Yoush, I just got this into a file again last night, and I'm kinda unhappy
with it.  I prefer the previous draft, but that is lost beyond all
hope of recovery, so I typed it in again.

_Please_ tell me whatever you think!
Flames, criticism, comments, sardonic MSTs, all will be gratefully accepted.

	Suika
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no .sig

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        ``So, child, what are the plans?''

	``Circe and I will open a gate into the Dark Kindom, we all pile
through, then split into two groups.  You, me, Ranma-mama, Circe, Mercury, and
Skuld will go after the large energy sink Mercury thinks is probably Metallia,
and the others will head to the throne room to take out Beryl and try to
recover Endymion.''

	``Others?''

	``Moon, Mars, Venus, and Ukyou-mama.''

	``Isn't that a rather dangerous split?  We will have the most powerful
fighters in our group, leaving the others relatively unprotected.''

	``Moon, Mercury, and Venus think this is the best split.  Metallia is
the most dangerous target.''

	``Perhaps.  Child, what is your relationship with Circe?  I've noticed
that the two of you finish each others thoughts and respond to the other's
desires without any exchange of words.''

	``We, in the Moon Kingdom, were a blood-bonded fire team.  As such, we
are all but the same person, at least in combat or when we are less than thirty
meters apart.  It is a bit strained by the fact that we met this time just
after the Dark Kingdom killed her first love, and we were sorta falling for
each other when she recovered her memories of being Circe and the bond kicked
in again.''

	``Ouch.''  \When do we leave?\  \Soon, has Usagi been found?\  \Yeah\
\good\  I blink and look up at Obaba.

	``We're leaving soon, Hibaachan.''  She nods and we start back towards
the south parking lot of Nekomi Kyoudai's married student housing.  The other
eight members of the assult team are waiting, as are Kasumi-mama and
Belldandy-sensei.

	``Are we ready?''  I look about the empty parking lot before nodding.
I step just a little closer to Circe, feel the link *snap* into place, then
transform.  \Yoush, open the portal\  thinking in harmony still feels so
weird.  We move in concert, grabbing the fabric of the universe, holding it
while the others transform.

	``To repeat this one more time:  Don't let _any_ part of your body pass
over the edge of the portal!  Doing so will place a great deal of space between
you and your part.  The Dark Kindom portals have some sort of protective border
to them, but we don't know how they do it, so stay toward the middle of the
portal.  Wakatta kai?''

	``Wakatteru.''  ``Wakatta.''  ``Wakarimashita.''  ``Wakatta.''
``Wakatteru.''  ``Wakatta.'' \Open it\

	I respond to Circe's imperative and we open the portal, sinking the
bottom edge a half-meter or so into the asphalt to help keep everyone's feet
attached.

	``Go!''  The other eight run through quickly, then Circe and I follow,
the portal collapsing behind us.

	``Yoush!  The throne room is this way, and that energy sink is that
way.''  Venus waves her group along, Skuld-chan's probes flashing past.  I take
point, leading the group at a quick run.

	``The sink is Metallia.''

	``Do you have any idea about draining her?''

	``Yes.  All of the henshin pens share a single energy pool, which is
almost exhausted.  Placing one of them against her matrix should produce a
proper gradient, and the energy level will equalize.''  Circe takes out the
guard on the far side of the door as Mercury speaks.  I push the door open,
check visually to make sure no one is hiding their presence, then wave the
others in.

	Mercury slips forward, presses her henshin pen to Metallia's matrix.

	``Yoush, so, Mercury-chan, is her matrix a link or a trap?''

	``Focus.  The matrix serves to maintain her psychic pattern.  Destroy
it and she will collapse within minutes.  Energy levels equalizing.''  Mercury
pulls her henshin pen from the stone a few seconds after she stops speaking.

	``I am fairly sure that you have drained off enough energy to allow me
to shatter the matrix.  Her essence is contained entirely in this egg of
stone?''

	``Yes.''  Obaba gives the stone a single full-fisted blow at Mercury's
reply.  Most of it dissolves slowly into dust, leaving a single lump of intact
stone about the size of a five-gallon drum.  Mercury starts forward instantly,
and I only manage to get a shield up at the last moment, the power-blast
glancing off the shield and blowing a large hole in one wall.

	``Pitiful.  Such a pitiful attack!'' deep, evil laughter fills the
room.  Ranma starts to power up for a ki-blast, and I finally notice why
Metallia kept the bit of matrix she did.  I concentrate on keeping her from
seeing what is going on, and paint the spot for Circe.  \Nemesis.  Tight
beam. Energy control. Now\  The universe changes slightly as the ancient
superweapon comes up to firing status for the first time, and a tiny flash is
all that appears when it fires.  I fight to keep Metallia's mind clouded as she
hemorages rapidly, energy bleeding into the ambient.

	Moments later Ranma-mama finishes her power-up and ki-blasts Metallia's
matrix, which disolves into a small cloud of warm plasma.  Too late, Metallia
notices what happened, and fades with a final scream.

	``Bad feeling.''  Obaba's voice is almost scared.

	``What?''

