[SM/AMG][FanFic] Crystal Kingdom Archives: Aa! Megami-Senshi!, Part Three: Aa! Megami-Senshi!

[Bill Hartwell]

Arriving at the top of the stairs to see the Senshi in their battle
garb, and then Belldandy in her armor, had been unsettling. Whatever the
cause, when Urd and Skuld joined the ranks of the battle-ready, Mara
knew she couldn't hold back. If what Kami-Sama (her FATHER?) had said
was right, the only choice she COULD make was to join her sisters.

Now Skuld wanted her to give up any information she could on Jörmungandr
- information she wasn't sure she possessed. The Serpent was one of
those things nobody ever discussed; it was as pointless as discussing a
mountain. You simply noted its existence and planned to accommodate it -
preferably by avoiding it. Hunting it down and attacking it was sheer
lunacy, yet that was obviously what the others planned.

"I guess I've lost my mind, too," Mara sighed, then flashed a grin at
the others. "Hey, you've got to be insane to think of fighting with
Jörmungandr. So count me as insane."

"Insane or not, Belldandy's right," Skuld said. "When it attacked
Keiichi, it forfeited its life. The Senshi may assume they can't kill
it, but I'm not going to plan for anything less."

"I just wish I could help more," Mara said. "The problem is, Jörmungandr
isn't something that was talked about much. Think of it as being the
demonic equivalent of a glacier. When it was discussed at all, the topic
was how to avoid being anywhere near it when it got angry. Aside from
the venom and the jaws powerful enough to bite through an ox as if it
were a stalk of celery, there's the sheer size of it. The only time I
can remember it throwing a tantrum, it caused earthquakes."

"Important safety tip: don't get under it," Urd said with a grin. "So
how do we find it? Go fishing the way Thor did?"

"Proof that Kami-Sama watches over the feeble-minded," Mara grumbled.
"Does Thor EVER think with anything but his fists?"

"Yes," Urd replied, with more than a touch of acid sweetness. "Sometimes
he thinks with his belly. And sometimes his thought processes are a few
inches lower."

Skuld stared in surprise at Urd. Mara chuckled softly; given Urd's
history, the idea of her being even slightly less than blatant must be
something of a shock. If it helped keep her from getting complacent, it
was a good thing. Mara had seen too many elder demons get complacent and
get taken down by younger, supposedly weaker, demons. Even if the Gods
didn't have to worry about that kind of competition, complacency could
make them vulnerable to any enemy - not just underlings.

"Oneesan? Are you feeling ok?"

"Just fine, Bug. I just don't think we have the luxury of waiting for
you to finish yelling at me about being a pervert." Urd winked at Mara
and added, "By the way...when we're finished here, remind me to see if I
can find out what that word means, ok?"

"What that word means?" Skuld asked, confused for a moment. As
realization dawned, she turned a beautiful pink and gave what Mara was
sure was the only response she could manage in the circumstances.
"Biiih!"

########

When Bill named what was to blame for Keiichi's problem, I prayed he was
wrong. The Death Phantom had nearly killed us all once, and it had taken
the lives of both Usagi and Chibi-Usa to destroy it. At least, until now
we'd believed it was destroyed. I called up my computer and studied the
energy patterns left by the creature that had possessed Keiichi.
Unfortunately, the energy matched that used by the invaders from
Nemesis. That meant the Death Phantom had to be involved.

"Ami? What do you think?" Usagi asked, giving me that trusting look I
couldn't resist.

"I think we need to call the Ayakashi Sisters." I closed my computer and
tucked it away before looking at the others. "They had enough contact
with the Death Phantom before you healed them that maybe they'll be able
to give us ideas. If they're willing to dredge up those memories, at
least."

"I'm sure they will, once they know what's at stake," Usagi said. "As
much as they want to be ordinary women..."

"Yeah, as much as a certain princess we once knew wanted to be an
ordinary girl," Rei teased, giving Usagi an excuse to start the wail we
all knew so well.

When they started a tongue-war, I relaxed. Somehow, no matter how hard
it turned out to be, I knew we'd be able to find a way to win. I glanced
around the room and noticed the others had relaxed a little - except for
Mamoru and Bill, but that wasn't surprising. They're both far too
sensitive to women's tears; even Usagi's "Why are you so mean to me?"
wail tended to make them tense up. I found myself hoping we would never
face an enemy who used women's tears as a weapon.

"I've got Cooan on the phone," David announced. "Anything I should tell
her other than 'haul ass over here'?"

"Don't you think you could put it a little more politely than that?"
Minako asked. "Politeness is the oil of society."

I wonder sometimes where she comes up with those sayings, but at least
this time it made sense. Bill nuzzled the back of my neck and gave me a
quick hug before heading for the front door, just a moment before the
bell rang. Meanwhile, Minako and David argued about whose definition of
politeness should apply, and Makoto brought a tray of daifuku and
onigiri from the kitchen.

"We would have been here sooner, but we had a small crisis in the
laboratory," Fluorite said, throwing Rusty a look that was somewhere
between worried and annoyed. I know that look far too well; I find
myself throwing it at Bill often enough when he loses track of time in
the lab.

"It wasn't really a crisis," Rusty said. "I just couldn't leave until I
was certain the project Urd and I were working on was safely shut
down."

That was a scary thought. The only thing I could think of that Rusty and
Urd had in common was their mutual interest in alchemy. Given Fluorite's
tales of some of the things Malachite - the Earth Kingdom's court
alchemist - had done, I was very happy Rusty did his experiments in
their apartment, rather than our house.

"What were you working on?" Bill asked. That's just like him: while I'm
thinking about what would happen if Rusty blew up their apartment,
Bill's mad scientist instincts have him asking what the project was.

"Just an anti-demon weapon. And, no, you don't get to know what it is
until I'm ready to test it," Rusty said, grinning shamelessly. "Now,
what's the emergency? David sounded really upset."

"We'll talk about it when everyone else is here," Bill said, glancing at
Usagi. When she nodded in agreement, he added, "Once we're done talking,
maybe you should get back together with Urd and finish that weapon.
Fast."

"Fast, huh? It must be pretty serious," Rusty said, then jabbed a finger
in Bill's chest and growled, "The weapon is MINE. I'm NOT going to have
you shuffling me aside the next time trouble pops up. Got it?"

Wow. I'd known Rusty was frustrated about being left behind when we
fight, but I hadn't realized he was that frustrated. The problem was, we
were so used to thinking of our friends and family as people to protect,
that it was hard to think of them as wanting to - let alone able to -
fight with us. The look on his face made it clear he wasn't going to
take no for an answer.

"I got it," Bill laughed, swiping at Rusty's hand. "But only if you give
David your sizes so he can whip up some clothes for you."

"What? You don't like tweed?"

"I like it just fine - when it's made of MacManusite." Bill grinned,
then glanced at Setsuna. "Will Sarah be coming?"

"No," Setsuna said. "You know how firmly she believes in her pacifism.
She'll come if we need her medical skills, but now we need to plan for
fighting."

"I understand," Bill sighed. "I'll never understand it, but I'm sure she
doesn't understand my need to fight, either. Oh, well. David, did you
get through to Naru?"

"No. I'd guess she started here right after Belldandy got Mara; she's
right out front." David sounded almost as smug as Luna. "The sisters are
on their way, too."

"We can bring them in on this when they get here," Usagi said, moving to
open the door. "Naru! You're just in time! Makoto made some daifuku, and
we've got to make sure they get eaten."

"Only you," Naru laughed as she took off her shoes. "Only you would
think of your stomach when everyone around you has long faces."

"That's Usagi," Rei grumbled, flashing a quick smile at Naru where Usagi
couldn't see. "Always thinking with her stomach. Especially now that
she's pregnant."

"That's right, Rei," Usagi said, turning to look at her. "And here's
something for you."

Within moments, the two of them were deep in another tongue war. I waved
Naru over, and we joined the rest around the table. Makoto poured tea
for all of us and we settled in to relax and wait for Usagi, Rei, and
the Goddesses to join us.

########

Keiichi turned his head and groaned as he felt his cheek press against
some kind of chains. He opened his eyes and looked up to see Belldandy,
wearing a shirt made of tiny chain links. She looked down and smiled at
him, warming his heart with her love. His vision cleared; enough to tell
that she was wearing a helmet, and her eyes were shadowed by...sorrow?
Anger? He couldn't tell for sure.

"Bel-chan? What happened?" He asked, reaching up to touch her. As he
raised his hand, he noticed there was something in it. When his hand
came into his field of view, he saw he was holding her earrings.
"Belldandy? Your limiters...what?"

Belldandy touched his lips with her fingers and shook her head slowly.
Suddenly, she pulled him to her in a crushing hug, sobbing softly
against him. When she released him, she pushed him to arm's length and
looked into his eyes with an expression of profound relief. He didn't
know what had happened. For that matter, he didn't remember how he'd
ended up back in their bedroom, or in her lap.

"We're going to war," Belldandy said. "Jörmungandr tried to get to us
through you, and I am not going to allow that."

"Jörmungandr?" Keiichi asked, trying to remember if or where he had
heard that name before. "Going to war?"

"Yes. We are going to war against Jörmungandr and its minions."
Belldandy paused and hugged him again, then whispered, "It sent a demon
to possess you and get inside the wards. Sailor Moon healed you,
but...I'm sorry, Keiichi-san. You were possessed for almost a week, and
I didn't sense it."

"I love you, Bel-chan," Keiichi murmured. "If you didn't sense it, it
must have been very well-hidden." He paused a moment and looked up into
her eyes, hoping she could see how much he loved her. "Almost a week?
What did it do?"

"It made us believe you were so depressed that you were almost
suicidal," Skuld said softly. Keiichi looked in the direction of her
voice and started in surprise when he saw she was wearing armor, too.
"It wasn't until Kami-Sama called us to an audience that the truth came
out."

"Kami-Sama...called you...here?" Keiichi asked, surprised. They weren't
even in their own world, yet He had called them?

"He did," Belldandy said. "He called us to tell us we are needed here to
help this world deal with a great crisis. It's necessary for us to
become warriors again, for a time."

"Then...you're going to need me...somehow." Keiichi knew he couldn't let
them fight without helping somehow, but how could he help against
something so powerful Belldandy had taken off her limiters to fight it?

