Skysaber's Choice 

Part Three 

by Jared Ornstead 
  
=====

    Mina snuck downstairs long after her parents' light had gone out 
and removed the scepter from within a pillowcase she'd used to disguise 
it. Grasping the ornate rod in her hands, she asked of Artemis. "Okay, 
how do I use it?" 
    "Beats me. It's not a Silver Moon artifact." 
    "But Artemis, I don't have any other way of trying to remove that 
ice stasis spell!" 
    "Calm down, Mina. Just try commanding it to do something." 
    Mina thought it over. Well, it'd worked with the cloud. She held 
the scepter uncertainly before her. "Uh, Scepter, I want you to heal 
somebody." 
    Instantly there was a noise like a deep chime crossed with a 
sizzle. The room filled with a bright blue-white radiance which 
subsided after a few moments. 
    "I dunno what happened but I feel *real* good." Artemis observed. 
    Mina stood blinking with the somewhat daffy look of someone coming 
to grips with a powerfully pleasurable feeling. She blinked a few 
times, then shook her head, looking down at Jared. "Did it do 
anything?" 
    Artemis pried up one of the bandages Mina's mom had applied to 
Jared's cuts. "Well, many of his injuries are gone, but those weren't 
what we were concerned about, they were minor anyway. It doesn't seem 
to have removed the ice stasis." 
    "Do something else!" Mina shook the rod, then found she was holding 
an eight foot spear with an elaborately lethal blade at the end. 
    Artemis wasn't paying attention to Mina's efforts, focusing instead 
on looking at the youth. "Try touching him with it. That might help 
focus the spell." 
    Mina was staring at the decidedly wicked looking leafed tip. 
"There's NO WAY I'm touching him with an edge this sharp!" 
    Before her eyes the blade vanished, leaving her holding an eight 
foot staff. Just then Artemis chose to look in her direction. "What 
edge? What are you talking about, Mina?" 
    The pretty blonde frowned. "Hold on a second, Artemis." She 
concentrated and the blade reappeared. After a few seconds of playing 
with the weapon she managed to restore it to the rod sized scepter it'd 
started out as. 
    "A transforming weapon. We had a few of those during the Silver 
Millennium. They could change their form to become weapons suited to 
what their wielder required based on the situation, some had three 
forms, a few had more. Go ahead and try and command it to become 
something else." 
    "Not right now, Artemis. We can do that later, and right now I want 
help figuring out how to get this thing to remove that stasis spell 
from Jared...!?" 
    A pencil thin beam of light sprang out from the scepter's tip, 
resting on Jared's forehead. In seconds the faint blue tone had 
vanished from his flesh and he stirred, raising a hand to his face as 
he tried to sit up. 
    "Ow, I hurt all over. What happened?" 
    Mina was at his side fussing over him. "One of the ice youma got to 
you. Are you alright? You're going to be okay, aren't you?" 
    The redhead looked up into her eyes and had a startling 
recollection of waking up to find a succubus had snuck into camp and 
was bending over him, intending to steal his soul with her lethal 
kisses. 
    It had been the feel of her mouth upon his that had awakened him 
that time. 
    Fortunately, he'd had some rather odd ancestry himself and turned 
out to be immune to energy drain. While the succubus was still figuring 
that out, he'd stunned, disabled, and immobilized her, then knocked her 
unconscious and gone over to the next tent to ask a mage if he could 
borrow that scroll of Domination he'd been so unhappy to get at the 
last treasure haul distribution. 
    To everyone's surprise, when he'd read the scroll over the demoness 
it had actually worked (Jared had been resigned to killing her, but had 
found it amusing to at least try, his mage friend hadn't wanted that 
scroll anyway and in fact was pleased to watch the experiment). 
    So, with his will absolutely dominating hers, and just to see if he 
could finagle it, or if it would exceed the power of the spell, he'd 
commanded the demoness to repent, cleanse her soul from evil, purify 
her heart and mind, seek no harm to come to him, embrace the precepts 
and principles of good, and so on, sending her off to a temple near his 
homeland. 
    That had been three hundred years ago and he hadn't heard from her 
since. Well, except very briefly when he'd later enlisted her aid in 
taking over that city of evil alchemists, but that was still two 
hundred years ago. 
    The redhead shook his head fuzzily. "I'll let you know in a minute. 
Sheesh, in the *game* there's never this disorientation, and then at 
least I know what happened to me. And that scene happened to my 
character, not me" He took a quick assessment as best he was able, 
tracking down the sensations of things which were wrong. 
    "I'm not regenerating." He concluded as one major point. As soon as 
it occurred to him he became aware of other things that his *character* 
took for granted, but that he himself was only newly accustomed to only 
enough to notice their lack. There was practically his whole *suite* of 
defensive enchantments and power boosts missing. 
    Jared did a swift check, patting himself down, including wrists, 
throat and absent belt, ending by raising his face to hers in concern. 
