Beryl was feeling much better today. There was nothing like juggling the severed heads of the entire cast of every season of ‘The Real World’ to relieve stress. Except watching them die, but you could only kill someone once. Generals Ego and Horny now marched in. "You rang?" Horny said. "Yes. Report on how your mission of finding Pluto has been going." "Apparently, Pluto was discovered in the early 20th century," Horny reported. "I want you to find the Tennis Warrior, not the PLANET." "Oh." "She hasn’t responded to the classified ads either," Ego reported. "And I’ve been watching all the porn channels I can, but she has yet to show up on them." "Pluto is not a porn star," Beryl said impatiently. "Or a child star," Horny pointed out helpfully. "Well, we’re just stumped as to how to find her," Ego said. "What would you do, your highness?" Beryl had no idea at all how to find Pluto. She was loathe to admit this, however. Then an idea struck her. "I suggest you start robbing banks disguised as her. That way, she’ll come to you." "But there’s two of us," Horny pointed out. "The other one of you can stay hidden and watch for Pluto. I suggest Ego take on the role, since Horny is too short." "Right. What does she look like, anyway?" Ego asked. Beryl paused. "You’ve been looking for her all this time without knowing what she looks like?" "Well, you never told us." Picky, picky facts, Beryl thought. She created an illusion. "This is what she looks like." "Oooh, can you show her naked too?" Horny asked. "She looks hot." "No, I can’t," Beryl said. She could, in fact, if she wanted to, but she preferred not to find out what Horny would do if she did. "Now, go forth and find her." "Yes, your highness," Ego said, then departed with Horny. Beryl gave a sigh of relief. Perhaps this time, all would go well. Zwei-ite’s latest report had seemed hopeful. We may be on the verge of triumph, she hoped. ******************* Marmalade Moon, Episode 10: "Who the hunter and who the game?" http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/MMoon by John Biles ******************** Miki came downstairs from doing her homework; her parents were watching the news. "The Shinichi Bank was robbed today by someone calling herself ‘Tennis Warrior Pluto’," the announcer said. Images of a tall woman with long white hair in a Tennis Warrior uniform, holding a huge lacross stick with a jewel mounted just below the net, accompanied the report. "She also tried to get the bank teller to go on a date with her, but was turned down." "This is probably some sort of publicity stunt for the Softball Warrior V show," Chiyako said. "I’ve met some people who do commercials for our company, and they’re all pretty crazy." Jin shook his head. "One of my old classmates works over at Shinichi. That was real, if hard to believe. I just hope my bank doesn’t get targeted." "Well, you’re a loan officer, not a teller, so you probably wouldn’t have any trouble," Rumi pointed out. "Well, I hope so." Miki frowned. "I can’t believe one of the Tennis Warriors would rob a bank!" "Oh, it’s just some loon dressed up as one of them," Yuu said. "She’s not even using a tennis racket." "Well, a lacrosse net is sort of like a tennis racket," Rumi noted. "It’s also like a butterfly net, but I wouldn’t use it to play tennis or hunt butterflies," Yuu replied. This is going to complicate matters, Miki thought. We can’t just let this go by, but we want to get our trap going... She sighed. Then again, with our luck, this might be the real Tennis Warrior Pluto gone bad. *************** Pluto was not amused. I still don’t have a solution to my time paradox problems. I don’t have time for this, she thought. Then again, I haven’t ceased to exist, so perhaps historical changes can only ripple forwards, not backwards, in this universe. Without deliberate time travel into the past, anyway. The thought of all of her life before she came to the White Gold Millenium never having happened was something she had mixed feelings about. Without that life, she would not have become what she was. But much of that life had featured her trapped as a force of destruction. There were many things she had done she wished she could forget. She opened the time gate, and bade it to send her to the location of the next robbery, several hours in advance. As she did so, she disguised herself in normal clothing, and changed her hair and features. Best to spy unseen at first, she decided. She then quietly settled in to wait and watch. *************** Miki asked Nanami over her computer, "Can you get your computer to try to figure out where the fake Tennis Warrior Pluto will strike next?" "I can try, but it will probably make fun of me and be generally a pain in the butt. But I’ll get right on it," Nanami replied. "Thanks." The conversation then turned to various gossip we will skip over to preserve the reader’s sanity. *************** "I think we ought to just try and see about discussing our fake plan at lunch, so we can have someone invite Natsume to join us, and let her ‘overhear’ our plans," Miki said. The Tennis Warriors had gathered for a secret midnight meeting in Nanami’s backyard (chosen because Nanami wouldn’t have to sneak very far away and she claimed her parents were very sound sleepers). Nanami said, "Too risky of other people hearing it. Better to write the info in a note and ask her to pass it from one person to another. If she’s a spy, then she’ll likely open it and find out." "But what if she’s here to spy for the Tennis Warriors but doesn’t know who we are? She might not open the note," Arimi pointed out. "Well, we do know she’s a spy now," Miki said. "Or something. I checked her out with the mask, and she’s chock full of dark energy." "Maybe the Mercury computer can think of a plan," Arimi said. "Maybe we’ll all die if we follow it, but I guess it can’t hurt to ask it," Nanami said. She started typing in the request. "We might try recruiting Setsuna to our side, and get her to help us," Meiko said. "As I assume the Moon De- Evilizer could break the spell on her, so she’d know the truth." Luna nodded. "That should work. Although I’m not sure what Setsuna could do for us." "Ginta could go over and ‘confess’ to Setsuna about being Golfer Vulcan, and tell her about our plans, thus enabling Natsume to overhear the whole thing," Yuu suggested. Arimi frowned. "I don’t like any plan that involves Setsuna alone in a room with Ginta." Neither did Miki. "Best we not spread our secret if we don’t have to." Namura said, "Well, since Natsume knows Ginta and Arimi’s secret already, perhaps someone could simply go up to her and ask her to make sure Setsuna doesn’t sneak along on our training trip this weekend. That way, we can tell her the important information directly, and have it seem natural. Maybe both of you could go," he said to Ginta and Arimi. "It doesn’t leak all of the information, but I suspect that once they know where we’ll all be, they’ll come spy on us and then try to strike at some time they think we’re vulnerable." Meiko nodded. "I think that’s a good plan." Namura nodded. "Yes, it makes good sense to me." Ginta said, "Alright, then we’ll do that tomorrow." "Right. Anything else we need to discuss?" Yuu asked. "Hmm, my computer is suggesting that we capture a youma, then let it escape after overhearing us," Nanami said. "We haven’t got anywhere to lock up a youma," Ryoko said. Nanami nodded. "We don’t have any good way to catch a youma either." "Hmm, I just realized we need to get Nanami ungrounded so she can come on the trip with us," Miki said. "Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to do that," Makoto pointed out. "Well, I’ll try and think of something," Nanami said. "I may have to just sneak out and get in more trouble." "Alright, we have a plan." Ryoko yawned. "Anything else or can we all go get some sleep so we aren’t zombies tomorrow." "Let’s go sleep," Miki said, yawning. "See you all tomorrow." *************** Arimi walked through the darkness with Ginta, who finally said, "I think our big plan to try to get Yuu and Miki to date us isn’t going to work." She sighed. "I know. Miki looked a little jealous at the idea of you alone with Setsuna, but she’s the one who suggested you walk me home. Yuu didn’t even offer." "I can’t see what you