Even as the Senshi celebrated their victory and Usagi and Mamoru made up, a young reporter was looking through archive files in a news building. She emerged from the pile holding two video tapes: one marked 'Tokyo Beach' and the second '(Super?)Man on the street'.

Nancy Vargas grinned. "I knew it!"

* * * * *

The next Sunday, Chang was out for a jog around the Hikawa Shrine block when a young female voice called out from behind him. "Excuse me? Could I have a minute of your time?"

Without looking back, Chang answered absently, "I'm taken," and kept jogging. Undeterred, the voice continued. "That's not what I meant. You really are a remarkable guy, you know? Saving children, fighting monsters on the beach, helping the Sailor Senshi?"

Chang skidded to a halt and spun around to regard the speaker. She was slightly older than the Senshi, with unruly brown hair a shade darker than Makoto's. She was dressed like -
{A reporter,} Chang groaned internally. {Oh, great.} Aloud, he asked, "Just what are you talking about, miss..."

"Nancy Vargas, Tokyo Snoop, and you are?"

Chang _almost_ gave his name before wising up. "Ah - very flattered, but why's a reporter following me?"

By way of a reply, Nancy held up a small videocamera - a newer model, with a tiny preview screen attached. At the touch of a button, the screen showed grainy and bumpy scenes that Chang nonetheless recognized.

{Kuso! (Damn!) Somebody recorded me during those fights at the beach and in the street with Chibi-Usa! It's poor quality, so she's not sure, but I could be in trouble here!} He shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry. That guy has hair that looks like mine, but there must be a hundred guys like that in Tokyo. And I really don't know what you're talking about." She smiled at him. "Then would it help if I saw you leaping from the ground to a rooftop yesterday?" she asked sweetly.

Chang cut off his choke, turning it into a laugh. "That's a good one! Me, leaping off rooftops. Uh huh!" He shook his head, mostly to get some time to think, and continued, "I really need to finish my morning run. If you can keep up, feel free to talk, but you've gotta keep up with me!"

With that, he bounced back into a jog, one that bordered on a full running pace. He left his normal course, running straight until Nancy was far behind, then turned the next corner and kicked into a full, Anything-Goes sprint, leaving only a dust cloud in view by the time a panting Nancy turned the corner.

{Not good,} he thought as soon as he was sure he was clear. {The last thing I need is a reporter nosing into my activities. Worst case is, I could reveal all our identities as Senshi, so I have to avoid her as much as possible.} Then he looked at his watch. {@*&^!!,} he cursed mentally. {Ten minutes to get to the vacant lot! Move, Delune...}

About twelve minutes later, Chang ran into the vacant lot to find an impatient Makoto Kino tapping her foot and glaring at him as he rounded the corner. "I know, I know," he panted, stalling her imminent rant. "I didn't want to go Rooftop Express, it's too conspicuous for the next few days."

Makoto's eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?"

Chang explained quickly, and Makoto moaned in sympathy. "We know her! She was doing a feature on the Sailor Senshi when we were trying to trick Kunzite that one time. She got posessed by a youma and helped gather information on what we were doing."

Chang laughed bitterly. "I suppose that makes sense. Still, why do reporters always cause trouble?" "More news that way," Makoto replied with a saucy grin. "Trouble means news, so I suppose that means you're trouble!" Chang gave her a mock frown. "OK, student of trouble - time to see if what I've been teaching you has sunk in! Let's spar!"

* * * * *

Minako, meanwhile, was strolling around with little to do. {I'm bored,} she decided. {I don't want to window-shop any more, so now what?} An idea occured to her as she saw a cute Sailor Jupiter doll in a store window. {That's it! Mako-chan should be home now - I'll go visit her!}

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Makoto was getting very frustrated with Chang. This was because he was 'sparring' with her the same way Ranma spars with Akane: zero offense. He was dodging, or using textbook parries and pointing out ways around them, and occasionally poking her somewhere when he caught her with her guard down.

"Dammit, fight back!" she cried, her patience wearing thin.

"I am fighting back, Makoto," Chang answered evenly. "I just don't see any reason to injure you when frustrating the heck out of you supplies much better incentive to improve!" With that, he gave her an infuriating grin. Makoto seethed.