"What happened to all my stuff?" 
    She smiled. "I had to take them off you, I didn't want my parents 
to see you in all that fancy getup. I put them all in your bag, which 
is up in my room. Do you want me to get it?" 
    He considered. Practically everything he'd had or worn was 
protective or magic in some degree. Even having some parts of it 
removed, however briefly, would require days of constant wear to retain 
them to him. He'd just lost a major part of his magical advantage. Then 
again, she did have a point about running about draped with all sorts 
of enchanted trinkets, most of which were made out of something 
precious. Guys in real life did not regularly wear jewelry. Guys in 
adventure worlds did it out of necessity, as jewelry was an easy way to 
carry about useful enchantments. 
    It would require time to think on. Standing out was a good way to 
get zeroed in on and attacked in your off time. But still... No rings, 
necklaces, bracelets, earrings, crowns... He shuddered. The thought 
seemed somehow unnatural. Maybe he could hide a bit of it and wear some 
anyway. For one thing, being without his trinkets made him much more 
vulnerable. 
    Jared looked up into her adoring face, arriving at his conclusion. 
"I will need some of it, if you don't mind." 
    She nodded perkily and went to get his belongings. He lay back and 
addressed her cat as Mina took off. "So, Artemis, what's the situation 
like? What's up with Jedite? How'd he get so powerful?" 
    The white feline cocked his head at the youngster. "I'm not sure I 
should be telling you." 
    Mina returned with the bag, caroling quietly. "Here you are! 
Everything you had fit in there, so I think that's all of it." She 
handed it to him. 
    At her words, Jared reflexively checked the waist pouch still at 
his side, relaxing somewhat as it felt its presence. "Thanks." He 
accepted the other bag and opened it to check inside. Finding 
everything to his satisfaction, he removed a ruby armband and slid it 
up his left arm, laying back with a sigh. 
    "Ahhh, feels good." The last of his injuries began to visibly knit 
up. 
    He answered her questioning gaze. "One of the better trinkets. This 
regenerates injuries, it will even bring you back to life if you were 
wearing it when you died and the cause was only wounds. It looks like I 
got hit with something else, though. Do you have any idea what it was?" 
    "Artemis called it an ice stasis spell. One of those youmas locked 
you in a block. The solvent got you out of it, but I couldn't wake you 
up." 
    Jared received the information. "That's nice to know, but 
disturbing. I'd never heard of Universal Solvent melting anything solid 
before, only goo; unless specially refined to do so, which this 
wasn't." He met her eyes before shifting to lay on his side, trying 
hard not to frown. "That concerns me. My armor supposedly makes me 
immune to cold damage. I don't like the idea of them sidestepping my 
protections so easily." 
    "You said damage." Artemis pointed out. "The ice stasis spell 
merely causes immobilization and paralysis. The damage you suffer comes 
from being entombed. It is a side effect and not caused directly by the 
spell." 
    Jared looked between his companions. "Still, magic here seems 
generally more flexible than I'm used to. My greatest power once lay in 
knowing the precise limits of things. This place seems to be 
invalidating much of my knowledge, even about myself and the objects I 
carry with me." 
    Artemis cocked his head. "I'm not sure we can be much help to you. 
The style of magic you practice is unknown to us." The cat shrugged. 
"Some of what you've done seems pretty reasonable. Queen Serenity or 
any of her advisors could've done them, not to mention some of the 
Knights or Scouts. But things like that cloud of yours... We could only 
do something like that by investing an object with power, but Mina says 
that you created it with a spell." 
    The redhead absently nodded, still cataloging his bruises. "Yeah, 
the Cloud Chariot spell. I took the liberty of inventing that when I 
found out some of the limits of the Cloud Trapeze. Slightly more 
complicated, but well within my ability, and generally more useful 
because it lasts a great deal longer. Plus, trapeze just sounds like a 
dorky name for something that you stand on. Swing from, yes, that I 
could see, but not stand on." 
    A moment of silence followed that announcement. 
    Jared went on, changing topics. "I would have pulled more dirty 
tricks out of my sleeve if I hadn't thought I'd been winning that 
fight. But it appears I am more easily circumvented than I'd thought. I 
doubt that's their only trick that can stop me. They dealt with my 
siege spells very handily." He sat up and rubbed his palms in circles 
over his eyes. "So it looks like no more frontal assaults, until I'm up 
to speed that is. I can only hope we hurt them badly enough that we can 
put them the rest of the way down by sniping at them." 
    There were a few more words til they had to say goodnight. He dosed 
Mina with a druidic cantrip that would double the rest she would obtain 
in the few hours of the night remaining, then they retired to their 
separate sleeping areas. 

    "I'm still not so sure about him." Artemis observed as Mina took to 
her room. 
    She dropped the kitty cat and favored him with a scowl, 
disapproving of him without saying a word. She twirled her finger 
around as part of their normal routine. 
