Skysaber's Choice 

Part Five 

by Jared Ornstead 

  
=====

    The White Pheonix used his skills to extricate himself from Mina's 
tight embrace before the cameras could get more than a few seconds of 
Sailor V plastering herself to him, doing it without *looking* like he 
was rejecting her, just coming to the natural end of the hug. 
    Or so he'd hoped. When Mina plastered herself to him again he found 
he had the choice of either returning it before an audience consisting 
of a world via television, or rejecting her before that same crowd that 
just happened to worship her as their last and best hope against a 
monstrous evil. 
    Hmm, be a bad guy or a good guy... hmm, tough question. 
    He returned the hug, cursing himself and considering adapting a 
teleport to do a dimension hop to get out of this. But no, these people 
*needed* him far too badly to desert them. 
    Besides, Mina really *had* had it rough here all alone. Offering 
comfort to those who stood in need was in the job description of being 
a good guy, heroic or not. He'd just rather not to have to do it over 
live worldwide broadcast, that's all. People might get the wrong ideas. 
    Around him all sorts of people began to get wrong ideas. 
    Bravely, perhaps foolishly, he ignored them and began to stroke 
Sailor V's long hair, banishing his armor and murmuring soothing words 
of comfort into her ear until she ceased the sudden crying storm she'd 
summoned up, either from desperate need or he didn't know what. 
    So he just held her, not deigning to figure it out just then. 
    Things proceeded from that point for several silent minutes, until 
some unseen emotional switch got sufficient input to flip settings 
inside Mina. Instantly she went from emotional basket case to that 
plucky Sailor he'd always thought of her as. She wiped a few tears from 
under her mask and released _most_ of him, still retaining hold over 
one of his hands as she uncurled herself from around his chest. 
    Oh, were people about to get the wrong ideas from this or what??!?! 
    Those people proceeded to get VERY wrong, from the Pheonix' view of 
course, ideas. It didn't help that Mina was among those getting them. 
No doubt all the little floating hearts forming around her, the blowing 
sakura petals, the background music, all contributed to this. 
    That wasn't any spell *he* knew and he was beginning to feel it was 
dangerous. 
    The Pheonix Mage wiped a lock of fiery hair out of his eyes, 
glancing aside to Sailor V who was still retaining her hold on his hand 
and desperately tried a change of subject. "So, Sailor V. Why don't you 
use the Unicorn Scepter now?" 
    Sailor V stopped gazing proudly at him as if she'd just 
accomplished something both difficult and wonderful, at least in *her* 
eyes. "Huh? Oh." She hauled the item out. "How do I use it anyway? It 
wasn't something you spent a long time explaining." 
    He shrugged, finally managing to extricate his hand from her grip 
without being obvious about wanting so badly to get the shakes and 
climb up a tree and hide. It's not that he was afraid of *HER*, it was 
fear of what she'd gotten everybody *thinking!* 
    A guy could get a bad reputation that way! 
    Unconsciously, he took a step away from the maiden. 
    "I built it to heal people. You'll find that it deals with most 
things VERY well. The only weaknesses are ones I'd rather not disclose 
in public because you can guess as soon as the bad guys know them 
that's what they'll use against us most often. But for healing LARGE 
groups of people this excels. Trigger the light show while intending 
for all these people to get healed, hold it high so the light spreads a 
little more effectively, and you've got it. The general setting cures 
*alot* of stuff." 
    Mina glanced at him, her costume not obscuring much of her face, 
then gave a little shrug and held the scepter high above her, shouting. 
"Venus Healing Power!" 
    Jared winced. The words were not necessary. 
    Sailor V twirled in a large circle, building radiant light and 
dancing lines of energy as she posed. 
    ~Okay, this was *also* not in the rulebook. The Unicorn Scepter 
didn't require any of that. So why was she doing it?~ 
    Sailor V brought the elaborate scepter back up to a rigid upright 
position, held it before her closed eyes, then opened them and with a 
rush of power unlike anything he'd *ever* seen, the familiar sizzling 
chime of the rod rang out, followed by a wash of orange white energy 
over the entire lot and field, parking lots and nearby buildings, not 
to mention camera crews and apartment complexes. 
    Jared lurched somewhat inside the magical field, feeling his 
linkage to the rod he'd created suddenly cut. Watching Sailor V with 
astonishment, he saw his scepter change within her hands, altering to 
soak up part of a strange flash of light from her forehead and its 
colors change and its shape slightly warp. 
    ~Somehow her magic has changed it so it's not mine anymore.~ He 
belatedly realized, wondering what kind of magic she'd run over it, 
probably unknowing, to pass over and overcome the spells he'd laid in 
that thing when he'd created it. 
    He was beginning to feel *very* out of his depth here. 
