Note:
     This story is a bit odd in that it takes two characters from
different worlds and then thrusts them into worlds created by other
fanfic authors.  In order to keep confusion to a minimum, I am going to
list here all the sources we used to create this little story:

"Together Again" by Chris Davies
     A Crystal Tokyo populated by characters from many different series,
including Bubblegum Crisis, Tenchi Muyou, Ranma1/2, and others.  Sheila
Ten'kai is from this universe, the daughter of Sailors Uranus and
Neptune.  Her parents died soon after she was born fighting a being who
claimed to be Princess Serenity's father.  Sailor Jupiter (whom she
refers to as "Mom" raised her.  Sheila had a relationship with Priss
Asagiri, the Knight Saber, when the latter was roused from cold sleep in
the 30th century, but they broke up acrimoniously.  Sheila is now seeing
Misa von Fogler and they have a very close relationship.  More
information is available on Chris Davies Together Again web page:

http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/banks/277/tog.html

"Slayers"
     Lina Inverse is from this anime series.  She's a mercenary
sorceress and treasure hunter who has a fearsome reputation for her
powerful magic (the word overkill comes to mind.)  In the OVAs, she has
a fellow sorceress who tags along with her named Naga the Serpent.  Naga
doesn't throw around as much power as Lina, but she is much better built
and never lets Lina forget it.  Also, Naga wears very little and has a
laugh that has crumbled empires.  (Literally... in one episode, a wizard
made ten clones of Naga, all of whom had the same laugh.  No one could
stand against them, not even Lina. :)  More information can be gotten
from the following web site:

http://www.mit.edu/~annoyama/Slayers/

"Sailor Moon Z" by John Biles and Jeff Hosmer
     Well, if you don't know what Sailor Moon is, you probably wouldn't
be reading this.  Sailor Moon Z is a complete "season" of SM, replacing
SS and Stars.  In the storyline, the Sailors face the twin threats of
the Zodiac and the resurrected Dark Kingdom.  The series attempts to
deal with all the loose ends of the SM series and takes the characters
in different directions.  There are minor crossovers with "Hime-chan no
Ribbon" and other anime.
     Athena is from Sailor Moon Z.  She first appeared in the prelude
but wasn't named or described until episode #6.  Athena is Sailor
Mercury's past life and is very different from Mizuno Ami.  She is
flirtatious, mischievous, and completely uninhibited.  She is from Mars,
a cousin of Aurora (Sailor Mars's past life and the princess of Mars).
The Vulcan Dynasty controls Mars in the Silver Millennium and is a very
technologically oriented patriarchy.  In episode 10, Athena and the
other past lives of the Sailors were accidentally brought to the
present.  She revealed then that her parents had fought constantly,
ignoring her and her siblings.  Desperate for love, she had turned to
the arms of others... many others.  This causes no end of problems for
Ami. ;)  The stories are available at:

http://www.tass.org/~jhosmer/sm.html

"The Myth Series" by Robert Asprin.
     This is not a fanfic series, but rather a published series
available in bookstores.  It chronicles the adventures of one Skeeve as
he learns Magic from his mentor, the demon (short for dimensional
traveller) Aahz.  The world of the Myth series is actually many worlds,
separate worlds, each with its own levels of magic and technology.
Skeeve is from Klah (which makes him a Klahd.)  Aahz is from Perv (which
makes him a Per-VECT, not a Pervert.  Since he's powerfully built,
covered with green scales, and has lots of teeth, it's best not to argue
with him on this.)  As Skeeve grew in power, he moved to the Bazaar at
Deva (the inhabitants are Deveels).  The dimension of Deva was
devastated by a catastrophe in its ancient past, so it turned to trade
to save it.  If it exists, it can be found for a price at the Bazaar.
However, millennia of natural selection have made the Deveels the
canniest merchants in the entire multiverse.  As the saying goes, " When
you think you've gotten a good deal from a Deveel, check your arms, then
your legs... and then your relatives."

"Made of Stone" by Sean Gaffney
     A self-insertion fanfic that finds Sean Gaffney, fanfic writer,
trapped in Crystal Tokyo.  Needless to say, he doesn't deal too well
with the prospect at first.  Then, to make matters worse, he is present
when Sailor Saturn is reborn into the world and finds himself stopping
Sailors Uranus and Neptune from killing the newborn.  In the end, he
helps Saturn overcome the evil that has possessed her since Sailor Moon
S and he and Saturn get married.  He runs what is quite probably the
only radio station in Crystal Tokyo and spends a lot of time discussing
what he considers the dubious merits of a utopia.  :)  The whole story
can be found at:

http://www.thekeep.org/~sean/index.html

     Other fanfics play a minor role in the story and are listed below:

Mark Doherty's "I'm Here to Help": Sailor Moon as told from the
perspective of an obnoxious jerk who *really* hates Serenity for
inadequately described reasons -- one of the progenitors of the Black
Moon Family.

http://www.tass.org/~mdoherty/index.html

LeVar Bouyer's "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion": Set for the most part in
the author's tremendously realized Crystal Tokyo, and one of the best
"New Senshi" story ever written.

http://www.csunix.lvc.edu/~l_bouyer/orion/

Peter L. Ward's "Exquisite Soldier Lovely Freesia": A
parody/reexamination of the Magical Girls Fighting Team genre, set in
2099 Hyper Tokyo, who also work as a fanfic review team.

Stories and background: http://www.best.com/~falcon/eslf/
Fanfic critiques: http://www.tfs.net/~tbutler/FFC/MGFT.html

David H. Olivier's "Matrose Mond": Sailor Moon in a world where Germany
won and occupies Europe, a la "Fatherland".  The difference is, this
time she's German herself.

http://solo.abac.com/moonromance/o/matmon.htm

Robert Morrison's "Nibun No Senshi": Usagi is critically injured, and
the Silver Crystal falls into the hands of Saotome Ranma, who becomes
Shin Sailor Moon!  (Okay, I'm honest, this is an attempt to boost
readership by including Ranma.)

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/9502/nibun.html

John Biles' "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Mercury": John's as yet unpublished
story of a world where Luna found Sailor Mercury first.  Email him for
any more information at:

ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu



THE CROSSTIME ADVENTURES OF ATHENA AND SHEILA
OR
BUCKAROO TEN'KAI, ACROSS THE MANY DIMENSIONS :)

By
Chris Davies
Jeff Hosmer

With Assistance From:
John Biles
Levar Bouyer
Mark Doherty
Sean Gaffney
Robert Morrison
David Oliver
Peter Ward

Crystal Tokyo
September, 2980

     Sheila was finishing up on the initial stages of a peer review of a
study of a new work of Senshi history, dealing with the career of Sailor
V, when the sprite materialized over her desk.  She blinked and adjusted
her glasses as the little construction of light (which resembled Her
Majesty the Queen) began to speak in a rapid-fire manner. 
"Sheilapleasecometomylaboratoryassoonasyoupossibly--"

     "Whoa!" Sheila interrupted.  "Slow down a mite.  I can't understand
you when you speak that fast."  It was a lie; she could clearly make out
each of the words that the sprite was saying, but she disliked being
spoken to at that rate.

     The sprite let out a huge sigh, bowing its head as it did.  It then
spoke clearly, enunciating each word.  "Sheila, please come to my
laboratory as soon as you possibly can.  Signed, Lina Inverse.  RSVP?"

     "Tell her I'll be there shortly," she assured the sprite.  While
she and the timelost sorceress were hardly intimate, she did respect her
enough to come when requested.  The sprite bowed, and derezzed.

     Sheila pulled off her reading glasses, and dropped them in her
blouse's right pocket.  She checked the window, and decided that a
jacket would be appropriate for today's weather.  Then she strolled out
the door to her office.

     The College of Occult Studies was located a fair distance away from
the rest of the University's buildings, largely for safety's sake. 
Sheila enjoyed the autumn wind as she strolled along the path, and
smiled slightly as she caught the eye of a few people glaring irately at
her -- specifically at her light jacket, in weather that forced them to
wear much more heavy clothing.  Temperature tolerance is a wonderful
thing, she thought cheerfully.

     She stepped into the bounce tube located at the entrance to the
college, and requested Lina's lab.  The tube accelerated her to the very
top floor of the building, and Sheila noticed from the floor directories
posted by each floor that the two floors below that were entirely
unoccupied.

     Knocking on the door to the lab resulted in a cry of "Enter!" 
Sheila did so.

     The floor of the lab had been carefully scrubbed to a pristine
condition, before the circles and shapes had been diagrammed on the
floor, using what Sheila thought were copper and iron filings, and
possibly powdered gemstones.  Lina herself was standing a few feet away,
barefoot but clothed in her usual tight pants, along with a white T-
shirt.  She was sweaty, but happy looking.  Sheila thought she looked
very yummy like that, but the sorceress had made her preferences clear
long before this.

     "Hey, Lina.  What's happening?" Sheila asked.

     "I'm a genius, that's what's happening," Lina said, grinning
maniacally.  "I have FINALLY figured out a way to get back to my own,
proper place in the universe, where magic works the way that it's
SUPPOSED to work, and --"

     "Really?" Sheila asked, trying to forestall one of Lina's rants. 
"That's incredible."

     "Innit though?" Lina said, nodding.  "It's a blending of my own
high sorcery and the ritualized stuff that I've picked up in this
continuum.  The thing is, I've got to have an inhabitant of THIS
universe for the process to work."

     "And you picked me?" Sheila asked, as she started to pull off her
jacket.

     "You're the first person I thought of calling.  Plus, if it doesn't
work, you're tough enough to probably be able to survive the backlash."

     Sheila started to pull her jacket back on.  "Backlash?" she asked
in a remarkably calm tone.

     "Well it's not like I've been able to field test it to get all the
bugs out of it," Lina protested.  "I'm PRETTY sure that nothing will go
wrong, and the worst case scenario is that we both get hit with a lousy
Manabolt, and you've taken that in the past."

     It was true, but it also wasn't something that Sheila cared to
repeat.  Still, Lina was so eager... and now she was making puppy dog
eyes at Sheila.  Damn my hormones, she thought briefly, then nodded. 
"Okay, I'm in."

     "YESSSS!" Lina exulted.

     "I don't suppose the ritual involved is Tantric in nature?" Sheila
quipped.

     "Uh... what's that?" Lina asked, blinking.

     "Never mind," Sheila sighed, pulling off her jacket.  "What do I
have to do?"

     "Just stand in... uh, THAT circle," she pointed.  Sheila went where
she was bidden, being careful to not disturb the carefully traced lines. 
For all the Inverted Wizard's sneering comments about ritual, she had
obviously applied herself very carefully to the steps involved in this
one.

     Lina took her place in the large circle at the center of the
diagram.  "What this should do is... well, it's kind of a reverse
exorcism.  It will banish me and everything in this circle away from the
continuum which you and everything in your circle is native to, back to
my native continuum."

     Sheila nodded.  "Sounds logical.  Start anytime you're ready."

     Lina took a deep breath, and began to speak softly and forcefully,
calling her attention to the forces of the universe and asking, not
demanding, their assistance in this manner.

     The problem with the forces of the universe is that they tend to be
easily annoyed by unexpected requests.

     The first indication that Sheila had that something was going wrong
was when the lines of the diagram began to melt.  She looked at Lina and
realized that her face was taut with strain, sweat poring from her face
even as she chanted.  "Lina, stop the spell, NOW," she barked.  Lina was
beyond hearing, however.

     Sheila started to search for some way to disrupt the process.  In
her right pocket -- ah-HA! -- a pen.  She held it like a dart, with the
blunt end directed at Lina's forehead.  The hardest part of this, she
thought with dark amusement, will be throwing it SLOW enough that it
doesn't penetrate her braincase.  Oh well.

     The pen darted towards Lina's head, just as her eyes blazed open
and she let out a long breath.  "Stopped i--" she said.

     It hit.

     The magical energies that Lina had managed to grasp and hold back
went wild with her loss of consciousness, and the world fell away from
Sheila.  She had the sensation, for a few horrifying moments, of falling
for infinity, and then everything went black.

                                   *****

The Moon Kingdom
c. 23,000 BC

     Athena, Senshi of Mercury, slowly opened her eyes and greeted a new
day.  She stretched and then smiled as her hands met two warm bodies on
either side of her.  Somehow she and Innana had gotten between Kunzite
and Zoisite.  Not that she minded.  She knew the soft feel of a woman's
skin just as well as the hard muscles of a male.  Very hard, she thought
with a grin that would have made Zoisite tremble had he seen it.

     She considered waking them in her best fashion, but nature was
making its usual demands, so she decided to take care of it first.  She
slowly wriggled her way out from between the tangled mess of bodies,
pausing only briefly to run her hands over this or that part of
someone's anatomy.  Finally, she got out and took care of her business.

     She was just about to get back into the bed when there was a faint
knock at the door.  She sighed and went to answer it.

     The pageboy outside nearly jumped out of his skin as she opened the
door.  Athena's eyes twinkled as the poor boy tried to keep his eyes
level with her face and not look at the rest of her unclothed body.

     "Yeeeees?" she asked, drawing the word out slowly.

     "Um, the Elder Mercury wishes to, er, see you... in her lab!" he
blurted out, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

     "Oh, bother," Athena said.  "I was just getting up."  She yawned
and stretched shamelessly.  Before the page could respond, she leaned
close to him, holding his frightened eyes with her own.  "Do thou go and
tell her that I wilt be along shortly," she said.

     The pageboy turned and ran off, but not fast enough to avoid a swat
on the rear by an amused Athena.  "Certes, yon boy hath potential, once
he gaineth some seasoning," she said.

     "Teasing the help again, dear?" came an amused voice from behind
her.  Zoisite wrapped his hands around her waist and leaned down to kiss
and nibble on her neck.

     "Ooooh," Athena murmured.  "Tis just mine Elder, who wishest to see
me."  She turned in Zoisite's grasp and began to kiss his chest.

     "Shouldn't you be going, then?" he asked, his breathing growing
more ragged.

     "In a moment," she answered, pushing him back in the room and
kicking the door closed behind her.

     Half an hour later, Athena knocked on the door to her mentor's lab,
garbed in the uniform of Senshi Mercury.  She had learned from long
experience that it was better to be safe than sorry where the Elder
Mercury was concerned.

     "Enter!" came from within the lab and the doors opened magically. 
The room was filled with the tools of magic and gadgets of science.
Something was always bubbling, glowing, burning, or emitting noxious
fumes, though the room's mistress never seemed to mind.

     The Elder Mercury was a short, beautiful woman with long fiery red
hair and a slightly distracted look about her.  Athena paused to study
her mentor, whose slim, boyish figure was quite attractive, though her
tastes did not run the same way as Athena's, or at least not as far. 
There was a touch of the exotic in the Elder Mercury's looks as well,
for her eyes were almond-shaped and her ears slightly pointed, the signs
of a touch of fae blood.

     "Ah, Athena," Elder Mercury said.  "Good, good.  I need your help
with a small experiment."

     Athena sighed.  "I was involved in an experiment of mine own making
just now," she said.  "Twas rudely interrupted by thy summons."

     "Oh?  What was it about?"

     "The conjunction of heavenly bodies."

     "Any results?"

     "Well, the earth moved," Athena said with a sly grin that
disappeared as her innuendo flew right over her teacher's head.  "I
think it doth require more intensive study," she said.

     "Well, it's good to see you keeping up with your studies," Elder
Mercury said as she puttered around her lab.

     "What doth ye require of me?" Athena finally asked.

     "Oh, it's most exciting," Elder Mercury said.  "My instruments have
detected a most interesting phenomenon.  It seems to be something -- or
someone -- traveling through the very fabric of space and time."

     "From Beyond the Great Shield?" Athena asked, startled.

     "No, no.  There is no Dark Power associated with it," Elder Mercury
said dismissively, then she added, "I think."

     That was reassuring, Athena thought.  "Mine question doth remain,
good teacher," she said.  "What doth ye require of me?"

     "We," Elder Mercury said, "are going to capture this thing for
study."

     Athena blinked.  "That doth seem more dangerous than prudence
should dictate.  E'en if the means was present--"

     "Oh, tish tosh, we have the means right here," Elder Mercury said,
tossing something at Athena.  It was small, faceted, and glowed with a
silver light.

     The younger Mercury nearly dropped it.  "Thou STOLE the--"

     "Shhhhhh!  Not so loud!" Elder Mercury hissed.  "I did NOT steal
the Empyrean Silver Crystal.  I borrowed it for study.  The Queen has
let me study it before."

     "Methinks that those permissions were not unlimited in their scope
nor encompassing this purpose," Athena muttered.  However, her mentor
was notoriously single-minded when it came to her projects and she knew
the Elder Mercury hadn't even considered that Queen Serenity might
object.

     "What was that, Athena?" Elder Mercury said.

     "Nothing, teacher," Athena said, carefully putting the Silver
Crystal down on a nearby table.

     "No, no, keep a hold of that.  We'll need it."

     Athena began to feel a tingling in her hands from holding the
Crystal, like electric sand ants were crawling under her skin.

     "What doth ye propose?" Athena asked, her accent deepening as the
tingle got worse.

     "When my devices detect this traveler's 'closest' approach, you
will project your will into the Crystal and pull it into our world, into
that binding circle," Elder Mercury said, pointing at the only clear
section of the lab.  A pentagram in a circle was inscribed in the floor,
inlaid with precious gems and metals.

     The tingling was now moving up her arms and Athena twitched in a
vain attempt to relieve it.  "Surely your greater power would better
meet this task," she began.

     "No, no!  I need to watch my instruments.  Don't worry, this slight
exposure to the Silver Crystal won't hurt you at all."

     Athena opened her mouth to complain about the tingling when one of
the crystals on the table before Elder Mercury began to chime.

     "It's time!" Elder Mercury said, grabbing several other crystals
and wands of certain rare woods.  "Hurry!  Project your will into the
Crystal and bring it to us!"

     Athena had no intention of doing any such thing, but the Crystal
had other ideas.  It began to strobe brilliantly, filling the room with
its silver light.  The tingling covered her whole body and as she raised
her hand before her eyes, it seemed to have a silver sheen.  Dimly, she
heard Elder Mercury shouting something but then everything vanished into
whiteness.

     When her eyesight returned, Elder Mercury could only gape in
surprise at the spot where her student had stood.  She was gone and the
Silver Crystal with her.  That thought was only beginning to sink into
her stunned brain when she felt a presence behind her.  Turning, she
found herself facing the enigmatic Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto.

     "It has begun," the green-haired woman said with a satisfied nod. 
She then vanished with a wave of her Time Staff leaving the Elder
Mercury with many questions, no answers, and a LOT of explaining to do.

                                   *****

The Bazaar, Deva
Yeah, I got the time.  What's it worth to yez?

     The first thing that Sheila noticed, as she regained consciousness,
was just how much her head hurt.  It was worse than the first time she'd
been drawn out of coldsleep, worse than the hangover she'd had after the
party her mother had thrown when Sheila had gotten her Master's, and
almost as bad as she'd felt after sobbing herself to sleep the night
after...

     She shook her head, deciding not to think about it.  It was getting
better.  That was when she noticed the smell, and let out a disgusted
gag.  Sweet Goddess, she thought, have I landed in some sort of
landfill?  She pushed herself up from her prone position, and looked
around, cautiously.  She was in some sort of an "alley" that formed
between two canvas walls -- tents.

     There was a substantial collection of trash dumped unceremoniously
in the alley.  Sheila muttered a particularly foul oath that she'd
picked up from her mother.  In Crystal Tokyo recycling wasn't just a
good idea it was a necessity.  The six hundred years of the Dark Ages
had slowed, but never STOPPED humanity's exploitation of the planet's
resources.  The majority of Earth's people that had agreed to the
Unification had done so as much out of desperation for resources as out
of gratitude for Serenity's expulsion of the daemon-spawn that had
plagued them.  As the thirtieth century approached its close, things
were no longer that bad... but Sheila never stopped being appalled by
the WASTE that earlier eras had tolerated.

     Lina was nowhere to be seen in the alley.  Sheila quickly came to
her feet, and started to head towards the street she could see beyond
the alley's exit, when the groan finally reached her ears.

     She whirled, and saw a pair of blue-booted legs sticking out of one
of the larger piles of trash a few meters away.  Suddenly the trash
shifted, and the woman to whom the legs were attached rolled into a
seated position, with an irate expression on her face.  "Thanks ever so
much, oh my Elder," she muttered, "for granting me such a central role
in thy plan."

     Sheila gaped for a moment.  The short-cropped blue hair and
slightly rounded face were unmistakable, even if her uniform hadn't
been.  "Aunt Amy?" she gasped.  "What are you doing here?"

     Athena, in her turn, twisted to look at the one who was addressing
her.  She could not say that she had ever seen her before, and regretted
it immensely.  The unruly mass of red curls on top of the woman's head
contrasted with the tight, long braid of hair that was currently draped
in front of her shoulder in a MOST appealing manner.  Following that
braid drew Athena's attention to her... ahem, "talent," to use a rather
annoying Jovian euphemism that had enjoyed great popularity when Jupiter
had first used it not long after her arrival at the Moon Kingdom.

     She was dressed in extremely odd attire, however -- an open, oddly
HEAVY doublet, blue in shade, over a tight red blouse.  Her hosiery was
white in color, and hugged the lengths of her legs tightly down to just
above her ankles.  Her footwear resembled the sandals that Venus wore,
save for the fact that they were black-hued.

     Athena was oddly bothered by the fact that the woman was staring at
her as though she knew her.  "Do I know you, madam?" she said in a
haughty manner, imitating her cousin Aurora momentarily, to give herself
time to think, to consider whether she HAD met this woman before.  She
started with her first governess, whom she'd seduced on her thirteenth
birthday, and considered each of her dalliances with other women.  The
problem was that they tended to blur together...

     Sheila blinked.  Oh, CRAP.  What if this is Amy from further back
along the timeline, from before I was born?  She didn't know that the
Senshi had ever gone dimensional traveling, but she didn't know that
they hadn't, either.  Even her mother tended to brush off her requests
for information about their cases after the destruction of the Dark
Kingdom.  "Oh, excuse me.  I... you look a bit like a relative of mine,
and I got confused.  Are you all right?"

     Athena nodded.  "I confess that I am a bit... out of sorts in the
wake of... whatever has just occurred.  But I am rude to thee.  I am
Mercury, Senshi of the Moon Kingdom.  And you?"  Something about her
features DID resonate within her mind, but Athena was fairly certain
that she bore no resemblance to any of the complicated branches of the
Martian nobility.

     Sheila quietly prayed that nothing of the shock that she felt
showed on her face.  Goddess and Thy Daughter, the SILVER MILLENIUM!
Sheila had always accepted her mother's and her aunts' accounts of the
prehistoric civilization that had been the origin of their powers.  She
knew full well about the archaeological discoveries that had confirmed
that human civilization was far older than had been commonly accepted in
the century before her birth.  But to actually be talking to --

     Wait a minute.

     "Um, atashi wa Ten'kai Shaala desu.  Hajimemashite," Sheila
answered in her rusty mother language.

     "Douzo yoroshiku," Athena replied, smiling.  Shaala?  That name
DOES sound familiar, for some reason.  Wait, wasn't that the name of a
Senshi of Mars from a few hundred years ago?  Oooh, I almost wish that
I'd paid more attention to that section of my history class instead of
trying to get into the instructor's toga.  Almost.

     HOW?  How can someone from ten thousand years before the common era
speak the Japanese that was being spoken in the twentieth century?
Sheila wondered, almost on the verge of panic.  Wait... maybe the Senshi
of the Silver Millennium had telelinguistic capability.  It might be
necessary for them to do their duties.  "Would you like a hand getting
up?"

     What an opening, Athena marveled.  "Thank you, yes."  She extended
up a hand, and prepared herself to manipulate the balance between them
in such a way as to catapult herself into a close embrace with the
slightly taller woman.

     Unfortunately, Athena seriously underestimated Sheila's strength. 
For a second, she was slightly awed by the amount of power and restraint
that she felt in Sheila's hand gripping her own... and then her slight
push threw them both off.  Sheila went stumbling back onto the ground,
with Athena lying on top of her, with her head in between Sheila's
breasts.

     Sheila's last thought before she passed out was quite simple.  Oh
Goddess, I think she tried to cop a feel on me.  Ryouko's gonna kill me.

     Athena let out an annoyed snort as she watched Sheila's eyes slam
shut.  "Thou," she said, "hast no tolerance for pain whatsoever, hast
thou?  Foo.  That rules out any number of games..."

     It was at that point that the part of Athena's mind that HAD
accepted and taken to heart the Elder Sailor Mercury's teachings grabbed
hold of the parts which were entirely given to avoiding loneliness by
the pursuit of carnal pleasure, and shook them violently with a
reminder.

     "The Silver Crystal!" Athena hissed, terrified.  She rolled off of
Sheila's unconscious body, and began to search furiously through the
pile of garbage into which she had fallen.

     The Crystal was nowhere to be found.

                                   *****

     A little under a kilometer away, Lina Inverse found herself
regaining consciousness under much the same circumstances as Sheila had.

     Except that her headache was a LOT worse.

     "Rackafrackin' not-trusting interfering sailor Senshi wannabe," she
mis-characterized Sheila in a low mutter.  Wherever in all the
multiverse she'd wound up as a result of the miscast ritual, it didn't
have the feeling of home.  In other words, she was stranded.  Again.

     Lina decided to pout for a few seconds, during which she stared at
the multi-faceted silver whatsis that was lying a few feet away.

     A second passed.

     Then another.

     Then yet another.

     "Y'know, I think Sheila must have hit me harder than I thought,
'cause that thing sure as hell looks like the Silver Crystal," Lina
commented to no one in particular.

     Still another second passed, and then Lina's hand stretched out and
grabbed the Silver Crystal, staring at in stunned amazement.  "I'll be
dipped in -- IT IS!  THIS IS THE KEY TO THE UNIVERSE!"

     "Yeah, from what we can tell, you're probably right.  So why don't
you make life easier for yourself and just hand it over, okay?"

     Lina whirled, not letting go of the Crystal for one second. 
Standing behind her was a group of five creatures -- they were tall,
vaguely reptilian beings with reddish skin and horned heads -- all
dressed in wizardly apparel.

     And then Lina realized something, and smiled.  While this place,
this world, was not home... its magic had far more in common with her
native world's magic than Crystal Tokyo's did.

     And Lina Inverse was very, very good at magic.

     "Make me," she sneered at the Deveels, and prepared for combat.

                                   *****

     After the initial panic, Athena got a hold of herself.

     "Now, the situation couldst be worse," she said to herself. 
"Verily, the Silver Crystal tis lost, and I am stranded far from home,
but the scenery is nice."  Her gaze dropped back to the unconscious
Sheila.  "Very nice."  She then shook her head.  "I must see if she
knows where the Crystal is and where we are," she said.  Then a
mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes.  "Perhaps I can rouse the maiden
in the traditional manner."  With that, she knelt between Sheila's legs 
and leaned forward to plant a very intimate kiss on her unresisting
lips.

     Sheila was struggling back to consciousness when she became aware
of a VERY pleasant sensation.  It must be Misa, her befuddled mind
thought and it surged back toward the realm of wakefulness.  Someone was
kissing her, a very feminine and enthusiastic someone, and Sheila
returned the favor with vigor, her tongue dueling playfully with her
partner.  Then the other person pulled back and Sheila opened her eyes.

     "Thou art most definitely awake, hmmm?" Athena purred.  Sheila's
kiss was the kiss of someone who was experienced with pleasing another. 
That opened up all sorts of intriguing possibilities.

     "Ack!" was all Sheila could say.  AUNT AMY kissed me!  And she was
really, really good at it!

     "Mayhap you are not quite restored," Athena purred, excited by the
mix of confusion and arousal she saw on Sheila's face.  She must be
unversed in the love of a woman... and I do love to educate the
ignorant.  She moistened her lips and lowered them to Sheila's again.

     "Um, no!  No!  I'm quite awake!" Sheila stammered, pulling away as
fast as she dared.  Remember, this isn't Aunt Amy... but, man, I thought
Misa was bad!

     Athena just smiled and rested her hand on Sheila's thigh.  "Perhaps
then thou might answer a few questions for me?  Where am I?  Is this thy
home?"

     Sheila took a good look around, trying unsuccessfully to ignore
Athena's hand.  "Um, no, I don't think so.  I was involved with a spell
to return someone from my world to her own... maybe she sent me there
instead."

     "Ah, so twas thy spell mine Elder detected.  We tried to intercept
thou as thy spell traveled by our world, but it seems the Crystal sent
me along with thee."

     "Um.... Mercury... I don't mean to pry, but where did you pick up
that accent?"

     "Why?  Dost thou not like it?"  Athena mock-pouted and was very
pleased to see her companion flush.

     "No, no, it's not that... I mean... well, on MY world, there is a
Senshi Mercury who looks a LOT like you."  But if Aunt Amy kisses
anything like you, I'll be VERY temp--surprised!  I'll be surprised!

     "Oh?  Very interesting.  I wouldst like to meet thy Mercury some
day, to see what similarities we might have."

     Not too many, I would wager, Sheila thought.  And Ryouko would
definitely kill me if I brought you home.

     Then something Athena had said percolated to the top of her mind.

     "Wait a second, did you say 'Crystal?'  As in Silver Crystal?"

     Athena's hand stopped rubbing Sheila's thigh and her face became
guarded.  "Yea.  How doth thee know of it?"

     "My world also has one."

     "Ah.  Well, mine is not here, so mayhap it stayed behind on my
world."

     Suddenly, a bright explosion of silver light filled the sky.

     "I wouldn't go and place any bets on that," Sheila said.

     The two young women exchanged glances and took off at a run.

                                   *****

     The world of Deva trembled.

     "Yeah!  Take that!  And that!  Oh, you want some of this, too?"

     Lina Inverse was enjoying herself.

     Ever since her arrival in Crystal Tokyo, she had heard horror
stories about the Silver Crystal and how it exacted a horrible price of
anyone who tried to use its power and that it would only fully work for
the Royal line of the Moon Kingdom.  Those tales seemed false, however,
for it practically seemed to be EAGER to give her the power she needed. 
So she used it.  Again and again and again.  The gathered wizards of
Deva were blown away like scarecrows in a hurricane and Lina just threw
her head back and laughed at their pitiful magic.

     "Enough!" yelled a voice finally.

     Lina paused, the Silver Crystal still clenched tightly in her hand. 
A Deveel in very rich robes (but not wizard's robes) was gesturing
plaintively to her.  She was also, she noted, standing in the center of
a vast circle of devastation.  Even she was impressed with how much
damage she had done.  She hadn't been able to cut loose like that since
her arrival in Crystal Tokyo and it felt GOOD.

     "Oh, Great and Powerful Sorceress, I am Hay-ner of the Deva
Merchants' Association.  Please, we pray of you, have mercy on our poor
shops.  We will grant you anything in our power if you would just leave
us in peace."

     Several of the non-Deveels in the crowd gasped at that.

     Hmmm.  Maybe THEY can get me home, Lina thought.  Her mystical
senses (which also seemed to be enhanced by the Crystal) had already
told her that a LOT of dimensional traveling was going on in this place. 
And besides, that 'Great and Powerful Sorceress' stuff sounded pretty
good.  She adopted a haughty and imperial attitude.

     "I was attempting to return home when I was accosted by several
thugs who thought they knew magic," she said.  "However, I am uncertain
of my way home... though I have the power to get there, of course."

     "We can provide you with the means to find your home, oh Great and
Powerful Sorceress, if you would but promise to not damage our places of
business," Hay-ner was quick to put in.

     Hmmm, sounds like a good deal, Lina thought.  "Agreed."

     Unfortunately, Lina had never heard of a famous saying in the
Bazaar: When you think you've gotten a good deal from a Deveel, check
your arms, then your legs... and then your relatives.

     Two Deveels in cheap suits sidled forward with literally reams of
paper.  "Sign here, here, and here," they said, putting the yellowed
documents in her hands.

     "Wait, what is all this?" Lina said, trying to make sense of the
squiggly marks that she assumed was writing.

     "Oh, just a binding contract," they chorused.

     Lina debated asking for a translation, but that would mean
admitting the Great and Powerful Sorceress couldn't read it, and she
wasn't about to do THAT.  "Fine, fine," she muttered, and signed where
they indicated.

     "Good.  Now, one moment, as we find your way home," Hay-ner said,
turning to a very old-looking Deveel in a robe of black silk covered
with silver arcane runes.  The old Deveel listened carefully and then
began to mutter and gesticulate.  Lina watched in interest.

     Maybe they're going to open a portal right here, she thought.  Or
summon some sort of spirit who will speak in annoying riddles as to how
I get back home.

     Lina was almost looking forward to that.  She had ways of making
spirits talk plainly, she thought as she cracked her knuckles.

     The robed Deveel's spell seemed to be reaching a climax.  As Lina
watched, a great circle of darkness opened in the air before him.

     "Lina!" someone cried.

     Lina looked over her shoulder and saw a very out-of-breath Sheila
standing next to Sailor Mercury (she thought.)

     "Oh, Sheila!  There you are.  Hey, look what I found!  Ain't it
cool?"  She gestured with the Silver Crystal.

     "Give that back, thou thief!" Sailor Mercury said, running toward
the sorceress.

     "Hey, no biggie," Lina was quick to say, figuring the Senshi and
Palladins were going all over the multiverse looking for the Crystal. 
"These guys are finding me a way home."

     Lina turned back to the portal, eagerly waiting what it would
bring.

     The Deveel made one final gesture and someone stepped out of the
portal.

     Lina froze.

     Skimpy costume, check.

     Incredible figure, check.

     "Ohohohohohohoho!"

     Annoying laugh, check.

     Lina reached over and grabbed Hay-ner by the throat.  "WHAT is
THIS?" she growled.

     Hay-ner gasped for breath.  "Our magic summoned the one thing in
the multi-verse that would lead you home."

     "HER?"

     "Results are guaranteed!  I don't know how, but she'll get you home
somehow!" the Deveel gasped, his face turning purple.

     "Ohohohoho, Lina-chan!  Is THIS where you got to?" the newcomer
said in a high-pitched voice.

     "Hello, Naga," Lina said between clenched teeth.

                                   *****

     "Um... Lina, is this a friend of yours?" Sheila asked hesitantly,
eyeing the dark-haired woman's attire.  It was one thing to go traipsing
around in private like that -- she thought of Misa's collection of
lingerie for a moment, and then furiously got back on track -- but this
place wasn't so temperate that she would have wanted to go wandering
around in a swimsuit.

     "Permit me to introduce myself!" Naga exclaimed.  "I am Naga the
Serpent, Lina Inverse's greatest rival and --"

     "Oh!  Yeah!  She mentioned you... you're Gold Fish Shit, right?"

     Naga lowered her head and sighed.

     Lina, meanwhile, had slumped down on one of the pillars she had
knocked over during her mild, reasonable, rampage earlier, and was
covering her eyes with her hands.  "Not Naga.  Anybody but Naga.  I'd
rather have to deal with Shabranigido again than Naga.  I'd rather marry
Gourry and STILL not get my hands on his sword than have to deal with
Naga."

     Under other circumstances, Athena would have responded to that last
bit with a double entendre of her own, whilst trying to chat up this
VERY attractive female who resembled her Elder, but there were pressing
matters.  "Madam, I must repeat my demand that ye give back yon Silver
Crystal at once!  'Tis not a toy for such as ye to be entertaining
thyself with!"

     Lina glowered at her.  "Look, I said I'd give it back!"  And she
handed it over, peaceably.

     Or tried.  As she thought to do so, an odd thought occurred to her. 
Hey, since when does Lady Mercury talk like some courtier?  She doesn't! 
She's very formal, but not THAT formal -- this CAN'T be her!  No way am
I giving up this thing to some phony!

     "And I will!" she continued.  "Just as soon as I find a way home."

     "Thou art placing thyself in grave danger merely by possessing it!"
Athena shouted.

     Lina stood, genuinely angry now.  "Well, maybe I LIKE danger!"

     "Okay, okay, calm down!" Sheila interrupted.  "Look, let's take
this off the street, find somewhere we can discuss matters --"

     "-- over a candlelit dinner, mayhap?"  I must get her on my side, I
am ill prepared to go to battle with a wizard of this young girl's power
who hath the Silver Crystal as well!

     Sheila looked around frantically, and then spotted something
utterly out of place.  "How about over there?" she said, pointing at the
Yellow Crescent Inn.  She stared for a moment at the place she was
pointing.  Wait a minute.  Yellow Crescent?  But I...

     "All right," Lina groused, "I am pretty hungry, now that you
mentioned it.  You're paying, right?"

     "Uh..."

     "Let's go," Lina beckoned for Naga to follow, which, not unlike
feces trailing a goldfish, she did.  Athena followed as well, determined
to keep an eye on the Crystal, which the sorceress was still holding
tightly onto.  Sheila took a few seconds to wonder in blind panic how in
the world a restaurant she'd worked in for a few weeks when she was a
teenager had opened up a franchise in some weird parallel dimension, and
then took off after them.

     "Welcome to the Yellow Crescent Inn, may I take your order?" said
the bored looking gargoyle behind the counter.

     "Hum.  I'll have an Old Yell, a Y.C.L.T. (whatever that is), a
quarter-pounder with cheese, filet of fish, a hamburger, a cheeseburger,
tasty golden fries, a soft drink, some hot apple pies --"

     "Uh..." the gargoyle interrupted, "I think you should know that we
aren't doing that promotion anymore... you're not gonna get a free meal
if you sing the whole jingle."

     "Promotion?" Lina asked, blinking.  "Jingle?"

     Normally, gargoyles, being stone, do not sweat.  This was one of
those days, however.  "You mean... you really want all that food?  Even
though it's gonna--"

     "She's paying," Lina replied, gesturing at Sheila.  "Now, where was
I..."

     "Ma'am?" he asked Sheila in a weak tone.  "I don't mean to offend
or anything but... can you please show me some proof of ability to pay?"

     "Sure," Sheila replied, and produced her Crystal Express credit
card.  Pluto indicated that she'd gone to some effort to make sure that
these things were valid anywhere in our universe... and others.  I
really hope it works.

     The gargoyle, whose name was Gus, stared at the credit card for a
second.  It wasn't a Pervertcard, which was why he wasn't fawning all
over the customers, but something about the name rang a bell.  "Just a
second?" he temporized, and checked the clipboard of accepted credit
cards.

     In an ancient script near the top of the list, he found it. 
"Crystal Express: DEFINITELY accepted.  If being used by a green-haired
humanoid female, give her whatever she wants, and then pray to whichever
deity you feel so inclined that that's all she asks of you in your
lifetime."  Gus shivered.

     "Yes, ma'am, we definitely accept this card," he said aloud.

     "Oh good!" interjected Naga.  "I'll have one of whatever Lina-chan
is having!"

     "Same here," Sheila added.

     "Goodness, such strange and bizarre foods!  Ten'kai, dear, thou
hast eaten in this place ere now... tell me, which of these doth serve
best as an appetizer for... other things?"

     "Awk."

                                   *****

     "Lina, you really ought to give it back," Sheila insisted as she
chewed down on her fries.

     "Look, I don't buy this story about how it's dangerous for anyone
not of royal blood to even touch this gewgaw.  I'm touching it, I'm
using it, and I feel fine."  Well, except for the hollow feeling in my
gut.  But that's just hunger.

     "Okay, Lina, time for truth... no, touching the Silver Crystal
won't harm anyone--"

     "Ah-hah!"

     "--directly."  She drew in a deep breath.  "Do you know why my
mother adopted me, Lina?  Why she adopted all my younger brothers and
sisters?  Anyone can touch or even use the crystal, but there's a price
for power.  My mother helped Lady Mars to use the crystal once to save
the Princess' life --"

     "Eh?" asked Athena.

     "--but doing so sent her menstrual cycle into overdrive.  She went
through menopause when she was in her TWENTIES.  Lady Mars' reproductive
system was completely burnt out by--"

     "Excuse me," interrupted Athena, "but what thou describes sounds
quite unlike the price of the Crystal that I am familiar with."  She
turned to gaze at Lina.  "The Crystal grants power, but it makes demands
upon the user as well.  The life force of the user becomes more and more
bound unto the Crystal, until she cannot live without it.  Yet, to use
it too much is to court disaster, for if all the life force of she who
wields the Crystal is drawn unto it, death is certain as well!"

     Sheila blinked.  But... AUNT AMY told me about the price of the
Crystal.  She wouldn't lie to me about something like that.  Wait a
minute... oh Goddess, could that be it?  This is actually another
world's Mercury, instead of Aunt Amy's earlier incarnation?

     Hey, that means... NO!  Don't GO there!

     Lina stared at both of them, appalled.  "That's crazy!  The two of
you can't even get your stories straight, and you expect me to just give
up the Key to the Universe to this spacey flirt who can't even talk like
the real Mercury?"

     "What problem hast thou with my speech?" Athena bit out.

     "No!  I won't do it!" Lina shouted, ignoring her.

     "Wilt not?" Athena asked.  "Or CAN not?"

     Lina defiantly held out the hand in which she clenched the Silver
Crystal, and extended it towards Sheila.  "You, I trust with this.  Her,
I don't.  Here," she concluded, and willed her fingers to let go of
their grip.

     They refused to obey her.

     For a moment, raw panic suffused Lina's features, but then she got
it under control, and retracted her hand.  "On second thought," she said 
slowly, "who knows what she might have done to you?  The two of you are
being AWFULLY good friends..."

     "Lina, you're being paranoid.  Just give me the Crystal and --"

     "Do NOT tell ME what to do!" Lina snapped.  "NOBODY tells ME what
to do!"  She stood up, and angrily strode away.

     "Lina!" Naga called after her.  "Are you gonna finish your fries or
can I have them?"

                                   *****

     Sheila turned to Athena and tried not to sound as worried as she
felt.  "I'm sorry, she's not usually like this, but--"

     "The Crystal doth affect her mind already.  I hath heard stories of
this, but ne'er seen it before.  Is she one who finds the practice of
power addicting?"

     "That's Lina-chan, ohohoho!" Naga interjected with another scary
laugh that caused all the other customers to move away.  "She just loves
destructive magic.  That means, of course, that she lacks the subtlety
to be a true mage like, say, me."

     Sheila stared at the scantily clad sorceress for a moment and then
had an idea.  "Shouldn't you go after her?  Make sure she doesn't get
into any trouble she can't handle?"

     "Oooh, you're right.  That silly little girl will get into all
sorts of trouble without me.  Look what's happened to her since she
disappeared!"  With that, Naga leapt to her feet and charged out after
Lina.

     "Very nice," Athena commented.  "That doth finally leave us alone."

     Sheila began to sweat.  "Look, Mercury--"

     "Thou," Athena said with some emphasis, "may callest me Athena. 
Twas my name before I was called to serve as Senshi."  She eyed Sheila.

     "Um, I don't know..." Sheila said, watching Athena as a mouse
watches a cat.

     "I have never had a lover from another dimension," Athena purred,
sidling closer.

     "Ack!"  Sheila almost fell out of the booth.  "Look, Athena, I
don't think--"

     "Dost thou not find me attractive?" Athena pouted.

     Oh, goddess... if I say yes, it'll lead to something I'll have a
hard time explaining to Misa.  If I say no... I'd be lying my ass off.

     "It's not that I don't find you attractive," she said, "but...
well, every time I look at you, I see my Aunt Amy."

     "And that doth bother you?"

     "Of course it does!"

     "Not as much as ye protest, methinks."

     Oh, boy, Sheila thought, her hormones mounting another attack on
her reason.  I've got to change the direction of this conversation and
fast.  "Look, we need to get the Silver Crystal from Lina.  That's more
important, isn't it?"

     Athena backed off with a sigh.  "Thou art right.  Such a task would
be a monumental effort, howe'er.  Already her life doth seem to depend
upon it.  We must get her to Queen Serenity soon, so that the damage can
be undone."

