* * *

"Let me get this straight," Cobalt asked as she and several
of her closest acquaintances sat in the back room of her
delicatessen. "In the last week and a half we've just mysteriously
*lost* five people?"

"Graphite was the first," Achorite replied. "Then Silicon,
Germanium and Lead. Tin disappeared just this morning when she was
supposed to be watching Marcasite and Opal."

Wow.  Pluto's been a busy little girl. :-)

Just in case you're wondering, I not buying the "Graphite did it all" for a
minute.  The idea that Pluto would let all these refugees run around free
run absolutely contradictory to the previous chapters.  Why?

A)  She has a much different perspective on the situation.  To the other
senshi, this is just another threat.  Pluto however, was actually ALIVE
during the fall of the Moon Kingdom.  These are the same monsters that
destroyed her home, life and family.  They killed her queen.

B)  Yes, Usagi has told the others to let the refugees be.  However, since
when has Setsuna ever taken orders from Usagi?  She had the ability to bring
Uranus and Neptune back in line from day one.  She didn't.

C)  Graphite doesn't strike me as particularly patient.  The deaths depicted
here are her idea, but does she have the brains and subtlety to pull off the
ones before?  You don't portray her as having them.  She doesn't even bother
fleeing the scene of her own handiwork.

Who could have done this? Sailor Mercury shook her head in
disgust and horror. Also, some little part of her mind asked, why
didn't the dead youma crumble into dust like those she was familiar
with?

Because these are the ones that have subsisted on human food as opposed to
life energy.

"I've done what you've always been too cowardly to do,
Cobalt. I'm getting rid of the defective half breeds before they can
ruin it for the rest of us!"

Another clue that Graphite can't be blamed for all the deaths.  She doesn't
take credit for the previous deaths

Cobalt boggled. Besides their ages, the two women in front
of her spoke in a suspiciously similar tone. They could be sister...
or mother and...

By george, he's almost got it!

"Your friend is going to be okay," Usagi continued. "Ami is
a very good doctor and this is her mother's hospital," she
explained, confirming Cobalt's suspicion.

*sigh*  Usagi is entirely too trusting for her own good.

Usagi nodded. "Does it have to be from people?" she asked,
getting up and sitting down next to Cobalt.

Good question.  How much life energy does a cockroach have?  Might not be a
lot, but THOUSANDS of cockroaches...

"We'll help," Usagi said. "You can drain me as much as you
need to help all your friends come to this world. I don't know how
the others feel, but I bet would could find others willing to help.
People donate blood all the time, after all. Why not donate energy?"

Oh boy.  Do you realize that Cobalt's group can PAY for energy?  I mean,
they're throwing around precious stones like they were nothing.  They rent
apartments and set up stores without ever worrying about where the money is
coming from.  Heck!  They could run it as a homeless shelter!

In addition, there is some people they can drain with impunity.  How would
the senshi look, bringing a murderers murderer to justice?  They wouldn't
look good at all.  A quick trip through a maximum secuirity prison could
rake in a lot of energy, which the senshi would have to break in to stop.
By then, the youma are already gone.

~to be continued...

If you couldn't tell, I'm playing pretty fast and loose with the
Sailor Moon backstory, taking elements from both the Manga and the
Anime where it suits me, mostly for the sake of fleshing out the
horror that the Dark Kingdom has become out of the horror that it
was when Beryl and the Generals were alive. Some of the backstory
elements I've manufactured whole cloth for the sake of the story.
I hope they're not too distracting.

I'm going to restate my earlier comments:  Cobalt's group is a truly
terrifying enemy.  It all boils down to the fact that they're desperate.
They have a lot more motivation than any previous foe.  Sailor Moon and
Mercury may trust them, but its pretty obvious that the others don't and the
refugees have to be seeing that.


             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'