"I need you to be safe," Belldandy said gently, looking at him with that
pleading expression he couldn't resist. "We're expected downstairs in
three minutes, to plan how to attack the enemy."

"Then we should go," Keiichi said, standing unsteadily. "Umm..." He held
out the earrings uncertainly.

"Keep them for me?" Belldandy suggested. "You can give them back after
we defeat it."

########

Sometimes Luna can be so irritating. I was curled up on Minako's bed,
trying to catch up on some sleep, when she came through the window and
landed on me like a volleyball.

"Get up, you lazy furball!" she yelled, while I was still trying to peel
myself off the ceiling. "They're in trouble and we've got to help
them!"

"Whoa! Slow down! Who's in trouble?" Nobody ever claimed I was lightning
when I woke up. Normally I like a good stretch and some food to get my
brain working in the morning. On the other hand, it was pretty obvious
that Luna was upset.

"The Senshi! I don't know what's wrong, but David called and insisted we
need to be at Ami's house as fast as we can get there."

"Maybe they've just found a way to send the Goddesses home." I knew I
had to try to inject some sanity into this situation; Luna was jumpy
enough to have me looking around for rocking chairs. "You know they
wouldn't want to leave without saying good-bye to us."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that." Right on schedule, she put on her 'I
knew it all along' expression. What is it about that cat that makes it
impossible for her to gracefully admit defeat? And what is it about her
that makes her so irresistible?

"Well, now that you have, why don't we head over there?"

I hopped off the bed and put on my human appearance. No sense in walking
when we could take human transportation. Luna gave an impatient sniff
before taking her human appearance, and we went to catch a cab.

David opened the front door as we approached Ami's house; when we got
inside, all of the Senshi were gathered in the living room, along with
Mamoru, Bill, Rusty, Fluorite, Naru, Keiichi, and Mara and the Goddesses
- all four of them in armor. Luna and I looked at each other worriedly;
I suspected she was wondering the same thing I was - what could inspire
the Goddesses and Mara to wear armor?

Usagi and Minako descended on us with glad cries; I don't know about
Luna, but I was certainly content to let Minako carry me across the
room. When we reached the table, I noticed it had been covered with a
touch-sensitive display panel, and Ami, Skuld, and Bill were deep in a
discussion of placing remote sensors around the city.

The display panel showed a map of Tokyo, with colored dots scattered
across it. Green dots clustered around familiar locations: the house,
the shrine, the university, Usagi's favorite shopping mall, Rusty and
Fluorite's apartment, Naru's apartment, Michiru's house, and the racing
park we'd visited the day before to see Haruka take another
championship. Besides the clusters I could recognize immediately, there
were dots in other locations, including the others' apartments and other
locations which popped up identifying tags when I touched them: the
hospital where Ami's mother worked, the property where the Palace would
be built, the abandoned temple where the Goddesses had arrived in this
world, and other spots that mostly had only one or two dots.

Besides the green dots, there were red dots in a few locations: forming
a circle around this house, at the shopping mall, and a few other
locations that I didn't recognize. When I touched one of the individual
red dots, it popped up a tag that said three tengu had manifested in
that location two days earlier.

"What's going on?" I asked, since Luna seemed content to say nothing.
Probably afraid to admit she didn't know.

"We're plotting where each of us have been since the Goddesses arrived,"
Ami said, "and comparing it to reported demon manifestations during the
same time."

"There have been a lot more than usual this week, haven't there?" I'd
have had to be as blind as a kitten to not notice that, so the question
was mostly rhetorical.

"Yes, there have," Ami said. "Our hope is that by plotting the demon
manifestations, we can determine where the Death Phantom's avatar makes
its lair."

"Death Phantom?" Luna shrieked, adding a pain in my ears to the pain
between them that mention of that creature had brought. "But it's not
supposed to attack Earth for another thousand years!"

"No, it's not supposed to make the attack that allows us to destroy
Wiseman for another thousand years," Usagi said. "This is the first time
it attacks us, from its perspective. So, while it may be impossible to
destroy it, we have to try. At least we can hurt it enough to banish it
for a thousand years."

"Why do you think the Death Phantom is here?" I asked. It seemed
far-fetched to me, but if they were planning on that basis, then it
would be nice to know why.

"One of its minions possessed Keiichi," Belldandy growled. The idea of
HER growling was even scarier than an angry Usagi. "We are going to make
it pay."

"My Lord told me what it is," Bill said. That tone was familiar: the
only question in his mind was how he was going to kill it. "It's going
to take all of us to defeat it, but we WILL defeat it."

OK, it wasn't much of a plan, but we could work on that later. There was
no question every one of them agreed, so we had to work out first how to
find the enemy, and then how to combine their powers to have the most
effect. I looked over the display panel for a moment, thinking.

"David, are you running this panel?" I asked.

"That's right, Artemis. What do you need?"

"Draw lines between the demon dots and let's see if they make a
pattern."

David drew the lines, and the map looked messier than it had before. I
couldn't make anything out of the chaos, so I looked up at the others in
hopes they could see a pattern.

"David, remove the dots and lines that go with any manifestations
related to us," Ami said, opening her computer with a grim look in her
eyes. When David complied, what was left was a five-pointed star,
centered on site we were preparing for the Palace, with demon
manifestations at all ten points, both inside and outside.

"Why does the Death Phantom have a fixation with those points?" Rei
grumbled. "Those are the same points Rubeus tried to control."

"You mean you don't know?" Mara asked, looking surprised. "Those points
are so magically active, that whoever controls them can control the
magic in the entire city."

"So a small force could conquer Tokyo, simply by taking control of those
points?" Ami said distractedly, while typing on her computer. "I wonder
what kind of magic they contain."

"The same kind that's in your Silver Crystal, or Mamoru's Golden
Crystal, or that item...an ankh, isn't it?...Bill keeps locked
upstairs," Belldandy said. "But it can be corrupted by a sufficiently
powerful - or knowledgeable - evil force. Anyone here could do it, if we
were evil, but I doubt the demons of the past week are either powerful
or knowledgeable enough."

"That would explain why they tried so hard to control the points
before," Usagi said. "That also explains why we're going to have to
control them. Do you think maybe this is happening because the
construction crews have disturbed something at the Palace site?"

"Well, that is the focus, so it's possible," Ami said. "We'll have to
study it directly before I can be sure. Bill, I think it's time you
started wearing your ankh, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," Bill said. "Do you want me to go with you,
or someone else?"

"Skuld," Ami said. "Would you come with me? I think if you link your
goggles to my computer, we can get a lot more data than either of us
could alone."

"Yes," Skuld said, pulling out a pair of goggles that was strange enough
to make anything Bill created look positively mundane by comparison. "We
should have a backup team, though, in case anything happens while we're
there. Mara, Rei, Hotaru? Would the three of you be our backup?"

The three Skuld named quickly agreed, and once they'd transformed, all
five departed. Bill pointed at Urd and Rusty with a wicked grin.

"You two need to get back to work. If you've got a weapon in the works,
the sooner you get it finished, the better. Anything you need from us?"

Urd looked thoughtful (yeah, I know, hard to imagine, huh?) for a
moment, then shook her head. Rusty, on the other hand, nodded, while
grinning right back at Bill.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Can you get me one of those backpack
Super-Soakers, or make one out of MacManusite?"

"Uh...if you're putting something alchemical in it, you better believe
I'm making it out of MacManusite," Bill laughed. "Want anything else?
Pressure boost? Autofire? Cutting jet?"

"Cutting jet?" Rusty asked.

"Yeah. It's an old design a mechanical engineer I knew a few years back
doodled on a napkin once. Take out the standard nozzle and replace it
with a polished diamond nozzle with the opening only a few microns in
diameter. The stream comes out at a high enough pressure to slice
through most materials like a chainsaw."

I could imagine what he was describing far too easily. Something like
that could make plain water carve up a target as easily as Sailor Venus'
Crescent Beam.

"That's a nice idea, but not very practical if you want the option of
taking your target alive. I think a standard nozzle should be good
enough for now. But if you happen to make one of those others for later
use, I wouldn't object." Rusty's grin made it clear he was understating
his interest by a lot. "If you could give it an electric pump, so I
don't have to pump it up by hand, that'd help a lot."

"No problem. It'll be ready by tomorrow. Keiichi, you want to give me a
hand with that?" Bill gave Keiichi a smile that, while it wasn't as
radiant as one of Usagi's, was still warm and inviting.

"Uh...sure," Keiichi said, looking to Belldandy for reassurance. When
she smiled and nodded, he rose to his feet and looked toward the lab. It
was nice to see he wasn't scared of Bill any more. I guess that had been
the demon's fault, too.

"Well, we should check out the other points, don't you think?" Usagi
asked the room in general. "Luna, Artemis, if you two stay here, you can
keep watch over all of us through David, right?"

Luna gave me one of her inscrutable looks; sometimes I wonder just what
that cat is thinking - other times she makes me glad to be alive. I had
the feeling this wasn't going to be one of those times, though.

"Assuming someone doesn't fall asleep on the job, we'll be watching over
you," Luna said. No doubt about it - she was in one of THOSE moods. The
best thing to do was just pretend I didn't hear her unless it directly
bore on our job.

"All right," Usagi simply pretended she hadn't noticed Luna's tone as
she started distributing people. "Haruka, Michiru, would you two take
this point here? It's close enough to the Imperial Palace that I want
our most powerful team in case anything happens. Mamoru and I will take
this point, so we can back you up if you need it. Or you can back us up.
Chibi-Usa, would you and Setsuna take this point? That leaves this one
for Makoto and Minako. We'll all back each other up, and when a team is
certain their point is clear, Artemis and Luna will give the next point
to clear. Belldandy, Fluorite, I'd like you to fly cover for all of us,
if you would? Naru, do you feel confident with your memories of demon
magic?"

"Not really, but I'll do what I can when you call," Naru said. Where do
you want me?"

"Stay here, I think. That way David can direct you to where we need you
the most if we do. OK, does anyone have any questions before we go?"

It still surprises me when Usagi does that; I think it surprised the
others, too. Nobody questioned her, not even Belldandy, and as soon as
they'd transformed, they were gone.

