Skysaber's Choice Part Fifteen by Jared Ornstead ===== The flying energy blades spun toward the Pheonix Mage as the girl-spider youmas hissed and spat black gouts of poison at his tied up form. ZIP! WHAM! WHAM! "What?!" Malachite growled and everyone came to a complete stop as the dark general's energy blasts and spiders' poison were intercepted by two... Chess pieces?!! Knights to be exact... EVERYTHING came to a halt, and the Pheonix Mage remembered this happening whenever Tux-boy appeared, however the guy standing on the lip of the stadium wall was not Tuxedo Mask or Prince Endymion. There was a dramatic swirl of gunsmoke and stirring music. "Weekends are for Rest & Recovery," the military cammie wearing masked figure said, "and these spectators are fulfilling duty to their friends and family by attending. Sailor Uranus! It is time to return to active duty and strike for love and justice!" Nearby, Helen staggered as if she'd been slapped. "WHO DARES?!" Malachite began charging up. "Queen Serenity, remember too that the monarch has duties to her subjects!" The masked figure scolded the silver-haired Sailor Moon. "DIE!" Malachite released the blast. Jared hadn't been idle and now was nearly free by careful use of his nonstick fans. He noted the flicker as the military figure vanished, and thought he recognized the shape that had been visible for less than a millisecond. Too brief a glimpse to be positive on the ID, though. As Malachite's energy blades slashed though the empty air where the masked man had been, they circled around and began to head again for the entrapped mage. Jared disappeared from the confining cocoon and let the fibers go slack. "Huh?" Sailor Moon watched him disappear. The Pheonix Mage reappeared behind Malachite and swarmed all over him like a second skin to slam a fist into the General's kidneys, then follow that up with a roundhouse kick to the face and an uppercut before the dark general teleported free. The Pheonix mage teleported right in alongside the dark warrior and continued his assault almost as if uninterrupted. A flash of dark purple energy flung the Mage clear from his target, and Malachite wiped blood from his jaw, looking upset. The Mage tumbled to his feet, glancing over his shoulder briefly at the girl spiders surrounding the now empty (and slashed and corroding) cocoon. He smirked. "Jared!" Sailor Moon cried. "However did you get out of that thing!??" His hands twitched. Jared was *not* all that popular a name. By a single off remark Queen Serenity had just narrowed down the number of potential persons who might be him from billions down to dozens - unless. He glared at her. "Will you STOP confusing me with that Devil Hunter you're so enamored of?" He dodged a dark blast from Malachite. "If you can't even keep your own allies straight maybe it's time I went off and found a different fight!" "NO!!!! DON'T DO THAT!!" Screamed Helen from where she sat. "Aha! So, one of the.... Argh!" Jared lowered his arm after casting that Elemental Burst spell at the ground under the general's feet had proved that it worked. Unfortunately, that spell did next to nothing in the way of damage, but it was beautiful test of concept to prove the shield could be thwarted. Hopefully now the stinging would distract the bad guy for a few moments, while... Too Late. Malachite leaped in to take little proto-Sailor Uranus with an elbow around her throat. "Surrender now, Pheonix Mage! Or we'll see how well you bear up when your little friend here is getting entombed in ice!" Jared wavered. "No! Don't do it!" Sailor Moon cried. He glanced that way. Could that actually have been Queen Serenity talking? It had sounded like her voice, but... A glance confirmed that. She was fighting spider-girl youmas in the stands, fairly effectively too. He blinked. ~Serenity actually has some useful function?~ Jared looked back at Malachite. "No, DON'T!!" Sailor Moon sobbed, getting heavily emotional now. "That's how we lost Venus! They killed everyone there *after* they surrendered! Then used the energy in their assault on Mars! Don't do it!" "Shut up, Sailor Brat!" Malachite shouted, flinging an energy blade her way. Sailor Moon slapped it with her wand, but still wound up getting cut. A slight modicum of respect appeared in the mage for Queen Serenity in spite of their differences. Rini in Chibi Moon costume leaped up from Malachite's feet and bit the general's hand, causing him to howl and drop little Helen. Okay, some grudging respect for Rini, too. That thought occurred while the Pheonix mage was in mid assault, blades of his two enchanted non-Devil-Hunting swords diving for Malachite's throat. The dark warrior dodged one thrust, force-field blocked the other, evaded a third, dropped under a slash, and still got pinned with a sword through one shoulder as Jared was *nearly* done finishing him off. The general teleported clear inches ahead of the decapitating slash that would've followed. Kasumi had gotten back to the job of sweeping the steps of the shrine, Nabiki right by her side. They'd just gotten done polishing the wood of the shrine's counter where little charms and wards were sold. Both were stealing glances at the "Tin Woodsman." "Right!" The big metal fellow started pulling things out of a large green sack. "Let's see... Atmospheric Condenser Unit, Cusco CDs, Holographic Imager, Weird Al tape, Mister Fusion generator, rubber duck, D-hopper, fluffy towel, Tricorder, cursed Bunny slippers... here it is!" Kasumi didn't say anything, just met her sister's eyes and they both mouthed 'cursed bunny slippers?' with disbelieving expressions. Sure enough, there were a very cute pair of bunny shaped slippers the cyborg had just pulled out of his pack. Nabiki eyed them, curious about what they did. Kasumi eyed them, wondering what would happen if she left them out where Akane might put them on. Grey unrolled something that looked vaguely like an electric blanket, hooked it into a laptop computer with one cord, then hooked it into the Mister Fusion device with another. Music started to play, and the sisters recognized it as Mozart but couldn't name the piece. "Excuse me, but WHAT are you doing?" Nabiki figured that