see in him." "You’re a guy, you wouldn’t get it," Arimi said. "But then..." She hesitantly asked, "Do you like Setsuna?" "She’s cute, but she just isn’t what I’m looking for," Ginta replied. "Too...I don’t know the right word for it." "Flakey?" "Yeah." "The other day, when you..." Arimi tried to muster the courage to say it. "When you kissed me. That was really good. I mean, it was, it was like..." He blushed. "Yeah. I really liked it." "Would you like...to do it again?" He turned and stared at her in surprise. "I was just thinking, it might be nice, to try dating for real," she said, her voice faded to near inaudibility. He stared at her in surprise, then said faintly, "Yes, I think so too." And then they kissed by the light of the half-moon. *************** Miki lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. "Meiko, are you awake?" "I am now," Meiko mumbled from her futon on the floor. "Eep, I’m sorry. I just...I’ll ask you later." "Ask me now," Meiko said. "Or you’ll forget." "I was just wondering...I mean..." Miki sighed. "I feel like an idiot when I think about it." "I won’t call you an idiot." "I was just sort of wondering if, I mean...wondering if there’s anyone who Yuu likes," Miki said. "I don’t know. With Yuu, you can hardly ever be sure what he’s thinking. And he strikes me as the sort of guy who couldn’t easily tell a girl he liked her if he did like someone." Miki nodded. "Yeah. He likes to do the silent, mysterious thing." She thought a moment. "I’m starting to think Ryoko-sensei may have a crush on Na-chan. Don’t you think they’d make a good couple?" Meiko froze up. "What makes you think that?" "They’ve got common interests, they’re both the same age, they work together, they’ve been friends a really long time, and they just look so cute together. And haven’t you noticed how he’s always driving her around and picking her up and dropping her off from all our Tennis Warrior meetings?" Meiko felt her veins turning all icy. He loves ME, she thought. I wish we could tell people. But...now the fear nagged at her. Maybe he did like Ryoko better. A mature, intelligent, beautiful woman his own age, with a lot more things in common. How could she compete with that? No, it couldn’t be true. Surely, he wouldn’t cheat on me like that, Meiko thought. They’re just good friends. "They’re just old friends, I think." "I guess. But their past lives were probably lovers, so..." Meiko’s eyes widened. "What?" "Well, she was Jupiter, and Jupiter was seeing Zeus. Now, if Yuu is Orion and...oh man, that means we were boyfriend and girlfriend back then!" Miki’s brain jumped tracks. "No wonder he seems so cute to me and I want him to..." She paused. "I’m thinking out loud." "Why do you think he was Zeus?" Meiko asked. "Well, for one thing, I got Nanami to look up all the...oh, didn’t I tell you about that?" "About what?" "Okay, we pinned down the computer, and it said Makoto was Hermes, and Na-chan was Zeus, and Miwa was Endymion and..." Meiko gagged. "MIWA was Endymion?" "Yeah, which I guess means he was your boyfriend back then. No wonder he won’t give up on that crush he has on you." Rolling over onto her stomach, Meiko felt a surge of intense frustration. Na-chan has to be Endymion, she thought. Or else... "Well, nothing says everything has to repeat itself. After all, if it did, it would mean we’re doomed to die." "That’s true," Miki replied. "So it’s not inevitable that Na-chan and Ryoko-sensei will get together. Just likely. I bet if they kissed, all the memories would come flooding back and..." "So, are you going to kiss Yuu so you two can rekindle Moon and Orion’s old love affair?" Meiko asked irritably. Miki blushed. "I don’t think...I mean...our parents would be very happy, I’m sure, but I mean...he’s like my brother now. Sort of." She scratched her head. "Our whole family life is kind of tangled." "Well, we can discuss our love lives later. Goodnight, Miki." Miki sighed. "Goodnight, Meiko." *********** "Give me all the money, jewels, and pornography you have!" General Ego, disguised as Tennis Warrior Pluto, said to the clerk. The clerk, a short, balding man with thick glasses, said, "That’s a lacrosse stick." "Uh, what?" Ego asked. "Shouldn’t you have a tennis racket if you’re cosplaying as a Tennis Warrior?" "This is my staff, which I use to open the Gate of Time!," Ego said. "See, it’s even got the big garnet carved to resemble a tennis ball in it." "But it’s a lacrosse stick," the man said. "Obviously, you’re a fake." "..." "Hey, Mitsuki, you’ve got a tennis racket in your bag, right?" he asked another clerk. The woman blinked. "Yes, I was going to play with Lina after we get off work." "Can I see it for a minute?" "Uh, sure," she said, and dug in her bag under her work bench. She passed the racket over to the clerk. "Now, you see, this is a tennis racket." "I know what a tennis racket is! But Pluto has a big staff! So I had to get a staff!" "Well, maybe you should carry a racket and the staff. And chop off the lacrosse net, in order to make it look like you’re not a poorly dressed Lacrosse Warrior Pluto." "There are no Lacrosse Warriors!" Ego bellowed. "Exactly. But now everyone’s going to be confused, and there’s no reason to wear a costume if people can’t tell who you are." He dug in his bag and pulled out a shiny silver helmet. "You see, this is an Ultraman helmet. But it’s not just ANY Ultraman helmet. This is from the second series, as you can see by the trim here, and this decal...you wouldn’t believe how long it took to find this." As he rambled on about his eBay adventures, Ego could feel her brain running out her ears, but every attempt to get back to the robbery failed to penetrate his monologue. Finally, he concluded with, "So I had to cancel that credit card. And then, I went to a convention and found one in the dealer’s room for just 300 yen! I felt like a thief, but I bought it anyway. Now..." He bent over and pulled out a silver jumpsuit. "I hand made this, but getting the right fabric isn’t easy. They say..." "GIVE ME ALL YOUR PORN NOW! AND GOLD AND SILVER AND JEWELS!" Ego bellowed, waving her lacrosse stick about. "Madam, this is a bank, not an adult bookstore, nor a jewelers." "Give me all your valuables!" "You’re not getting my Ultrabrothers figures over my dead body!" the teller announced. "That’s it! I’ve had enough! Now people die!" Ego shouted. Then a squad of cops came in the door. "Drop that lacrosse stick and come out with your hands up!" one of them shouted. "It’s my STAFF! NOT a LACROSSE STICK!" "I played college lacrosse for four years! I think I know a lacrosse stick when I see one," the cop replied. "I’LL SHOW YOU!" She waved her staff in a line towards the cops. A wave of violet energy erupted towards the cops. "dead scream." Another violet wave erupted from one side, shattering and dispersing the attack. Tennis Warrior Pluto stood revealed. "See, now that’s a proper staff," the bald teller said. "Note that it’s got the orb inset into a big red metal heart. Not a lacrosse net." "Ahah! We have you now!" Ego said. "Horny, jump her!" Nothing happened. Ego boggled. When had Horny ever missed a chance to glomp another woman? "HORNY, JUMP HER!" Nothing happened. "Dammit, Horny, stop kidding around!" "Let’s take it outside," Pluto said to Ego. "Horny, when I find you, I’m going to punish you by not spanking you at all for a week, no matter how much you beg!" Ego shouted. Pluto said, "Come on, Ego. You can play your sex games with Horny later." "I’ll deal with you later!" Ego said, pointing at Pluto with her lacrosse stick. "Once I find Horny and punish her by not punishing her." "I can’t let you..." Ego vanished in a spray of light. I wonder where Horny is, Pluto wondered. Though I suppose I probably don’t want to know. *************** Haruka revved the motor of her cycle. Looking back, the purple haired kid was still close on her tail, even running on foot. Just great, she thought. I’m being chased by the six million dollar underaged lesbian. "Slow down! I can’t fondle you like this!" Horny shouted. "Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I have no taste or that I’m desperate!" Haruka shouted. "GO AWAY!" I’ll never get to the bank at this rate. *************** "So you’re going to the beach this weekend?" Natsume said