    Of course, no one *else* he knew of had an anti-dazzle spell going 
to protect their eyes in this. He invoked an illusion and fell, rolling 
away and hiding among the bodies, blending in as a suddenly lanky 
fourteen-year-old with freckles, wearing the uniform of a different 
school. He could re-link up with Mina later. 
    He needed some time to think and he needed it *bad!* 

    As the light cleared away the effects were astonishing, even to 
Mina. Hundreds of people, the drained students rescued from the 
Negaverse, bystanders, passers by, those who had come to witness this, 
the television crews and all, were all filled out and healthier than 
commonly seen in a modern world. 
    Cries and exclamations were made as men who'd suffered from 
ailments they'd been on costly treatments for were instantly cured. 
Pains were relieved in people who hadn't know they'd had them. Long 
term problems were cured, including men who'd lost eyes, hands or 
hearing in accidents. Women with mastectomies found their breasts 
restored and straining at their present garments. Other problems too 
many to name had been cleared up by that single flash of light. Some 
would not be discovered for weeks or even months, others may never be 
known at all as no one knew to look for them or what they'd even be 
finding. 
    The bodies of the drained kids were restored to more healthful 
frames, which meant recovery would be swifter, but only a very few 
stirred or began to get up. 
    ~All *very* interesting.~ Jared pondered, deciding to be one of the 
bodies that got up and moved. Michelle and Rae were not among those 
rising, but would probably be cared for until they were able to stir. 
    The healing of blindness, deafness, and so on was expected. It was 
what that rod could do, as well as curing diseases, poisons, or minor 
damage from wounds. The spontaneous regeneration of lost body parts had 
been quite a surprise, though, as that was *not* a capability he'd 
built into that thing. At least not on this scale. That would've 
normally taken the rod about a week per person, and then it would've 
prevented it from being used for other important functions. 
    ~So, in addition to her taking it from me, her magic also 
overcharged it, raising its power beyond design specs.~ 
    Jared sighed as he wandered away. So *many* things he was unclear 
about. A short-term loan of an important object had just become a 
lasting loss. He'd thought his spells binding that scepter to him were 
well nigh unbreakable. 
    Obviously not. 
    He didn't have any of the ingredients handy for making another. So 
what could he do about it? Nothing, for now. He couldn't afford any 
side quests for items to make a replacement, and he couldn't spare the 
time even if he had them already. Making an item of that sort was a 
process months long. 
    So he could just resign himself to being without for a while. He 
couldn't recall the Scouts getting a month long break *ever!* Much less 
a few of them to run together. 
    Thinking on what he *could* do in a short time, he wandered into a 
real estate office. 

    Mina was depressed. Artemis ran at her side as she dragged her feet 
toward home. 
    "He could have stayed a little longer." 
    "Well, he *did* drop you off that nifty artifact." Artemis tried 
being helpful. Sailor suited warriors had never been all that common 
even in the Moon Kingdom, and Mina was the only one he'd been able to 
reactivate, or even find. He couldn't afford to let her get down. 
    She had to remain at her full potential! 
    Mina sniffed, not even being able to toy with the rod and feel 
better. The scepter had vanished back into storage space when she'd 
relaxed her costume, and while she *could* haul it back out to look 
at.... 
    Mina paused, looking in a store window at the rack of TVs. No less 
than three of them were displaying that sequence when she'd healed that 
crowd, and others were of newscasters talking about it. Another was a 
university being interviewed where the Pheonix Mage had made his first 
public appearance, apparently he'd talked with some teachers there and 
stopped a youma raid. 
    She paused again at the rapt crowds all around her, absorbing the 
news. She couldn't haul out that scepter in *this* company! She'd get 
pegged for sure! It wasn't as if it was even as normal looking as her 
disguise pen. 
    Her footsteps started again toward home. "I don't think it's a good 
replacement, Artemis. One more nifty toy isn't going to turn the tide 
against the Negaverse. He did." 
    Artemis now felt bad about having convinced her that he'd seen the 
boy vanish when that light field had played. He'd seen *something*, but 
couldn't be sure that was him jumping back to his home universe as 
Artemis had told Mina. 
    Now he was beginning to question why he'd done it. Sure, the boy 
had been a distraction, an unknown, and potentially dangerous. But Mina 
just looked like she'd had the fight taken out of her from it! 
    This wasn't any good! 
    How were they supposed to be able to beat back the weakened Dark 
Kingdom with their only Scout and protector depressed like this? 

    Jared stood behind a railing looking down over a large 
manufacturing area. The number of factories that remained operating in 
the district was startlingly low. The costs of staying in business had 
risen beyond most corporation's ability to tolerate; workers drained, 
factories destroyed by youma raids, even Dark Signatures being slipped 
onto products and distributed worldwide to immediately debilitate 
customers so that public opinion went awful and good advertising simply 
wasn't able to erase the stain on a corporation's image. 