    Artemis faithfully turned his back while she changed into her 
bedclothes. 
    "I'm serious, Mina." He spoke to the wall. "Who is he? He admits to 
being a very powerful mage, but what exactly do we know about him?" 
Hearing nothing behind him, he again addressed the wall to his face. 
"Okay, he saved your life. But it's risky to place so much trust in 
someone we both know so little about. He admits being able to MAKE his 
own spells based on inferior models! Do you know how much energy of the 
Silver Millennium was spent just researching the Scout powers and 
creating things like your transformation brooch? More than it took to 
terraform Venus!" 
    The little cat found himself bonked, lightly but reprovingly, with 
the scepter Jared had loaned her. Then the elaborate rod was tossed 
down on the nightstand and Mina, now in bedclothes, turned back the 
covers. 
    Artemis jumped up beside her pillow. 
    "I'm not saying he's a bad person, Mina. I'm just nervous about him 
knowing so much about us while we, in turn, know so little about him." 
    The girl with long, blonde hair sighed. "I know Artemis. But he's 
been honest with us, and really, what did you ask that he wasn't 
willing to explain?" 
    The cat had no ready reply to that, settling himself on the bed 
beside the pillow. 
    "Goodnight, Mina." 
    "G'night, Artemis. Don't evil people take advantage of weakness and 
lay curses and stuff? I'm not cursed, am I?" The blonde sleepily 
murmured. 
    The cat, all curled up, lifted his nose a little to shake his head. 
"Not that I can tell." Actually, her ability to even ask that question 
pretty much ruled out mind control or many of the nastier 
possibilities. 
    His companion mumbled blearily. 
    "Anyway, he trusted me with his life, didn't he? I mean, even if 
the ice stasis was a setup, what evil person would be willing to get in 
that type of fight and die just to earn my trust? Even if the rod was 
there could he be sure I'd use it? I don't think an evil person would 
be able to trust like that." 
    An increasingly sleepy yawn. 
    "Besides, they already had me, Artemis. Why save me from their 
demons, blow up their own fort, trust his life into my hands, and then 
all that other stuff if he was on their side?" 
    The cat blinked at his compatriot, now asleep. Sorrowfully, he 
added to himself. "Maybe he doesn't work for them. But there's more bad 
guys than just the Negaverse." 

    Mina's door off of the upstairs hall was no sooner closed than 
Jared was up and dressing in total silence. Hey, he had a 174% chance 
to move silently, he was entitled! 
    Having garbed himself in his fighting gear, he drew his cloak about 
him and vanished, slipping out of the front door and casting his Cloud 
Chariot spell once again. 
    Now it was time to rest and recoup, for both sides to count their 
losses and heal their wounds. In other words, it was a *perfect* 
opportunity for slapping your foes while they were down and not 
expecting it! 
    No, realistically, Jedite would be being raked over the coals by 
Beryl. Most of their fortress was gone, there were breaks in what was 
left, and the youma were not yet on steady guard schedules for their 
adjusted environs. The very fact that this was far too early for him to 
launch a second offensive at full strength made it perfect for a 
careful surgical strike. 
    Careful so that he didn't overextend on it. Missions of this sort 
tended to be one way unless you expended an awful amount of caution 
doing them. 
    But the more he could cause the enemy to worry about him, the less 
he would have to worry himself. Nothing and no one could do everything 
at once. If they were searching for him with everything they had, then 
they weren't out gathering energy. If they spent power in rebuilding, 
then that wasn't being used to accomplish something else. If the 
Negaverse was trying to hunt him, then that was so much less power they 
were using in other ways. But most important of all: every iota of 
strength they spent on defending themselves they weren't using on 
attack. 
    He was a great believer in making the enemy waste their efforts. 
    Jared landed on the remains of a platform that was part of the 
wrecked fortress. Figuring out how to cancel the spell holding it aloft 
would be fun, but so far they were the victors in the spell vs 
counterspell game. They would likely catch him before the fall could 
destroy anything. 
    No. Quick and dirty or silent and deadly was the way to go. 
    Since he had no siege spells that weren't slow and obvious, Jared 
elected for the second option. This place needed an ecology. Still 
invisible, he summoned a few bats and sent them through the fortress, 
using other spells to ride piggyback on their senses and memorize the 
layout of the fortress' remaining design. 
    Bats had zero in the way of color perception, but their radar sense 
told him hard vs soft and shapes very keenly. It wasn't long before 
he'd located kitchens, rooms in which laired youmas, vast amounts of 
weird architecture, halls and other wide areas, anything that was open 
enough for a bat to fly into. He even discovered a number of oddly 
shaped rooms and spaces that could be either meeting halls or art 
exhibits of the grotesque. 
    While far from a perfect map, it would do. 
    For no reason whatsoever, this reminded him back of a time he and 
his friends had waged war against a drow surface city. The normally 
subterranean dark elves had built up in the arctic, with permanent 
cloud cover blocking all normal light. 