     "Any ideas as to HOW we do that?"

     "This world doth seem overrun with travelers from other dimensions,
and full of merchants to boot.  Methinks twould not be hard to buy what
we need."

     "That's brilliant!" Sheila exclaimed, seeing the possibilities in
that statement.  She might not be lost forever now, and Lina could get
home.  She hugged Athena and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  "You're a
genius!"  Then, blushing, she backed off.  "Um, sorry, I didn't mean..."

     "Nay, do not apologize," Athena said with a grin.  "I enjoyed that
very much."

     I've got to get her and Lina home before she makes me do something
I'll regret, Sheila thought.

     If we are heading home soon, Athena thought, I must redouble mine
efforts on this lass, for I may never see her again.  Twould be such a
pity.

     The two headed off into the Bazaar.

                                   *****

     Lina stomped down one of the Bazaar's twisting, labyrinthine roads,
if it could be called that.  The definition of a road in Deva is
practically "any place not occupied by a business."  It was made worse
by the fact that everyone was on foot.  The roads, such as they are,
were either muddy or dusty, depending on the weather.  The merchants
didn't want potential customers to speed past them in some vehicle and
were definitely too cheap to pave a road that didn't need it.

     "Oh, Lina-chan!"

     With a sigh, Lina turned to face her self-proclaimed rival. 
Remember, she told herself, you're the more powerful mage, and you've
faced monsters and challenges that would send serpent-girl running for
the hills.  It doesn't matter that she's got a body that would turn on a
blind man.  She's petty, vindictive, and REALLY annoying.  I've got her
beat where it counts.

     As usual, her mantra didn't help when she saw every vaguely
humanoid and vaguely male being salivating over Naga's barely covered
curves.

     "Really, Lina-chan, why did you run off like that?  I mean, we
haven't seen each other in ages--"

     "That is something I LIKED about being trapped in a low-mana
world," Lina snapped.

     "Oh?  No wonder you need that bauble."

     "This is no 'bauble' Naga!  Look at it!"

     Lina held the Silver Crystal up.  At first she was afraid she
wouldn't be able to open her hand again, but as long as she kept a firm
grip on the Crystal, it seemed she could do what she wanted.

     Naga focused her senses on the Crystal and gasped.  It was rare
that something penetrated her arrogance, but the power levels she sensed
from the small gem were staggering.  But a closer evaluation worried her
even more.

     "Lina..." she said seriously, "that THING is linked with you."

     "I know, it's the only way to use it is to link with it..."

     "No, I mean it's sucking hard enough on your soul to give you
spiritual hickeys."

     "I'm sure YOU are the expert on that."

     Naga refused to be baited, and that worried Lina more than anything
else did.  "Seriously, Lina, it's got its hooks in deep.  It looks
almost like a possession..."

     Fear turned to suspicion suddenly in Lina.  "Oh, I see... you want
to take it from me too, don't you?  Well, you can't have it!  It's mine! 
My precious," Lina said absently, cradling it.

     "Lina, it's affecting your mind, you have to get rid of it!"

     "SHUT UP!" Lina screamed, gesturing at Naga.  The Silver Crystal,
sensing her anger, eagerly supplied her the power.

     Fizzle.

     Lina looked at her hands in shock.  That should have been a
Manabolt powerful enough to level a Crystal Tokyo city-block.  She
searched with her mystic senses to find the cause.

     "Why those slimy bastards..." Lina growled.  "That contract!  They
made me bind my own power!"

     "One should always read the fine print," said an oily voice behind
Lina.  She turned and found Hay-ner standing there.  "The contract you
signed locks away your destructive magic while in the Bazaar, in
perpetuity."

     Lina punched him in the mouth, knocking him over and into a nearby
stall.  "Lock away THAT," she snarled.  Then she turned back to Naga. 
"Well, I guess I'll have to get creative," she said, raising the
Crystal.

     Naga began to sweat.  Whatever that thing was, it was seriously
powerful and Lina was rapidly losing her capacity for reason where it
was concerned.  But what really bothered her was the fact that it was
pointed at HER.

     The Crystal flared and Naga tried to dodge, but one might as well
try to sidestep a tidal wave.

     Lina smirked, looking over what was left of her rival.  "Now, I am
OUT of here!" she cried.  Holding the Silver Crystal up, she vanished in
a burst of silver light.

     Sheila and Lina ran up moments later.  "What happened?" Sheila
cried.  "Where's Lina and the Crystal?"

     "Here be Naga's clothes, but where is Naga?" Athena said, pointing
at the bundle.

     The bundle moved.  "I'll tell you where she ith," came a young
voice with a pronounced lisp.  An adorably cute little girl with long
purple hair stuck her head out from under Naga's cloak.  "She'th gone,
leaving me like thith!"  The girl looked no older than 11 or 12 and
wrapped the cloak tightly around her thin, lanky body.

     "Naga?" Sheila said.

                                   *****

     "IT'TH NOT FAIR!!!" Chibi-Naga screamed as she pounded the plastic
covering of the tables back at the Yellow Crescent Inn.

     "Ten'kai, didst thou ever plan to have children?" Athena asked
quietly.

     "I had given it some vague thought before this," Sheila replied.

     "Verily can I understand why this might cause one to reconsider
such an act," Athena said, nodding.

     "You two!  Thith ith all your fault!" Naga shouted as she pointed
wildly in their general direction.  "If you hadn't brought Lina here,
she wouldn't have done thith to me!  You cotht me my breathtth!  Of all
the thingth about me, I liked my breathtth the motht!"

     Sheila blinked.  "Huh?"

     "My BREATHTTH!" Naga lisped furiously, pointing at her chest in
emphasis.

     Athena rolled her eyes.  "Of course.  We shouldst be more concerned
about thine attributes than about the prospect of a half-mad sorceress
gamboling about the cosmos with the most powerful magical artifact in
creation at her disposal."

     "YEAH!" Naga agreed, nodding furiously.

     "So anyway, you say that you saw this crystal... feeding on Lina's
soul?" Sheila pressed.  When Naga nodded, self-pityingly, she turned to
Athena.  "That would mean that this IS your Silver Crystal, then.
Apparently, when my world's Crystal exacts its price, it looks like
silver fire is burning into whoever is paying."

     Athena frowned, and for a moment Sheila was struck by just how much
she DID look like Aunt Amy.  "And she has used it to slice her own
passage unto another dimension.  The situation groweth graver with every
passing moment, for who can say unto whose hands or talons the Crystal
may fall when it drops from her fingers at her death?"  Didn't sound a
thing like her though.

     "There is one upside, though," Sheila pointed out.  "Unless she
happens to drop in on some library world and bones up on the subject,
she doesn't know anything more about dimensional travel than she did
when she accidentally sent herself from her world to mine the first
time.  In other words, she's shooting blind."

     "'Tis not so much of an advantage as 'twould seem to be," Athena
countered.  "Did she have control over her choice of destination, then
could WE deduce wither she were bound from her personality.  As it
stands, we are as blind as she is.  Nay, moreso."

                                   *****

Somewhere else.
Some other time.

     The amount of power that Lina had at her disposal was absolutely
amazing.  It was almost breathtaking what she could do with it, now that
she had escaped the confines of the binding.  No, not breathtaking...
DIZZYING.

     That was why her head felt like it did.  The power made her dizzy 
that's all.  Old spell formulae that her old master had tried to teach
her but she just hadn't been able to grasp were finally beginning to
make sense, which probably added to her dizziness.

     Thinking of her master and his fate made Lina swallow.  I've got...
I've finally got enough power that nobody will ever be able to do that
to me.  Nobody will ever be able to mess with ME again.

     But I still don't know how to go home.

     She rallied.  Wait a minute!  Sure!  I can use this thing to find
my way home!  All I have to do is find out a way to use it!

     "Hey, Silver Crystal," she said aloud.  "Take me to a place where I
can learn more about your power."

     She flashed out.

     A second later, the Superdimensional Fortress Macross defolded in
the orbit of Pluto, where she had been standing for a few moments
before.

                                   *****

The Bazaar, Deva
Later than the last time you asked.

     "If I may intrude..."

     Sheila looked up at the bruised Deveel that was standing near her.
"Yeah?" she asked.

     "You were, I believe the associates of the young woman causing a
certain amount of havoc, earlier today?  The Great and Powerful
Sorceress Whatever Her Name Was?"

     "Yes?"

     "Would you happen to know where she is at the moment?"

     "HEY!  I remember thith guy!  He'th the one who cut that deal with
Lina-chan that brought me here!"  Naga zoomed over and started kicking
Hay-ner in the shin repeatedly, without visible effect.  "Monthter! 
Fiend of the blacketht pit!  THITH ith all YOUR fault!"

     Hay-ner stared down at her, perplexed.  "What a strangely
precocious child.  In any event --"

     "Why dost thee wish to know?" Athena asked slowly.  There was
something strangely sinister about these beings... perhaps it was racial
memory, for they aroused in her feelings not unlike those that were
caused by discussing the Things from Beyond.

     "Yeah, why?" asked Sheila, mentally preparing herself for a fight.

     "It is my intention to sue her for battery," Hay-Ner said shortly.

     Athena and Sheila facefaulted.  Naga kept right on kicking Hay-Ner.

     "No," Sheila finally said, "we think she used the powers of... her
talisman to dimensionally travel away from here."

     "Oh, drat," Hay-Ner muttered.  "Ah, well.  It's fortunate for her
that I'm not overly vindictive, or I'd hunt her down no matter which
dimension she visited!  But, since she's left our dimension, I suppose
there's no real point in holding a grudge.  Well, I'll be off then..."

     "Uh... just a moment!" Sheila interrupted.  "If you WERE that
vindictive, how would you go about it?  Hunting her down, I mean?"

     Hay-Ner gave it some thought.  "I would probably employ one of the
better wizards hereabouts to track her down... say, the Great and
Powerful Skeeve and his associates.  Their offices are located not too
far from here."

     "Thanks!" Sheila said quickly, and stood.  "Come on, let's go! 
She's got a heck of a lead on us!"  She dashed out the door, Athena
following quickly behind.

     Not bad for a day's work, Hay-Ner thought to himself.  A referral
fee from Skeeve, a fee for information from those two -- to be collected
at once on their return -- plus the judgement in my favor when I take
that "Great and Powerful Sorceress" to court.  Not bad for a day's work
at all.

     He realized that Naga was still busily kicking his shin, so he
looked down at her, smiled a particularly ugly grin, and cheerfully
said, "Is that the way people in your dimension offer gifts of food? 
For that is a particularly tasty looking leg."

     Naga looked up, saw the way that the Deveel was smiling at her, and
let out a hollow shriek as she fled after Sheila and Athena.

                                   *****

The Moon Kingdom
A long time ago.

     Lina materialized in the burning ruins of a once great city.  She
stared confusedly at the broken, Greco-Roman architecture all around
her.

     "Wait a minute..." she muttered to herself.  Greco-Roman
architecture?  Burning ruins?

     She looked up in the sky at the blue-green planet that hung there.

     "Oh, great!" she muttered.  "This thing dumped me into the Moon
Kingdom!  How am I supposed to learn ANYTHING about how to use this
crystal from a bunch of people who were too stupid to use this thing
before it was too late?"

     She had learned about the Silver Millennium not long after her
arrival in Crystal Tokyo, nearly a decade before, and her opinion about
its residents hadn't changed very much since then.  Given the power of
the Silver Crystal, and the ability to use it, there was no way that
Beryl should have been able to triumph.  Queen Serenity had either been
an idiot or insane to let things go as far as they had.

     The fact that the ruins were burning indicated that the final
battle had begun.  Lina started to hurry down the street, intending to
use her magic to turn the tide... when she saw her.

     She had long red hair, and was dressed in a blue gown that had seen
better days than these.  Her face was scorched and bleeding in places,
and she looked very tired and worn.  But in her eyes there was nothing
but a cold, determined expression, and she walked across the ground of
the Moon with a sure step, as though she owned every square inch.

     Lina recognized her from the stories: Beryl, Queen of the Dark
Kingdom, Mistress of the Negaforce.

     There was a sudden rumbling noise, and the ground quaked, causing
Lina to lose her footing.  She recovered quickly, but found herself
staring down into a pool of water.

     The woman who gazed back at her had long red hair... was dressed in
a clothes that had seen better days... her face was scorched and
bleeding in places... and she looked very tired and worn.

     "No," she muttered.  "No, I'm not like that.  I'm not... I... take
me away from here!  Silver Crystal, take --"

     The Crystal pulsed, and she was gone.

                                   *****

     Beryl registered the odd pulse of magical energies in the distance,
but there was no time to deal with whatever it was.  The final battle
was at hand.

     The names of all those she'd lost flashed in her mind.  Jadeite. 
Nephrite.  Zoisite.  Malachite.  And just now, her true love...
Endymion.  Lost forever to the cruelty of the one before her.

     Queen Serenity, now bloated with the power of the evil spirit Luna,
stared down at her with a sneering gaze.  "So, you've come, little
princess."

     In the distance, Beryl could hear her familiar, Metallia, crying
out for her not to do this, not to make this sacrifice.  She ignored her
pleas.

     The time had come for the final battle of Good and Evil.

                                   *****

The Bazaar, Deva
Still later

     Athena looked at the unimpressive tent before them and snorted. 
"This is the home of a Great and Powerful Sorcerer?  Methinks we have
been given bad advice."

     "Well, everyone we've asked says this is where the 'Great and
Powerful Skeeve' lives," Sheila said.  She peered at the sign on the
tent.  "M.Y.T.H. Inc?"

     "Thtop wathting time," Chibi-Naga said.  "We need to find Lina!"

     "Right, right," Sheila said.  They had stopped by a clothing tent
and gotten some right-sized clothes for the pint-sized sorceress.  This
had not improved Naga's temper.

     They stepped inside the tent and found themselves in a waiting room
larger than the tent.  "Whoa," Sheila said.

     "Methinks I should re-evaluate mine opinion of this Skeeve," Athena
said.

     "People come see Big Crunch?  Big Crunch hungry," said a guttural
voice.

     The three looked up at the being entering the room... and up and
up.  Big, strong, and UGLY were the first three words that occurred to
them.  Then the bit about 'hungry' began to sink in.

     Chibi-Naga ran behind Sheila.  "Doeth everyone want to eat me!?"
she squealed.

     "W-we're here to see the Great and Powerful Skeeve," Sheila
stuttered.

     "Perhaps -I- can help you," boomed another voice.  They turned in
relief to the newcomer... and then gasped as they saw a tall, powerful
being with green scales, yellow eyes, and lots of teeth.

     "Eep!" Chibi-Naga said.

                                   *****

Bugrom Fortress, El Hazard
All-Powerful Jinnai Year 1

     Lina fell to the floor, gasping for breath and curled up into a
fetal ball.  She was so cold, and the hollow sensation in her gut was
getting worse.  Shakily raising her head, she looked around.

     The room she was in resembled some sort of cave, with illumination
coming from various glowing sections of the wall.  It was dank and cold,
and the floor felt slightly yielding.  Honeycomb-patterns predominated,
making Lina think of a beehive.

     In the center of the room was a large, teardrop structure.  It had
a series of bars set in the honeycomb pattern and help an unconscious
woman inside it.  There were three other people in the room, two boys in
suit coats and ties (one also appeared to be wearing something furry),
and one tall, statuesque woman with pale skin and blue hair.  The woman
was holding a large ornamental staff."

     "Farewell, Mizuhara," the dark-haired boy said.  "You were a worthy
adversary.  I will never forget you."  He paused, placing his hand on
his chest... then he pointed a finger at the other boy and cackled
maniacally.  "Now BLOW HIM AWAY, IFURITA!"

     The woman raised her staff and pointed one end of it at the brown-
haired boy.  Lina felt she should do something, but the multiple
dimensional jumps had left her too weak to move.  The world swum before
her eyes briefly but she managed, with great effort, to refocus on the
three.  They were all staring at each other, none of them making a move.

     "I... must... obey," the woman (Ifurita?) grated out, obviously
against her will.  "He is the Master of the Power Key Staff."  Saying
that, she leveled her staff at the boy again.

     "No one's making you," the brown-haired boy said.  It made no
difference.  The woman fired a powerful bolt of energy--

     --and missed.  Somehow, the boy dodged and leaped at the woman. 
His hand closed over the end of her staff... and the two of them began
to glow.

     "What's happening?" the dark-haired boy screamed, though no one
seemed to be listening, "I am Jinnai the All-Powerful!  It is my destiny
to conquer El Hazard!"  He laughed madly.

     Lina listened, feeling sick and not just from her condition.  She
had never seen anyone so consumed with the idea of power.  He had even
less redeeming qualities than Naga.  The laughs are similar, I wonder if
they are related, Lina thought.

     The glow around the other two faded.  "The obedience circuit has
been destroyed.  You're free, Ifurita!" the boy said.

     Ifurita held her trembling hands up to her face.

     "NO!  She's MINE!" the maniac cried, running up to the two. 
Ifurita let loose a powerful backhand, sending Jinnai flying across the
room.

     "You're right... I AM free," Ifurita said, wonderingly.

     More people ran into the room, but Lina's consciousness was fading
fast.  "Silver Crystal," she croaked.  "Take me to someone who can heal
me...."

     Always eager to please, the Silver Crystal transported them both
out of the fortress just as Ifurita and the others blew themselves a way
out.

                                   *****

The Abode of the Great and Powerful Skeeve
Tea Time

     "Terrible sorry about that," Chumley the Troll said while sipping
at his tea.  "Big Crunch is a bit of a boor, but terribly effective at
getting rid of time-wasters."  The troll had been the one to greet the
three at the door, acting like the stereotypical troll.  When not
acting, however, he was very polite and intelligent.

     Skeeve, the Great and Powerful, was sitting and considering what
they had told him.  He was far younger than they would have guessed. 
Athena even went so far as to call him "scrumptious."  His demeanor was
all business, however.

     "I wish I could help you, ladies," he said, "but I can't.  I'm
sorry."

     "If it's a matter of fee..." Sheila began.

     "Well, for the right price..." the green and scaly being, a Per-
VECT named Aahz, they had learned, began.

     "No, Aahz," Skeeve said, stopping his partner.  "The problem is,
ladies," he continued, "is that we're not very skilled at tracking
people through dimensions.  I had a hard enough time finding Aahz here
when I KNEW what dimension he went to."

     "Kid..." Aahz rumbled threateningly.

     "But," Skeeve continued, "I can help you a little."  He handed a
wand-shaped object to them.  "This is a D-hopper.  It will allow you to
travel through dimensions.  I don't know which dimension is your home or
where your friend might be, but I can give you the ability to look for
her yourself."

     "Kid, that's not a cheap toy.  D-hoppers are rare--"

     "We'll pay for it," Sheila said.

     "--but not irreplaceable," Aahz said without a pause.

     "No, just bring it back when you're through... wait a second...."
Skeeve looked thoughtful.  "There IS one person who might be able to
help you."

     "Who?" Chibi-Naga asked.

     "Vilhelm, the Dispatcher."

     "Of course," Chumley said.  "He could find her."

     "Who?" Sheila asked.

     "His official title is the 'Dispatcher of Nightmares.'  If your
friend dreams, he can find her."

     "Well, where is he?"

     "That's the easy part," Skeeve said, leading them back to the
waiting room and pulling aside a tapestry to show a heavily boarded up
door.  "Right through here."

     "Methinks I hath a bad feeling about this," Athena said.

                                   *****

Crystal Tokyo
The Rather Distant Future, Next Sunday or So AD.

     "--and that, listeners, is how I talked Sailor Pluto into letting
me have that computer link back to the place and time I originally came
from," Crystal Tokyo's best -- well, ONLY -- disk jockey explained into
the mike while his beloved wife looked on with a bemused expression.

     The Thirty-First century had been good to Sean Gaffney-Tomoe.  He
had someone who loved him unconditionally (and vice versa), a job he
loved doing, and a skeptical-yet-positive worldview.  The restoration of
his link back to the world he'd originally come from was good -- he had
no intention of ever returning there, but it was nice to be able to let
the friends he'd left behind know that he was still alive, and catch up
with them.

     "And so, without further ado, my lovely wife Hotaru will be reading
tales of other worlds' Sailor Senshi penned by people there, beginning
with Ken Wolfe's masterpiece, 'Secrets'.  Whenever you're ready," Sean
concluded, turning the mike over to Hotaru Tomoe-Gaffney.

     Hotaru drew a deep breath, and began to read from the several
inches thick hardcopy that Sean had printed off earlier that day. 
Before she got more than a few words into it, however, she broke off,
and jerked her head around to stare at the hole in the space-time
continuum that opened up behind them.

     Sean spun around the instant after his wife did, and caught a
glimpse of the portal as it began to close.  His one coherent thought
was a vague curse on a certain group of self-insertion critics, and then
he realized that the portal was actually shutting instead of dragging
them into it.  He breathed a sigh of relief, even as Hotaru jumped up
and ran over to kneel down beside the still, pale form of the one it had
deposited on the studio floor.

     He let out a squawk at the sight of the red-haired girl -- for a
moment he wondered she was the Dirty Pair Flash version of Kei, or
possibly the swords-and-sorcery lookalike for Kei that had inspired
Mathews' "The Game Eternal" --, before he realized that the mike was
still on.  Turning back, he said, "Sorry, folks, something's come up...
we'll be back in a bit, but for now, why not lose yourself in a garden
of sound?"  He jammed a tape, any tape, into the player -- as it
happened, the song cued was Kansas' "Wayward Son", which would have
increased Sean's apprehensions had he known of it (and make him ill
since Kansas was far from his favorite group.)

     Meanwhile, Hotaru was drawing on her healing powers to determine
what was wrong with the person who'd fallen in on them.  Generally, her
healing powers worked in an almost shamanistic way.  She briefly
obtained a higher level of consciousness in which she perceived
injuries, infections, or diseases as afflictions to the spirit, instead
of the body.  Then she used her other powers to eliminate them, either
by invoking her destructive capability against them, or occasionally by
converting the "affliction" into a "benefit"; as Sean had noted,
converting pain into joy.

     The problem with this patient, however, was that she had entirely
too MUCH joy.

     Hotaru let out a low whistle as she saw how the bright tendrils of
the artifact that the woman clutched in her hand had extended throughout
her "body" and were now very close to suffocating her of vital energy. 
The problem was that if Hotaru tried to destroy the tendrils, she would
only be delaying their eventual regrowth, and she couldn't be sure that
she wouldn't do more damage than good.  On the other hand, converting
the sheer amount of positive energy that this woman was filled with to
its opposite would CERTAINLY kill her.

     Stymied, she returned to the real world to examine the artifact in
order to get an idea whether or not destroying it as the source of the
disease would be feasible...

     ...and let out an "Ack" as she saw the Silver Crystal clenched in
the woman's hot little hand.

     "That's BAD, isn't it?" Sean asked as he saw what his wife was
staring at.

     "Extraordinarily bad," Hotaru agreed.  She stood and transformed to
Sailor Saturn in a pulse of light.  "I've got to take her to the
Queen... I think she might know more than I do about how to deal with
this."  I hope, she added silently.

     Scooping Lina under her arm, Hotaru teleported away, leaving her
anxious husband behind.  Sean turned back to his mike, and stared at it
for a second before turning it back on again.  The song playing as he
did so was a little ditty by the Muppets, from "The Muppets Take
Manhattan".

     "Together again..." came Miss Piggy's voice.

     Sean quickly shut off the tape.  Who put THAT in the machine? 
That's the last time I let Setsuna visit the studio.  Turning to the
mike, he said, in his most reassuring voice, "Folks, you're never gonna
believe this one, but..."

     They didn't.

                                   *****

The Bazaar, Deva
Look, go buy a watch and stop bothering me.

     "... and that's the setting for Deva, so that you can come back
here after you find your friend," Skeeve explained to Sheila, who was
holding onto the D-Hopper while Aahz irritatedly pried at the boards
over the door to Limbo that he had put up after their first trip there.

     Sheila nodded.  "Right.  I hope that this won't take too long --
say, time doesn't pass oddly in this Limbo place than it does here, does
it?"

     Skeeve opened his mouth to confidently answer no, when he
remembered that he couldn't remember much of his second journey to
Limbo, so he couldn't answer that definitely.  The first time, it hadn't
seemed as though they spent more or less time in Limbo than had passed
on Deva, but it was hard to be completely sure here, where no one was
willing to give anyone else the time of day -- at least for free.

     So instead he confidently answered, "I don't think so, no."

     Sheila nodded again, and tried hard not to think about the
possibility of time passing at a rapid rate back home while she worked
at this.  "Regardless of whether this works, Mr. Skeeve, you and your
associates have the gratitude of Crystal Tokyo for your efforts."

     "And of the Moon Kingdom as well," Athena interjected.

     "Uh, not to be a pain or anything --" Aahz interjected.

     "That WOULD be a first," Chumley muttered, looking off in another
direction.

     "-- but gratitude puts no beans on the table," Aahz continued, his
lips curling in what was either a snarl or a smile.

     Sheila produced her credit card.

     Aahz's reaction was, in Athena's words, "MOST satisfactory".

     A few minutes later, the trio -- Sheila, Athena, and Chibi-Naga --
stepped through the door into Limbo.  It was dark, but that was the
status quo there.  They proceeded down the road to the town of Blut,
being extremely careful to avoid encountering any of the vampiric
residents of the dimension.  This was more out of a desire to avoid
causing a panic -- humans having an EXTREMELY bad reputation in this
neck of the multiverse -- than out of any fear.  Athena was slightly
concerned by Skeeve's warning that magical energies were at a premium in
this dimension.

     Blut put images of the architecture of the city of Atlantis in
Athena's mind -- the eidolons of fearsome creatures perching on
rooftops, for example.  The many bats that infested the town's rooftops
spooked Naga, who didn't realize that they were to the local ecology
what pigeons were to a human city.  In Sheila's case, the town reminded
her of images from movies that had been old in her youth, films that
she'd watched on Hallowe'ens long past.

     They came at last to the building that Skeeve had identified as the
office of the Dispatcher, and mounted the stairs.  Sheila was startled
for a moment by the sheer number of television screens that adorned the
walls of the office, then shrugged it off.  To the others, it was even
more startling, since visual communications were almost unknown in their
worlds.

     Vilhelm, the Dispatcher of Nightmares, was a short, stocky man with
surprisingly pink cheeks for a vampire, who positively exuded
friendliness as he hopped out of the chair of his desk, and crossed the
floor to them.  "Hi there Vilhelm's the name Your problem is my problem
Don't sit down Standing problems I solve for free Sitting problems I
charge for Reasonable rates just a percentage off the top What can I do
for you?" he said, shaking hands with each of them once.

     "Ah... Skeeve sent us --" Sheila began.

     "Oh," Vilhelm said, blinking.  "Then I should probably drop the
Micromachine guy act," he continued at a more leisurely pace.

     "I beg your pardon?" Athena asked.

     "Never mind.  Still, what can I do for you?  If Skeeve referred you
to me, it's probably a dimensional thing, right?"

     "Right.  We were told that you act as a kind of missing person's
bureau?" Sheila inquired.

     "That's correct," Vilhelm nodded.  "Since pretty much every
nightmare in the multiverse comes through here on its way to it's
intended recipient, I can get a line on darn near everyone... IF you
have an idea about what they'd have a nightmare about."

     Sheila looked at Naga.  "Hey, Naga, what d'you think Lina would 
have a nightmare about?"

     "Oh, definitely about lothing power," Naga answered confidently. 
Sheila turned to convey that answer to Vilhelm, translating if
necessary, when Naga continued.  "And THEN realizing the awful truth,
that even if she had all her power, she'd THTILL be inferior to me in
the magic department.  Oh, and all her boyfriendth only having any
interetht in her tho that they can get clothe to me, and going to a
boutique and being told that the only undergarmentth they have in her
thize are for little children, whiltht I get oneth appropriate to my --"

     "Woman, about yay high, bust out to here, that color hair, REALLY
annoying laugh," Sheila rattled off to Vilhelm.

     "Hey, I remember that one!" Vilhelm exclaimed.

     "-- huge -- HEY!"

     Athena turned away to hide her amused smile at Sheila-chan's easy
humiliation of the annoying sorceress -- and froze in her tracks as she
stared at a screen on which Sheila was in clear sight.

     The world fell away as she watched.  Black-clad Sheila was in a
large building that looked like it served some religious purpose,
standing before an open coffin, in which lay a woman dressed in white
with long, purple-black hair, her eyes closed forever in death.  Tears
were rolling down Sheila's face.  Suddenly, there was a blade in her
hand, and she unsheathed it slowly, examining the edge with a keen eye. 
Behind her, a duplicate of the woman in the coffin appeared, screaming
at her, shaking her head, unheeded.  Sheila lifted the sword, its point
aiming toward her own heart, and then --

     The picture changed, and there was a giant flaming wombat pursuing
a much smaller human being across the screen.  Shaken, Athena turned
away.

     "-- that would be on display 115Z, right now," Vilhelm was saying,
directing Sheila and Naga's attention to a screen not far from where
Athena was standing.  The image was extremely unclear -- bursts of
static made it almost unwatchable.  The Dispatcher frowned.  "Huh. 
She's in SOME kind of nightmare, but it's almost as though she's
slipping in and out of consciousness --"

     "That's too likely by half!" Sheila interrupted.  "Can you get a
fix on where she is now?"

     Vilhelm returned his attention to the screen and keyboard he was
working on.  "Yes indeed!"  He rattled off a sequence of coordinates,
and Sheila started modifying the controls of the D-Jumper, gesturing for
Athena and Naga to hold onto her.  A few seconds later, they vanished in
a burst of light.

     "Good luck," Vilhelm said belatedly, suddenly remembering the
prohibitions against dimensionally traveling into THAT particular
dimension.

                                   *****

Elsewhere.
Elsewhen.

     "Amora."

     "Perse."

     "It has begun at last, hasn't it?"

     "It has indeed."

     "Any regrets?"

     "None I can't handle."

     "I bet you guys thought I wasn't gonna find you, didn't you?!"

     A long silence ensued.

     "Hello, Setsuna," two voices chorused.

     "I have one regret, Amora."

     "I believe I have the same one."

     "Beeeedah!"

                                   *****

Crystal Tokyo.
A few minutes after you left.

     "... and then this girl with red hair drops out of nowhere!  Of
course, this isn't the sort of thing that happens every day."

     The trio materialized behind him.

     Sean covered the mike momentarily.  "Whoever is writing this is a
bloody sadist," he noted for the record, then turned to greet the new
arrivals.  He couldn't fail to recognize Sailor Mercury -- although
there was something very, very different about the way that this version
of her STOOD.  The young girl didn't look at all familiar... well,
perhaps a BIT like Hotaru had when she was little.  The redhead--

     He frowned.  She looked familiar, but he couldn't tell what it was
about her that made him think so.

     "Excuse me," Sheila asked quickly.  "did a carrot haired girl
carrying a very bright crystal in her hand appear here recently?"

     "Uh... yeah.  My wife took her to the palace for the Queen to heal
her," he said eloquently.

     "Great, thanks, come on Athena --"

     "Queen Serenity, that is," he added just before they dashed out the
door.

     Athena paused.  "Sheila-chan, have we returned to thy homeworld? 
Thou didst confide that there is a Senshi Mercury there who greatly
resembles me; is there also a Queen there akin to mine own monarch?"

     SHEILA?  As in -- oh boy, thought Sean.  The red hair and the
ponytail SHOULD have tipped him off....

     "Uh," Sheila temporized, looking around for any clue that they were
in Crystal Tokyo.  There wasn't a lot to go on.  She finally rounded on
the man.  "Listen, does the name Sheila Ten'kai sound at ALL familiar?"
she asked.  She wasn't FAMOUS, but she did have a certain public
recognition.

     Sean smiled weakly.  " You wouldn't be Sheila Ten'kai, daughter of
Har--er, ERICA Ten'ou and Michelle Kaioh, would you?"  Ed handles this
SO much better, he thought irritatedly.

     "Yes," she replied.  This is home... and this guy is REALLY well
informed!  "Great, thanks!"

     "Uh!" Sean interrupted.  "But --"

     "Yes?" Sheila replied, anxiously.  Oh, great, he's that well
informed because it's been a thousand years and I'm part of elementary
history or something!

     Sean sighed, and decided to come clean.  "I only know about you
because I read the stories that you first appeared in."

     That was unexpected.

                                   *****

     Being a Sailor Senshi has its ups and downs.  The downs largely
consist of having to fight every would-be world conqueror with a sack
full of energy-draining monsters, a uniform that is just a tad drafty,
and no time off.  The ups--well, at least you can drop in on the ruler
of Crystal Tokyo unannounced... oh, and Makoto's cooking.  Definite
plus.

     So, Neo-Queen Serenity didn't even bat an eye when Sailor Saturn
appeared in her throne room carrying an unconscious sorceress.

     "This audience is at an end," she announced to her court,
dismissing it with a wave as she walked over to her Senshi.  There were
mutters, but everyone filed out obediently.  (This is Crystal Tokyo, did
you expect anything different?)

     "Hotaru-chan?" Serenity asked.

     "We have a problem, my Queen," Sailor Saturn said, turning Lina's
hand so the Queen could see the Silver Crystal she held.

     That DID raise an eyebrow.

                                   *****

     "Oh, GREAT.  My entire life is out there for an entire universe to
read, and YOU are making sure another universe gets to hear about it?"

     Sean began to sweat.  He was no newbie to fictional universes
(considering he lived in what he had considered one and was married to
someone he had first seen animated) but this little nuance was a new one
on him.  It was not an entirely comfortable nuance, as Sheila had a
TIGHT grip on his shirt and the expression on her face suggested that
her hands might go for his throat next.

     "I'm sorry!" he gasped.  "I didn't think it'd hurt--urk!"

     "HOW MUCH DO THEY KNOW?!"

     "Um, well, your entire history, your relationship with Priss--" Oh,
THAT is not a pleasant look, he babbled to himself as Sheila's face
contorted even further in rage.  Then he saw that the ON THE AIR light
was still burning on his panel.  "--and everything you've said since you
arrived."

     That made Sheila let go of his shirt, at least.  The Sailor Mercury
who had appeared with Sheila laid a comforting hand on the redhead's
shoulder as the daughter of Uranus and Neptune began to sob.

     Sheila hated every tear that ran down her face, but she couldn't
stop them.  The stress of her sudden adventure, not knowing whether she
would ever see home again, the old wounds of her time with Priss, and
now the added embarrassment of humiliating herself over the airwaves to
an entire city.  (She would have felt better had she known the true size
of Sean's listening audience.)

     Then the felt strong arms wrap around her and looked up to see
Athena's sympathetic face.  "It is all right," the Senshi of Ice
murmured, stroking Sheila's hair gently.  "Rest now," she said, giving
Sheila a gentle peck on the forehead.  At the same time, she worked a
little magic, putting Sheila to sleep.  It would only last a few
minutes, but it would give the girl time to recover her composure.

     "Um, time for some more music, folks," Sean said finally to break
the silence.  Jabbing a button at random, he winced as the strains of
"As Time Goes By" (re-mastered from Casablanca) filled the airwaves. 
Definitely the last time I let Setsuna visit.

     "So, what's your story?" he asked the Mercury before him.

     "I am Senshi Mercury of the Silver Millennium," Athena said.  "You,
sir, hath caused my friend grievous harm--"

     "Athena!" Sean said, snapping his fingers.  "Wow, Hosmer and Biles
would give a lot to be here."

     "And how doth thou knowest my name?" Athena said, her eyes
narrowing.  "Hath tales of mine exploits been bandied about by thee as
well?"

     Same mistake twice in as many minutes, Sean thought.  When Hotaru
gets back, she's welcome to whack me on the head with her Glaive... if
there's anything LEFT of me.

     Fortunately, any further development along those lines was
forestalled by ANOTHER flash of light.  For the third time that day
(setting a record that Sean hoped never to exceed) people appeared out
of thin air.

     At least they've all been beautiful girls, Sean thought, then
mentally whapped himself for being a hentai.

     The newcomers appeared to be Sailors Uranus and Neptune, but Sean
wasn't making any more assumptions.  Off hand, he tried to remember any
embarrassing stories about them that he might have broadcast.

     "Sean, is it really her?" Neptune asked.

     Sean let out a sigh of relief.  At least these people were somebody
he knew.

                                   *****

     "TWO Crystals?" Sailor Saturn exclaimed.

     "I am at a loss to explain it," Queen Serenity said, "but I have my
Crystal here."  She held up the small gem.  It was in all ways identical
to the Crystal being held by the unconscious sorceress.

     They had moved to one of the many guest bedrooms in the Palace and
were examining Lina.  The time-lost sorceress was wracked alternatively
by fever dreams and chills.  Sailor Saturn could see her life force
ebbing away and knew they had to do something soon.

     "We don't have much time left, my Queen."

     Queen Serenity nodded.  "I will use my Crystal to support her life
as you purge the link she has with her Crystal.  Once we have separated
her from it, we will deal with the question of how she came here."

     Sailor Saturn nodded and placed her hands on Lina's sweaty brow. 
She nodded to Queen Serenity when she was ready.

     Raising the Silver Crystal, Queen Serenity invoked its power.

     No one considered that an attempt to use the power of the Silver
Crystal on itself was a bad idea.

     A mighty bolt of power suddenly arced from Serenity's crystal to
Lina's.  With a cry, Queen Serenity was blown backwards, her Crystal
floating in the air above the bed.  Sailor Saturn gritted her teeth
against the backwash of energy that tore around the room in silver
eddies and tried to keep Lina alive.

     Then Lina's eyes flew open.  They SEETHED with the silver light of
the Crystal and Sailor Saturn had a moment of stark fear before she was
flung away.  She slid across the tile floor and hit the far wall hard.

     "Well, well, well," Lina said, sitting up.  She looked at the
Crystal in her hand and then at the one floating overhead.  She held out
her free hand and Serenity's crystal floated obediently into her grasp.
"It seems that everywhere I go, people try to take my precious from me."

     "Stop!  You do not know what you are doing to yourself!" Serenity
yelled.

     "Oh, no," Lina crooned.  "It's all very clear now."  She held the
two Crystals up to her face, their silver light illuminating her
features eerily.  "I called the Crystal the key to the universe, but
it's more than that.  It's the key to ultimate power... and that power
will be MINE!"

     "No human can possess the power you are talking about!  Please,
stop before it is too late."  Serenity was openly pleading with Lina,
utterly unconcerned with how it looked for a Queen to beg.  A woman's
soul hung in the balance.

     For one moment, Lina's expression wavered.  She looked at Serenity. 
All-too-human terror filled her eyes, then it faded.  "You're right, no
human can," Lina said softly.  "But a GODDESS is another story all
together!"  She laughed insanely.  "But first, to put my preciouses
somewhere safe."

     Lina closed her eyes and held the two Crystals to her chest. 
Serenity cried out for her to stop as the Crystals were absorbed into
the sorceress's flesh, but it was too late.  When Lina open her eyes
again, her eyes had changed.  Instead of pupil, iris, and white, there
was just multi-faceted crystal.

     "And now, I go to claim my destiny," Lina said, her voice now
filled with harmonics of barely contained power.

     "Not without going through me," said a voice.  Lina and Queen
Serenity looked toward it and saw Sailor Saturn, her Silence Glaive
leveled at Lina's chest.

     "As you wish," Lina said, gathering her power.

                                   *****

     Sheila slowly came back to consciousness.  She could hear voices,
but it was too much effort to try and decipher them.  She wanted to tell
them to shut up and let her sleep, but that was too much effort, too. 
Much against her will, she came back to the light.

     "Feeling better?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

     "Ask me once I figure out what crawled inside my mouth and died,"
Sheila groaned.  She felt gummy and dehydrated at the same time.  The
skin of her cheeks was tight with dried tears.  She opened her eyes.

     A blonde with short hair was staring intently into her face.  The
next thing that registered was that the blonde was wearing the uniform
of a Sailor Senshi.  An impossible uniform.

     Sheila's eyes widened and she sat up with a start.  Another
impossibility, this one with blue-green hair that flowed over her
shoulders like sea foam, joined the first.  "How are you feeling,
Sheila?" the second one asked.

     "No.  This can't be.  No."  Sheila's mental state defied simple
labels like "incoherent" but it would do.

     "Well, she's awake at least," Sailor Uranus said wryly.

     Then the two Sailors were surprised by a sudden hug that threatened
to crush all the air out of their lungs.

     Sheila was beyond words.  She had seen pictures of them, studied
them, asked numerous questions of her mother and her aunts, and
collected ANYTHING that had belonged to her biological parents that had
survived to Crystal Tokyo.  It wasn't much, but the Sailors had tried to
save something for her to remember them by: Michelle's violin, a tape of
a duet she and Erica had played together, a frayed picture of Michelle
hugging Erica as the latter accepted a trophy for first place in a race. 
It was not much, yet it was infinitely precious to Sheila.

     "I never believed... oh, I am so happy there IS a Goddess!" she
babbled... before beginning to wonder why Heaven looked like the
backroom of a messy radio station and why she was lying on a cot.

     She let go of the Sailors (who were glad to get some air back into
their lungs.)  "I'm not dead, am I?"

     "Nope," Sailor Uranus said.

     "And you're not my parents."  It wasn't a question.

     "In a way we are," Sailor Neptune said, "but no, we're not the ones
who brought you into your world."

     Sheila felt the tears gathering in her eyes again but forced them
down hard.  She took a deep breath.  "Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, I
am sorry.  I thought--"

     "We know," Sailor Neptune said.  "That is one reason we wanted to
see you."  She smiled, tears glittering in her own eyes.  "You see, we
just had a child of our own, almost a year ago."  She produced a photo
from her inter-dimensional pocket of an adorable toddler.  "Her name is
Yurika Sheila Ten'ou-Kaioh."

     Sheila's breath caught.  "Yurika SHEILA?"

     Sailor Uranus nodded.  "Named after you.  Sean showed us your
stories and--"

     "You... you know--" Sheila blushed horribly.  "I-I don't--" she
stuttered.  Finally, she bowed low.  "Gomen nasai!"

     "Sorry?  What for?" Sailor Neptune asked.

     "For... for a lot of things," Sheila said.  "For being... me."

     "Don't give me that crap," Sailor Uranus snarled.  "You have
nothing to be ashamed of, girl."

     "We came here because we hope to see a glimmer of who OUR daughter
might become in you," Sailor Neptune said.  "And we want to tell you
that your parents would have been very proud of you, too."

     "How... how did you know... how I felt?" Sheila stammered.

     "I'm a mother now, we know these things," Sailor Neptune said with
a smile.

     "If you ask me, that Priss bitch was a fool," Sailor Uranus added. 
"And if I ever find that author of yours...."  She pounded one fist into
her open palm.  "We'll see if ANYONE can put him back together again." 
She smiled nastily.

     The lights flickered.

     All three of them looked up in alarm.  In a normal city, a
flickering light wouldn't rate much, but this was Crystal Tokyo.  Such
things just didn't happen.

     Then the lights went out.

     Emergency lighting came on dimly and the three of them ran out into
the radio station proper.  "What's going on?" Sailor Uranus asked.

     "I don't know!" Sean snapped, spinning a dial on his board.  "One
moment, everything was fine, the next the POLICE BAND was going crazy. 
Everything went wrong at once.  Riots, theft, muggings, telemarketing...
it's like someone declared open season on utopia."

     A sharp SNAP filled the air.  Looking out the window, they all
stared in horror as one of the crystalline sides of a building across
the street broke off and plunged to the ground below.

     "We have to get to the Queen, now!" Sailor Uranus snapped.

     "Methinks that whate'er the cause of this disaster, Lina is at the
heart of it," Athena said.

     "Yeah, it'th her thtyle.  Chaoth, math dethtruction, the workth!"
Chibi-Naga added.