there was nobody around except the three of them at the moment so why not ask questions? "Trying to make myself useful," explained Grey as he opened a panel on his forearm, then extended another cable which hooked into his computer. "Could you elaborate?" Kasumi was startled as those artificial eyes swiveled toward her. "Errr. Mr Roboto? Why do you keep staring at me?" Nabiki looked him over. Was this guy a pervert after all? That underage crack... "Cyborg. i keep telling people cyborg." Grey stared for a moment longer. "Cyborg, then." Kasumi corrected. "Look," Nabiki butted in. "Akane said you were a guy, and being a cyborg means that you've got human parts, right? So if you've got any hentai thoughts or anything we're *both* underage." She eyed him somewhat defensively. "Though if you're into the weird stuff Akane's older than both of us and if it's weird I'm sure she'd be willing." The twins were treated to the sight of a cyborg shuddering. Involuntarily, he quoted. "Akane? No, i've seen grown men pull their own skulls off rather than be romantically inclined with Akane." He raised his eyes. "The reason i've got this body in the first place was that i chose to have my flesh devoured by flayworms rather than be a boyfriend to...." The cyborg broke off into barely audible muttering that was probably filled with impolite phrases. "Oh." The twins echoed, remarkably stunned. Grey turned back to his work. "Tendo-san, you don't know me in this life. We've met before in previous lives but i've never met you when you were children before now." Kasumi pushed the irritation at being called a child down. "Oji-san? Previous lives?" It sounded like a comic book. She was Japanese, and familiar with Shintoism and Buddhism in spite of her more Christian leanings, so the idea wasn't alien to her, merely unexpected. If he could have Grey would have raised an eyebrow at the term. "Call me Grey. As to what i'm doing here. THIS is a fabricator. It uses matter>energy>matter technology to transform inorganic material into different shapes. Uhm, let me demonstrate." Grey disconnected his arm cable and grabbed a metal bar that had gotten smashed during the Akane + Jared fight then set it on the electric blanket's pad. "Now, i just input the pattern for a part..." Nabiki made an appreciative noise as the barrel changed shape to become what looked like a set of exhaust pipes. "See, the laws of the place i work for normally won't let us be the heroes, but we CAN be the advisors and assistants of heroes. Since i can't do magic while i'm a cyborg, but i need to help out, i'll have to find an area that i CAN help you out in." Grey typed in another set of commands. "So, just a few pieces of equipment, tech stuff, and i can at least make sure the Senshi have transportation or a forcefield generator or such." "The 'Senshi'?" "Oh yeah. Sailor Scouts. Sorry." Grey pondered a moment. "i'll need another five hundred pounds of scrap at least. Mainly metal, some plastics, a few circuit boards and the like. Know where i can get some?" "Considering how many blocks of abandoned buildings and businesses there are in Tokyo since the JSSDF failed to take out that citadel in Tokyo Bay?" Nabiki snorted. "But don't they already have transportation, Grey-san? And why make it here?" "Jared Saotome, the Devil Hunter's here. So he can get it to them," Grey said after considering for a few moments. "And i'm honestly not sure. They got that Sailor Teleport thing, but i think they're stuck with public transportation for the most part. A hovercycle would be a *big* improvement over that, yes?" In a grove a goodly distance away from the stadium and fairly near to where Helen's family took strolls and picnics (it being only spitting distance from their house) Jared and the two royal Sailors were talking with Helen's mom and dad. Mrs Lord had by now overcome her trembling. "You saved my daughter's life. You are... are you really?" The question floated about only partly asked. Jared nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Lord, I am the Pheonix Mage." "What do you want with our little girl?" Helen's father held both of her shoulder's tight, as if afraid the Mage was going to suddenly snatch her and run away. "Simple!" Sailor Moon chirped out. "She's one of us! And we need her help to fight the Negaverse." "Only she can't marry him because she has to marry *my* daddy!" Rini chirped in. ~Now *there's* a helpful hint. I wonder if I flirted with Helen if Rini would fade out of existence?~ Jared thought sarcastically as both parents retreated half a step with Helen clutched in their arms. He sat down on a log, facing the parents. "Look, your daughter's future is her own, her *present* is her own, but her past contains a little more than you might think. The reason I came is that your daughter is Sailor Uranus, one of the mystical warriors like Sailor V, who is in reality Sailor Venus." He met their doubts with an outward calm. "The reason I trust you with this secret is simply this: We have need of her help. I don't intend to steal her away, and so we're asking for your permission." He spread his hands and formed a simple yet detailed illusion of Helen's probable transformation sequence, followed by clips of some of Uranus' attacks. The little girl watching this had her eyes wide, though in terror or fascination... it seemed to be mixed. "Why would we act so crazy to send her *back* to that madhouse?!" Her father shot back in defense of his family. "Especially to get involved with such dangerous people?" Her mother pressed. "To fight evil!" Rini chipped in. "You're not helping." Jared eyed her. "Because you've *got* to!" Queen Serenity, aka Sailor Moon (until her daughter grew up at least) made the impassioned plea. "We've got to help people! Otherwise Queen Beryl will devour their souls! It is the duty of the Sailor Scouts to defend against rampaging monsters so that ordinary people can live in peace." From the cringing of the parents, it was obvious they'd rather their daughter be one of the ordinary ones being defended rather than a defender. And since subtle persuasion was useless while others were being blunt... He cut off that train of thought as Serenity