    They'd had a barbarian in the party who just happened to have been 
from that area, and so he'd summoned a horde of willing nordic savages 
for the assault. But it was the heavy hitting power of the drow nobles 
that concerned them, making it critical they be taken care of before 
the actual fight. 
    Jared had, in deliberate reckless boldness rather typical for him 
back then, as it annoyed those who were accustomed to his careful style 
previous, sent his character up to the front gates demanding their 
champion come out and face him alone. 
    He'd been fifth level, but hadn't thought a *surface* city would 
warrant anything notable from the drow. Their prestige spots were 
always in the darkest caverns. So he'd been rather unprepared when a 
twenty-seventh level high priestess of the drow's chief house answered 
his call. He *still* wasn't that level even now looking back on it! 
    In a word, he was hosed, and so he'd immediately forged ahead and 
stated that the challenge was to be three contests, with two victories 
deciding the winner, as if that was what he'd been planning all along. 
    She'd agreed, but insisted that the loser become the willing slave 
of the victor. He hadn't *liked* the arrangement, but considering how 
easily she could've killed him, hadn't known how to disagree. 
    He'd chosen as their first trial a particularly difficult style of 
an obscure variant of tea ceremony, feeling rather glad then that he'd 
always made a point of outfitting this character with odd skills he 
never would've given an ordinary adventurer. 
    He'd won, of course. 
    She had then chosen, as her contest, who could summon the best 
spiders. 
    As a fifth level druid and oriental wu jen, he'd not been *unable* 
to summon any, but was clearly beaten even before they began. Still, 
he'd tried and was defeated, spiders having always been a specialty of 
the drow, and especially their priestesses. 
    They agreed on someone relatively neutral to decide the third 
contest, and that worthy soul had decided upon a simple foot race, no 
magic of any kind. Jared really *didn't* know who the guy had been 
favoring, as there hadn't been a drow priestess alive who couldn't run 
a four minute mile. 
    But then, Jared's character had been a monk grandmaster and could 
outrun a gazelle in a short sprint or a wolf in a marathon. That was 
also one of the abilities the game master had previously told him he'd 
retained, and could use without upsetting his new studies. 
    The drow priestess had agreed anyway, and then began meditating. 
Jared never *did* learn what she'd been planning to try, as the neutral 
judge had declared the start of the race then. He had run it and 
returned without the drow ever stirring. 
    Escaping with his bound and tied slave had been interesting with an 
archmage and a city full of angry drow on his heels. Luckily, when the 
city's archmage had shown up on a tower declaring the contest invalid, 
basically reneging on their duel, Jared had a friend with magical 
arrows to pick the man off when he'd begun casting spells. 
    Very difficult to throw magic when you're swiftly becoming a 
pincushion. 
    That had been a successful and satisfying invasion, with plenty of 
loot. 
    Fighting off memories, oddly split between himself sitting at the 
game table and actually being the one there doing it, he pulled himself 
back to the present situation to assess his risk. 
    The idea here was that he was weak enough himself that merely 
risking combat was inadvisable. He didn't have a companion to haul his 
bacon out of the fire this time. So he retired a small distance to the 
city docks and summoned himself a small horde of rats, transporting 
them via his cloud to the Negaverse fort, and telling the little 
critters where they could go to find nourishment and places to hide. 
    Oh, and on their way would they mind carrying along these little 
pellets for him? 
    He almost hated to do it, rats were critters too. But they were 
among the least pleasant critters one could find, and they came in 
thousands. He exhausted a decent portion of his remaining spell energy 
forming tiny, time delay incendiaries for them to carry. Rats had no 
patience and less memory, they would drop the incendiaries all along 
their route. Which, considering that he'd sent them through areas with 
maximum soft stuffs, ie, kitchens and barracks, when the little bombs 
went off they would likely be among plentiful supplies of burnables. 
    He wondered if Jedite had fire insurance. 
    Best case: Massive damage, casualties, a weakening or possible 
destruction of the fort. Probability for that outcome was low. Worst 
case: No damage, a revealing of the scheme and possibly the mechanism 
behind it, his discovery and a chance that he might not escape. Also a 
low probability. Most probable scenario: Fires start, are dealt with 
magically before the damage can become too widespread. 
    Not satisfactory. 
    Some extra havoc needed to be thrown into the equation. Preferably 
one that left his enemies in a circumstance where dealing with one 
created difficulties dealing with the other, so there was a better 
chance that at least one problem would get out of hand and do some real 
damage. 
    He had just the thing. It wasn't a spell he'd used often, but it 
was too cool NOT to have in memory. He set up a contingency to evoke 
the enchantment right after the fires started, then flew away. 