     "Hotaru!" Sean said.  "She's with that lunatic!"

     "Okay, okay!" Sailor Uranus snapped.  "You can all come.  Just grab
hold of us!"

     They vanished in a burst of light.

                                   *****

     The Glaive fell slowly from her nerveless hands.  It hit the floor,
bounced slightly, and then clattered to a halt.  Sailor Saturn would
have joined it, but the grip of the power-mad sorceress on her throat
kept her upright.

     "Amusing," Lina said, her crystal eyes flashing as she grinned. 
"Of all the Senshi, you posed the greatest threat... and you didn't even
cause me to break a sweat."

     Saturn slowly lifted her head and, with great deliberation, spat in
Lina's face.

     The grip on Sailor Saturn's throat tightened like a vise for a
second, then Lina forced her hand to relax.  "Now, now, that wasn't very
nice," she said cheerfully.  The spit on her cheek sizzled and vanished. 
"I should be VERY angry with you for that, but a goddess should be
merciful, right?"  Lina shook Sailor Saturn so her head nodded.  "I'm SO
glad you agree.  So, let me give you a gift..."

     Sailor Saturn's uniform flickered, then dissolved into ribbons of
white and black, leaving Hotaru Gaffney-Tomoe naked in Lina's grip.  The
ribbons streamed into Lina's chest, absorbed like the Silver Crystals
had been.

     "Mm-mm good," Lina said as she flung Hotaru to the floor.  She then
held out her hand and the Silence Glaive flew into her grasp.  "Thank
you, Sailor Saturn.  Your power will give me the time I need for my
Ascension.  Now, it's time for me to leave."  Holding the Glaive over
her head, Lina vanished in a burst of silver light.

     Then another burst of light filled the room and six people (two
Sailors, one Senshi, one DJ, one Historian, and one brat) appeared.

     "Hotaru!" Sean yelled, seeing his wife's still form.  He ran over
to her, ahead of all the others, and touched her shoulder gently,
careful not to aggravate any injuries.  "Hotaru," he whispered.

     "S-Sean?" Hotaru gasped.  "I tried... s-she..."

     "Where is the Queen, Hotaru?" Sailor Uranus snapped.  "What
happened to the Queen?"

     Hotaru reached out a trembling hand and pointed.  Standing by the
door to the room was a giant crystal.  Inside it, frozen with her arms
raised high and a pleading look on her face, was Serenity.

                                   *****

Tokyo-3
December 8, 2014

     "Haaaaapppy BIRTH-day... to me... happppy birth-DAY to... me...
happy birth... day... Misa--"

     "Give me your Crystal at once, and you will not be injured."

     Katsuragi Misato, Head of the Department of Strategy and Tactics of
the secret agency known as NERV, twenty eight years old, and currently
plastered, turned around to gently berate the one who had interrupted
her rendition of the birthday song.  "Whyfuckyougoanddothat --" she
began, and then the one who had done so registered.

     Short, with extremely pale skin.  Vivid red hair.  Crystalline
eyes.  Holding a glaive in her arms.

     Misato began to laugh.

     This was evidently not the reaction that Lina had been expecting. 
"Why are you laughing at me?" she demanded.

     "...Talk about your hallucinations.  I mean, wow!  Okay, the skin
is definitely Rei... the hair has Asuka written all over it.  And the
glaive is... hey!  I know where I --"

     "I am not a hallucination!  Give me the Crystal, or you will die a
horrible death, Serenity!"

     "'Serenity'?" Misato asked cheerfully.  "Oi, have you got the wrong
person..."

     Lina examined the woman before her in closer detail, doing a
complete genetic scan, snarling at the waste of time and power.  This
was, beyond any doubt, Serenity -- or Usagi, Serena, Bunny, or any of a
half-thousand other names she had been known as on various alternate
timelines -- but she showed no evidence of the magic of the Moon
Kingdom.  An oddity of the timelines, perhaps.  It didn't matter.  Lina
had wasted her time coming to this dimension.  The appropriate thing to
do would be to annihilate her and get on with it.

     She snorted, instead, and turned away.  "You're pathetic.  You're
not worth my time."

     "Waaaah," Misato 'sobbed' mockingly.  "My hallucination is being
mean to me..."

     Lina began to make preparations for her next dimensional jump,
absently gesturing with the Silence Glaive as she did so.  The magic was
harder to call in this place than it had been in others that she'd
visited.

     Finally, Misato let out a grin as she followed Lina's motions with
her eyes.  "Yep! That's who I though you looked like.  That girl... in
that TV series.  Wossname.  El-Hazard..."

     The name didn't register with Lina.  The portal opened.

     "Ifurita," Misato said, finally remembering the name.

     THAT name, on the other hand, DID, and Lina turned around to stare
at her just as the dimensional shift took her.

     "Weee," Misato said to herself, "that was trippy.  Maybe I've had
enough for tonight."

     A few seconds passed.

     "Nah," she answered herself, and tilted back another Yebisu.

                                   *****

Crystal Tokyo
A little bit later...

     Sailor Mars, or as she had once been known, Hino Rei, was annoyed. 
This, in and of itself, was not surprising.  The individual to whom she
was speaking had a unique ability to make her fly off the handle more
than any other living being.

     The King of Crystal Tokyo and the Crown Princess Usagi were
standing in front of the crystal that contained the frozen form of their
respective wife and mother, pressing against it as if by will alone they
could free her from it.  Sailor Mercury -- the real one -- was examining
the structure of the crystal with a frightened frown on her face.
Sailors Venus, Jupiter, and the Asteroid Senshi were out in the streets
of Crystal Tokyo, trying to keep things from falling apart even more
than they had.  Uranus was staring at the crystal with almost as much
anxiety on her features as there was on King Endymion's, while Neptune
was keeping an eye on the red-haired girl that she had introduced to the
others as her daughter from another universe.  Sheila, if that was in
fact her name, was standing apart from the rest with a haunted
expression on her face.  Near her was the alternate version of Mercury,
who seemed to be going out of her way to avoid the real one.  If Mars
had had time to think about it, this would have made her EXTREMELY
suspicious.

     At that point, however, Mars' attention was focused on Sean, who
was cradling the now-blanketed form of his wife as she trembled quietly.

     Because this was all HIS fault.

     "--and of course, you HAD to talk Pluto into giving you that
uplink, Gaffney," Mars ranted.  "Now, in addition to being a complete
embarrassment to the Palace with those bloody stories, your radio
station has become a magnet for invading weirdos from every alternate
reality out there!  Dammit, Sean, this is --"

     "Leave him alone."

     Mars blinked.  In the thousand years of her life, she couldn't
recall ANYONE talking to her like that.  Her grandfather had cajoled,
her Queen had politely guided her in the correct way, but no one had
ever simply given her a blunt order in the way that Sheila Ten'kai just
had.

     "Excuse me?" she bit out.  "Who do you think you are, telling me
what--"

     Sheila stopped her with a simple glare.  "Who do I think I am? 
I'll tell you who I think I am."  She was silent for a long moment, then
drew a long, shuddering breath.  "I'm the one whose fault all of this
is."

     Uranus jerked her head around.  As one, she and Neptune took a step
towards her.  "Sheila, that's not --" Neptune began.

     "Yes, it is.  I just realized it.  If I hadn't messed up Lina's
spell, we wouldn't have been thrown through the dimensions, and Athena
wouldn't have been drawn into the stream with us, and she wouldn't have
had the Silver Crystal with her --"

     Athena opened her mouth to voice an objection to that, but Sheila
kept on talking, her voice beginning to take a manic note.  "--and Lina
wouldn't have BOUND herself to the Crystal, and she wouldn't have been
HERE, and she wouldn't have gone NUTS, and this CITY wouldn't be falling
apart, and your Queen wouldn't be in that crystal, and Lina wouldn't be
out in the universe trying to become a GOD!!  DAMMIT ALL TO HELL, IT'S
ALL MY FAULT!"  Sheila screamed the last.

     It was a day for things to happen to Mars that had never happened
before, as she found herself backing down beneath the shame and guilt
that were written all over Sheila's eyes.

     Neptune, on the other hand, took three quick steps forward, seized
Sheila by the shoulders, and began to shake her.  "Stop it!" Kaioh
Michiru said in an angry tone.  "Stop it right now!  NOBODY blames you
for what happened!  It was NOT your fault!"

     "Yes it was."

     The voice came from behind her, and Neptune whirled, her eyes full
of almost psychopathic anger.  "NO IT--!"  She broke off as she saw whom
she was addressing.

     Pluto was standing a few feet away.  She was giving Sheila a very
hard stare, with a small amount for Neptune as well.  It was possibly
the grimmest they'd ever seen the teenaged reincarnation of their old
friend.  "You're quite right, Ms. Ten'kai.  Everything that has happened
since you decided to take matters into your own hands in Lina's
laboratory is your fault."

     "That is unfair!" Athena suddenly protested.  She recognized the
garb of the Senshi Pluto, but the current wearer bore little if any
resemblance to the ancient and wearily wise Senshi that Athena
remembered.  "No small portion of the blame must descend to myself and
to mine Elder! Were it not for the experiment that we conducted, the
worlds would not now be in such peril!  It is unjust to lay all the
blame at Sheila-chan's door!"

     It was at that point that a second Pluto stepped out of thin air to
stand beside the younger Pluto.  This one looked exactly identical to
the Senshi of Athena's memories and to the Pluto who had died in the war
with the Black Moon, whom most of those had known for much of their
lives present had known for much of their lives.  "And what if I were to
say, Athena of the House of Vulcan, that your Elder had been acting
under orders I had given long ago about what was to be done in the event
that things occurred as they did?" she asked calmly.

     Athena swallowed involuntarily.  "What of it?" she answered.  "We
are not fashioned of Vulcan clockwork, to move only according to a
pattern laid down by some artisan.  My Elder chose to obey your
commands, and I chose to obey hers."

     "Could it be that your determination to demand that part of the
blame be assigned to you arises from your attraction to Ten'kai?" Pluto
asked calmly.  Mercury froze where she was standing, and turned to look
in Athena's direction with GLACIAL slowness.

     "I ask again, what boots it?" Athena snapped, now feeling more
anger than fear.  "I respect and admire my dear friend for far more than
her beauty.  It is not JUST that she should bear the burden of shame for
these events alone!"

     "Athena..." Sheila whispered, looking at the blue-haired girl...
the one that she would never be able to see as her Aunt Amy ever again.

     It was then that ANOTHER Pluto stepped out of thin air, to flank
the younger Pluto on the opposite side of where "Athena's" Pluto stood.
She gave Athena a quick glance.  "The Martians of Sheila's dimension had
a saying: 'One should never be found in the company of one with whom you
would not be glad to die.'"  Then she focused on Sheila.  "It is one
thing to accept responsibility for something, and another thing entirely
to work to correct what was done, Sheila."

     "I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

     "Really?"

     There was nothing in Pluto's voice to warn her, but she knew
somehow.  "I'M willing.  I won't sacrifice other people to accomplish my
goals.  But if it costs me my life, I WILL fix it."

     For the longest moment of Sheila's life, Pluto's face was
absolutely still.  Then a small, quiet smile crossed it.  "It is good,"
Pluto murmured, "to see that my habit of underestimating my charges has
diminished a bit."

     The trio of Plutos exchanged a look, and then nodded as one. 
"We'll let you handle the details, Setsuna-chan," the one on the younger
Pluto's right said.

     "After all, this is your territory, Setsuna-chan," the Pluto to the
left concurred.

     "Ganbatte kudasai ne," they said in chorus, and vanished.

     'Setsuna-chan' stood very still, her eyes closed and her mouth
clenched.  Then she let out her breath in a long sigh, and looked up. 
"Sheila and Athena.  The two of you are hereby charged to prevent Lina
Inverse from causing the death of whichever universe she's in at the
time -- and possibly a few others as well -- when she makes her bid for
godhood."

     "Huh?" Sheila asked.

     "Lina realized the truth of what Serenity was telling her about the
limits of her ability to use the power she was seeking.  So she's going
to attempt to exceed those limits... by transcending mortality.  She
will become, in essence a goddess, if she is successful.

     "HOWEVER, if she is successful, the final burst of energy will
devastate whichever universe she is in at the time.  The possibility
also exists that the backlash from the destruction of the Silver
Crystals when she Ascends could destroy the universes from which they
came."

     "You mean that it would destroy the Silver Millenium," Athena
whispered, for once not using her archaic mode of address.

     "And this world, as well."  And then Pluto did something very
strange.  She walked over to where Sean was holding Hotaru tightly, and
laid a hand on the weakened Sailor's stomach.  "And that would be a
terrible thing, ne, Hotaru-chan?" she whispered.

     "Well, yeah, I mean everybody dying, that's a terrible thing, yes,
I think it would be safe to say --" Sean babbled.

     "Sean, grab a clue."

     A long, shuddering breath was drawn.  "I'm gonna be a Dad?" he
asked in a very small voice.

     Setsuna nodded.

     Sean fainted.

     "So," Pluto continued, turning back to look at Sheila and Athena. 
"You two have to find a way to prevent Lina from Ascending.  And before
you ask, no, I DON'T know how you're going to go about doing something
like that.  I only know that it CAN be done.  It's for the two of you to
find out how."

     Sheila drew in a deep breath.  "Okay.  When do I --

     "-- WE --" Athena interjected.

     "-- start."

     "Immediately."  Pluto walked over, gesturing for Sheila to give her
the D-Hopper.  Once she had it, she did some things to it -- making
modifications that Sheila and Athena couldn't understand.  Satisfied,
she then handed it to Athena.  "Now it's the cross-time equivalent of a
bloodhound, with the scent of the odd harmonics between the Silver
Crystals of Earth-BH and Earth-SG.  Theoretically, Lina's acquisition of
other Crystals won't change those harmonics, though they may become
fainter.  You may consider that to be additional incentive to stop her
from gaining other Crystals," Pluto concluded.

     Sheila nodded, then turned to Uranus and Neptune.  They were gazing
at her with worry in their eyes.  Sheila opened her mouth to start
saying something several times.  "I'll make it right," she finally
blurted.

     "Of course you will," Uranus said, her voice coming out oddly.

     Neptune, it seemed, had nothing to say.  But her eyes spoke
volumes.

     Sheila nodded, only barely holding back the tears as she turned to
stand beside Athena.  She indicated to the Senshi to press the button,
and in a flash of light, they were gone.

     Perhaps it was only in Neptune's imagination that she heard the
words "Goodbye... mom."

     "HEY!  BATHTARDTH!  YOU FORGOT ME!"

                                   *****

Juuban District, Tokyo, Japan
199X

     She flung her light, the light of the Moon Princess, against the
huge creature formed of mud.

     And nothing happened.

     The monster didn't even seem inconvenienced.  UPSET, but --

     And then, as she stared in shock, the beast grabbed hold of a
nearby bus, and flung it at her.  She turned to flee and --

     It struck.

     And then the universe became dark and red...

                                   *****

     Usagi awoke from her nightmare, gasping in fear.  For a brief
moment, she thought she was back home, in her own bed...

     But the pain she felt told her otherwise.  She gritted her teeth to
keep from whimpering and waking up Mamoru, curled up in a chair nearby. 
He needed his sleep at nights far more than she did, largely because she
had nothing to do with her days than sleep.  A very long time ago -- a
week -- she would have thought that was a GOOD thing.

     Usagi hated hospitals.  She hated hospital food -- bad tasting, and
the portions were so small -- and the generally patronizing attitude of
the hospital workers.  She DEFINITELY hated having to use a bedpan.

     And she really hated the fact that her friends were in danger, and
that she couldn't help them.

     Her subconscious had realized that she would need time to heal the
injuries that she'd sustained in the fight against that... whatever it
had been.  That was ANOTHER frustrating thing about all this.  While the
Senshi were out there in the trenches, doing their usual routine of
battling the forces of evil and slowly but surely learning what the
enemy was actually up to, she was stuck here.  Even when the Senshi or
Luna visited, they usually didn't want to trouble her with the details
of their fights... which only made her more nervous, ultimately.

     It was, she supposed, a good thing that her subconscious had
quickly found someone else to take over the role of Sailor Moon.  Even
if that person was... rather strange.

     Still, she could've wished for a little excitement.

     Usagi should have remembered that Minako had once said, "Be careful
what you wish for, you might break your mother's back!"  Of course, if
she had, she would have been confused, but the idea would still have
made an impression.

     There was a shimmering in the air at the foot of Usagi's bed, and
then a woman appeared from nowhere.  Her hair was an orange-red, her
skin was exceedingly pale, and her eyes were two large crystals.  She
carried a scythe-like staff.

     "Give me the Silver Crystal and I will not kill you slowly," she
said in a voice that sounded like a kazoo being played by a corpse.

     Usagi was too frightened to even scream.

     Fortunately, the woman's voice had awakened Mamoru.  "Usako!" he
gasped, and transformed to Tuxedo Kamen in the blink of an eye, before
flinging one of his roses at the strangely dressed apparition.

     Lina sidestepped the rose almost completely.  Her face grew greatly
wroth as she felt the blood well up on the tiny cut where it had nicked
her cheek.  "You looked MUCH better when you wore your lavender suit,"
she said in an angry voice.  She then hefted the scythe she was
carrying, pointing the blunt end of it in Tuxedo Kamen's direction.

     A burst of multicolored energy exploded from the scythe.  The
Bishonen Senshi had only a moment to let out a short, startled
exclamation before it washed over him, leaving him wearing the lavender
tuxedo that he'd seen his future self wearing when he'd visited Crystal
Tokyo along with the Sailor Senshi.

     He didn't waste much more than a second considering this, deciding
at once that this must be some survivor of the Black Moon Family seeking
vengeance.  He angrily reached into subspace for another rose.

     He couldn't find any.

     "Oh dear, did I not mention that the reason that outfit looks so
spiffy is that it doesn't have certain accessories?" Lina asked, before
laughing her head off at Tuxedo Kamen's predicament.

     She had forgotten that there was considerably more to the man
before her than just roses thrown at dramatic moments.  Lina was
forcibly reminded of this when he leapt at her, whacking at her with
both his cane and his fists.  He got in several good hits before she
blasted him with a wave of pure force, smashing him into the wall of the
hospital room.

     Seething with power, she turned back to glare at Usagi.  "Now...
are you going to give me the Crystal, or do I have to get MEAN?"

     Panicking, but unable to flee due to her injuries, Usagi blurted
out, "I don't have it!  I don't HAVE the Crystal!"

     Lina sneered.  "Sure, sure, that's what they all say." Of course,
the last five that I asked really DIDN'T have it...

     "No!  I REEEALLY don't have the Crystal!  I --"  Usagi abruptly
clammed up.  There was no way in the world she was going to give up the
Crystal's location to a monster like her.

     "You WHAT?" Lina barked.

     Even though she was right on the edge of a panic fit that would
leave her dissolving in tears, Usagi kept her mouth firmly shut.

     "All right," Lina said in a low voice.  "We're going to do this the
HARD way.  Now, which of your bones HASN'T been broken recently?"

     It was at that point that Usagi let out her shriek of sheer panic. 
Everyone in the hospital heard it, and orderlies by the dozens descended
on the door to Usagi's room, which Lina had quietly barred with a
sustained telekinesis spell the instant she arrived.

     In fact, Usagi's shriek was sufficiently powerful that a number of
people OUTSIDE of the hospital heard it.

     At an otherwise empty house, Minako sat straight up in bed,
disturbing Artemis who was asleep on her stomach.  "Usagi-chan!" she
gasped.

     At her home, Ami sat up at her desk, where she had fallen asleep
getting caught up on her reading.  "Usagi-chan!" she gasped.

     At her lonely apartment, Makoto jerked awake in her own bed. 
"Usagi-chan!" she gasped.

     At the Hikawa Jinja, Rei awoke in her turn.  "Usagi!" she gasped.

     And at a certain dojo in a certain rather famous part of Tokyo...

     Ranma woke up.

     This in itself was rather odd.  Ranma normally didn't awaken in the
mornings until he had been either yelled at several times or violently
assaulted, usually by his father or by Akane.  And he almost NEVER woke
up before the sun rose, unless he was training for something.  "Early to
bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, but he still dies," was one
of the few pearls of wisdom from his father that he had adopted as his
own.

     So Ranma was already rather puzzled by the fact that he had woken
up at this hour of the night without having someone's voice in his ear
or being attacked, when he realized that he was getting the strangest
feeling that someone important was in danger.

     He was about to go check on Akane, rationalizing this by developing
a theory that Ryouga might try to do something REALLY perverted to her
while she was sleeping.  Not that he CARED or anything...

     But before he even got to the door to the guest room, he heard a
faint, pulsing beep.  It was soft enough that his father, slumbering in
panda form nearby, slept on undisturbed but loud enough that Ranma could
hear it quite clearly.  Momentarily, he wondered what it was, then
remembered the signal device that the others had pushed on him the other
day.

     He momentarily rooted through the pile of clothes on his floor,
until he found the wristwatch device.  He flipped open the top, and was
presented with the imaged of a panicked Ami.  "Ranma!" she squeaked, her
voice even higher pitched than normal thanks to the poor audio quality,
"Usagi-chan's in trouble!  We need you to come to the hospital right
away!"

     "Right!" Ranma grunted, grabbing the other piece of girly costume
jewelry from his pile of clothes.  He then dashed out of his room, down
the stairs, and leaped out the back door to the pond.

     SPLASH.

     Words bubbled up to the surface of the pond.

     "MOON PRISM POWER... MAKEUP!"

     There was a flash of polychromatic light, and Ranma, now female,
arose from the pond, and leapt into the night sky. She was garbed in the
easily recognizable garb of Shin Sailor Moon -- a sailor-fuku with a red
bow, a blue skirt, and red knee-length boots.  White gloves covered her
arms to the elbow, and a golden tiara graced her forehead.  The end of
her pigtail was adorned with a round, ruby ornament.

     Soun, sitting on the porch and enjoying a quiet smoke, decided to
pretend he hadn't seen that.

                                   *****

     In a way, Makoto mused, there wasn't really that much difference
between Shin Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon.  They both tended to be late. 
The difference being, she supposed, that Shin Sailor Moon had something
of an excuse, living in Nerima and having to cross town like she did.

     He did.

     Whatever.

     It doesn't make getting beaten up any less crushing to my ego, she
thought, as she flung another "Vital Pressure" at the weird-eyed
sorceress who had assaulted Usagi and Mamoru, and watched as the
lightning rebounded off her like bullets off Godzilla's hide.  It DID
serve to distract her before she could do anything lethal to Sailor Mars
and Sailor Venus, both of whom were more or less at her mercy.

     The sorceress then made a gesture oddly like one brushing crumbs
away, and a wall of force slammed into Sailor Jupiter.  Makoto's teeth
were ringing when she struck the wall of the hospital, and for a few
seconds she teetered on the edge of unconsciousness.

     There was a pulse of energy off to one side, and the sound of two
sets of feet hitting the ground.  Makoto lifted her head to see the
sorceress looming over her...

     "MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

     ...and then a red headed sonic boom slammed into the sorceress,
howling battlecries as it passed.

     Gee, Shin Sailor Moon seems to be really upset that I'm hurt,
Makoto thought, confusedly.  And you know, when she's a guy, he looks
just like--

     Makoto shook her head to clear it, and realized that the woman
fighting with the sorceress WASN'T dressed in a Sailor Senshi fuku, and
that her braid was much longer than Ranma's pony tail.  She WAS, however
fighting with the same acrobatic lack of regard for her own life and
limb that the martial artist from Nerima usually demonstrated.

     "Dammit, Lina!" she heard the woman cry out.  "Stop this!  This is
insane!  Don't you know what will happen if you --"

     "SHUT UP, SHEILA!  I know that you just want to take my preciouses
for yourself!" the sorceress retorted. She easily evaded all of the
warrior's blows.

     "Okay, then we'll do this the hard way!  ATHENA, GO!"

     A bolt of water that almost seemed to RADIATE icy cold slammed into
the side of the sorceress, enveloping her and congealing around her so
that she looked as though she were imprisoned in a crystal.

     "That seemeth to me poetically just, dost thou not agree, Sheila-
chan?" a familiar voice -- speaking in a very UNfamiliar accent --
asked.

     Makoto craned her head over to look at Ami, standing a few feet
away, with a satisfied expression on her face.  She then turned to look
in the opposite direction, to see Ami staring at her doppleganger with a
confused expression.

     "Good work, Athena!" the red-haired girl enthused.  "Now --"

     Whatever was to happen now was lost in the sharp explosion of the
ice cube that the sorceress was imprisoned in.  A bolt of red lightning
arced out from the sorceress' hand, knocking the warrior woman back
through the wall of the hospital, and provoked a sharp squeal of pain
from her as well.

     "Now for YOU," the sorceress said, turning to glare at the Ami who
had frozen her.

     "MACHINASAI!" came from a few feet away.

     The sorceress almost seemed to slump.  "Is there no END to this?"
she asked herself as she turned to glare at the new arrival.  When she
had placed the telekinetic barrier on the door, she had forgotten that
Sailors preferred unconventional entrances like windows... and walls.

     The new arrival was standing a few feet away.  Performing silly
poses, she said, "A hospital is a place for healing and peace!  Your
actions have disturbed the sleep of countless sick and injured people! 
Even if Dr. Kildare forgives you, I won't!  Ai to seigi no, sailor-fuku
bishoujo senshi...Shin Sailor Moon!  Tsuki ni kawatte, oshioki yo!"

     Under her breath, Shin Sailor Moon mumbled, "Boy, do I feel silly
doing this."

     "The CRYSTAL," the sorceress hissed.  In the next instant, she
leaped towards Ranma, a savage grin on her face.

     "MOUKOU TSUKITAKABISHA!" Shin Sailor Moon yelped, startled but
keeping her head.  The ball of yellow light, marked by the image of a
white rising moon, jumped forth from her hands and slammed into her
attacker.  Ranma guessed that it had done SOME damage by the pained
expression on her face, but she kept coming anyway...

     Sheila crawled out of the hole in the wall, her body and her pride
wounded.  Dammit, when am I gonna get a handle on my temper? she
thought.  A quick look told her that both Athena and her mo-- this
universe's version of Sailor Jupiter were all right.  Then she saw the
one who was fighting with Lina.

     Ranma-sensei? she thought, confusedly.  Wait a minute!  What's
going on here?

     "Hey!" Makoto shouted as she saw Sheila emerge.  "Are you okay?"

     Sheila flashed her a quick grin.  "Fine!  I LIKE getting smashed
into buildings!"

     Makoto let loose a short snort of laughter as she limped over to
stand with her.  "You're in with the right crowd, then..."

     Off in the distance, Sheila could see that Ranma was just barely
holding off Lina.  "Who IS that, anyway?" she asked Sailor Jupiter.

     "Haven't you been reading the newspapers?"

     "I'm from out of town."

     "That's Shin Sailor Moon," Jupiter said simply.

     Sheila had a brief, hilarious image of her former martial arts
instructor reacting to the idea of becoming one of the Sailor Senshi in
his cursed form, and had to work hard to repress the attack of the
giggles that image provoked.

     Athena had been looking at the fight between Shin Sailor Moon -- A
Senshi of the MOON?  What an odd development THIS is... -- and the mad
sorceress, waiting for an opening which the younger warrior didn't seem
inclined to provide.  "Whatever is the matter with her?" she finally
protested.  "Doth she intend to fight against the monster which did best
all of her companions ALONE?"

     "You... you look JUST like me..." she heard a quieter version of
her own voice behind her.

     Athena turned to look at Sailor Mercury.  They exchanged a long
look.  "Nay, not truly," Athena said distractedly.  "Thy bosom is much
less --"

     Ami's face turned bright red.

     Oh, Powers, please tell me that not EVERY version of myself in the
myriad worlds is going to be as prudish as Aurora is..., Athena thought
silently.  "Hast thy companion no concept of strategy?  Wherefore dost
she not set her opponent up for attacks from me, or thee?"

     Ami blinked, puzzling out the meaning of her doppleganger's archaic
language.  "Oh.  Well, since Shin Sailor Moon's attack is more powerful
than any of ours --"

     "What boots it?  If one adds a glass of water to a nearly full
well, the level of water therein DOTH increase, no matter that the water
within the glass is less than that in the well."

     Ami blinked.  That definitely did make sense.  "Well, Shin Sailor
Moon just joined us recently, and she doesn't have much experience
fighting --"

     "Why hast a NOVICE been entrusted with such a formidable power?"

     "-- fighting in a GROUP, at least..."

     "IYAAAA!"

     All eyes immediately swiveled to see what had produced that
horrible cry.

     Lina was trying to whack Shin Sailor Moon with a large energy
mallet, which she was directing with the Silence Glaive.  "So!" she
cackled. "THIS is your weakness, is it?" The fact that Shin Sailor Moon
was desperately trying to dodge the attack gave support to the theory.

     Finally, it connected, and Ranma was flattened by the force of the
blow.  Immediately, Lina's arm lashed out and tore the broach containing
the Silver Crystal from Shin Sailor Moon's blouse.

     Any humor that Sheila found in the situation died at that moment. 
Shouting Lina's name at the top of her lungs, she dashed towards her.

     "Too late!" Lina shrieked, as she clenched her right hand around
the Crystal.  As she did, the hand took on the properties of the
Crystal, remaining silver and faceted even after she opened her hand to
reveal that she had taken the crystal into her body.  Her face was a
picture of ecstasy, even though her crystal-like eyes were empty of any
expression.

     And then, with a burst of light, she was gone.

     "Dammit!" Sheila swore as she arrived by the side of Ranma, who had
detransformed into the clothes she'd been wearing before, and just
waking up.

     "What WAS that?" Ranma asked, confused.

     "Athena, get over here!  We've got to hurry!" Sheila called. 
Athena nodded, and started to run, with Ami and Makoto following close
on her heels.

     "Wait a minute, who ARE you guys?" Ranma demanded, coming to her
feet.

     "That's a long story," Sheila began.

     "I know who you are," Makoto interrupted.  And then she smiled
broadly.  "I heard you!  You called me Mom!  You're my daughter from
Crystal Tokyo, aren't you?"

     Sheila flinched.  "Yeah, sort of..."

     "Crystal Tokyo?" Ranma asked.

     "And you're Sailor Mercury from the future, right?" Makoto asked,
turning to Athena.

     "From the future?" Ranma asked.

     Athena was about to answer a negative to that, when Sheila stepped
between the two of them.  "I'm sorry, we can't really answer any
questions you might have... we've got to get moving, or several
dimensions are going to be destroyed."

     "Dimensions?" Ranma asked.

     "We'll come with you!" Makoto volunteered.

     Sheila shook her head.  "Sorry, but our traveling device only
carries two people," she lied.  "Listen, I promise that I'll bring your
world's Silver Crystal back, okay?"

     "What's happening?" Rei asked wearily as she helped Minako to walk
over to where the rest of them were standing.

     "At least I'm not the ONLY one who has no idea what's going on,"
Ranma muttered.

     "The woman whom thou didst battle against hast stolen yon Shin
Sailor Moon's Silver Crystal, and departed.  We two must hasten to
pursue her, or her act shall doom this world," Athena explained calmly.

     "I liked it better when I had no idea what was going on," Ranma
sighed.

     "And now, we go," Sheila interjected, and gestured with the D-
Hopper.  They vanished.

     "So NOW what?" Minako asked.  "Without the Silver Crystal, you
can't become Shin Sailor Moon, Ranma!"

     "Well, if I can't, I can't, y'know?  Panicking about it ain't gonna
get me anywhere."

     The cats, Luna and Artemis, along with the small black pig who was
channeling the spirit of their long-dead friend Charon, trotted up at
that point, and they had to explain the whole thing to them.  By the 
time they were done, Ranma finally decided to turn back to her normal
form, via a small kettle of hot water that she'd carried in her
backpack.  She upended the contents over her head.

     Nothing happened.

     THEN Ranma started to panic.

                                   *****

Juuban District, Tokyo, Japan
Another world

     In a high tower, at a moment of tragedy, seven crystals - parts of
a whole - became one once more.  The Ginzuishou settled into the
crescent of its owner's weapon, glowing with the light of rebirth.

     Sailor Moon reached out.

     And Princess Serenity clasped the handle of her weapon, ready to
defend her love.

                                   *****

     Emerald leaned against the park bench, his eyes closed.  His face
was relaxed as he drew power from the elements.  The soft wind blowing
through his hair and ruffling his slightly grimy, now off-white shirt. 
The electricity from the nearby sputtering streetlights.  The steady
heartbeat of the earth beneath him, the gently swirling water of the
large park lake...

     His face was relaxed from his energy meditation, his body semi-
limp, although still tense enough to spring to a defense if needed.  His
senses, the mystical ones that had little to do with sight or touch or
any such mundane workings, reached out, gently touching the auras of
every living thing around him, making him feel like a part of his
surroundings for once, instead of some sort of forever-outsider.  A
smile started to twitch at his lips.

     He stiffened.  His smile dropped as his eyes shot open, startling a
couple who had been walking by.  As the young lovers hurried off,
Emerald turned his head to the left, staring up through the masking set
of tree branches to the outline of a distant building.

     "Serenity..." he hissed, his eyes narrowing as he slowly turned his
body towards the tower.  He stood slowly, never taking his gaze off the
tall building.  His fists clenched and unclenched as he stared at the
monolith.

     Then his mystical senses seemed to explode.

     Energy flooded through his body, but it was the WRONG kind of
energy.  The WORST kind.  The silver energy of the Ginzuishou snapped
and crackled around him while a green aura fought back against it.  The
two types of energy spun around him, actually lifting him into the air
as they fought.  The bench he had been sitting on exploded into flame as
the green aura struck it.  A nearby tree was split in half by silver
lightning.  Car windows blew outward.

     And then it stopped.

     Emerald flopped to the ground, gasping for breath as the pain
slowly faded.  He had never felt anything like that before.  He knew
from experience that his power and the power of the Ginzuishou did not
get along, but not even a direct bolt from Serenity's crystal had ever
felt like that.

     Does she somehow know I'm after her?  Is she that powerful, to try
and strike me down from a distance?

     After a moment he discarded that thought.  Even in Crystal Tokyo,
Serenity had never tried to destroy him like that.  If she had been
capable of it, he knew that Mars would have insisted that she do it.  So
what?

     He looked around at the devastation around him for the first time
and decided to leave, now, before the authorities arrived.  He was
standing in the middle of a blasted crater.  It even felt dead to him. 
Curiously, he reached out with his senses.  The area around him, the
area scoured by the mystical energies, was utterly dead.  There was no
energy to be drained.  The implications staggered him.

     He then checked his power levels and was surprised again.  He was
full of energy.  He hadn't had this much even when he had faced the
Great Enemy.  Somehow, the freak interaction of his power with the
Ginzuishou's had supercharged him, leaving a dead crater in its wake.

     "Interesting," he muttered before stepping into a shadow and
disappearing.  He needed to think about this.

                                   *****

     Somewhere else, Lina slowly got to her feet.  Her crystalline eyes
glittered as she viewed the devastation around her.  Whatever that
strange green power was, it had been painful, destructive... and very
energy-rich.

     She considered what to do next.  She could sense this world's
Silver Crystal.  Serenity was using it, but at a very low level of
power.  At least she was assured that this world was not a total waste
of time like so many others.  In fact, the energy she had received from
the interaction of her power, the green energy, and her currently
blasted surroundings would help prolong her quest.  Should she seek out
this strange new power or go for the Crystal first?

     Her ruminations were interrupted by a flash of light and the
arrival of two familiar figures.

     "Lina!  Stop!"  Sheila cried, running toward the sorceress.

     Lina raised her crystal hand, truly intent on eliminating this
nuisance once and for all.  The power gathered, forming as a silver ball
of light in front of her outstretched palm...

     Then everything exploded in green light again.

                                   *****

     Emerald convulsed as he fell out of a shadow in front of the high
tower, silver sparks gathering around him.  It was nowhere near as bad
as the last time, but it still sent waves of agony through his limbs. 
To make it worse, more energy was flowing into his system, draining the
surroundings, and he was already topped off.  Green energy leaked from
his eyes and mouth as he screamed his pain to the uncaring sky.  Then,
unable to contain it any longer, he threw the energy out of him and into 
the night sky.

                                   *****

     Athena snapped on her visor and began scanning Lina as the power-
mad sorceress writhed in agony, surrounded by green energy of some sort. 
The power levels she was seeing made her blanch.  "Sheila, stay back! 
Yon energy will kill you!" she cried out to her red-haired comrade.

     Sheila stopped at Athena's cry.  "What's it doing to her?"

     "Her Crystals are reacting with some power native to this
universe."  Athena read the analysis off her computer.  "It is like the
power of the Silver Crystal, but opposed somehow.  When they interact,
huge amounts of power are drained from the environment.  Tis dangerous
to get too close."

     "Like matter and anti-matter, huh?" Sheila asked.  On seeing the
blank look Athena gave her, she said, "Never mind."

     Suddenly, a column of green light filled the sky a short ways off,
by a high tower that dominated the skyline to the south.  All three of
the dimensionally displaced travelers saw it.  Indeed, all of Tokyo saw
it.  This included five young girls who had just found their princess
and lost their guardian in one fell swoop.  Needless to say, the
reactions of the various observers differed greatly.

     With a snarl of pain and rage, Lina threw herself into the sky,
flying toward the light.  She wanted to find the source of her pain and
crush it with her bare hands.  Athena used her computer to pinpoint the
origin of the light.  Sheila just stood there, gaping, as Lina took
flight.

     "Come, Sheila!  I hath the place we must be.  We must hurry, ere
Lina gets there first!"

     "Hey, I'm fast, but I can't run THAT fast."

     "Just take mine hand!" Athena said, grabbing her friend.  Then,
unable to resist, she pressed her body very closely against Sheila's. 
"We must be close together to teleport."

     "Whatever... hey, watch the hands!"

     Then they were gone.

                                   *****

     "That... hurt..." Emerald said, gasping for breath like a landed
fish.  He had just let loose a bolt of energy more powerful than any he
had ever used, except the one against the Great Enemy, and he still felt
full to bursting.  A trembling hand reached to grasp his crystal.

     "What?" he said to it.  "We have to leave?  Why?"  He listened for
a moment.  "Who's coming?"

     The doors to the tower suddenly burst open in front of him,
disgorging five Sailors who had had a very bad night.  Then there was a
flash of light and two women, one clad in a Sailor fuku, appeared behind
him.  Then, to top it all off, a redhead with silver eyes came flying
out of the sky.

     "Oh, everyone," he said, answering his own question of a moment
before.  Elsewhere seemed to be a good place to visit at the moment.

     Then his senses told him about the aura of the flying woman.

     Two... no THREE Ginzuishou's? he thought.  The power is not quite
the same... but she...  Is that Serenity?

     The moment of confusion would have cost him dearly if Sailor Moon
hadn't taken that moment to interrupt with one of her trademark
speeches.  "Hold it!  I don't know what all of you are doing here, but
I've had a VERY bad night, so don't do ANYTHING or in the name of the
Moon, I'll punish you!"

     The flying redhead threw her head back and laughed.  "Oh, how
convenient.  Wait a moment, green-hair," she called to Emerald.  "I'll
deal with you in a moment."

     "Lina, don't do this!" Sheila cried, hoping to distract the
sorceress.

     Athena, meanwhile, ran over to Emerald.  "Sir, I suggest that you
take cover.  Thou dost not want to get caught in the middle of this." 
She then took a moment to look the man over.  "Twould be a very great
shame for such a handsome man to get fried."

     Emerald stared at her, his green-on-green eyes almost bugging out. 
Did Sailor Mercury just come on to me?  Then he regained control of
himself.  "I could NOT agree more with either statement," he said before
running for the shadows.

     Meanwhile, Lina, ignoring Sheila completely, waved a negligent hand
at the already exhausted Sailor Moon.  Clear crystal erupted from the
ground beneath the inexperienced Senshi's feet and surrounded her,
trapping her like a fly in amber.

     "Hmm, low level tricks don't seem to trigger that green energy,"
Lina said to herself.

     "Sailor Moon!" cried the gathered Sailors.  As one, they unleashed
their attacks at Lina, who was prepared for them.  They bounced off a
shield.

     "MERCURY ICE BLADE!"

     Suddenly, a six foot long spear of ice slammed into Lina's back,
driving its point through her body and coming out the front, its clear
sides stained red.  Lina gave a gurgling cry and fell down on top of
Sailor Moon's prison.  Her blood ran down its sides.

     "ATHENA!" Sheila screamed.

     The Senshi of Ice stood trembling in a throwing stance, then she
lowered her hands and held them before her.  "I... I never used that on
a human..." she said.  "Oh, gods..."  She sank to her knees.  "What have
I done?"

     "You... you killed her!" the other Sailor Mercury cried out,
aghast.

     Sheila ran to her friend's side.  She couldn't believe that Athena
had done that.  "Athena, are you okay?" she asked, grabbing her friend
by the shoulders.

     The usually flirtatious Senshi was sobbing in great big heaves. 
"Oh, Sheila... I... I killed her.  I killed a human being... oh,
gods..."

     "Shhhh... shhhh..." Sheila rocked Athena back and forth gently. 
"It's okay."  Then she said quietly.  "Why?  Why did you do it?"

     "B-because... Sailor Moon was so inexperienced here and Lina was so
strong... I couldn't stop her last time... if she got a fourth Crystal,
how could we stop her?  I just wanted to wound her...."

     Sheila looked over at Lina, then turned back to Athena, hugging her
tight.  "I understand.  We had to stop her.  I just wish..."

     Her wish was never voiced, for at that moment, Lina Inverse opened
her eyes.  "AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" she yelled, vaporizing the ice
blade with her power.  Then, inside the crystal prison, the Ginzuishou
rose from Sailor Moon's body and floated up through the Crystal toward
Lina.  Everyone, including the mostly forgotten Emerald, watched in
horror as the Ginzuishou entered Lina's wound... and then replaced the
gaping hole with crystalline flesh.

     "Ha ha... hahahahaha.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Lina, floating
over the trapped Sailor Moon.  "You tried and failed to kill me,
Sheila!" she screamed.  "Now you've lost your best chance!  I WILL
ascend and then the universe will be MINE!"  With a flash of silver
light, she vanished.

     "Oh, Goddess...." Sheila said.  "Now what...?"

     "Methinks we better go, before yon natives delay us with questions
it best we not answer," Athena said.  Despite the knowledge that Lina
was still pursuing her plan, the Senshi of Ice was relieved Lina was not
dead.

     "Right."  Sheila got out the D-hopper.

     Emerald watched from the shadows, more confused than ever, as
Sailor Mercury noticed him and blew him a kiss before she and her
redheaded companion vanished.

     "What a night," he said.

     Then Mars noticed him.  "Hey!"

     "And it's not over yet," he groaned.

                                   *****

Berlin Airspace,
April, 1992

     Lina emerged in the new dimension, hovering in the night air above
a dirty metropolis, and immediately sent out a scan for its Silver
Crystal.  Seconds later, they came back a firm negative.  Lina scowled,
and began to start the dimensional transit sequence once again...

     ...then paused.  Her preciouses were speaking to her.  Of the four
of them, three could clearly remember being sundered into smaller
crystals, and then reunited -- just recently, in the case of her latest
precious.  Hesitantly, she sent out a scan for the Rainbow Crystals, as
she learned the shards were called.

     The scan came back, sending her into paroxysms of joy.  The shards
were there for the taking.  Consulting her preciouses confirmed that she
only had to remove them from the bodies of their "carriers" -- which
would, intriguingly, cause them to mutate into hideous demons -- and
then expose them to a sincerely shed tear of the Moon Princess.

     And Lina knew just who that was.  How hard can it be to get that
crybaby to shed a tear or ten? she thought happily.

