Here we go again ^_^
Because not everybody winds up on the goodguys side...

                        Youma Blues
Eppisode 4

        Checking myself into a hotel after my Sailor V adventure I did the
only logical thing:
I slept.  For about twenty hours.
	But it seemed that somebody didn't love me at all, because as I was buisily
stacking Z's and going for thirty, I was awakened to the tune of forty
thousand volts
and a pissed youma general.
	All things considered, I prefer birdsong.  The altercation went something
like this:
	I was, as previously mentioned, sleeping and not at all intending on
awakening anytime soon.  Then Jeddite shows up in my room, having already
searched all of Japan for my 'lazy disloyal &*!&!' as he later put it, and
hits me with
more lightning .  I screamed - something to the tune of 'ARGH!',  jumped out
of bed
(I'd fallen asleep still clothed) and threw my luggage at him.
	"I'm sleeping! Come back later!" I yelled (big mistake).
Then I lay back down to sleep some more. (bigger mistake, but I was -tired-)
	This elicited more lightning, more screaming and (finally) me half awake
sans benefit of strong  coffee (the *first* thing I took the liberty of
importing to the
dark kingdom).
	"What are you doing here, my servant?  Running from me, perhaps?  And
with such a stock of energy to -  I might think you were trying to betray
your calling,
youma."  Jeddite positively *delights* in being snide around me..beats me why,
though.  But I wasn't in the mood to play along, so I was frank.
	"Hiding from Sailors - and not very successfully, either.  I spent almost all
of -" I looked at the clock and did fast calculations -"The day before yesterday
dodging one.  I'd have more energy for you, but I had to use most of it
fighting off
Sailor V."
	Jeddite just raised an eyebrow.  "You are the mystery Youma who was
moving in on the Dark Ministry's territory?  A very industrious servant
indeed..I see
I shall have to keep a better eye on you.  In the mean time -" He grabbed
both gems,
and pocketed them, and then gestured, teleporting us both back to japan. "
In the
meantime we have work to do.  I am going to begin gathering energy in
earnest.  If I
can move a large enough number of people into a subspace I can drain them at my
leisure, with out the interference of those brats.  You, however, have an
Appointment with the queen.    She wants to meet my oh so successful servant."
	I sighed.    I knew this was going to be a bad day, I just knew it.
	
	Now it's time for Dark Kingdom Geography 101.   Three things:  
1.  There is no sun. The only light is what you bring with you or make
yourself.  It
turned out to be a *very good* thing I see clearly in the dark.
2.  The entire place is somewhat dimensionally messed up.  It makes maps mostly
useless, and teleportation a good survival skill.
3. There is no native flora, and the native fauna is all carnivorous.  The
youma still
come out as being the top  of the food chain - But only just.  Frankly, I
have no
trouble seeing why Beryl & co want to conqour earth - It would be a much better
place to live.  Well, that and the main food is mushrooms...
	Jeddite, of course, gives me the express teleport treatment while he goes
into his next scheme.
	Of course, this means I reappear in the center of the Dark kingdom party
circuit - the only part, in fact, of the dark kingdom party circuit: Beryl's
audience
chamber.
	Beryl.  God I dispise her.
	"Gathered Youma, Servants of the glory of Mettila hear me!"  Her voice is
the first thing that reaches my ears and I just *know* I'm about to be
thrown to the
wolves.
	I'm right.
	"The being that stands before you serves my greatest general!  Jeddite has
brought him into our ranks and made him of your kind!  And in the service of my
general he has achieved a level of success unprecedented amongst you!" I
checked:
Blazing red hair, spiky shoulders, insane megalomaniacal smile, gown showing off
more cleavage than baywatch, yep, thats Beryl alright. (Her words, by the
way, were
my first clue that I'm a bit more efficient with the energy drain thing than
your
average youma - of course, most of those don't come back, either...)
	"But now he must be tested!" Damn, I don't like the sound of that.
	"Youma, you may stand!"  That was directed towards me - I only then
realized I'd been kneeling.  Of course, I stood - in the Dark Kingdom, when
Beryl
says you can do something, you *DO IT*.  No question. 
	It was Zoicyte who spoke next, saying, "You who would serve in the armies
of Atlantis, for the next day you are marked as prey for any who seek to
take your
position. "  His words were stilted, formalized, and had the tapings of
ritual about
them - I later found out that it was a ritual, albiet a very bastardized one.
	"Give me your name."  Oh damn.  I don't like the sound of -that- not one bit. 
The marked as prey thing I expected - this was Psycho-babe's court, after
all.  But
the 'give me your name' thing, in a magical society - that sounded like name
based
magic.   Give them my name, and they'd be able to do what they wanted to me, if
anything I'd read in the fantasy novels I used to love were true.    So I
lied.  Good
thing Jeddite had never bother to ask for my full name.
	"Sheldon James."  Of course, any answer at all was bad enough.  
	Nephrite stepped forward from the crowd of youma who circled the
chamber.  "You have give your name truly."  There was a knowing twinkle in
his eye
as he turned to Beryl and bowed.  I guess there was a bit of rebellion in
him even
them - or perhaps, through the stars, he knew just how much of a mockery the
ceremony was, or maybe he was just bored, and wanted to see how far my daring
would carry me.  With Nephrite it's hard to tell. 
	Then Kunzite stepped forwards.  "His name has been given.  He has no
name- yet the youma are not nameless, and the nameless do not live.  He must
claim
one."  He too bowed.  Now I really didn't like the sound of this.  Then
Beryl spoke.
	"His old name is destroyed; It was given into my hands.  If he stands
before me upon the dying of this fire -" And at her words a tall, twisted candle
appeared and blazed with flame - "He may choose a name in my service. " Her lips
turned into a bloodthirsty smile. "Should he live.  Should he fall I will
accept a name
from any who dare to stand before me at the fire's dying - and they shall
have his
place at my general's side."  She was obviously going to enjoy watching the
scuffle,
too.
	"I have spoken."
	That was obviously a dismissal, given the way the youma were searging
greedily towards me;  I didn't stick around to find out how promotion worked
in the
dark kingdom (actually I had a pretty good idea).   Instead I took a big
gamble and 
teleported blind. 