to Arimi. Arimi nodded. "Yes, the whole team is going. So if you can keep Setsuna from trying to sneak after us, we’d appreciate it." Natsume put her hand over her heart. "I won’t tell a soul," she said. "Where are you going to?" "Meiko’s beach house. We’ll do some training and some homework and some swimming," Ginta said. "Right," Natsume said. "Well, Setsuna will be disappointed, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone." "Okay," Ginta said. "Thanks for helping." "No problem," Natsume said. "If you sneak out my window, Setsuna’s less likely to know you were here." "Good idea," Ginta said. "Best to avoid trouble." "See you later, Natsume-san," Arimi said. "Bye!" ************ "You’re going to the beach?" Jin asked. "And you didn’t invite us?" Rumi asked. Chiyako pouted. "You’re mean." Yuu said, "We didn’t want you all embarrassing us." "Well, now we’ll just have to sneak along after you," Rumi said. "And show you what embarrassment really is." Miki laughed. "You wouldn’t really do that." Yuu shook his head. "Of course they would." Miki sighed. Yuu was right, they would. *************** Miki lay on her back, staring up at the night sky from her back yard. Luna sprawled across her stomach, asleep. Then Yuu loomed over her. "Going to sleep in the grass tonight?" "I just wanted to look at the stars," she said. He nodded and sat down beside her. "Alright." They stared at the stars for a while, until Yuu pointed out a constellation. "There I am." Miki laughed and pointed at the moon. "And there I am." "I wonder why I get an entire constellation, and the others don’t," Yuu pondered. "Well, you would have been around before the Greeks even named that constellation, I think," Miki said. "And if I remember correctly, Artemis, the moon goddess, and Orion were lovers." She blushed slightly, then said softly, "Do you think...I mean, I was wondering if..." "If...?" "Seeing Ginta and Arimi getting together like Mars and Vulcan did, way back then...do you think all the couples will get back together?" "Well, Meiko seems pretty determined to not get together with Miwa, like she was back then." "So you think Miwa is Endymion?" "Well, Mercury’s computer seems to have been correct about everyone else. And the various couples would seem to make a lot of sense," Yuu said. "Ginta and Arimi. Makoto and Nanami. Namura-sensei and Momoi-sensei. And so on." "That would make us a couple," Miki said softly. For just a moment, Yuu’s calm look slipped, and instead he looked utterly surprised and panicked. Then he said, "We’d have to avoid trips to Hawaii with Ginta and Arimi, then." His usual look returned. "I am not like my crazy parents!" Miki replied. "Neither am I," Yuu said. "I think your parents would cheer you two on," Luna said, without opening her eyes. Miki blushed. "I think they would." Jin said from the porch, "You think we would what?" "And who was that other person we heard you talking to?" Rumi asked. "Just practicing my ventriloquism," Miki said. "It was just a passing ghost," Yuu said. "Oh. So we aren’t catching you two making out in the grass?" Rumi asked. Yuu and Miki sprang to their feet and away from each other. Luna went flying and yowled loudly. "No!" Miki said. "I’d rather die!" Yuu said, "She was busy with Luna when I got here." "Yuu!!!!!" Jin said to Miki, "I won’t be going to work tomorrow, so I came to ask you if you wanted to skip school with me and go around Tokyo together." Miki’s eyes widened. "You aren’t going to work tomorrow?" "Our bank is closed while they install new security devices." "..." "We decided we’d all skip work together and go round to some museums and things," Rumi said. "So you two ought to join us." "That’s...that’s irresponsible!" "Oh, we’re all going to use a vacation day, so it’s perfectly honest," Rumi said. "Students don’t get vacation days!" Miki protested. "Well, they should. I’ll just call and tell them you’re sick and write you a sick note tomorrow," Rumi said. "I’ll need one too," Yuu said. "Oh man, I just lost 500 yen! I should have listened to Youji instead of Chiyako," Jin said. Yuu blinked. "What?" "Lost that bet fair and square," Rumi said. "Pay up." He grumblingly passed five hundred yen to Rumi. "We had a bet on whether or not Yuu would come." "..." "I am not a race horse," Yuu said. "Nope. I always lose on horses," Rumi replied. "..." "Alright. Dinner is ready, so come on in," Rumi said. "Did you cook it or did Mother cook it?" Yuu asked. "Chiyako-chan cooked it," Rumi replied. "Alright, I’ll eat it then," Yuu replied. Rumi stuck out her tongue at Yuu, then laughed and went inside. Jin looked over his shoulder at her, then once she was inside, he said, "We all want to live, you know." The door opened and a sofa cushion struck him in the head. "I heard that." *************** "You want me to what?" Britannia asked. "You may need to fight me. Unless I directly command you during the operation, don’t break cover, even if it looks like I’m losing. Fight me if you have to," Zwei-ite said. "And keep an eye out for Ego and Horny. I expect they’ll try to muscle in." "Perhaps it would be safer if you didn’t carry the rings with you to the operation." "I can’t afford to risk the hiding place being found out. They’re safest on me." She frowned. "As you command, sir." *************** Miki got dragged out of bed by her father, much to her surprise. Jin said, "Get up, sleepyhead. We have to go play a game of tennis before everyone else is ready to hit the town." "You want to play tennis with me, Daddy?" Miki asked in surprise. "I want to see how good you are, since I hardly ever get to see you play," he replied. "Yuu thinks I’m going to get stomped, but I wasn’t a college tennis player for nothing." "Oh wow, I’d have thought he’d say I was going to lose," Miki said, getting up. "That was nice of him." "He probably would have, if you were listening, but he couldn’t tease you if you weren’t there. Anyway, get dressed, I’ll be in the living room." "Okay!" *************** Miki’s father turned out to be a lot better than she’d thought. He almost won their first game. During their second game, they started to attract an audience as kids on their way to school noticed them playing and began gathering around. Miki was so busy worrying about someone from her school spotting them and blowing her cover, that she messed up and let her father score on her twice in a row. Finally, she pulled herself together, and began hammering him with everything she had. He stared in surprise as she scored on him over and over. When the game was over, he said, "You are getting pretty good." "You’re pretty good too, daddy," she told him. "Well, shall we go for best three out of five?" "Okay." Exerting himself hugely, he managed to win the third game, but then she crushed him in the fourth. By this time, the kids had moved on to school, and he needed to sit down and rest. Miki sat down next to him, saying, "It’s been a while since we’ve really gotten to do anything together, daddy." "Well, work keeps me busy, and half the time when all of us are going to do something, you decide we’re an embarrassment and won’t come." Miki sighed, staring at the ground. "You do know what you did is pretty weird, right?" "What does that matter if it makes us happy? Who cares what other people think?" Jin asked. "I mean, I wouldn’t wear underwear on my head to work, because it would hurt the company, so I’m not saying you’d always want to ignore what other people think, but this isn’t work. It’s our life at home, and no one is going to tell me how to live my life outside work but me." "Doesn’t anything you do embarrass you, Daddy?" Miki asked softly. "Nope. Because I don’t do things which embarrass me. And if they embarrass other people, well, that’s not my responsibility," he replied. "But they embarrass me sometimes." "Do you not like Chiyako and Youji?" Jin asked. "I do like them. I just...this is just a very weird thing to do." "Why?" "Because...because people don’t do things like this," Miki said. "Why not?" "Because...it just...it just isn’t done." "That’s no reason not to do something. It’s all perfectly legal, and it doesn’t hurt anyone, and it makes us all happier, so why does it matter if it’s not common?" Jin asked. "People will think we’re freaks." "Oh, I’m used to that. And