had almost convinced both parents that the job was so dangerous that testing nuclear bombshells with a hammer to see if they blew up was safe by comparison. He stood up, figuring it was a last chance, all or nothing moment. "Mr and Mrs Lord, if we fail your daughter will die a horrible and gruesome death along with you, your neighbors and the rest of the entire Earth. Nothing she can do alone would prevent this. If we were to take her and train her she would become effective, but that requires fighting alongside us for maximum support. Doing it that way involves the *least* risk to her, you, and the rest of the planet, and the most potential for reward." He stopped when he saw how hard their faces had gotten. They weren't listening. "Sleep." Jared waved a hand before them and all three family members crumpled to the ground in a light slumber. Then he knelt beside them. "What are you doing?" Sailor Chibi Moon had leapt up into her grandmother's arms and was being held there while both looked on curiously. "Erasing this encounter from their minds, replacing it with another scenario; one where they were just ordinary people on the sidelines of that fight, they never learned our faces and this conversation never happened." He shrugged. "We'd failed at convincing them. We *can't* take a Sailor by force to add to our retinue, what would happen if Beryl bettered our mind control? Or broke it? Our force would splinter. It would be disastrous. Well, since we can't have her willingly, we've just got to come at this from another approach, and I'd rather not have this encounter poisoning their minds against us the next time we tried to persuade them." "By the way," Queen Serenity asked him (he ought to just get used to her being Sailor Moon this time around and start referring to her like that. Otherwise he'd get confused between her in Sailor costume and her in royal formal gowns). "How *did* you get out of that cocoon?" Jared smirked. ~Because I've always wanted to know what those moments felt like, when you're at the gaming table and the dungeon master just dropped a doozy in your lap and you're *so* stumped that you sit around looking at your character sheet for five minutes in what was supposed to be an instant reaction scenario?~ "It was spur-of-the-moment inspiration, that's all." "Wow." Serenity blinked, impressed so much her royal demeanor started slipping. ~Besides,~ he kept a straight face. ~How do I go about explaining how you can just overlook powers, even amazingly useful ones, and just forget about them totally until one of those moments crops up?~ Since Queen Serenity and Rini both assured him they could get home just fine alone he left them to do so and made a quick teleport to the United States. Holly came running out on the lawn, grabbing Jared in a BIG hug. "Daddy!" She cried out joyfully over her shoulder. "He's here! I *knew* he would come! This is the man I'm going to marry!" The Mage was too startled to speak, more so when the girl's father revealed they were fully packed and held two airline tickets to Japan, with the keys to an apartment there. He just stood there blinking. "Ah!" Genma gorged himself. "Truly Mano, such a son is a delight and tribute to his family line..." Grandmother Mano calmly watched, keeping her face neutral, as the fat man gorged himself. Just as he began to slow down her fingers tensed almost imperceptibly around the neck of the bottle she'd been holding, effortlessly popping the cork. She began to pour a glass for the man. "So about the engagement..." The woman asked, still pouring. Genma blinked shiftily to the side. "Well, I've got my son Ranma here..." The Mano matriarch was not to be put off so easily. "Now I'm not so old that I don't realize that's a girl, your daughter, I assume. No, I was more interested in engaging my granddaughter Yohko to your son Jared...." Genma thought about the signed contract with this woman's sister already resting in his overstuffed pocket, then about that *nice* man from the government, and just smiled. Ranko, sitting next to this Yohko girl, eating at the other end of the table, was wondering if she could have found a friend here. Serena bounced around the kitchen, happy beyond words. FIRST, there was the new room with all of her plush toys and manga set up in neat rows, which Nodoka-mommy had helped her set up out of the moving boxes. She even got to have her own bed with frilly curtains! Next, of course, was that she was here with Grown Ups! Big brother Jared and his natural mommy (which made her her mommy *too*, of course!) and now this Ukyo-lady! It made her feel special all the attention she would get... Nodoka lifted her up onto the counter where Ukyo helped her to flip something with one of those spatulas of hers. ... That she was ALREADY getting!!! And best of all, Rini wasn't here to pull on her hair or try and flush her down the toilet. Serena went happily along in little-girl-bliss while the two grown ups talked. She'd get a nap later, though, she was pretty sure. "Ukyo-chan, I'm having trouble believing how you're taking this." Nodoka mentioned over Serena's head, watching the little girl flip okanomiyaki under Ukyo's guidance. "The report I read said you had devoted the last ten years to vengeance. I find it difficult to accept that you are as withdrawn as you are." The younger lady shrugged, struggling with how to put it. "I... I figured that Ranchan's suffered enough. I only just learned some of what Genma's put him... her through." "Ahh," Nodoka nodded, finally understanding, or at least thought she did, knowing nothing of the guilt of personal responsibility the young lady was feeling over the matter. For a long moment she considered capitalizing on the girl's misfortune, taking an opportunity to eliminate one of the engagements. Ukyo would surely drop it now. But she squashed the thought. It was unworthy of her. And, thinking back to an earlier conversation, perhaps unnecessary as well. Jared was returning from the real estate office, having just concluded purchase of one of the empty properties that surrounded his mom's house. A brief call to a nearly destitute furniture company and Professor Tomoe and his daughter