    Jedite had been a busy little devil for a few weeks there, only 
stopping now that he wasn't in power any longer. And who's to say what 
his replacement would be like? Nephlite was inheriting a position 
totally unlike what Jared had seen him with. That would change his 
approach somewhat at least, possibly quite radically. 
    The people of Japan didn't even know that Jedite was gone. 
    As a mere fact of staying alive as businesses, industry had been 
moved to other countries and other areas of Japan. One or two had 
folded because no one had been willing to pay the price of the land 
they were evacuating, stranding the companies with no money to 
establish themselves in other areas. Many tried to remain out a sense 
of national loyalty, others were fleeing like rats out of a proverbial 
sinking ship. Nissan, for example, was doing everything possible to 
remove any image of having once been Japanese, after a shipment of 
Negaverse marked cars had caused worldwide fatalities when the drivers 
got abruptly sucked of their energy all at once and collapsed at the 
wheels. Thousands had died and the lawyers were still just beginning to 
rack up the potential damages. 
    America was not the only nation to practically ban all Japanese 
imports. Many corporations were just abandoning their Japanese 
facilities as a write off and relying on established manufacturing they 
held in other countries. 
    The result was empty warehouses, vacant factories, abandoned 
buildings and land prices plummeting, taking large parts of the economy 
with it. 
    The growing fear was that the nation of Japan was dying. Actually, 
the death blow had already been dealt, it just took time to feel these 
things. Jared didn't care about that. People he cared about. Nations 
were unimportant, just a way of organizing people. And if that 
organization failed, just organize them differently. It wasn't a big 
deal. 
    There was a cycle of life for all things, nations and businesses 
among them. It did no good to preserve them when they'd decayed and 
their time had come. Spend your efforts instead seeing to it that the 
replacement was better than what it replaced. 
    Stagnation was not the way of nature. 
    Jared looked to the anxious real estate woman at his side, hovering 
above him in spite of his present youth making them nearly of 
equivalent size. She was freezing in winds that her business suit did 
little to stop, but she made no complaint about wanting to return to 
the car. 
    "I might be better able to help you if you told me what the 
manufacturing needs of your family are." She chattered, turning 
slightly blue. 
    "This is the largest you have?" He asked in return, unaffected by 
the wind but willing to cut this short for her sake. It was 
unseasonable for it to be this cold, this gusty this late in the year. 
But his typhoon had messed with a few things and it would take a few 
days in settling down. 
    The real estate saleswoman went over to the hood of the car and 
unfolded a map over it, using her purse to hold down a corner while she 
used her hands for the rest. She outlined a large area of her map. 
    "All these industrial parks are for sale. Three of the companies 
owning them have folded and the titles are held in estate, waiting for 
buyers. These others are held by companies who are willing to sell to 
fund their movement overseas. This one right here is active, but they 
might move for a price. If you wanted the *largest* spread possible we 
could combine these areas here, here and here, along with that, and 
give you this whole area." She circled a vast tract. "So you can see 
the possibilities. We can fit in almost anything you might need. What 
portion of that land do you think your family might want for your 
business?" 
    Jared looked down on the map, then up at the agent. "What kind of 
terms?" 
    The freezing lady in her business suit shrugged, wiping hair out of 
her eyes that was being driven by the wind. "I don't think they'll be 
very flexible. They need to get a certain price to fund their 
relocations. The ones from the companies that have already folded will 
be held to cover their debts, which are large. Too much negotiating 
room has been eaten up there already. But normally there'd be no way 
this amount of land would even be for sale. We used to have waiting 
lists for lots. Now not even the banks are buying land, the price is 
falling too fast. Not even investors are going for a grab at it now, 
it's too risky. I don't know why you or anyone would want to move 
here." 
    The situation she'd just outlined was one of economic collapse. 
Banks calling in loans, driving businesses bankrupt, selling land that 
no one wanted so suddenly they weren't even able to cover their own 
losses. 
    The Great Depression had been started similarly. 
    You never realized how fragile a modern world was until parts of it 
started to unravel. It could only be guessed whether this destruction 
would be limited to Japan. The government could fall and not be missed, 
others had before. But when the banks *and* the government went 
together... 
    Well, Rome had fallen too. 
    He pointed to the area she had outlined. "I want you to get the 
current asking price of all those, and any other contiguous lots you 
can. Then I want to get an option to buy on every one of them." 
    The real estate lady wiped hair again from her eyes. "How are you 
intending to close? No bank is going to give you a loan for this area. 
They've lost too much money here already." 