all your friends don’t seem to think it’s freaky at all." "Most of my friends don’t really know. Just a few." "Meiko likes it." "Compared to her old home, anything would be an improvement," Miki said, sighing. "I don’t want to make you unhappy, Miki, but this isn’t going to change." "I know," she said, sighing. "Well, I think we have time for one more game before we need to go back and take a shower, Miki. You ready." She nodded. "I’m ready." "Then let’s go!" Jin once again got stomped. *************** Youji shook his head. "Your best suit, Yuu." "Why do I need to wear my best suit?" Yuu asked. "You’re going to have to all pass as adults with us, so we don’t end up having another twenty block chase with the truant officer again." Yuu winced at the memory. "Alright, alright, I’ll dress up." ************** "It’s a hat." "A cow." "A field of flowers." "It’s Tokugawa." Everyone turned and stared at Youji, who said, "If I keep guessing that, sooner or later, I’ll be right." Meiko, Miki, Yuu, and the parents were at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, studying a large painting none of them had ever seen before, which was titled ‘Experiment #7’. "I think it symbolizes the heavenly aspirations of the artist," Meiko said. "You can see the two red strokes rising upwards like two stretched out arms, while the top glows brightly and the bottom of the painting is murky and dark." "I think the artist randomly flung paint at the canvas," Yuu said. "Yuu, that’s not a very nice thing to say," Chiyako said. "Actually, that’s exactly what the little plaque here says," Miki pointed out. "Hmm, I think this calls for an experiment, Jin-san," Youji said to Jin. "I think you’re absolutely correct," Jin replied. "You’d better not be thinking about how the living room needs to be repainted," Rumi said. "Oh, we couldn’t sell the living room," Jin replied. "Then go right ahead," Rumi replied. "Excellent." Miki had a very bad feeling. **************** Ego carefully hammered the metal into shape. "Hmm, yes, now my staff won’t be mistaken for a lacrosse stick," she said. "Oooh, are you making us a new toy?" Horny asked. "Shut up," Ego said irritably. "We would have had Pluto if you hadn’t decided to go chasing biker sluts." "But she wasn’t slutty at all! She ran away from me! WAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" Horny began to cry. "Get a grip. We’ll never catch Pluto if you get distracted." "I’m not the one who got delayed by the teller until the cops showed up." "I’m not the one who was supposed to make sure the cops didn’t!" Ego replied, then set the gem in place. "I won’t punish you for a month if you screw up next time." Horny’s eyes widened. "But...but..." "So, do you promise to not mess up again?" "Yes!" "Good, good," Ego said. "Now, are you ready for the other half of our plan?" "I’m out of chocolate sauce. But I can run to the store!" Horny said. Ego sighed. "Not THAT plan." "Oh, right. But how do I find her?" "Try an internet search." "Hmm, okay." *************** Jeff Antle stared at the email. Why do I always get weird spam in Japanese? He punched the delete key and sent it off to die an electronic death. He shrugged. Back to work; things were always hopping at the Mercury News, and either you kept hopping or the editor hopped all over you. *************** "Uh oh," Jin said as they came out of the museum. Few things in the world could fill Miki with more terror than her father saying ‘uh oh’. This was generally a sign that the apocalypse was about to break out. Rumi glanced around. "What’s the...oh. Plan B!" The four adults suddenly moved into a box around the three teenagers, trying to obstruct any view of them. Chiyako opened her purse and extracted three pairs of glasses. "Put these on. They’ll make you look older." Meiko giggled slightly and put a pair on. Yuu took his and muttered something about Superman. Miki said, "But we don’t need glasses, so won’t they mess up our vision?" "It’s just normal glass," Meiko said. "Oh, okay." She put the glasses on. They all did their best to walk casually down the street. Rumi whispered as they rounded a corner, "He’s following us." "Maybe we should split up," Chiyako suggested. "But who would take Meiko with them?" Rumi asked. "We could go to a clothing store, then trick him into going into the women’s dressing area, so he gets beaten up while we run," Jin suggested. "We could try to lose him at the subway station," Meiko suggested. Miki’s eyes widened a bit. "Meiko..." She smiled. "In for a inch, in for a mile, Miki." "Well..." Yuu glanced back at the truant officer. Very loudly, he said, "So, Koishikawa-san, do you think the loan will go through without any trouble?", then looked pointedly at Jin. "Ahh, Fuji-san, I believe we should approve the loan, and soon your company will be able to buy a plant to begin producing this new cosmetic." He looked over at Miki. "Dr. Miki, Dr. Chiyako, we’re counting on your new product to make a good profit so you can repay your loan." "My advertising campaign will sell millions of units," Meiko said. "We’re already lined up Sakuma Suzu to act as our cover girl. Assuming we can keep her from deciding the cosmetic is cute and carrying off the entire stock herself." Rumi began scribbling notes onto a notepad as they walked along and talked, and periodically glanced back to see if they were still being followed. "We still need a good name," Miki said. "Something like...Breath of Spring?" "Passionate Summer Embrace," Chiyako said. "Fragile Illusion," Yuu said. "We’ll put a haiku on every bottle." "Hmm, hiring a professional poet could cost money," Youji said. "Which would hurt our profitability." "Fortunately, I have a master’s degree in literature as well as my advertising degree," Meiko said. "So I will write the poetry myself." She had to strain not to giggle. "Ahh, very good," Jin said. "Although there’s a lot of starving poets you might try as well." Rumi glanced back. "He’s gone," she whispered. "Hah!" Jin and Youji high-fived. "We win again." "Now, wasn’t that fun, Dr. Miki?" Rumi asked, ruffling Miki’s hair. She giggled. "Yeah." "Hmm, science museum or history museum next?" Chiyako asked, consulting a map. "I’d like to see the Imperial Gardens," Miki said. "We haven’t been in years." "Alright, let’s go there next." *************** Nanami sat at one of the tables out in the school yard with Makoto. "Don’t look now, Makoto-chan, but there’s a tall woman with long white hair watching us." He looked around. "Where?" "What part of ‘don’t look now’ was hard to understand?" Nanami asked irritably. "I don’t see her anywhere," Makoto said. "That’s because she vanished as soon as you started looking!" Nanami frowned. "I’ve seen her spying on us before." "She could be one of Beryl’s spies," Makoto said softly. "That’s what I’m afraid of," Nanami said. "So how much longer are you grounded?" "Mom relented and ungrounded me yesterday." "Two more weeks for me. But...they’re going out of town this weekend, so if I play my cards right, I can go with everyone and not get in trouble," Nanami said. "And the last time playing a scam on your parents worked was...?" "Hrmph. Have some confidence in me, Makoto-chan." "I do have confidence. I’m confident you’ll get in trouble." Nanami sank down into her chair and sighed. "Makoto- chan, don’t you trust me?" "You’re my best friend," he said. "I trust you to do the right thing. But I don’t trust your clever plans." She sighed. "Well, do you have a better idea?" "No." "Then we don’t have much of a choice. I can’t sit back while everyone else goes into danger, just because I’m grounded." "I know," he said. "It’s one of your good features." She blushed slightly. "Thank you, Makoto-chan." "And these great lunches you make are another one," he said, finishing off his. "Thanks," she said. "Ne, Makoto-chan..." "Hmm?" He looked up at her curiously. "I’ve just been sort of thinking about stuff." He scratched his head. "What stuff?" "Well, I mean, umm..." Nanami blushed. "Have you ever, I mean..." "If it’s embarrassing, we don’t have to talk about it," Makoto said. "I just...I mean..." She began to laugh nervously. "Do you remember anything from the White Gold Millenium?" "Little bits. I remember going to a beach on Mercury with you. With Tennis Warrior Mercury