With Geocities, they don't tell you if your HTMLing links to nothing.  So, while using the advanced version (basically, I have to type everything in... not very advanced, is it?), I forgot four numbers and a slash.  I had altered the HTMLing before, thinking that the damn thing was just being stupid on me.  Then, I found out the filenames were wrong.  So I renamed them.  Right now, I feel so stupid, I think I need a ball to bounce and a nice hug.
      In any case, it's now up, but before any of you start whining about what I _KNOW_ you'll complain about, I am NOT reformatting these stories.  They come out fine on my Wordpad, so if you don't have a program that Word Wraps for you, I'm sorry, but I'm not going back to hit return at the start of every line for you people, because that'll screw up someone else's formatting and then I scream, bash my head against a wall and start breaking things (usually my own bones).
      And for those of you who can't access Geocities, I'll continue to post a chapter every week, so you can bask in my halogen penlight-to-the-eye-in-the-middle-of-a-black-out genius.  Painful to see and abrupt.  I'll try to keep track of what's lemon and lime and what's not, but it won't be easy.  I have to manually page down a few paragraphs to look.  I'm not sure I'm unlazy enough to do that.

    Advanced Variable Geo - Variable Nu
    Chapter 3 - Conflict Among The Goddesses
    by A-kun

    Note: You don't _have_ to know about Variable Geo (or Advanced Variable Geo as the game is called) to read this fanfic.  Expect spoilers for the Anime and some self-made decisions on outcomes.  If I have to spell out the rest of the stuff, you should pay more attention to things like this.

    ===================================================

    Repeat Intro:
    In the near future, the faltering "Family Restaurant Industry" began to sponsor fighting tournaments featuring members of their own staff in order to boost their patronage... Full contact waitressing. As it quickly becomes known as more of a success than even the most optimistic restauranteur had hoped.
    But there's more at stake here than prize money and free advertising. The mysterious Jahanna Group, which has marketed the tournaments, has quietly begun to infiltrate the restaurants which feature Full-Contact Waitressing.
    The tournament fighters are called "VG Warriors" and carry special cards that allow them to call and challenge each other among other things such as call up specially-made rings and conformation poles which confirm that she is a VG Warrior and that she is still active in the tournaments.
    Eh.  Enough with the boring crap, ON WITH THE STORY!

    Last Episodes: Ayako Yuuki lost to a new warrior by the name of Yuki Asamiya, Manami Kusonoki defeated a newbie named Maya, Jun fought and beat a kick-boxer named Rei, and Yuka and Reimi had a talk.  Jun and Manami took Yuka out on a date.  A mysterious girl who eats green M&Ms and Chiclets talked aloud to herself while other people were in the room.  Jun got to dance with Yuka.  Manami and Jun declared their intentions to beat each other up and get Yuka all to themselves.  Yuki and Ayako got it on.