     However, Sheila and her new girlfriend would probably be arriving
after her in a few minutes.  Tempting as it was to simply unleash her
full power against them, she had a strong feeling that she would need it
all and more when she went after the Silver Crystal of Sheila's
homeworld.  An even better reason to create those monsters... it would
slow Sheila down just a bit more...

     With that thought, she shot away through the skies at supersonic
speeds.

     Moments later, Sheila and Athena defolded onto the empty street
below.  "Shit!" Sheila cursed as she looked around anxiously.  "Pluto
said that after she'd gotten enough crystals in her, the tracker would
become inaccurate, but --"

     "Sheila, what are we going to do?!" Athena cried.  "We have
attempted to incapacitate her... we have attempted to kill her!  Nothing
which we have done has affected her at all!"

     Sheila spread her hands helplessly.  "I don't know, Athena.  I
honestly have no idea how in the world we're supposed to stop her,
beyond keeping her from getting her hands on more crystals.  But... we
have to try."  She took a long breath.  Inspiration suddenly struck, and
she pointed to the D-hopper.  "Did you happen to make a note of the
settings on this thing for that last dimension?"

     Athena thought quickly.  "I believe that I could call them to
memory, yes."

     "Okay.  SOMETHING about that dimension --"

     "Methinks it was that cute male."

     Sheila blinked.  "I didn't notice any... anyway, SOMETHING back
there affected the Silver Crystal's power.  If we get a chance, we might
want to trick her into going back there."

     "That seemeth to me to be a wise plan, IF we get a chance," Athena
nodded.  She seemed to look embarrassed then.  "I... I fain would
apologize to you for falling apart like that... both here and --"

     "It's no big deal, I'm THIS close --" Sheila held her finger and
thumb a centimeter apart.  "-- to freaking out myself."  Impulsively,
she bent down to press her lips between Athena's eyebrows.  "It's no big
deal," she said, in a softer tone.

     Some of the flirtation returned to Athena's face.  "Thy aim, dear
lady, is sadly some few inches above thy proper target --"

     "Not now, Athena," Sheila said, glad to have her back.  "First off,
let's find out where we --"  She looked up, and saw a flag that she'd
missed when she'd been looking around for Sheila.

     A red flag, with a white circle in the center, on which was placed
an ancient symbol in black.  Even if she hadn't been an historian,
Sheila couldn't have failed to recognize that symbol, and all that it
represented.

     The swastika.

     "Oh, Goddess," she muttered, horrified.

                                   *****

Crystal Tokyo
September, 2980

     "Look, I don't CARE about the thaumatological implications of this,
I just want to know what happened to Sheila, ASAP!" Misa von Fogler
yelled, brushing a stray strand of purple-black hair out of her eyes.

     The Assistant Dean of Arcane Studies, one Aburatsubo Ayanojou,
gazed back at her with a calm born from lengthy meditation into the
magical arts and from the fact that he wasn't even remotely affected by
her physical charms.  "As I was SAYING," he continued, "all our
inquiries agree that the ritual Ms. Inverse laid out was intended to
banish herself back to her native dimension, but we cannot say for
certain what caused the interruption in the process or what its affects
were.  Necroscopic examination showed that no spiritual remnants of
either Ms. Inverse or Ms. Ten'kai could be found... which given the
state of the room, would tend to indicate that nobody died here."

     Looking around, Misa had to agree.  Bits of the laboratory floor
were still smoking from the momentary yet intense blaze that had been
kindled by WHATEVER Lina Inverse had attempted, and the walls were
scorched.  Periodically, one of the magical investigators examining the
floor would discover a bit of the diagram which had been inscribed
thereon, and call his or her fellows over to discuss its meaning.  It
was a slow, painful process.

     "And that's all you can say for certain?" Misa asked again.

     "Yes.  Major Fogler, believe me, I do empathize, but we're doing
the best we can with our resources.  When Takeo-chan -- er, the Dean
gets back from his conference in Britain this evening, he may be able to
determine more." Aburatsubo's face indicated that he doubted his own
words.

     "Okay," Misa sighed, after a moment of staring at the room. 
"Please, call me as soon as you find out ANYTHING..."  She then stepped
out of the laboratory, to give the investigators room to operate. 
Outside, in the hallway, she clutched the Star of David that hung from
her neck, and whispered a quiet prayer for Sheila.

     That was when her beeper went off.

                                   *****

Berlin, S.S. Headquarters
April, 1992

     Tristan moved swiftly yet deliberately through the chaos that this
morning had wrought.  The only sign of any confusion on his part was a
slight amount of muss in his hair, and one of the buttons on his uniform
being only half-done.

     In contrast, Andreas was a wreck as he fell into step beside him. 
Under any other circumstances, that amount of sheer messiness could have
gotten one dishonorably discharged via a bullet, but today was very
different.

     "So a signature larger than anything our detectors ever picked up
before this point showed up in downtown Berlin early this morning?"
Tristan asked.

     "Right," Andreas gulped.

     "Could those energy vampires we've been observing have been the
vanguard for some kind of an invasion?" Tristan wondered aloud.

     "Combined with the other thing --"

     "The abduction."

     "Abductions," Andreas corrected quietly.

     Tristan paused, turning to look at his confederate.  "I'd heard
about Josef... who else--"

     "Josef is the only one of us who's been taken, but... when I woke
up this morning, I was alone.  And I wasn't alone when I went to sleep,
if you take my meaning."

     "Erika?" Tristan asked, startled.  "That doesn't make any sense --
why would --"

     "There've been a swath of missing persons reports, Tristan.  A
painter for the Reichskulturkammer, the son of IG Farben mid-level
executive -- there's no pattern --"

     "No obvious pattern, you mean.  Very well, what do we do?"

                                   *****

     Rachel prayed.  Clutching her rosary tightly to her, she murmured
the Latin words as though her life depended on them -- an irony in and
of itself, as there was a fairly good chance that she would have been
beaten to death if she'd done this in public.  If she'd APPEARED in
public.

     So far, none of the other people who were in the small room with
her had taken issue with it, although the young man in the glasses and
the SS uniform periodically glared in her direction when her Latin
prayers caught his ears.  The next youngest person in the room was a boy
whom Rachel judged to be about her own age.  He was crouching with his
hands over his eyes in the corner across the room from her, muttering,
"It's getting even worse," over and over.

     The only one who seemed CALM was a large cat with strangely
greenish fur, who was curled up and seemed to be almost asleep.  An old
man was petting its fur, with a strangely resigned expression.  Two
young women rounded out the group, and were speaking together in hushed
tones.  They had glanced at her novitiate robes and at the SS man and
then stayed as far away from her as possible.

     Suddenly the doors at the front of the room opened.  The SS
Unterleutenant whipped around to stare at the... person who was there.

     Rachel wasn't sure how else to think of her.  Whatever that person
was, it wasn't human, so it was probably a mistake to think of it as a
woman, despite the surface similarities.  No woman born had eyes of
gleaming crystal.

     "All right, now I don't want any --" the person began to say.

     The SS man snarled in her direction, and seemed to be concentrating
fiercely.  The person turned to look at him with an expression that
seemed to be almost annoyed.  'She' lifted her eyebrows, and he let out
a short gasp of pain, then collapsed.

     "Very tough," 'she' said in a brusque manner.  "But if you're a
telekinetic wrestler, I'm a telekinetic sumotori!"  'She' laughed, then,
a long cackling laugh.

     Everyone stared.  The laughter trailed off.  "Sumotori?" she said,
guessing why Rachel, at least, was confused.  "You know?  Those big
guys?  With loin cloths?  Dosu-koi?"  She blinked.  "Oh, wait.  This
isn't Japan, is it?"

     I've been abducted by an INSANE sorcerer, Rachel thought numbly,
and continued to pray.  The light glinting off the sorcerer's pole arm
kept distracting her, however.  It looked VERY sharp.

     "What do you want with us?" asked one of the women, who was wearing
a rather revealing nightgown.

     "Oh, not much.  Just a small crystal that's located in each of your
hearts," the sorcerer answered brightly.

     "A... crystal?  In our hearts?" the other woman, dressed in a
painter's smock, asked.  She had an odd look on her face.

     "Yep!  This'll just take a few seconds, and --"

     "NO!"  The shriek came from the boy, who had shoved himself up onto
his feet.  The look on his face was so frightened that it made Rachel
stop her invocation for a moment.  "You can't -- you don't know what
you're doing!  It's... this is... this world is wrong enough!  You can't
--"

     "I can, and will," the sorceress said, any trace of a friendly
manner vanishing in an instant.  "Don't worry, though... this won't
hurt."  She lifted her pole arm.  "I think."

     And then a bolt of silvery light burst from the pole arm, to strike
into each of their chests simultaneously.

     The final thought that Rachel had before the pain erased all other
sensations was annoyance at having been lied to.

                                   *****

     Kani Schmitt had just finished when the cat climbed through the
bathroom window.  "Kani!  There's trouble!" the cat announced.

     "Already?" the short-haired teenager asked.  "Don't they normally
wait until after dark?"

     Luna shook her head.  "I don't think it's them, this time... I have
a terrible feeling that it's something worse."

     "Worse how?" Kani asked flatly.

     Luna might have tried clutching her hair in frustration had she had
opposable thumbs.  "I don't know!  I just sense that this is even more
horrible than the monsters we've been fighting so far!"

     "All right," Kani sighed.  "I guess I'd better go see about it."  A
spasm of guilt for abandoning her mother to the chores passed through
her.  "I'll be out in the alley in a few seconds."

     She slipped out of the bathroom, and just in time, as one of her
younger siblings was just about to start rapping at the door.  Holding
her breath, she made her way to the door of the house -- and then out.

     It was oddly anticlimactic for her first successful evasion of
responsibility.  She dashed into the alley.  "Okay, where do I go from
here?"

     "Ummm..." Luna temporized.

     "Luna, do you mean to tell me that you don't know where this
horrible danger IS?"

     "Well, I --"

     Kani let out yet another sigh.  "All right, we'll just have to look
for it, and hope that no one sees me running around like this."  She
produced the brooch, raised it above her head, and cried,
"MondprismenMacht, schminke!"

     Swiftly she was transformed into Matrose Mond, and gathered Luna
into her arms.  Matrose Mond leapt up onto the rooftops, and began to
run.

                                   *****

     "I confess that I do not understand... what is it about this place
that you find so repellent?" Athena asked as she watched Sheila peering
out of the alley into which she had hustled both of them a few minutes
before.  "Though the decor leaves much to be desired, it doth not seem
THAT much poorer than didst the town of Blut --"

     Sheila held up a hand.  "Okay, short version.  Roughly half a
century before I was born, there was a major war fought among most of
the nations of the Earth against... well, ONE of the most vile,
inhumane, EVIL regimes to have ever existed in humanity's history."  She
hated to reduce the Nazis to "one of the worst", but her sense of
historical honesty forced her to consider the acts of the Soviet Union
at the same time, to say nothing of the Khmer Rouge and the much later
Second Chinese Republic and the Nodachi Nation... "Anyway, judging from
the technology that I've seen so far... this world is one in which that
regime wasn't crushed in that war... but prospered."

     "What was so terrible about it?" Athena asked, concerned.  "Didst
they worship the Things from Beyond, or --"

     Sheila shook her head.  "No, theirs was a far more pragmatic
philosophy.  It'd surprise me if they have any interest in magic at all. 
Their ideals were repulsive, but it was how they acted on those ideals
that was --"

     "Sheila, thou art being obfuscatory."

     She couldn't meet Athena's eyes.  "Among other things they did was
to..."  She took a deep breath, and described the Holocaust, in brief. 
Images from photos and film footage she had seen, both in her youth in
the twenty-first century and in the thirtieth, passed through her mind
as she did.

     When she was done, Athena stared blankly for a moment.  "And they
did not worship the Things from Beyond?" she asked, faintly.

     "No.  Some of them claimed to be following the ancient religious
traditions of their people, but --"

     "I do not feel well," Athena announced.  She walked to the side of
the alley and was noisily sick.  Sheila watched sympathetically.

     After a few moments, Athena stood and brushed herself off.  She
turned back to look at Sheila.  "Excuse me.  I... it seems that I had
greatly underestimated the potential of the human race when it comes to
atrocity."

     "It's okay," Sheila said, quietly.  "You wouldn't be the first."

     Athena let out a shuddering breath.  "Very well.  Quite apart from
the horrors that this world holds, there remains our problem of how to
discover where Lina is, to say nothing of a way to defeat her.  What
shall we do?"

     "Your computer!"  Sheila said, snapping her fingers.  "You can set
it to track the energy of the Silver Crystal, right?  Well then you
could -- track it over a map of this city... if we had a map of this
city," Sheila trailed off.

     "That would be a problem," Athena agreed.

     Sheila looked up at the smog-filled skies and sighed heavily.  "I
don't --"

     A red, white, and blue shape leaped across the mouth of the alley. 
Sheila blinked, then lunged up the side of the building herself,
clinging to the edge and popping her head over it.  The figure was
already quite a ways away, but the cut of her uniform was unmistakable -
- even if the absurdly short ponytails confused her momentarily.

     Sheila looked down at where Athena was staring up.  "Come on, I've
figured out how we're going to find where she is.  We're following HER!"

     "Who?" Athena asked, confused.

     "The pretty -- sort-of -- sailor suited warrior of love and justice
-- or what passes for them here -- Sailor Moon, of course."

                                   *****

     Rachel was in Hell.

     That was the only conclusion she could come to as the silver light
tore into her.  Around her gaped and gibbered creatures from the foulest
pits, those who had formerly been her fellow prisoners.

     The Unterleutenant had been the first to change, as a red crystal
flew from his chest.  Swirling black clouds had surrounded him, then
when they parted, he had changed.  He was wearing a form-fitting black
uniform, the jagged lightning-styled SS on his chest.  Silver gauntlets
bristling with weapons covered his hands and his face was covered by a
metal mask.  Scarlet eyes gleamed maliciously from the mask's slits.

     The old man had changed second, an orange crystal flying from his
chest.  Pink smoke had surrounded him for a moment.  When it cleared,
the golden wings of the Reich's >der Adler< had sprouted from his back. 
A spiked helmet, the >pikelhaube<, was on his head and a >Feldgrau
Wehrmacht< uniform covered his body.  His hands were covered with boxing
gloves, however.  His legs ended in golden eagle talons.  He smacked his
fists together.

     The young boy, screaming in agony, had succumbed to the sorceress
next.  Red smoke had billowed forth from his body as a yellow crystal
appeared before him.  When it cleared, he had become a giant reptilian
monster clad in the armor of a Teutonic Knight.  Instead of hands, his
arms ended in wickedly sharp swords and he clanged them together
menacingly.

     With a shriek, the girl in the paint-smeared smock had surrendered
a green crystal to the insane sorceress.  Emerald light had played
around her and then she had sprouted wings, like the old man.  Hers,
however had black feathers, like Wotan's ravens in Wagner's pagan
operas.  Her face was one of unearthly beauty, framed by glossy black
hair, but her lips were curled in a cruel smile.

     The other girl, the one in the shamefully immodest lingerie, bore
her transformation soundlessly, but the agony showed on her face as a
blue crystal flew from her.  Azure light surrounded her, then faded to
reveal her transformed as well.  She now wore a riding uniform, complete
with red jacket, white jodhpurs, and shiny black boots.  The only
inhuman things about her was her light green skin and red and orange
hair.  There was a feral cast to her face now, however, her ears
slightly pointed and fangs showing when she smiled.

     The fat cat was not ignored.  A purple crystal flew from him as a
grey whirlwind closed around him.  When it parted, a fierce beast, all
fur and claws and sharp teeth slavered menacingly where the fat cat had
lain.

     As terrible as her fellow prisoner's transformations were, Rachel's
suffering was worse, for the silver lightning played over her, stabbing
deep inside her again and again with no results.

     Lina finally lowered her Glaive, letting the lightning fade away. 
"Curious," she muttered.

     The SS man, or what had been the SS man, began to speak.  "I am--"

     Lina, who was muttering to herself, glared at him.  "Look, I don't
care WHO you guys are.  You're working for me now, so sit down and shut
up!"  Her silver eyes glittered menacingly.  The SS man backed down
quickly.

     She glared at Rachel.  "I don't get it.  It worked on these other
morons.  How can you resist?"

     "Maybe--" began the riding outfit woman.

     "SHUT UP!" she screamed.  She glared at all the monsters.  "You
jerks rate as pond scum to me.  IF you make yourself useful, I may let
you live to do whatever it is monsters do."

     The monsters slunk back and tried to make themselves unobtrusive. 
Even Rachel could sense the power the sorcerer possessed.

     After much muttering, Lina turned back to the monsters.  "Make
yourself useful, why don't you.  Go out and find Sailor Moon."

     "Um, who?" the boxer said, cautiously.

     "DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING?" the sorcerer screamed.  She waived
her glaive and three images appeared in mid air.  Rachel gasped at the
sheer beauty and serenity of the first one, a beautiful blonde woman
wearing a jeweled tiara and wearing a long white gown.  The second image
appeared to be of the same woman, except as a young girl in a leotard
and short blue skirt.  The last was of the girl again, but in a simple
blouse and dress combination.  "HER.  ANY MORE QUESTIONS?"

     "N-no," the boxer said.

     "Good!  Now get going, Groucho."

     "My name is--"

     "I told you, I. DON'T. CARE.  Your names are now... Groucho, Harpo,
Chico, Zeppo, Gummo and... Margaret, OK  now SCRAM!"

     The monsters left very hastily.

     The sorcerer sighed and looked over at Rachel.  "Well, now..." she
said, raising her crystalline hand.  The hand slowly changed shape,
becoming a long and sharp blade.  "Does it hurt?" she giggled as the
blade entered Rachel's chest.

                                   *****

     Matrose Mond was not stupid.  Inexperienced, perhaps, but she had
grown up in the school of hard knocks.  And, in any case, it didn't
really take much to notice two people following you when you are
traveling the rooftop highway.

     She ducked behind a chimney as a helicopter roared by, its
spotlight sweeping across the rooftops, looking for enemies of the state
or voyeurs... if they were not one in the same thing.

     "Kani, what's wrong?" Luna asked.

     "Shhh!" Matrose Mond whispered.  "We're being followed."

     "Do you think that they're the Enemy?"

     "No, WE are the enemy!" shouted another voice.

     Matrose Mond looked up and saw SIX monsters standing before her. 
She had never faced more than one at a time.  This did not look good.

     "Luna, if I have any escape powers, this would be a good time for
you to tell me," she said.

     "RUN!" the cat screamed.

     Matrose Mond tried to do so, but when she turned, the reptilian
Teutonic Knight was already standing before her.  She was soon
surrounded on all sides by the monsters.

     "So, you thought you could hide from us with a simple hair cut?"
the monstrous SS man asked.  "Ha!  My friend here," he indicated the
Teutonic Knight, "can see the future!  How do you escape that?"

     Suddenly, a red missile was thrown into the midst of the circle of
monsters.  Everyone looked up in surprise.  Perched on a chimney stood a
man in a top hat and tails, his arms crossed over his chest.  With the
exception of being perched on a chimney 40 feet above the street, he
looked like a wealthy gentleman on his way to see an opera.

     ">Ich bin der Smokingmaske!<" he intoned.  "Why do you monsters
insist on disturbing the peace of Berlin's night?"

     The SS monster was the first to regain his wits and opened his
mouth to challenge the fashionable defender of Berlin, but whatever he
was going to say was drowned by another interruption.

     "SHABON SPRAY!"

     Thick white fog filled the rooftop.  Before Matrose Mond could do
anything, she felt someone grab her.  She let out a small shriek, but a
hand covered her mouth before she could do anything more.  "Come on,
we're getting you out of here!" a voice whispered in her ear.  Then,
despite her struggles, her captor carried her effortlessly away.

     When the fog finally cleared, the Shadows were NOT happy to be
alone on the roof top.

                                   *****

     Lina sat back and sighed.  Blood dripped down her crystalline hand
as the knife blade slowly changed back into four fingers and a thumb. 
"You are being SO difficult," she said to Rachel.

     Rachel just lay there, gasping for breath.  Her throat felt like it
was on fire.  She had screamed until her voice gave out.  Her clothes
were cut down the front, shamelessly exposing her bloody chest.  But
that was the least of her worries.

     "Ave Maria, gratia plena," she whispered.  She could still remember
what that crystal blade had felt like, slicing through her flesh. 
"Dominus tecum."  The wounds had closed immediately, but oh the blood! 
"Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus." 
The horrible staccato feeling of her heart struggling to beat as the
blade pierced it.  "Sancta Maria, Mater Dei."  The liquid weight of her
blood filling her lungs and then being burned away.  "Ora pro nobis
peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae."  And the insane woman
giggling as she defiled her body.  "A-amen."

     "Is that some sort of prayer?" Lina asked.

     "Ave Maria," Rachel began again.  "Gratia plena--"

     The crystal hand grabbed her throat.  "I asked a question, you
know."

     "D-dominus... tecum.  B-ben... e... dic... ta... tu... in...
mul..."  The hand tightened its grip, choking off her air.

     Lina looked closely at the young girl's face as it began to turn
blue.  A pretty face, except that she lacked eyebrows for some reason. 
Suddenly, recognition dawned on her face.  "Oh ho!  So THAT'S why."  She
dropped Rachel back down.

     The young girl gasped for breath, still mumbling her prayers.

     "I can help you, you know," Lina said, eyeing the girl.  "If you
just let me in, past your defenses, I can get what I want and end this. 
Really, all that you're accomplishing is the continuation of your own
suffering.

     "A-ave Maria--"

     "Again and again with that!  You should study more, you know,
because it seems that your spell isn't summoning any help."

     The door to Lina's hastily prepared hideout burst open as she said
that.  Lina looked up, in surprise and annoyance.  For a moment, Rachel
wondered if her prayers had been answered.  On seeing the six Shadows
troop sheepishly in, her hopes died again.

     "WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE?" Lina thundered.

     The SS monster quailed slightly, but then stiffened his spine. 
With a glare at the Teutonic Reptile, who shuffled his feet, he began. 
"We met with... resistance and had to make a strategic withdrawal--"

     Lina through up her hands.  "Youma!  Of all the demons, devils,
monsters, oni, mazoku, and pit fiends in the many hells, I have to get
the most pathetic specimens!"

     "We found the one you sought, but she had friends!" the SS monster
said.  "A man in a tuxedo and someone else who summoned up a fog to
blind us."

     "Damn!  Why can't Sheila just go away?!  I mean--"  Lina stopped as
a thought occurred to her.  "Were you followed?"

     "Of course not!  We were very careful!" the SS monster, whom the
others seemed to have elected spokesman, said.

     "OK, they should be here soon, then," Lina said, smiling.

                                   *****

     "JUST LET ME GO!" Matrose Mond screamed.

     Sheila sighed and dropped this world's version of her queen on the
hard slate roof.  Mond almost immediately began to slide down, but she
scrabbled for a hold.  Sheila was unnerved watching her because she
would have expected a wail or tears from her, given how the other Sailor
Moons she had met acted, but this one merely grunted.

     "Look, I'm sorry," Sheila began, "but it was the quickest way to
get away from those things."

     Mond took a deep breath and checked Luna.  She studied her captors
carefully, looking for any sign of who they worked for and how much
trouble she was in.  Then she and Luna both noticed the VERY familiar
uniform the one with short blue hair was wearing.

     "Matrose Merkur?" Luna asked.

     "Nay, I am Senshi Mercury, of the Moon Kingdom," Athena said.

     "The Moon Kingdom?" Mond asked.

     "Look, we don't have time to explain, and you wouldn't understand 
if we did.  We're chasing someone, a girl with red hair and eyes of
crystal.  We THINK she may be responsible for those monsters you just
faced.  If we don't stop her--"

     "Sheila, love, methinks this quest doth wear on thy social skills. 
Thou art being quite rude," Athena said.

     "Athena, we don't have TIME."

     "Hold it!"  Both of them looked at Mond.  "The monsters are
leaving," she said, pointing back over the rooftop at the place they had
just vacated.  "If we follow them instead of arguing, we can find their
leader and stop them."

     Athena and Sheila boggled at her.

     "You're taking this very well," Sheila said.

     Mond shrugged.  "Either I trust you and we defeat this evil, so I
can go home, or you're going to kill me.  You could have done that
already.  And if you're in league with those monsters, this is still my
best chance to find out where they come from and stop them."  She
shrugged fatalistically.

     Athena and Sheila exchanged glances, surprised at how resigned this
Sailor Moon seemed to be.  "Very well, lead on," Sheila said.  "You know
this city better than us."

     They bounded off into the night.

                                   *****

     Lina brought the Silence Glaive up and spun it around her head. 
All the candles she had had the Shadows place lit as she did so.  The
Rainbow Crystals were now imbedded in the Glaive and sparkled brightly
in the light.  Rachel was now strapped naked to a table, on which Lina
had scrawled a few mystical signs.  The young girl, now without her head
covering, was revealed to be quite bald.  In fact, no hair grew anywhere
on her body.  The Shadows stood around her, shuffling uneasily as she
worked.

     Satisfied, Lina began chanting.  The symbols she had inscribed
began to glow with silver light as she did.  Rachel began to scream--

     --and one of the few windows in the place blew open, letting in
three defenders of love and justice, sorta.

     "Lina!" Sheila cried.

     "Mein Gott!"  Matrose Mond said.

     All Athena said was succinctly put in a blast of icy water that
congealed and hardened into clear ice around the Shadows.

     And a symbol flickered into life on Rachel's brow.

     "That sign!  She's Matrose Mars!" Luna exclaimed.

     Sheila wasted no more time.  She leapt at the deranged proto-
goddess, cocked back her fist, and punched Lina across the jaw as hard
as she could.  She never, EVER, hit a living being that hard.  As she
felt Lina's jaw practically disintegrate beneath her blow, becoming a
pulpy mess of flesh, she knew she never wanted to do it again.  She
quietly steeled herself to do just that, however, if Lina tried anything
more.  A memory of a song Aunt Raye had written about bloody red hands
crossed her mind, then faded.

     Luna and Matrose Mond ran over to the poor girl.  Luna produced a
red wand from nowhere and gave it to Mond.  "Quick, get her to hold this
and say >Marsprismen-Macht, schminke!<"

     Matrose Mond did not question.  She put the wand into Rachel's
hand.  "If you want to help us stop her, say >Marsprismen-Macht,
schminke!<" she said.

     Rachel could hardly see, she was in so much pain.  Over and over,
she had repeated her prayers, prayers God had not seen fit to answer. 
Now, a face, surrounded by a golden halo, was urging her to say
something.  An Angel?  Slowly, Rachel said the words.  ">M-
marsprismenMacht... schminke.<"

     Burning fire surrounded her, permeating her body.  She felt it
scouring through her body, burning away the pain, filling her with its
power.

     Then the fire reached her heart and the agony began again. 
Something was wrong.  The mystical signs around her flared even brighter
as she writhed in pain.  Something did not belong there.  The fire
sought to burn it, but it resisted.  The agony mounted until finally it
burst out of her, ejected by the fire.

     An indigo crystal.

     "YES!" exulted Lina.  Her jaw, which had been a bloody mess of raw
flesh a moment ago, knitted itself back together.  The indigo crystal
flew toward her --

     And Sheila snatched it out of the air with a desperate expression. 
The attraction that it felt towards its brethren, mounted on the silver
blade of the Silence Glaive, made it dig into her palm, and she
suppressed a grimace as she fought to hold it.

     The unholy rapture on Lina's face turned instantly to a look of
almost psychotic hatred.  "You --" she sputtered.

     Sheila didn't waste time trying to assault the mad demigod, but
turned and dove directly at Athena, shrieking "LET'S GO!" at the top of
her lungs.

     Athena caught her in a firm grip, while Sheila slammed down the
controls of the D-hopper with her free hand.  In an instant, they were
gone.

     Lina howled, and brandished the Silence Glaive.  "Sheila you
BITCH!" she screamed.  At her words, all candles in the room suddenly
burned with the head of a blowtorch.  The walls began to catch fire.

     For a moment after that, Lina said nothing, her face dimly lit by
the burning flames in a mask of rage.  "All right," she hissed finally. 
"TWO can play hide-and-seek."  She vanished in a spray of silver light.
Once she was gone, the fires died back down, the mass of ice in the room
damping them.

     "Was--?" Mond began.

     Matrose Mars was not taking things too calmly, either.  "Holy
Father, what has happened?  What am I wearing?" she shrieked, looking at
the indecently short red skirt, high heels, and tight leotard that now
covered her body.  Her head was tingling.  She reached up to feel it and
instead of finding her normally smooth scalp, her fingers encountered a
short buzz cut.  Hair.  She had hair!  "A m-miracle!"

     Sirens filled the night, coming closer.  "The real miracle will be
if we can get out of here," Mond said.  "Come on, I'll explain
everything... well, almost everything."

     The two leapt out into the night.

                                   *****

     Tristan and Andreas viewed the chaos.  Three entire units of SS had
been called out to handle the... monsters they had found encased in ice. 
They seemed safe enough, but refrigeration units had been airlifted in
to make sure they stayed that way.

     "Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder, eh,
Tristan?" Andreas said, his voice dull and leaden.  His missing
girlfriend still wore heavily on him.

     Tristan merely grunted.  He had seen these monsters earlier, when
he had succumbed once again to the strange power that afflicted him. 
Was he some kind of werewolf?  What kind of werewolf wore a tuxedo? 
Still, something had felt... right, when he saved that girl again.

     "Hey, Tristan, what do you think is going on?"

     "I don't know, Andreas," he finally said.  "I don't know."

                                   *****

Tokyo, Japan
The not-too-distant past

     With a faint sound of displaced air, Athena and Sheila appeared. 
They both sank to their knees, clutching each other tightly.

     "Whoa," Sheila finally said, once she had gotten her breath back
somewhat.  Running from an insane goddess-wannabe certainly got the
adrenaline going.  Her hands were still shaking.  Athena didn't seem
much better off.  The Senshi of Ice was shivering in Sheila's arms.

     "You OK, Athena?"

     "Just let me catch mine breath," Athena said, holding herself close
to Sheila.  In truth, Athena just wanted to enjoy one quiet moment with
Sheila holding her.  She suspected that if they were successful in their
quest that Pluto would separate them.  The idea of such separation
already seemed too horrible to contemplate.

     Sheila, for her part looked around and wondered why the D-hopper
seemed to have a hard-on for alleys.  Nine times out of ten, it dumped
you in an alley.  Oh, she could see how useful that was to a traveler
trying to be inconspicuous... but the stench and the trash did nothing
to encourage tourism via this method.  She wondered what this world was
like, but all she could tell was that it was dark out... she hoped that
meant it was night.  She couldn't deal with much more strangeness at the
moment.

     Her eyelids grew heavy and she found herself yawning.  How long had
it been since she had any sleep?  Too long, her body was saying.  She
looked down at her companion and found that Athena's eyes were closed.

     "Hey, wake up," she whispered.  "We can't go to sleep--"

     The events of the day finally caught up to her and Sheila slept.

                                   *****

     Mizuno Ami opened her eyes.  Dark shadows surrounded her, their
shapes strange and unfamiliar.  Then she began to recognize her bedroom. 
It was late, well past midnight, and she wondered what had woken her.

     Then it came again.  An insistent beeping from her computer. 
Reaching down under her mattress, she pulled it out.  Activating it, she
tried to find out what was wrong.  If it woke her mother, she didn't
know how she would explain its presence.

     "Ami-chan?" came a sleepy voice from the foot of the bed.  For a
moment, Ami froze, thinking it WAS her mother.  But instead she saw a
pair of luminous eyes topped by a crescent moon.  It was just Luna.

     Luna leapt toward the head of the bed and rubbed her head against
Ami's side.  "What's wrong, Ami-chan?"

     Ami scanned the display on her computer.  "It detected a
dimensional portal, not too far away."  That's right, she thought to
herself.  Ever since Umino... I've been refining its search program to
watch for the Dark Kingdom's attempts to enter this world.  If only they
could be proactive instead of reactive for once, they could stop Beryl
and the Generals before anyone else died.

     "It wasn't your fault, Ami-chan," Luna said, sensing her protege's
thoughts.

     "I'm going to call Jupiter and Crystal, Luna," Ami said, picking up
her communicator from her night stand.  She stared at it for a moment,
then turned to her guardian.  "You know, sometimes I wish you had never
found me and told me I was Sailor Mercury."

     I wish I could have spared all of you this, Luna thought.

                                   *****

     Sheila should have slept the sleep of the dead, but she had been
operating in survival mode too long for that.  The sound of voices woke
her instantly and she immediately grabbed the sleeping senshi close to
her.  Then, with a mighty spring, she leapt to the roof of one of the
nearby buildings.  Athena didn't even stir, she noticed.  Maybe she was
really tired, or maybe she felt secure in Sheila's arms--

     Sheila brushed the thought aside.  They had no time for such
things.  No matter how she might wish otherwise.  She turned her
attention to the people entering the alley.  Two of them were very
familiar; Sailors Mercury and Jupiter.  The other wore a white uniform
with a red heart over her breast.

     "Not this time," Sheila whispered to herself.  She looked down to
the indigo crystal she still clutched in her hand.  Lina would be coming
for her and Athena first.  She didn't want to risk her Mom and Aunts'
lives... even if they weren't really her family.  Her words to Sailor
Pluto echoed in her mind.  "It's all my fault," she whispered, "and I'm
going to set it right."

     Sheila set Athena down on the rooftop and looked at the Senshi of
Ice fondly.  After planting a light kiss on her companion's forehead,
the senshidottir bounded away.  She was determined to make it easy for
Lina to find her, so they could have this out for once and for all.

     Behind her, Athena opened her eyes and stared after her friend. 
Getting to her feet, she followed, determined not to let her friend risk
her life alone.

                                   *****

     Queen Beryl was not pleased.  She was not pleased with how the
campaign against Earth was going, she was not pleased with how her
underlings were performing and she was definitely not pleased that 'not
pleased' was becoming her most common state of mind.

     "Tell me again, Zoisite," she said archly, "how you let things get
so out of control."

     "My Queen," Kunzite began, stepping forward beside his lover.

     "I did not ask you, Kunzite!" Beryl thundered.  "I want Zoisite to
explain his failure.  And it had better be a good explanation, Zoisite,
or Jadeite and Nephrite's fates will seem easy by comparison with
yours."

     Zoisite struggled to not reveal his anger to his Queen.  The pain
lancing through his still unhealed hand, the one that had been burned to
a blackened claw by the Star Crystal when Osaka Naru had taken it from
him to become Senshi Crystal, focused his mind wonderfully.  He directed
all of his rage at those who deserved it, the Sailor Senshi, and humbled
himself before his Queen.

     "My Queen, all is not as bad as it appears," he began.  "It is true
that the Sailor brats have three Crystals to our two.  It is also true
that Tuxedo Kamen has used his two crystals to empower someone to be his
aide, this Tuxedo Staff."  Zoisite gestured and the images of their
enemies appeared: Sailor Jupiter, Senshi Crystal in her white mockery of
a General's uniform, Tuxedo Kamen, and the blonde in the top hat, tails,
and fishnet stockings who called herself Tuxedo Staff, her two Rainbow
Crystals glittering at the ends of the black staff she bore.  In front
of them all was their first foe, the brains of the operation, Sailor
Mercury.

     "A recitation of your failures will not impress me, Zoisite.  Give
me a reason to allow you to continue breathing or I will end your
pathetic existence now!"

     "'Pathetic?'" came a strange voice from the shadows above the
throne.  "Yeah, I guess that about sums you all up.  Especially you,
Queenie."

     The assembled youma gasped at the effrontery of the voice.  Zoisite
and Kunzite gathered their powers and fired into the shadows.  The light
from their beams of destruction underlit a slim female figure bearing a
polearm.  The female's body seemed to be made out of crystal in spots,
especially her glittering eyes.  With a wave of her Glaive, Lina sent
the attacks back at the Generals, blowing them off their feet.  Then,
almost daintily, Lina floated down in front of Beryl.  Seeing their
leaders so easily cowed, the assembled youma slunk back to hide in the
shadows of the cavernous room.

     "Who dares--!"

     "Zip it," Lina ordered with a wave of her crystalline hand. 
Immediately Beryl's mouth sealed itself shut with what looked like a
giant zipper.  Lina seemed very amused by this.  "A bit too literal of
my power, but it works for me.  Now, where's the boss of this
operation?"

     Beryl grabbed her orb of power and directed a mighty blast of power
through it at Lina.  The black energy struck the insane proto-goddess...
and then disappeared.

     Lina seemed slightly annoyed.

     "Look, Queen of Flunkies, you're only still alive because I'm not
annoyed enough yet to justify the energy it would take to snuff out your
existence.  Note the emphasis on 'yet.'  Keep trying and I'll work you
into the budget."  With that, Lina reached over and grabbed the front of
Beryl's dress and pulled her close.  "Take me to Metallia NOW...
please."

     Beryl looked into the glittering crystalline eyes and, for the
first time in millennia, truly felt fear.  Before she could respond,
another voice answered for her.

     <I AM HERE.>

     It was silent, speaking only in their minds, yet at the same time
it drowned out all other sounds.  It spoke of centuries of pain, blood,
and terror.  It was darkness, evil, entropy and violence.  It crept into
the dark corners of your soul and spoke to the evil within you.

     Lina did not seem impressed.

     "Finally," she said.  "It's about time you showed up."

     <I LIKE NOT YOUR TONE, MORTAL.>

     Lina burst out laughing.  She actually bent over, clutching her
sides as she did so.  "Boy, you REALLY have no clue, do you?" she asked
finally, when she caught her breath again.

     <WHAT DO YOU WANT HERE?>

     "Oh, business at last?  Good," Lina said, all traces of humor
fleeing.  "I have the power to free you, Metallia."

     <IN RETURN FOR WHAT?>

     Lina spun the Glaive around in a circle.  "Oh, two small, almost
insignificant things, neither of which will be very important to you."

     <AND THOSE WOULD BE?>

     Beryl and her Generals watched in disbelief as their goddess
treated with this upstart as if she were an equal.

     "The Silver Crystal... and my good friend Sheila Ten'kai's head on
a platter."

                                   *****

     Two junior high school students were sitting together, studying.
The boy was thin and short, with dark brown hair and serious eyes.  The
girl was Mizuno Ami.  They were reading from separate books, but they
were sitting more closely together than was absolutely necessary. 
Suddenly, the boy looked up, his eyes glazing over.

     "Ryo-kun?  What's wrong?" Ami asked.

     Urawa Ryo slowly refocused on the here and now.  He was as pale as
a ghost.  "Ami-chan... I think you and the others should get to the
Tokyo Tower right now."

     Used to her boyfriend's prophetic sight, Ami reached for her
communicator.  "What did you see, Ryo-kun?" she asked as she pushed the
button for Sailor Jupiter.

     "The end of the world."

                                   *****

     In another bedroom across town, a handsome college student suddenly
looked up from where he was tutoring a young girl.  The girl, whose long
blonde hair was drawn back into two ponytails that fell from two balls
of hair on top of her head, looked up in alarm.  "Mamoru-kun?" she
asked.

     "We have to go, Usagi-chan," Chiba Mamoru said, producing a rose
from his dark green coat.  Almost instantly, he transformed into Tuxedo
Kamen.

     Tsukino Usagi nodded and reached into her blouse pocket to produce
two rainbow crystals.  She held one in each hand and stretched them as
far apart as she could.  "Rainbow Crystal Power!" she said.  A black rod
formed connecting the crystals.  Usagi felt the power rush through her,
remaking her, forging her on a crystal anvil.  Her hair came undone and
fell down in a great golden wave, a top hat appearing on her head.  Her
clothing unraveled and reformed into her tuxedo and tights.  She spun
about involuntarily and posed, staff in hand.

     Neither she nor Tuxedo Kamen knew how she was capable of
manipulating the Rainbow Crystals in this manner.  They assumed that it
was merely a function of the crystals.  But after Umino had died at
Zoisite's hands during the search for the Crystals, Usagi knew she could
not remain on the sidelines while Sailor Mercury and the Sailor Senshi
fought against the forces of evil.

     "Ready, Usagi-chan?"

     "Ready, Tuxedo Kamen-sama... but, where are we going?  What's
wrong?"

     "Everything, Usagi-chan... everything."

                                   *****

     Clouds began to form, dark and ominous clouds, accompanied by gusts
of wind.  The streets of Tokyo emptied quickly as the weather turned
foul.  Weathermen protested their innocence, stating over and over that
such a change in the weather pattern was impossible.

     "She's coming," Sheila said aloud from the top of the Tokyo Tower. 
She looked down at the throbbing indigo crystal in her hand.  There was
no way that Lina would be able to resist coming for this.  Sheila didn't
know how many Crystals Lina thought she needed for her insane plan, but
she was sure that she wouldn't forego this piece.

     "And what wilt thou do when she comes, hmmm?" asked a familiar
voice.

     Sheila spun around to see Athena watching her closely.  "Athena, I-
-"

     "--sought to leavest me behind, didst thou not?"

     "I--"

     "Sheila-chan, thou must know that I am not that fragile.  We art in
this together, win or lose.  Lina already has mine world's Crystal.  If
Pluto spoke true, my world will die when Lina tries her insane plan.  I
have as much stake in this matter as thou."

     "I didn't want you to be hurt," Sheila said, quietly.

     Athena stepped forward and hugged the redhead.  "Silly.  Thou
running off and leaving me safe whilst thou faces peril... that would
hurt me more than thou knowest," she said, her face scant inches away
from Sheila's.

     Sheila began to tremble.  The desire... no, need to kiss those lips
was coursing through her veins.  She tried to regain control of herself. 
Think of Misa, she thought.  Then another thought followed, 'INSTEAD'
NOT 'WITH', STUPID BRAIN!

     Fortunately, her internal debate was soon stopped.

     "Well, isn't this cozy.  Couldn't you two have found a love motel
somewhere?"

     The two of them turned to face Lina, who was floating above them,
barely ten feet away.

     "Lina--" Sheila began.

     "Spare me the speeches," Lina said.  "You have something that
belongs to me.  I want it, NOW."

     "The Silver Crystals do NOT belong to one such as you!" spat
Athena, gathering her powers.

     "Oh, goody.  I was hoping you'd say something like that.  Before
you go any further, let me introduce you to my new ally."

     "MACHINASAI!"

     All three of them turned to face Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter,
Senshi Crystal, Tuxedo Kamen, and Tuxedo Staff.

     Sailor Mercury boggled for a moment at the sight of an exact
duplicate of herself, but quickly thrust that aside.  "Jupiter, Crystal,
take out the flyer.  Tuxedo Kamen, Staff, the redhead.  I'll take my
doppelganger."  Urawa had told her how many foes to expect, though he
had kept muttering about darkness and evil.  ""Sailor Team," she said,
"go!"

                                   *****

     "Hey, waittasec!" Sheila protested as Tuxedo Kamen and Staff
charged her.  I didn't know that Endymion had a sister, she thought as
she evaded a thrown rose and Tuxedo Staff's bowler.  "Hey!  I'm not the
bad guy here!"

     "Silence!" Tuxedo Staff said.  "Changing the weather from clear
blue skies to icky clouds is unforgivable!  Even if God forgives you, I
will not.  In the name of the earth, I'll punish you!"

     The speech made it all click.  For some reason, her Queen, the
future ruler of Crystal Tokyo, was parading around in a magician's stage
assistant's outfit.  The concept was so strange that Sheila almost burst
out laughing... and got rapped on the head by a staff for her
inattention.

                                   *****

     Athena, meanwhile, was evading her opponent's blows with ease. 
"This fight is pointless," she pointed out, hoping to reason with her
double.  "We are both Senshi Mercury, why shouldst we fight?"

     "Sailor Mercury activated her visor.  "Because you're an impostor,
and I'll prove it."

     "And if thy scan proves me right, what then?" Athena asked.  She
stopped, her attention drawn by a brilliant flash toward Lina and the
two attacking her.