    It was a fairly neat spell, really. A simple suggestion would be 
dropped into the brains of anyone looking at the fire, which was bound 
to be alot. It worked like the Jedi mind trick of "You want to buy 
Cheerios" or "These aren't the droids you're looking for." Only in this 
case he'd loaded it with a suggestion not nearly so nice, set to 
aggravate conditions always present in an evil mind: suspicion and 
competition. 
    Anything looking into the flames at the moment that spell went off 
would receive, and believe, the thought: "Every youma around you is a 
personal and bitter enemy of yours, and a direct threat unless 
destroyed immediately." 
    That would probably be enough to destroy their fort. It should 
certainly throw a crimp into their plans to rebuild it. 
    Some would be immune, some would resist (he expected those to be 
few) and others wouldn't be looking at the fires in the moment the 
suggestion was triggered. He expected all of that to make little enough 
of a difference as the youmas that HAD been effected would drag the 
others in just as surely as if the statement was true. 
    Evil is selfish and self destructive. That same command reworded 
and given to the Sailor Scouts would cause them to stick their tongues 
out at each other and argue. 
    Here, there would be slaughter. They would make the words come 
true. When the thought was no longer magically induced the youma would 
already be embroiled in fighting that would keep them acting like they 
were affected. 
    After this the enemy would hopefully feel surprised and vulnerable. 
They would certainly tighten their defenses. But that was the point. 
Every battle capable youma on these walls watching to guard against 
*him* was *not* out prowling the streets looking for victims or 
gathering energy. 
    Jared could rest and regain his spell energy in a few nights. These 
guys had to pull their energy out of humans, and they couldn't do that 
standing on their fort waiting for him to attack it. 
    Cut off their supply, raid their forces, ambush their raiding 
parties... Starve them to death, kill them when they've weakened. 
    He LOVED to play the game! 

    The city slumbered until the rosy rays of the sun's earliest light. 
    Mina stirred not long after dawn's rosy caress reached inside her 
window and brushed her cheek. Having eyes blink open without fatigue, 
she sat up and shook her alarm clock. 
    "That can't be right! Artemis??" She shook the little feline. 
    "Hmm? What is it, Mina?" The little cat pulled himself awake. 
    She showed the alarm clock to him. 
    "Did you play with this again to get me up on time? If so, you 
forgot to set it forward instead of backward. Now I'm probably late for 
school." 
    The cat uncurled himself to check out the clock. "No, I didn't do a 
thing with it, Mina." He hopped to the window sill and glanced at the 
sun, then twisted to say to her back in the room. "The sun's in the 
right place. Your clock is accurate." 
    Mina dropped the offending plastic clock precociously back on the 
nightstand. "But that can't be right! If that were true I'd only have 
been asleep for four and a half hours!" 
    She leaned out of the window to check the sun herself, then pulled 
back inside to scratch her head. 
    The cat returned into the room. "Maybe that Jared character had 
something to do with it. You remember how he cast that spell on you, 
saying that it would help you get enough rest?" 
    The girl's fist slapped down in her palm. "That's right! He said 
I'd get double the value of sleep for time! Well, four and a half hours 
doubled equals nine, so no wonder I'm not tired!" 
    She grabbed her robe. "I'm going to go down and talk with him!" 
    "This early?" The cat asked sleepily as he curled up once again. 
    Mina slid her sleeves on and belted the fabric closed. "Sure. Why 
not? He's sure to have used the same spell on himself, right? Nine 
hours rest ought to be enough for most anybody. I bet he's awake right 
now!" 
    She vanished out the door while the cat reluctantly returned to 
dreamland. He'd catch just a few more winks before heading down to see 
what they got up to. 

    Jared woke to Mina's happy, smiling face shining down on him. 
    As it had been for the past hour. (Apparently doting young girls do 
not trigger danger senses... They should.) 
    This morning was the first opportunity for her to get a look at him 
in the light of day, without darkness, the strain of evading the 
Negaverse or her parents getting in the way of her appreciating him. 
    And he was GORGEOUS!!! 
    She just couldn't get over this! When they'd met she'd known he was 
cute, but meeting underwater, in the dark, and with his helmet on most 
of the rest of the time (not to mention having plentiful distractions) 
she'd not known *HOW* absolutely good looking!!! He was 
*delectable!!!!* 
    Seeing him stir, she became instantly mindful of the fright she 
must look, not having had her bath or done *anything* since she'd 
gotten up! With a sound like distant thunder, her footsteps faded to 
disappear in the way of the tub. 
    Jared woke fully, recovered in health if not in power, to discover 
Mina already occupying the bathroom. Heedful of the legends of females 
occupying bathing areas for extended periods, he cast a minor spell and 
was refreshingly clean in an instant. 
    Don't ask him why, but he carried alot of cosmetic magic memorized. 
Actually, most of what he carried were what he termed Utility Magic; 
the ability to build, repair, modify, etc. Combat had been so blatantly 
easy that a few direct damage spells had sufficed him. He'd have to 
reconsider that. 