    ******    ******    ******    ******    ******

    Somewhere, in a darkened 40 ft. by 30 ft. by 15 ft. room, a girl sat in a plush chair.  She was staring at the fireplace before her, which had died down to some glowing embers.  In her right hand was a goblet and in her other hand a brandy glass.  In the goblet were chiclets, which neared the brim.  In the brandy glass, Skittles.  She cast her gaze between the two, then proceed to 'drink' some from each, munching happily on the mixture as it tasted better than chiclets and M&Ms.  Behind her, the door opened and a hand reached for the light switch.  The girl, hearing the sound, turned her head and body to stare at the hand for a second.
    "DONFTRRR TURRFFF ITSF-" she began.
    The hand stopped, the owner presumably realizing what the girl had meant or perhaps it was the bits of gunk stuck to it's hand.  Chiclets this time.  A butler entered, followed by two maids who sighed in disgust at the mess the girl had made by shouting.  Half-chewed bits of Skittles and chiclets covered a ten foot path towards the door and up the side of the door.
    "Here you go, madam," the butler said, nearing the girl and presentng a thick green folder as the girl swallowed the remaining Skittle bits and chicklets before placing both glasses onto the nightstand next to her.
    "Wait, didn't we do this last night?" the girl inquired.
    "These are the stock reports for today.  And you informed me never to present you with a folder that was not green," the butler replied.
    "Oh yeah.  Anyway, what news of my sister?" the girl inquired, taking the folder and setting it aside.
    "Madam Yuki is having relations with the veteran VG warrior that she defeated," the butler answered.
    "She never could resist a pretty face... well, other than my beautiful face, that is.  I guess my beauty must not work on her," the girl said.
    "Uh, madam-" the butler began, sweatdropping.
    "No, I am not interested in my sister.  Besides, she tries to live off her own achievements and money while I prefer to graciously accept everything offered.  But if I-" the girl began.
    "-actually, I was wondering if you were going to plan your first battle," the butler interupted.
    There was an awkward moment of silence before the butler decided to just continue what he was going to say.
    "There are only two more new VG warriors left and you did say that you wanted to battle one of your peers..," the butler continued.
    "And you actually think those other pathetic losers are my peers?!" the girl demanded, leaping to her feet before turning to her butler, her eyes ablaze.
    "I was merely stating that they are your peers by referring to the fact that this will be the first year for all of you," the butler covered quickly.
    "Hmmm, that's acceptable, but just in case you DO forget, I am the reigning star of the Asamiya clan, not to mention the greatest master in the Asamiya School of Nezumi-Ken," the girl snarled.
    [The only reason you're the reigning star of this family is because your sister is gone.  And doesn't nezumi mean mouse?] the butler thought to himself.
    "My sister may be the reigning star of the other school in the Asamiya clan, but my Nezumi-ken will defeat even her Ookami-ken, proving that _I_ inherited all of the beauty, prestige and power!  OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!" the girl laughed, doing a great impression of Kodachi Kuno.
    The butler sweatdropped and wondered if perhaps it was time to move on.  A nice career as a brain surgeon like his mother or perhaps a lifetime of pig-farming like his father.  Or perhaps even, a UPS driver, like his mother's mistress.  About this time, we found out that we had just learned a little too much about the butler. (Hey, A-kun, remember what I said about ending your rambles one sentence earlier?  Make it two sentences earlier. - TharzZzDunN)
    "Now, choose the opponent that I shall face by using... THE WHEEL OF FOES!" the girl said as a bookshelf behind the butler spun to reveal numerous faces with little tags attached to a giant wheel ala the Wheel of Fortune.  A little red arrow on the top pointed down on a line.  The butler stared at the wheel.
    [I'm getting paid well, I'm getting paid well, I'm getting paid well...] the butler chanted inside his head.
    He reluctantly grabbed a protruding spike and gave the wheel a moderate spin.  The wheel finally came to rest.  The face being pointed at was none other than-