"You know, her transformation from Usagi to Serenity is a whole lot more
impressive than her transformation to Sailor Moon," Rusty said with a
grin. "She's going to surprise the hell out of a lot of people over the
years, unless she decides to keep outsiders from knowing that Usagi and
Serenity are the same person."

"That's probably a good idea," Bill said. "I've noticed there are
already people who think Sailor Moon is somehow divine. Imagine how
they're going to think of Serenity in a thousand years. Not my idea of
fun."

I had a good idea of what he meant. Even in the Silver Millennium, there
was a cult that had worshiped Queen Serenity - and it had annoyed the
hell out of her. But how do you make people stop worshiping you? All she
had been able to do was exactly what Rusty was suggesting: create an
identity that nobody associated with Queen Serenity, and retreat to that
identity whenever she wasn't called upon to be Queen.

David cleared the old dots from the display panel and began displaying
the positions of the Senshi as they moved toward their targets. Luna and
I settled in to coordinate their actions as those still in the house
moved off on their errands.

########

The construction site was a mess. Tools and equipment were scattered as
if the workers had dropped them in the midst of panicked flight. The
ground had been excavated at least 100 feet deep; even in the middle of
the afternoon it was dark at the bottom. Skuld could feel the evil
radiating from the shadow, strong enough that she didn't need her
goggles to identify it. It was definitely Jörmungandr.

Sailor Mercury activated her visor and started working with her
computer. Skuld looked at her, amazed at how calm she appeared. She was
just a mortal, but she looked less bothered by their surroundings than
Skuld felt. Gritting her teeth, Skuld brought out her goggles and began
studying the pit.

"Do you see the streams of energy pouring into the hole?" Sailor Mercury
asked. "It looks to me like they're coming from the points."

"I see them," Skuld said. "They don't look as if they've been corrupted,
so it must be just feeding on the energy. If we can cut off the energy,
we can weaken it."

"And to cut off the energy, we'll need to control the points," Sailor
Mercury said. "Now, what Rubeus did makes sense. They must have thought
that capturing the points in our time would prevent us from ever using
them to build Crystal Tokyo."

Skuld nodded. Her goggles had transmitted all the available data about
the energy to Sailor Mercury's computer, so she adjusted them to try
seeing into the darkness. If there was an avatar, there should be some
sign of it. If not...well, she didn't want to think of that possibility,
but she couldn't find any signs of anything living in the pit.

She raised her attention to the surrounding territory, and noticed they
were no longer alone. There were men dressed in heavy denim coveralls,
like she'd seen before around construction sites. These men, however,
didn't look like they were interested in building anything.

"We have company," Skuld said, pocketing her goggles and bringing her
hammer to a ready position. "Where are the others?"

"Mara's above us, Sailor Mars is on that crane over there, and Sailor
Saturn is on the construction office trailer." Sailor Mercury nodded to
two different sides of the construction site.

When Skuld looked, she saw Sailor Mars crouched atop the cab of a crane
that had been used for hauling dirt out of the pit. Sailor Saturn was
standing on the roof of a trailer on the other side of the property,
with her glaive braced on the roof beside her left foot. From their
positions, they could strike either side of the approaching mob. Between
the five of them, Skuld was pretty sure they could handle what looked
like maybe two dozen construction workers.

########

**Try to not hurt them, ok? They're not responsible.**

**I know. Sailor Moon?**

**We're on our way. If you can herd them without hurting them until we
get there, we should be able to heal them.**

I wasn't sure I would be much use if that was what she wanted. I can
kill and I can heal, but herding people - especially those who are
demon-possessed - isn't something I'm good at. I wished Chibi-Usa were
there, but she was investigating one of the points of the star; I had to
trust that she would be ok, and that what she was doing would make a
difference in our situation.

Sailor Mars opened with Snake Fire, sending it across their path to keep
them away from the pit. It made sense: if she could feel the evil
emanating from that pit as strongly as I could, the last thing we wanted
was for those men to reach it. Sailor Mercury backed up Mars with a
spray of freezing bubbles, inspiring me to add a little fog of my own.

"Silence Glaive Surprise!"

Mercury's bubbles may be good at obscuring vision, but the fog they
produce compares to my fog the way a mountain breeze compares to a
typhoon. I could hear them running into things, including each other,
and knew the only chance they'd have of getting out of it was blind
luck.

**Sailor Mercury, do you know how many there are?**

**I counted eighteen. Both of you stay where you are. Mara's going to
try sleep-bombing them.**

At that, Mara dropped from her position until she was only about ten
meters up, and tossed several crackling blue spheres of energy into the
fog. I heard a lot less moving around after that; when I let my fog
down, there were only four of them still moving. Skuld moved in with her
hammer, and shortly none of them were moving. I suspected they'd be very
unhappy when they woke. Then again, Sailor Moon would probably heal the
lumps on their heads along with everything else when she got here.

I was about to leap off the trailer I'd chosen as a perch when I noticed
something strange: the machinery around the pit was moving.

**Sailor Mars! Jump!**

As she leapt from the crane, its boom swung, bringing the bucket around
like a flail. Sailor Mars wasn't in any position to stop it, and Sailor
Mercury didn't have any attack that could do the job, so it was up to
me.

"Death Ribbons!"

The ribbons, so much like those I remembered from when I had destroyed
the Moon Kingdom, flew out and reduced the crane's bucket and cable to
dust. Fluorite was certain to be happily surprised when he learned I'd
finally managed to use the spell properly. Releasing the power is easy;
limiting it as much as the Death Ribbon spell required had always been a
problem for me.

As if the destruction of the crane's bucket were a signal, every other
vehicle on the site came to life and began moving toward us.

**Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, we've got to get between the vehicles and
the men. Sailor Mercury, send Skuld up with Mara and have them do what
they can to funnel the vehicles toward us.**

Mercury and Mars leapt to join me in the space between the unconscious
men and the pit. Skuld floated into the sky and began using her hammer
to disable and upend any vehicles that attempted to get past us around
the trailer. Mara fired into the vehicles that attempted to get around
the other side of the unconscious crowd.

A truck charged me, its grill blossoming into a ring of jagged metal as
it attempted to either impale me or run me down. I was in terrible
physical condition for so long, I don't waste my time trying to fight
with an enemy. I just brought my glaive down on its hood and gave it a
shot of Death Ribbons.

While the truck was being reduced to dust, I glanced toward the others.
Sailor Mercury had a bulldozer frozen solid in a block of ice, and
Sailor Mars was using her Burning Mandala on a backhoe. Above us, Skuld
and Mara were doing a better job of covering our flanks than I'd hoped
when I'd sent them up there. Either the enemy was running out of
weapons, or those two were remembering they were supposed to be Viking
Goddesses. Or maybe both; I only had to destroy two more vehicles before
the enemy was reduced to launching tools at us. Small missiles are
almost impossible to destroy, so I just threw up a Silence Wall and let
them bounce off it.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

The sound of Sailor Moon's arrival was a major relief. If she could get
the construction workers healed and out of there, we could cut loose on
the enemy without worrying about innocent bystanders. I heard people
starting to move behind us, moments before both Sailor Mars and myself
were knocked to our knees by a wave of pure concentrated evil pouring
out of the pit. The enemy apparently didn't like what Sailor Moon had
done.

When my vision cleared, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon, and Tuxedo Kamen
were standing around Sailor Mars and myself. Skuld and Mara were firing
blasts of energy into the pit, but they weren't doing anything to stop
the spreading sense of evil. At best, they were slowing it some.

**Something's coming through. We need reinforcements.**

**Are you sure?**

**She's sure. I'm afraid capturing the points will have to wait. I don't
know what's coming through, but if we let it loose, it will make
everything else moot.**

**OK, everyone, you heard Sailor Saturn. Finish whatever you're fighting
and get to the construction site as fast as you can. David, we need
everyone out here.**

**I heard that. I'm leaving Keiichi to finish this. I'll bring the
others with me. Albertus, don't say anything about this to Urd or Rusty
- not until Sailor Moon or I tell you it's ok.**

**I understand, Dad. You want them to finish this project.**

**Right. See you all in a bit.**

Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune arrived as Sailor Mars and I were
getting back to our feet. Their timing couldn't have been better: the
pit chose that moment to erupt, spewing demons of all descriptions.

########

>From 100 meters up, it was easy to follow the locations of the Senshi,
so Belldandy concentrated on trying to predict when and where the
enemy's attack would come. Teaming with someone who used death magic was
a strange experience, but Fluorite was powerful in his specialty. She
hoped they wouldn't have to use it, but was certain her hope wouldn't be
fulfilled.

**Oneesama! Sailor Moon wants everyone at the construction site! It's
bad.**

**We're on our way, Skuld. Be careful.**

**I will. Hurry. It feels like it's going to explode.**

"Fluorite-san! Sailor Moon wants us at the construction site!"

Fluorite nodded and changed his path to follow the route Sailor Moon and
Tuxedo Kamen had taken just a few minutes earlier. In the air, they
could travel faster than the Senshi did on the ground; they arrived over
the construction site as the pit in the center was spewing forth a horde
of demons.

The demons weren't very powerful; but even a tiger can be taken apart by
ants, if there are enough of them. And there were definitely enough
demons to threaten anyone on the ground. A moment later, there were
enough demons to threaten anyone in the air, too. Fluorite hissed and
conjured up a sword made of the spirits of the dead. Skuld and Mara
floated back-to-back, blasting any demon that came close enough they
could be certain of hitting it.

Belldandy raised her hands to destroy the demons, then paused.

<Better to keep my full power hidden until the decisive moment. There
are other ways to deal with this problem.>

"Spirits of the living, lend me your strength!
Let all that lives join me!
Cleanse this place of that which offends this world!"

Belldandy felt the energy flowing toward her from all directions: from
every living thing on the planet, all the way down to the spirits of the
rocks that made up its bones. Even the sun's energy flowed to her,
adding to the power of the light forming between her outstretched
hands.