* * * * *

Minako, approaching Makoto's apartment, heard the frustrated yell and jogged over to investigate. {Is Mako-chan fighting a monster on her own?} she wondered.

* * * * *

Makoto's steamed expression lasted a few more seconds, then she grinned nastily. "What?" Chang asked her. Her grin widened as she casually walked closer. "I just realized something. You do all those strikes and pressure points, but Delune kenpo is essentially a keepaway style, isn't it?" "Well, yeah, but it works!" Chang replied defensively. Makoto's grin went from 'nasty' to 'anticipating payback.'

She walked right up to Chang, staring him in the eye. "So you wouldn't have any special techniques for grappling, right?" Chang thought about it for a moment. "Well, now that you mention it-" he paused. "Ah shimatta! (Ah shit!)" he cried as he realized how close Makoto was and tried to leap away.

Too late!

* * * * *

Minako was right around the corner from the noise now. {At least it doesn't sound like a monster attack,} she thought worriedly. {No speeches, no attack cries, no Droid shouting its name...} A loud series of thumps, grunts, and crashes came from the vacant lot. {...but it sounds like there's a big fight going on in there! I hope Mako-chan's not involved...}

"Ha, I gotcha - woops!!"

A sweatdrop the size of Cincinatti appeared on the back of Minako's head. {That was her! And it sounds like she's in trouble!} "Hang on, Mako-chan! I'm com-" As she turned the corner and saw the scene in the vacant lot, she stopped dead and her words froze in her throat. Makoto was on the ground, on her back, looking dirty and disheveled, but not displeased. Chang was kneeling over her, both hands on her shoulders pinning her to the ground, looking dirtier and more messed up than Makoto. Both of them looked over to the corner as they heard Minako's abortive attack cry, and their expressions - Makoto's satisfaction and Chang's irritation - both melting into surprise, then into embarrasment, and in Chang's case, worry.

He had good reason.

"WHAT IN THE *WORLD* IS GOING *ON* HERE!?!?"

* * * * *

Much later, Chang slunk away from the vacant lot, heading for the Ginza at a fast walk. Minako had not been in the mood for explanations, and had given both scrappers an earful before storming off. Makoto, mortally embarrased, had fled for her apartment immediately, and Chang had spent a few fruitless minutes looking for Minako before heading for the Ginza in an effort to cheer himself up.

{Just what I need,} he thought, {romantic troubles on top of everything else! Can anything *else* go wrong today without a monster attack!?!}

Of course, you *never* say, or even think, those words in an anime setting. As Chang was passing by the front window of an electronics store, he an image of an old foe caught his eye. {Hey,} he realized, {that's that first Cardian I saw, Aquatica! Is this a documentary on the Senshi?} However, his interest turned to a barely disguised horror as he saw his image appear and heard the commentary.

Nancy Vargas' voice, faint but recognizable, came through the window. "..and do the mysterious Sailor Senshi have a group of human allies? Or are they training people to help defend our world? This mysterious man, sighted at Tokyo Beach, in Juuban, and (in an unconfirmed sighting) in a Ginza mall, may be the first of Earth's own warriors. More news will follow as it is uncovered, but this reporter is sure that our mystery fighter is a valued ally of the Senshi..."

Chang was livid. {She put me on TV!! How dare she expose me like that! I need to talk to that girl...}

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Emeraude had been wandering her favorite part of 1990's Tokyo - of course, the Ginza shopping areas - and trying to come up with a plan to get the Senshi into a battle on her terms. {I could set up a Dark Henge... no, that won't work. I can never tell how long I have before the Senshi home in on it. I need to find something they'll come to defend quickly, so I can be ready to ambush them. Maybe the Rabbit, if I can find her...}

Suddenly, her eye was caught by the image of a young man in a window TV set. As she listened to the commentary, an idea began to form in her mind. {Valued ally, eh? Well, I have plans for you, my boy. I remember Rubeus, the weakling, complaining about some human who balked him once, so I'll check his reports to see what you do, then...}

Emeraude broke into her nerve-wracking laugh in the street, causing bystanders to run for cover.