    The young man shrugged, unaffected by the winds. "Cash on the 
barrelhead. I want to get the lowest price each of them would be 
willing to take for cash on close, if you can. Then I need somebody who 
can do the paperwork to transfer title in less than a week. But first I 
need the options to do some negotiating elsewhere. Can you do that for 
me?" 
    The freezing lady brushed her hair away out of her face again. "I'm 
going to need some kind of earnest money to cinch those deals. They 
aren't going to want to listen to an empty promise." 
    Jared laid two gold ingots on the hood of her car. The metal 
buckled under their weight. He snapped a polaroid of it and had her 
sign the photo as a receipt. Then he nodded. "Contiguous parcels only. 
If somebody in the middle of that doesn't want to sell then I can look 
in the Philippines or elsewhere." 
    The agent said nothing, but in her eyes was the concept that nobody 
who was waffling would be willing to risk the wrath of their neighbors 
who *needed* that sale to go through. 
    The lady was now ignoring the cold as easily as the wind continued 
to whip her hair. Her commission on a sale this size would be enormous. 
"I'll have the options in your hand today." She promised, eyes not 
straying from the marks denoting purity and ownership on the two 
ingots. 

    Jared lay Rae Hino on her bed in her room in the shrine, then stood 
up, talking to the two ravens that hung about him worriedly. "She ought 
to recover in a few days, which puts her weeks ahead of any of the 
others, except her." He waved a hand at the next bed, which contained 
Michelle Chambers, the thirteen year old not-yet-activated Sailor 
Neptune. 
    He'd been quite surprised when his RPG sourcebook had said the 
outer Scouts were the same age as the inners. Seemed to be borne out 
here, though. 
    The two ravens settled on her windowsill. 
    "Oh, hush." Jared waved at the birds. "She'll recover, don't you 
worry. It's just that... what is it?" He rose and looked out to where 
the birds were pointing with their beaks, seeing something he had 
trouble believing in. 
    He quieted both birds, then manifested his cloak and slid into 
shadows while slipping it around himself, invisible now from two 
sources, magic and skill. 

    Jedite smiled to himself. His disguise was *perfect!* He'd just 
conceal himself in this place, disguised as an ordinary mortal where he 
already had an ID and wouldn't be forced to draw on Beryl to create 
one. 
    He would be safe. She didn't hold an accounting of his actions back 
when things were going so successfully. All she'd known was the wealth 
of energy he'd brought in. Minor expenditures had gotten ignored, and 
now would be far to late to track them. There was no way any of Beryl's 
agents would find him here. 
    It was the perfect setup. He could lay low, just collecting energy 
on the side in case he eventually needed a peace offering to redeem 
himself. He would restart the shrine, and... Urk!! 
    Jared leaned back, straining his arm muscles as he tightened the 
garrote now presently wrapped around the Dark General's throat, cutting 
off breath but not yet cutting off that general's life. 
    Not yet. 
    "Okay, Jedite. Start talking." The general heard a voice he 
couldn't recognize whisper in his ear, the garrote relaxing slightly. 
    Jedite was sprawled face deep in the leaves he'd been sweeping, 
Jared's knee in the center of his back, held imprisoned by the youth's 
weight even while the young redhead grabbed both of the general's arms 
and hauled them around in a powerful hold. Not yet breaking them, but 
on the verge of doing so. 
    Jared *really* wanted to know why Jedite had showed back up here in 
his guise as Jed, the assistant shrinekeeper. The identity he'd used 
back when he was kidnapping busses. 
    Jedite stammered, his face deep in the leaves. "You *must* forgive 
me!! This was all part of a plot to... seduce Sailor V! Gain her 
confidence and get her to reveal... Uhhhhhhh....." 
    The general gave a long sigh as he slipped out of the land of the 
living into the land of the Eternally Sleeping. 
    In this case literally. The general would be far more use if he 
could answer their questions and Jared both didn't trust the man, was 
unsure he could hold him captive in a regular sense, and wasn't willing 
to fool around with necromancy and Speak With The Dead spells. However, 
dream magic *was* something he knew a few things about and getting the 
flustered, off-guard general to succumb to a spell of Eternal Sleep was 
probably the best way to deal with him right now. 
    However, a condition had to be set for his waking. It didn't have 
to be a *likely* one, but one had to be set anyway. 
    Jared spoke to the softly breathing body below him. "You will awake 
when you can obtain the forgiveness of the rightful ruler of the Moon 
Kingdom for your actions." 
    There. Wasn't likely to happen, and difficult to circumvent. 
Perfect. 
    Jared got off of Jedite's body, releasing his garrote and sliding 
it again into his sleeve. He held out a hand to the body, commanding 
with a spell. "Sleepwalk." 