	``Trouble, throne room.''  Circe takes point this time, the cannon
floating over her shoulder.  We follow at a full run.  I start to feel what is
going on in the throne room as we near it.  Usagi is talking to Endymion, and
he seems to be almost responding.  Suddenly Mamo-chan is back, and on the other
side of the room Beryl snaps.  Venus manages to deflect the attack slightly,
then Ukyou-mama almost manages to block it.  We rush in as Usagi pulls the Ou
no Ken (king's sword) from where ever it stays when not in use.  The two meter
blade flashes once then disappears again, Beryl's head spinning lazily through
the air for a few seconds while I try to cope with the sight before me, Usagi's
blood soaked form, Endymion's corpse on the floor, his head splattered gorily
by the large black crystal, Ukyou-mama's spatula bent and one of her wrists
broken.

	``We can't bring him back, can we?''  Mars' voice is soft, the question
almost not a question.

	``No.  He's dead.''  With this shaky-voiced pronouncement she drops her
hand onto the large crystal ball floating conveniently at the front of the
dias.

	``People of this Dark Kingdom, I hereby claim you all as mine by right
of conquest.  I took your king's head by my own hand, and my forces killed
Queen Metallia.  By your laws, that makes me your new ruler, my whim law.''
Mars walks forward and places her hand on Serenity's shoulder.

	``Therefore, you are all now citizens of the Moon Kingdom of Silver
Millennium, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof.

	``Ignorance of the new laws will not be accepted as an excuse for
breaking them, so Mercury will print out copies of them soon, but they
generalize to don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, and don't hurt others when
one can avoid it.

	``In exchange for following the laws you will gain privileges,
including access to the surface.

	``However, not following the new laws can be _very_ bad for you.
Metallia's energy horde has been distributed into the ambient fields; anyone
who hordes more than a two-week supply risks the same fate.

	``Any questions?'' The responce is stunning, hundreds of questions are
asked and answered, and the dark, worried, perception-blocking aura starts to
fade, letting me feel more and more of this huge place.  I'm amazed at what I
find, most of the people, for some reason I can't think of them as `youma'
anymore, are amazingly happy with the change.

	``Why did you kill my sister?''  The question almos echos, and I wonder
how they are being relayed from whereever they are asked.

	``What was her name?''

	``Molga.''

	``She was trying to kill my important friend Naru-chan.  At that point
I was scared, inexperienced, and couldn't think of anything else to do.  It
will not happen again.''  The sudden flury of power indicates she is telling
the truth, although I'm unsure whether it is based on her belief, some sort of
binding oath, or, this having been the domain of a nasty immortal type, perhaps
mere vocal emphasis.  I sit and ponder this for a moment until shakes me out.

	``We're going.''  Mars has gathered Serenity into her arms, and
Serenity looks totally pitiful, huddled against Mars' shoulder.  Ukyou-mama
feels like someone blocking pain, and Ranma-mama has her hand on Ukyou-mama's
shoulder.

	Circe initiates the warp, passing it to me to bind.  Mars re-adjusts
Serenity in her arms, then leads the way through the portal, Ukyou-mama and
Ranma-mama at her heels.  The warp collapses behind us as we follow the others
through.

	``. . . me down, dearest.''  The word she uses isn't in modern
Japanese, unlike most of the old language,  ``I'm not permanently damaged.''
She settles lightly to her feet, turns to Ukyou-mama, ``lemme see your arm.''
Belldandy-sensei is actually staring, and Kasumi-mama is as blatently concerned
as I've ever seen her.

	``OK,''  Ukyou-mama holds out her arm, and the sudden spike of pain
makes both me and Ranma-mama wince, although Ukyou-mama doesn't.  A warm yellow
glow surrounds Serenity, and flows off to envelop Ukyou-mama's arm.  In an
instant the pain vanishes.

	``Why couldn't you . . . ''  Venus trails off suddenly, murmors the
reason, ``only the dead may bring back the dead.''  Endymion was definately
dead the instant of Beryl's attack, without the slightest hope of him being not
quite dead yet, and thus revivable.

	``Mamo-chan, did. . . '' Serenity fades off, starts over, ``did
he. . .''

	``Yes, he transformed back to normal.''

	``Then he . . . '' she gulps, continues, ``deserves a proper funeral.''
She pauses for a moment, ``Mercury, find an appropriate place to move the
. . . body.''

---

Epilog:

	``Makoto-chan!  Usagi will be down in a moment; Rei-chan managed to
wake her up on time.  Such a horrible thing, to witness someone dying like
that.''  Ikuko almost visibly cringes, probably remembering the sight of her
daughter's blood-soaked form.  She'd held together remarkably well; Usagi's
father had fainted at the sight.  I admit she had quite a fright while we were
at the station.

	While Usagi, all of us, had looked a lot better than right after the
incident, it was still a scary sight; the gore had dried again, Usagi'd
borrowed one of Ukyou-mama's little spatulas and cut her hair with it, the
bloody lengths of it coiled on detective's desk.  We had gotten permision to
wash the blood off, but Usagi had refused, she looked like someone had just
killed her, and I wasn't surprised when Kenji-san dropped over onto his face.

	No one questioned our account of a monster attack killing Mamo-chan and
Ranma-mama killing the monster just an instant too late, such things are so
unfortunately common, and Ranma-mama having a reputation of sticking up for the
weak.  Rei had accompanied Usagi home, and now Monday had come again.

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