* * * * *

The next day, Chang was just finishing his morning run. He sat down on a park bench to shake the sweat out of his eyes and hair, noting the positions of those around him in a reflex that dated back to the Amazon village and the persistent attempts by the warriors there to earn a name for themselves, either by defeating a Delune or marrying one. {Two men by the water fountain, pack of schoolgirls jogging through, boy with water balloon about to throw-} In the missile came,and Chang ducked so it caught him on top of the head, cooling him down quite nicely, {-ahh, that's better; boy running away, three women near park entrance, one with green hair--

WHOA! Hold it! *Long* green hair, black dress, the other two women are flanking her like bodyguards, that's Emeraude!}

Jolted out of his scan of the area, he focused in on the trio, who seemed to be looking for something.
{Or someone,} Chang thought with a certain sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. {And since that TV expose of me was just yesterday, I can guess who. I hate that reporter...}

* * * * *

Speaking of Nancy Vargas, she wasn't far off. Filming the young martial artist with her camcorder, she noticed the water balloon attack and 'hmphed' in frustration. {Darn you, whoever you are! I need *proof* that you're unusual, not comedy film of you!} She had argued against doing the expose so soon, wanting more material, but her boss had needed to fill a slot on the evening news and he'd chosen her piece. Now, her quarry appeared to be on his guard.

{Maybe in more ways than one,} she thought as he suddenly stiffened. The park was nearly empty now, most people were moving on, but three women that the boy had apparently just noticed were moving toward him. The one in back with flamboyant green hair stopped and made a quiet comment that sent the already agitated boy ramrod-straight, then burst into a laugh that made Nancy's spine quiver. She realized, {I've heard that voice before, on security tapes from the last monster attack! That's the Senshi's new enemy, and he may not know that!}

Bursting out from her concealment in a bush, she yelled, "Kid, that's the Senshi's new enemy! Get out of there!"

Spinning around, he saw her and his face took on a comical expression that was equal parts disgust and dismay. "Oh, no! You!" he cried. As he turned around, the two women in front of the laugher suddenly... changed: there was no other way to describe it. The one on the right went blue and almost translucent, crying "O-Bake!" ("Ghost!") The one on the left, meanwhile, grew taller and more muscled, her skin turning green and scaly, her hair becoming a horrifying nest of serpents, and her eyes sinking into her head, almost shining in their dark sockets. Nancy suddenly found her gaze riveted to those eyes: there was a strange moment, and then the monster looked away. Nancy tried to turn and run, but her body wouldn't move!

The boy turned around and cried out, "Oh, great. A ghost and a medusa!"

* * * * *

Chang's first instinct had been to flee and transform, but the presence of a helpless person scotched that plan. {Lucky I recognize the monsters these things are based on,} he thought as he leaped over a shockwave thrown by O-Bake. A hiss warned him of danger, and he twisted himself hard to the left, letting a green stream of liquid spat at him by Medusa's snake hair pass by. As he landed, he spun toward the paralyzed girl -
{Nancy Vargas, wasn't it?}
and ran to her with the intent of carrying her away. It wasn't until he was almost there that he realized he couldn't see O-Bake anywhere.

He found her the hard way as she appeared up out of the ground, grabbed him by the wrists, and took to the air, bringing him along for the ride. Suddenly, Chang felt a certain insidious weakness spreading through his body. {Dammit! The Droid's draining my energy!} he thought, and tried to hook a nearby tree branch with his legs so he could pull free.

His legs passed right through the branch, and he thought somewhat fuzzily, {Oh, great- it's phasing me, too!} Then he had an inspiration. {Still, this grip seems solid enough...} Chang kicked both his legs up between him and the Droid, planting both feet in its face and pushing off, angling to tumble toward Nancy. He began to slip free, then for one heart-stopping moment her left hand - on his right wrist - caught on something. Then whatever her hand had snagged on came off, and he fell free, grabbed Nancy for balance as he made a shaky landing, and picked her up.

"Sorry for the rough ride," he apologized in advance, and leapt up, bounding off a rooftop as he made his escape.