    The general's slumbering frame got up on to its hands and knees, 
then to it's feet, following the direction provided by Jared's will 
without the general's even being aware of it. 
    The redhead nodded, satisfied. Now he could just put the... Okay, 
where do you put the body? It had to be somewhere where the Dark 
Kingdom wouldn't find it or they might rescue him. It would be awkward 
to have to explain to the neighbors, too. Also, there was the tiny 
little problem of how was he going to keep him here without Rae flying 
off the handle the first time she saw the dark general? She knew who 
and what Jedite was and wasn't likely to hold any fond memories of her 
time in those coffins. 
    Jared spent several moments considering it, then knelt down and 
summoned an elemental from the force of Earth. When the humanoid shape 
had risen out of the earth before him, the young mage paused before 
addressing it. 
    Okay, something was wrong here. Perfectly ordinary elemental, 
registering as the real thing to all his practiced senses. 
    So why was it a perfect copy of him? Naked, but not anatomically 
correct, thank Heaven. And it's material was still obviously earth and 
stone. Otherwise a perfect copy, even as to size. 
    Come to think of it, the only other elemental he'd seen since 
coming here was the one he'd summoned that morning, to recover the onyx 
he'd needed to make the Pheonix Font. That too, had looked just like 
him. Pity he hadn't thought more on that at the time. 
    That bothered him. Elementals were supposed to be hulking, 
featureless bipeds of no distinct shape or form, and he could shave by 
this copy in front of him. If he ever needed to shave, that is. 
    It was unlike any elemental he'd ever summoned before, earth or 
otherwise. 
    Jared experienced a moment of distorted feelings at that. *HE* 
wasn't the mage here! That was his character! Recalling elementals he'd 
summoned before was not helping any! 
    The trouble was, he'd always just played to be himself. He was 
having a crisis of identity here because there was nowhere he could 
think of to draw the fine line. The one personality was pretty much 
identical to the other, that left only skills, memories, and past. But 
even memory and past were shared, just from different viewpoints. 
    He began to realize that he really was merging seamlessly, and it 
was not as comfortable an arrangement as he'd been planning. 
    Then again, he was still himself. Did it really matter all that 
much? 
    Jared addressed the creature. "Go below this hill and fashion 
caverns for me there. They must be strong, and show no outward sign of 
their existence." Thinking about it for several long moments, he put 
various needs together in his mind, along with the things that would 
meet them, and conjured up a handy illusion to show a small scale, 
three dimensional design of what that needed to be to his elemental 
servant. "It should follow this pattern, but be fit for our habitation. 
Now go, and tell me when they are formed." 
    The elemental sank back into the earth. Minute tremors followed. 
    Jared satisfied himself for the meantime by laying Jedite in some 
bushes and covering him with a fine layer of dirt and leaves. The dark 
general's need for oxygen was practically negligible in that state. 
With a face covered by leaves he'd be good for years. 

    "Ah. So, finally awake, I see." 
    Michelle Chambers came swimming to awareness to see a young man's 
handsome face gazing down upon her. He put aside the cup and washcloth 
he'd been using to wipe her face and asked. "Feeling better?" 
    The maid's mind spun for a bit, then she asked. "Where am I?" 
    He smiled. "You are in the Cherry Hill Shrine. 
    "How did I... how long was I asleep?" She asked, looking up at him. 
    The boy sucked in one of his lips. "Hard to say, somewhere around a 
month. I think." 
    The young maid blinked, utterly astonished. 
    "I... I..." 
    The redheaded young man moved halfway across the room and sat down, 
so she could have some space from him. "Do you remember coming here for 
a good luck charm?" 
    Michelle nodded a little frightfully, her aquamarine hair bouncing. 
    The redhead smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to 
harm you. You see, that charm was a Dark Kingdom trap. They got about a 
hundred people like you with them. The shrine priestess, Rae, figured 
it out and confronted the demon who'd been doing it. But he was *far* 
more powerful than her and so she was just added to the catch with the 
rest of you. I don't know if you recall anything about what happened 
next, but you were all put in a specialized prison sort of thing where 
the Dark Kingdom drained your energy for a couple of weeks. This 
explains your present weakness and the reason why you've been asleep 
for a few days after your rescue." 
    "Rescued?" 
    He shrugged. ~Okay, she wasn't razor edge sharp at the uptake, but 
she'd just gone through alot. It wasn’t unexpected.~ "Yup. A hero named 
the White Pheonix went into the Negaverse fortress and hauled all of 
you guys out. Then Venus... err, Sailor V did what healing on you she 
could, which was alot, and then you had to rest for awhile. Most of the 
kids rescued wound up in ICU being drip-fed and cared for by nurses. 
Odds are they'll start to wake up soon. A few have already, but not 
many. You're one of the first." 