     Sailor Mercury stopped dead in her tracks, for her visor was
telling her that the person in front of her was Sailor Mercury.  "But,
that's not poss--"

     Anything further was drowned out by a blast of icy wind and the
wail of millions of souls, crying out in agony.

                                   *****

     "CRYSTAL POWER STRIKE!"

     "SUPREME THUNDER!"

     Senshi Crystal and Sailor Jupiter both looked startled as Lina
absorbed their attacks without even flinching.  "Puh-lease," Lina said. 
"I've grown so far beyond your pathetic little power's it's not even
funny."

     "I'll show you pathetic!" Senshi Crystal screamed.  Holding up the
Star Crystal, she summoned forth its power, asking for everything it had
to give.  Forged in starlight by Nephrite to find and resonate with the
Silver Crystal, it had led him to his true love, instead.  But it still
had its original purpose and, as far as it was concerned, Lina WAS the
Silver Crystal.

     The Star Crystal flashed brightly and Lina gasped.  For one second,
her normal eyes appeared instead of the multi-faceted crystal that had
replaced them.  Her human eyes were filled with terror, darting back and
forth, seeking some escape.  Then the crystalline facets were back.

     "Very... good..." Lina gasped.  "But not good enough!"  Lina
whirled around, spinning the Silence Glaive above her head, and then
bringing it down in a mighty slash that tore through space and time.  A
dark chasm opened in mid-air.  Icy winds tore out of it, followed by the
scream of all the souls who died at the end of the Silver Millennium. 
Then a horrible blackness billowed forth.  Two feral red eyes, each as
large as a city block, gleamed malevolently out.

     <AT LAST!  FREE!>

     "Oh, shit," Sailor Jupiter said.

     "Oh, Lady of Light, preserve us," Athena said.

     "Metallia," Sheila breathed.

     "NOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Tuxedo Staff.

     Everyone else was frozen as their worst nightmare oozed through the
rift.  Metallia, the sum of all evil and darkness, the power that had
brought low the Silver Millennium, was back.  And they did not have the
Silver Crystal to stop her.  The cloudy skies turned pitch black and the
weather turned even colder than before.

     Athena acted fast.  "Excuse me," she said, tapping Senshi Crystal
on the shoulder.  Senshi Crystal turned and Athena cold-cocked her right
on the chin.  "I think we will have need of this more than thou."  She
took the Star Crystal, which was still burning brightly.  "I am sorry,"
she said.  Then she ran over to Sheila.  "Sheila!  Get the D-hopper! 
NOW!"

     "But, we can't just leave--" Sheila protested, as she pulled out
the D-hopper.

     "Dost thou want to face Lina AND that?"

     "But--!"

     Lady of Light, please, let us be able to put this right once Lina
is defeated, Athena thought to herself.  Then she grabbed the D-hopper
and pushed its button.  With a flash, Sheila and Athena went Elsewhere.

                                   *****

     At the foot of the tower, Urawa Ryo curled up into a ball and began
to cry as Darkness claimed his world.  "Ami-chan," he whispered.  "It
was fate.  Goodbye."

                                   *****

Inevitable Outcome Studios, Holographic Soundstage #51
Now.  When else?

     "Sheila!  Get the D-hopper!  NOW!"

     "But, we can't just leave--" Sheila protested, as she pulled out
the D-hopper.

     "Dost thou want to face Lina AND that?"

     "But--!"

     Athena grabbed the D-hopper and pushed its button.  She and Sheila
then visibly winced.

     "Annnnnd -- CUT!"

     Sheila Ten'kai and Mizuno Ami stepped apart, and took their bows as
applause broke out from the crew.  Jeff Hosmer sat in the director's
chair with a satisfied smile as the twentieth take of "Sheila-Athena X-
Time", Part II, Act 4, Scene 7 was printed.

     After a few moments, as the congratulatory mood began to die down,
and Tsukino Usagi started agitating to get out of her uncomfortable
"Tuxedo Staff" costume, he lifted his voice.  "Okay, people, that's a
wrap for this week -- Chris has already let you know who should show up
for the next act, come Monday.  Meanwhile, you all did a great job, and
I'll see you in about a week, for when we shoot the 'Freesia' segment. 
Be seeing you!"

     The director arose, to thunderous applause, and made his way
through the crowds of production workers to the holodeck's exit. 
Outside, Jeff's co-director was waiting, still wearing his heavy black
coat despite the warmth of the June afternoon.  "Sounds like it went
pretty good," Chris Davies opined.

     Jeff shrugged, modestly.  "We'll find out for sure when it actually
gets shown."

     They strolled down the corridor, discussing the implications for
the overall story line posed by the most recent addition.  Chris frowned
briefly as he realized that the destruction of "BSS Mercury" meant that
the end he'd planned for one of his segments had been upstaged, but
shrugged.  He'd work that out when he came to it.

     "So what is up next?  You've been pretty sneaky about it so far,"
Jeff reminded him.

     "Well, since we've had a lot of action, I thought it might be a
good idea to put them down somewhere where they can... well, you know,
talk."

     "Talk."

     "Discuss the relationship, in other words."

     "Uh-huh."

     Chris gave a quiet cough.  "Yeah."

     "Negotiations to use the UF-SM story you thought up fell through,
didn't they?" Jeff asked, trying hard not to smirk.

     Chris sagged.  "When those guys say, 'Closed universe,' they really
mean it.  Even pointing out who I dedicated TA: 2937 to didn't help."

     "So, instead of a grim and apocalyptic tale of cloning and psi-
research by multi-stellar corporations, you thought a nice bit of girl
talk would work well," Jeff mused.  "Sounds good to me.  Of course,
right now, you could be talking about bringing in 'The Oscar Chronicles'
and it'd sound good to me, because I am primed for my vacation!  Yes yes
yes, indeed."  He did a brief jig.

     Chris sighed.  "I still don't see what the big deal is about
spending a week on Togenkyou Island  --"

     "Ah, Hosumeru-sama," Tendou Nabiki said, standing a short distance
away in the costume she'd worn during the bridal competition in 'Nihao
My Concubine.'  "Shall we get moving, then?"

     "It's all in the company one keeps," Jeff assured him, and trotted
to catch up to the fetchingly clad financial mastermind.

     Chris watched them until they stepped through the gate to
Togenkyou.  "And to think that he used to complain that he never got the
girls," he muttered.  Shrugging, he turned and headed back to the
holodeck.

     All the actual props had been taken off the soundstage, leaving
only the holographic mock-up of the tower's observation deck and a few
cameras.  The image of Metallia was still glowering in the "sky", which
made Chris rather uncomfortable, even though he knew it wasn't real.  "I
think Bandai's Industrial Magic Division may have done too good a job on
that particular effect," he murmured.

     He produced the Universal Remote from his coat pocket, pointed at
"Metallia", and pressed the off switch.  Immediately, the hologram
vanished.  "Okay, now... where to set this next bit?  Cynosure?"  A
series of taps produced the image of the crossroads of realities.  "Too
grim.  Tanelorn?"  Another series of taps.  "Nnn.  Too sedate. 
Warriors' bar?"  He paused.  "No, I don't think exposing either of them
to Guy Gardner would work well.  Earhart's is really only for officers
on B5...  Cheers might work well... I just don't --"

     FLASH!

     After Chris cleared his eyes, resolving as he did to flay and then
fire the idiot who'd set off the flashpan, he turned around to see a
familiar looking red- and blue-haired couple, clutched closely together
as though their lives depended on it.  (Which it had, not that Chris
knew this.)

     He let out a long, slow sigh.  "Okay, you two, very cute.  Immature
as all HELL, but very cute."

     Sheila lifted her head and looked around with a confused air. 
"Well... not an alley, this time," she muttered.  Then she realized that
someone was talking to her, and turned to stare at Chris.

     "Now cut it out," Chris continued, not having heard Sheila's
murmured words.  "We FINALLY got the last scene right, and we're not
going to re-shoot the last few minutes again because you two have been
doing some improv work and came up with a reason that you'd look
different if you were clutched together like that."

     "Huh?" Sheila asked.

     Chris blinked.  Why in the world did they seem so disoriented? 
Unless... Chris groaned.  "All right, okay, enough with making fun of me
-- it was Jeff's idea to have the two of you wind up together, not
mine."

     Sheila stared.  Whose idea to have the two of us wind up together?
she thought.  What?  Who is this strange person?

     Athena looked up as well.  "Kind sir, I fear thou hast mistaken us
for others whom thou dost know well."

     Chris nodded impatiently.  "Uh huh, very nice accent, Ami-chan, but
it--"

     And then he paused.  No matter how well Ami had studied the archaic
accent Jeff had invented for Athena's dialogue, whenever she spoke in
it, there was always a faint note of hesitation -- which was completely
absent in this woman's voice.

     "You're... not Ami, are you?" he said hesitantly.

     Athena and Sheila shook their heads simultaneously.

     "Um... are the two of you by chance dimensional travelers who have
just come from a dimension where Metallia broke free thanks to--"

     The image of Metallia looming against the sky filled Sheila's mind
once more, and she took a step away from Athena, and out of her embrace. 
She left them.  She left them there to die.

     And she made me come with her.

     Athena stared with wordless pain at Sheila as she backed away from
her.

     And above their heads, there was a faint glistening in the air.

     "Oh fuck," Chris said conversationally.  "Oh, fuckety-fuck-fuck." 
He snapped up the Universal Remote, and stabbed a single button on its
surface.

     From nowhere, there was a brief bleating alarm.  A calm voice
spoke.  "Warning.  Warning.  All gates closing and anti-magic shell
activating in five four three two one.  Thank you.  Inevitable Outcome
Studios is now sealed against magical entry."

     Athena felt a short stabbing sensation, which passed quickly.

     Chris stared up at the glistening in the air... which slowly faded. 
He let out a long sigh of pure relief.  "Well, best case scenario, she's
trapped in Etherspace -- worst case, she managed to get diverted to some
point in this dimension outside the complex.  Either way, you're safe,
ladies."

     Sheila blinked.  "Huh?" she asked again.  "Who the hell are you? 
What's going on here?"

     Chris opened his mouth to explain who he was... and then remembered
what Sheila had almost done to Sean for having broadcast her life on the
radio. Now, what would she do to the fellow who WROTE the things that he
was broadcasting?  Best to be anonymous.  "Nobody special," he said.

     There came a tapping on his right shoulder.  "Excuse US, Mr. Nobody
Special.  Could we have a word?"

     Behind him stood three people.  Their spokesperson was a tall woman
with short-cropped golden hair -- and a metallic hand and eye-patch to
match.  The metallic hand was dangling uselessly at her side, and she
had tapped with her flesh-and-bone one.  With her stood a slightly
shorter woman, dressed in a pink dress and a red jacket, carrying a
staff in her right hand.  She was frowning, but the tension in her face
suggested that she was more accustomed to smiling.  The third was a
heavily robed, blue haired --

     <Go ahead,> Lythande sent.  <Think it.  I'd welcome the excuse.>

     -- androgynous person.

     <Wimp.>

     Chris swallowed.  "Yes?" he asked, stopping himself from saying
'Ladies' at the last moment.  "What's the matter?"

     "What's the matter?" Rali Antero parodied his words.  "We were
working on something when your bloody anti-magic shell went up!  It's
RUINED.  A little warning would have been appreciated!"

     "I'm truly sorry," he said, meaning it.  "But the situation which
prompted it didn't give me any warning."  Curiosity warred with common
sense.  "So what were you working on?"

     Rali opened her mouth to snap a response, but Aerith Gainsborough
politely cut her off by replying, "That's not really any of your
business, now is it, Mr. Davies?"

     Davies? thought Sheila.  Why does that name sound familiar?

     Lythande's head jerked in Sheila's direction, and the magic wielder
smiled suddenly.  "Rali, I think the situation is well in hand, don't
you?"

     "What?" the Guardswoman and Evocator asked, confused by the sudden
shift in her associate's manner.  Then she followed Lythande's gaze and
realized who she was staring at -- and smiled the sort of smile that an
uncharitable person might call 'vicious'.  "Oh," she said.  "Right.  I
think we can trust her to deal with --"

     "CHRIS DAVIES," they said in unison.

     "Excuse me?" Aerith asked, confused.  "Why are you both so --"

     "Don't worry about it, lass," Rali said calmly.  "One of our
sisters has it well in hand."

     Chris Davies?

     "Our?"

     "You haven't actually read the script for the FF7 story he has
planned, have you, child?" Lythande asked, not unkindly, as they headed
out of the holodeck.

     CHRIS Davies?

     "Well, no -- OH NO!" Aerith exclaimed as the implication sank in. 
"You can't be serious!"

     "What's the matter?  I think Tifa's cute too," Rali said, grinning.

     CHRIS DAVIES?!?

     "But -- but -- aghhhh.  I wish I were dead."

     "I think you are, actually."  Lythande turned to look back to see
that Sheila was energetically strangling Chris.  "You're in bad company,
though."

     "YOU!" Sheila hissed.  "You're the one who wrote all those damn
stories that that Gaffney person was broadcasting!"

     "Aggh... urrrk," Chris agreed.

     "It's your fault that everyone in two dimensions knows all about my
life -- particularly my love life!"

     "Orrggg... nnnnnnn," Chris noted in passing.

     "I oughta --"

     "Sheila, please!" Athena interrupted.  "Have we not seen enough
death this day?"  She was genuinely frightened that Sheila's hands would
be as covered in blood as she felt her own were.

     Sheila grimaced... then reluctantly let the struggling, purple-
faced writer drop to the ground.  Over the sound of Chris taking large
gulps of oxygen, she turned to look at Athena.  "So what is that thing
that you grabbed from... whoever the hell that was in that weird world?"
she asked, trying hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice. I
promised that I wouldn't sacrifice others for my mission.  I SWORE.  And
she's made me break my oath...

     "I know not," Athena said slowly, "but when 'twas pointed at the
sorceress' form, I did perceive a momentary difference in her eyes --
for a fragment of a moment, they were HUMAN, once more.  And I thought
that... it might be useful if it were in our hands."

     Sheila considered this, and slowly, tensely nodded.  "I see your
point.  Okay.  But --"

     Chris shakily pulled himself to his feet.  "Is it safe to assume
that you're not going to kill me?"

     "I haven't decided yet," Sheila snarled.

     Athena quickly stepped between Sheila and the strange man -- the
strangely REPELLENT man -- and began to speak in calming tones.  "Thou
art the one who hast written tales of my Sheila-chan?"

     Chris nodded.

     NOW Athena frowned.  "Art thou also the one who hast written tales
of ME?"

     Chris shook his head rapidly.  "No, no!  That's all Hosmer's and
Biles' doing --"

     "Gaffney did mention those names also..."

     "-- um... unless you count the adventure you're on now.  I kind
of... co-write that."

     Athena stared, clearly not understanding.  "The... adventure upon
which we are embarked?  Thou art... writing it already?"

     "Filming, actually.  We just got the most recent bit -- uh, I mean
the universe you just visited, in the can before you showed up."

     "Wait a minute," Sheila interjected.  "How the hell can you be
writing stories about us that we haven't even had yet?"

     Chris shrugged and grinned nervously.  "Why are you asking me, for
Heaven's sake?  I'm just --"

     A dreadful possibility occurred to Athena.  "Art thou a god?" she
asked in a whisper.

     He gave the question serious thought.  "I don't think so," he said
at last.  "If I were a god, I think I'd be carrying a lot less extra
weight and quite a bit more cash.  Seriously -- uh, can I call you
Sheila?"

     "No."

     "Ten'kai-sama, you've read Heinlein, right?"

     She shrugged.  "I loved the film of 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'
when it came out in 2006.  I've read a bit of his other works --"

     "How about 'The Number of the Beast'?  In that one, he basically
suggests that anything that's been conceived and believed in by a large
number of people is REAL, somewhere.  So, I did create you --"

     "He IS a god.  Sheila, thou didst try to strangle a god."

     "-- but it was other people who made you REAL.  Other people who
read the stories I wrote."

     "Stories about my breaking my heart over... people.  Stories about
my losing my parents.  Stories about my watching my mom -- thanks
heaps," Sheila replied, her voice bitter and angry.

     Chris considered moving out of range, then realized that since she
could run at 200 kph, he'd have to get a fair amount of distance before
that happened.  Instead, he shrugged helplessly, and said, "I'm sorry."

     Sheila shook her head.  "It's too late for apologies.  Just tell me
what happens next in THIS adventure."

     Chris sadly shook his head.  "I can't."

     "Don't give me that," Sheila growled.  "You're not Pluto, you can--
"

     "No, you don't understand.  I'm not using 'can't' for 'could but
won't'.  I CANNOT tell you what happens next, because the next section
is supposed to be written by my co-writer, and he's on vacation for the
rest of the week.  So all I can really do is offer the two of you a
chance to rest."

     "Rest?" Athena snapped.  "We shouldst rest whilst Lina is out among
the universes hunting Crystals and --"

     "Whoa... calm down.  First of all, in neither of the last two
universes you visited did Lina get a Silver Crystal -- in both cases, it
was still in pieces.  Two, even if she managed to get all the Rainbow
Crystals from the universe you two just visited, it's gonna be hard to
get a tear from the Moon Princess to put them together, considering that
she was probably one of the first to die when Metallia started eating
the world."  They both flinched at that, and Chris wished he hadn't been
so blunt, but his throat still hurt.

     "Third, you should realize that you're probably giving Lina credit
for having more power than she possesses.  There's a price for using the
Silver Crystal, you know -- and she's paying it.  The other Crystals are
fueling her, and so is the power she stole from Ms. Tomoe-Gaffney, but
she's burning the candle at both ends.  All this hopping around through
the dimensions, unleashing the Seven Shadows, letting Metallia loose for
the love of God -- unless she gets some more power real soon now, she'll
never make it back to Sheila's home universe in time to --"

     The fact that hands were once more gripping his throat was Chris'
first clue that he might have given too much plot exposition.  "WHAT?"
Sheila hissed.

     "Arr... hhhhhhh," Chris opined.

     "Sheila, methinks he cannot explain if thou dost not permit him to
breathe."

     After a moment, Chris continued, warily.  "Lina's going to try and
Ascend on my -- er, your Earth, Sheila, because it's EASIER for a
sufficiently powerful mortal to become a divine being there than it is
anywhere else in the multiverse."

     "If it's soooo easy, why will that blow up the planet?" Sheila
snapped.

     "Because the way she's chosen to do it will involve consuming the
essence of your world's magical energy --"

     "The Silver Crystal," Sheila sighed.  "It always comes back to
that, doesn't it?"

     "They don't call it the Key to the Universe because it's an idol
singer who thinks she's a robot."

     "Huh?"

     "Nevermind.  And the last reason that you should rest is that the
two of you are ALSO running on empty.  You collapsed when you were in
that last world, remember?  You're going to need every bit of energy you
have in the final battle, and right now every bit you have isn't a lot."

     Sheila frowned.  What he was saying was true, but --

     "Look at it from another perspective.  She can't get you here.  And
there's nothing she wants here, other than the two of you, anyway --"

     Athena stepped forward.  "Not even another Silver Crystal?"

     Chris opened his mouth to explain.

     His mouth was still hanging open a minute later when the alarms
began to sing.  "Warning.  Warning.  Severe seismic disturbance."

     "What's happening?" Sheila demanded.

     Chris tapped out a certain code on the Universal Remote, and the
Holodeck began to project the images of what was going on outside the
complex.

     Lina, looking as though she was completely wigged out, was hovering
a few hundred yards from the holographic camera (which, Chris knew was
mounted on the main gate), and projecting blasts of starbright force
through the Silence Glaive into the ground.  Her mouth was also moving,
but no sound was coming out.

     "How can this be?" Athena gasped.  "Are we scrying her presence?"

     "Something like that, probably," Sheila replied.  "Can you get an
audio feed?"

     Chris obediently used the Universal Remote, and the booming noise
of the explosive blasts came through quite clearly, as did the sound of
Lina's screeching voice.  "GIVE IT TO ME!  I KNOW THAT IT IS IN THERE! 
I FELT IT, EVEN THOUGH I CAN'T FEEL IT ANYMORE!  GIVE ME MY PRECIOUS!"

     "Thou DOST have a Silver Crystal here, dost thou not?" Athena
accused.

     "Well, Usagi-chan does --"

     "IF I DON'T GET IT NOW, I WILL TEAR APART YOUR SUN!"

     "And that's the other side of her being low on power, isn't it?"
Sheila snapped.  "She'll do anything to get more."

     "Well, yes..."

     "So what are/art you/thou gonna/going to do about it?" they said in
rough stereo.

     "Me?" Chris squawked.  "This is not my job!  I'm not the wandering
interdimensional problem solver here!"

     "I'M WAITING!"

     "You certainly manage to come up with enough weird problems for me
to deal with!" Sheila sneered.

     Chris glared down at her.  "Would you rather go through life
without any challenge at all?  Would you rather get through everything
without any danger?  Would you rather be BORED?!"

     Sheila opened her mouth to snap back an affirmative.

     And couldn't.

     "AHEM!"

     She was the daughter of Sailor Senshi.  Though she had never been
called on to serve as one herself, she knew... deep in her heart, she
knew that if she ever was, she would gladly take up that burden.

     "Sheila?" Athena whispered beside her.

     "Okay," the red-haired daughter of Uranus and Neptune said at last. 
"Okay, then.  What would you SUGGEST that we do?  You know what you have
available better than we do --"

     "Right.  Here's a plan."

                                   *****

     "Um... are you really sure that this is a good idea?" Tsukino Usagi
asked as costuming got her into the full gown -- slightly damaged --
that she'd worn in "Celebration".

     "Don't talk to me, it's her plan," Chris lied calmly as he gestured
towards Sheila.

     "But..."

     "Usagi-chan, it's really simple," Sheila reassured her.  "You
simply go out there, give your lines, and hold the fake Silver Crystal
up for her to take.  When she complains that she can't reach it, toss it
to her--and she'll be in such a hurry to absorb it into herself that she
won't even notice that it's not a real Silver Crystal -- and the magic
aura that it has will keep her from realizing it."

     "But..."

     "Is something the matter?" Athena asked, feeling strangely fond of
this uncertain young girl who reminded her of her princess.

     "Um... is this really the best plan that you could come up with?"
Usagi asked hesitantly.

     They all nodded.

     "...okay, then."

     Makeup applied the indications of tears to Usagi's face, and pasted
a golden moon to her forehead.  Then she was marched to the front door,
and gently sent out.

     "Aaaaaaah," Lina hissed.  "So you've come out at last.  Good...
very good..."

     Usagi drew a deep breath.  "You have come for the Silver Crystal?"
She produced it.  "Here!  Take it!  I never wish to lay eyes on it
again.  It could not save my beloved Mamo-chan without --"

     "I don't care!  I can't reach it through this damned force field! 
Throw it to me, or I'll --"

     Usagi wound up, and tossed the Crystal through the anti-magic shell
surrounding the complex.  Lina caught it with ease, lifted it up to her
mouth, and swallowed it.

     "Ah, yes... the wonderful taste of power," Lina murmured through
rapidly crystallizing lips.  "Now to track down that damn Sheila!"

     And with that, she vanished.

     Usagi walked back to the complex, her head lowered.  Inside the
door, everyone was all smiles.  "Great job, Usagi-chan!" Chris enthused. 
"And you said it wouldn't work," he added in Sheila's direction.

     "Um... Dabeesu-sensei?" Usagi asked, hesitantly.

     "Yes?"

     "I... I would have brought it up before, but I didn't want to ruin
your plan... that wasn't the fake Silver Crystal I was given by props
when I started working here."

     Chris turned oddly pale.  Sheila didn't notice.  "So?  You got
another one, right?"

     Usagi shook her head.

     "Thou art not saying that that was --" Athena began, aghast.

     "The real Silver Crystal," Usagi finished, miserably.  "I'm sorry."

     "What happened to the fake?" Chris shouted, panicked.

     "Yuffie stole it this morning... she thought it was Materia..."

     It was at that point that the aforementioned Materia Hunter (read
kleptomaniac) wandered through the entrance passage with a suspiciously
bulging pack strapped to her back.  She paused as she noticed that Chris
was staring at her with something akin to psychotic fury on his face. 
"Anooooo," she said, "is something the matter?"

     "OSHIOKI DA!" Chris shrieked, and began chasing her with the clear
intent to main, judging by the size of the battle-axe he was carrying.

     Sheila sighed. Well, she won this round.  But we've denied her two
Crystals... sort of.

     How many can she NEED, anyway?

                                   *****

HyperTokyo, Japan
2095

     Kadokawa Misa took a deep breath and tried not to yawn.  It was a
slow night at the underground headquarters of the Magical Girl Corps. 
For once, the youma seemed to be content to skulk in the shadows, rather
than draining the energy of HyperTokyo's inhabitants and producing huge
amounts of property damage.

     Not that the local magical girl team didn't cause its share of the
latter.

     She ran a hand through her short green hair.  The Exquisite
Soldiers did try their best... and they did have a large number of
successes under their belt.  But the BILLS associated with those
successes!

     Still, tonight looked to be a quiet peaceful night.  Time to get
caught up on some of the never-ending paperwork that always threatened
to swamp her in-box.  It was easier back in her days as Starlight Ranger
Pegasus.  There were times she missed the excitement of those days. 
With a sigh, she took a sip of her coffee

     "Sound the alarm and summon your Chief," a voice said suddenly from
behind her.

     Misa's half-swallowed coffee spewed out over her desk as she spun
around in shock.  A moment before she had been alone in her office!

     That was no longer the case.  A sailor-suited figure now stood
behind her.  If her black-and-white outfit and long green hair weren't
enough of a reminder, the long garnet-topped staff she bore made her
identity quite clear: Sailor Pluto.

     "What...?" Misa began.

     "We are about to have two guests.  Mars should be here to greet
them.  We do not have much time," Pluto interrupted.  Her violet-red
eyes bored into Misa's brown ones, and the MGC's second-in-command found
herself obeying without any more second thoughts.

     As alarms began to ring, Misa turned back to ask her mysterious
guest what was going on, but Pluto was already gone.

                                   *****

     It was still another alley, Sheila thought wearily.  Even with
Davies helping them, they couldn't seem to avoid them.  Still, for once,
they might have the drop on Lina... IF the information they had received
was correct.

     Beside her, Athena kept looking at her scarlet-haired companion in
despair.  Sheila was barely talking to her any more than she had to.

     The Senshi of Ice looked down at her hands and wondered if her
white gloves should be red with all the blood on them.  Before this
adventure she had killed monsters, but never humans.  Now she had used
her powers with lethal force on a human being and ran while a world was
devoured by evil.  She had sworn oaths to defend a world against the
forces of Darkness, but she had abandoned another to just that fate.

     Sheila is right to ignore me, she thought bitterly.  I dost not
deserve to be loved by anyone, not Zoisite nor Sheila.

     For her part, Sheila wasn't paying much attention to her companion. 
She was thinking instead of their foe.  Lina now had five Silver
Crystals and each one was stealing away a bit more of her humanity.  It
was hard to tell, but it had looked like slightly over half of the mad
sorceress's body had been converted to crystal.  Did that mean Lina only
needed less than five more to ascend to goddesshood?  And how many would
she and Athena have to deny her?

     One things for certain, she thought, Lina's not going to bother
with any more Rainbow Crystal nonsense.  She pulled out the indigo
crystal she had captured in Berlin.  Both of our victories, she thought,
took place where 'some assembly required' was the rule.

     Her stomach churned as she saw again the dark cloud that was
Metallia blot out a world not terribly unlike the one she had been born
in.  If that had been a victory, she would rather lose.

     "Ten'kai-san?  Athena-san?" came a very familiar voice.  The two
dimensional travelers looked up to see Sailor Pluto standing at the
mouth of the alley.

     "Pluto?  What are you doing here?" Sheila asked.

     "I've been expecting you.  Come, we don't have much time before
your friend arrives and there is a great deal we must do."

                                   *****

     Lina Inverse appeared over HyperTokyo in a flash of silver light. 
A steady stream of curses fell almost unnoticed from her crystalline
lips.  It seemed that Sheila and that Sailor Mercury had dropped off the
face of the multiverse, despite her best attempts to find them.  To make
matters worse, that BITCH Metallia had reneged on their deal!  All that
energy... WASTED!  Once she became a goddess, she was going back to that
world and would show that skanky piece of negative karma a thing or two!

     But first, she had to collect more Silver Crystals.  Already the
law of diminishing returns was affecting her.  Each new crystal gave her
less of a 'boost' than the previous one.  Her all too mortal spirit
simply didn't have much more to give and all of her precious crystals
exacted a price.

     Still, she didn't need many more.  She was past the halfway mark. 
It would only take four or five more Crystals for her to reach her goal. 
Looking around, she was amused to see she was over Tokyo AGAIN.  With
the exception of that weird city with the Seven Shadows, she always
seemed to end up here.  Reaching out with her senses, she sought Crystal
number six... THERE!

     Eyes alight with unholy glee, made worse by the faceted crystal
that had replaced her flesh-and-blood ones, she rocketed through the
HyperTokyo sky.  The Crystal was buried beneath the city somewhere,
under tons of steel and concrete and glass.  Somewhere beneath the six
towers that reached for the sky in a five-pointed star pattern.  No
matter.  Lina had ways of getting to her objective.  It was time to use
a little of her magic instead of relying on her Crystals.

     "EARTH SPIRIT ROAD!" she chanted as she hovered over the spot. 
Immediately, a great circle burned its way through the tower beneath
her.  Then it burned through the next floor, and the next down deep into
the bowels of the city.  Faintly she could hear the screams of people as
their homes and workplaces disintegrated, but Lina was beyond caring. 
She could sense her precious shining in the depths and flew toward it.

     At the end of the path her spell had burned through the once-mighty
arcology, she found what she was looking for.

     "Looking for this?" Sheila Ten'kai asked, holding up the Silver
Crystal.

     The faux Sailor Mercury was also there, standing next to four young
girls in very abbreviated senshi outfits and a young man in a lavender
bodysuit.  The foremost of them had lavender hair and wore something
resembled a silvery one-piece swimsuit with a white micro-skirt
attached.  The suit's neckline came down in a v-cut all the way down to
just below her navel, exposing her belly button as well as a large
amount of cleavage.  It was also cut high at the legs, exposing most of
her hips as well.  White elbow-length gloves, knee-high boots and a
green plexiglass eye mask covering her face completed the outfit.

     "I am Exquisite Soldier Lovely Freesia!" the leader began.

     "I am Exquisite Soldier Crimson Rose!" said the second, slightly
taller girl with long black hair.  She wore a red strapless one-piece
swimsuit with a plunging neckline and high-cut at the legs with a loose,
white miniskirt and a green plexiglas eye mask.  Despite the brevity of
her outfit, it was still less revealing than the leader's.

     "I am Exquisite Soldier Pretty Daisy!" said the third, and tallest
of them.  She was striking for not being human.  Instead she was of some
bipedal feline species with tan fur spotted like a cheetah's and red
hair, like a human's, on her head.  Her outfit was like the second's,
only green in color.

     "Ano, who am I again?" asked the last girl, a blonde in an orange
one-piece swimsuit with a halter-style neckline and a loose white skirt.

     "Golden Poppy, you ditz!" growled the cat-girl.

     "And I am Wild Orchid!" the boy exclaimed. He wore a lavender
bodysuit with a white sash across the chest, white knee-length boots and
elbow-length gloves.

     Lina laughed.  Did these people truly expect to stop her?

     Then the pain truly began.

                                   *****

Earlier.

     "Nice set up," Sheila said absently, looking around at the command
center.

     "Functional.  Certainly better than that cave that the United Earth
Federation tried to foist off on us when we were just getting started,"
Chief Hino replied.  She stared at Sheila and shook her head.  "I still
can't get over it... red hair?  Where did you get that from?  Haruka is
blonde and Michiru --"

     Sheila shrugged, as she was not really comfortable with the
different names that they gave her parent's analogues in this universe. 
"In my universe, Uranus was New Zealander on her mother's side, so it's
probably from that direction."  She decided to change the subject. 
"When will these... Ekusukuijite Senshi get here?"

     "Fairly shortly."  The Soldier of Fire and Passion paused, and a
look of consternation crossed her face.  "Um.  I just thought of
something -- are you like your parents in your --"

     "Yep," Sheila replied with a half-smile.  There were differences,
but this woman was just as blunt as her aunt and role-model,

     Rei frowned.  "Could be trouble, then.  One of the Soldiers is a
myanaran -- they're extremely prejudiced against non-heterosexuals.  So
if you --"

     Sheila frowned right back.  "Wait a minute, you're letting
HOMOPHOBES in the Sailor Senshi?"

     Rei shrugged, exasperatedly.  "It's a case of biology determining
their attitudes.  They can't help being that way any more than you can
change who you are.  Besides, it's not like -I- have much say anymore in
who's in the Corps, thanks to that Pretty Boy lawsuit."

     Sheila snorted in disgust.  "I suppose there is some call for
Tuxedo Kamens, but--"  She turned to look at Athena who hadn't said word
one since they'd been escorted into Chief Hino's presence.  The blue
haired Senshi had been staring at nothing after she'd stopped looking at
the Chief with a certain expression of dread on her face.  "Um, Athena?"
Sheila asked tentatively.

     Athena started as she heard Sheila's voice.  "Yes?" she replied.

     "Were you paying attention?  One of the senshi they're bringing to
help us is gonna be pissed off if she gets any hints that either of us -
- well, you get the idea.  So don't flirt with her when --"

     (Neither of them saw Rei's eyes bulge out at this revelation.)

     "I wouldn't dream of it," Athena quickly assured her.

     Sheila stared a moment.  "Are you okay?"

     "Fine," Athena lied.

     Sheila turned to look at Rei, and casually said, "Could you give
the two of us a moment alone?"

     "Right," Rei replied, just a bit unsteadily as she backed away.

     The daughter of Neptune and Uranus turned back to look at Athena
and frowned.  "Don't say you're fine.  What's the matter?"

     Athena opened her mouth to deny that anything was wrong, and heard
herself say instead, "Thou hast to ASK what is wrong?  I am a WORLD-
killer!"  Sheila stared with her mouth wide open as Athena continued. 
"I am sworn to the defense of life and I have --"

     "Stop it!" Sheila snapped.  "Athena, I KNOW how much it hurts -- it
hurts me just the same, but we --"

     "You DON'T know," Athena cried.  "You're not the one who --"

     And then she was shuddering in Sheila's tight embrace.  "I DO
know," Sheila whispered.  "We've messed up, Athena.  WE messed up -- not
just you and not just me.  We're going to have to fix it... but we can't
worry about it right now."

     "But --" Athena murmured.

     "Yes?"

     "I thought thou hated me," she whispered.

     Sheila was silent for the longest moment of Athena's life.  "Hate
you?" she finally said, her voice thick with emotion.  "Goddess,
Athena... I could never hate you.  I was angry when you pulled us out of
that universe, but... but..."

     Athena was only vaguely listening.  I'm so warm, she thought.  I've
never been so warm...

     Time seemed to stand still as they gazed into each other's eyes,
and their lips slowly drew closer together --

     "WHAT THE HELL?!?"

     And then time started up again, and they jolted apart.  Sheila's
head whipped around to glare at the four girls and one guy who were
standing at the entrance -- specifically at the red-haired felinoid who
had yelled.

     "I was having a brief discussion with my FRIEND, here," Sheila
snarled in reply.  "Got a problem with that?"

     "You bet your --" the felinoid snapped.

     "Give it a rest, PRETTY DAISY!" snapped the girl who was wearing
the skimpiest outfit.  Sheila blinked as she suddenly recognized her --
the girl was practically identical (except for the immodest outfit) to
her friend, Catty!

     Well, Sheila thought, Chief Hino did mention that they had boomers
in this Magical Girls Corps... though on a closer examination she
realized there were a few differences between this magical girl and
Catty.  She looked over at the other Exquisite Soldiers and received
another shock.  One of them, slightly older than the rest, had the same
dark hair and similar facial features to Rei!  So, she thought, this is
what a daughter of Aunt Rei's would look like.  A momentary sadness
passed through her as she thought of what her Aunt could never have.

     Just as well, she finally thought.  If Aunt Rei DID have a
daughter, I'd be hard pressed not to hit on her if she looked like that! 
The thought of how her aunt would have reacted caused a small smile to
cross her face.

     "Ahem," Chief Hino interrupted the somewhat-less-than-mild squabble
that was breaking out between the two Exquisite Soldiers (and the eye-
leaking of the blonde member of the team).  "Well, these are the
Exquisite Soldiers, Ms. Ten'kai.  I'll leave the introductions to you --
I have to go join the Senshi and the others."

     "Of course," Sheila said with a nod.

     "But first -- well, here IT is."

     And Rei held IT out for Sheila to take.

     "So," Athena said, moving next to the Catty look-alike... very
close to her, in fact.  Sheila watched incredulously as Athena put her
arms around "Catty's" neck.  "Who is thy tailor, lovely one?  Methinks I
could use some fittings from him, hmmm?"

     'Catty' turned bright red in what was clearly a full-body blush,
which only grew redder as Athena leaned over to whisper something in her
ear.  Sheila wanted to reach over and tear her companion away... then
she got a good look at Athena, really listened to her voice.

     She was faking.

     Oh, it was very good.  Almost anyone else would be fooled by the
coy looks, veiled (and not-so-veiled) innuendo, and erotic touches.  But
Sheila had been through life and death with Athena... and she knew
Athena was trying now to hide from all the pain and horror the only way
she knew how.  So, it was with more understanding than jealousy that she
reached over and gently (ok, not THAT gently, she was still a little
peeved by her l--friend's roving eye) pulled Athena off 'Catty' by her
ear.

     "Owowowowow!  Sheila-chan!  Thou said nothing about hitting on the
OTHER Exquis--"

     "I'll hit YOU, you freak!" the cat girl screamed.

     "This was a whole lot easier when it was just odango-atamas and
tears," Sailor Mars commented, sure no one was listening.

                                   *****

     Sheila looked at the small faceted crystal in her hand and
swallowed.  There was power enough in that small crystal to destroy the
world for all its innocent appearance.

     She and Athena had come to this universe because Davies had said it
was the next universe on the list.  He had been willing to do almost
anything to help them, even contacting his Sailor Pluto to tell the
Sailor Pluto of this universe they were coming and alert the troops.

     The Sailor Pluto of this universe had been more than helpful, which
was a welcome surprise from the norm.  The problem was that the Sailor
Moon of this universe had recently given birth to her daughter, so she
was in no shape to face Lina or call upon the power of the Crystal. 
That was bad enough, but what made it worst was that they had to depend
upon a second-string of Sailor Senshi wannabes.  The first string were
either guarding their Queen, couldn't arrive in time, or were missing.

     She was tempted to remove the earplugs she was wearing, but Freesia
was still speaking.  She had heard that her Queen had once been given to
long speeches before attacking, but had dismissed it because no monster
would allow someone to lecture without taking advantage of the moment to
attack.  But now, after seeing Lina stop in mid-laugh while Freesia
spoke, she was prepared to believe it.  It was a wonderful tactic...
except it seemed no one else could attack while Freesia spoke.

     Finally, Freesia stopped.  This was the moment.  There was no time
for finesse, no time for pleas.  Lina had to go down hard.

     "MERCURY ICE BLADE!" Athena cried, sending a mighty spear of ice at
Lina.

     "MAGIC SOUL BLADE!" Freesia screamed and a large blade of energy
formed in her hands and shot out to a length of over ten feet and aimed
directly at the mad sorceress.

     "THORNY VINE WHIPLASH!" cried Crimson Rose, sending giant vine
spiked with thorns to entangle Lina.

     "LASERWHIP!" Pretty Daisy cried, sending a beam of energetic light
at her foe.

     "POPPY SEED SHOWER!" Golden Poppy yelled, and a dark cloud appeared
out of nowhere to pelt Lina.

     "LEAF BLADE CASTRATION!" Wild Orchid cried, sending a stream of
razor sharp leaves at Lina.

     The attacks swirled around the wizardress and she screamed in
surprise.  Her crystalline hand reached out and grabbed the Soul Blade,
its power squealing against the impenetrable surface.  Her other hand
reached up to shield herself against Mercury's ice spear, but that hand
was just flesh and bone, and the magical ice smashed it aside.  Lina
screamed again, this time in pain.  The ice blade smashed against her
crystal torso, but the damage was done.  Her useless arm was then pinned
to her side as the thorny vine and the laser whip wrapped around her
body.  Then the poppy seed pods slashed down at Lina at hypersonic
speeds as she was cut to ribbons by Wild Orchid's leaves.

     When it was done, Sheila could only look with horror at what was
held in place before them.  It appeared to be an apparition of blood and
crystal, nothing else being visible.  Could even Lina have survived
that?

     The Exquisite Soldiers, with the exception of Pretty Daisy, all
looked sick.  Athena swallowed, but didn't say anything.  She looked at
Sheila, whose face was grave and set as if stone.

     Then Lina's crystal lips began to move.  "Heed me, oh spirits
darker than dusk."  Red light began to glow around her.  "Red beyond
crimson flow like blood.  In the name of those reduced to dust," she
said as blue lights began to swirl around, like fireflies caught in a
cyclone, "I pray to the shadows."

     "Oh, shit!" Sheila cried.  "Hit her again!  Quick!"

     "She doth shield herself!" Athena cried, scanning Lina with her
computer.

     "Mark ye these villains that bar our way," Lina continued, her body
healing and reforming even as she spoke, her voice becoming louder and
stronger, "and to my small strength thine own ally, to deliver doom,
folly repay, come judgment from the grave..."

     "SHEILA!" Athena cried, running between her friend and their foe,
knocking the red-haired senshidottir down.  The Silver Crystal fell from
Sheila's grasp in surprise.

     "DRAGON SLAVE!" Lina yelled, completing the spell.

                                   *****

     HyperTokyo was a city of marvels, sporting six huge arcology towers
and home to millions of humans, myanarans, and boomers, and arguably the
most sophisticated and advanced city in the world.

     All that was wiped away in a moment as a massive explosion smashed
its way up through the city streets.  The arcology towers shattered and
fell, except the center most which shot up like a rocket.  The explosion
shaped itself into the awful image of a dragon ascending, it mouth open
in a scream which, the few survivors reported, sounded as if all the
souls of the dead were fueling it.

     Then there was silence.

                                   *****

     Lina stood in the center of a vast crater and limped slowly over to
the only other object to survive her spell.  The battered, but healing
sorceress looked down at the Silver Crystal and then at her missing left
arm.  The battered flesh had not been able to survive the mighty blast,
but neither had her foes, apparently.

     "Finally," she said, picking up the Crystal.  "Sheila is DEAD!" 
The exultant laughter she expected to mark this moment did not come,
however.  Instead, she felt empty.  Well, absorbing this Crystal should
see to that.

     The Crystal sank into her crystalline arm.  She took a deep breath,
then screwed her face up in an act of extreme concentration.  From the
ragged stump of her left shoulder crystal began to grow.  The crystal
extended out to arm's length, hinged in the middle where an elbow would
be.  The crystal then began to grow thicker, like a tree, with layer
after layer thickening it to the shape and form of a normal human arm. A
hand formed at the end.  Lina looked at it with her crystal eyes, flexed
the hand, then disappeared.

                                   *****

                                   *****

Elsewhen

     "This situation has officially gone too far," proclaimed Meiou
Setsuna of Earth-HS, the current chair of the Council of Plutos. 
"Perse, the council demands that you account for your actions."

     A full gathering of the Council of Plutos was a rare event, despite
being ridiculously easy to co-ordinate.  As it took place inside a
pocket dimension which had been stabilized to be out of temporal synch
with any of the worlds from which the assembled Plutos were drawn from,
a meeting could take effectively zero time.  But when Plutos came to
this world, they generally came for rest and recreation, not for
meetings.