* * * * *

Emeraude was furious. "OOH! You idiots! You had the advantages of numbers *and* surprise and you let him get away! You should be rendered down to Droid dust and recycled! You -" She broke off in shock, having just noticed that Droid O-Bake was paying her no attention at all, seeming to be more interested in something in her hand.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!?" Emeraude bellowed in a shriek as earsplitting as her usual laugh.

Startled, O-Bake jerked around to look at her mistress, throwing up her arms and tossing the item to Emeraude in the process. By reflex, the green-haired Nemesite grabbed at the item, and after fumbling it from hand to hand for a few seconds, got a grip on it.

Her scowl became a grin shortly thereafter. "This will do nicely! O-HOHOHOHO!"

* * * * *

In an alleyway some distance from the fight, Chang set Nancy down as she coughed. Once clear of Medusa's area, the paralyzed reporter had started moving again. Chang was still woozy from the energy drain (not to mention a bit ticked off), and he wasted no time in laying into the girl.

"You IDIOT! That attack was all thanks to you, you know!"

"I- me!?! But I just looked for news!"

"Yeah, and put me in danger with it! You didn't even wait to confirm your story, did you! I'll have you know I'm from a Chinese family who have fought evil for generations!" Chang then decided to seal his story with a little white lie. "My only connection to the Senshi is that we met in battle and they gave me this so we could call each other if -" he abruptly cut off.

"What? What's the matter?" Nancy asked as Chang obviously got more and more distressed. "My senshi-com! It's not on my wrist, I-" he cut himself off again as he remembered the last moments of the fight with the Droids. {That snag on my wrist - oh, NO! That Droid has my Senshi-Com! If they use it to claim I'm their prisoner-} "Damn! I've gotta go!"

Without one more word to the young reporter, Chang hit the rooftops, making for the Hikawa Shrine at top speed.

Her only word was, "Huh!?"

* * * * *

Chang arrived at the shrine a few minutes too late: Grandpa Hino informed him that the girls had exchanged a series of frantic phone calls, then Rei and Ami (who was there visiting) had left in a hurry, mentioning a park near the old Sanjouin mansion.

[Note to DIC Sailor Moon fans: To you, that's the Stanton mansion, former HQ of Maxfield Stanton, aka Nephylite.]

Chang had taken off as soon as Grandpa had told him this: he remembered the place from Minako's tales of their first year of adventures. {I have to get there in time!}

* * * * *

Chang stared down at the battle scene. It wasn't good. Sailor Moon was floating in some kind of beam of darkness emanating from a circle drawn in the ground with two Dark Henges on either side of it -
she seemed to be asleep, or energy-drained. Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury were standing like statues -
they'd evidently met the Medusa droid's paralyzing gaze. As for Jupiter and Venus, they were standing next to a mailbox, their arms disappearing right into its' sides.

{I was wondering about that,} Chang thought. {I guess the O-Bake droid can pull people into solid objects and leave them stuck there! Just great.}

The two Droids and Emeraude were gathered on the far side of the park from Chang, and Emeraude was, of course, laughing manaically, Chang's Senshi-com hanging from her belt. She seemed very pleased...

Until Chang leapt in with no warning and slammed her face into the turf. {I can't afford to fight nicely here - I'm at a three-to-one disadvantage and all my friends are depending on me!}

"CHANG!" yelled Jupiter and Venus, and he threw them a quick grin.

Medusa spun around, saw him, and spat a stream of venom that Chang spun away from. O-Bake threw a shockwave and Chang leaped over it, heading straight in at Medusa. {One quick Bakusai-Tenketsu, and it'll be one down and two to g-}

Chang's line of thought was cut off as an incensed Emeraude blew him to the far side of the park lawn with a lightning bolt of Dark Energy. "You.... you little _insect,_" she seethed. "You spoiled my makeup and you could have ruined my FACE!! I'll *kill* you!" Chang was mostly out of it. {Ite.. (ow..)} he thought, {d.. didn't think she'd recover so fast.}

"CHANG! ABUNAI! (LOOK OUT!)" Jupiter screamed, and he rolled desperately to the side, narrowly dodging a volley of venom, shockwaves, and Dark Lightning. Vaulting to his feet, he bounded to the side and leaped at O-Bake. It phased just in time to avoid his attack, vanishing into the ground, and Chang barely got his balance back in time to dodge the attacks from Emeraude and Medusa.