would both have a place of their own to live, without giving up the viability of their residence in the United States. And he'd done it all on a credit card linked to an account for Skywing Studios, making the whole thing seem less amazing as the two were officially being hired by the studio. But of particular note: as he'd been in there securing the purchase, another house just next to Nodoka's had suddenly disappeared from the for sale listings, removed by a magic spell, he was certain, having been able to see it. Now the question remained, who had cast it? Friend or foe? The redheaded young man trotted up the street to find a house all alight that had previously been just empty boards. Coming out of the door was Queen Serenity, carrying a little Rini in her arms. Showing them out of the door was a happy and friendly Mr and Mrs Lord, Helen's parents. Jared just stood waiting for the royal duo. His expression wasn't friendly. "But it was only her parents that were standing in our way." Serenity explained, when she'd come up, as if she thought his expression odd. "She herself is perfectly willing to become a Scout." "Yah!" Rini bounced up. "We didn't have to mind control her *at all!*" Then Rini went and grabbed his face, holding on like a little octopus while she stared at him. "Now give me the Spellbook of Moonlight and Silver Dreams! I'm getting impatient." "Why do you want it?" He asked, without moving from within the grasp. "Huh?" The little spore froze still a moment, then shouted. "Because I want it!" He wasn't big on Shiatsu. Well, let that be rephrased, his knowledge of truly unique pressure points as found among Ranma cast members was nonexistent, but for simpler purposes he knew enough. The exotic stuff hadn't been available in D&D and he'd never found the need as a veritech pilot. Enemy mecha don't have shiatsu points. On that thought, they *did* have breaking points. Maybe he ought to schedule some time alone with Cologne... Hmm, better not, unless he made it a general camping trip. Too many people who wouldn't want to get left alone even for a moment. Jared hit Rini's stunning point and caught her when she fell off his face. He handed the pink-haired little gerbil to her grandmother. "Thank you for this wonderful argument." He told her. "But I'm afraid I've got to run. Catch ya around!" Then he was gone. Zoicite was actually enjoying herself. This plan of Darien's was brilliant! She would be sure and take all the credit though, of course. Already the sewers were bursting with *millions* of these youma! The whole world was about to be hers! Oh, it was such a glorious feeling! Why, she might even have the ability to oust Queen Beryl and take her place after this! The fawning adoration of teeming hordes was already hers, as it was. Serenity came upon Jared when he was reading "Leadership of a Girl Scout Troop." She hesitated, and saw upon a nightstand to his left "The Complete Book of Youma," and picked it up. Jared noticed when the Queen began to read. "Interesting, isn't it?" "Yes, very." The Queen agreed, nodding her head without pausing in her perusal. "I came because the Scouts aren't waking up in that cave of yours. They appear to be in a permanent sleep. I sent Uranus, then Holly in to wake them up, but they fell asleep as well." "I was afraid of something like that." The boy sighed. "Some of that magic causes a beauty sleep, others cause beauty to last forever. Obviously the two mixed and are contagious, causing a beauty sleep that lasts forever. Well, it could have been worse." "It is, we're under attack by the dark kingdom and we've no way to wake them up." He dropped his book. "I'll hurry on it." Zoicite laughed in glorious triumph. "If this doesn't scare out those Sailor Brats, then nothing will!" She shouted into the wind as the storm she'd summoned just for effect raged on above her. Even the earliest youma raids paled in comparison to the terror this assault was generating! People ran from within the safety of their homes, traffic was snarled in every direction as people abandoned furniture, food and homes in an attempt to escape the horrific tide! Producing fear energy that was being collected by her own personal guard youma. It was a Dark General's dream come true! Zoicite laughed as the streets below where she flew teemed with millions of roaches averaging a foot long and several inches high. A policeman with rare bravery stopped and emptied his revolver at one while a mother rescued her screaming child from getting overrun and bitten to death. Little did these foolish humans know there were several arms to this assault, carefully guiding the hordes of refugees into an area where they all would be trapped! Once they were surrounded, the roaches could feed to their hearts' content! It would generate fear and terror beyond anything since the fall of the Silver Millennium and the destruction of Mars! And the more they delayed, the more fear energy she would have gathered to fight those annoying Sailor Brats and their troublesome boyfriend when they arrived! It was a glorious day to be a dark general. Jared looked about the crystal cavern. Correction, he spread some blankets over people, *then* he looked about the crystal cavern. It was dangerous otherwise, already his brain was telling him it had blown the capacity of his hentai buffer and serious damage was expected to the chastity circuit if he continued to be subject to that sort of temptation. Metaphorically speaking, of course. He had no actual robotic parts, but the terms came in so useful. After a moment or so of studying the problem, focusing on the magic energies rather than the girls, he came to the conclusion that the tangle was a doozy, a real serious mess. It had also been subtle enough to start that at first when he'd inspected them for things like this he'd passed it over. Sadly, after examining it a bit further, he came to the conclusion that it would best be broken from inside, if it could be broken at all with the powers he had available. So, he went and joined the young ladies on the floor a safe distance away, wrapped his cloak about him, spread a blanket over himself, and cast a spell to enter and alter their dreams