**Skuld, get everyone away from here. Have them make their stand between
the buildings around this place.**

**Will you be alright, Oneesama?**

**I will, but if I don't use this energy soon, I'll have to throw it
into space to keep it from turning Tokyo into a crater.**

Skuld and Mara broke off and, gathering Fluorite in their wake, dove
toward Sailor Moon. Belldandy could feel the anger coming from Sailor
Uranus, countered by the firmness and love of Sailor Moon and Sailor
Neptune. Sailor Uranus was so much like Tyr...single-minded in battle,
and unwilling to surrender so much as a millimeter of ground to the
enemy. Thankfully, Sailor Moon trusted Belldandy, enough to order them
all to fall back.

The ball of energy was still growing, already dense enough to ionize the
air around her. Belldandy silently urged the others to greater speed.
The energy was already great enough she'd have to detonate it in the
ground to minimize the damage to anything outside the construction site
- and that could trigger an earthquake.

Below her, Belldandy saw that the others were having trouble getting
clear as quickly as she'd like. Sailor Saturn had erected a wall of
energy that kept the demons from getting past it in her area, allowing a
number of mortals to flee in safety. The others, however, had to fight
as they retreated - not only for themselves, but to also to keep any
demons that got around the ends of Sailor Saturn's wall from getting to
the mortals. Belldandy's frustration grew as time seemed to stretch into
infinity. She knew objectively that the others were moving as fast as
they could, but it seemed to take forever.

**OK, Belldandy. We're clear.**

**Thank you, Sailor Moon.**

With a loud sigh of relief, Belldandy hurled the ball of energy into the
pit, using her will to hold it together until it had struck the bottom.
The explosion was powerful enough to triple the size of the hole and
destroy everything between ground zero and the buildings surrounding the
construction site. The blast went far enough into the air that Belldandy
could sense an airliner being rocked by the turbulence it produced.

Belldandy floated to the ground near Sailor Moon and looked out on the
devastation, noting the shattered windows and weakened structures all
around the crater that had once been a construction site. She didn't
feel the enemy as strongly now, but she could tell it was still there.

"Well, I guess we won't have to worry about excavating," Sailor Moon
said softly. "But we'll have to pay for the damaged properties. Was
anyone hurt?"

"Only the demons," Belldandy said softly. "I don't know how many
escaped, but I'm certain some must have. There weren't enough of you to
block all the streets."

"I know. As soon as the others get here, we're going to have to start
hunting them."

########

Now I know what Hell must be like: an eternity in a Toyota mini-van with
four bickering sisters. Well, make that three. Once the fight started,
Beruche simply withdrew into herself and looked out the window at the
passing scenery. Not that Tokyo's all that scenic, but it was better
than the scenery inside the van. I wondered how Bill could stand driving
with all that noise in the back, until he turned his head and I noticed
he was wearing earplugs.

I was a worried. If the situation was bad enough to need all of our
talents, how much danger would they be in? They didn't have the power
they were supposed to have had when they had come to our time, since
that had come from the Death Phantom; I wondered if they'd learned any
magic to compensate, or if we were simply endangering them
unnecessarily.

By the time we were halfway there, the bickering had gotten loud enough
to bring tears to Beruche's eyes, and even Bill couldn't ignore it
anymore. So he started singing, of all things. Well, it seemed to work,
since the sisters shut up and stared at him with looks of confusion on
their faces. They understood English better than I did, but I don't
think 'ponn farr' is an English word. I was able to figure out that the
song had something to do with a starship crew that had been banned from
someplace called Argo, but beyond that, I was lost. If they were as
confused as I was, despite knowing English, the song must have been
stranger than I thought.

We were less than a dozen blocks from the construction site when the
entire sky in that direction lit up a brilliant blue-white. A moment
later, a wall of wind hit us hard enough to spiderweb the windshield.
Bill slowed for a moment, then picked up speed, then slowed again as he
was forced to thread through the stalled and wrecked vehicles blocking
the street.

"Beruche? Would you mind dousing that truck over there?" Bill asked as
we came up on a burning wreck. It was blocking enough of the street that
going around it would have been risking the van.

"I'll try," Beruche said uncertainly. She raised her hands and pointed
at the burning truck, gritting her teeth as she concentrated.

"Is no try. Is only do. Or do not." Bill said, using a strange accent
I'd never heard before.

"I can't," Beruche whispered, dropping her hands and looking tearfully
at the floor.

"Well then, we're screwed," Bill said cheerfully. "You're the only one
with the power to put out that fire, and if we can't get past that
truck, we can't help fight the Death Phantom. And if we can't help fight
the Death Phantom, there's a good chance it will win, destroy all of us,
and that's the end of it."

"No," Beruche whispered, while the other three stared at Bill with
shocked expressions. "It can't win. Not now. Not when we have a home we
love, and friends we love...."

Beruche's voice was rising; it sounded to me as if she was verging on
the hysterical. Bill simply sat silently, apparently waiting.

"I won't let it!" Beruche screamed, raising her hands to point at the
truck. "DARK WATER!"

A crescent moon blazed on her forehead, and a liquid battering ram
sprang from her outstretched hands, popped the windshield completely out
of the van, and hammered the burning wreck. Not only did it douse the
fire, the impact was powerful enough to push the truck aside, into the
front of a building.

"See? I knew you could do it," Bill said, throwing a smile at Beruche as
he put the van back into gear and continued toward our destination.

"Sheesh. Who turned Goku loose?" Bill asked as we came to a stop behind
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. "Not that I'd object to having him around
right about now, but...at least we don't have to worry about excavation
any more."

We got out, with Cooan, Petz, and Calaveras clustered around Beruche,
who looked as if she was still recovering from the shock of having
actually used a power she'd thought was lost. As much as I felt for
them, I was kind of glad they weren't bickering anymore.

"You got here awfully fast," Tuxedo Kamen said. "How did you manage
that?"

"There weren't many police along our route, and those that were, were
busy dealing with wrecks. But I wouldn't be surprised if the SDF showed
up soon."

"I wouldn't complain if they did," Sailor Moon said. "We need all the
help we can get, to seal off this neighborhood and to hunt any demons
that escaped Belldandy. Naru, can you tell how many might have
escaped?"

"That will take a few minutes," I said, stalling while I tried to
remember if there was any magic I knew that could do what she wanted. I
was pretty sure it could be done, but I wasn't certain of the technique.
I'd just have to try it and hope my memory would give me what I needed.

"That's ok," Sailor Moon said. "I have the others hunting on foot, but
that could take days - and still not get them all."

I settled on simply sensing any demonic energy in the area. It was
rough, but it should work. At least, that was what I thought until I
tried it. The energy from the pit was so overwhelming, it made it
impossible for me to tell if there were any other demons in the area.
Mara caught me as my knees buckled and held me until I could get myself
together again.

"Opening yourself like that is pretty dangerous," she whispered.
"Getting a nasty headache is the least you can expect."

"So I noticed," I said. "Thank you. I wish my memory were better. At
least my memory of magic."

"It'll come back to you, I think. It came back to her, didn't it?" Mara
nodded toward Sailor Moon.

Mara had a point. I was just going to have to improvise and hope it
worked out for me as well as it had for Usagi. I gave her a quick hug
and steadied myself on my feet, then searched my new memories for the
proper way to find the damned things.

########

Keiichi looked up with a resigned groan when Urd stuck her head through
David's monitor. He'd been running checks on the components of the water
gun he and Bill had designed, so at least he hadn't been at the keyboard
- but Urd's method of travel was still one of life's little
frustrations. She somehow managed, more often than not, to use whatever
TV or computer screen he was in front of.

"You got that ready?" Urd asked with that grin Keiichi only saw when she
was deep in the midst of one of her outrageous schemes.

"I have to put it together and test it," Keiichi said. "I take it you're
ready for it?"

"That's right! Rusty's putting the finishing touches on the ammunition
right now." Urd sounded her usual maniacal self, leaving Keiichi
wondering if Rusty realized just how dangerous her alchemy could be.

"All right," Keiichi said as he started piecing the weapon together.
"Just have a seat and I'll have this together in a couple minutes."

"Say, wasn't Bill supposed to be working with you?" Urd asked, looking
around curiously. The way she was poking at things made Keiichi very
happy the only active controls were in front of him.

"He was, but Sailor Moon called everyone to the construction site. They
left just a few minutes ago." Keiichi was quietly relieved by that. He
was still uncomfortable around Bill, despite the obvious love he had for
all of the Senshi. It wasn't as bad as the others seemed to have been
afraid of, but it was still hard to be comfortable with someone who
could kill someone he loved.

"Everyone? Why didn't anyone call us?" Urd grumbled. She was good at
that, in Keiichi's opinion. Then again, she had lots of practice, given
how often she was in trouble.

"Believe it or not, they WANT you and Rusty in the lab. If there's even
a chance you'll create a weapon powerful enough to help against this
enemy, they want it." Keiichi gestured at the parts in front of him as
he spoke, not letting Urd distract him from assembling the water gun.
"They left me behind because I'm not a fighter and because even with
Bill fighting, they need this thing finished."

The look on Urd's face was amusing. Given how they usually reacted to
the news she was in her lab, the idea that they WANTED her in a lab had
to be a shock. Keiichi gave her a quick smile; as irritating as she
could be, she was both his sister-in-law and his friend.

"They really think I'll be more help in the lab than fighting with
them?" Urd asked, her voice making Keiichi almost feel sorry for her.
She obviously couldn't decide whether that was a compliment to her
alchemy or a complaint about her fighting.

"Well, you know how it is...there's so many there, they're probably all
tripping over each other. Of course they think you'll be more help in
the lab. You're our only alchemist. Well, there's Rusty, but I don't
know how much of an alchemist he is - and I'm sure Belldandy and Skuld
don't, either. So we're counting on you. And since I'm the only engineer
here who doesn't fight, I've got to stay here in this lab to make sure
any weapons you might need are available." Keiichi held up the completed
water gun. "Here you go. It uses a hyperspatial energy tap to power the
pump, so you don't have to worry about it going dead. Instead of pumping
the water, we designed it to pressurize the tanks. All three tanks hold
about ten liters each, and this switch on the wand tells the system
which tank to draw from. I'm assuming Rusty plans to use it, so be sure
to warn him that he's going to have as much pressure as a fire hose.
Maybe more, depending on what he sets the pump for."

As Urd was looking over the pump with a calculating gleam in her eyes,
Keiichi picked up a net bag and began filling it with spare tanks.