    The not-yet Sailor Neptune sat for a long moment getting that all 
straightened out in her mind. 
    She looked up at him. "Why am I not in a hospital like the others? 
Did you care for me?" 
    A sharp nod. "Yup! Wasn't any hard thing to do, so I did. Besides, 
you're one of the best fiddle players I know." His eyes sparkled. "We 
couldn't have that being ruined by someone putting tubes in your arm, 
now could we?" 
    She blinked several times up at him. "How do you know about that?" 
    Jared gazed at her. This was probably a good time to tell her, he 
thought. Might as well get it over with. He leaned slightly forward. 
"Because I'm the man who rescued you." 
    He didn't know what sort of response he was expecting, for her to 
blush was *not* it. His face opened in wide eyed curiosity when she 
ducked her head to the side. 
    "Thank you." 
    Jared smiled. "Not a problem. Anything else I could help you with?" 
    Michelle looked up at him again. "Have you notified my parents?" 
    The redhead was astonished. Why had *he* never thought of that? He 
shook himself slightly, then blushed, embarrassed. "I'm afraid I don't 
know who they are, or your phone number or address or anything. Sorry." 
    He pointed to a phone before she could ask. 
    Michelle, moving very carefully in her weakened state, went over to 
the phone and dialed a number. Out of curiosity, Jared cast a quick and 
silent spell and listened in. 
    * Ring.... Ring.... Ring..* "Hello?" 
    "Mom??" Michelle's gasp sounded surprised at the voice that 
answered. 
    "Yes, darling. Your father and I were just going out on the town. 
Can we do anything for you?" 
    "No mom, thanks." Michelle hung up. 
    Jared spent several, long moments pondering that, and why the 
Sailor Scout looked so dejected. Then he put it together. Her parents 
were famous musicians as well, and they frequently traveled. Thus the 
surprise in hearing them, and the lack of notice that she'd been gone 
for a long time. 
    That would have to hurt. 
    Gently, the young man crossed the room and lay a hand on the 
dejected young lady's arm. "Hey, you gunna be alright?" 
    The young lady nodded... in spite of the fact that she was crying. 
    Oh, why not? He hugged her, soothingly. "Shhh, it'll be okay. 
C'mon, I *know* how you feel. And so everything will be alright. How 
about we take your mind off it and call some of your friends?" 
    Michelle was shaking her head, crying more openly now. "I don't 
*have* any!" She bawled out. 
    "Pish-tosh." He pish-toshed. "You've got me. And when the priestess 
wakes up here in a while, *she's* a great person, you could be friends 
with her. She even sings, and composes too. You could really like each 
other, would be my guess. You've both got lots of things in common," 
~like being Sailor suited warriors of love and justice, but you don't 
know that yet.~ "And you're good people, too. Do you think I would've 
gone into that place to save you if you weren't?" 
    She shook her head, still crying, until he thought of something on 
a less fun note. 
    "Uh, hey?" He whispered into her hair, doing his best to be 
comforting, keeping up the hug as he addressed his own concern. "Could 
we keep that part about me saving you guys a secret? I can show you 
proof and all, I'm not trying to take credit for a thing I didn't do, 
but it would be a BAD thing if the bad guys got an idea of where and 
who we are. I can pass myself off as normal, but normal isn't any great 
disguise if they know which guy to look for." sigh. "I guess what I'm 
trying to say is that this is my secret identity now, and it would be 
awkward to have that secret blown. Okay?" 
    A nod. 
    Sheesh, this girl was as desperate for friends as Mina! He ought to 
introduce them to each other sometime, though he'd have to head off 
that sexual aberration Michelle normally manifested. Marriage between a 
male and a female was the only sexual arrangement that was condoned by 
his religion. Besides, he was a druid, anything that played with the 
powers of reproduction and failed to produce kids was a distortion of 
the natural way and to be avoided. 
    He would have to guide her onto an acceptible path. Trouble was he 
had no idea how he'd DO it! Who understood girls thinking anyway? 

    "Mina!" 
    No response. 
    "Mina!!!" 
    "Go away, Artemis." The response was mumbled into a wet pillow, 
soaked from crying. "I don't want to fight demons today." 
    The white cat looked down from his perch at the young blonde curled 
up miserably in her blankets, from which she'd not arisen for more than 
a few hours in the last few days. Even the news reports, which 
ordinarily got her so perky, failed to rouse any attention with their 
glowing reports of her healing the crowd, or the speculation on that 
young man. 
    Artemis began to realize he'd screwed up badly. 
    During that last demon attack Sailor V hadn't stirred at all, and 
now that the time they'd gained from that boy's assault, weakening the 
Negaverse fort, was running out, if he couldn't stir the girl into some 
kind of action soon, the world was doomed! 