by taking part in them. Using his dream magic, he could then draw them out of the dreamscapes *they'd* created into one of his own design, where his will would be creating the rules, events and their surroundings. No sooner was he in Mina's dreamscape than she cried out in passion and he came to realize that he'd already *been* there for awhile, in a role she'd chosen for him... Dreamworld, MUCH later.... Jared cleared his throat and addressed the young ladies that he'd assembled by joining their dreamscapes one at a time and drawing them in to his. He tried to ignore the burning of his ears and the satisfied looks on all of their faces. Thankfully, he'd found they'd all been *delighted* by interrupting their hentai dreams, switching scenes to dreams of sumptuous weddings. So he'd figure out how much guilt he ought to feel about stuff that fell before those later, as all of this was *technically* just their cooperative imaginations, and he wasn't sure where the laws of sin applied to stuff that felt real but wasn't. He suspected he'd have some repenting to do after this. Though, again, he wasn't too sure on his guilt factor, as he'd only been jumping in to scenes where he'd *already* been involved as a participant. But as for now, the marriages they'd dreamed were as real as anything that followed. He figured that from now on he was able to allow them their impulses without guilt. When dreamers woke their subconscious drew a veil of forgetfulness over their dreams that made them hazy and hard to remember. Participating by magic made them fully as tangible as the real thing for all involved. And they'd be remembering it in detail. Somehow he thought his bishop back in the real world wouldn't understand. Clearing his throat again, Jared addressed the crowd of young girls, trying to ignore their faces. At least Holly and Serena had only wanted to imagine him their age and play *kid* games with him! He cleared his throat a third time, then used his dream power to alter the place they were in to a briefing room. "Ladies," he stepped up to the podium. "We are all caught in a backlash of the magical effect of those beauty creams and oils. I've done what I can, but for now we're trapped. Random magic doesn't dispel easily and I've given it my best shot to no effect. I did manage to limit the effect of being contagious to others, so eventually we may be rescued by a mage from the outside. I'm hoping one of our allies can do so." The redhaired mage scanned the rows of beautiful faces. "However, it may well take centuries for us to get out if they do not. My entering this place via dream magic has stabilized what is ordinarily a chaotic and hazy world into a realm that feels identical to the real thing unless you know the loopholes to exploit or pay attention to the tiny details that would normally escape notice. There is also the small matter of having time pass *far* more swiftly in this dream reality than it does in the world of our sleeping bodies. What that means is that where a minute may pass in the waking world, something on the order of a week passes for us here, and that rate isn't stable. So regardless of if we get rescued or not we are going to be alone together for a Very. Long. Time." He was faced by a row of girls who thought that was a *great* idea! Jared cleared his throat again, trying to ignore disturbing sensations. "Anyway," he declared. "Since we can't spend *all* of that time doing what we have before, I was going to make this as productive as possible for us..." There was some open giggling. His ears burned red. The mage then used his dream powers to change them all into uniform. He rapped the podium with a swagger stick that had mysteriously appeared. "Ladies, welcome to the Robotech Defense Force Accelerated Training Program. Here you will learn how to control mecha, fire missiles with targeting data, and other essential aspects of modern combat..." Dreamscape, time passing... Amy dodged the fifty ton destroid she was piloting around a wall, then sensors blazed and the simulator went dead. Opening the cockpit, she was met by the staring faces of others and Jared's slight reproving frown. "Cadet Anderson, when you are in a war machine with heavy particle beam cannons facing an opponent armed with the same, you cannot assume that a mere four inches of brick will be any protection. Please try it again." The girls all sat around watching a hologram of five destroids fighting against an alien host. As it came to an end, Jared stepped out and asked. "Well?" Mina was the first who hesitantly spoke. "They got creamed." He nodded. "Yes, let's watch it again, then maybe you could tell me *why* they got creamed." "Say, Jay-chan. I know Serenity sent me and Helen to go get the Sailor Scouts, but what is Serena doing here? Did our Queen send her also?" The mage laughed in embarrassment. "Um, that's *my* fault, actually. Wherever she is, she's asleep. But one of the advantages of dream magic is that it doesn't care at all about physical location. If you know a person and they are asleep, you can draw them into your dreams. I set out to get all of the Sailor Scouts before remembering that she wasn't with us. On the plus side she's not under the same spell and will wake whenever her body does." ------------ Real World Nodoka was putting Serena's body to bed. The poor dear had fallen asleep on the couch while she and Ukyo had been talking. It would do the poor child good to nap for a few hours. ------------ Dream World Lita struggled to hold the controls steady as she freed one hand to trigger a missile launch, but her fingers missed the selector switch and she ended up firing a group of smoke bombs instead of explosive. Michelle nodded at the group. "Welcome to music class... Serena, will you *try* not to be bored before we even begin?" "But why do we have to do acrobatics in our sleep?" Rae asked. "It's not as if the exercise is doing our bodies any good." "Nor is it doing them any harm." Jared corrected her with a smile. "And when we get out of this, supposing we do, your minds will have the skills down pat. All we'll have to do is let your bodies exercise to gain the same level, as if you were athletes who'd