"Bill thought Rusty would want a way to refill quickly, so we made a
total of twelve tanks for it. All he has to do is push and twist to
change them."

"Thanks, Keiichi." Urd grinned and took the bag. After all the time
they'd been under the same roof, he still couldn't be sure if that grin
was intended to be scary, or if she just couldn't help it. "It looks
like we're going to have to make a lot more than we'd thought. I LIKE
that."

Definitely scary - no matter how he explained it. But the others
believed it was necessary, so when Urd stepped back into David's monitor
with the water gun and spare tanks, he went into the living room to see
what the cats were up to.

########

Hunting demons is not my idea of a good time. I'd rather be shopping, or
designing a new outfit. Or teasing Mother and Father with hints of
things I might know that they don't. It all works out: Father teases me
about being sneaky, underhanded, and manipulative, and Mother trusts me
a lot more than she ever did before.

The explosion Belldandy had created - Father insisted on calling it a
Spirit Bomb - had eliminated all the demons that were still in the area
of the construction site, but it had also formed a crater nearly 300
feet deep, and destroyed the buildings all around the crater. Father and
the Inners were searching through the rubble for survivors, with the
help of Belldandy, Skuld, Mara, and Fluorite. The rest of us were
tracking demons. Unfortunately, they were far too easy to track. These
were high on viciousness and low on intelligence, so they left a trail
of destroyed lives behind them.

The first real trouble we ran into was with the police. Every police
force has them, from Queen Serenity I's day down to the present: the
kind of people who believe that wearing a uniform makes them somehow
superior to the rest of the human race, and therefore able to use and
abuse the civilians around them with impunity.

**Princess, before I do what I'm inclined to do, what do you want us to
do when the police interfere?**

Sailor Saturn was definitely angry, but remembering her responsibilities
enough to ask Serenity what she wanted done before doing it was a good
sign.

**Don't let them stop you, but don't kill them, either. Show us what's
going on?**

The policeman Sailor Saturn was facing was a familiar face. He was part
of a group of officers who ran a protection operation. I'd suspected he
was involved in more, but had never been interested enough to come up
with evidence that the authorities couldn't ignore. Now, he had his gun
aimed at Sailor Saturn, and was ordering her to drop her glaive.

**Princess, I know this cop. I suggest you allow Sailor Saturn to
cripple him. Maybe it'll get him off the streets long enough for a court
to ground him permanently.**

**Oh. He's one of those? In that case, don't kill him, but use your
judgment.**

The image from Sailor Saturn vanished. I wasn't worried; of all of us,
she was the least in danger from a gun she could see. And despite her
continued insecurity about her physical condition, she was at least as
good a fighter as Mother - and was much better when using her glaive. I
refocused my attention on the route I had chosen. I hadn't told any of
the others, but my primary reason for choosing this route hadn't been
because of how tempting it would have been to the demons - and it had
been far too tempting - but rather because it was the route the SDF was
most likely to follow when moving to investigate the explosion. I was
certain the size of the explosion had taken it out of police
jurisdiction and placed it into the military's purview.

I was just finishing off a demon that had clawed its way through a 7-11
when I was surprised by the sounds of gunfire behind me. When I spun to
look, I saw a demon, vanishing into mist, and four soldiers watching it
with disbelieving expressions. Further down the street, maybe half a
kilometer away, was a larger contingent of the SDF. It bothered me that
I hadn't heard these four drive up, but not as much as I'd have been
bothered if they hadn't been there to take care of that demon. I gave a
quick look around the front of the store; the demon hadn't left anyone
living, so there was no point in any delay.

"It's good to know these are vulnerable to bullets. What can you tell me
about your commander's attitude, Corporal?" The soldiers seemed
surprised by my attitude: probably too used to civilians being nervous
around them.

"Uh...."

This was one of those times the distraction value of our uniforms was an
annoyance, rather than a help. I pointed at the only one of the four who
wasn't acting like Saeba Ryo and repeated my question.

"Uh...you're civilian, ma'am. I don't know what he'll do."

Well, he was honest, at least. I'm sure the thought he might actually
have to use any special training had never crossed his mind. I knew the
SDF had formed a special division after Beryl's attacks on Tokyo, but it
was obvious from this soldier's reaction that none of them had expected
to ever USE their training.

"We'll just wait here for him, then," I said, turning to watch the
approaching vehicles. As they approached, I heard bursts of gunfire
every few seconds. I could only hope they were successful in their
encounters. Every demon they killed was one I didn't have to.

The soldiers and I held our position while the rest approached; when
they reached us, all except one HMV stopped about thirty meters away.
That one vehicle didn't stop until it reached our position. When I saw
the commander, I couldn't help feeling at least a little relieved. A
colonel had enough rank to be able to take action, but not so much that
he was above taking orders.

"Report!" the colonel barked, jumping out of the vehicle. The soldiers
with me all snapped to attention and saluted.

"Colonel Matsudaira, sir!" the corporal said. "We encountered and
destroyed one oni. Sailor Pluto requested that we wait here for you,
sir!"

I leaned on my key, the way Father leans on his staff when he uses one,
and gave the colonel one of those smiles that always gets Mother and
Father laughing. Knowing that the colonel came from an old samurai
family had me wondering whether he would be more or less responsive:
would he recognize the situation was over his head, or would he retreat
to classic Japanese attitudes because I'm a woman? The practical
response appeared more likely, but I had to be prepared in case the
other path was taken.

"Sailor Pluto," the colonel said, turning to look at me. "Does that mean
all of you are involved in this?"

"Yes. We're all involved. This is big enough that we need your backup -
and Princess Serenity needs to talk with the Emperor."

That got his attention. Unfortunately, it was true. The Emperor was
going to have to rally the people of Japan behind us in order to ensure
our victory. If he didn't, the Death Phantom would be able to use the
local spirits to augment its power.

"When Sailor Pluto shows up, all Hell is about to break loose," Colonel
Matsudaira muttered. I honestly did smile at that. If that's what they
teach the soldiers in their special training, it would make my job
easier.

"I'm afraid it's already breaking loose, Colonel. That's why we need
your help. The oni you've already destroyed are only the beginning.
They're weak, but they come in the millions. As long as your men have
enough ammunition, you can kill them. The more powerful ones, and their
leader, are our responsibility."

"And welcome to it!" the colonel said. "Those are bad enough. What can
you tell me about the situation ahead?"

"We've driven back the enemy for the moment. The oni are just those that
managed to escape the explosion. If you have a command post with a
decent computer in one of those vehicles, the Demon Hunter can give you
the locations of our people."

"How do you define decent? Our computers are standard issue NEC."

"As long as it has a GPS input, it's good enough. Dead scream." The
demon that had leapt from a nearby apartment building dissolved when my
blast hit it.

"Fall out! I want a squad to clear each building as we come to it. Don't
wait for one of those things to attack. Kill them on sight."

I could see how this man had risen through the ranks. His ability to
switch from discussion to tactical command in a heartbeat was something
that every army needed, but far too few officers had, especially during
periods of apparent peace.

"I have to ask...why is it you don't yell when you attack, the way the
others do?" Curious, too. Or, at least, concerned about the capabilities
of his allies. That gave him another point in my estimation.

"I don't normally have to. The last time I did was when the Koreans
attempted to invade a few centuries back."

"That...was...you?" The colonel's look of amazement was at odds with his
otherwise competent appearance. "Divine wind, indeed..."

"Trust me, I'm no more divine than you are. I'm simply one of Princess
Serenity's warriors. Shall we proceed to where she is?"

The colonel ordered all but his headquarters company to spread out and
hunt demons; I took a seat in his vehicle and warned Sailor Moon of our
approach. As planned, when we arrived at the point where the street
ended in the pit, Serenity and Endymion were waiting.

########

Pieces of rubble glowed red and vanished as Mara tunneled toward where
she'd sensed something living. According to Skuld, there were too many
people mixed in the rubble of the buildings to risk vaporizing all of it
at once. Those they'd found so far were already too badly injured to
risk dropping them again. Serenity, Chibi-Usa, and Endymion had long
since shed their combat uniforms in favor of their royal forms, and were
healing the injured as fast as they could be brought into the open air.
Mara hadn't realized that Endymion had a crystal of his own, just as
powerful as Serenity's - but now he was using it almost nonstop, just as
Serenity and Usagi were.

**Be careful, Mara. You're in an unstable spot.**

**I noticed, Skuld. Just tell me when I'm-**

The rubble around Mara shifted and closed in on her, requiring her full
attention. She could easily escape, but if she did, the trapped human
would die - and that would make Belldandy and the others sad. It was
kind of strange, worrying about what Belldandy felt, but it was nice,
too. She even partially understood why Belldandy was so worried. If it
hadn't been for her spirit bomb (Bill's name for it was amusing, but
appropriate), these buildings would still be standing. But Belldandy was
so worried about that, that Mara could see she wasn't thinking about
what would have happened if she hadn't bombed the excavation: she wasn't
thinking about how much larger and more dangerous the horde of demons
would have been.

Mara was just gathering her energy to disintegrate the rubble above her
when she felt the pressure against her back ease.

"Get a move on, will you? I'm not sure how long I can hold this." Bill's
voice from behind her was a shock. She'd thought he was working in the
next building over. A glance behind her revealed that he was standing in
the last relatively open spot she'd passed through, using his staff as a
pry bar to lift the piece of concrete that had trapped her just enough
to allow her to wriggle free.

"What's wrong? Too heavy?" Mara shot back with a smile, placing a hand
against the offending concrete and disintegrating it. Her smile vanished
in horror as the rubble that had been supported by that slab fell,
hiding everything around her in a cloud of cement dust. Suddenly, the
sense of one nearby trapped human was replaced by two - and the second
was her friend.

As the rubble settled, the sounds of fluent profanity coming from Bill's
direction reassured Mara that he was in better condition than her
original target, so she redirected her attention back toward her
original path.

**Will you be alright?**

**Yeah. Makoto's coming to dig me out. You just get that civilian,
ok?**

**OK. If you're sure.**

**I'm sure, dammit. You can let me spank you later, if you really think
you must. Just get that civilian!**

Mara could feel the pain in his thoughts, yet he wasn't reacting the way
humans normally did to that much pain; it was almost as if he was
accustomed to it. That, by itself, was an uncomfortable thing to
contemplate. She decided the best thing to do was rescue the human, and
if Bill was still stuck when she'd done that, she could return to rescue
him.