    The young man looked down on the city as the sky rained tiny droplets of water down upon him and the entire town.  His dark hair began to sag as the moisture condensed and matted it down, giving him a grim and dramatic visage as his mustache and beard grew almost pitch black in color, while his black jeans and black t-shirt somehow darkened some more and clung to his skin.  His sneakers and socks became moist as the rain soaked right through them.  Still, he continued to look down on the city, with one foot dramatically place on the cement ledge of the tall apartment building he was standing on. The building was about forty stories high, thus adding to the dramatic effect.  He considered leaping over the edge dramatically and landing in that ever so cool fashion that a lot of heroes and heroines could do in anime, but he knew that if he were to do that, there'd most likely be a mess on the sidewalk that would be close to seventy feet wide (Mostly from splatter and the fact that the rain would lengthen the mess considerably).  After all, he was being absurdly dramatic, not insanely dramatic.
    Suddenly, he sneezed, breaking the dramatic aura he had built up.  He turned dramatically, trying to restore that aura, to see an old man and a young girl standing behind him.  The old man was about the same height as the girl, but there were subtle hints that they were in no obvious way related.  The old man had long brown hair, pale skin and wore a blue shirt with an odd robe over the shirt.  Each of his eyebrows formed into a long boomerang-shape.  The girl, on the other hand, had dark skin, black hair and was wearing a slightly similiar outfit.  The young girl carried a tuning fork with a wire between the two protrusions, while the old man carried an umbrella.
    The young man took note of the umbrella last and narrowed his eyes before angrily spitting out, "Oh sure, of all the things you DON'T tell me to bring,"
    The old man smiled, "You've got to stop relying on my advice.  Besides, there are these wonderful things called 'Forecasts' that 'News Stations' often-"
    "I know that, you old fart, but there _is_ such a thing as common courtesy," the young man growled.
    "HAAWW HAAWW HAAWW!" the old man laughed, before adding, "And if I told you that jumping off a cliff was the best cure for a stuffy nose, I bet you'd do that too,"
    The young man glared at the old man before he felt a sneeze coming on.
    "AAAAPUUU!!" the young man sneezed again, before taking out a slightly moist tissue and wiping his nose.
    He used his ki to burn the tissue to nothing before returning his attention to the old man.
    "Now, what is it that you want me to do this time?  Last time, it was gratuitious destruction of the VG Tournament Hall, for whatever the hell that was worth," the young man inquired.
    "Angel wants to test herself against the other VG warriors," the old man informed him.
    The young man nearly leapt back in shock.  The young girl's gaze fell upon him.
    "You can't be serious.  Her few tricks could be startling, but she lacks most of the attributes required for fighting," the young man complained.
    "I am quite serious," Angel responded.
    The old man glanced at her before looking at the young man.
    ".... first off, Manami Kusonoki could pass the requirements because she's actually old enough to have a part-time job at a resturaunt.  Angel doesn't even have birth records!" the young man declared.
    The old man merely smiled.  The young man's face fell.
    "You faked some," the young man deadpanned.
    The young man sighed and recovered.
    "But that still leaves the fact that she is not physically able to keep up with what will be required," the young man responded.
    With a flare of blue light, Angel suddenly aged ten years, became two feet taller, and her physique changed as did her outfit.  Once it was all done, the visage of a little girl melted away to a teenage woman.  The young man blinked, then decided to give up as the rain finally stopped and the clouds began to clear temporarily.
    "All right, I suppose it can probably work out.  But, seriously, what I here for?  You would have just sent Angel to me if you merely wanted to get my opinion on whether or not she could enter the VG tournament," the young man inquired.
    "I'm getting tired of the game and I needed someone familiar with the lifestyle to take up my place..," the old man began.
    "You want to quit being an Endless and give the job to me?" the young man asked.
    The old man nodded.
    "I have no qualms about becoming immortal," the young man told him.
    "Good, because you'll also be instructing Angel in a fighting style that suits her," the old man continued.
    "Yeah, yeah.  I get it.  THAT was a bit obvious," the young man responded.
    The old man flared with a white aura which formed into a tight ball and floated over to the young man.  In what could only be called the most disappointing transference of energy in the history of energy transfers, the young man became immortal while the old man became mortal.
    "Are you SURE this is all it's really like?" the young man inquired, feeling neither stronger, nor weaker.
    "In time, you'll come to understand what being an Endless is really about.  Anyway, it's time for me to start anew," the old man declared, handing his umbrella to Angel.
    The old man changed into a solid block of soft blue light.  The block disapated like dandelion seeds upon a gale wind.  The young man and Angel both watched the display for a minute before the young man gestured for Angel to follow him inside.
    "We've got a lot of work to do, Angel," The young man warned.
    "I have been ready for three years," Angel responded quietly, as they began descending the stairs to the ground floor.
    "You've been his fourth disciple for that long?" the young man inquired.
    Angel nodded.
    "Given any thoughts as to what style you want to train in?" the young man asked.
    Angel shook her head.
    "Thought as much.  Training'll start immediately after we find a good style for you to pick up.  You'll probably be best suited for one of the forms of Karate or Tae Kwan Do.  Possibly even Judo or Akido," the young man responded.
    Angel nodded.
    "You don't talk much, do you?" the young man inquired.
    "Not very often," Angel responded.
    The young man continued musing as they descended, but kept most of it to himself.