	I won't go into what the next twenty or so hours were like, except to point
out that teleporting is much easier in the Dark Kingdom.  I did learn that
you can - or
at least, I can - drain energy from other youma.  It's a lot harder than
with normals -
but not the ludicrous impossibility it is with Senshi.
	Suffice it to say that I learned a lot about myself and about (youma) life in
general in twenty hours, and that, when the flame guttered and died I was still
standing, and, more importantly, I was standing in front of Beryl.
	There was a look of...interest on her face, and a look of satisfaction on
Jeddites, where he stood flanking her - slightly subdued satisfaction, but
satisfaction nevertheless.
	Zoicyte looked like he'd swallowed a live frog, while Nephrite looked smug.
(I believe there was a bet involved).
	Kunzite I could never read - he looked bored, but then Kunzite *allways*
looks bored.  Except when he's fighting.
	"The flame dies."  Beryl.  Damn she's scary when she focuses on you...you
get to see just how absolutely insane she really is..
	"The one who stands before me is truly a youma amongst my armies; How
does it name itself?"  In the past few hours I'd learned a bit about this
ritual  -
including what happened to those who tried to take back their old names.  (I
asked
really nicely.)  I'd even managed to put about twenty seconds into thinking
up a new
one.  Around the same time I'd picked up the sword, actually.
	"Tenshino Aoi."  I even managed to keep my voice even when I said it. 
Well, perhaps not entirely even - there was just a bit of challenge there,
directed at
her, over my choice of names.   I knew she'd pick up on it.   But if she
wanted the
ritual to be honored, she couldn't object - even if I named myself an angel.
If she
didn't honor the ritual she just might have a mass rebellion on her hands -
and while
she could probably take all the youma, she also didn't want to have to kill
her own
cannon-fodder.    I'm afraid *some* of the traditions of atlantis survived,
dispite her
determined attempt to rout them out.
	"So be it."  Of course she could just kill me later, but I'd only just thought
of that.
	"I make the servant to the generals, Aoi Tenshino; Under their hand shall
you be trained in our ways.  Now take your insolent face from my court  - if
you've
not learned humility by the time I see you next, you will die. "  She
somehow knows
just what it take to warm my heart, I tell you...
	Anyway, that's how I met Beryl.
	My 'education' was of slightly more note...but that's for next time.





Gamlain@pop.softhome.net
Gamlain, Transuniversal courier
Wildfire, teleport nonperil
Hero for rent.
"So then I shot a goon and I cut the head man's throat, and after that
things got violent." - Tarnkep Protree
"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."-
Hickeys coralary.