gotten out of shape, and that won't take nearly as long." Holly teetered on a balance beam behind them. Jared concluded the lecture on mechanical engineering, when Helen leapt over the demonstration model he'd been using and dragged him off to his quarters. He squawked but allowed himself to be taken away. Mina turned to regard Amy. "I thought for sure *you* were going to ace this class?" Amy shook her head. "Sorry. She still beats be on all of the engineering tasks." Mina laughed. "Well, it sure adds new enthusiasm to our studying that the one who performs best each session gets some private 'study time' with our professor." Rae giggled together with the pair. Michelle smiled softly. "Laugh all you want. Our next period is music." Susan's smile was softly triumphant. "Then comes History." Lita wasn't any less triumphant. "Then cooking." Rae looked to the others like herself. "I think we have a lot of catching up to do." Holly stared at the gibbering monster that faced her across the mat. Jared stood by her side. "All Robotech mecha use protoculture power, which means that your own fighting abilities translate to and are improved by your war machine. That also means that the better you become at hand to hand, the better your piloting will be." He gently sighed as he tried to encourage the girl. "So now we see what the results of those months of fighting practice will be. This is your standard orc. You will face alot worse opponents in real life, but let's start with him." Mina wandered in off of the race track where Helen was teaching them all about cars, to find Jared in the shaded main room of their huge dojo working himself feverishly on his fighting practice. "Jay-chan, what are you doing?" She interrupted when he came to the conclusion of a really impressive set of feats. The monk, mage, and who knows what all else stopped and gave her a look, wiping some of the sweat from is brow. He smiled at her. "Well, Mina-chan, I inherited all these arts from one game or another, but some of the flaws of those game systems carried through in my fighting styles. For instance there are skills I have where a game would have me use whichever one was better, when really there is no reason they can't be added together, and combined blow out of the water either of them used seperately." The blonde smiled at her husband. "So that's what you're doing, combining them?" He nodded. "Trying to anyway. I have a feeling I can bring my D&D fighting arts up to almost on par with the Paladium system, just by ironing out the flaws." She looked wonderingly at him. "But I thought you said that the fighting style you'd learned as a monk was superior to those you got as a veritech pilot." Again he nodded. "In some ways yes, in many useful ways certainly. But Palladium is famous for being ridiculously overpowered if you know how to tweak it right. D&D allows for some powerful things but stays at minimum power whenever it can. If it were not for the ability to hit magic objects with my bare hands D&D style I would've been using the other art forms exclusively since I gained them. They are stronger." She sighed dreamily. "So instead of the *dreamiest* hunkmeister ever to walk the earth you're going to get even better?" She closed her eyes in bliss. "I may faint." Jared sweatdropped as he began his next practice kata. Susan was surprised when instead of four enemy infantry (though fifty foot tall giants hardly counted as infantry in her opinion) she was confronted by two of their lightly armored battle pods, which possessed significantly greater weaponry. ~Well,~ she thought to herself as she fired her mecha's arm cannons. ~Looks like Jay-chan is beginning to respect me!~ Lita bounced from the gymnastics horse and twirled in midair, coming to land on the point of her toes, then rolling back and flipping end over end as the session continued onto the mat. Serena slipped and fell on a perfectly level floor. There came one of those days when they all took some time off, actually they did this fairly frequently, as there was no reason to rush themselves, and all went to the park that Jared had set up to keep Holly and Serena amused. It had started out as a simple amusement park, and had grown like a balloon, adding elements of every theme park that he'd ever been to (including such all time favorites as Disneyland, Six Flags, Knott's Berry Farm, and a good selection of waterparks) and some indeed that were just fanciful creations of the moment. It was a wild place to spend some time. Amy got the crosshairs over her target and crowed with delight, blowing the enemy into oblivion. She shrieked in dismay as her missile warning came up again. Her consolation came from the fact that across the field in the same simulation, Susan was having just the same amount of trouble. They moved to put their backs together. "So this is what an underwater city looks like, Jay-chan?" Helen was wandering with her gaze flitting all around, bubbles came up from her mouth periodically, having acquired gills for this part of the dream. The archmage signaled agreement. "Mind you, the last time I was in one it was infested by monsters. But this is generally how they look. Shall we have the party over there?" She saw the giant clam shell stage. "Not a bad idea. That thing won't eat us, will it?" He smiled as he shook his head. "A sensible question, but in this case: no. I took the liberty of removing all of the dangerous stuff as I was building this place. And that includes anything big enough to eat us. That shell is *just* a shell." "So what did they do wrong?" Jared asked as the hologram ended. "They were using long range missiles on defensive tasks, instead of taking out the enemy far away with the longer types and using their own short range on defense." Mina supplied. Rae was also shaking her head. "The heavy artillery mecha kept pounding the small fry and letting the others take on the heavier assailants with their small lasers. Talk about a waste!" Lina was nodding. "Yeah! And they didn't work *together* at all! You saw how the bad guys would attack in groups? Why didn't the good guys?" Helen was also nodding. "They didn't use terrain to their advantage." Michelle was