you. And it was so hot, I thought I was going to die." He stared off across the school grounds. "And I remember this time we all went skiing together, and you tripped, and both of us and Jupiter and Endymion all all got caught in a big rolling snowball that fell all the way down the mountain." "But nothing about..." she said hesitantly. "I don’t think Zwei-ite was around at all during the Dark Kingdom," Makoto replied. "Or if he was, I never heard of him." "He must be a drama or literature teacher," Nanami said. "The way he rambles on about laws of drama." Not what I was trying to ask, she thought. But I guess I can’t pull myself together enough to actually ASK him. She sighed. "Hmm, good idea," Makoto said. "Doesn’t Namura-sensei teach something like that? Maybe he can figure out how we can use the laws of drama against Zwei-ite." "Good idea. I’d ask my computer, but it would probably give us sarcasm instead of an answer." "Too bad we can’t reprogram it to be less obnoxious." Nanami sighed. "I know. I wish. I REALLY wish." *************** Ryoko pulled up to Arimi’s house. Arimi sprinted out of the house, clutching her suitcase. She leaped in the door. "Go! Go!" she shouted. Ryoko peeled out. "What’s wrong?" Rokutanda now emerged from the house. "Arimi-chan! Come back! Come back!" "That was close," Arimi said, relaxing. She looked around. "Where are the guys?" "They’re riding with Na-chan," Miki replied. "That’s too bad," Arimi said. "Oh, we’ll see enough of the guys when we get to the beach," Ryoko said. "Going to show off your bathing suit for Na-chan, hmm?" Miki asked Ryoko. Ryoko blushed. "Well, I, umm..." "I’m sure Ryoko-sensei doesn’t obsess over boys all the time like you, Miki," Meiko said sharply. "I hope you all remembered to bring your homework," Ryoko said, quickly changing the subject. "So you can make sure it gets done." "So what are we doing first when we get there?" Meiko asked. "We hadn’t set a fixed schedule," Ryoko said. "As we don’t know when exactly Zwei-ite will be showing up." "Well, it’ll be too late for swimming when we get there, really," Meiko said. "So probably finishing off our homework tonight and doing training would be better. If we’re lucky, Zwei-ite will show up tonight and we can get that out of the way." "Zwei-ite might decide to attack when we’re all asleep," Guenevere pointed out. "We should post watches." "Ugh," Miki said. "I guess you’re right, though." "Guenevere is right," Meiko said. "I’ll work out a watch schedule." She got out her notebook. "Let’s see...eight hours of sleep, so we could do four teams of two, each up for two hours. Miki and Yuu. Ginta and Arimi. Na-chan and... Hmm, we really have a lot of people." "Maybe teams of three?" Nanami suggested. "Okay, let’s see. Miki, Yuu, and Guenevere. Ginta, Arimi, and Na-chan. Ryoko-sensei, Nanami, and Makoto. Suu... No, now we’re out of people." "Don’t forget Luna and Artemis," Miki said. "I want to have someone cute like Yuu on my team," Suzu said. Meiko scratched away at her notebook again. "Hmm, okay, let’s put Miki, Yuu, and Luna on first watch. Then Ginta, Arimi, and Na-chan on second. Ryoko-sensei, Nanami, and Makoto on third. And we get Suzu, Guenevere, and Artemis on fourth watch." "Good luck getting Artemis to wake up and stand watch," Luna said. "And we can’t even be sure that Zwei-ite will show up," Guenevere said. "I just hope our powers work okay out there." Miki blinked. "Why wouldn’t they?" "Umm, I don’t know. Just being paranoid." "Well, we can try transforming and find out," Miki said. "Once we get there." "Good idea," Ryoko said. The rest of their drive was uneventful. *************** "The laws of drama?" Namura-sensei asked. "I’m afraid they forgot to teach me the secret laws of that in college." He laughed. "There are certainly a lot of dramatic cliches, but they can’t really control the behavior of real people. If this was some anime, you’d probably all be getting ready to try to steal the girls’ panties while we’re there, but real people don’t always act like fictional ones." Makoto said, "Then why does Zwei-ite believe in them?" "There are people who believe the Earth is actually flat too. He’s probably delusional," Namura replied. "But just to take an example. Rokutanda-san and Arimi-san. If this was a fictional work, the laws of drama would dictate that the two people who fight the most and act like they hate each other would actually be in love the most." "Well, actually, it’s only Arimi who says she hates him," Makoto pointed out. "Yes, but in real life, when people fight, it usually means they really don’t like each other," Namura said. "And sometimes, in stories, that’s true too. But when a man and a woman fight in a story, it’s usually because they love each other." "And when people are reborn, in a fictional story, they always find themselves going back to the people they were with before," Yuu said thoughtfully. "But not in real life?" "I honestly don’t know much about real reincarnation," Namura said. "I didn’t really believe in it before my memories of the past began awakening." "Because we’re not all the same as before," Makoto said. "I’m even cooler now than I was then," Miwa said, grinning. "Because you have a hole in your head to let the hot air out and the cool air in," Yuu replied, smiling slightly. "Do you think...we’ll turn into our old selves...when all the memories come back?" Makoto asked. "I don’t think so," Miwa said. "After all, we aren’t losing our memories of the present. It’s not any different from remembering when you were eight. Remembering that doesn’t turn you into an eight-year-old." "I just...sometimes I wonder if I’m feeling something because of things my old self felt," Makoto said quietly. "I remember kissing Mars sometimes when I’m kissing Arimi," Ginta said softly. Yuu stared uncomfortably out the window. Miwa said, "I will have flashbacks once I manage to kiss Meiko without getting beaten up." Artemis laughed. "Big if." "No one can resist my charms forever," Miwa said. "And if I’m Endymion, then it’s destiny for us." No one could see Namura frown, since he was facing the road instead of back towards the others. "We shouldn’t let the past tell us who to date," Yuu said. "You shouldn’t let it stop you because you’d be repeating yourself either," Ginta said to Yuu. Yuu continued to stare out the window. "Well, most of us don’t seem to be dating our old girlfriends of our past lives." "I...It’s weird," Makoto said. "It’s like...I mean...how should you feel if you’re in love with someone?" "They become the center of your world," Miwa said. "You can’t stop thinking about them. They make you do things you never thought you could." Ginta said, "It’s like being on fire. You want to be with them, and when you’re with them, you feel really excited." "Maybe it starts with passion," Namura said. "But then you just come to this place where most of the time, it doesn’t really excite you. But you’re just comfortable with that person. You want to be with them, not because you can’t keep your hands off them, but because without them, there’s a piece of you missing." "You think it’s going to last forever, and then it’s gone," Yuu said softly. "Love is fickle, it often doesn’t last. And even when it does, things may get in the way of you and your happiness, because some love is forbidden." Everyone simmered uncomfortably in the silence after that. Artemis finally said, "So, what about those Swallows?" The conversation in the men’s car soon turned to sports, making them all a lot more comfortable. *************** "Alright," Meiko said to everyone, once they arrived at her family’s beach house. "I’ve made the following room mate assignments. Namura-sensei and Ryoko-sensei each get their own room, since we have lots of single bed rooms in this house, and I ran out of roommates for them. I’ll be with Miki. Ginta and Yuu will share a room. Miwa will be with Makoto. And finally, Arimi, Nanami, and Guenevere will share a room. Is that okay with everyone?" "Very good," Namura said. Miki smiled. "I’m used to sharing a room with you, Meiko-chan." "What, I don’t get to room with Akizuki-san?" Miwa teased. Meiko fumed. "No, you do NOT." Ginta said, "Umm, why don’t we all get our stuff stashed?" "Good idea," Miki said. "I’ll tell the housekeeper