########

Important safety tip: never expect Mara to think ahead. She's as bad at
it as Urd. It must be the demon blood. Well, it was too late to do
anything about it now. All I could do was wait for Makoto to get to me.
At least I wasn't leaking any blood. Well, not much, anyway. Crushing
injuries are good for pinching off bleeding. Even the pain wasn't so
bad. Then again, I couldn't feel anything below my hips, so I really
didn't have much of a basis for comparison.

**How much more does she have to dig through?**

**532 centimeters. Make that 497. At the moment, she's moving through
small pieces of rubble. When she gets to the larger items, she's going
to be slowed dramatically.**

**Why not suggest a few blasts? It might speed things up...and I'm not
thinking clearly enough to focus on her.**

**Already done. Just relax and let her take care of it.**

It was hard to argue with Edgar's logic. I couldn't really do anything
where I was, so stressing over it would just increase my chances of
needing Fluorite's help when Makoto finally got to me. That would be
annoying. I closed my eyes and tried to relax - not that it was all that
easy in the position I was in. Lying head-down at a thirty-degree angle
on a bed of randomly sized chunks of broken concrete is not conducive to
relaxation.

"That was the most stupid, thoughtless, unforgivably careless..."

Just fucking great. Mara was beating herself up. I tuned her out for a
minute while checking my situation. No broken concrete pressing against
my back...check. Lying on a level surface...check. Sensation in my
legs...check. No pain...check.

"If you're quite through beating yourself up, Mara, would you give me a
hand sitting up?" I opened my eyes and sighed at the guilty expression
on her face. "Look, dammit, it was my fault for not remembering that you
have as much foresight as your sister. And for not wearing something
more like a hard shell. MacManusite fabric may be good armor against
knives, bullets, and energy blasts, but it's still just fabric. And
fabric doesn't do all that well against who knows how many tons of
broken concrete."

"But I should have realized-"

"Dammit, Mara, did you get the civilian?" I wasn't going to let her beat
herself up. I have too damned much experience with that to think it's
good for anyone - demon, goddess, or human.

"Yes, but-"

"But nothing. You did what you went in there for."

"He's right, Mara," Usagi said. "Now pipe down before you get Ami's
attention, ok? If she finds out he got himself hurt, she's going to be
very upset. We don't want that, do we?"

"Uh...no," Mara whispered. She glanced around, a worried expression
replacing the guilt. "No, I don't want Ami unhappy."

I took her hands and pulled myself up. Once I was on my feet, I dusted
myself off and gave her a quick hug.

"Hey, come on. You saved the civilian, Makoto and Usagi saved me, so
everything's all right, right?" When she looked as if she wasn't sure it
really WAS all right, I added, with a laugh, "If you're REALLY worried
about goofing up, I can always give you a spanking. I've never spanked a
Goddess before."

Usagi giggled as Mara's face went from embarrassed to disbelieving to
shocked and back to embarrassed again in a matter of moments. I had a
hard time restraining my own laughter at the sight. An embarrassed look
on Mara is so utterly out of character - out of her old character, at
least - that it's especially amusing to see.

"You wouldn't dare!" Mara sputtered, looking at me as if she wasn't sure
if I dared or not. I guess no matter how close we get, there'll always
be that little problem of my being a demon hunter to make her hesitate.

"You'll just have to find out, won't you? AFTER we rescue anyone who's
still alive. So let's get back to work, eh?"

I couldn't help laughing at the look that crossed her face then.
Obviously, she hadn't expected me to bounce back so quickly. I guess she
hadn't yet realized that Usagi's crystal is just as powerful as
Serenity's.

Usagi left us at that point and went running toward where someone had
dug out another civilian. Mara gave me one of those looks I'm always
getting from Ami and Setsuna - the look that's somewhere half-way
between worried and amused, although in her case, I'm sure it was
suspicious, rather than amused.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're one strange human?"

"Frequently. Did you rescue my staff, or is it still down in the rubble
somewhere?" Good. That distracted her. I could always make another
staff, but while she was trying to remember if anyone had retrieved the
staff, she wouldn't be thinking about me.

**Edgar? What do Ami and Skuld say about survivors?**

**Endymion is healing the last of them right now. All that's left in the
rubble are dead bodies. Good thing, too. Setsuna's bringing some of the
SDF.**

**I didn't miss them? Good. How long WAS I out?**

**Twenty-four minutes, thirty-two point eight seconds. Long enough for
Ami and Skuld to locate and identify every survivor, and the others to
excavate them.**

**Must not have been very many survivors.**

**There weren't. There weren't many casualties, either, though.
Apparently the occupants all found ways to be elsewhere when things
started getting violent.**

**Good.**

"We'll let the soldiers take care of recovering bodies, Mara. Edgar says
all the survivors have been recovered."

"Good. Now we can hunt the other demons, right?" Mara's the first person
I've ever met who's more hostile to demons than I am. I guess it's
because they're so different than she is - so much more evil.

"We should wait for the soldiers. Don't want them to shoot at the wrong
people."

"Like they could hurt me?" Mara grinned. "Let's go see how much trouble
they got into without us."

########

After one final scan of the rubble, Skuld tucked her goggles away. There
were no more survivors, and the rubble was as stable as it was going to
be until it was hauled away.

She flew over the pit to join Belldandy, who was talking with Serenity
and Endymion. It was hard to believe Serenity was the same woman as that
flaky, irresponsible, undisciplined menace to eardrums, buffets, and
tissue supplies known as Usagi. The discussion ended as Skuld was
landing, and Belldandy turned to smile at her.

"There will be soldiers here shortly," Belldandy said, "and we need to
let the King and Queen deal with them on their terms. Now would be a
good time for the three of us to hunt in the areas Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, and Pluto haven't reached."

"What about the balance?" Skuld had been worrying at that question since
the demon horde had appeared. In their world, a horde of minor demons
would require the existence of a matching horde of gods - yet she had
not detected any evidence that these demons had counterparts, or that
they had a similar connection, if there were counterparts.

"I don't think the balance works the same way here," Belldandy said. "I
think our friends are the primary agents for balancing evil in this
world."

"And they do it by killing," Mara said, announcing her arrival. "These
demons aren't like ours, we already know that. I don't see any problem
killing them."

"Then we're going to have to get busy," Skuld said. "I estimate that
there may be as many as 100 that escaped destruction. Even if they made
themselves obvious, the Senshi couldn't have reached more than half of
them."

"We should ask Naru and Fluorite to help," Mara said. "They know this
world's demons better than any of us."

"Why not Bill? Hunting demons is what he does," Skuld said.

"I almost killed him once already today," Mara said. "I'm not going to
risk a second time."

"Oh," Skuld said. "You know he'll be angry."

"Better angry than dead."

"Mara, I think you're worrying too much," Belldandy said. "I do agree he
should remain here, though. He's the only one of them who speaks
military. The King and Queen will need that."

Naru and Fluorite were with four women Skuld didn't immediately
recognize, all of whom had a little over a third as much magical power
as the Senshi. It was the hairstyle one of the dark-haired ones wore
that reminded her of who they must be. The friendly way Naru and
Fluorite were talking with them was something of a surprise, until she
remembered that those four were supposed to have been freed of
Jörmungandr's influence by Sailor Moon.

"Mara!" Naru cried happily, running to embrace her. Mara blushed,
obviously still not used to being the recipient of honest affection, and
returned Naru's embrace. "You've got to meet the sisters! This is
Beruche, and this is Cooan, and this is Calaveras, and this is Petz.
They used to be minions of the Death Phantom, but that was a long time
ago. Now they're our friends. Girls, this is my best friend Mara, and
this is her little sister Belldandy, and this is her other little sister
Skuld. Urd isn't here right now, but that's ok. You'll meet her later.
They're Goddesses."

The four women were obviously not happy about being reminded of their
past, but offered weak smiles of welcome. The surprise in their
expressions when Naru added the last gave Skuld a brief start of worry,
until Mara stepped in.

"Don't worry. We're not like Jörmungandr, or any of his kind." Mara's
smile wasn't as reassuring as one of Belldandy's, but then again, Urd's
never were, either. "You see, Skuld is the Goddess of the Future, and
Belldandy is the Goddess of the Present. I am...well, I guess you could
say I'm the junior Goddess of Death."

"Junior?" Beruche asked, with an uncertain look on her face.

"Yes, junior," Mara laughed. Skuld thought it was nice to hear that
laugh, and know that it was honestly warm, rather than an indication
Mara was plotting. "Kind of the same way that Chibi-Usa is the junior
Sailor Moon. My mother is, as far as I know, still doing her job."

"Your mother...who is she?" Beruche asked.

"Hel," Mara said simply. The looks of confusion on the others' faces
revealed their lack of recognition. Mara smiled and waved dismissively.
"That's not important right now. What IS important is that we have
demons to hunt. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are hunting already,
but there's no way they can get all of them without help. Skuld says
there's too many."

"That's right," Skuld said. "With just the four of them, they'll miss a
lot of places the demons could be. Since they've started hunting in that
direction, we're going to start opposite them, and hopefully meet up
with them half-way."

The others followed Skuld's gestures as she indicated directions, and
nodded. Belldandy looked at the sisters thoughtfully for a moment, as
they spoke quietly among themselves.

"We'd like to help," Petz said. "If those demons belong to the Death
Phantom, then we have a personal stake in this."

"The best way you can help," Belldandy said, "is to stay near the King
and Queen. You may not be as powerful as they are, but they'll need all
the help they can get, if it tries another attack while we're away from
here."

Petz scowled at Belldandy's words, then sighed and nodded when Beruche
whispered into her ear. Skuld relaxed; Petz had been the most
hot-tempered of the four in the anime, and it would have been a problem
if she'd decided to argue now.

"Naru, Fluorite, we could really use your help," Skuld said. "You have
the most experience with demons other than Bill, and he needs to stay
with the King and Queen."

The two mages looked at each other and nodded, while the sisters looked
around, then started working their way around the pit toward Serenity
and Endymion.