Again, he converted dodge into attack, heading right for Emeraude, who let out an 'eep!' and teleported across the lawn. O-Bake rose up to replace her, and once again Chang was on the defensive. Going airborne to evade O-Bake's grab and Medusa's venom spray, he landed running. He went for Medusa again, thinking, {That's the only one who hasn't shown any flight or teleportation powers! She should be an easy target-}

And again he was forced to abort his attack as he was clipped by Emeraude's stream of Dark Lightning. {Gaahh!} he thought, not realizing until Jupiter and Venus screamed his name again that he'd said it aloud. In thought, he went on, {This is getting me nowhere! They don't mean to protect each other, but that's just what they're doing! I need to even the odds somehow-} he broke off for a moment to frantically avert his eyes from Medusa's face, having glimpsed a glow there from the corner of his eye. During that twist, his gaze flashed across: Emeraude, still showing anger instead of her usual smug attitude; Jupiter and Venus, arms trapped in the sides of the mailbox; and O-Bake, just phasing through a tree, giggling.

Suddenly, he flashed back to his first battle with the two Droids, and O-Bake pulling him airborne, seeming solid to him while she phased him through a tree branch he tried to grab. {But all the stuff I wore or carried phased too,} he realized. {Her power must extend to what she touches *and* to what that person carries or wears!} A plan, somewhat risky but worth trying, came into his head. {All right, let's go! Hajime! (Martial arts command: 'Begin!)}

* * * * *

As the fight developed, Jupiter's head swung back and forth in short arcs of denial. When Chang had first jumped down, she'd thought they were saved. Her feelings had spiked from hope to horror as Emeraude had, unbelievably, recovered from Chang's first attack and blasted him, and he'd been too hard-pressed to dodge the Nemesites' attacks to counterattack.

He'd already been tagged twice by Emeraude's dark energy, and even as she watched, he came under attack again. Emeraude fired, he slipped to the side, Medusa's snakes spat their venom stream, forcing him to dive almost flat to the ground, and he was picked up from there and smashed into a tree by O- Bake's shockwave. He rolled to his feet, flipped over Emeraude's blast and dodged around Medusa, who was trying to use her eyes again, and ran at O-Bake, only to get hit with a backhand slap that flipped him into a spinning fall. He rolled, again dodging Emeraude and Medusa's attacks, but O-Bake was relentless, blasting him again.

This wave sent him across the park and almost to Jupiter's feet. "Chang... Chang, nigete! (run away!)" she whispered urgently. {Go, you stupid idiot! Get away! Live! I like you a... a lot,} she thought, {Maybe as much as Ken. Don't die!} Venus just stared in shock.

To their horror, he struggled to rise, then slumped to the ground. Jupiter and Venus gave one unified scream.

"IIEEYAAAAAA!! (NNOOOOOO!!)"

Emeraude, her composure finally recovered, laughed. "O-HOHOHOHO! That will teach you to attack a noblewoman of Nemesis! Now to put you out of your misery!"v Chang raised his head. "Th.. thank you."

Nonplused, Emeraude looked down at him. "What?!"

Seeming dazed, Chang replied. "For b-being... so merciful. Rubeus would've hung me from that tree," he nodded weakly to the one he'd been slammed into, "and made me watch while he f... finished the Senshi." He slumped back down.

Emeraude's face lit up. "Why, thank you, boy! I'll do exactly that! O-Bake, hang him there like he said!" The Droid moved in, and Jupiter's face screwed up in confusion.

{Nani!?} (What!?) {Chang's not like that normally! What's going on-}

As O-Bake reached for Chang's leg, he snapped into blurred motion. One hand snagged Jupiter's fuku belt, while the other shot up to grab Venus' wrist, which was down at waist level. As the Droid pulled him into the air, he gave a sharp tug, and the two Sailor Senshi were free!