    Too bad he was stumped. 

    Mina's concerned mother poked her head once more into her young 
daughter's room, saying softly. "Breakfast is ready, dear." 
    "Thanks, mom." Murmured a lumpy pillow. "I don't feel hungry, 
okay?" 
    The mother spent long moments thinking desperately of anything she 
could do. She sighed sorrowfully. "Alright dear. I'll save some in case 
you get hungry." It would just join the other wrapped packages in their 
fridge. She'd cooked fresh each day, hoping some scent would entice her 
sorrowing child out of her depression, but to little or no avail. 
    They'd be eating leftovers for a week if... *when* their daughter 
came out of this. The woman stood at the top of the stairs and shook 
her head to her husband watching below. Both were very concerned. 
    "It's that boy, isn't it?" The man asked as his wife came to join 
him at the table. 
    She nodded, not yet seating herself, and sighed, shaking her head. 
"She's got it bad. I wish there was something we could do for her." 
    But their daughter just wouldn't talk about it. 
    Mr. Lovejoy folded his paper and set it aside, then rubbed his 
glasses. "Well, I've called all of the local video stores, but they've 
never heard of this actor. I thought a few new tapes of his might cheer 
her up, but no lice." 
    "No dice, dear." Mrs. Lovejoy corrected. She crossed over to where 
their lone Skysaber tape lay, picking it up. "Have you tried calling 
these studios?" 
    The husband shook his head. "No, those are international calls. But 
I've spoken with some local ones, trying to get ahold of whatever 
complex he might be working in. No duck." 
    "Luck, dear." The wife corrected. 
    Suddenly a very *odd* thought occurred to her. It seemed just odd 
enough that on a whim she tried it. Still very concerned, the mother 
picked up the phone, speaking aloud to the dial tone words she'd 
learned from the movie still laying atop her VCR. 
    Mrs. Lovejoy cleared her throat, then began to repeat. "An 
emergency situation has arisen. As of now, 0800 hours, we need the 
Skysaber." 
    "Acknowledged." Came the curt reply, which actually shocked the 
woman more than a bit. 
    She set the phone back down in its cradle and looked at her 
husband. 
    Both blinked together. 

    Jared was laying out on a lawn chair, the not-yet Sailor Neptune 
not far to his side sunbathing on a tarpaulin, Rae bundled up in 
blankets between them on her own lawn chair, the sleeping patient was 
being given her daily sun. 
    Jared's watch began vibrating so hard its shaking disturbed him 
instantly. By reflex he glanced at its face, reading the information 
displayed there.. 
    "What is it?" Michelle looked up, not having heard the silent 
alarm. They'd both been talking about general things. Him trying hard 
to figure out when would be a good time to introduce her to the fact 
that she was a superheroine. 
    He'd tell her now if he'd any idea how to get her a transformation 
pen. But the two cats were far away and the one he knew to have the pen 
was unaccounted for. "Sorry," he damped his watch. "Duty calls. I've 
gotten an emergency alert. I'll be back when I can. There are people to 
save!" 
    He suddenly looked around. ~Okay, what to do for fast transport???~ 
    Jared snapped his fingers, then began searching through his 
pockets. "Now where did I leave that...? Aha!" 
    Somehow, he pulled out of his twisting and searching a racing 
motorcycle. The youth mounted it, gunned the throttle, and grinned. The 
ability to create an object like this was probably the most peculiar 
spell in all of D&D, so of course he'd learned it. No magic items or 
things worth more than their form could be created by it, but in a 
world where technology worked that left some pretty gaping loopholes! 
    He flipped a cheery wave to Michelle and tore off, the cycle 
pulling a wheelie as he took off down the shrine steps. As this was 
Skysaber that was summoned, he didn't go for his White Pheonix outfit, 
electing to alter his clothes in the middle of a jump so that he was 
wearing a Tuxedo and Mask. 
    Tradition. 
    He began chasing down the signaled coordinates. 

    Mr and Mrs Lovejoy looked up from meal as it was interrupted by an 
explosion bringing over half their front wall down with it. In the 
clearing rubble was a young man wearing immaculate formal wear and with 
a shining beam of light held like a sword in one hand, obviously 
scanning the room for enemies. 
    The couple merely sat, unable to even blink. 
    Jumping free of his motorcycle, the youth bounded about and ran 
through the lower story, then clipped the stairs with a hand and 
vaulted his way up, darting into bed and bathrooms as if expecting an 
attack at any moment. 
    Not finding one, or anything evil, invisible or unsavory lurking 
about, the young man came back downstairs, apologizing. "I'm sorry. Did 
any of you see a great evil hereabouts? I got an emergency call. Oh, 
hello." 