    His clothes, like almost all of his belongings, were enchanted to 
remain clean forever and to shed stains, filth, contaminants and so on. 
Elves didn't need to shave, so that wasn't a problem. Which meant, in 
all, that his morning routine had just been completed. 
    It was disappointing in its way, what kind of milestone did he have 
to show that he was now ready for his day? 
    Oh, yeah. Garb in armor, belt on weapons. Somehow he thought his 
present hosts wouldn't appreciate that. Nor did he really want to go 
walking the streets of a modern city draped in enough jewels, 
gemstones, precious metals and rare artifacts (his katanas and the 
like), to stock a major bank with operating cash. Even if the petty 
thieves were kept in line by his portfolio of anti-theft enchantments 
(a necessity when you have a kender in the party) that would allow the 
BIG fish, government inspectors and assessors, to get curious. 
    "Not a bad trick you had there." 
    Jared looked down. "Oh, hi Artemis." 
    The white furred feline hopped up onto the sofa's arm, confident 
and glad that he hadn't missed anything yet that morning. "I was 
thinking that you and I could have a little talk." 
    The redhead cocked an eyebrow. "You sound like you want to know 
what my intentions are toward your daughter. I wasn't aware that you 
HAD one, and I wouldn't be interested in her if I did." 
    "Well, in a way, I guess it is kind of about that." The cat sat 
erect and curled his tail around his feet. "You see, I *am* Mina's 
guardian, and I'm the only one who's been able to help her through 
this. Now you've come along. It's hard not to be suspicious, especially 
with how powerful you seem to be." 
    Jared blinked at him. 
    "Are you suggesting... no, I can see that you are. Very well, what 
could I offer you to prove that I'm not some ravening thing about to 
betray you both to your enemies the moment I get the chance?" 
    "It would help if I were to know a little more about you." The cat 
offered. 
    Jared considered it, then nodded. "Fair enough. Do you want to hear 
about the rash I had when I was two or my high school GPA?" 
    The cat facefaulted. 
    When he'd recovered Artemis asked. "That wasn't *quite* the 
information I'd been looking for." ~Though Mina might be interested.~ 
"No, I was thinking more what your motives are for helping us, and what 
your powers are like." 
    "After all," Jared nodded, concluding for him what the cat wasn't 
willing to say. "I'm not from the Silver Millennium." 
    The cat just nodded. 
    Jared got up, moving toward the kitchen. He might as well make 
himself useful to the household this morning he was staying with them. 
He decided to cook breakfast for the family to settle his thinking 
while others went through the motions of getting up. Without even 
realizing it, Jared's background processes had labeled Mina and her 
family as allies, to be relied upon and protected as required. 
    Part of his mind went through his catalog of magic items he himself 
had no use for, wondering which ones to pass on and increase his allies 
abilities, and what were most suited to give them. 
    "Okay, Artemis. I'm helping Mina because she is a good person 
fighting evil, just the same as I'd help anyone else in her situation, 
or what I would have done, minus some specifics such as offering to let 
her use some of my equipment, if there'd been no one here doing the 
fighting. I am a foe to evil. It's what I do, and I've got to admit 
that I rather enjoy doing it." 
    "So that covers your motive." Artemis jumped up onto the counter as 
the youth cooked, not that he totally believed in him yet, but was 
willing to listen for any obvious fibs. "Could you enlighten me a bit 
as to your power?" 
    Jared shrugged while dumping a selection of fruits and vegetables 
from one of his pouches. The cat's eyes widened and he sweated slightly 
as the youth began to toss them into the air to cut them with flashing 
strokes, then began to spread garnishes as the fruit fell perfectly 
arranged into their bowls. 
    While his hands were busy, Jared replied. "First, I'm a grandmaster 
in martial arts, following forms you probably wouldn't know anything 
about. That covers fighting ability and a ton of the speed. Then I 
studied magic, splitting my attentions between oriental, western, and 
nature. I suppose that you could say I was an oriental mage, but that 
wouldn't cover most of what I do." 
    Having momentarily forgotten what was traditional for a Japanese 
breakfast, he went on autopilot, but what came out was delicious; 
Loaves of elven bread, syrups of wild and exotic fruits that would've 
driven any botanist into fits, vegetables of strange colors and 
flavors, hefty mugs of brewed chocolate at a purity unheard of from 
modern manufacturing (and a resultant increase in how delicious it 
was), tiny candied tidbits of this or that... 
    ... and one, entire, roast crab, whose jewellike shell was easily a 
foot across and whose legs were split to expose tender meat and curled 
delicately around bowls of sauces. 
    Artemis shook his head as he saw this meal taking form, the smell 
of that crab giving him an appetite. "I'm afraid I'm not aware of any 
mages on this planet since the time of the Silver Moon Kingdom." 
    Jared held a finger to his lips, indicating silence. A moment 
later, the cat heard the sounds of Mina's parents moving toward the 
stairs. The shower also stopped and from the bathroom came the sounds 
of Mina's getting ready to come down. 