"What's your plan?" Naru asked.

Skuld produced a sheet of paper and draped it across the nearest
reasonably level bit of rubble. With a marker, she sketched out the
major features of the area around them, indicating the directions the
Outer Senshi had gone. Then she added arrows around the other sides,
talking as she sketched.

"Sailor Saturn dispersed the others over here, like this, but you can
see that left all this over here untouched," Skuld said. "The nearest
Crystal Point is here, and I suspect that's where the largest number of
demons is likely to have gone. I know you want to take them, Mara, but I
think Belldandy would be better for that. Will you take this direction,
Oneesama?"

"Of course, Skuld," Belldandy said, nodding.

"I'd like Fluorite over here, and Naru over here," Skuld said,
indicating either side of the direction Belldandy would be traveling.
"Then Mara can be over here, so she can help if Naru runs into trouble,
and I'll take this side, in case Fluorite needs help."

Naru and Fluorite nodded, and Mara smiled gratefully at Skuld. It was
obvious that being able to help Naru if she needed it was very important
to her; that was why Skuld had distributed them that way. When Belldandy
looked up from Skuld's sketch and nodded, she rolled it up and tucked it
away.

"Let's go, then," Belldandy said and rose into the air, followed quickly
by Skuld and Mara.

Skuld felt the flare of magical power as Naru and Fluorite vanished, to
reappear in the areas they were going to be searching. There was no
doubt Mara had given Naru back something precious; even if she hadn't
found more within herself than the demonic nature she'd grown up with,
that alone was enough to forgive her many things.

########

Hunting demons is not my idea of fun. In fact, by the time I'd followed
the trail of dead and destroyed bodies to the first one, I was so angry
that I had to call Serenity, just to give myself a focus for
self-control, when a police officer - who Sailor Pluto recognized as
more corrupt than usual - accosted me.

When he demanded that I lower my weapon, I was more than happy to
comply. Of course, the Silence Wall was against the muzzle of his gun,
so when he pulled the trigger, it blew up in his hand. I don't know if
his partner was particularly stupid, or if he fired out of surprise. I
don't think it's going to matter when he tries to explain how the
bullets that killed the first cop came from his gun. I didn't feel any
obligation to help him out - he had been shooting at me. It was the
ricochets off the Silence Wall that had killed his partner.

**Sailor Saturn, when the three of you have cleared your current
searches, I want you to coordinate with Sailor Venus. The Goddesses are
taking the rest of the search.**

**I understand. Are you expecting trouble?**

**Only if the Death Phantom awakens before you can get back here.**

**We'll be there as soon as possible.**

**Thanks, Hotaru. I knew we could count on you.**

That's when three demons tried to jump me at once. Despite my low
opinion of the police officer, I had to extend my Silence Wall to cover
him. Then I had time to deal with the demons. Death Ribbons took care of
the first one, but the others split up when they hit the Wall.
Apparently they weren't quite as mindless as I'd expected. They seemed
to realize that the Death Ribbons couldn't take out both of them at once
if they weren't close together, and they both moved toward people who
had either been too slow to get away or were too stunned to realize they
should flee.

The police officer partially redeemed himself then. He started shooting
at one of them, and apparently hit it at least once, given the noises it
made. I took advantage of that to destroy the other one. When I turned
back to finish off the other one, I saw that he definitely had hit it:
one of its arms hung down as if it was broken, and it was dragging two
of its six legs. Unfortunately, it was also far too close to its
intended victim for me to use the spell on, so I had to drop the Wall
and close with it.

"This way, demon." I swung my glaive and took off one of its good legs.
That got its attention. With only three legs, it was slow shifting to
face me, but when it did I was facing a nightmare of fangs, tentacles,
and clawed arms.

It was still too close to its intended target, so I moved in and brought
my glaive up, lopping off a few of its tentacles. That didn't help its
disposition any, but now I was certain I had its full attention. The jet
of acid it spit my way confirmed that. I don't know what it was, but it
melted the pavement behind me faster than Sailor Mars could have.

I dodged the acid and started lopping off pieces. The demon wasn't a
very skilled fighter, even with all its appendages, and the few hits it
got through my defense were hardly worth noticing. I'm sure Usagi would
disagree with that, but she's still as protective of me as she was when
we first met. The demon didn't last long - just long enough for its
previous target to get far enough away that I felt safe using Death
Ribbons.

**Clear your searches as quickly as possible. The Princess wants us to
return to the pit and coordinate with Sailor Venus as soon as we can.**

**If we move too quickly, we could miss something.**

**I know. I'm trusting that she knows something we don't.**

**Or she's anticipating. We know the Death Phantom is down there
somewhere.**

**That's what I suspect. I'll meet both of you when we return to the
others.**

I didn't sense any more demons, out to the edge of the city. I realized
that could mean that any were hiding, but the risk was worth taking. A
stray demon could be dealt with much easier than the Death Phantom.
Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune arrived at the pit just a few minutes
after I did. Urd and Rusty arrived not long after, with Urd grumbling
about the lack of working televisions in the area.

"We have to assume the worst attacks are going to come from the pit,"
Sailor Venus said. I nodded, since that was what I'd assumed, too. "So
what I want to do is arrange the four of you like this, about fifty feet
down. If it's too much for you to contain, fall back to these positions,
with us."

I looked across the pit and nodded. There was plenty of room for all of
us around the rim, if it came to that. I wasn't sure about the wisdom of
including Rusty in our defensive plans, but it was obvious he didn't
intend to be left out.

"If it's bad enough for us to fall back, Pluto and I will wall it off
long enough for the rest of you to prepare." I knew between the two of
us, we could at least delay it, no matter how powerful it was. "Where
are you planning to put the sisters and Rusty?"

"I'm putting Rusty with the Prince and Princess. Beruche will be with
Sailor Mars, Cooan will be with Sailor Mercury, Calaveras will be with
Sailor Jupiter, and Petz will be with me." She seemed awfully pleased
with that arrangement, although I couldn't see why.

"That's an interesting arrangement. Why?"

"It's a trick Bill showed me in his lab. I never understood why he
insisted I should see it, but it should work here." Sailor Venus grinned
and plunged ahead with her explanation. "Have you ever seen what happens
when you heat one part of something while chilling another part at the
same time?"

"Thermal stress. That's a great idea." As flaky as she is normally,
there's no question she can rise to the occasion when it's important
enough. And applying a concept like that is sheer brilliance. "Are you
sure the sisters are powerful enough to pull it off?"

"I'm not sure any of us are powerful enough, Hotaru," Sailor Venus
murmured softly, then took a deep breath and pasted on her maniacal
smile. "Well, we know YOU are, but I think we want to keep the planet in
one piece, right?"

I could hardly let her efforts go unrewarded; we needed all the morale
we could muster. So I gave her the response Usagi usually gave me when I
commented on her cooking.

"Biiiih!"

########

Urd rose into the air above the center of the pit until she could see
all of Tokyo by simply rotating in place. The sun was approaching the
western horizon, and she knew that if demons in this world were anything
like those in hers, they'd become more dangerous after dark. Hunting
them down one at a time would not do - not if they intended to protect
the local mortals.

She raised her hands and extended them before her, smirking inwardly at
the gracefulness of her movement. <Take THAT, Skuld!> With a thought,
she reached out to find the spirits of the city and began her call.

"In the towers, in the streets,
Spirits of metal, glass, and concrete,
Hear my words, heed my call,
Show me the spirits that would destroy all."

<Oww...too many....>

<Mmm...strong...manly...roses...roses?>

Urd opened her eyes and looked up into Endymion's face as he was gently
lowering her to the ground. Serenity and Chibi-Usa were watching
worriedly - more so as Urd grimaced and clutched her head. <Dumb, Urd.
Really dumb. When the brat said it was a horde, she really meant it.>

"Blew yourself up again?" Bill asked with a laugh. She had a passing
urge to slap his face, but with - her headache - it was too much
effort.

"Go..." No, it wasn't worth the effort. Then he produced a jar of sake
out of hyperspace and handed it to her with a secretive smile.

"Pull yourself together, eh?"

Urd drank down the sake and sat up with her usual maniacal grin. Yeah,
that hit the spot. Now it was time to tell the others the bad news.

**You're not going to like this. There's at least a couple hundred
demons running loose.**

**HOW MANY?**

**Think Mongol Horde. And they're scattering. They seem to be trying to
take all the Crystal Points at once.**

**Damn damn DAMN! Oneesama?**

**Hold on, Skuld. No...They're too close to the mortals. The only way to
destroy them all at once would be to destroy the city. We're going to
have to fight them.**

**With as many as there are, we're going to have to tell Serenity.**

**You take care of that, Urd. Mara, you tell Naru. I'll tell Fluorite.
No mercy.**

Urd shook her head at the hostility in Skuld's tone. As much as the Bug
bugged her sometimes, she was far too innocent for this. She moved
toward where Serenity, Endymion, and Sailor Chibi-Moon were talking with
Bill and the military commander.

########

The look on Urd's face when I suited up to join the others at the pit
was just a little irritating. It was obvious she was trying not to
laugh. Sure, the water gun looked a little ridiculous over my outfit,
but I was sure we could work out something a lot less obvious with more
time to work. Meanwhile, the others were out there fighting the things
that had possessed Keiichi. There was no way I was going to stand by and
not get into it.

The first thing Urd did after we arrived at the pit was fly up into the
air - then come crashing down into Endymion's arms a few moments later.
She recovered pretty quickly after drinking a jar of sake, and joined us
where Serenity and Bill were talking with a JSDF colonel.

"Your Majesties, we have a problem." Urd said. This was not good. If Urd
thought it was a problem, we were in deep trouble.

"What is it, Urd?" Serenity asked. I'm sure the colonel wasn't happy
about the interruption, but it was obvious Serenity recognized how
serious it must be, too.

"There's far too many demons for us to destroy ourselves. And they've
spread out through the city. You need to secure the Crystal Points, or
they'll win."

"I see. How many is far too many?"

"Several hundred. And they're so mixed in with the mortals that any
attempt we make to fight them is going to have to be one on one."

