, striking the youma in the kneecap and forcing his leg to buckle as she scrambled free. Hissing obscenities, Nise Suiko grabbed for her ankle and dragged her back towards him. He raised his claw, the sun glinting off of the curved steel as Rei scrabbled in the dirt and strained to find a handhold to stop her backwards slide. "SHABON SPRAY!" Jerking back in surprise, Nise Suiko lost his hold on Mars' leg as the park was suddenly enveloped in a thick bank of swirling fog. Despite the heat of the day, his breath rose from his mask in steamy clouds that melted quickly into the omnipresent mist. A shadowy figure darted past on his left and he backpedaled, swinging wildly and doing little more than fanning at the air. "You know, there's nothing more horrible than destroying such a lovely park," a female voice cried out from the fog, ringing clearly through the area. It was youthful, filled with a cocky arrogance and the gentle touch of suppressed mirth. Nise Suiko had the nagging suspicion that its owner was laughing at him. "In addition to being a place of beauty and serenity, it's power of tourist attraction is vital to this town's economy!" "What the hell kind of crap is-" he began to ask, only to have the mysterious voice interrupt him. "Furthermore, it's clear to me that only a really despicable worm would go out of his way to attack an innocent girl when she was just trying to enjoy a vacation with her friends, AND cause everybody involved to miss going to Cosmo World (even though some of us were promised candy) when it was nickel day at the roller coasters!" "Listen, girl, I don't know who you think you are, but-" "I am the pretty soldier of love and justice!" The mist swirled and parted to reveal a blonde girl posing dramatically with her feet resting on two of the posts that supported the guard rail. Her short white skirt fluttered slightly in the breeze, and a pair of red gems gleamed softly in the twin buns of her hair. She wore a gold tiara with a shining crescent moon in the centre, and there were a set of pins in her hair that looked vaguely like feathers of the purest ivory. "I am the constant defender of the solidarity and cherished friendship between all girls who travel in search of fun and recreation!" A halo of light formed a shimmering nimbus in the fog behind her as she struck another pose, creating the illusion of a huge pair of butterfly wings unfolding from her back. "I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of Emperor Meiji, Marine Day, and the Kanagawa Board of Tourism, I will punish you!" "This has got to be some sort of sick joke," Nise Suiko groaned. Several feet away, Rei found herself being gently set down by a familiar girl dressed in shades of white of blue. Sailor Mercury smiled kindly as she patted her friend's face with one gloved hand. "It's all right, Rei," she said, "we're here now. Usagi and I can take care of this monster - you rest." "Wait, Ami! There's two of them! You have to fight the red one, got it? The red one!" Rei stretched out her hand to call her friend back, but Sailor Mercury had already disappeared back into the fog she had conjured. ********** Ami shook her head as she ran through the billowing mist. What was that Rei had been shouting? Something about there being two of them. Well, the Sailor Senshi had dealt with youma who worked in teams before, and they could handle another one if they had to. It was no wonder that poor Sailor Mars had gotten such a pounding, if she had been outnumbered - it had been a long time since Ami had seen any of them get that badly beaten just from fighting a common youma. The important thing was to get back to the fight before Sailor Moon got outclassed. Usagi had been growing weaker again lately, and her attacks were not exactly as robust as they used to be. With Pegasus safely back in the realm of dreams, his blessings were not reaching her as well as they used to - she could only remain Sailor Moon for a few minutes at a time, and transforming was getting more and more difficult as the power inside her waned. They had both agreed that it was most important for Ami to get Rei to safety while Usagi distracted the monster, but if she wanted to finish it off, she was going to need help. Sailor Mercury was not so foolish as to think she was the best option as far as that help went. Obviously, if Sailor Jupiter or Sailor Venus had been able to come, they would have been much better choices. Sailor Mars would be the best of all, if she weren't already so tired. If she were in charge of picking people for a fight Ami would very wisely leave her own nerdy little bookworm butt on the bench. It didn't matter. She knew she wasn't the best choice, but she was the only choice available. Sometimes she was still a little surprised at how often that turned out to be the case for all kinds of things she would usually be smart enough not to touch with a ten-foot pole. I didn't want to fight a monster today, she thought wistfully, I wanted to go to the Doll Museum. But the best laid plans of a Sailor Senshi could always be counted on to go horribly awry... A form appeared in the fog ahead, and Ami promptly skidded to a halt. Reaching up to the side of her head she tapped her earring and a transparent blue visor slid across her eyes. It was the youma, all right, and according to the readings that were flashing angrily in the corner of her vision, he was one of the strongest ones they had come across in a while. Usagi was nearby, and her power levels were dropping rapidly. This was no time to be subtle. Ami clenched her fist and concentrated as the mist congealed and swirled around her hand. Within moments, the ribbons of water had taken the shape of a small harp. Gauging the distance carefully, Ami plucked the first 'string' of her weapon. He didn't seem to have noticed her presence yet... "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" She spun, strumming the harp as a flurry of water streams blasted from her hands and rocketed through the mist. Turning at the sound of her attack, the crimson armoured figure raised one hand to deflect her and grunted in surprise when the water splashing against his bracer suddenly froze, encasing