to get dinner started for everyone," Meiko said. "We can do homework for a while, and then once it’s dark and no one can see, you all can practice your powers." "Alright," Namura said. "Let’s all get moving, then." *************** "Akizuki-san really takes charge," Makoto said to Miwa as he put his suitcase down in the room they were given. "She is Princess Serenity reborn, raised to rule. As time passes, I believe more and more of that will come back to her," Miwa said. "When I think about my own life, I can see aspects of Endymion in me. I’ve always been a leader as well." "I guess I sort of expected Namura-sensei and Momoi- sensei to be in charge," Makoto said. "Well, if this was a school trip, they would be, but we have a different..." Miwa tried to find the word. "Well, Tennis Warrior Moon, who is now Miki, led the Tennis Warriors in the past, and Meiko and I were royalty, and...well, it’s all..." Miwa hated not sounding slick. "Different." "Good luck with Akizuki-san. I think she likes someone else." His eyes widened. "I’ve had a suspicion about that, but...who?" "I’m not sure. I just have a feeling." He shrugged. "But I don’t know her very well." "Well, I intend to fight for her." "Good luck." "Thank you." *************** Tennis Warrior Jupiter threw herself at Mars’ feet, knocking her down, then grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her. "Got you, Mars." Then she realized what she was doing. "Oh dear, I didn’t hurt you, did I?" Mars said, "Just my pride. And now I think I’ve got sand in my uniform." "Oh wow," Moon said, "You really took Mars down quickly." Then she took a tennis ball to the head from Venus. "Eeep!" She fell down. "You’ve got to focus on your own fight, Moon," Artemis said. Hermes leaped up into a tree. "Beware evil-doers. I..." The branch wobbled. He looked over and saw golfer Vulcan and Orion had both chosen the same branch as him to carry out their perching instincts. The branch shook, then cracked and broke. They all plunged to the ground, landing in a pile. The Masked Golfer looked down on them from another branch. "Are you all alright?" "Deep hurting," Hermes mumbled. Mercury staff-fought with Britannia, who was kicking her ass. "Damn, you’re good," she said. "I was practically born with a spear in my hand," Britannia said. She spun her spear around and whacked Mercury’s hands, disarming her, then knocked her off her feet. "But you learn very quickly." "I don’t feel like I do," Mercury muttered. "Oh, you’ve been picking things up very quickly. Probably old training coming back to you." She offered Mercury a hand up. Mercury took it and got flipped over Britannia’s shoulder. "Don’t drop your guard until the battle is over." "Right," Mercury said, getting up and dusting herself off. Moon hit upon a clever combat tactic; firing a ball into the sand would send Venus diving for cover, trying to avoid getting sand in her clothing, at which point she could nail Venus with a follow up. This enabled her to give Venus quite a pounding. "I give, I give!" Venus said frantically. Moon helped her up. "I didn’t hurt you, did I?" "A little, but I guess sparring is like that," Venus said. "We should probably do some exercises to help everyone gain more control over their powers as well as combat practice," Artemis said. "Hey, are you all practicing for a cosplay?" Rumi asked. Everyone froze like a statue, and slowly, nervously turned to face the four adults clad in bathing suits and towels who had walked down the beach to where they were. "I think they’re supposed to be the Tennis Warriors," Chiyako said. "Shouldn’t you all be back in Tokyo?" Moon asked feebly. "We are the Tennis Warriors," Jupiter said, stepping forward. "Did you all get lost from the resort?" "Yes, we are," Jin said. "Do you know which way we should be going?" Rumi said to Moon, "How did you know we’re from Tokyo?" "You have very distinctive accents," Moon said. "And my magic tells me where people come from." "Oh wow, really?" Rumi asked. "I can also tell you work for a beer company." "Oh wow! You’re right!" "Where do I work?" Jin asked. "A bank." "You wouldn’t happen to know where the Akizuki house is, would you?" Jin then asked. "We were hoping to drop in on our daughters and son and surprise them." Daughters? Moon thought. Oh, they mean Meiko. She smiled a little. Her parents were complete idiots, but they had very big hearts. "I’m afraid my powers don’t extend to geography." "That’s too bad. Oh well, it’s getting late," Chiyako said. "Time for us to go find the resort before it’s too late to make out." Moon and Orion sweatdropped. Youji said, "So this is your secret base?" "Not secret enough," Jupiter said. "It looks like." "Sorry, sorry! Just trying to play a little prank. Have fun doing, umm, whatever you’re doing!" Youji said. And then they left. "My parents are completely insane," Moon mumbled. "I agree," Orion said. "Well, perhaps we’d better post some people to keep an eye out for other people," Jupiter said. "I can try and set my computer to scan for people constantly," Mercury said, sitting down with her computer. "And it’s going to be a good boy because I brought the AOL installation disk to use on it if it doesn’t play nice." [I HATE YOU] >I know. Now, bow down before the one you serve. [YES, MISTRESS] ******************** The training had broken up for the night without Zwei- ite attacking, and so most of the group had gone to bed. Moon, Orion, and Luna were out patrolling the grounds to watch for trouble on the first watch. However, Nanami found herself down on the beach, watching the waves roll in and out, and watching storm clouds slowly advance from across the seas. She could dimly feel the clouds and the ocean, even with her eyes closed. If she really stretched herself, she could feel the tides, and from them, predict the location of the moon. She opened her eyes and looked, and the moon was right where it ought to be, gently tugging the waters of the mighty Pacific. She closed her eyes again, and let her mind touch the sea. It was an incredible feeling. I’m not even transformed, she thought. I could probably feel this even more with my visor and computer and everything. And then two hands gently touched her shoulders. She started. "Who...oh, Makoto-chan." "Hello, Nanami-chan," he replied. "I thought I’d find you here." "Really?" "I couldn’t sleep," he said. "But I just knew you’d be on the beach." "It’s been a while since the last time we went to the beach together," she said softly. "Your family hasn’t been since that crab got stuck to Katsuhiko-kun, right?" "Right," Nanami said, then sighed. "I wonder what Beryl did to him." "I wish we could have saved him," Makoto said. "He was a psycho-freak who betrayed humanity," Nanami said fiercely. "He got what he deserved." "You don’t really think that, do you, Nanami?" Makoto asked. "If I...If I don’t think that, I’d just come apart," Nanami said faintly. "He was always an obnoxious jerk. He just..." She began to shake. "Doesn’t it bother you that he wanted to kill you?" "He just wanted to beat me, I think, not really kill me. I mean, he knew where I lived. Why didn’t he ever attack my house?" Makoto asked. "Because...dammit..." Then Nanami began to cry. Not sure what to do, Makoto continued to stand there with his hands on her shoulders, trying to look comforting. "We don’t know Beryl killed him." Nanami turned and clung to him, and he wrapped his arms around her clumsily. Finally, the flood of tears stopped. "Thank you, Makoto-chan," she said softly. "You don’t...I mean, my brother tried to kill you and everything and...everyone just thinks I only care about money, but..." "What your brother does won’t come between us," Makoto replied. "I..." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Nanami. And I don’t care what other people think about you. I know the real you they can’t see." She froze up at his words, then stared up at him with bleary tear-filled eyes. "You...love me?" she managed to choke out. "Yes," he said softly. "I think so. We...well, it’s just like you’re a part of me, Nanami. I can’t pretend I’m a Prince Charming, but I wouldn’t want to have to live my life without you." She tried to smile, but it was hard to wrench her emotions around, so she settled for embracing him firmly. "I love you too, Makoto-chan," she replied. "I just always knew you were the one." In the distance, the storm clouds rumbled. "We’d better get inside," Makoto said. "Do we have to? Can’t we stay here a little longer? It’ll take at least fifteen minutes to get here," Nanami said, leaning on him. "Well, okay, maybe a few more minutes," he said. "We’re going to beat Zwei-ite, and Beryl, and all of them, won’t we, Makoto-chan?" "I’m no prophet, but I don’t intend to lose," he said. "Me neither," Nanami said. She glanced out at the clouds. "I guess we’d better head inside." "Let’s go," he said, taking her hand. They headed back to the house and went to bed. *************** Ginta had been walking round and round Meiko’s beach house for an hour now, and was starting to become bored out of his mind. The rain had stopped, thankfully, so they only had to step in puddles, and not actually get poured on, though the sky threatened to open up again. Arimi said, "I think I just heard something in the woods." She tried to point without being obvious about pointing. Four dark-clad figures, wearing black bathrobes and black towels around their heads, were creeping towards the house, armed with rolls of toilet paper. Namura stared in stark disbelief. "It’s the Koishikawas and the Matsuuras." "But what are they..." Ginta began, then realized, "They’re going to TP the house." "..." Arimi boggled. "Probably best we chase them off, then," Ginta said. "We should put sheets over our heads and pretend to be ghosts," Arimi said. "They wouldn’t fall for that, would they?" Namura said. "They’re probably drunk, so it shouldn’t be too hard to panic them," Arimi replied. "Worth a shot," Ginta said. They soon got some sheets and came back out. By this time, the parents were hard at work strewing toilet paper everywhere and laughing their heads off. "Woooooo!!!!!!" Ginta shouted as he charged. "I am the ghost who haunts those who waste toilet paper!" Namura announced. "BRAINS!" Arimi shouted. The parents stared in shock for a few seconds, then fled screaming into the woods. Ginta, Arimi, and Namura chased them for a few minutes, then let them go and turned back to the house. As they did so, they heard screaming inside the house. "Dammit!" Ginta shouted, and took off running full tilt, with the others close behind him. ************** Miki would have blissfully slept through Ego and Horny kidnapping Meiko if Horny hadn’t yielded to temptation and tried to feel her up while she slept. Miki woke up with female hands in places where she didn’t want any hands to be. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Her shout could have woken the dead. It woke Meiko just in time for her to realize she was being stuffed into a bag. Miki tried to scramble for her transformation locket, but with Horny all over her, it proved difficult to reach the end table she’d laid it on. While she struggled, Ego tied the bag shut, then reached for the locket herself. However, Luna now woke up, popped her claws, and leaped onto Ego’s face, clawing away wildly. Ego staggered about, then said, "Horny, let’s get out of here!" "But I have to fondle her breasts first!" "Get a grip!" "I’m trying!" While Horny was rambling, it distracted her enough for Miki to reach her locket. "Love Forty, GAME POINT!" Miki’s transformation blasted Horny off her. Horny landed on top of Ego right as Jupiter, Mercury, and Hermes reach the door with Endymion behind them, unable to get by. "You’d better drop Meiko right this minute!" Mercury shouted. Ego tried to say something, but with Luna on her, she couldn’t speak. Instead, she and Horny teleported out with Luna and Meiko. "Meiko! No!!!!!" Moon shouted. "I’ll start trying to scan to find her," Mercury said. "Then we can try and teleport to her." The Gloom Bears which Ego and Horny had smuggled into the house to serve as cannon fodder chose this moment to attack. *************** "Only two of the rings? What about the other two you people have?" Ego demanded of Meiko, who was now chained to a wall, trying desperately to ignore Horny, who was fondling her. "Mars and Venus wear theirs," Meiko said. "We weren’t stupid enough to make it possible for someone to grab them all just by grabbing me." "Oooh, blue panties," Horny announced. "Dammit," Ego said. "This was supposed to net us all of the rings and the princess!" "Weren’t we originally going to wait until Zwei-ite made his move, then let both sides get worn out, then jump in and take the rings from the victors?" Horny asked. "But we had such a good chance to sneak into the house while the guards were distracted..." Ego sighed. "I assumed Zwei-ite sent those fools to act as distractions while he broke..." She looked more closely at the crossed tennis rackets pin which Meiko had on her pajamas. "Hmm, interesting, this is a Dark Kingdom monitoring device." "What?" Meiko asked in disbelief. "That’s just a pin my...that a friend gave me." "Clever, clever Zwei-ite. Of course, this means..." She bent over and put her face near the pin. "Hey, Zwei- ite, I know you’re listening. You’d better come over here and hand over all those pretty little rings you’ve been hoarding, or I’ll give Horny free reign to do whatever she likes with your little underage girlfriend. You’ve got ten minutes." Meiko stared at her in horror. "You...you...you’re disgusting!" "Don’t worry, it’ll be lots and lots of fun," Horny said to Meiko. "I can make Ego-chan squeal for hours." Ego pulled herself up a chair. "And now we see." Meiko’s brain raced. If Zwei-ite made the pin, and Namura gave it to me...no, he can’t be Zwei-ite! He’s not evil! I love him! He can’t be... But if he wasn’t, then Ego was just wrong and talking to a white gold pin, and Horny was going to have her way with Meiko. Meiko didn’t find this line of logic very appealing either. All she could do either way was to wait and see. *************** Zwei-ite was busy cursing himself for a fool. Letting myself get distracted by Miki and Yuu’s parents like that... Ego and Horny had proved a little more subtle than he had expected. He’d hoped they would launch a pre- emptive strike, which he could then exploit to steal the rings. Villains beating each other up was rarely interfered with by the laws of drama, which would have made things easier. He had only a tiny amount of time to think. Mercury’s scan wouldn’t locate Meiko in time to save her from Horny’s ‘tender ministrations’. He could easily slip off and try to save her himself, but doing so without blowing his cover would be very difficult. But he had no choice. He couldn’t let them have Meiko. Once he saved her, he could bring her around to his side. He hoped. If that worked, she could summon the last two rings to herself, just as she could have summoned the five he had, if only she’d known she had the power. Time was running out. It was time to go. He told the others he was going to the bathroom, then teleported straight to Meiko. She was more important than the rings. Horny was busy changing into a bondage outfit when Zwei-ite appeared. Ego was sitting by Meiko in a chair, watching an hourglass run down. He reached to grab Meiko, only to find himself blasted by the chains around her. "Naughty, naughty," Ego said, rising from her chair as he went flying. She brought her magic twaggler around to hold it next to Meiko’s head. "Now, fork over the rings or she dies." "You wouldn’t dare!" "Beryl would like the Princess alive, but dead is almost as good," Ego said. "Now, Namura, or Zwei-ite or Yukon Bob or whatever you really think of yourself as, you’re going to hand over the rings or she dies." Rule #24, the master villain always overestimates his own capabilities, Zwei-ite thought, cursing himself. I should have come up with some way to feed the information to the Tennis Warriors and brought the whole army of them, even if it risked my cover. Although she could still do this even with all of us. "Na-chan...is that really you?" Meiko asked weakly. "I don’t understand..." "I hoped that I could be your Prince, Meiko," he said softly. "That together, we could rule everything. It would have been magnificent. But I think I overestimated my ability to play both sides against the middle." "Enough talk! Give me the rings or she dies!" Zwei-ite walked forward, showing the rings in his right