    Dark clouds were foreboding, usually telling of a tragedy waiting to happen.  It had already rained once that day, but the clouds hovered menacingly, as if promising to rain again.
    The fight had been coming for a long time.  Both girls knew that much.  And while the weather wasn't as cheery or dry as Manami liked, the feud had to be settled so that they could go on with their lives, no matter what the outcome.  They had agreed on an official match with ring and all, the secret prize was to be left unmentioned.
    Little did they know that while Yuka might be unable to spot advances as the events occurred, her hindsight was twenty/twenty and after a little thought, the reason was all too obvious.  Jun and Manami had little reason to fight otherwise.  Jun hated weak opponents and Manami was easily intimidated,
    "Just one question," Manami stated.
    "What?" Jun asked.
    "What happens in the case of a Double K.O.?" Manami asked.
    "It won't come to that," Jun responded.
    Manami instantly began worrying.  While she _was_ tough and she _could_ handle most fights, Jun knew two of Manami's favorite tricks, not to mention that Jun was a more brutal and relentless fighter, which meant that a lot of Manami's normal advantages were gone.  While Manami felt she could still win, it would be very close for her.  Almost too close.
    Jun, on the other hand, was wondering how to handle fighting Manami.  While Manami didn't LOOK tough, those gloves of hers would give her a advantage while punching and the fact was that Jun wasn't as fast as Manami could be.  If Manami played it right, Jun would take some heavy damage at the very least.  However, Jun felt that the two year age advantage and all of her extra training would prove to be more than enough against Manami if the idol singer didn't use her speed as much as she should.
    Having sized each other up, both VG warriors began working on strategies against the other.  While planning ahead was good, there was only so much you could plan, and you had to continually rehearse the plans mentally.  Too much planning left you a sitting duck as you tried to remember what you had planned in a split second.
    Within seconds, Jun decided that to finish off Manami, she had to time her attacks to do the most damage.  Manami, on the other hand, decided that she had to hit hard and fast to get Jun to go down.
    "CAT ROCKET PUNCH!" Manami cried, hurling her right glove at Jun.
    Jun dodged easily and waited.  While the glove came back and, predictably, clocked Manami, the sixteen year old idol singer was ready for action again in a matter of seconds.  Even if she had attacked, Jun knew that Manami would've recovered before she could even attack, leaving the ex-Olympic wrestler wide open.  While Manami had a lot of energy, she didn't have much in the way of actual endurance.
    Manami, seeing that attacking with the Cat Rocket Punch wasn't going to catch Jun off-guard, no matter how fast the fist could move, changed to an all-out assault, hoping to get the fight over with.  She knew as well as Jun did that it was to Jun's advantage to allow Manami to tire herself out.  And if it was one thing Manami knew, it was to never get on the receiving end of Jun's attacks.  She had seen Jun use a simple clothesline attack to send a fighter far heavier than Manami rocketing over twenty feet away.
    Manami began rolling and launched herself at Jun like a spinning cannonball.  Jun leapt over the attack and powered up her special energy attack.  As Manami's cannonball impression came to a close, Jun unleashed her attack, slamming her fist into the ground and unleashing a ripple of green lightning.  Manami spun to see Jun's attack coming at her faster than the younger warrior could dodge.  The cat-girl wannabe was sent sprawling backwards against the ropes, causing her to bounce off and land facefirst.  Jun would've been tempted to gloat if she wasn't sure that Manami was going to get right back up, angrier than ever before.  True to Jun's mental prediction, Manami got up, her eyes ablaze with anger.
    However, logic allowed Manami to refrain from flying off the handle and attacking Jun in a childish rage.  Well, until she had come up with a vicious attack, that is.  Manami began glowing with pink energy.  Jun blinked.  She hadn't been expecting Manami to learn how to use her energy so fast.  Then, she reminded herself that she herself learned energy attacks at about fourteen years of age.