     Close to five hundred of the bearers of the Key of Time had
gathered in the cathedral-like structure which had been selected for
this emergency meeting.  Others were observing from remote locations
within the dimension, or from their own homeworlds.  The majority were
tall, with greenish-black hair, cinammon-coloured eyes, and a slightly
darker than average skin tone.  Among those gathered were those who did
not match any of those descriptors.

     The center of attention in the cathedral was a single Pluto -- who
did fit the basic description -- who was standing before a wooden table. 
Behind the table sat five Plutos of varying descriptions, on either side
of the Chair-Pluto -- who also fitted the basic description.

     The woman who had been born Perse, daughter of Rumy, met her
double's eyes calmly, and replied, "I have nothing to say."

     Perse was not entirely sure, but she believed that she was the
eldest of the Plutos gathered in that place, at that time.  Her career
had begun when she was fourteen years old, at the very dawn of human
existence on the planet Earth.  She had been active for more than three
hundred thousand years.

     Her seniority was viewed as irrelevant by the Council.  That had
always rankled her, but never so much as it did now.

     One of the Plutos seated at the table jumped to her feet as soon as
Perse finished her statement.  "Nothing to say?!" the slightly singed
duplicate howled.  "Metallia has eaten my world, and you claim that you
have nothing to say?!  Do you have any idea how much this has disrupted
the course of --"

     "Just as much as Luna choosing Mercury as the first Senshi did,"
Perse replied calmly.  "I can only repeat my assurances that we WILL be
able to repair the damage to those timelines --"

     "Wanna bet?" sneered a punk-looking Pluto who was seated to the
right of the Chair.  She leaned back in her seat, setting her Doc
Martins on the table.

     "-- which have been affected by Lina Inverse's passage IF and only
if the champions are able to stop her before she ascends."

     "The chances of that happening are getting remote, Perse," the
Pluto seated beside the punk-Pluto pointed out.  Her hair was a pale
green, and her name was Rei, although she went by the name Sainte-Juste.

     "I am aware of that, and I am open to offers of assistance or
suggestions."

     THAT got a rise out of them.  "You have the NERVE to ask us for
HELP after your --" Pluto-BM shouted over the roar of the crowd.

     "I take it then that none will be offered," Perse interrupted. 
"Very well, I will take my leave."

     And she vanished.  The debate continued in her absence, but no
course of action could be agreed upon by the assembled Plutos; the small
group that advocated a surgical strike on Lina Inverse's childhood to
deal with the problem permanently were shouted down by the significant
majority opposed to ANY interuniversal contact.  Gradually, the crowd
dispersed.

     An hour later, only three Plutos remained:  the early adolescent
Setsuna Pluto of Earth-SG; Amora, the baseline-Setsuna of Earth-BH, and
another baseline-Setsuna who stood out in that she was dressed in
flowing, diaphanous robes instead of a sailor uniform.

     Perse reappeared, frowning.  "One of the council is getting
unusually good at tracking me.  I had to make a number of turns on my
way here."  She spoke softly to avoid causing echoes.

     "I think it was, like, the Setsuna from Earth-HG," the robed Pluto
informed them, grinning goofily as she did.

     How someone so much like me developed into THAT is beyond me, Perse
thought wearily.  "Thank you, Perse," she said aloud.

     Amora frowned as well.  "That one is one of the foremost of the no-
crosstime expedition party, Perse.  Are you certain that she didn't
follow you?"

     Perse gave her counterpart a Look.

     "Of course," Amora answered her own question.  "How silly of me to
even ask."

     "So what happens now?" the teenaged Setsuna piped up.

     "I believe that the next world that Inverse visits will probably be
yours, Perse," Perse replied, turning to her double.  "Have you made
preparations?"

     "Like, fershure.  I told them she was coming a few years back."

     "Good," Perse replied absently.  "Then she'll probably try to --"

     "Wait a minute," Setsuna interrupted.  "Perse, you knew that an
insane Lina Inverse would be attacking your dimension years ago?"

     "Like, yes," Perse said, nodding rapidly.

     "And you just went and TOLD your world's Senshi that --"

     "Like, no way!  I told someone a little more reliable.  She'll know
what to do."  Perse frowned.  "Like, it's a shame about the timing,
though."

                                   *****

Azabu-Juuban District, Tokyo
September 13, 2000

     Lina materialized over the city, ready to hunt down the Crystal.

     "NOW!" a clarion call sounded.

     And from every direction, nearly a dozen attacks were called at
once.

     "MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

     "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!"

     "VENUS HEART VIBRATION!"

     "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"

     "URANUS MOLTEN TORRENT!"

     "NEPTUNE GEYSER BURST!"

     "SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"

     "SCARLET THUNDER!"

     "SAPPHIRE WATERSPOUT!"

     "JADE GALE!"

     Lina felt the enhanced Raywing around her dissolve as it was
buffeted by wind, flames, ice, blinding light, high pressure water,
molten earth, and electrically charged leaves.  The backwash of forces
left her in no condition to conjure up a new one, and she stared at the
ground as it came up to greet her.

     She lost consciousness for a moment after she hit.  But she was
awakened by a sharp pain in her jaw.  Lina stared up at a tall woman
with flaming red hair, dressed in a blue gown, holding a staff and
wearing an iron crown.  The blunt end of the staff was resting on Lina's
jaw, and the woman was holding it as though it were a pole-arm.

     After a brief moment of confusion, Lina realized that she knew her. 
"BERYL?" she asked, aghast. I thought Metallia ate her... how'd she
manage to get the drop --

     "Good," Beryl said in a very cold voice.  "You know who I am.  And
I don't give a shit who you are.  Spares us the time to make
introductions -- and time is something we don't have a great deal of
right now."  She switched to a different language, then, and began to
chant in low rhythmic tones.

     Lina realized immediately that Beryl was casting a spell, and she
prepared her defenses with practiced ease.

     She wasn't expecting a spell that turned the air around her to
crystal, rather than doing anything directly to her.  With her last gasp
of air, she tried to gasp a spell to shatter the crystal even as it
formed.

     But then the crystal formed over her mouth, and the spell went
uncast.

     Beryl yanked her staff out of the crystal statue that she had
fashioned, and regarded her work with something akin to pride in her
workmanship on her face.

     Then a small voice from behind her ruined it all.  "She's not in
any pain, is she?"

     Beryl turned to glower at Sailor Moon.  "No," she said slowly. 
"She's not in any pain.  She's not in any ANYTHING."

     Sailor Moon flinched, but she didn't step back.  The years had
taught her a fair amount when it came to figuring out her former best
friend's moods, and she knew that she still had a ways to go before
Naru-chan was seriously angry with her.

     Of course, for Beryl, "anger" was what some people might describe
as "homicidal frenzy".

     Sailor Mars deliberately stepped in between Beryl and her beloved,
and gave Beryl a warning glare.  Beryl rolled her eyes and turned to
inspect the crystal again.

     There was the sound of running feet.

     "We got her?" asked Shidou Hikaru, standing with her sisters-in-
arms, Ryuuzaki Umi and Huouji Fuu, a short distance away.

     Sailor Moon turned and smiled nervously at her timelost daughter. 
The quarrel between them over Hikaru's chosen loves was still fairly
recent in the minds of both women.  "We got her... Hikaru-chan," Usagi
said.

     "Good," Hikaru said, avoiding meeting her mother's eyes.  "Who is
she again, Beryl-chan?"

     It's just the way she talks, Beryl said to herself. I shouldn't let
the UNBELIEVABLY EXCESSIVE FAMILIARITY of it bother me... Drawing a deep
breath, she spoke aloud.  "Just some dimensional traveler that Pluto
warned me about a few years ago... said that she'd show up and try to
take the Crystal on the day that HE arrived."

     "And you listened to that flake?" Sailor Uranus asked, as she,
Neptune and Saturn arrived on the scene, completing the assembly.

     "I didn't exactly have a choice, did I?" Beryl snapped.  Trying to
reign in her temper, she turned to look at Neptune.  "Have you gotten
any word from your... did you ever figure out how you and Oyuki-san
should consider yourselves to be related?"

     Neptune laughed shortly.  "She agreed to stop calling me 'Honored
Ancestress,' if I'd stop calling her 'Yuki-sama'.  Beyond that...
anyway, the K'thulhu are helping to refortify Triton, and she's
supposedly called in all of her favors.  He may be able to get in, but
he won't get out again without a serious struggle."

     Beryl frowned.  "I'm not sure I like keeping the K'thulhu in this
system any longer than I have to --"

     "I trust Nagisa-san," Sailor Moon interrupted.

     "You would."

     Beryl wasn't surprised to see Mars glaring at her, but it WAS
something of a surprise to realize that Hikaru had almost the exact same
expression.  In a strange sort of way, that felt... good.

     She shook her head to clear it of such cobwebs, and heard Sailor
Saturn ask, "But was it enough?  Did we beat her in time?  Are we going
to have time to beat him --?"

     Two things happened then.

     The first, noticed only by Beryl, was that a small piece of the
crystal around Lina broke off.

     The second, noticed by everyone, was that there was a small light
as bright as the sun in the sky, descending slowly towards Tokyo.

     No, Beryl thought as her heart filled with sudden anguish.  We
don't have any time at all.

     Ourranos has come.

     A few minutes later, Beryl realized that the battle, which had
begun poorly, was getting worse.

     Ourranos had descended from the sky, and, with studied politeness,
asked where he might find Queen Serenity or a member of her lineage.  He
had already checked the Moon (and indeed, astronomers would discover a
certain irregularity in its orbit tomorrow, from the temper tantrum that
he'd had after he hadn't found her there) and had now come to Earth.  If
someone of the appropriate background was not presented to him at once,
he announced, he would start depopulating the planet.

     That had been the signal that the assembled Sailor Senshi and
Magical Knights should attack.

     And they had.  Saturn had started things off right by launching a
full-strength Silence Glaive Surprise at him, which he'd actually felt. 
It had sent him staggering back a few paces, which gave the others an
opening.  Jupiter, Umi, Fuu, Uranus, and Neptune had launched a combined
attack of frightening power on Ourranos, which had sent him to his
knees.  In the sudden flush of success, they had been inspired to move
the conflict to the physical, with Umi and Fuu adding their swords to
Uranus' own blade and Jupiter's fists.

     Then Ourranos had stopped playing around.

     Right now, he was bursting bolts of pure dark energy into Umi and
Fuu, whose defensive magics were just barely holding up under the
pressure.  Jupiter was sprawled some distance away, unconscious.  Uranus
and Neptune were firing off their attacks into his back, but he didn't
seem to notice.  Mercury was furiously trying to bring Jupiter around. 
Saturn had been -- apparently -- disintegrated, or possibly teleported
an incredible distance away.  Either way, she was out of the fight.

     Mars and Venus were holding back, waiting for an opening to use
their Ultimate-level attacks, which were (theoretically, in Venus'
untested case) the equal or superior of the Death Reborn Revolution. 
They were also guarding Moon and Beryl, who was firmly holding Hikaru
back from charging to support her friends.

     "Listen to me very carefully," Beryl said to the struggling girl. 
"You are of the line of Serenity.  If he sees you, he WILL stop
attacking your friends -- and START attacking you with intent to kill." 
She leaned in close to Hikaru's ear.  "And what do you think that your
mothers will do then?"

     Hikaru froze.

     "They will go after him with no regard for their own lives, and he
will kill them.  Almost certainly he will kill Rei first, since she
won't LET him kill Usagi, but he WILL kill her when she's dead, are you
quite clear on this?"

     "How can we BEAT him?" Hikaru hissed.

     Beryl opened her mouth to give a safe, comforting answer --

     And saw a few more fragments drop off the crystal that enshrouded
Lina Inverse.  Her heart sank.

     And then Beryl, who in this life had been known as Osaka Naru, with
full knowledge of the consequences of her act, made her Choice.

     She turned to Moon.  "Usagi, I'll need the Silver Crystal."

     Moon blinked, and opened her mouth.  Beryl prepared to lie through
her teeth as to why... and then Sailor Moon, born in this life as
Tsukino Usagi, nodded.  She clasped her hands to her chest, just over
her heart, and concentrated.  The Crystal came out of her easily, and
she didn't even stare at it before she handed it to Beryl.

     Beryl stared at her, appalled.  "Just like that.  No explanations?"

     "I trust you," Sailor Moon said to the woman who in another world
had been her direst enemy.

     She trusts me, Beryl thought weakly. She trusts me.  Idiot. 
Meatball head.  She trusts me.  Fool.

     Ignoring the tears brimming in her eyes, she turned to look at
Hikaru.  "You're going to need this --"

     "I'M going to use the Silver Crystal to fight him?" Hikaru gasped,
her eyes wide.

     "-- where you're going," Beryl finished as she thrust the Crystal
at the younger woman's chest.

     It slipped in just as easily as it had come out of Sailor Moon's
chest, resting beneath her heart.  The shock of its passage gave Beryl
the opening to complete the process.

     She began to chant a spell that she'd only ever cast once before,
at the sunset of the Silver Millennium.  Then, as now, the purpose was
to send a woman forward into the future.  But not as far this time.

     A thousand years, instead of twelve thousand.

     Hikaru vanished with a quiet pop.

     "What have you done?!" Sailor Moon demanded.

     Beryl turned to look at the woman who had foolishly trusted her. 
"Ourranos can only be killed by a daughter of his loins.  Not by the
daughter of a daughter.  But if he were able to get his hands on the
Silver Crystal, he could undo that curse -- and all his other
limitations that give ANYONE a snowball's chance in hell of killing
him."  She took a deep breath.  "And only a child of the line of
Serenity can take the Silver Crystal within herself.  So I have sent her
away, into the infinite future... so that she can live, and so that
Ourranos won't get the Crystal."

     "But Naru-chan, I can't fight him without the Crystal!" Usagi
protested.

     Beryl looked away.  "Who says that it's your job?"

     "I don't --"

     She ignored her, and walked past Venus and Mars -- neither of whom
had heard the pop, nor noticed that Hikaru was gone.  Mars suddenly
turned to look back at her mate, but Beryl was focused on Ourranos.

     He looked surprisingly normal as he observed that Fuu and Umi had
passed out beneath his mystical blows.  A tall man with short slate grey
hair despite his apparently youthful looks, he wore black robes in the
style of a wizard of the Silver Millennium.

     Sailor Uranus had drawn forth her space sword to charge at him once
more, and his palm was glowing with bright energy.

     I don't think so, Beryl thought.  She shaped a telepathic sending
of his true name into a psychic spear, and hurled it at his mind.  His
head whipped up, the energy dissipated, and he defended himself against
Uranus with a savage back hand.  "Who calls me?" he asked, and his voice
was as cold as interplanetary space.

     "I do," Beryl replied.

     He turned to look at her.  He studied her features.  "Do I know
you?" he asked.

     "You don't see any resemblance?" she asked.  "Not even to a certain
girl you KNEW, in an old sense of the world, a few thousand years ago?"

     He stared, intrigued.  "Well, well... this IS an interesting
development.  How did you find out what I actually was?"

     "A woman named Madeline told me."

     He frowned savagely.  "Meddling witch.  So I suppose that you think
you can fulfill Serenity's prophecy and destroy me?"

     "I can only try," she said, and raised her staff.

     "No."

     It was not a loud voice, but it grabbed both of their attentions.

     Tsukino Usagi had transformed, as she had a handful of times
before, becoming the image of the Princess of the Moon Kingdom that she
had been in her past life.  If there was fear in her heart it did not
appear on her face.

     "I am Serenity, Daughter of Serenity," she said quietly.  "I am the
one for whom you have been seeking."

     "Stop it!" Beryl shouted.  "Don't do this!  If this is out of some
vague sense of newly-discovered sisterhood between us, you stupid bitch,
you can just --"

     Serenity, Daughter of Serenity turned to Beryl and said four words
that changed the world forever.

     "I have always known."

     And then she turned to meet the cold grey eyes of Ourranos, her
father, which were alight with exaltation.  "At last," the Prince of the
Void whispered.  "FREEDOM."

     She shook her head.  "Oh no, ancient liar.  I will undo you without
giving you your freedom.  In the name of the moon... in the name of the
Word within the Heart of Time... I will punish you."

     And then they met, and the roar and brightness of their meeting
obliterated Beryl's senses.

                                   *****

Elsewhen

     "Um... like, there's a bit of a problem," Perse said.

     "What?" Amora asked.

     "Like... the final battle is going down on my world, and, like,
those two haven't shown up yet.  So... like, what's happening?"

     Amora turned to stare at the other Perse, who shrugged.  "Perhaps
the detector is having a hard time locating that particular world.  You
did warn them that that might happen, correct, Setsuna-chan?"

     Setsuna glowered at the name, but only nodded.

     "That's probably the explanation, then," Perse continued.

     "Yeah!  Like, that or they got killed in the explosion!" the other
Perse said helpfully.

     There was a long silence.

     "Like, why are you all staring at me like that?"

                                   *****

Azabu-Juuban District, Tokyo

     Beryl blinked, and stared up the sky.  It hadn't been so cloudy
earlier today.  Why --

     She realized where and when she was, and sat up hurriedly.  The
intersection where the final battle had begun was scarred and pitted by
the forces which had been unleashed, but it didn't seem any more battle
damaged than before -- unless one counted the column of free-standing
light in the middle of the intersection as damage.

     Beryl focused her mage sight on it -- and then shrieked and drew
back.

     Whatever was going on within the column was beyond her
understanding.  It was a battle on a scale that she could barely even
glimpse...

     "What's happening?" Mars asked her.  The Senshi of Fire had a
tight, drawn expression on her face.  She had come up behind Beryl
without her realizing it.

     "I don't know, she... she's doing something that I didn't expect,
and now... I don't know what's going to happen."

     "Can she defeat him?  Yes or no?" Rei snapped.

     "Yes..."

     "All right then --"

     "But that's part of the problem.  She can destroy his physical
form, with a bit of effort.  But that won't put an end to the problem...
it'll only make it worse.  He's not really... that body isn't really
HIM.  It's just something he uses to walk among us.  And unless she can
find some way to destroy or suppress the energy form that IS him --"

     And then, quite suddenly the column of light vanished.  There was a
brief rush of wind... and then silence.

     A single bit of light slowly dropped down out of the air and into
Beryl's outstretched hand.  It pulsed once... and then faded.  She
stared at where it had been... and then the tears, too long denied,
began to flow.

     "What?" Rei demanded.  "What happened?"

     "She... she found a way to beat him.  But it meant that she'd have
to grapple with him forever, on the plane where he exists... so she took
it."  A sobbing breath.  "Her last message was, 'I love --'... and that
was all."

     There was a dreadful silence behind her.

     "You said that you're Ourranos' daughter.  If she hadn't stopped
you... would you have had to do that?"

     "Probably," Beryl agreed.

     "If she'd had the Silver Crystal with her... would she have been
all right?"

     "Possibly."

     "In other words..."  And then the silence, again.

     Beryl half-turned to look at Sailor Mars through eyes that were
filled with tears -- and received the punch full-force on her cheek. 
She fell to the ground, and looked silently up at her attacker.

     Rei Hino's eyes were filled with hatred.  "In one fucking day
you've taken away my only love and our only child.  If I ever see you
again, I swear that I'll kill you.  I hope you rot in hell, you utter
bitch..."  Words failed her, then, and she spun on her heel.

     Beryl stared up at the sky for several moments. Yes, she thought.
That seems most likely.

     I will rot in hell.

     And then there was a sound like a crystal exploding.  In the
distance, she heard shrieks and exclamations as, one by one, the
survivors of the battle were overcome by the suddenly freed sorceress.

     At last, Lina stood over her with the Silence Glaive at her throat. 
The sorceress' face gaunt and sweating.  "All right!  Now the tables
have turned!"

     Beryl didn't deign to answer.

     "Where is the crystal?!" Lina demanded slowly.

     "Somewhere that you'll never find it," Beryl answered quietly.

     If Lina had been a bit more cruel, or a bit more aware at this
point, she would have realized that the worst thing that she could do
would be to let this woman live.  But she wasn't that aware.

     So she settled for blowing her head off.

     Even the minor amount of power THAT required drew on reserves that
were being drained rapidly.  "Gotta find a crystal," she muttered to
herself.  "Gotta find --"

     Something on her extradimensional radar seized her attention. 
"TWO?" she asked.  "You've gotta be kidding me!  Two in the same -- I'm
THERE!"

     And she vanished.

     The first snow of the year slowly began to fall on Beryl's corpse.

                                   *****

Ruins of Crystal Tokyo
3035 AD

     The setting sun glittered across the shattered crystal palace that
had once been home to the most powerful monarch the world had seen since
the Silver Millennium.  Surrounding the ruin lay the remains of a once-
great city.  No building was left standing.  Most were flattened, some
had burned.  The roads were filled with silt and mud, choking the once
spacious thoroughfares.  Here and there someone picked through the
rubble, either a looter looking for something of monetary value or
someone who lost their home, looking for something of personal value.

     Lina Inverse floated over it all, extremely pissed.

     For the nonce, none of the damage was her fault.

     She knew nothing of the war that Japan had recently fought against
the Allied Powers of the world, or of the desperate, last ditch attack
unleashed by an unknown party.  The nuclear bombs implanted in the
Pacific fault lines had set off tsunamis and quakes that had devastated
shorelines on both sides of the Pacific.  Crystal Tokyo and all of Japan
had been hit hard by Titan.  But Lina cared not at all.

     "Two!  I KNOW there are TWO of them here!  But do they make it
easy?  No!  They have to go hide and destroy their city to confuse me!" 
She crossed her arms over her chest, one of the few parts of her left
flesh.  Arms, stomach, most of her face, and, of course, her eyes, all
glittered like the ruins beneath her.  Grumpily she observed her body.

     "Must be a multiversal conspiracy," she muttered, looking at her
still less than substantial breasts.

     Shaking her head, she returned to her musing.  "Where are they?! 
Where on earth could that... Moon... Princess... be?"  She turned her
glittering eyes to the heavens, where the crescent moon hung.

                              *****

     Sailor Centaurus sank back down into the command chair of HMS
Yamato.  Another boring day guarding a transport full of people heading
for the Moon.  She spent a few moments hoping that the immigration
centers could handle it.

     "Status?" she asked.

     "All systems nominal," replied Augur, the ship's AI.  "We are
maintaining station 10,000 kilometers in front of the transport convoy. 
Nothing--"  Augur paused.  "Just a moment.  Just a moment."

     "Augur?"

     Missile alarms suddenly blared.  "Something has left Earth's
atmosphere.  It heading on a collision course and approaching rapidly."

     "Evasive maneuvers!"

     "Too late."

     With a burst of light seen on both the Earth and the moon, the
transport convoy suddenly ceased to exist.

                                   *****

     "Your Majesty, we must get you to a safe place," Sailor Pluto
insisted.

     "I appreciate all you've told me, Pu--Sailor Pluto," Serenity II
said quietly.  "You should focus on aiding our defense now."

     "My Queen--."

     "Do you fear her, Pluto?"

     "Serenity, she has already taken six Ginzuishous from other
universes.  Her power is only matched by her hunger for more."

     "If she's so powerful, where would you propose taking me that would
be safe?"

     Serenity II had the satisfaction for once in her life of seeing
Sailor Pluto looked dismayed.

                                   *****

     The HMS Tsuki no Usagi lifted off from the Moon's surface.  The
largest and most powerful ship in the Fleet, it had been designed from
the keel up to serve as a flagship.  Before the war with the Allied
Powers, there had been a threat in deep space, the remnants of the Dark
Kingdom led by a mad Queen named Selenite.  The threat was gone now, but
the prospect of an invading fleet had made Crystal Tokyo's shipbuilders
rethink some of their assumptions.  While most of the Fleet still
consisted of multi-purpose vessels suited for both exploration,
transport, and battle, a few designs were constructed with a more
battle-oriented philosophy.

     On the Flag Bridge, Sailor Saturn watched a holotank that took up
much of the space (always at a premium on a starship).  Her command
chair was elevated over a pit which held her command staff, tactical and
communications officers who helped organize the mass of data that told
her what was going on.  As she watched, dozens of silver stars were
leaving the Moon's surface in the holotank, each blip a ship in her
hastily assembled fleet.

     "Order the fleet to assume the Cross," she commanded.  "Is everyone
launched?"

     Her order was relayed and she watched as the ships began to form a
wall of battle.  The flagship was the crux of the formation, with ships
stringing in a line "above" and "below" it as well to the "left" and
"right."  The formation resembled its name, a large cross, and helped
maximize the fleet's ability to concentrate its fire and maneuver.

     "We still have half a squadron on the ground.  They're launching
now," replied Captain Carstairs, her Chief of Staff.

     "Tell them to expedite."

                                   *****

     On board HMS Seiza, Sailor Orion, a blue-eyed redhead also known as
Jennifer Allison Sakachi, looked over at her first officer and lover,
Sailor America.  Both senshi were clad in their Sailor uniforms. 
Orion's had a blue bow, a green skirt and green boots.  America's had a
red skirt with a white and blue stripe at the hem, a blue bow, a red
choker with golden eagle, gloves with red, white, and blue stripes at
the elbow, and blue high heels.  She was also looking faintly nauseous.

     "Ready, America?" Orion asked her.

     Eileen Pearcy, Sailor America, swallowed, trying to think of
anything but how space travel made her sick to her stomach.  "Yeah... I
knew we'd have to go into combat sooner or later.  I'll be fine."

     Orion smiled for America's benefit.  Yes, she and her love had
planned to go into combat together... in fact, they already had, when
the Allied forces had attempted to lay a minefield in orbit and choke
off Crystal Tokyo's supply lines.  But she had never wanted to do it in
a ship that was nowhere near being ready for combat... well, again, she
meant.  The HMS Osaka had not really been ready for flight, let alone
minesweeping.

     Orion and America had been tapped to command Seiza for months, but
the ship itself had been outside the solar system on a mission for most
of that time.  Their assumption of command had been further delayed by
the war, since most of the Senshi in the Fleet had been called down to
defend Japan from the Allies.  The Fleet had been of limited usefulness
in the war.  The Allies had taken the Fleet into account with its
planning, placing all its major military bases and other such targets
too close to civilian population centers for so-called 'surgical'
strikes from orbit.

     And then more than a quarter of the Senshi had died when the Allies
unleashed their Heartbreakers... and Titan had rendered everything
moot... at least as far as Crystal Tokyo was concerned.  The resulting
chaos and manpower requirements had left Orion without a full crew.  She
would have much rather been able to go back to school and earn her
doctorate, but she had taken an oath to serve wherever her Queen needed
her  She just wished she had more time to get her crew up to fighting
trim.  Still, wherever she went, America would be by her side, no matter
what.

     Looking at her lover's pale face, she wondered if that was such a
good idea now.

     "Hey," she whispered, "don't worry.  I'm scared too, always am
before a battle."

     "That's supposed to make me feel better?"

     Orion held one hand behind her head.  "Um, well--"

     "Lunar Traffic Control has cleared us to launch, Captain," one of
her temporary bridge crew reported.

     Orion reached over and squeezed America's hand briefly, then
returned to the business of commanding her ship.  An unidentified object
had destroyed HMS Yamato and its convoy near Earth orbit and headed
toward the Moon.  The Fleet's orders were deceptively simple: Stop it.

     "Take us out," Orion said.

                                   *****

     Like a string of diamonds, the ships of the Fleet arrayed
themselves in lunar orbit.  Filled with cutting edge technology and each
commanded by senshi who could, when necessary, direct their attacks
through their ships weapon systems and use a vast amplified form of them
against their enemies.  They were perhaps the most powerful navy in the
history of mankind.

     And they were outmatched.

     It wasn't simply a matter of firepower.  Senshi attacks based on
fire, ice, lightning, lasers, air, and even more esoteric media made the
space over the moon a killing zone.  The main problem was the target was
too small and agile for weapons systems designed to handle so much
power.  The antimissile systems could track and hit the target, but
lacked the punch to do more than annoy Lina.

     "DRAGON SLAVE!"

     HMS Kooun and HMS Spartacus were both claimed by the Dragon Slave
and that barely slowed Lina down.

                                   *****

     "Wheel the First and Second Divisions around!" snapped Sailor
Saturn.  "I want a crossfire on that target NOW!"

     The orders flew as fast as the ordnance, and two arms of the giant
Cross swung forward, bringing them perpendicular to the other two arms. 
Now the fire of the opposing arms crossed each other, filling the volume
of space occupied by their target with a lethal hail of magic and
missiles.

     "It's hard to tell if we're having any effect, sir," Commander
Storr, her tactical officer reported.  "It's still attacking us,
however, and I don't read much of a reduction in the strength of its
blasts."

     Saturn looked over at the arm of her command chair, where the
controls for the Gertie awaited.  Designed to augment and project the
attack of a Senshi, she had never liked the idea of having to use one
herself.  Her attacks already were too powerful, and too much blood
stained her hands.  She did not regret the killing, only that it had
been necessary.  She was the Senshi of Death of Destruction.  When it
was needed, she killed.  She didn't like it, but that never stopped her. 
It was the one thing that she and her Queen disagreed on and it had lead
to a certain coolness between them at times, something she regretted. 
But the days of Chibi-Usa and Tomoe Hotaru were long over with.

     Still, this was not the time for a philosophical discussion. 
Another of her ships had fallen.  Now was the time to strike.  Hooking
one of her fingers in the small hole on her command chair's arm, she
summoned her power.

     "SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"

     Immediately in front of the ship, a gigantic Silence Glaive
appeared, longer than the ship and glowing with dark energy.  It hung
there, perpendicular to the ship, then swung down to point at the
glowing figure that was annihilating the fleet.  The burst of energy
that flew from the tip of the Glaive was visible from the Earth.  It
flew straight and true at its target.

     And was parried effortlessly by the smaller Glaive held by the
figure.

     Saturn, still hooked into the Gertie, could sense the target
turning its attention to the flagship.

     "Goodbye, Chibi-Usa-chan," she whispered.

                                   *****

     Orion watched, her face white as hundreds of lives were claimed in
one attack, time and time again.

     "Flag is ordering First and Second divisions to wheel and
concentrate fire on the target, sir," her communications officer
announced.

     "The horse is already out of the barn, but acknowledge the order. 
Are our scans giving us anything useful about our target?"

     "Negative, sir.  The readings keep fluctuating.  Sometimes I think
I'm reading a human, the next... its energy reading is off the scale."

     Orion hit her comm button.  "Engineering, status on the Gertie?"

     "She's ready any time you are, captain," came back Chief Engineer
Aono's voice.

     "Ready to fire on my mark," Orion responded.  She looked over at
America and tried to smile.  It came out thin and forced.

     "Want me to 'light your fire?'" America asked wanly, trying to keep
a smile on her face even as the viewscreen whited out again from another
ship facing the Dragon Slave.

     Orion smiled back briefly.  Her attack was one of tremendous power,
but hardly useful in most instances, as it caused the formation of a
mini-star.  Using it on the surface of a planet, she had long ago
learned to her horror, would destroy any life on the surface.  In fact,
it made the planet uninhabitable for millennia... if not longer.  She
and America had found a way to combine their attacks, using America to
ignite the hydrogen created in the early stages of Orion's attack.

     Orion nodded her head.  "Let's give this all we've got..."

     "Sir!" her communications officer called out, "the flagship--"

     Another burst of light flashed across the bridge, leaving no
question of the fate of the flagship.

     No time left, Orion thought.  This isn't a battle, it's a massacre. 
She placed her right finger into a hole that went at a slant on her
right armrest, then pushed two buttons simultaneously on her left
armrest,  "ORION... NEBULA..."

                                   *****

     Lina laughed as her magic annihilated another of the sleek ships
that thought to challenge her.  This was too easy for someone with the
power of SIX Crystals, she thought exultantly.

     Then a haze filled her vision.  Another strange magical attack? she
thought.  No, it was just hydrogen, which was to be expected in space. 
Must have passed into a concentration of the stuff.  Still, it was no
danger to her.

     Then one of the ships began to glow.

                                   *****

     Reaching over her lover's shoulder, America placed her right hand
on Orion's and unleashed her attack.

     "American Blazing Eagle!"

                                   *****

     A giant sixty-meter wingspan eagle launched itself toward Lina, but
its true target was the hydrogen cloud that surrounded its target.  Once
it hit that, the hydrogen would magically ignite, unleashing the force
of several nuclear explosions on the mad would-be-goddess.

     It never reached its target.

     With a wave of her hand, Lina sent a shockwave of pure silver light
outward from her body in a sweeping arc.  When it hit the eagle, the
bird of prey exploded in a blast of light that outshone anything the
battle had yet seen, burning out both eye and sensor alike.  Then,
lessening as it spread outward, the shockwave raced onward toward Seiza.

                                   *****

     Orion's eyes were closed as she focused on her power, but she could
sense what had gone awry... there was only one option left.  It might
cause more destruction than whatever that thing was... but she was
inclined to doubt it.

     "Collapse," was all she said, just before the shockwave hit. 
America's eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth.  Whatever she 
was going to say was never heard.

     On board Seiza, everything went white.

                                   *****

     The hydrogen cloud condensed to a single point.  Following rules of
physics that never could have either imagined or explained how this
particular hydrogen would reach this state, the gaseous element began to
fuse...

     And a new star was born around the Inverted Sorceress.

                                   *****

     "Confirmed," a quiet voice said in the Fleet Command Center on the
moon.  "That was the Orion Nebula Collapse.  The new mini-star's EMP has
disrupted all communications between us, the fleet and Earth.  A lot of
our systems went down when the pulse hit, but the shielded backups took
over.  Sailor Orion seems to have exerted far more control over her
power than previously recorded... the mini-star should burn itself out
in a matter of days."

     Serenity II frowned at the blank status board before her, trying
not to let her emotions show.  Her friend may have just given her life
to save her kingdom... and despite the grief she felt, she owed it to
her friend and the lessons she had taught her to show none of it.  A
leader must lead in times of crisis.  Grief would have to wait.  And it
would wait, she knew, until it could pounce on her twice as strong.

     "Status of the intruder?" she asked coolly.

     "No readings, your majesty.  It must have been destroyed.  Nothing
could have--"  He broke off.  "My Queen, the mini-star... it's
shrinking... I don't know how... we have a visual."

     All eyes turned to the screen.  The small sun that hovered above
the moon shrank with bewildering quickness, turning into a golden,
humanoid figure.  A female figure that threw back its head and laughed.

     "Your majesty... we're getting a message.  It's on all frequencies
and must be from that... thing," a communications officer said.

     "Let me hear it."

     Speakers around the room came to life with a burst of static.

     "--I can sense them!  Two of them HERE!  I want them!  Turn over
your Crystals NOW... or I'll start seeing how much damage all this
plasma you've given me can do!"  It was a female voice, though with some
sort of odd harmonic.

     Serenity II turned to her advisors, the Planet Senshi.  "Status of
our forces?" she asked resignedly.

     "Our Fleet..." Sailor Venus began strongly, but her voice trailed
off.  Swallowing, she continued.  "We don't have a Fleet left.
Everything that wasn't in the battle is out-system or is too far away to
make any difference."

     "Your Majesty!" shouted a voice from the 'pit' below.

     All eyes turned back to the screen.  The golden figure was now
holding her arms above her head, hands outstretched, and a huge ball of
plasma was forming between them.  It started red in color, then swiftly
brightened, turning orange, then yellow, and so on up the spectrum until
it became blindingly white.  Then, like someone throwing a beach ball,
the figure tossed it at the Earth.

     "The target," came a subdued voice from the pit, "has just launched
a ball of plasma at the Earth.  It's traveling around... .1c?"  One
tenth the speed of light.  "Estimate it will hit in 4 seconds, target...
Perth, Australia.  It has reached the atmosphere... no appreciable loss
of energy..."  The unnamed voice turned ugly with grief and helpless
rage.  "Perth is gone."

     "Target is readying another plasma ball!"

     "It's fired!  Target... Jakarta, Indonesia!"

     "Another--"

     "Enough," Serenity II whispered.  She held her Ginzuishou in front
of her eyes.  Such a small thing, but it had caused her more trouble in
her life, especially as a young child.  It was power beyond
comprehension, but there was always a price attached to that power.  It
was responsibility to use the power wisely.  But being a Queen also had
its price in responsibility.  And being a human being carried perhaps
the highest price of them all.  She looked again at the golden figure
shining in space and into the silver depths of the Ginzuishou.  Then,
closing her eyes, she listened to what her heart was saying.

     Opening her eyes again, she lifted the Ginzuishou above her head. 
Everyone held their breath, expecting some terrible attack or fantastic
bit of magic.

     Instead, the Ginzuishou floated toward the ceiling.  With a flash,
it disappeared.

     No one said anything.

     Serenity II looked at their shocked faces and felt the weight of
their eyes, and the eyes of History, on her.  No matter what she said or
did, her actions would be questioned, dissected, and second-guessed
until the end of time.  So, she said what was in her heart.

     "It'll be all right.  I know."

     But the last two words were a lie.

                                   *****

     Lina smiled in satisfaction as a glowing point of light flew toward
her from the Moon.  Only seconds later, a second joined it, from a
different area on the Moon's surface... the site of the old Moon
Kingdom, Lina realized.  She neither knew nor cared that the old Queen
had unhesitatingly supported her daughter's position.  All she cared
about were the two Crystals.

     Catching them in her hands, she exulted as their power filled her. 
Her legs turned crystal, suffused with the golden light of the plasma
she had absorbed.  Over 90% of her body was now crystalline, with only
her chest and red flowing hair untouched by its encroachment.  The power
was better than any high she had ever known or heard about.

     "One more," she whispered to the cosmos.  "One more and it will all
be MINE!"

     Then the universe blinked and Lina Inverse was headed for her
destiny.

                                   *****

Crystal Tokyo
September, 2980

     The evacuation had been completed some hours before.  The citizens
of the great city, though confused by the urgency of their Queen's
request, had boarded the transports bound for China's heartland, taking
only their most precious possessions with them.

     The city was empty, save for the handful of people who remained in
the palace at its heart.

     Serenity walked briskly through the hallway.  She could have moved
much faster if she'd desired to do so, but it would have served no
purpose.

     Pluto appeared and fell into step beside her.  "Your Majesty," the
green-haired sentinel said quietly.  "My colleagues and I have completed
our examination of the timelines, and --"

     "You have not found any trace of them," Serenity finished without
turning to look at Pluto.

     Pluto nodded all the same.  "I fear we must presume the worst --
that Sheila and Athena are dead."

     "No."

     Pluto swallowed.  She had heard that particular "no" from Serenity
in the past.  It was not a refusal to believe what she had been told --
it was a refusal to accept even the possibility of it being true.  "Your
Majesty, the Dragon Slave is a fearsome --"

     "Pluto, I am linked to each and every one of the Palladins who have
chosen to accept my leadership.  I do not know their thoughts, but I
would most assuredly know if any of them had fallen -- in either sense
of the term."  Serenity walked in silence for a moment, then continued. 
"I have not felt Sheila's death -- thus I know that she lives. 
However... it may be that she, or her companion, are unable to continue
their quest.  If so, it falls to me to do what I must do."

     "And that is?" Pluto asked uneasily.

     "I must destroy Lina Inverse."

     Pluto shook her head.  "Other Serenities have tried to defeat --"

     "I will not attempt to DEFEAT Lina Inverse, Pluto.  I will
annihilate her.  That is within my power."

     Pluto stopped dead in the hallway, and stared at the back of
Serenity's head as her Queen continued ahead for a few paces.  "What?"
she breathed.

     Serenity paused, but did not look back.  "I will give Lina Inverse
the Silver Crystal -- but as she begins to absorb it into herself, I
will draw on its power to destroy what remains of her soul.  Without her
spirit to control the Crystals, they will collapse... and the worlds
shall be saved."  Her voice dropped.  "And all for the cost of a single
soul.  A rational transaction."

     "Serenity," Pluto whispered in horror.

     "This is NOT what I wish to do," Serenity interrupted, her voice
like a whip.  "But we have exhausted our other options.  She CANNOT
ascend to divinity.  Her actions imperil not only this world, but seven
others."  The Queen turned back to look at Pluto.  Her eyes were by
turns angry and grieving, but there were no tears there.  "Once, when
Serena was younger, she risked the fate of this universe for the soul of
a child.  Lina Inverse is NOT a child.  She should have been able to
resist the temptation of power."  She closed her eyes.  "She was not.
And so, we must do what we must do in order to save untold lives, and
live with the consequences."

     Serenity turned away.  "I have sent the people of the city to
China, so that they will not be imperiled by what follows.  The Senshi
are there -- and so are my husband and child.  I would ask that you
please join them."  A long breath.  "And if it happens that I fail, send
Small Lady into the past.  To somewhere she will be safe."

     "It shall be done," Pluto murmured, bowing before vanishing once
more.

     Serenity released a sigh. And if I succeed... well, at the very
least, I shall be able to spend more time with my daughter -- since I
shall no longer be Queen.  That is, perhaps, a consolation.  She began
to walk again.

     Moments later, she arrived at the heart of the palace -- the
resting place of the Silver Crystal, from which it powered the magical
defense grid of the city.  Four of the people who remained in the city
were also present -- the delegation from the College of Magic in their
conical hats, who were quietly bickering over an arcane diagram.

     Serenity coughed politely.

     Dean Takeo Takakura stiffened, and whirled around to face her with
a look of extreme worry written on his face.  "Ah!  Your Majesty.  I
didn't hear you come in."

     "I hope that you are not experiencing any difficulties with my
request?" Serenity asked mildly.

     "Oh, no, no!" Takakura assured her.  "It's just that... well, while
we're sure that the matrix we've constructed can support the defense
network when the Silver Crystal is removed, there is some doubt as to
how long --"

     "Two hours," one of the graduate students interrupted flatly.

     "But that's a conservative estimate!" Takakura shouted, jumping in
front of the student who'd just spoken.  "It could be anywhere up to --"

     "Two hours and ten minutes, three seconds."

     "-- a day, considering that your Majesty will be sure to prevent
ANY damage to the city in the interval -- something that Ms. Nakatomi
has forgotten to take into account."  Takakura shot a look meant to be
intimidating over his shoulder at the student, who met it with a look of
aggravation.

     Serenity decided to intervene.  "Very well.  I thank you for your
efforts.  We shall just have to take our chances... please activate the
matrix immediately."

     Whatever Ms. Nakatomi's reservations might have been, she
immediately joined in the circle with the Dean and his assistant, along
with the other student, who hadn't spoken yet.  As one, they chanted,
and a pentagram of light appeared around the resting place of the
Crystal. The light flickered oddly, perhaps because of the tremendous
amount of magic that was already concentrated in the room.

     "You can remove the Crystal now, your Majesty," Takakura said after
the spell was cast.

     Serenity nodded, and reached through the pentagram to grasp the
Crystal.  As always, it rested uneasily in her hand.

     "I thank you, Mr. Takakura, Mr. Aburatsubo, Ms. Nakatomi... and Ms.
Sawanoguchi, was it not?"

     The other grad student blinked, and stammered out an affirmative.

     "You have been a credit to the practice of magic today, and
regardless of the outcome, you have my personal thanks," she assured
them gravely.  "But now I urge you to flee this place at once -- while I
will try to protect the city, I cannot in any way guarantee your safety
in what is to come."

     "Right, bye," said Ms. Nakatomi, and headed for the door, with the
Dean and Assistant Dean following close behind her.

     Ms. Sawanoguchi hesitated.  "Actually... your Majesty, if I could
have a moment?"

     "Sae --" Ms. Nakatomi hissed from the door.

     "I have a few moments," Serenity replied.  "But I urge you to be
brief."

     "It's about Lina-san... um... what's going to happen to her?"

     Serenity met the innocent eyes of the young woman before her... and
said simply, "It is unlikely that she will survive.  Have the two of you
become friends?"