    Jared quickly finished and began laying out the completed meal, 
putting on his own silverware and serving implements, glasses and china 
rather than searching for theirs. Which meant that the table soon 
glistened under gold, fantastic shapes of blown and sculpted glass, 
showcase fine china of rare and delicately applied glazes, and utensils 
of fantastic workmanship. 
    Adventurers believed in having hearty breakfasts, as every meal 
might be their last. So they made something of a tradition of grand 
spreads when they could afford them. Having plentiful extra-dimensional 
space available to him meant he could carry these sort of things in 
safety, even when getting bounced off of mountainsides. And the 
occasional sacked city yielded some quite beautiful things from time to 
time, not *all* of them had to be sold. 
    There were only so many uses for cash. Eventually you begin to 
start collecting pretty things. Not that it hurt him having druidic 
powers to grow the plants and gain a regular supply of wonderful, even 
rare, foods at next to no cost. That combined with his ability to carry 
great volume in his magic bags and he was accustomed to being the 
party's cook. 
    Mina's family stopped dead when they came to breakfast. Her mother 
insisted on getting photographs before they ate. 

    Jedite returned to a fortress in shambles, his servitors mindless 
in their rage to destroy each other while the citadel burned to ruin 
around them. 
    His horror knew no bounds. 
    He'd just gotten *OUT* of a major chew-out from Beryl!!! 
    In the face of such a loss as that last he'd been lucky to survive! 
It mattered not one bit how successful he'd been up until now, when his 
forces had been thrashed by an unknown and powerful foe it'd been all 
his fault. Driving off the surprise attack had been no help. The energy 
loss of having so many youmas destroyed, not to mention that sorcerous 
battle or the cost to his fort itself, had driven Beryl to fury. 
Without Prince Darien there to calm her she would have roasted him on 
the spot! It had only been his successes of *months* gathering energy, 
victory after victory that had let him survive his queen's wrath in the 
face of such an ignoble setback! 
    As two of his prized Sailor Hunter youmas tumbled across his throne 
in their eagerness to kill each other, ignoring the blazing ruin their 
antics caused as surely as they ignored the burning of the rest of the 
fortress, Jedite came to the conclusion that there was no way he'd get 
out of this. 
    The only question now was where and how to hide. 

    At breakfast Mina's father asked Jared about his acting career, 
which surprised him, and ended with him asking how they knew about it. 
Mina had rushed in to say that they'd seen the tape that had fallen out 
of his wallet, and could she keep it, please? 
    He found himself staring at his copy of Skysaber, The Motion 
Picture and felt the blood drain away from his face. Seeing his dismay, 
her mother had asked if there was anything in there they ought to know 
about. 
    Realizing that his reaction had been obvious, and able to tell from 
the mom's actions that she was highly suspicious (probably suspected 
some material in there not suitable for her daughter - and *certainly* 
not in someone dating said daughter) he found himself reaching for an 
explanation... 
    ...and the explanation that came actually came from Mina, jumping 
in to say that all that anime stuff wasn't his choice of media, that it 
was actually kind of cheesy, and that he was looking forward to the 
release of his first real live action feature. 
    Jared caught a glimpse of a cat over his shoulder, behind her 
parents, as Mina finished saying this. 
    Her mother, still somewhat suspicious, asked if she could retain 
the video and watch it that day. And, seeing no other option, he'd 
conceded. 

    Mina danced as she walked to school. She would get to tell everyone 
about this handsome boy she'd met, and how he'd stayed over at her 
house, and the way he was so *dreamy*, and... 
    Her lunch bag swished beside her and she acquired a predatory 
gleam. 
    At the end of breakfast Jared had, with swift motions, cleaned and 
set aside the crab's jewellike shell, packed the remnants of their meal 
(still quite substantial in spite of their best and hungry efforts) 
into separate bags for each of them, even her cat, and distributed it 
for the day. 
    She didn't realize, but part of Jared's lower brain had mentally 
labeled Mina's family as 'party members', ie, those adventuring 
companions upon whom your life and welfare rests when the battle rises 
to its pitch. 
    Such people are to be taken care of to the best of your ability, on 
the unspoken assumption they will do the same for you. He'd also 
divided them into 'full members' of the expedition (Mina and Artemis), 
and 'followers' (her parents), otherwise known as the people to keep 
mostly out of the line of fire as they will be toasted instantly by any 
of the bad things happening to you regularly, and that by dint of 
experience and power you still manage to live through. 
    But as far as adventuring parties go: fix a big breakfast, bag the 
remains and distribute. That way a full and still fresh meal could be 
had out of the saddle or deep in dungeon pit without stopping to cook 
one. 
    Jared ran up beside her, dressed more normally, though with odd 
accents like blue leather bracers over his arms and a wide, almost 
cummerbund style belt with pouches hanging from it. "Hey! Wait for me!" 