    "KITTEN ROAR!" Manami cried, leaping high into the air.
    Jun was completely unprepared for the wild and ferocious slashes from Manami's 'claws'.  It wasn't until after Manami raked her claws across Jun's face for the tenth time that Jun managed to bring her arms up to defend.  The older warrior stumbled backwards as Manami's attack drew to a close and the pink-haired girl finally landed on the ground.  Both warriors backed away, both desperately trying to recover.
    Jun looked at her forearms, making sure there was no blood before touching her face.  She wasn't bleeding, but the dark claw marks on her forearms showed that Manami had come close to breaking skin.  Manami, on the other hand, was panting heavily, trying to get energy back into her body.  It was the first time she had tried the technique in actual combat and she found that it was quite draining.
    Both warriors realized that the other was still able to fight and was probably still willing to.  Jun lowered her arms and glared at Manami.
    "Time to finish this, 'kitty'," Jun snarled.
    "I agree," Manami said, with a serious tone that made her sound far more mature than she normally was.
    Energy encased both girls, Jun's green aura flaring to a larger size than Manami's pink aura, but both girls neglected that fact.  With a battle cry, both simultaneously launched themselves forward, striking each other with a single blow.  They landed on the opposite side of the ring from where they had started their charge.  The fight was over.
    Manami collapsed.  Jun clutched her face as she felt something warm running down from where Manami's claws had struck.  Yuka hurried into the ring.
    "JUN!" Yuka cried as Jun fell to one knee.
    Jun held her face protectively, as if her hands could stop the blood, but in actuality, she was hiding her bleeding face from Yuka.  She didn't want Yuka to see her bleed.  It would be worse than being tossed out of the Olympics, or at least it would be to her.
    "Jun, are you okay?" Yuka asked.
    "I'm fine," Jun lied, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
    "Liar," Yuka hissed, before turning to one of the few spectators nearby, "Call an ambulance!"
    A teenage man and a teenage girl hurried to a nearby payphone.
    "No!" Jun protested, pulling hands from her face.
    Yuka looked at Jun's face, seeing the thin lines that had caused the bleeding.  They weren't much and Yuka knew enough that they wouldn't even scar.  She handed a handkerchief to Jun.
    "It's not for you, silly.  I saw the punch you gave Manami.  I don't think she's in as good of shape as you are," Yuka told her.
    Jun blinked as she accepted the handkerchief.  Yuka pulled Jun to her feet and slowly pulled Jun over to where Manami was.  Once Jun was close by, Yuka knelt down next to the pink-haired one and lightly touched Manami's shoulder.
    "Manami, you okay?" Yuka asked.
    Manami didn't answer.  Concerned, Yuka began pressing her fingers lightly against Manami's back to make sure the punch Jun had delivered hadn't accidentally broken anything.  When she was certain Manami's back was in fair condition, she checked Manami's eyes.  Manami was clearly dazed, but Yuka didn't want to chance doing any damage to Manami's spine just in case there _was_ damage and she just couldn't detect it.
    Jun watched Yuka's careful exam of Manami's body and lowered her vision to the ground.  It suddenly brought back memories of the Olympics, seeing the on-hand meds check her opponent to make sure she was still alive.
    "Does..," Jun began.
    Yuka glanced over to Jun.  Already, the cuts on her face had closed up, but Jun's face looked grim.
    "Jun?" Yuka asked, confused.
    Sniffing as tears formed in her eyes once more, Jun tried to continue her question as her voice began to crack, "Does this mean you... you..,"
    Jun found herself unable to restrain her tears anymore.  Yuka was torn between making sure Manami was okay and comforting Jun.  Finally, she stood up and walked over to Jun, who broke down and hugged Yuka as the wrestler's tears ran down her face, irritating her injuries.
    Yuka held Jun as a light pattering of raindrops began, soon escalating into a full rainstorm.