With a cry of "YATTA! (All Right!)," he dropped them back to the ground while he kicked O-Bake four times across the face. Stunned, it let him go to fall down beside Jupiter, and while the villains stared in shock, he streaked across the field, snatching his Senshi-Com from Emeraude's belt.

"All right, you witch," he crowed, skidding to a stop, "*Now* the odds are even. *Let's Go!*" With that, the park exploded into battle.

* * * * *

Chang took a dramatic stance, but he was really only trying to distract the three enemies. "What are you waiting for-" Emeraude began, but she was cut off by two loud, exuberant cries behind her.

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

"LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

She spun around in fear, but the attacks weren't meant for her. O-Bake contorted wierdly as she was hit by the ball of lightning, and Medusa got lashed across the face by the Love-Me Chain and fell to the ground not far from her fellow Droid. Suddenly realizing she'd turned her back on the boy, she whirled back around-
-just in time to recieve a face full of shoe sole as Chang used her for a springboard, Ranma-style. Coming to a neat three-point landing between the Droids, he held his stance and pointed one finger into the air until Emeraude looked at him again. Then he drove the finger into the ground, crying,

"MANA... *FLARE!*"

The shocked Emeraude could only watch as a whirling cone of golden energy erupted from the ground around her 'bait' and her two Droids. After the abuse they'd already taken, this proved to be the last straw, and they dissolved into dust, crying out their names as they 'died.' As this happened, Mercury and Mars began to move, and the Dark Henges toppled, freeing Sailor Moon from the energy beam between them. She yawned and stretched.

Chang turned to Emeraude. "You've just learned a good lesson: *Don't* mess with me. The Senshi give you all the trouble you can handle already: I have other responsibilities, but if you come after me again, I'll stick with the Senshi until you end up like your Droids. Now get out of my sight."

For once in her life, the Nemesite was speechless. With a short, worried nod, she vanished.

* * * * *

The scene as the Senshi gathered around Chang was a bit less joyous than you might expect. It was Minako who started in on him first.

"You.. you baka! (idiot!)" she cried out. "We thought you'd been captured! Where were you?!?"

Chang gave her an embarrased grin as he replied. "She brought those Droids and ambushed me during my morning run. I got away, but I lost my Senshi-Com - gomen."

Jupiter was next in line. "Aho! (Twit!) Why didn't you just come in as Lunar?! It would've been a lot easier and safer!"

Chang's grin dropped a bit. "Well - Emeraude had my Senshi-Com, and unlike you, I don't have long gloves as a Guardian to cover it up. If she took a Senshi-Com off Chang and Lunar showed up without one..." Jupiter looked embarrased, but Mercury countered by saying, "Given the evidence so far, Chang, it seems rather unlikely that she could make the logical connections involved." Everyone else stared at her. After a moment, she sweatdropped and rephrased her reply. "I don't think she's smart enough to figure that out."

Chang shook his head. "Oh. Well, I don't exactly think she's a genius either, but I didn't want to take the chance."

Mars nodded. "Sounds good to me - not like a certain meatball-head at all!" "What was that, Mars!?"

A raspberry duel followed until Chang cleared his throat. "I want to wait here - I have a hunch somebody I want to talk to is coming, but you lot should get going. I'm sure you were doing your own things when the emergency hit."

* * * * *

Chang was waiting alone by the time Nancy Vargas ran up to the park. She slowed as she saw him, a contrite look on her face.

"I thought about - what you said. Did you get your communicator back?" In reply, Chang held up his right wrist, the white orb firmly strapped on. "Oh, good. It - it was all my fault, really. If you hadn't had to rescue me back there, you'd have gotten away and the Senshi wouldn't have been ambushed here."

"You're pretty sharp," Chang stated. "So now what?" "I want to make amends, sort of. If you need my help, just ask," she said, handing Chang a card with her phone number on it, "and I'll get a retraction shown on the news this week - I'll claim the footage was doctored. I have a pretty good information network, you know; I can find monster attacks faster than anyone except the Senshi! Remember, if you need help, call!" she finished as she trotted back to the road.

"Huh," Chang said, looking down at the card. "What next?"