his arm in ice. He tried to leap out of the way, but the spinning and whirling waterspouts were everywhere, too numerous and covering too wide an area to avoid. Within moments, Nise Suiko's feet were solidly frozen the ground, his entire body encased in ice from the neck down. Straining, he jerked and threw himself in one direction and then another, trying to break free. "Hurry, Sailor Moon! The ice is cracking!" "Right!" With a reassuring wink, Usagi reached down to her hip. Cupping one hand around the nothing that was clearly there, she grasped the air with her other hand and proceeded to draw out a long pink wand, capped with a glittering ruby and studded with precious stones. It looked like a sword, if a sword had two guards in the shape of a heart and a pair of ivory wings in place of a hilt. The resemblance vanished soon after realising that this particular weapon had no blade, or anything else that would make it seem remotely threatening. It didn't even appear to be particularly heavy. Judging from the confidence with which Sailor Moon was wielding it, however, there was obviously more than met the eye where this particular device was concerned. "MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!" She crouched, and the rod flashed and glowed with the brilliance of a small white star in her hands. A great rush of wind swept up, blasting away the fog and causing her twin ponytails to flap like pennants in the breeze. Sailor Moon thrust the sceptre forward, and the entire world seemed to twist and shift like the colors of a kaleidoscope, buckling and warping as every color of the rainbow flickered past in competition with each other. Nise Suiko had time to cry out, a single, wordless wail of despair as he felt the universe shift and alter into a shape that had no room for him within it. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, he thought desperately, as the gem around his neck burned with the cold ferocity of a winter gale. He was supposed to be victorious! It wasn't right, it wasn't FAIR... There was a sudden explosion of light and sound and endless fury, so forceful that Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon had no choice but to shield their eyes and turn away. As the sound faded to a chorus of echoes, Ami was left with the haunting impression that there had been something almost human about the noise, a tone of pure, mindless rage that had carried the rumbling sound. It was almost as if, at the last moment, some unknown force had awoken from slumber - something that had recognised them, and hated them. "Ami? Little help, here?" "What? Oh!" Looking down at her friend, Sailor Mercury quickly reached down and helped pull Usagi up out of her crouching pose. The blonde girl's arms were trembling with the effort of holding onto her weapon, and her face was drawn and peaked. "Usagi, that was fantastic! We'd better be careful, Rei said there might be two of-" "Rei!" Usagi grabbed her friend, gripping the bow of the front of Ami's chest tightly and looking up with pleading eyes. "Is she okay? She's not hurt is she? You'd tell me if she was hurt, right?" "Relax, I'm fine." Wobbling slightly, Sailor Mars stepped shakily into the clearing with a wan smile. "Out of breath, but not out of luck! Thanks for the save, guys." "No problem," Usagi said generously, laughing with relief. "You know me, I'm always up for some adventure - fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, all that good stuff." She let go of Ami's bow and waved nonchalantly, then yelped as she nearly tipped over. Ami, thinking quickly, managed to grab their leader's arms before she could flop onto the ground. "Okay," Usagi admitted weakly, "the legs need to be taught proper respect. They are becoming impudent. Could someone find me a bench or something? I need to sit." "You need to start taking it easy, Sailor Moon," Ami advised as she helped Usagi back up. "You're not as strong as you used to be." "Which, by the way, majorly bites," Usagi complained. "How come I have to be the team gimp? Everything's always hard on me, and you guys always get to do whatever you want without anybody bossing you around! And speaking of bossy, have you heard the way my cat's been talking to me lately? Talk about a slave driver! Wash the dishes, clean your room, don't waste your powers on punishing jaywalkers..." "Let's just get out of here and back into our normal clothes as soon as possible," Rei said firmly, clapping her hand over Usagi's mouth as the other girl continued to release a stream of muffled complaints. "I really just want to get back to our hotel room and wash up for bed." "It is only two in the afternoon..." Ami said cautiously. "Yeah? Well, I've had a long day." From the look on Sailor Mars' face, she was not going to brook any disagreement. "Besides, you know as soon as she changes back and gets some food in her, Usagi's going to be out like a light. And she snores like a buzzsaw, so I'm going to be asleep before she is if it kills me." "I do NOT snore!" Usagi interjected, squirming free of Rei's hand. "That is a filthy lie my enemies made up to get at me! "Although," she added thoughtfully, "I guess Cosmo World could wait until tomorrow if it means we get to have room service. We can get room service at the hotel, right, Rei?" "Sure," Rei agreed, "why not? We may as well have some fun today. I'll order some movies on the television when we get there, and we'll get room service. But first thing tomorrow we get to work finding out what's going on here, okay?" Especially since there was no sign of that strange young boy in the blue armour that she had seen earlier. No way it was just a coincidence that he happened to look exactly like the monster they were fighting. The youma had called him something... a Samurai Trooper? It was all a mystery to Rei, but she had learned the hard way not to sit around and wait for things to come to her. If there were any Samurai Troopers or monsters hiding out in Yokohama, she was going to make sure the Sailor Senshi tracked them down and stopped them cold. Rei sighed. Her vacation was going downhill a lot faster than she had thought it would. ********** To Be Continued...