sadly shaking her head. "And they didn't protect their own wounded." Jared smiled at the girls. "Alright, let's see the same five destroids against the same enemies, using the tactics you've just described." Serena squawked and ducked under the axe blade of the evil gnome that faced her in their sparing session. Rolling quickly, she delivered a kick to the thing and ran shrieking off the mat. Jared sweatdropped. "Well, at least she *hit* this one..." He made a note to keep her on katas, as she would fight anything larger than a smurf if it looked mad. And poor old Grouchy was getting the stuffings beat out of him by Holly. Mina jumped her mecha into the air and twisted to dodge the three incoming missiles as they streaked past. Her shoulder launchers popped open and she responded with a burst of cannon fire even as her own missiles lifted aloft. Helen rolled her eyes good naturedly as Lita gave Jared tongue over the electronics lab counter. Beside her side, Rae gave her friend a shrug. "Hey, it had to happen someday." Helen began nodding. "Yeah, but it doesn't have to happen *again*. Besides, I'm not as good at the electrical stuff as I am with the..." She said proudly until Rae nudged her and pointed to where Amy was nose-deep in a mechanics textbook. Helen groaned. The group of girls sweated, but used their sensors to sweep the ground even as they smiled triumphantly. They'd finally got their giant destroids to obey them smoothly and Jay-chan had put them against tougher enemies. They'd learned to use their weapons to good effect and he'd switched what mecha they practiced in. Around their ankles in this simulation were dozens of the worst power armors the Zentraedi had to offer. The girls could fight well in any of the standard earth destroid combat mecha, and were feeling pleased as punch that none of them had ended up wounded or out of action this time. The simulation ended and Jared welcomed them back into the briefing room. "Very well done, ladies. Now tomorrow you will begin training to use the veritech fighter. It has fewer missiles and weaker guns than the destroids you've grown used to, but *much* greater speed and maneuverability." "Tomorrow, huh?" An exhausted Mina offered. Jared was dogpiled by eager females. Holly served Serena another scoop of ice cream as they listened to the noise from the next room. Serena was shaking her little head. "That sounds like a *lot* of work. Why don't they just take ice cream for their reward?" She shoved another half-scoopful down her mouth. The two of them had been relocated to the back seats in mecha piloting, watching over communications and countermeasures, at which they'd both become fairly good. On the ground outside their mecha the two had become the healers and medics, taking care of the wounded while the fight continued on. Holly just shrugged. "I've seen them *eat* ice cream, but they seem to like him better..." She was puzzled by this. "Liking a *boy* better than ice cream?" Serena said in shock, her face all sticky. Holly couldn't answer. It seemed weird to her as well. She served them up each another scoop. Susan smiled in appreciation. Jared had carefully formed an entire Robotech base to hold their dream-training in. They all had quarters which matched their needs, there were laundry rooms and mess halls, a cafeteria which served better food... It was amazing the detail he'd gone to to make this complete, including a command and planning room, which he had no use for as he trained them personally instead of dictating orders to numbers of troops. It being a dream, their clothes never got dirty, or if they did they were clean again the next moment, and they never had to sleep. Nevertheless, the beds got a lot of use... She smiled again as she came to the conclusion that this was the same base that *he* had trained in, and it was easier to imagine it complete than delete those things he had no need for. But it did give her, the Sailor of Time, a great deal of information for tracking down his Robotech analog. Then maybe she'd view this Mars mission that was so classified. "Fighting in water presents its own challenges." Jared told the classroom. "It cuts down on the speed of your missiles and reduces the range of all of your weapons. There is also considerable loss of mobility over space or even air combat. You will find..." Amy raised a hand. Jared turned from the demonstration board. "Yes, Sergeant Anderson?" Amy stood, her uniform slightly disheveled and an unrepentant grin upon her face. But it was also a nicer quality uniform than before and there was distinctive decoration from the training they'd all passed. She saluted smartly. "Sir! I was wondering if there was any progress on the magical containment which keeps us all in this dream?" Jared lowered his pointer and sighed, sitting back for a moment on his desk. "You can all relax for a while." Seeing they did so, he continued. "We have been in this dream subjectively for months now, and you've all been doing beautifully. But I have some news for all of you. According to the outside world, not even ten minutes has passed." Hair toinged from multiple heads. They'd all assumed they were getting close to rescue! By now they'd all been in here for close to a year! Amy's hair was fanned out in multiple directions. She shook her head and calmed it down. "What are we going to do?" Jared considered. By now even his ability to imagine things for the entire party was becoming a bit strained. They needed more variety than he'd been giving, but he thought he had a key. He rubbed at his eyes. "I'll tell you what. You've all been through Basic RDF training, we're only a few weeks from concluding Advanced, making you all fully qualified as mecha pilots. Let's say we get through that, then we'll go on a brief vacation and begin to train in something radically different?" "Like how different?" Rae asked. Cologne gazed upon the row of girls before her, all wearing similar uniforms to the young man. From what he'd said, she and Shampoo had been in an unstructured dream world for months of their time. They looked like they had indeed been training heavily. Cologne smiled at her great granddaughter, then gazed around