     Sawanoguchi nodded, her face frightened and trembling.

     "I am sorry, then, but she has made her choices, and --"

     "But she didn't!"

     Serenity was not used to being contradicted -- and she was even
less used to hearing the same weight of certainty and truth in the voice
of another that others often heard in her voice.  "What do you mean?"

     Sawanoguchi turned to look at her colleagues, who were anxiously
waiting for her.  "This could be a while," the young woman said.  "You
should probably get going --"

     "Right, bye, let's go Takeo-chan," Aburatsubo replied, bodily
dragging the faintly protesting Dean with him.

     "Your Majesty -- when we were reconstructing the spell that Lina-
san cast to start this whole thing, we did a retrocognitive vision, and
watched.  We saw that Lina-san momentarily lost control of the ritual,
and then --"

     "And Ms. Ten'kai interrupted the spell, causing it to go out of
control.  I am aware of this, and I am aware that Sheila has tried to
rectify her mistake --"

     "But there wasn't any reason for Lina-san to lose control of the
spell even as briefly as she did!" Sawanoguchi interrupted.  "I did the
same ritual after we pieced it together, and it worked perfectly, and
Lina-san is a MUCH better magic user than I am, so why should it have
gone bad when she did it but not when I did?"

     Serenity opened her mouth to give a quiet, gentle reply that would
soothe the magician's conscience.

     Her mouth hung open... and then slowly closed.

     After a moment, she murmured a single word.

     "Fool."

     Sawanoguchi flinched.  "I'm sorry, your Majesty, I shouldn't be
bothering you with this stuff --"

     "Not you, Sae," Serenity said angrily.  "-I- am the fool.  I am
worse than a fool.  Were Lady Mars here, she would not hesitate to slap
me."  She drew in a deep breath.  "Thank you, Sae.  You have given me
the means and method to save Ms. Inverse's life, if I can only find the
opportunity."

     She smiled then, faintly.  "Now I urge you to hurry and join your
friends, who have waited for you these minutes.  Again, thank you."

     Sawanoguchi was almost in shock at being addressed so familiarly by
the Queen of the Crystal Realm, so she could probably be excused for
failing to observe etiquette as she ran out of the room.

     When the magician was gone, Serenity's face shifted.  Everyone in
the world has many faces.  The face that Serenity usually wore was one
that tried to put everyone at ease in her presence.  The face that she
wore now was one that only a few of her direst enemies had ever seen --
a face that spoke of a calm, stern determination to do whatever it took,
to the last breath of her body, to bring another to safety.

     There was a soul in need of saving.

     Pray for the one who had placed it in peril.

                                   *****

     Misa von Fogler fumed as she stood just outside the main gates of
the Palace.  It wasn't that she was impatient with the Queen.  It wasn't
that she was scared out of her mind at what she'd been told was
happening.  It was being in Priss Asagiri's company that put her on
edge.

     Okay, it was all three, but it was MOSTLY "the ape woman" as Misa
referred to the Knight Saber in her less charitable moments.  She didn't
care for Asagiri's attitude at the best of times, and these weren't
them.

     It had nothing to do with jealousy, however, or the fact that
Sheila had patched things over with her former lover during the last
decade.  She wasn't threatened by the wary friendship between the two of
them.

     Okay, maybe she was.

     Misa sighed.  The irony was, she got on perfectly well with
Asagiri's wife, Sylia, while Sheila's relationship with Ms. Stingray was
extremely tense -- for her, at least, as Sylia was as calmly polite with
Sheila as Sylia was with anyone.

     Such fun, this quadrangle, Misa thought bitterly.

     For her part, Priss was occupied listening to the rough cuts of her
latest disc, and didn't spare a thought for Misa.  She actually rather
liked the woman, but she was just way too tense.

     Something strange had happened to Priss over the years since she'd
been brought out of cold sleep.  Improbably, she'd become happy. 
Perhaps even MELLOW.  The periodic flashes of self-destructive rage that
had dominated her teens and twenties were channeled into creativity far
more potently than ever before.

     It's the kid, probably, Priss thought, and her expression
flickered.  Joy had its ups and downs.  Upside, you had something to
live for.  Downside, you weren't as willing to die.  She'd only realized
that she might never again see either Sylia or their daughter, Nene, as
they'd walked onto the transport to China.  Sylia hadn't wanted to go...
but Priss' 'orders' -- or rather, 'information', since Palladins never
got orders from the Queen -- had stated that only she was required.  And
given the choice, she wanted Sylia as far away from this fracas as
possible.

     The gates suddenly clanged shut, and both women looked to see that
Serenity was quietly locking them.  Priss yanked her headphones out of
her ears, and asked with her trademarked impertinence, "So what's the
plan, Your Supreme Enlightenment?"

     Misa glared at her, while Serenity smiled faintly.  "That is a new
one, I believe," the Queen murmured, then grew serious.  "Major Fogler,
your orders are as follows.  First, it is my belief that Sheila Ten'kai
WILL arrive in time to play a role in that which will follow -- and you
are to give her any aid or support that she requests."

     "Understood," Misa replied crisply.

     "Second, and far more importantly, I am entrusting you with the
keys to the palace," Serenity continued, extending them towards Misa as
she did.  "You are not to surrender them to anyone except to the ruler
of the Crystal Realm."

     Misa took them -- and then blinked.  "In other words, to you."

     "As you say," Serenity evaded.  "And now, I suggest you head for
cover.  Keep moving -- I cannot predict what will occur."

     Misa flashed a salute, and then headed off.

     "Is she going to be okay?" Priss asked.

     "Major Fogler's training includes several tours of duty with the
Rangers," Serenity replied.  "I have confidence in her abilities.  Now,
then, Priss... the thing that I most needed you to do may no longer be
necessary --"

     "Which was what?"

     Serenity hesitated.  "I would rather not say unless it BECOMES
necessary..."

     Priss glared.  "And I want to know the plans you're making so that
I don't wind up getting killed because I didn't know something, thanks."

     "Very well," Serenity sighed.  "Until a few moments ago, I believed
that it was unfortunately inevitable that I would have to destroy Lina
Inverse's soul in order to defeat her, and should that occur, I would at
once abdicate as Queen of the Crystal Realm."

     For a moment, Priss wondered if she'd heard that correctly... and
then she heard herself saying, "Okay... and I was supposed to witness
your abdication, or something."

     Serenity shook her head.  "No.  In light of my daughter's youth,
and her lack of training... I have chosen you as my successor."

                                   *****

     As was often the case, three beings stood near Serenity's
manifestation on the Kami Plane -- what some among the gods and spirits
viewed as the "true self" of a divinity or infernal, while others argued
it to be merely an alternate form which such an entity could utilize in
this otherworld.  What was known was that while she was active within
the mortal plane, her manifestation was only a cold, faceless statue.

     Verdandi, Sovereign Goddess of the Now, (who had once been called
Belldandy before the Reconfiguration), turned to look at Vesta,
Sovereign Goddess of the Hearth, (who had been known as Tendou Kasumi
before her Ascension).  It was hard for either of them, partners and
allies for nearly a millennium, to even remember the fact that they had
once been mortal enemies, until an unexpected peace had been forged
through the efforts of the young girl whose fate had been tied
inextricably to the slumbering Goddess before them.

     "This could destroy her," Verdandi noted.

     "It could," Vesta agreed, in exactly the same calm tone.

     "Should we perhaps think of ways to prevent that from coming
about?" Verdandi wondered.

     Vesta shook her head once.  "No.  She would not thank us, nor would
she conceal our interference from the Senior.  You know why."

     And Verdandi did know why -- knew that Serenity had made a wager
with the one who had once been called "Almighty".  She would be given
Earth itself as her charge, and no other Power would be permitted to
interfere in its destiny until the vanishing point of the visions of the
Goddess of Time.  If at that time she had affected a substantial change
in human nature, Serenity would be accepted as a peer by the Senior
Divinity of Earth, something unheard of for one raised from mortality.

     The ban on interference had been tested many times by the younger
gods and spirits, and openly defied by many of the demon-kindred,
especially in the wake of the Nanoclysm, but the wager still stood. 
Serenity would indeed not welcome interference from either of them if it
caused her to lose.

     So all that was left to them, ultimately, was to wait and observe
the results of this latest crisis as Serenity dealt with it, in the
company of an old, familiar friend to both of them

     SHE COMES.

     They turned as one to look at the Pale Rider, who did not meet
their gaze.  SOMETHING -- some odd, mishapen mass of oozing crystal and
rotting meat -- had begun to materialize beside the faceless statue of
Serenity.  Lina Inverse was slowly, as the gods viewed things, moving
herself into synchronization with the mortal plane.

     "It begins," Vesta murmured. Be careful, my sister.

     "It begins," Verdandi agreed. Be careful, my friend.

     IT BEGINS, said Death.  Any other remarks from him would have been
fatuous at best.

                                   *****

     At first, Lina thought that her power had made a mistake, bringing
her to the world wherein she found herself.  Her memories of life before
she'd found her first precious -- no, taken -- had grown increasingly
foggy and confused, but she was certain that the world where she'd been
marooned, the world where deaddeaddeaddeaddeadSheila was from, and the
world where she would become a goddess (and she was almost certain that
they were the same world) had held much less magic than she was feeling.

     At once, one of her preciouses provided the answer -- magic on this
world was vastly more chaotic than any mortal being could handle, and so
the vast amount of magical energy which could have been drawn from
within this world was monopolized by gods, demons, and spirits.  They
kept the magic down to manageable levels for mortals of this plane --
which levels were absolutely intolerable for --

     What was it again?

     -- the greatest magical genius in the universe!

     How apropos, Lina thought happily, that in becoming a goddess, I
shall at last have the power to do all by myself what I ought to be able
to do anyway --

     As she moved into synch with the world, she saw and heard Queen
Serenity being yelled at by another woman dressed in a suit of dark blue
armor. She eased up on the synchronization in order to get a reading on
her enemy.

     "I do not believe so, but perhaps you should consult with Lady
Mercury as to my psych--" the Queen was saying as Lina listened in.

     "You want ME to be Queen?" the woman in blue shouted.  "Look,
ignoring for the moment that I like that sort of shit about as much as
Sylia does, why would I --"

     "Because you would then have the opportunity to take apart that
element of the government and rebuild it to your liking?" Serenity
replied mildly.

     She held Lina's precious SO loosely.  Lina almost ACHED to rush
forth and seize it, but her preciouses urged caution.  This was her most
dangerous adversary yet... wait until she is completely unprepared for
the attack.

     Quite suddenly, Serenity stiffened.  "She is here.  Priss, stand as
far away --"

     NO! Lina raged.  How can she have--? But no time remained for
regrets as she pulled herself fully into the dimension and Serenity
swiftly turned those huge blue eyes on her.

     And Lina staggered to realize that dominant emotion in those eyes
was pity.  Oh, there was anger, too, but the pity overwhelmed it.

     "So you have come," Serenity began.  "I will not attempt to
persuade you to abandon this course of action, as I realize that my
words would have no meaning to you in your current state.  So be it.  If
this --" She held up the crystal.  "-- is what you truly desire, come
and take it from me."

     It's a trap, Lina thought quietly.  It has to be a trap but -- Her
movement towards the crystal had already begun.

     Her hands were almost closed around it when she realized that she
couldn't see Serenity's OTHER hand.

     Lina felt a sudden tearing sensation at her chest, and then she
gazed down at Serenity's head and the ground below as the Queen used the
momentum of Lina's charge to throw her.  She hit the ground easily, and
rolled to her feet --

     And then, just as she realized that something was horribly wrong,
her world dissolved in white light and a piercing scream.

                                   *****

     Months later, Priss would try to reconstruct from her suit's
recording mechanism exactly what Serenity had done, and still not
understand.  One moment the Inverse woman had been racing at the Queen
so fast that she had been a blur in Priss' sights, the next she had been
standing behind her, her face blank, and facing towards Serenity's back.

     While Serenity stood, her right hand around the throat of a young
man with purple-black hair in a page-boy cut, who was dressed in vaguely
clerical regalia and whose feet hovered a foot or so off the ground.  He
smiled, but there was an element of strain about the smile.

     When the Queen spoke next, it was in a tone that Priss had never
heard. It held no mercy, no compassion... only contempt and anger. 
"Xelloss of the Mazoku," the Queen said.  "Why are you here?"

     "And hello to you too, your Divine and Sweet Natured-ness," the one
called Xelloss replied, with remarkable ease given that he couldn't be
breathing.  "Just doing my duty and following orders, really -- Urk."

     Serenity tightened her grip.  "Explain.  And do not for one moment
imagine that you can escape by saying 'That is a secret' to ME."

     "Well... it started a few years ago, when my revered mistress
discovered that Lina-chan, there, was capable of casting the Giga-Slave
spell and thus drawing L-sama -- the Lord of Nightmares -- into her
body.  When Zellas-Mettalum discovered this, well... let's just say that
it sparked a certain ambition that she'd had for a while."

     "An ambition to do what?"

     "Hey, we're mazoku."  Priss gaped at how easily Xelloss admitted
this.  "Ambition comes naturally to us.  In this case, though, what the
boss wanted was to make a present of Lina-chan's body to L-sama, since
it seems that L-sama REALLY wants Lina-chan's body.  And can you blame -
- URK."

     "Why would Beastmaster Zellas-Metallum do such a thing?" 
Serenity's expression was growing more and more severe.

     It seemed that Xelloss had begun to sweat.  "Well, you see... Ruby-
Eyed Shaburanigido's been DEAD for a while now, and since Lina-chan's
been nice enough to eliminate two of the boss' rivals, she figures that
if she gives Lina-chan to the Lord of Nightmares, L-sama will be so
happy that she'll reward the boss with enough power to take over the
Demon God's job."

     "Are you guys demons or a bunch of yakuza?" Priss asked, amazed.

     "Hey, it's the underworld either way," Xelloss replied, shrugging. 
"URK!"

     "I am NOT amused," Serenity announced.  "In order to bring about
something which I suspect you yourself view as unlikely in the extreme--
"

     "Hey, I do what I'm -- I'll shut up now."

     "-- you attached yourself to Lina Inverse's soul, caused her to be
brought to this world by 'accident', warped her ritual so as to cause
her to be sent on her journey, and have corrupted her spirit to cause
her to commit atrocities!"

     "Yes, yes, yes, and who me?"

     Serenity paused and glared at Xelloss, who had somehow materialized
a halo around his head.  "Are you claiming that you did not guide her
hands when she --"

     "Nope," Xelloss replied, grinning.  "By that point I was just along
for the ride.  Ask her yourself, now that she's conscious again."

     Serenity made a quarter-turn --

     And the wave of red-gray energy slammed into her, knocking her off
her feet.  Xelloss vanished in a puff of smoke the moment that her
fingers released his neck.  Reflexively, Priss whirled to target Inverse
with her gauntlet-gun -- and froze as she saw the sorceress.

     Lina stood enshrouded in pure, molten power.  It melted the stone
beneath her feet, and the air seemed to boil as it struck the nimbus of
energy around her.

     "WHAT.  DID.  YOU.  DO.  TO.  ME?"  she shrieked.

     Serenity unsteadily pulled herself to her feet.  "I... thought that
I would set you free..." she murmured in a dazed tone.

     "IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE ANYMORE!  IT ALL MADE SENSE, AND NOW IT
DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!  WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"

     With her final word, Lina detonated another burst of power in
Serenity's direction -- and Serenity, still weak from the first bolt,
could only stand and watch it come towards her.

     But then, something like quicksilver moving too fast to see bounced
against her and seized Serenity up in a leap that took them both out of
the path of the bolt.  Lina howled in frustration and prepared to launch
another --

     "Hey, BITCH."  A familiar voice.

     And the sound of knuckles being cracked.

     Lina's head slowly turned.

     She was standing on the edge of a fallen pillar.  Her hands were
encased in a pair of gloves that left the fingers exposed, and the
sunlight glinted on her mirror shades as the wind blew her long black
coat and the long pony-tail made of her red hair.  The shades lowered,
revealing cold, almost black-brown eyes.

     "Let's dance," said Sheila Ten'kai.

     Lina threw back her head and howled.

     "I KILLED YOU!  DEADDEADDEADDEAD!  WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO KILL YOU!?"

     Sheila didn't answer the insane proto-goddess.  Instead she simply
charged.  Priss could see that her lips were pulled back in a grin she
remembered all too well.  The feral grin of a wolf that is going to take
its enemy down no matter the cost.

     She had worn that grin more than once and it hurt to see it on
someone she could have loved.

     "Excuse me," said a weak voice with a strange accent she could not
place.  "Would either one of you be Neo-Queen Serenity?"

     Priss and Serenity turned and saw what appeared to be Sailor
Mercury.  Serenity saw deeper than the surface appearance, however, and
knew who she faced.

     "Athena, Senshi Mercury, I presume?" Serenity asked.

     "Yes, your majesty.  I suggest thou both take cover.  Sheila and I
have prepared a possible cure for our solution... if she can keep yon
sorceress distracted a few moments longer...."

     The Senshi of Ice held a strange device.  From its barrel and stock
it appeared to be a gun, but it looked like it had been mixed with a
blender and a vacuum cleaner.  A steadily rising hum emanated from the
conglomeration.

     Lina screamed wordlessly and unleashed another terrible burst of
energy.  It hit Sheila dead on... and both combatants screamed in pain.

     "What the fuck?" Priss exclaimed.

     "Lina is using a very dangerous mode of attack," Serenity said. 
"It not only attacks the target, but all who share the target's
archetype..."  She frowned at Priss's uncomprehending look.  "It attacks
the very core of the being, which is shared by many different people
across time and space... and it would seem that Lina and Sheila share
that archetype."

     "It's charged!" Athena cried.  "Please, get Sheila-chan clear!"

     Both Lina and Sheila were slowly getting to their feet as they
watched.  With a curse, Priss launched her hardsuit into the air,
swooping down beside Sheila.  As she grabbed one of the redhead's arms,
her proximity sensor when off.  Swinging her railgun around, she found
it pointed straight at...

     Major Misa von Fogler.

     The two stared at each other for a moment, then both of them
dragged Sheila off.

     Athena sighted very carefully down the top of her weapon.  She
still did not know where the D-hopper had dropped her and Sheila.  They
had appeared on a cosmic junk pile of some sort.  A tinker's dream.  It
had taken the D-hopper days to recharge to take them home, but they had
made good use of the time.  Energy projectors used specifically tuned
crystals to recreate the green energy that had proved so detrimental to
Lina before.  At the center of her weapon lay the Star Crystal she had
taken from the world doomed by Metallia.  The thought of that world made
Athena wince.  If Sheila's comments on their hasty escape from that
world had been harsh, what she had to say about leaving a city and
comrades to die....  After that, they had not spoken until they returned
here.

     Sighting carefully on the crystalline sorceress (for her kludge
might not fire more than once) she pulled the trigger.

     The night suddenly turned to day.

     In the center of the brightness, Lina Inverse screamed.  Had her
throat still been flesh and blood, it would have been flayed bloody by 
the screams.  Everyone, even Serenity, had to avert their eyes. 
Athena's visor protected her somewhat, allowing her to see what she had
hoped.

     Slowly, one by one, the Silver Empyrean Crystals or Ginzuishous
began to extrude from Lina's body.  One... two... three... Lina's body
began to appear as flesh and blood again.  Four... five... six... Athena
gasped as Lina's left arm simply turned to dust.  Seven... and finally,
eight.  The Inverted Sorceress, now completely human again, collapsed. 
It was over.  Athena's gun sparked and fizzled, and she dropped it to
her side.  It was useless now, but it had already served its purpose.

     "Did we win?" Priss asked, blinking quickly, trying to make the
greenish blobs go away.  She needed to talk to Sylia about the flash
compensators on her hard suit, that was for certain.

     "Sheila!  Sheila, are you OK?" Misa said, holding her loved one
close.

     Athena closed her eyes, but one single tear escaped.  Someone laid
a hand on her shoulder.  Looking up, she found herself staring into the
compassionate eyes of Serenity.

     "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" screamed Lina suddenly.

     All eyes snapped back to the downed sorceress.  She was struggling
to her feet.  A fiery nimbus surrounded her, with black lightning
crackling along her form.

     "Chaos magic!  Watch out!" Athena yelled.

     One the day that Lina Inverse had arrived on this Earth, she had
attempted to use her magic and learned, the hard way, that it was
unreliable.  It either did not work (the most common occurrence) or it
flared wildly out of control.  Because of that, she had refrained from
using her magic, for her own safety.

     Now, she didn't care.

     "COME, MY PRECIOUSES!" she screamed.

     "NO!" Serenity cried.  She tried to summon the Crystals to her, but
her body was still too weak from the blows Lina had dealt her.

     As one, the Crystals shot back inside Lina.  The insane sorceress
doubled over, but when she straightened, the crystal was already
replacing her flesh, her lost arm reforming.

     "NOW, SHEILA, YOU DIE!" Lina screamed, her voice amplified to the
level of thunder.

     "Over my dead body, bitch!" Misa screamed, raising her firearm. 
Her shots ricocheted harmlessly off Lina's body to explode in the rubble
surrounding them.

     "BAH!  YOU ARE AS DUST, SO FAR BENEATH ME!" Lina cried.  "CARRY
THIS HUMILIATION WITH YOU TO THE GRAVE!"  She made a flicking motion
with her finger, sending a white-hot fireball at the Major.

     For Priss, time seemed to stand still.  For a split second, it
wasn't Lina facing them, but Largo.  There, she had wished for the power
to defeat him and charged recklessly into battle.

     Here, she jumped between the blast and Misa, using one arm to send
the Major clear of the attack.  Misa didn't land gently, but she was
alive.

     The fireball struck.

     Priss screamed at the tremendous heat.  An unprotected human would
have been so much ash if hit by this.  As it was, her hardsuit fused
where it stood, its armor half-melted.  Mercifully, Priss lost
consciousness before the pain of her burns reached her.

     "SHEILA!" screamed Lina, readying another burst.

     Sheila stood shakily on her own two feet.  Misa was safe, Priss was
alive (she HAD to be alive), Athena was alive, her Queen was alive. 
Maybe the few seconds gained by her death at Lina's hands would give
them time to defeat the power mad sorceress, SOMEHOW.  She said nothing,
merely stared her opponent down.

     The magic burst from Lina's fingers.

     "SHEILA!" screamed Athena.  Then the blast hit...

     And Sheila was tumbling head over heels, Athena on top of her.

     "DAMNNIT!" Sheila screamed.  "I told you to LEAVE ME ALONE!" she
shouted.  This was the third time Athena had taken the choice to stay
and fight out of Sheila's hands.  The first two times had resulted in
the deaths of billions.  Sheila shoved Athena off her...

     And gazed into two sightless blue eyes.

     Athena had a hole where her chest used to be.

     "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

     Suddenly, she was elsewhere.  She clasped Athena's body close,
rocking back and forth.  How she longed for the power to take back those
harsh words.  Now, the ears that needed to hear her apology were forever
deaf.

     "Sheila..." came a faint whisper.

     Looking up, Sheila saw the face of her Queen.  Serenity, for the
first time that Sheila could recall, looked tired.

     "I am sorry, Sheila," Serenity said.  "I was too weak... too slow. 
I should have taken the Crystals from Lina as soon as they appeared. 
Your friend died because of me."  I am too used to being subtle,
Serenity thought to herself.  The hubris of the gods, thinking only of
pawns and plans, never acting directly.  I thought I was above that.  I
was wrong.

     Sheila shook her head.  It was HER fault that Athena died.  She had
taken the mission to stop Lina.  She should have left Athena behind with
that Naga person.  She should have never let her come along.  Never!

     Serenity slumped against a column.  They were in the heart of the
Palace.  She had tapped into the defense matrix Dean Takakura and his
students had put in place, using it to move herself and Sheila to its
core.  Doing so had sapped the last bit of magic.  Crystal Tokyo was
defenseless... but, then again, that was the least of their worries.

     Her power was slowly returning.  She hoped that she had bought
enough time.  If it took Lina long enough to find her and her Crystal,
she might have the power to pull off her first plan.  The total
destruction of a human soul.

     "Where's Lina?" Sheila croaked.

     "Outside the palace," Serenity said weakly.  "It should take her
several minutes to find us."

     "Misa?  Priss?"

     "They should be safe.  Lina Inverse should have no interest in
them.  I have what she seeks."

     "Good... when she gets here, I'm going to kill her."

     Serenity looked up at the woman whom Fate had made the child of no
less than three Senshi (two biologically and one by adoption) and shook
her head.

     "I will face her, Sheila... and I will destroy her.  She is beyond
your power..." She hesitated for a moment as a stray thought crossed her
mind.

     Sheila pounced on it.  "What!?  You know something, don't you? 
Something I can do to take that bitch down!"

     "No, Sheila..."

     The Palace shook suddenly.

     "She's coming," Sheila said, still holding Athena close.  "You're
not strong enough yet to do what you have to do, are you?"

     Serenity sighed.  Destiny, it seemed, was not to be denied.  Still,
there was freedom of choice.  Even Serena had had a choice, though she
could not have chosen differently without ceasing to be who she was.

     Serenity drew in a long breath.  "The ancient Romans said that when
Saturn struck down his father Uranus, blood fell from Uranus' wounds to
the sea -- and gave birth to the Erinyes, messengers of Justice."  She
produced a pen with a large ball attached to the end, on which could be
seen the symbols of Uranus and Neptune, linked together.  "Do you know
of anyone else who was born of the union of heaven and sea, Sheila?"

     Sheila stared at the pen, and knew what it meant.  "You mean... I
was a Sailor Senshi in the --"

     "No," Serenity said firmly.  "You were not, any more than Saturn
was. But like Saturn... you could have been.  Erinyes was the name you
were given in that time and place.  And you can take up the burden now,
if that is what you wish.  But--"

     "Yes!" Sheila interrupted, her eyes burning.  "I wish it!"

     Serenity's face was filled with pain.  "Sheila, you will find that
the justice of Sailor Erinyes is not what you expect it to be.  There is
a reason that your parents decided to keep this from you.  Are you SURE
that this is what you want?"

     "YES!  Give it to me!  Give me the power to lay that bitch LOW!"

     Serenity closed her eyes, and held out the pen.  "So be it," she
whispered.  "I am sorry, Erica, Michelle."

     The walls of the room began to crack.

     Sheila took the pen.  She could feel the power humming in it.

     The wall shuddered.

     "ERINYES POWER, MAKE UP!"

     It seemed to Sheila that the sky had opened up in all its fury, but
rather than rain falling from the skies, there came blood -- almost
acidic blood to burn away her clothes and scour her flesh.  But then the
sensation changed, and she found herself drowning in the blood instead -
- but rather than trying to pull herself up to the oxygen above her like
a sane person, she opened her mouth and drank the blood in.  It surged
through her body, changing her in ways that she couldn't imagine.

     The wall fell, the dust swirling around Lina Inverse as she
entered.

     And Sailor Erinyes' eyes opened, and she knew who she was.

     Her sailor suit had a dark purple skirt and collar with matching
boots.  The bow on her chest was teal in color, and choker of the same
color adorned her neck.  A golden tiara glittered on her forehead,
mounted with a deep purple amethyst.  Emotionlessly, she turned to face
Lina.

     "I am the soldier of Justice and Retribution," Sailor Erinyes said,
"Sailor Erinyes!  In the name of the Furies -- I FIND YOU GUILTY!"

     Lina stopped to laugh.  "So, the Sailor Wannabe finally gets a
chance at bat.  A shame you won't get to enjoy... it..."

     Sailor Erinyes said nothing, her eyes boring into the proto-
goddess.  Her eyes, usually so bright and lively as Sheila, were utterly
cold and dead.  Even for one so sunk into madness as Lina, it was a
chilling sight.  They were the eyes of a machine... no, even more
implacable than that.  If a force of nature could have eyes, these were
the eyes it would have.  There was nothing human in those eyes.

     Unnerved, Lina raised her hands to attack.

     "Mind Scourge!" shouted Erinyes.  Suddenly, a golden cat-o-nine-
tails appeared in her hand and flicked out, catching Lina square in the
face.

                                   *****

     For Lina, the world froze.  She experienced a strange doubling of
perception.  She could see Erinyes, standing before her, but AT THE SAME 
TIME, she could see herself through Erinyes's eyes.  Then the present
faded for the past.

     YOU WILL BE JUDGED, came a soundless voice.

     Zephelia swam before her eyes.  For a moment, she felt a pang of
homesickness for her long lost home.  Not lost because of disaster or
calamity, but because the pain was too great to ever think of returning.

     Pain. Death. Rebirth. Pain. Death. Rebirth. Pain. Death. Rebirth.

     "NOOOOO!" she screamed.

     THE ROOT CAUSE, THE NEED FOR POWER AGAINST THE DEMONS OF CHILDHOOD.

     Flicker.

     Her Master now, disappearing screaming as he cast one spell too
many.

     YOU LEARNED THAT THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH POWER IN THE SAFE ROUTES.

     Flicker.

     Adventuring now, with Naga.  Mipross Island.

     BLACK MAGIC BECAME YOUR PATH TO SAFETY.

     Flicker.

     "Noooo..."

     Naga was gone now, in a burst of fire.  Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis,
Xelloss...

     YOU TRY TO RATIONALIZE THAT YOU ARE FIGHTING FOR GOOD, BUT IT
ALWAYS COMES DOWN TO POWER.  WHEN HURT, EVEN YOUR 'FRIENDS' ARE NOT
SAFE.

     Flicker.

     Images coming faster now.  Seeing Naga again, the same but not the
same, as if what led to the fire never happened.  Hurtpainlossbetrayal. 
Gourry gone.  Amelia gone.  Need more power.  More magic.  MAKE them
come back.

     POWER IS YOUR ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.

     Flicker.

     The duality of perception was gone, but Lina still felt she was
seeing everything twice.  Only now through her own eyes.

     Lost on this world, meeting Serenity.  Power gone, power lost. 
Must get back home, must regain power.  Ritual.

     YOUR LUST FOR POWER OPENS YOU TO EVIL.

     That is a secret.  Xelloss.  Spell goes wrong.  Sheila, Athena,
Naga... laugh, old pain.  PRECIOUS!

     YOU HAD NO NEED TO USE THE CRYSTAL.

     Hunger.  Desire.  Don't let go, never let go.  Power is mine. 
Mine!  Naga as a child.  Can't kill, mustn't kill... hurt, take away
what she loves.

     Flicker.

     Sick, dying.  Ifurita.  Beryl.  Images of worlds that are not her
own.

     YOU WERE WARNED AND IGNORED THE WARNING.

     "SHUT UP!" she screamed.  But the words ate into her soul.

     Flicker.  Flicker.  Flicker.

     Another precious.  All so clear.  Power beyond all.  No more
hurting, no more pain, no more death.  Make it stop!  Make it stop!

     HOW MANY HURT?

     Flicker.  Flicker.  Flicker.

     A young girl in a hospital bed, terrified of her.  Sailor Moon,
trapped in crystal.  The bald nun writhing under her scalpel-like hand.

     HOW MANY DEAD?

     Flicker.  Flicker.  Flicker.

     The black shape of Metallia filling the sky.  The Dragon Slave
rising over a once proud city.  Glittering spaceships dying by the
dozens as they face her.  Two cities disappearing in balls of fire
rained down from orbit.

     HOW MANY DEAD?!

     Athena's eyes staring sightlessly at her, her chest missing.

     HOW MANY?!?!

     "Nooooo....!" Lina croaked. Her guilt, long beaten down into a mere
whisper, surged forward, joining with Sailor Erinyes and giving her
power over the Inverted Sorceress.

     LINA INVERSE, I, SAILOR ERINYES, FIND YOU GUILTY... AND I SENTENCE
YOU TO LIVE.

                                   *****

     Serenity watched sadly as Erinyes and Lina stood silently, facing
each other.  Then, the crystal sorceress began to shake.  Her mouth
opened in silent screams as she stood there, unable to move.  Then,
Sailor Erinyes spoke, her voice still calm and emotionless.

     "Lina Inverse, I, Sailor Erinyes, find you guilty... and I sentence
you to live."

     Lina collapsed.  There was a bright glow around her and, once
again, the Silver Crystals left her body.  Soon, there was nothing but
the naked, one-armed form of an all-too mortal Lina Inverse.  Sailor
Erinyes collected the Silver Crystals and marched over to Serenity.

     "It is done," she said, handing over the eight Crystals.  Then,
with a burst of golden light, Erinyes became Sheila Ten'kai again.

     "I think... I'm going to be sick," Sheila managed to say before
vomiting.

                                   *****

     She stared up at the sunny sky, giggling slightly at the prank
she'd just pulled.  Big sister was going to be soooo mad ...

     And then something came between her and the sun.

     She turned her head, and met her sister's expressionless gaze.  A
chill ran down her spine, and she tried to hold onto her smile.  "It...
it was just a joke, sis ..."

     "Funny," said Luna Inverse, and raised her hand.

     After it was done, and the flesh had been flayed from her bones for
the third time, and her voice had finally given out from screaming --

     Sheila awoke into the cold heart of the Crystal Palace, and tried
desperately to shake the memory of Lina's nearly sororicidal childhood
from her mind.  It didn't belong to her, she had no right to it; it was
no part of her, she was completely different from Lina --

     "Hey," came a voice beside her.

     She turned to look at Priss Asagiri's burnt red face.  For a
moment, the visage of Naga the Serpent hovered over the Knight Sabre's
features... and the tears couldn't be restrained any more.  Sobbing, she
threw herself at Priss, clutching at her chest.

     After the agony of the contact faded to a dull ache, Priss found
herself wondering what the appropriate response should be.  She settled
for closing her eyes, resting a gloved hand on Sheila's head, and lying
her ass off.  "It's gonna be okay," she repeated over and over.  The
hell of it was that Sheila knew it was bullshit.

     After a few moments, Sheila found the strength to recount the final
act of the drama of Lina Inverse's quest for godhood, and showed Priss
her personal memento of the final battle.

     "Well, that should do for the jerks who keep calling you Sailor
Wannabe, huh?" Priss attempted to joke as she looked at the
transformation pen.

     Sheila shook her head.  "I never want to be HER again.  It was
like... like I was WATCHING it on a movie screen, begging her to show a
little mercy --"

     "Say what?  Sheila, considering what I'VE heard about this whole
crock you got dragged into, she got off --"

     "The only reason that Lina's alive," Sheila interrupted angrily,
"is that Erinyes thought that life with her memories was a more painful
punishment than death would be.  It was just like when she was a child -
- the only reason her sister let her live was that she wanted Lina to
spend the rest of her life in fear of her.  Cruelty saved her, not
compassion."  Sheila shook her head.  "If I have my way, I'll never be
Sailor Erinyes again."

     Priss wanted to grab Sheila's shoulders and shake them while
screaming her head off -- ANYTHING to get her once-lover to stop making
the same damn mistakes that Priss had made after losing Sylvie.  She
held back.  Some lessons could only be learned the hard way.

     Guess I'd make a good queen after all, she realized with quiet
annoyance.  Go fig.

     "And it was all for nothing, anyway," Sheila said suddenly.  "All I
was hoping for was a chance to make Lina hurt after what she did to --" 
She broke off, and for a moment Priss thought that Sheila was going to
break down in tears again.  "It'll never be enough," she said quietly. 
"Nothing that I can do will be enough ... I'm never going to be able to
tell her how sorry I am ... how much I --"

     "Really?"

                                   *****

     Athena looked out into the warm darkness without much curiousity. 
The only thing that she could wonder was how long she was going to be
imprisoned here.

     Her memories of her death were confused, but she was quite certain
that it had happened, and that it had been quite distressingly
permanent.  She found herself oddly relieved by that.  Her life was a
burden to so many people that --

     Something began to pulse in the darkness.  Quite suddenly, a great
glowing materialized before Athena, and she knew with a certainty that
she was being observed.

     "You Have Caused Me Inconvenience," the Lord of Nightmares stated,
imprinting the knowledge of what she was into the mind of the
immediately terrified ghost.  "Only One Other Has Caused Me Such
Inconvenience, And He Was Spared My Wrath Only Because The One Whom I
Want Asked It.  She Has Not Asked Me To Spare You."  The Lord of
Nightmares paused to let the implications of that sink in.  "I Cannot
Make You Suffer For Eternity, But I Can Make You Suffer For A Very, Very
Long Time.  And I Shall."

     Athena closed her eyes and waited for the pain to begin as the Lord
of Nightmares began to move towards her --

     TAP.  TAP.  TAP.

     The Lord of Nightmares had no shoulder, so it would be incorrect to
say that she turned to look over her shoulder at the person tapping on
her shoulder.  She DID alter the focus of her perceptions, however.

     I WOULDN'T DO THAT IF I WERE YOU, Death suggested politely,
shifting the scythe easily in his right hand.

     "She Has Caused Me Inconvenience."

     I BELIEVE THAT I COULD CAUSE YOU MORE, Death replied, and then used
the name that the Lord of Nightmares had borne when she, the smallest
and and least menacing of the Adversary's host, had fled the Defender's
fury when the universe had been young.

     And the Lord of Nightmares fled again.

     The entire interaction had taken place at a rate quite beyond
Athena's senses, and she still had her eyes closed when she heard a
gentle voice inquire, "Are you okay?"

     Athena opened her eyes to stare in mild bewilderment at the young
woman standing a few feet away from her.  Her hair was a bright red-
auburn, and she wore a white sundress that complimented her generally
unremarkable physique.  She smiled quietly at Athena.

     "No," Athena replied uneasily, "I am not okay.  I am dead.  Who are
ye?"

     "You can call me Patricia," the woman replied, and lifted an
eyebrow.  "And I don't think you're dead."

     "But I remember dying," Athena protested.  "I ... it hurt, but it
ended ... so I must be dead."

     "Oh, I don't doubt that you died," Patricia assured her.  "I just
don't think you're going to STAY dead.  You're a Sailor Senshi, right? 
They have a tendency to come back."

     Athena blinked.  "I have never heard of such a tendency."

     Patricia smiled broadly.  "Trust me.  I know what I'm talking
about.  Magical girls ... people think that they only reflect the stuff
that girls go through during adolescence, but there's something much
more primal about them.  They represent the constant possibility of
rediscovering one's youth.  We can't turn back the hands of time -- but
we can pretend that they never moved forward.  That's part of the
secret, you see?"

     When Patricia had begun to speak, Athena had begun to feel tired. 
As she heard the question, Athena felt as though she could just barely
keep her eyes open.  "Whaa ... seecret?" she asked blearily.

     "The secret of being a child," Patricia replied, and her voice
seemed to be coming across a great distance, "is never to know that, one
day, you will die.  The secret of being an adult is ..."

     And Athena slept.

     And Athena awoke.

     Serenity pulled her hands back from the pale white skin that had
grown over the wound on the Senshi's stomach, and smiled faintly at
Athena's confused expression.

     "Did I not die?" asked the senshi from another place and time.

     "You did," Serenity replied.  "But the soul of a Sailor Senshi is
more robust than a normal person's soul -- and I worked quickly to heal
your injuries.  I shall not claim that it was easy, but you are alive."

     The queen helped the senshi to her feet, and pointed her in the
direction of the door out of the chamber where her body had lain in
state.  "Go now," Serenity urged.  "Sheila is in the room down the
corridor."

     Athena started towards the door -- then paused.  "But she -- she
MUST hate me, now.  Thrice did I fling myself at her to keep her from
danger, and she did tell me that she did not wish it to happen again
after the first time.  How can I --"

     "Athena of the Royal House of Vulcan," Serenity announced in the
formal language of Mars -- Athena's Mars, not her own -- "thou didst not
see the manner in which Sheila didst weep over your body when she
believed that thou hadst purchased her life with thine own.  In truth,
she hates herself much more than she could or would ever hate thyself. 
Go unto her, I pray thee, at once!"  Into that final word, Serenity
poured all the nuances of command that she had learned over her life.

     Athena bolted.

     She is worse than Raye ever was, Serenity thought.  I dread to
imagine what HER counterpart must be like.  Some people WILL not seize
joy when it is offered to them ... which brings me to the next subject. 
She turned to the figure curled up in the corner of the chamber, and did
her best to harden her heart.

     "Lina Inverse, you and I must have words."

     Meanwhile, Athena sped down the hallway, and came to a sudden stop
at the door.  She closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and looked in.

     Sheila was seated on the floor, facing away from the door, very
near to another woman with dark brown hair and oddly glowing skin. 
Athena felt an unfamiliar, possessive feeling in her heart at the
closeness between them, and wondered if this could be jealousy.

     "It'll never be enough," Sheila muttered.  "Nothing that I can do
will be enough ... I'm never going to be able to tell her how sorry I
am... how much I --"  The words seemed to catch in her throat.

     "Really?" Athena asked.

     For a moment, nothing moved.  Then with a slowness that seemed
almost glacial, Sheila turned to look back at her with an expression
that flowed from disbelief to amazement to sheer joy.

     And then words came from her lips.  "oh thank you goddess," she
whispered.

     And then Athena was caught up in an embrace that made the last time
Sheila had grabbed hold of her seem like a single caress.  Great sobbing
heaves moved through the body of the red-haired Senshidottir, and Athena
wasn't greatly surprised to realize that she had begun to cry herself.

     The other woman in the room simply raised an eyebrow at this
display, then shrugged.  She came unsteadily to her feet, and tossed off
a quick salute to the pair of them (which was witnessed only by Athena)
before heading out the door.

     "I seriously thought you were dead," Sheila babbled after a moment. 
"I ... my first thought, after I realized ... 'Goddess, I've probably
screwed up the entire course of some world's history.'"

     "Thou didst no such thing, my precious one," Athena contradicted. 
"I forged mine own destiny, though with scant thought to how it might
pain thee.  I have not acted in a loving manner towards thee, Sheila-
chan.  Canst thou forgive me?"

     "Goddess, what a question!" Sheila laughed.  "Of course I forgive
you, I l--"

     "Ahem," Serenity interrupted.

     They jerked apart reflexively, as Sheila turned to look towards her
Queen -- and started to realize that Lina was standing just behind
Serenity, with her head bowed and the cape of her usual outfit draped
over the stump of her arm.

     "I regret to inform you both," Serenity began, "that the task which
you have set for yourselves is not yet over."

     "But ... we caught her, right?" Sheila asked.  "

     "The Plutos of each particular world art able to repair what damage
was done to the timestream?" Athena echoed.

     "Pluto?" Serenity asked.

     The Sailor Soldier of Time stepped out from behind Athena and
Sheila.  "Unfortunately, Sheila, we cannot.  There are two powers that
are forbidden to the majority of Sailor Plutos across the continuum. 
The first is the ability to selectively stop time, and it CAN be used if
the Pluto involved is careful.  But the other -- that of completely
reversing the flow of time such that it runs backwards to a point, and
then resumes its normal course -- CANNOT be used by a Pluto."

     "So who can use ... this ... power?" Sheila asked, slowing down as
stories that her mother had told her caught up to her.

     "I gather that you have guessed, Sheila.  I am permitted to act in
such a manner on MY world.  Serena accomplished it once, and I have done
it as well ... under circumstances that I do not care to discuss,"
Serenity added quickly to forestall discussion.  "The difficulty lies in
the fact that none of my counterparts has ever attempted to thusly
affect a different timeline.  Pluto, you stated that you would discuss
the situation with your Council --"

     Pluto nodded.  "I have.  They are appalled and shocked that you
would even think of doing such a thing, and urged me in the strongest
possible terms to stop you."

     Serenity lifted an eyebrow.  "And were the voices speaking against
it those who have been affected by this tragedy?"

     "No, but --"

     "Of course not," Serenity continued in a deceptively mild tone. 
"It is always easiest for those who have never experienced a thing to
legislate against steps to deal with it.  Very well.  I will not be
bound by their decisions.  I am bound only by my conscience, and by my
given word.  If you attempt to stop me, Pluto --"

     "I shall not, Your Majesty.  I cannot aid you, nor even wish you
well, but I will not stand in your way."