    He lifted his mask and bowed. "Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy, how nice to 
see you." 
    The couple could only STARE at him. 
    Jared changed his position and cocked his stance toward the blown 
out wall. "I *am* sorry about that, but you'll never know what a great 
advantage it is to *surprise* evil foes. Oh, well." He stepped toward 
the blown out ruin and raised both his hands to it. 
    "Fabricate." 
    And as quickly as that, the wall was repaired, though his 
motorcycle now stood inside on the rug. Sorrowfully, the youth then 
turned toward the couple. "Are you sure neither of you saw a rampaging 
youma or anything like that?" 
    They both shook their heads, unable to speak. 
    The youth rubbed his chin. "What could the emergency be, I wonder?" 
He could erase their memories of this incident if he could only find 
the cause of why he'd been summoned there in the first place. No need 
to go destroying information until you knew what you needed to have. 
    Mina poked her head outside of her room, curious at the strange 
figure that had poked into it momentarily. Suddenly the pajama-clad 
girl was exploding down the stairs, streaming tears of joy in long 
rivulets and flinging wide her arms. 
    "JAAARED!!!!!" 
    Power Glomp! 
    "Oh!!" Sob. Clutch. Nuzzle. "Artemis told me you'd *gone home!* I 
was so afraid that I'd be alone again, and..." Eyes streaming tears met 
his. 
    "I didn't *want* to fight evil all alone any more!" 
    Jared cleared his throat, looking to the side. "Ah, Mina, not to be 
rude. But your parents are watching." 
    Mr. Lovejoy dropped a fork. It bounced on the carpet. 
    Pajama-clad Mina wouldn’t let go of his jacket and was still 
crying. "I don't care. Do you know how many times I've almost died all 
alone out there fighting youma? The job of a superheroine just isn't 
*worth* it without friends or anyone there for you! You *promised* 
you'd help me as much as you could!" He got glared at by a 
tear-streaked face. "And LEAVING is *NOT* what I'd count as helping!" 
    "About that." Jared decided he'd ignore the couple gaping at them 
from the table for the moment. "I've locating two potential allies. We 
should be able to get you some assistance out there from now on. There 
are other Sailor Scouts, you know." 
    "Hey!" Artemis cried, his tail standing erect. "Don't go talking 
about that before witnesses! And what do you mean about finding allies, 
anyway?" 
    Mrs. Lovejoy looked at their cat. Her husband fainted, then came 
awake again when his head hit the carpet. 
    "You know," Jared broached delicately. "We *might* want to hold off 
on all of this superhero, go out in the middle of a night and fight bad 
guys, topic until we have a private place to talk." 
    Mrs. Lovejoy came up from around the table and came storming up to 
them, her husband trailing by a little. 
    She poked Jared in the chest, carefully avoiding hitting any part 
of her daughter which was wrapped around this target, soaking it with 
tears. "YOU." Suddenly she ran out of things to say. 
    Her husband appeared behind her. "I hope your intentions toward our 
daughter are honorable." 
    Jared pointed a hand, "Sleep," then stared at them when it didn't 
work, taking a quick glance down at his fingers. 
    "That won't affect them, they're too worked up now." The cat 
confided, hoping for a way out of this somehow. 
    The redhead turned to address the feline, awkwardly as he still had 
Mina trying to pretend she was part of his body. "That's ridiculous! 
I've used this spell against ogres and goblins that were worked up into 
a bloody rage, and others fighting to have me for their supper! They'd 
only be able to resist..." He paused. "Actually, I *don't* know what 
the conversion point is. But usually only experienced warriors can 
shrug this off." 
    The stern mother commanded. "We are experienced *parents*, thank 
you very much. And YOU, young man, are quickly going from the frying 
pan into hot water if you don't explain things soon!" Mrs. Lovejoy 
poked him again in the chest, still not hitting the daughter clinging 
there and quietly wetting his shirt front with her continuing tears, 
ruining his summoned clothes. 
    Jared found the urge to groan. Apparently Mina came by her habit of 
misquoting cliches naturally. 
    He plucked off a glove, then took out a sheet of paper and held it 
in that hand while he pulled out a burning torch with his other. While 
he held the flame below that first arm, fires curling up to claim the 
paper without effecting the hand that was holding it, he replied. "Make 
it as hot as you like." 
    Both parents backed off, stunned. Mina even Eeeped when she saw it. 
    Not that she'd release him or anything, though. 
    Not even close. 
    Skysaber returned the torch to its fireproof and extradimensional 
bag. Then he relaxed, and moved toward the sofa, having to lift Mina to 
carry her there so he could move. Setting her down once there, he sat 
beside her (as there wasn't any way *not* to), and addressed both 
parents. 
    "Well, what would you like to know?" 
    Everybody started talking at once.