at the copy of her village he'd created. "Shampoo, what are you waiting for? We've got these new amazons to begin training in our tribe. Why don't you take them to get them settled, hmm?" Jared raised a hand. "Me too. I know some Amazonian Kung Fu, but I'm *way* behind the two of you in special techniques." Cologne allowed herself to grin. "Why, *Jay-chan*, I'm afraid the special techniques will all have to wait until the real world, as they depend on an awareness of reality that isn't possible in a dream, even such as this one. But I'm sure that we can find some use for you, hmm?" Jared sweated as Michelle relayed the information about the one to do the best in each class session getting some 'special time' alone with him. He raised a finger in futile objection. On the other hand, the Sailor Scouts got some *very* intense training, such that they were all too exhausted to claim victory even when they did well, leaving that to Shampoo and Cologne. Then again, training that intense didn't take too long for the Scouts to become very good. And since training was measured in improvement, it didn't take all the much time before Shampoo was struggling to improve herself quickly as well. The Scouts got some of their own back when they switched back to training at the Robotech base and both amazons found themselves severely behind in mecha combat drill. Though the sight of Cologne using the Breaking Point and Splitting Cat Hairs in her veritech was causing Jared no end of sweatdrops. He resolved to learn those from her as quickly as they got out of this. Helen twirled a wrench around her finger and adjusted the knob on a standard air to air combat fighter, showing both amazons how to do it while the rest of the Scouts worked on a full scale destroid, about ready to move up to veritech engineering. Jared walked in among them in the repair bay. "Listen up ladies, I'd like to conclude the standard drill for today and move on to some special training." "Special how, husband?" Cologne was echoed in sentiment by all the young girls present, though theoretically she was young as well, and certainly looked it, her wisdom still gave her an advantage in seniority. He shrugged. "This is mostly for the Sailor Scouts, but I guess that you could listen in. Okay," Jared began as they'd all seated themselves in the conference chamber where there was enough room for this. It was basically a theater and there were targets all set up on the stage. "I've been doing some thinking, and while all the tactical knowledge and skill we've picked up is useful, it ain't what is going to save us all when we've got to face Beryl again. So, since neither martial arts or mecha are all that terribly useful against youma we've got to study what CAN hurt them." "And what is that, Jay-chan?" echoed a dozen throats. "Magic." He replied simply. "But before we start in on the schools of study I was going to teach you, we might as well refine what we have, and here our training with the mecha will actually come in useful. Because each of you has different uses for your style of Sailor attack. Venus, we'll start with you. I've been studying your Crescent Beam, and you have the greatest range of any of the Scouts. You also have the best penetration, which means an armored target is more easily hurt by it. But you don't hit a wide area, so your attack is of limited usefulness in which situations?" "Multiple opponents over a wide area." Mina replied automatically. Jared nodded. "Good. And which does it excel at?" The perky blonde gave a delicious shrug. "Hitting the enemy at range before they can hit us and taking down armored targets, or striking them down when they're escaping." Again he nodded. "Very good. Mercury, what is your attack best used for?" Amy spent a moment thinking before she answered. "I should say it was defensive, because the cloud doesn't reach that far, but within its confines we can overcome an enemy more easily. That is because, with the Silver Millennium targeting, I can hurt them but not us, even though we're all in the cloud. It also slows and blinds them without doing the same to the folks on *our* side." He was very pleased. "Yes, exactly, yet don't forget you can do damage with it as a direct attack, also. I'm sure that with a little practice you can refine your ability until you can damage every enemy in the cloud, though possibly less than as a focused assault." She nodded. "Okay," he went on. "Jupiter, you've got lightning attack, which hits a wide area when you've a mind to. One great potential benefit is that being electrical you can use conductors like a wire or a wet floor, or even an enemy's weapon, to convey the blast to him in case he has other defenses. Mars, you've got the widest area attack of any save for Mercury, but the least penetration out of any. Your fire burns on the surface until it burns through, which it doesn't often, not lasting all that long. Neptune has an attack of crushing force, like the waves or a great depth of water, while Uranus has a splitting power, like an earthquake rending the earth apart. How can you tell me these would all work together?" The girls began to remember their lessons of the destroid squad. "Well," Rae said, biting her lip and chewing slightly. "That would make mine the best for taking out large numbers of weenie monsters, things that are fragile but numerous." "Both Helen's and mine would seem best suited for taking down hard or armored targets, ruining their armor instead of penetrating it." Michelle offered. Lita shook out her hair and played with the ends. "Mine would be like Rae's, able to take down a lot of small enemies at once, though I could deal with a little less area and a bit more armor, it sounds like." He stepped aside and waved to the targets on the stage. "Let's try it. Later we'll all put our minds together on another issue. Namely, Amy's Mercury Bubbles attack can do damage or a special power or both. Serena's Moon Healing can invoke a positive energy attack or remove dark kingdom taints and influences, or also cure a host of ills. So what could the rest of your Sailor Scout attacks do if we were to devote a little time to expanding our understanding of them?"