    "What is with the weather today?  It's been off and on all day!" Yuki complained to no one in particular as she found a vacated alleyway and removed her shirt.  She squeezed as much water she could out of the garment before doning it again and hurrying onward to her destination.
    She stopped in front of a huge mansion with wide stone walls as wide as two city blocks.  The walls created a perfect square, were someone to look at them from above.  Yuki knocked on the twenty-foot tall door which seemed to be the only entrance to the compound, unless you climbed the wall.
    She waited.  And waited.  She knocked again.  And waited.  She looked around for some sort of doorbell, but found none.  She tried knocking once more.
    "Geez, you'd think a place like this would have someone waiting on the other side of the door just to open it for challengers," Yuki grumbled to no one in particular.
    She waited a few more minutes before yelling, "HEY, ANYONE HOME?!"
    She blinked just as she felt a presence appear behind her.  She spun sharply to see a girl with short brown hair that was cut uniformly at about chin level.  The new girl had brown eyes dressed in a what looked like a brown mini-skirt, a white dress shirt, and a brown sleeveless dress.  On her arms were dark grey forearm guards that ended with gloves.  On her legs were dark grey knee-high sock-esque cloth.  And there was a brown bowtie to finish the outfit.  The effect was... brown.  Very very brown.
    "Are you obsessed over brown or is that a uniform?" Yuki asked.
    "Why are you here?" the new girl demanded.
    "I'm here to challenge Chiho Masuda to a VG match," Yuki responded.
    "I am Chiho Masuda," the girl answered.
    Yuki shrugged to herself.
    "If you want a match, then follow me," Chiho answered as she leapt over the gates.
    Yuki sighed in despair.  She hated jumping up walls.  Being a ground-based fighter, it was hardly surprising to those who knew her that she hated anything that had to do with jumping, unless there was a kick involved and someone on the receiving end.  In seven bounding leaps, she neared the top which she frantically grabbed and used to pull herself on top of the gate.  She stood up, wobbling dangerously before wisely deciding to just crawl over to the other side and descend to the ground.  She found Chiho waiting for her at the bottom of the wall.
    Chiho spoke not a word, but rather turned and began walking.  Yuki caught sight of a number of boulders behind the door, piled in such a fashion that it would take weeks to move them from either side, even if you tore the door down from the outside and let the rocks fall.
    "Sure glad I didn't decide to try and bust in," Yuki muttered to herself.
    Chiho lead her around the corner of the massive old-style Japanese home into a garden.  The garden had a light smattering of brightly pastel flowers and was made up primarily by numerous cherry trees.  Finally, Chiho stopped and examined the garden, before turning to Yuki.
    "This shall do for a battle ground," Chiho answered.
    "Fine by me, but don't come crying to me if I wreck a tree or somethin'," Yuki responded, exercising her limbs to prep them for battle.
    "You will not harm anything in this garden," Chiho informed her, as if telling Yuki a prediction of the future.
    "If you say so," Yuki responded.
    Chiho suddenly vanished in a spiral of pink cherry blossom petals.  Cursing, Yuki spun around and barely blocked the dashing punch that Chiho had attempted.  Flipping away, Chiho rebounded off two trees and struck at Yuki again.  This time, Yuki had less time to prepare for a defense and was struck across the face with a double-foot strike.  Yuki stumbled backwards, but remained standing.
    Chiho had vanished again.  Yuki growled angrily, attempting to sense Chiho's presence.  The ninja-girl was quite powerful, far more powerful than Yuki had anticipated.  Sensing an aura building behind her, she dropped to the ground, barely dodging the green blast of energy Chiho had unleashed.
    Yuki rolled out of the way as Chiho tried to shish-kabob the newbie with a three-pronged claw that was now attached to Chiho's right glove.  Getting up, Yuki unleashed a red energy blast at Chiho, but the ninja girl was not there to receive it.  Yuki leapt to her right while receiving a nasty slash down the outside of her left shin.  The jeans Yuki wore provided no protection against Chiho's claw.  Yuki glanced at where she had been and Chiho was nowhere in sight.
    Just as she reached the apex of her jump, Yuki felt two arms wrapping around her body.  Normally, Yuki would be happy, but when Chiho completed the aerial suplex, Yuki decided that women wrapping their arms around you wasn't always a good thing.  Yuki hit the ground hard.  Then, she heard something.  Chiho had gotten the vanishing from sight part down pat, but she still made some noise moving around in the garden.
    Knowing that a prolonged fight was going to be against her, Yuki listened carely as she braced her left hand on the ground and shoved the rest of her body up in a one-arm push-up style, only she lashed out with a solid kick, striking Chiho in the stomach.  The ninja girl hit the ground, clutching her stomach.  Yuki landed on her good leg and powered up for her strongest energy attack.  She had one chance and she had to make it count or face the difficult task of trying to hit Chiho while she was low on energy.
    "BLOOD WOLF HOWL!" Yuki roared, unleashing a hellish red ball of energy at Chiho as gravity around her decided to have a huge party with the plants.
    Chiho went sailing over the massive house.  Yuki waited until she heard the telltale splash from the other side of the complex before slumping to the ground.  Just before she passed out, she took note that Chiho's prediction came true.  Not even the flowers looked in the least bit disturbed.  Only the mini-storm of cherry blossom petals proved that anything had even happened.
    Yuki barely managed to note that the occurance was quite strange before she lost consciousness.