    Mina twirled on him delightedly. "Jared!! Are you going to walk me 
to school now?" 
    She blushed demurely. 
    He swallowed uneasily, then laughed nervously, rubbing the back of 
his head. "Well, you *did* tell your parents that I go to the same 
school. They sorta expected me to at least leave at the same time as 
you." 
    She beamed him a smile. 
    And continued to do so for almost a minute. 
    "Uhh," Jared hedged, edging away. "Look, there's stuff that I gotta 
handle. I'll meet you after school, okay?" 
    Tossing her a friendly nod, he ran. 

    Jared walked down the Japanese streets with flaming hair, wearing 
enough jewels and precious metals to stock a major bank with operating 
cash. This was less to test his anti-theft series of enchantments than 
it was an attempt to sidestep a major problem he'd been having. 
    Namely, Mina would rather oogle at him than tell him anything he 
might need to know in the task of saving her life and world. 
    Walking past a startled policeman, Jared strode right on into the 
grounds of a local university. He needed a fast way to get to know what 
was going on, and talking to people who knew what he wanted was his 
preferred method. A library would have directed him to the newspaper 
racks, any kind of journalism would've tried to interview him (and he 
wasn't interested in wasting his time with people more interested in 
taking information out of him that giving it to him) Police and 
government would be useless. 
    So he was at a school, whose job it was to teach people. 
    It was, of course, extremely stupid for him to be here in armor. 
Unless, that is, he *wanted* to gain attention. But if he were running 
the enemy side, their fortress would soon be an impressive array of 
guards and traps. So he would have to use other ways if he wanted to 
choose their next battlefield. And now was not too early to start. 
    The Negaverse would be looking for him as soon as they had their 
act together. Their common way of doing that was to attack somewhere 
and expect their enemies to show up and stop them. Trouble was, the bad 
guys chose where they were doing this and could easily (and often did) 
set traps. By making himself this obvious, they would most likely 
attack him without even thinking about it, which meant that he could be 
the one choosing ground and setting traps. 
    Every little bit helps. 
    He would, of course, hide like a rabbit in a convention of foxes 
afterward. But he estimated a 34% probability of his foes committing 
and losing significant forces, and a further 40% chance for them losing 
moderately to heavily, with only a 15% chance for them to suffer light 
casualties or energy loss, and a measly 11% chance for him to suffer 
greater harm than he could inflict. 
    Not bad. 
    He strode into the student center, picked up a class schedule and 
kicked back in one of the chairs to read. He was just at the point of 
trying to decide between one of the Journalism profs listed therein, a 
History teacher (his favorite) or accosting one of the faculty at 
random when he heard someone clearing their throat at his side. 
    "Hai?" He looked up, his helmet rendering his face featureless. 
    There was an extremely nervous security officer at his side. 
    Jared turned back to reading his schedule, asking. "Don't you think 
that if I were a youma I would have started killing people or stealing 
their energy before now?" He thought about it a moment and stood up, 
putting the class guide back on his seat. "No, don't answer that. I 
already know what the stock reply would be. Might I request to see 
someone in authority please?" 
    The guard was unprepared to deal with this. Pretty soon he'd return 
to base mode 'allow me to arrest you/escort you off campus.' 
    Frustrated, the flame haired youth walked out past the man. On his 
way out he caught a formerly oblivious student by the arm, asked her 
for help finding a teacher, and when the student pointed a trembling 
arm at a woman entering the Admissions building, thanked her, flipped 
her a coin, and walked off that way. 
    Trembling for an entirely different reason, the student bent down 
to retrieve the coin, spending long moments looking at it. 
    Gold. It was real gold, and heavy. 
    The girl scurried off, knowing where the next semester's tuition 
had come from. 

    Jared caught up to the teacher. "Excuse me!" 
    The teacher turned and her hair snapped out at odd angles. She 
dropped her load of books. 
    Okay, this was getting a *little* out of hand. He removed his 
helmet, hoping that a face, even one with elvan features and flaming 
hair, would calm her down to some degree. Then he bent to retrieve her 
books. 
    "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. There's no need to be afraid. 
I'm from another planet, here to help Sailor V fight the Negaverse. You 
might have seen something of our attack on their fort last night." He 
straightened up and presented her books back to her. She ignored them, 
clueless and vacant in her staring at him. 
    He sucked in a lip. He hadn't thought his appearance was *that* 
odd. Okaaay, press on and hope that the sound of his voice mellows her. 
He flashed her a winning smile. "But I'm afraid my ally has other 
business today, so I was wondering, would it be too much trouble for 
you to enlighten me as to the recent history of the conflict between 
her and the Negaverse? It would help me a great deal to know whatever 
you could add to my own knowledge." 
    Getting only a steadily increasing flush as his answer, the young 
man turned to perhaps find someone else to ask. 
    "NO DON'T GO!!"