     "Very wise.  I shall nonetheless require the Garnet Staff from you,
to facilitate what follows."

     Pluto bowed her head in reply as Serenity turned to look at Sheila
and Athena once more.  "My plan is exceedingly dangerous, and I cannot
ask for your aid, Sheila -- as I swore never to ask you to endanger
yourself, when you became my Palladin.  I am not thusly bound in your
case, Athena, but I will not ask --"

     "Save it, your Majesty," Sheila interrupted wearily.  "I'm in this
one for the long haul."

     "Wither she goest, I goeth," Athena affirmed.

     Serenity smiled faintly.  "I really do wonder what it would be like
to hear someone refuse to continue after hearing those words ... in any
event," she continued, turning to look over her shoulder at Lina, "Ms.
Inverse has given her consent to the plan, which is fortunate, since we
could not proceed without her."

     Serenity reached within a fold of her gown, and produced the
various Silver Crystals one-by-one, setting each to float in the air
before her.  "While THESE each contain a part of the pattern of each of
the dimensions we must visit, Ms. Inverse alone has visited all of them
-- and so is the only one who can guide us.  She shall escort us through
time and space, and I shall provide the power to do what must be done in
each world."

     "And what are we supposed to do?" Athena asked.

     "You are to keep an eye on Ms. Inverse, since I do not even
remotely trust her to not make an attempt to seize ahold of the power we
will be using."

     Sheila tried to ignore the faint shudder that ran through Lina's
frame as the Queen said those damning words.  "Okay ... well, then we
might as well get started, right?"

     Serenity nodded.  "Pluto?  The Staff?"

     Pluto opened her mouth, perhaps to lodge some pro forma protest --
which died as she saw the look in Serenity's eyes.  Wordlessly, she
handed her staff to the Queen.

     Serenity held the staff in silence for a moment, staring at the
nine crystals circling before her.  Then she opened her mouth, and began
to speak.  "COSMIC ... MOON ..."

     "Wait!" Sheila interrupted.  "Wait, wait, wait ..."

     Serenity turned to look at her with a put upon expression.  "Yes?"

     "Um ... this --" Sheila said, holding up the indigo Rainbow Crystal
she'd seized on the "Nazi" world.

     Serenity blinked, then turned to glare at Lina.  "Would you care to
produce the OTHER six?"

     For a long moment, Lina did nothing.  Then, slowly and grudgingly,
she produced the Silence Glaive -- on which were still mounted the other
six crystals.

     "Pluto, would you be so kind as to return that Glaive to its proper
owner?" Serenity asked, not QUITE clenching her teeth.  "As to the
Rainbow Crystals ... well ..."  She closed her eyes.

     The six Rainbow Crystals attached to the glaive, and the one in
Sheila's hand, vanished.  They reappeared at the center of the circle of
Silver Crystals.

     "And we must return the crystal I used in mine weapon," Athena
said.

     "Right," Serenity said, and the Star Crystal appeared as well. 
"Now, unless there are any other objections --"  There were none. 
"COSMIC -- MOON -- POWER!"

     And all four vanished.

                                   *****

Elsewhere.

     ~So where are we, anyway?~ Sheila heard herself asking before she
realized that she didn't have a voicebox or a throat.

     /We are in a place where the body cannot go,/ Serenity replied. 
/It is a space between all possible worlds, akin to that used by the
Plutos as their vacation spot, yet different.  Here there is nothing,
but anywhere can be reached from here.  Do you understand?/

     ^I believe that I do,^ Athena replied.

     /All right.  Then ... let us begin.  Ms. Inverse --/

     *There,* came the sullen reply.  *That one is closest.*

     /Yes, it is ... small wonder, since it is a direct divergence from
my own world.  COSMIC -- MOON -- POWER!/

                                   *  *  *

September 13, 2000

     The first snowfall of the season began to descend around the
headless corpse of Beryl, First Mage of the Kingdom of Earth.  Nearby
lay the unconscious or beaten forms of her world's Sailor Senshi and
Magic Knights.  There was a complete silence, far more weighty than that
of the tomb.

     And then the silver curtain swept across the world, and time moved
backwards.  Snow fell upwards.  Beryl's head appeared from the burst of
plasma that had consumed it, and rested on her shoulders once more --
before she fell jerkily to the ground once again.  Throughout, there was
no sign of her attacker.

     The silver curtain fell away, and Beryl lay where she had fallen
after Sailor Mars' fist slammed into her face, and the soldier of fire
told her to rot in hell.

     Yes, she thought dully, that seems most likely.  I will rot in
hell.

     Idly, she wondered when the spiderweb of cracks on the crystal
coffin of the Inverse woman would shatter the thing.  It was only a
matter of time.

     Time passed, and nothing happened but the silent snowfall.  Slowly
and unsteadily, Beryl rolled up into a seated position.  She noticed as
she did that Ryuuzaki Umi stood nearby, her face a mask.


     "Are you going to hit me, too?" Beryl asked the Magic Knight,
remembering that of the three of them, Umi had always seemed closest to
Hikaru -- the one that Beryl had --

     Umi shook her head once.  "She wouldn't want that.  NEITHER of them
would have wanted that."  From nowhere, Umi produced a coat.  "Come on. 
Turn back to normal, and let's go home."

     Beryl closed her eyes once more --

     /Serenity stared at her, and smiled.  "It's alright, sister.  I
knew, in the end.  I loved you.  Try to be happy.  You have a long, hard
road ahead of you ... but try to be happy./

     -- the eyes of Osaka Naru snapped open.

     "What's wrong?" Umi asked, at once apprehensive.  Everything that
could go wrong that day had gone wrong ... or so it seemed.  Perhaps
there remained some things which could go wrong.

     "You're right," Naru murmured.  "She wouldn't want that."  She
arose, and let Umi put the coat around her shoulders.  "Come on," she
said then, "there is work to be done, and we are the only ones left to
do it."

     Umi stared at the sorceress for a moment.  "You don't mind if we
get some help from those idiots in Tomobiki-cho, do you?"

                                   *****

     ~Beryl was your SISTER?~

     ^Astonishing ... Beryl, the wife of the Warrior King of Atlantis,
you mean?^

     /The same person can fill very different roles in different worlds,
Athena.  Now, Ms. Inverse .../

     *Uh ... that one, with the ... the guy who turns into a girl.  I
took a crystal from there, and --*

     /COSMIC -- MOON -- POWER!

                                   *****

199X

     Saotome Ranma had ALMOST recovered from his ... er, HER panic
attack earlier that morning.  But no matter how hot the water she used
to douse her body, the expected transformation to his natural male form
failed to materialize.

     Granted, this was not the first time that this had happened, and
granted, this would make it much easier for him to help out the Sailor
Senshi, since he wouldn't have to pause to change before he changed --
except that she couldn't make the transformation to Shin Sailor Moon
without the Silver Crystal, so she was just plain screwed anyway that
she looked at it.

     And so Ranma crept into her room, shoved her father off the
blankets that he was hogging, and closed her eyes to try to sleep.

     /Serenity shook her head in mild amusement.  "I should not be
surprised to see you there, Saotome-san.  You always manage to weave
your way into my story, when we exist in the same world.  In any event,
here."  She extended the Silver Crystal of this world towards the sexual
polymorph.  "Hold onto this for me just a little longer ... I am sure
that your struggles will end soon."/

     Ranma's eyes snapped open.  The first thing he noticed was that he
was a guy again.  The second thing he realized was that Pop had shoved
him off the blankets.  And then he realized that he was holding the
Silver Crystal again.

     "YES!" he crowed.  "Thank you, Queen Serenity or whoever you were!"

     The door slid open, and a bleary eyed Tendou Nabiki successively
threw a sign that read "Make less noise in the morning", a pot of cold
water, and a mallet in Ranma's direction.  Ranma returned to the realm
of femininity and unconsciousness.

                                   *****

     /That didn't require much editing, thankfully.  Next?/

     ^Wait -- that world there seems familiar -- isn't that my world?^

     /I believe so.  It has certain similarities to the world that
Sheila and I are from, though they stem from different beginnings --/

     ^I would return the Crystal of that world myself, an it please
thee, Your Majesty.  No other changes need be made, so --^

     /All right.  COSMIC -- MOON -- POWER!/

                                   *****

c. 23,000 BCE

     Self-doubt is a natural enough emotion.  Unfortunately, many people
can ill-afford it.  At the moment, the group of such people included the
Elder Sailor Mercury.  It is generally agreed that embarking on a
dangerous plan -- say, one to create a fake Silver Crystal, as Sailor
Mercury was attempting -- was not the moment to begin doubting one's
abilities.

     Yet she couldn't help herself.  Only a few minutes after her junior
counterpart had vanished and Sailor Pluto had made her ominous
pronouncement, Mercury had experienced a tearing pain in her stomach
that left her incapacitated for nearly an hour.  When she returned to
her senses, the doubt had begun even as she realized that she would need
to come up with an interim solution to the problem of the Crystal being
gone.

     Still, despite the confused emotions she felt, the plan was
proceeding apace.  All she really needed to do was pour enough power
into the Crystal Forging Matrix, and keep an eye on it.  Very soon it
would yield a flawless crystal of roughly the same size, shape, and
other physical features of the Silver Crystal -- while lacking any of
its non-physical aspects.  The deception would never stand up to careful
scrutiny, but who would look too closely at something like that anyway?

     Now why, thought Mercury, does the thought of using more power not
give me as much of a thrill as it might?  Her brow furrowed, she closed
her eyes.

     ^"Please be careful with this, my mentor," Athena said quickly,
holding out the Silver Crystal.  "I have seen first hand what can arise
from its unwise usage.  I advise thee to return it to its place at
once."^

     She lifted one eyelid, and stared at the Silver Crystal hovering in
front of her for a second.  Then she seized it swiftly, and dashed off
towards the vault where the artifact ought to be stored.

     In doing so, of course, she forgot about the Crystal Forging
Matrix, which soon overloaded and exploded, more-or-less ruining that
wing of the palace.  But that's another story.

                                   *****

     *Huh.  She looked like me.*

     ^Yes; however, she has SOME sense.^

     Lina didn't bother to reply.

     /Next?/

     *Uh ... well, that one with the big city is closest, now ...*

     /MOON ... COSMIC ... POWER!/

                                   *  *  *

2095 AD

     Evening had fallen over the remains of Hyper-Tokyo, as UEF rescue
teams continued to pour through the ruined arcology towers in faint hope
of finding survivors.  By this point, however, their primary duty had
become far more grisly -- that of recovering and identifying corpses.

     New Youma Citadel had predictably denied any involvement with the
disaster, but the faintly frantic note in the denials had observers
confused.  Opinions were mixed; some argued that it indicated that the
disaster was the result of some Youma superweapon which had worked far
more effectively than expected, while others suggested that the Youma
were terrified that they might be the next victims.

     Neo-Queen Serenity knew better, but she also knew that for her to
reveal the true cause of the disaster would only cause her to lose what
little political credibility she had left.  A single extradimensional
invader wreaking that much havoc?  Impossible.

     So all that she could do was stand by and watch as the rescue teams
brought out the dead, and quietly weep.

     And then she heard a new cry, and looked up to see a silver curtain
descending from the sky.  For only a moment, she wondered whether this
might be a new threat --

     And then she heard the sound of wings.

     In the moment before the silver curtain swept over her, she found
the breath to whisper "thank you."

     Kadokawa Misa took a deep breath and tried not to yawn.  It was a
slow night at the underground headquarters of the Magical Girl Corps. 
For once, the youma seemed to be content to skulk in the shadows, rather
than draining the energy of HyperTokyo's inhabitants and producing huge
amounts of property damage.

     Not that the local magical girl team didn't cause its share of the
latter.

     Misa paused in her consideration of the problems that the Exquisite
Soldiers were at once solving and causing ... and wondered why she felt
as though someone had just walked over her grave.

     She had no way of knowing that the same sensation afflicted almost
every other person in the megacity at that moment.

                                   *****

     ~So they'll never even know we were there.  Ah well.  Small price
to pay.~

     /Next?/

     *I ... I didn't ... uhhh ... th-that one.*

     ~Lina --~

     /MOON ... COSMIC ... POWER./

                                 *   *   *

Quite Recently, as Such Things Go.

     On the plus side, the Silver Crystal was gone, and whatever weird
disruptions had been afflicting his own powers had ceased as well.  But
on the minus side, Sailor Moon was encased in crystal, and the other
Sailor Senshi were glaring at him in a way that gave him to suspect that
they felt he had something to do with it.

     On the whole, Emerald had known better days.

     "Look, I really don't know anything --"

     "Please," interrupted Sailor Mars.  "You show up just as things go
bad, and you expect us to think you had nothing to do with it?  You're
even carting around a crystal!"

     "This doesn't even look like the crystal she's in, now does it?" he
snapped back, annoyed at the faint feeling of deja vu that Rei's words
aroused in him.

     And then one of the two cats -- the male, he thought -- looked up
at the sky and let out a stunned gasp.  Like good little drones, the
Senshi turned to look as well.

     Emerald was embarrassed to realize that he did the exact same thing
-- but the sensation fled as he caught sight of the silver curtain
descended towards him, and his own cells began to scream from the
sensation of six Silver Crystals drawing nigh --

     /"You really annoy me," Serenity said, and returned to her
objective./

     Emerald leaned against the park bench, his eyes closed.  His face
was relaxed as he drew power from the elements.  The soft wind blowing
through his hair and ruffling his slightly grimy, now off-white shirt. 
The electricity from the nearby sputtering streetlights.  The steady
heartbeat of the earth beneath him, the gently swirling water of the
large park lake...

     His face was relaxed from his energy meditation, his body semi-
limp, although still tense enough to spring to a defense if needed.  His
senses, the mystical ones that had little to do with sight or touch or
any such mundane workings, reached out, gently touching the auras of
every living thing around him, making him feel like a part of his
surroundings for once, instead of some sort of forever-outsider.  A
smile started to twitch at his lips.

     He stiffened. His smile dropped as his eyes shot open, startling a
couple who had been walking by.  As the young lovers hurried off,
Emerald turned his head to the left, staring up through the masking set
of tree branches to the outline of a distant building.

     "Serenity..." he hissed, his eyes narrowing as he slowly turned his
body towards the tower.  He stood slowly, never taking his gaze off the
tall building.  His fists clenched and unclenched as he stared at the
monolith.

     And the beat went on.

                                   *****

     ~Who was that guy, anyway?~

     /No one of consequence.  Next, Ms. Inverse./

     *... uh, that one ... NO!  I meant, that one, there ...*

     /COSMIC ... MOON ... POWER .../

                                   *****

Now.  When else?

     "John, I'm sorry, but I CAN'T give Lina what she deserves, by those
lights!  Van Vliet would probably kill me; I pissed him off enough with
those comments I made about -- that's not important!"  Chris paused to
listen to his co-producer's comments.  "No, I didn't ask my mother. 
When I got home she was making comments about how someone should just
kill Saddam off, and like you said, what Lina has done has left behind
every single genocidal maniac in history, so I think what she would have
said is pretty obvious, yes?"

     The writer let out a long sigh, and leaned back in his chair.  "I
don't KNOW what I'm gonna do ... maybe something'll come to me ...
right.  Merry Christmas to you, too ... I'll talk to you on Boxing Day,
maybe.  Matte ashita."

     Chris hung up and resumed staring at the blue screen with green
characters, wondering how in Heaven's name he was supposed to come up
with a solution to this problem before it was time to go to bed for
Christmas.  He closed his eyes in exhaustion.

     ~"Just make something up, will you?" Sheila demanded as she held
out the Crystal towards him.  "Lord knows any REAL writer would be able
to do that ..."~

     Even my subconscious insults me! Chris thought despairingly.  I
might as well name myself Woody and start chasing... adolescent...
Asian... wait a minute.

     His eyes slowly opened as he stared at the Silver Crystal.  "Oh,"
he said, for lack of anything better to say.  "Thanks."

     "Now WRITE!" snarled his muse, a tiny winged female with blue hair
and rather large fangs who stood on his shoulder, looking menacingly at
his jugular.

                                   *****

     ~That was a bit unnerving, yelling at one's creator ...~

     /Sheila, be tranquil.  That person did not create you./

     ~Really?~

     ^Then he did not create me either?^

     /No, and neither did his associates.  They might think that they
created you ... but I am quite sure that they did not.  In any event,
next, Ms. Inverse?  The world you thought to avoid?/

     *I ... I don't know if I can --*

     /You have no choices anymore, Ms. Inverse.  MOON ... CRYSTAL .../

     ~Your Majesty?!~

     /... POWER!/

                                   *****

3035 AD

     "It will be all right," Queen Serenity II said, praying that the
lie could become the truth.

     "Your Majesty!" one of the bridge crew called out.  "Surface
observers -- they just relayed a message down ... there's some sort of a
force field englobing the Earth and the Moon, drawing inwards!  They --"

     Serenity closed her eyes, and wished that she could howl out a cry
of rage and confusion as she had when she was a child.  It must be her
final attack.  Even though we've given her the Crystal, she --

     /Her mother's face was not her mother's face, and it seemed even
more tired than it had in the days leading up to her abdication. 
"Okay," she slurred.  "You did okay, Chibi-Usa ... will be all right --
NO!/

     Sailor Saturn blinked.

     "Sir!" exclaimed one of the nearest bridge staff.  "The ... the
anomaly has vanished from all sensors."

     What? Saturn wondered.  What kind of bizarre intelligence would
destroy a single ship and then vanish just before engaging with the
entire fleet?  Did we scare it off, or something?

     "All ships to remain at red alert until further notice," she
ordered.  "Dispatch a ship. to rescue any survivors from the Yamato and
the ships she was escorting.  Stay alert ... I don't think this is
over."

     It was.

                                   *****

     ~Your Majesty?!~

     /... could not remove all the damage ... cannot ... running low
.../

     ^It is as with our Crystal!^ Athena exclaimed.  ^Without the
support of others, its use becomes too taxing for her to draw upon --^

     /I... can finish it.  Only three more ... and then one more to get
home ... easy./

     *What happens if you can't get us ... back?*

     There was silence for a moment.  /Then most likely you remain on
whatever world you find for yourself, Lina Inverse.  You go free, and my
attempt to change Sailor Erinyes' verdict comes to naught.  That is what
happens.  Now.  That world.  There.  COSMIC -- MOON -- POWWWWWER!/

                                 *   *   *

The not so distant future, next Monday A.D.

     At that exact moment, Sean Gaffney-Tomoe bitterly repented
everything he'd ever said against utopias.  He was honest enough to
admit that if the situation improved in a moment, he would probably go
back to saying such things, but after a suitable duration.

     Like, say, a year or so.

     Instead, all he could do was listen to the mob chanting outside the
gates of the palace (bad) while Queen Serenity gaped silently from her
crystal prison (very bad) and Sean held his pregnant, depowered wife in
his arms (EXTRAORDINARILY bad).

     Quite abruptly, a pair of women with long green hair and dusky skin
materialized in front of him, but he was sufficiently inured to that by
now that it didn't cause him to start.  That one of them was holding
Hotaru's glaive DID give him a jolt.  That Setsuna quickly knelt and
pressed the Glaive into Hotaru's arms.

     Hotaru drew in a deep breath --

     -- and Sailor Saturn slowly pushed herself into a standing
position, supported all the way by her husband.  Bruises still showed on
her throat from where Lina Inverse had all but strangled her, but the
Senshi of Death and Rebirth stood on her own feet.

     "Like, all is spiffy wonderfulness," said one of the Setsunas,
dressed in flowing robes.

     Everyone edged away from her.

     "So what about Serenity?" Sean asked the other newly materialized
Setsuna.

     "Unless I underestimate my queen -- a habit I'm trying to kick --
she should be intervening about --"

     /"Here," said Serenity, and pressed the Silver Crystal into her
counterpart's hands.  "Do what we do best."/

     "-- now", concluded Setsuna.

     The crystal block had vanished, and Neo-Queen Serenity stood where
it had rested, holding the Silver Crystal and contemplating it with a
sober expression.  As she became aware of the eyes regarding her, she
lifted her head, and spoke.  "Take me to my people.  I have to talk to
them."

     "Yes, your Majesty," agreed her own Pluto, who had materialized a
moment before.  Together, they walked out of the throne room.

     "Okay," Sean said, the exhaustion beginning to catch up to him,
"I'm happy.  Everything's going great.  There's just one way that things
could go better."

     A tall, buxom, NAKED woman danced through the throne room, singing
as she did.  "I've got BREASTS again!  I've got BREASTS again!"

     "Get rid of Naga, would you?  PLEASE?"

                                   *****

     /That ... was the last ... of the Crystals ... at least.  Two more
worlds .../

     *... please, don't make me --*

     /Moon .../

     *I can't!  Don't you see, I can't!  I didn't KNOW!  I ... I'm
SORRY!*

     /... Cosmic .../

     *You would have done the same!  You would!  Anyone would --*

     A very long silence.  /I have borne a Silver Crystal for several
times your lifetime, Lina Inverse ... and I have never given a world to
a demon for the promise of more power,/ came the whispered reply. 
/POWER!/

                                   *****

The not-too-distant past.

     Queen Beryl, Master of the Dark Kingdom, stood on the observation
deck of the Tokyo Tower and stared up at HER master.  As she did, she
tried to banish the faint feeling of unease in her stomach.

     The idiotic Sailor Senshi had been overwhelmed by the youma legions
which had gated in with her, and were bound and gagged behind her.  The
insane demigoddess calling herself Lina Inverse was nowhere in sight. 
Everything was in place for her ascension.

     So why did she feel such dread?

     "Metallia-sama," Beryl spoke aloud.  "It is done -- this world is
yours."

     <YES.  IT IS DONE.>

     "You promised me that when this world was yours -- that I would be
first among your subjects."

     And in that moment, the horrible face in the clouds turned on her,
and for an instant, she realized what the source of her unease was.

     <YES.  YOU SHALL BE FIRST.>

     What need did Metallia have for subjects?

     Beryl's head exploded, and the remnants spattered the Senshi. 
Sailor Mercury caught most of it.  Her stomach rebelled, and it was all
that she could do to keep the vomit down.  This can't be the end, she
thought.  I refuse to accept that ... that this is how things were meant
to be!

     Then there was a twinkle of light as the Star Crystal appeared over
Senshi Crystal's still form.

     /"it is not," Serenity whispered.  "do not be afraid."/

     Metallia's image seemed to whirl then, towards the east -- where
the rising sun would be if the sunrise were imminent.  But there was no
sun.  There was only a great silver curtain.

     The demon howled -- and then the curtain struck.

     Mizuno Ami jerked awake in her bedroom, breathing heavily as her
nightmare became less and less clear in her memories.  That's the last
time I watch Fantasia before bedtime...

                                   *****

     *--ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodogod--*

     Very quiet.  /For you, the worst is over./

     ~Your Majesty ...~

     /When we return ... she will be all but ... catatonic. 
Psychotherapists ... can begin to undo ... the damage which we and ...
others have done.  In time ... she may become a viable member of
society./  A long pause.  /In time./

     ~This ... this CAN'T be right.  Athena --~

     ^I ... I am not what thou said would be needed.  I am not even
certain what it may be.^

     ~A counselor.  A ... healer for the mind.~

     /And ... as with surgery ... sometimes to heal ... one must first
harm... in a way ... that will not ... kill./

     There was a long silence, which in that place might have meant a
cessation of existence.

     /In any event ... there remains ... a world which I ... must heal
... before we return ... the doing of which ... may make the question
... academic ... Moon .../

     A breath.

     /... Cosmic .../

     A gasp.

     / ... Power/

                                   *****

April, 1992

     "So ... she's Matrose Mars?" asked Matrose Mond as they sat on the
roof of a building some kilometers from the site of the battle.  Thus
far the three of them had evaded discovery, and so there had come a time
to talk.

     Luna nodded.  "There will be four other Matrosen Amazonen which you
must find to protect the Mondprinzessin.  She is one of them, die Feuer-
Amazonen."

     Matrose Mars was apparently very quiet -- she hadn't volunteered
any information.  Kani didn't find this too surprising, since the girl
probably knew as much about her situation as Kani herself did.

     The realization of that commonality sparked something half-
forgotten in Kani's heart, and she almost smiled.  "So ... you want to
be friends?" she asked.

     Rachel stared at her.  The entire day had been like falling into an
abyss without end ... and now this strange, immodestly clad girl was
offering to be her friend.  "I've never had a friend before," she said
without thinking.

     Kani blinked.  "That's not really an answer, you know?"

     Rachel laughed faintly.  "No, I suppose it isn't ... yes ... yes, I
think that I would like to be your --"

     And unnoticed by either of them, the silver curtain descended.

     Rachel woke up in the dormitory, at once relieved and faintly
disappointed that the dream had faded so soon.  There had been a lot of
terror, but sweetness, too ... the image of that girl, smiling at her
...

     She snuggled closer into the coarse sheets on her bed.  In her mind
the vision of the girl with the short skirt and the strange hair, and
the talking black cat, were replaced with something else; Rachel stood
beside the Kloster wall, her long white robe fluttering in the breeze, a
long rosary hanging from her hands.  She could feel the wind streaming
her long black hair behind her as she stared at the wall, covered in
beautiful red roses.  She wasn't sure which was the greater miracle, the
roses or her hair, but she knew they could only have come from Him.

                                   *****

     /... never been ... thought of ... like THAT ... Raye always ...
should have hair ... long ... and dark ... like the night ... beautiful
... oh .../

     ~Your Majesty, hang on!  It's done, we just have to get home, now!~

     ^Sheila-chan ... what if she can't -- yon sorceress is in no
condition to find us a world --^

     /... sorry, Sheila ... very ... very ... sorry .../

     ~No.  No, we did NOT come all this way, over all those worlds, for
nothing, you hear me?!  We are going back!  Serenity, can you draw from
us to --~

     /No ... not ... unless ... you ... were ... Erinyes .../

     ~Oh, Goddess, don't pass out on us now --~

     ^Methinks she has, Sheila-chan ...^

     The grinding of teeth.  ~Okay.  Okay, on at least a few of those
worlds, her counterpart will know what we did, right?~

     ^On mine, certes.^

     ~Then you'd think they'd be willing to help us out when WE need it,
right?  So we have to call for help!~

     ^I think I see ...^

     ~That's great, 'cause I don't know HOW we're going to pull it off,
but we've got to, so --~

     ^Sheila-chan ... take my hand.^

     In the place where they existed, there was no matter.  Only
thought, and will ... and Sheila's will was as strong as her body, if
not stronger.  And for all of Athena's flirtatious, flighty ways, she
was born to be the Senshi of Mercury, with all the driving intellect
that demands.

     Part of the link that they shared was the sisterhood of the Sailor
Warriors across the worlds.  But there was more.

     They took each other's hands, and called for help.

     ~^Help us.  Please.  We need your help, Serenity of any world. 
Help us to save ourselves.^~

     And the reply came back.

     !Huh?!

     ~^Help us.  We need a bit of your strength.  Please.^~

     There was a long silence.

     !Okay, sure ...!

     It was just a tiny trickle of strength, but they seized it, gave it
to the Queen, and roused her -- and marshalling it and all else that she
had left, they escaped that place, back to their beginning.

                                   *****

December 10, 2014

     What a weird dream, Misato thought.  Wait a minute ... if I got
tanked as much as I normally do on my birthday ... and I was having
weird dreams ... how come I don't have a hangover?

     Too weird.

     She stretched and got out of bed.  Padding into the kitchen, she
opened the fridge and pulled out another can of Yebisu.  Misato cracked
the lid.

     And stared at it.

     After a long moment, she shrugged.  Maybe she'd have breakfast
later.  Right now ... right now, what she really wanted to do was to go
out, take a walk, see the world around her.

     So she did.

     It wasn't a perfect world.  Not even close to one.  There was no
magic that was going to bring all the people she'd lost back, nor any to
help the survivors cope.  But it was her world, and it was her job to
defend it.

     Might as well appreciate it while she could, ne?

                                   *****

Epilogue

     Serenity awoke in her bed, surrounded by the Sailor Senshi, and her
husband holding their daughter.  She smiled, faintly.  "I think," she
murmured, "that I shall take a little vacation.  Perhaps a month."

     "Try a week," Mars snapped.

     "Meanie."  She closed her eyes and returned to sleep.

                                   *****

     Lina Inverse floated in a cold-sleep capsule.  Naga the Serpent,
once more dressed in her custom-designed "evil seductive sorceress"
garb, slipped into the storage facility and approached the capsule.

     She gazed at Lina's still face for a second, before she finally
found the strength to say what was on her mind.

     "Told you so."  And then, quietly whispered, "I'm sorry."

     "Naga-san?  Are you SURE you want to do this?" came the voice of
Sailor Mercury.

     "HOHOHOHOHOHO!" laughed Naga, her face swiftly moving from sadness
to inappropriate glee.  "You obviously do not know what trouble Lina can
get into without me!"

     "It's not exactly standard procedure to allow this, but Serenity
did say that--"

     "You can have me share what ever dream Lina is in right now, can
you not?  Then do so before I show you the true power of Naga the
Serpent!  HOHOHOHOHOHO!"

     Mercury rubbed her temples.  That laugh was SO annoying.  "Are you
certain you want to stay in there as long as Lina is?"  Please say yes,
a small, unprofessional part of her whispered.

     "Of course!  Naga the Serpent is a sorceress of her word... and,"
Naga added, in a quieter voice, "I won't leave her alone and feeling
unloved again."  She started as she realized she had said those words
aloud and turned to Mercury.  "If you EVER tell anyone I said that..."

     "It's alright, Naga-san... that's what I really needed to hear."

     Minutes later, Naga was ensconced in another stasis tube.  She
closed her eyes--

     And for a moment, all was darkness, the emptiness of a fractured
mind that was hiding from even itself.  But Naga refused to allow that
to continue.  She called on her own memories of happier times.

     --and opened them to see Lina sitting at an oyster bar on a beach.

     "HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!  So, Lina, you thought you could escape me, NAGA
THE SERPENT--!"

     "Fireball," Lina said nonchalantly.

     *WHOOSH*

     All was right again in the world.  Lina and Naga were home.

                                   *****

     Outside the Crystal Palace, in a park dedicated to fallen heroes, a
goodbye was being said.

     "It's time, Athena," the Pluto from her home universe said.

     Athena looked up at the Sailor of Time and then over at Sheila. 
"Might I have a moment?" she asked quietly.

     Pluto nodded and walked over to the Pluto from this universe,
giving Sheila and Athena one last moment together.

     "Athena..." Sheila said.  What does one say to someone that you've
fought to save the multiverse with and now would never see again?

     Athena laid a finger on Sheila's lips.  "Hush, now, or what I must
say wouldst go unsaid for I doubt I would find the will to say goodbye
to you more than once."

     Sheila nodded, her throat constricting.  Strangely, Athena looked
nothing like any of the Sailor Mercuries they had met in their travels. 
Something, beyond her flirtatious manner and accent, set her apart now
in Sheila's eyes.

     "When I was young," Athena said, throwing off her accent, "I swore
that no matter how many lovers I would take, I would never love.  I had
seen in my parents what happens when love leaves a relationship, and I
wanted none of that."

     She reached up and gently cupped her hand against Sheila's cheek.  
"I broke that oath when I told Zoisite I would marry him... and I have
broken it again, now."

     Athena leaned forward and kissed Sheila gently on the lips. 
Sheila's eyes flew open.  It was unlike the other time Athena had kissed
her.  That was a passionate kiss, but it was superficial.  This kiss,
while not as fiery, was more serious, deeper.  Then Sheila stopped
analyzing and returned the kiss, and the feelings behind it.  Their love
was doomed to disappear, and that was probably for the best, but while
they had it, there would be no regrets and no guilt.

     Athena finally drew back.  Her eyes were moist and she seemed to be
having trouble speaking.  "I swore I would not cry," she said, tears
beginning to run down her cheeks, "but I--"

     Sheila hugged her tight, wrapping her arms around her friend, as if
to try and shield them both from the separation to come.

     "Athena?  We must go now," Pluto said.

     Athena sniffled and pulled slowly away from Sheila.  "Aurora always
talked to me about duties and destinies, that I was never serious about
either," Athena said, sniffling.  "And now, when I sacrifice something
far greater than ever she did, no one will remember it."

     "I'll remember you, Athena.  I promise."

     "Ah, but in a few moments, you wilt be no more than a pleasant
dream to me... and even that will fade soon after waking," Athena said,
her accent returning.  Her lips trembled.  "I don't want to leave you,
but I can't stay..." she whispered.

     "And I don't want you to leave... Ask Pluto for more time... a day,
an hour... fifteen minutes even!  There's so much I need to say..."

     "Nay... twill only make the parting worse... and if I were to do
more than kiss you, dear, dear, Sheila... I would never be able to leave
you..."

     Something flickered in the back of Sheila's encyclopedic memory, a
bit of stray history that might have even pre-dated the Silver
Millennium.  "Do you trust me?" she asked.

     "In all things, but--?"

     Sheila reached into her jacket and pulled out a small pen knife. 
It wasn't much, but it would have to do.  Before Pluto could stop her,
before Athena could react, she grabbed Athena's hand.  Placing the knife
between their palms, Sheila squeezed them together until they bled. 
Then she recited the words.  Athena, shocked at first, was soon saying
the same words in time with Sheila.  The words were unknown to her, but
they transcended time, space, and dimension.

     "Blood for blood, bone for bone, life for life, until only we two
stride the worlds.  My life is in your hands, my blood is in your veins. 
Hold me well and I will lend you my strength; break your bond and may we
both perish.  Friendship I swear to you, an Oath of clasped hands and
shared hearts."

     Athena's Pluto grabbed her then, pulling her away, as Sheila's did
the same.  The knife clattered to the ground, stained with their blood,
but their wounds were already healed by the power of the Old Oath.

     "What have you DONE?" hissed Sheila's Pluto.

     "We are leaving NOW, Athena!" Athena's Pluto snapped.

     "Sheila!" Athena wailed.  But her Pluto was already acting, waving
her Time Staff to transport them home.  Athena reached up to her ear and
tore out her earring, the one that summoned her computer visor and
tossed it at Sheila.  "Remember--" she began to say.

     And then she was gone.

     Sheila caught the bloody earring and fell to her knees, beginning
to sob.

     "That was foolish, Sheila.  The Old Oaths are ETERNAL.  Not even I
can tell what the final consequences of that rash act will be.  You --"

     "Leave her alone!" snapped another voice.

     Sheila looked up.  "Misa?"

     Misa van Fogler, all 5 feet 11 inches of her, was glaring and
pointing an irate finger at Sailor Pluto.  "Look, Miss High-and-Mighty-
But-Still-Can't-Get-a-Date-on-Friday-Night, I don't care who you are,
but Sheila's run through her hoops, done what you wanted, now LEAVE...
HER... BE!"

     Pluto glared down at the one who was addressing her, opened her
mouth to rebuke her with her devastatingly quiet voice ... and stopped
dead.

     There was something in her eyes.  Something Pluto had never seen
before, in the thousands of years of her life.  It was the simple and
certain knowledge that, if the simple, completely ordinary woman before
her was forced to fight Pluto ... she would win.

     It was not a delusion -- Misa held no illusions about her
immortality, and seemed even more reconciled to the inevitability of her
death than most people.  But she was certain that this would not be the
day she would die.

     Pluto stepped back, looking faintly disconcerted.  "We will speak
of this again, Sheila," she said, then vanished.

     "Biiiiii!" Misa said, pulling down one eyelid and sticking out her
tongue at the place Pluto had been.

     "Misa," Sheila whispered.  She looked down at the earring Athena
had thrown to her and mixed emotions flew through her.

     "Come on, Sheila.  We're going home.  You're getting a nice hot
bath, and then to bed with you..."

     "Misa... about Athena--"

     "I know, Sheila ..." Misa sighed.  "I should be upset, I suppose...
BUT, you two DID save the universe, so I MIGHT let you off the hook...
THIS time."

     Sheila looked up at her lover... and burst into tears again...
before finally fainting.

     "Oh, boy... I should have made Pluto stick around to give me a hand
carrying her... bet THAT'S why she left," Misa muttered, hoisting Sheila
up over shoulder.  "Whatta slacker..."

     Her words slowed, and stopped, as she reached out to touch her
love's face.  Six years left, she thought.  And then ... you'll be
alone.  You're going to have to go on.

     I've had nightmares about that.  You kill yourself when I'm dead. 
But now ... I don't think you're going to do that, somehow.  For the
first time in nearly thirty years ... I think you're going to get
through it.

     I could have wished for someone ... more like me to be with you
then, but that Athena ... she'll do okay.  I hope.

     The dedicated soldier carried her love, the reluctant senshi, out
of the park ... and as she did, she felt the first hints of winter in
the air.

     Winter, and the promise of ice.

                                 THE END
                                (For Now)
--------------
Author's Notes
--------------

Chris Davies
------------

     ... it's done.

     All I gotta do is just ship it off to Jeff for his last look-over,
and for him to append his author's notes and signature, and it is
really, really done.

     There have been times -- quite a few of them, in this last year --
that I've been terrified that I was going to die, and leave this story
undone.  Yet I survived.  (Not unto us, Lord, but unto thy name be the
glory.)  And it's done.

     I'd considered regaling you with some of the difficulties that
we've encountered, how we had to cut out parts that we were really
looking forward to writing (okay, that's a lie; Jeff wasn't that eager
to give out details of his "Dark Facets" universe before he writes more
of it, and I'm in no hurry to go back to "Serena and Luna:  The New
Adventures of Sailor Moon") and the realization that the happy ending
for Lina that we'd considered wasn't going to work.  But why bother? 
It's done.

     A word about Lina Inverse:  We like her.  Really.  I've seen every
commercially released Slayers story, Jeff has seen stuff I haven't seen
... I'm a big fan of Stefan Gagne's Slayers trilogy ... and we basically
wound up dragging her through six kinds of hell.  (Incidentally, it
wasn't my idea to tie my other Slayers story into this one.)  What kills
me is that what makes Lina an interesting character -- her amoral sense
of adventure -- is what led her down into the darkness, this time.  In
her world, I guess, there are safety features that keep her and those
like her safe, but taking her outside of those confines and ... well,
like adventure is bloody awful things happening to someone else a
million miles away, comedy is bloody sad things happening to someone
else when you can't or don't empathize.  What can I say?  It's done.

     There will be a sequel, as the final scene suggests.  We're already
brewing ideas.  But first I have to finish "The Further Adventures of
Sheila Tenkai" (which will also show more of Lina and Naga) and John
Biles has to get up to a certain point in his "Black Moon Rising".  So
for right now, the story is finished.

     It's done.

     Is it just me or are those the most beautiful words in the English
language?


Jeff Hosmer
-----------

     It's do--

     Wait, Chris already said that. :)

     How about this:

     What a long, strange trip it's been.

     This story started innocently enough, with a MST of Sailor Moon
Z12.  I plan on posting the original emails that started everything on
my web page, just so you all can see how simply this started.  And then
it grew, and grew....

     At first, we didn't plan a huge role for Lina... heck, we didn't
plan much of anything.  The whole point of the story was to get Sheila
and Athena together and see what happened.  But then Lina got a hold of
a Silver Crystal and started blasting things.  Then Sean Gaffney came on
board with some suggestions.  I had a sudden burst of inspiration in
which I saw Lina with Crystals for eyes...

     Then we took what we had and put it on the FFML, asking for authors
to volunteer their worlds and to let us rampage across them.  The worlds
changed a bit as time went on, and the order in which we planned to
visit them.  Writers block plagued both of us, and, as my co-author
says, we had a horrible time when we realized where Lina was heading.

     The culprit was Drama.  Every time Lina visited a new world, we had
to "top" what happened in the last.  Since we were alternating the
writing, there was also a bit of rivalry in that we kept trying to outdo
each other.  Friendly rivalry, but it had the side effect of causing
Lina to commit more and worse atrocities in each world.  And once she
was on that downward spiral, we couldn't get her off it.

     Then came the agony of what to do with her.  Some of our pre-
readers were howling for her death, claiming that she was worse than any
mass-murderer in history.  And when I finished the Sailor Orion segment,
we STILL had no idea how to defeat Lina!

     Then, Chris and I had a strange burst of synergistic inspiration. 
He came up with the idea of Sheila becoming a Senshi (Senshi Duo was his
name, after the first Uranus/Neptune fanfic, I believe) and defeating
Lina, somehow.  It was a little cliche'd, but I never let that stop
me... but the name left me cold.  So, I dug into a little mythological
research, trying to find something in mythology to call Sheila.  A
little rooting around in the myths of Uranus and I found the creation of
the Erinyes... and it was perfect.  The Erinyes were an aspect of the
Fates, of course, and charged with seeking justice, especially on those
who killed members of their own family.  And what we needed for Lina was
Justice, not punishment.  When I suggested the legend of the Erinyes to
Chris, he agreed it was perfect, and we had our means of dealing with
Lina... not with a show of incredible power, but by using Lina's own
guilt against her.  Even this did not satisfy some of those howling for
her blood, but I cannot believe that Serenity would have the death
penalty for anything... so, like Ryouga in Together Again, she is put
into a dreamworld in stasis.

     Oh, I hasten to add that Chris did NOT want to connect this with
his own Slayers Lime where Lina and Naga had a relationship that ended
badly.  I did that, partly to offer hope of Lina's eventual redemption
and partly to answer the last dangling plot thread... namely how Naga
would get Lina 'home' to fulfill the Deveels' contract.

     The Council of Chronos, or the Council of Plutos, grew out of both
this story and another collaboration I am doing with Sean Gaffney
entitle "Trials and Errors."  It began here, I think, with the idea of
Plutos banding together to face a common threat, namely Lina.  Then in
TaE it became a vacation spot for Sailor Plutos, a Club Med like place
in subspace where many different Plutos meet to unwind, while other
Plutos try to make it some sort of official body with power over their
kind... borrowing heavily from the old Marvel Comics concept of the
Council of Kangs.  (Kang was a time traveler who traveled so much and
split off into so many different time lines that he kept meeting himself
and, in the end, formed a council composed of all these different
versions of himself.  In the end, they were, I believe, manipulated by
another Kang and destroyed.)  We give this idea feely out to the net, as
long as you give us credit for coming up with it.  (Us being Chris
Davies, Sean Gaffney, John Biles, and myself.)

     We do have something else planned for Athena and Sheila... did you
think that we would leave them so tragically separated?  I will admit
that Chris and I suffer from a 'lesbian fetish' (but not as bad as Fred
Herriot! :) but we both agree that these two seem to fit well
together... and poor Sheila deserves, IMHO, a potentially happy ending. 
Go read what Chris has of the Further Adventures of Sheila Ten'kai to
see Misa's eventual fate.  If you want to know how she learned of it,
you'll have to ask Chris to show you another MST he did where some plot
elements crept into what should have been just C&C. :)

     If you ask us nicely, maybe we'll even show a little thing we wrote
showing a day in the life of Athena and Sheila in the future. :)

     So, there will be a sequel to this, sometime, when Chris and I
recover sufficiently from THIS monster.  In the meantime, I think I need
another trip to Tougenkyo....

29 Jan 1999

     Pretty much all of the characters were created by someone else, and
most of them were brought to North America by someone else again.  This
story, while incorporating characters held under copyright by others, is
copyright 1998 and 1999 of Chris Davies and Jeff Hosmer.  Nobody sue us
okay?

Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.
"It is a sad thing when the designation one has known most of one's
existence becomes nothing more than a toll of doom." -- Seven of Nine,
"Just Between Species", by Gina L. Dartt
http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/banks/277/index.html

Jeffrey Paul Hosmer
jhosmer@ix.netcom.com
http://www.tass.org/~jhosmer/