    Yuka sighed.  It seemed like the hospital was her other home, from all the times she had visited it.
    "Strange, is it?"
    Yuka turned to see the young man who had called the ambulance for Manami.  He continued his comment, "That those who are designated as the peak of health would require so many visits to a place of healing?  And that place of healing can become more feared than most dangerous things in the outside world,"
    His statement made little sense, but Yuka decided to ignore the phrase until later.
    "Hi, I never got the chance to thank you," Yuka said, smiling weakly, but clearly thankful.
    "No need.  Actually, I've been meaning to speak with you.  Seems my master liked chatting it up with you, I thought I'd give it a try," the young man responded.
    "Master?" Yuka asked.
    "Funny old guy, rambled on about things that didn't make sense, would appear and disappear abruptly..," the young man rambled, waiting for the light of recognition to appear in Yuka's eyes.
    Yuka remember the old man and his quiet companion.  She had only met the old man twice, but both times, he had given her things to reflect on.  She hadn't spoken with him in quite some time.
    "So, you're-" Yuka began.
    "His second disciple.  The girl you saw was his fourth," the young man told her.
    "....who was he?" Yuka inquired.
    "It's not important anymore.  He's left the game," the young man responded.
    "The game?  And who are you?" Yuka asked.
    "I'm not important either.  Just another nameless wanderer, just like the old man.  As for the game... you might learn of it, you might not.  The game reveals itself.  People don't reveal it," the young man spoke cryptically before walking off.
    A strong wind kicked up, temporarily blinding Yuka.  Instead of vanishing by the time Yuka opened her eyes, the young man was still in sight, only he was hurrying behind a building.  Deciding that mysterious people had their right to be mysterious (and painfully bothersome), Yuka turned around and was about to leave too, when her VG card beeped, much like an annoying pager would beep.  The only difference being that she couldn't crush her VG card and throw it at someone she hated.
    Sighing, Yuka looked for the nearest phone.  She caught sight of one and hurried to it.  She clicked down one corner and a tiny slot opened on the phone.  Yuka slid her card in and picked up the phone.
    "Yuka!  Long time no see!" exclaimed a voice on the other end.
    "Elena?  Is that you?" Yuka inquired.
    "Yep.  And you won't believe where I am, either," Elena responded.
    Yuka blinked as it sounded like Elena's voice was actually getting closer.  She turned to see Elena standing right behind her, carrying a cellular phone.  Elena had chosen casual wear.  Casual for her was a blue bikini-esque top only minus the shoulder straps, a black mini-skirt and a red leather jacket.
    "Elena!  You look.... different... with all your clothes on," Yuka remarked, hanging up the public phone and taking her card back.
    Elena chuckled.
    "Of course.  Anyway, I came up here to see how you were doing," Elena responded.
    "Okay, I guess," Yuka responded.
    "You 'guess'?" Elena inquired.
    "Let's go back to my apartment and I'll explain it all," Yuka responded.
    With that, both girls began walking.