hand, then forming it into a fist. "Horny, take the rings from him," Ego said. Dammit, he thought. I hoped to get close enough to her to try to break the chains. Only one very, very risky way to do it now. He took a small packet of his power and fired it off across the planet towards Mercury’s computer. I should have taken a little more time and collected some minions, he thought. Then he held out his hand towards Horny. Horny reached out with cupped hands. The rings dropped into her hands. And then the wards on them went off, and five explosions flung her across the room into a wall. Zwei-ite teleported desperately; the only way to save Meiko was going to be to put himself in the way of the blast long enough to let off one of his own attacks and knock Ego away from Meiko. He appeared, and Ego unleashed a massive blast into his chest. He never got a chance to fire off a shot himself; instead, he went flying away from Meiko across the floor. Gloom Bears began to pour into the room to attack him, and Ego turned again to Meiko. "You should have listened, Zwei-ite." Meiko struggled desperately against her chains. There had to be some way to get loose. The blast which had flung away Zwei-ite also had damaged the chains on her, and loosened their connection to the wall. She tugged desperately, trying to break free. The magic twaggler glowed a deep violet color, hungrily devouring the light around itself, as Ego built up her power to finish Meiko off. "Meiko! You have to summon the rings to yourself and make them fuse into Serenity’s ring! It’s the only way to save yourself!" Zwei-ite shouted. He elbow smashed Horny, then brought twin nine irons around to clear the Gloom Bears out of his way. "But I...I don’t know how!" she shouted back. "Horny, lend me your power!" Ego said. Horny bounced over to her and glomped onto Ego right as Zwei-ite threw himself between Ego and Meiko. Their combined power was more than he could stand, and even throwing all his own power into defense, he could feel his skin beginning to fry. He couldn’t afford to spare any power to get Meiko loose. "Meiko, just command them to come to you. It is your right...as the princess..." "Na-chan! They’re killing you!" Meiko shouted, starting to cry. "Don’t tell me what I already know!" He could see the Gloom Bears closing in as well. "Do it now, before it’s too late!" Please, rings, come to me, Meiko thought. PLEASE! Before it’s too late! Five rings flew out of Horny’s grasp. Two more leaped out of Ego’s pockets. And two more flew off Mars and Venus’ fingers, right as they, and the rest of the Tennis Warrior Brigade teleported into the room, following the information Zwei-ite had sent to Mercury’s computer. All the light in the room rushed over to the rings, and suffused Meiko in a nimbus of light. The rings circled her right hand, faster and faster, as Zwei-ite screamed in agony. The Gloom Bears turned and attacked the Tennis warriors, who began unloading fire, lighting, and everything else on them. And then all the rings fused into one, which slid itself onto the ring finger of Meiko’s right hand. Silvery white light erupted from it, melting the chains around her to ash. Her mind opened up, and all her forgotten memories surged to the forefront of her mind. For a moment, she lost herself in the rush of it all, as her clothing burned away and reformed into the elaborate white dress which Princess Serenity had worn on her last day alive. It was more than she could stand. She wasn’t ready for so much power at once. Not without any training or practice in this life. It erupted, out of control, washing over Ego and Horny, and Zwei-ite, a raging tide of power. Ego and Horny screamed in pain, then teleported away, leaving the Gloom Bears behind to be squashed flat. Princess Serenity immediately ran the short distance to Zwei-ite, and knealt by him. "Don’t die. Don’t die," she begged. The fact that a lot of his torso had been seared away, however, said this wasn’t very likely. "Rule #29, reformed traitors usually die heroically saving someone shortly after they reform," he mumbled. "I’m sorry to leave you like this, Meiko." "No, you can’t die! You can’t!" The ring on her finger began to glow brightly. She was breathing heavily, and felt very weak, but she was determined to save him. "Meiko, you don’t have enough resistance to using your power yet. You’ll kill yourself in the process," he said, weakly reaching up and taking her hand. "You’ve got to stop Beryl, Meiko. Once you’re ready. Be strong, my love." "I can’t be strong without you," she said, crying. Most of the Tennis Warriors and the Golfing Guardians stood in confusion, not sure of what exactly was going on. Jupiter, however, quickly figured it out. She rushed over. "Shinichi-kun, what is going on? How did you get here?" "I was a fool, and hoped to play off both sides against each other," he said. "I wanted to be the Prince, to rule by her side. But that was not my destiny." "We were going to make our own destiny together," Princess Serenity said, squeezing his hand. "There has to be something I can do to save you!" "I have to pay the price," Namura said softly. "Ryoko-chan, I am sorry, I’m going to end up breaking your heart. I’m stupid again. Please, help take care of Meiko." "Of course I will," Jupiter said. "You can’t die. Who will teach your classes? Who..I mean..." She began to cry. "The principal’s going to be mad at me too," Namura mumbled. "Miki..." Moon ran forward. "Na-chan, please don’t die." "I don’t exactly have a choice, Miki-chan," he said softly. "Please take good care of Meiko. You and Ryoko- chan will have to watch over her. Promise me you will." "I promise," Moon said, crying. "I promise she’ll be just like she was my own sister." "Goodbye, my love," Namura said to Princess Serenity, and then he dissolved away into a cloud of stars that rose up through the ceiling and vanished. "No, no, NO!!!!!!!!" Princess Serenity screamed, and then un-transformed, turning back into Meiko. She crumpled up into a ball, and began to cry. Moon and Jupiter did their best to comfort her, but it was not enough. It was however, all they could do. *************** Guenevere laid on her back and stared at the ceiling, later that night. Now what do I do? Beryl tends to kill off people who fail her, and Ego and Horny will want to kill me because I worked for Zwei-ite. And I can’t tell the Tennis Warriors the truth, can I? Still, if I stick with them, maybe I can avenge Zwei- ite’s death, she thought. And they’ve been good to me so far. Her hands clenched into fists. I told him this was a foolish plan. I told him! But no, he had to screw things up... She began to cry quietly in the darkness, as Arimi slept fitfully nearby. Finally, she cried herself to sleep. *************** Miki was half-asleep when Meiko tugged her arm. "Miki..." she said hesitantly. "Urr, what?" Miki asked. "I...umm...never mind," she said faintly. "What is it?" Miki asked, sitting up. "I don’t want to sleep by myself," Meiko said. "Well, it’s kind of crowded, but you can sleep with me if you want," Miki said. "Or we can pull the beds together." "Thank you, Miki," Meiko said softly. "Please, Miki, don’t ever die on me." "I’ll do my best not to die," Miki said, scooting over in the bed to make room for Meiko. Meiko climbed into the bed and curled up next to Miki. "He never told me, Miki. I thought he loved me, but he never told me what he was really doing." "I don’t think he was entirely sure what he was doing either, Meiko," Miki said softly. "But I think he really did love you. He died for you." "I didn’t want him to die for me, I wanted him to live for me," Meiko said. "I should have risked dying if I could have saved him." "It was too risky. You might have died without succeeding in saving him. I’m surprised he lasted long enough to say goodbye." "I was trying to save him," Meiko said. "But I didn’t know how. But I think I kept him alive just a little longer. This plan was all my idea. This is my fault." "Don’t blame yourself," Miki said. "None of the rest of us saw any flaws either." "We’ll get them, won’t we, Miki?" Meiko asked. "Ego and Horny have to pay for this." "We’ll bring them to justice," Miki assured her. "We will." "I don’t want justice," Meiko mumbled as sleep took her. "I want revenge."