    Reimi Jahana read the report again.  Everytime she read the report, it didn't come out sounding right.  The fire department had stopped fires in room where there had been nothing flammable at all.  It was almost as if someone had been running around causing undue damage to the Tournament Hall for some reason.  And seemingly with fire-based attacks too.  But almost no one in VG was able to generate that much energy in that little time.  Well, no one who had been present was able to use energy attacks of that type or quantity.
    "I'll find whoever did this and teach them a lesson," Reimi growled.
    "Uh, ma'am..," Faceless Witless Minion #6 inquired, finally speaking up after ten minutes of uncomfortable silence.
    "What is it?" Reimi demanded.
    "Um, I was wondering if you were going to require-" the Faceless Witless Minion began.
    "No," Reimi responded.
    "Very good ma'am.  Can I take the rest of the day off?" the Minion asked.
    "Fine," Reimi answered, rubbing her eyes and yawning as the Minion scuttled out of the room.
    Reimi glanced at the papers in front of her and decided to head home as well.  Until the recovery team got through with salvaging what remained of the security tapes, there was no point in just sitting around grumbling about her job.  A thought struck her.  She'd call an escort service and have some fun on the town if nothing came up by the weekend.  It had been a while since she had last let herself enjoy a night on the town.

    Yuka and Elena had just gotten off the elevator when both girls noticed that Yuka's apartment door was now laying eight pieces on the floor.  Inside her apartment, both girls heard faint noises of someone still rummaging around.  Elena and Yuka entered the apartment as quietly as possible and scanned it for the intruder.
    Then, they caught sight of someone with long dark hair wearing a darkly colored vinyl jacket and black vinyl pants.  The figure was hunched over a dresser drawer that Yuka recognized as her panty drawer.
    "HEY!" Yuka shouted.
    The figure seemed to glance at Yuka and Elena before darting to a nearby closed window and leaping through said window, ignoring the fact that the intruder had apparently opened the window just to the left of the now broken window.
    Both girls noted that the intruder was female.
    "Who was she?" Elena asked.
    Yuka didn't answer.  Instead, she leapt out of the window after the intruder.

===============================================================================================

    Yuka versus the mysterious intruder!
    Jun and Manami recover!
    The Game continues!
    And the identity of the chiclet/M&M/Skittles girl!


    Next, Chapter 4: The Goddess of Dischord


    Explanations and Bios:

    Yes, the young man is the same one from the opening and the young girl was Angel.  Like I said in the first chapter, he's going to be a helpful advisor to Yuka and teacher to Angel.  This guy ain't out to steal the spotlight, but rather to dramatically hide behind the scenery and help the actors with their lines.  And maybe occassionally beat the crap out of an uppity stagehand.

    Angel is going to join VG in this series.  It'll take a while, but still...

    As for the first disciple of the old man, the answer can be found in the anime.  Listen and watch for the person who the old man calls a "heretic" in the dubb version.  Yes, this is BS, but it's my BS, so live with it.  If you don't have the anime or can't find the scene, I'll give a bio to tell you who it is.

    Manami's energy attack was inspired by an attack I saw her do.  It's basically an amplified version of that particular attack.


    Visit my new VG page at: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/3968/variable/avg.html
    And if anyone has or knows of a page where I can find pictures of K1, K2, Miranda Jahana or Material, I'd really appreciate it if you dropped me a line at: akun15@hotmail.com and labelled the subject [Advanced Variable Geo].

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