Fighting demons one on one was just fine by me. After what they did to
Naru and Keiichi, I wanted a piece of them. If they were as surprised by
that as my friends, so much the better. I'm not a fighter - not normally
- but when someone hurts one of my friends, they're going to find out
I'm bearlike in more than just my looks.

"Colonel, how many troops can you order?" Bill asked. "Urd's not noted
for underestimating her abilities, so if she says it's that bad, we're
going to need every gun we can get."

Serenity was looking toward the pit as he spoke; after a few moments,
the Senshi all came leaping up to surround us. I decided I was going to
have to get a MacManus watch for myself. Endymion put a hand on my
shoulder and gave me a quick smile.

"You're going to stay with us, ok?" Endymion said with that heartwarming
smile he's so good at. "According to Albertus, your weapon should be
especially effective against the Death Phantom. So if it tries to come
out while the others are fighting, or if it sends any more demons out,
you should be able to hurt it enough for us to deliver the knock-out
punch."

As much as I wanted to be out hunting, I couldn't argue with his logic.
I nodded and made sure the pressure was where I wanted it. Since Bill
hadn't included a pressure gauge on the thing, I had to guess where the
line was between enough pressure to do damage from the impact, and so
much pressure the recoil would be a problem. I was already making notes
for improvements.

By the time I had the gun set to where I guessed was the best pressure,
the soldiers had split up. A large group, including the colonel,
remained at the pit. The rest of them were split into smaller groups
that accompanied the Senshi. The Sisters - not without some argument -
stayed at the pit with us.

"Who are you? And who is your fashion consultant?" The one with the dark
hair done up in rabbit ears like Chibi-Usa's asked.

I could only half blame her; I only knew that they were supposed to be
sisters, but didn't know anything more about them. I didn't see a
problem with my outfit, though. I was wearing dark brown suede
swashbuckler's boots, sapphire blue pants, and a hunter green pirate's
shirt, all made of MacManusite. That was one of the reasons I wanted to
make some modifications to the gun. All those water tanks were out of
place on top of my clothes.

"I'm Rusty. Is there a problem?" Ok, so maybe I was a little less than
effusive in my response, but her opening salvo wasn't exactly the
friendliest I've heard.

"You do know we're likely to be fighting demons, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. I'm counting on it." I must have looked as eager as Bill does
when it comes to killing demons; she took a step back and shot me a
surprised look. I slapped one of the tanks and laughed. "See these?
Alchemically concentrated holy water. That ought to give any demon a
headache."

"Holy water?" She sounded as if she had never heard the concept before.

"Yeah. Water that's been blessed by a Goddess." That didn't seem to
clear it up, unfortunately. "So what about you? What's your name?"

"My name is Cooan." OK. I knew who they were only because I'd seen them
at Bill and Ami's wedding, and once or twice around the shrine, but this
was the first time I'd actually met any of them. "I'm not sure you
understand just how dangerous this could be."

"I've seen what the demons did to two of my friends. I think I have a
vague idea...and I plan to be more dangerous to them."

"You're pretty crazy for a human. You might just manage it."

"You haven't seen crazy yet. Just watch when things start happening."

Cooan shook her head; just as she was opening her mouth to say
something, Serenity called us over.

"Please tell me that's MacManusite you're wearing, Rusty." For some
reason, Serenity looked as if she wanted to say something more, but was
holding herself back.

"Yup. David whipped it up for me while Urd and I were working." I patted
the tanks hanging from my belt and added, "Given the kind of demon it
is, this ought to really give it a headache. I'm ready to rock."

"I hope so. Something feels wrong - more than what we've already
experienced." Serenity looked around with a worried expression on her
face.

That wasn't reassuring. And it became less reassuring when Endymion,
Chibi-Usa, and Bill all got matching worried expressions. No doubt about
it, I've got to get one of those watches. While I was waiting for the
four of them to say something, Cooan was talking with her sisters.
Sounds of gunfire began coming from all around us, far enough away to
make it hard to tell just where or how far away it was.

"Yes, they've run into the first of the demons," Endymion said. "So far,
it's all the same kind as what the soldiers ran into on the way here."

"So ka," the woman with the white-blonde hair in a braid said. "We
shouldn't expect it to stay that way, though. It's bound to bring in
more powerful demons sooner or later."

"I agree, Beruche. The only question is whether the demons already out
there include more powerful ones, or if they'll have to get through us
to get out."

The colonel chose that moment to join the discussion, bringing with him
a couple aides and a mapboard.

"Companies A, B, F, and J are advancing against heavy opposition," the
colonel announced as his aides set markers on the map. "Our other forces
are, so far, encountering minimal resistance."

"That's good," Serenity said. "I wonder why..." She stared at the map,
scratching her head. She was probably wondering the same thing I was -
why were the demons concentrating on opposite sides of the city?

"Oh dear," Beruche gasped. "The Emperor!"

We all turned to stare at her. What did the Emperor have to do with any
of this? It was Endymion's gasp that broke the spell.

"Damn! She's right!" He traced a line from where we were, through the
point where company F was fighting, straight to the Palace. "The demons
are trying to draw off your soldiers by showing force on the other side
of the city, while sending a group to take the Palace."

"I'll take care of the Emperor," Serenity said. "It's time. Sailor
Chibi-Moon, come with me. Endy-chan, you can manage things here,
right?"

The look on his face made it pretty obvious that Endymion didn't like
the idea, but he didn't have a chance to protest. Serenity took
Chibi-Usa's hand and the two of them vanished, moments after Serenity
finished speaking.

"Face it," Bill said. "You've got as much chance of stopping them as I
have of stopping Ami or Setsuna."

Endymion groaned, then smiled as he nodded. "You're right. Might as well
try to stop a tsunami."

"That'd be easier," Bill said. "Even Beruche could do that. Get Sailor
Mercury and Sailor Neptune on it, and they could probably send it back
where it came from."

Beruche spluttered for a minute, then settled for glaring at Bill as he
grinned at her. "You...you...You're shameless!"

"Hmmm...your point?"

His grin apparently was a little too much for her to take. She conjured
up a ball of water and threw it at him. I think that's the first time I
really realized how much fighting he's been doing. He batted the ball
aside with his hand - and still managed to avoid getting wet. That gave
me an idea.

"Beruche?" She jumped when I called her name, the way Bill used to when
he was still living with his former wife. I waited a moment for her to
relax before I said anything more.

"Yes?" She had that same "I want to say something more, but don't dare"
look on her face that Serenity had had. I guess Errol Flynn and Lionel
Barrymore never made much of an impression in Japan.

"When you do your water thing, do you pull the water from somewhere, or
do you conjure it out of nothing?"

"I think it depends on whether there's any water available. When there's
open water around, it's a lot easier, so I suppose I just take it from
the water that's available. Why?"

"Here. Try this." I grinned and took one of the spare water bottles off
my belt. "It's alchemically concentrated holy water. Even if all you do
is mix some of this with whatever water you conjure up, it's got to make
things more unpleasant for any demons."

"Alchemically concentrated holy water? What do you mean?"

"I had Urd bless some - ok, a lot of - water, so it has the blessing of
a Goddess on it. Then I used alchemy to refine it, so that all that's
left is the spiritual essence of water, which is where the blessing is.
The way I figure, that should make this go through a demon the way acid
goes through a bar of soap."

"That's what's in here? I don't' know...," Beruche looked at the bottle
curiously, then opened the filling cap and sniffed at it. She smiled and
looked up. "I can feel it in there. I CAN use it."

"Perfect..." Things were definitely looking up. With two of us using
holy water on anything that showed up, it would be having anything but a
nice day.

########

Belldandy paused to wipe her sword on a convenient piece of fabric and
looked around for the next demon. Skuld had been right. There had
definitely been a lot of demons here. Luckily, it had been easy to clear
the building before the fighting began. She brought up her sword, just
in time for a lunging demon to impale itself on the tip. With a twist of
the blade, she killed it, and spun to take the head of another.

**Oneesama? Do you need help?**

**No, I'm doing fine. I think Urd's estimate of how many there are is on
the money, though. How are you doing?**

**It's strange. I'm not getting that many here.**

**Maybe I'm near one of the Crystal Points.**

Belldandy reached out with her senses and hissed in surprise. She'd been
so busy fighting the demons, she hadn't noticed that she was on top of a
Crystal Point, not merely near it. That made matters a little
different.

**Oneesama?**

**Sorry, Skuld. I was wrong. I'm not near a Crystal Point. I'm at one.
Hurry and get to the one you're aiming for. That's probably where you'll
find most of the demons.**

Another wave of demons started attacking then, requiring all of
Belldandy's attention. Her sword hummed as she harvested demon heads
like rice. With a few strokes, she cleared a space around her - one that
would last only until the demons' bodies evaporated, true, but that was
long enough for her to scan again and verify there were no humans in the
building. The building glowed blue-white, then briefly went transparent.
When the light faded, all the demons were gone.

**This point is secure. Do any of you need help?**

**No troubles here. I'm only coming on them one or two at a time.**

**Same here. It's weird.**

**Not if they're going for the Crystal Points. I think the Senshi
probably gave them a hard lesson in the value of stealth, so they're
keeping their heads low until they get to a Point.**

**Right. That would explain why I have to work to locate them. I'm going
to head straight for the nearest Point and pick them off when they show
up.**

**Be careful. They may not be as powerful as we are, but their numbers
make up for it.**

The building was a small store; one of the few shop buildings that had
survived the transformation of the neighborhood into high-rises. Given
its condition when she'd arrived, Belldandy was certain the owners were
dead. The demons that hadn't been close enough to be destroyed when she
cleared it had recoiled to the fringes of her interest. She rose above
the building, reaching out to feel the shape of the Point's power.

"You, where life and power entwine,
Your Queen and King call now to you.
Awake! Arise!
Shine forth your light.
>From the past, from the future,
Into the eternal now,
Your Mistress and Master have returned."

########

I knew what Mom wanted as soon as she decided we were going to see the
Emperor. No matter how much more powerful we are when in our royal mode,
the fuku seem to ease the fears of those who see us. So, I changed into
Sailor Chibi-Moon and we teleported to the Imperial Palace.

When we arrived, the palace guard immediately rushed to surround us. Mom
conferred with Hecate, then pointed at one of the guard.

"Captain, you will escort me to the Emperor. Your men must prepare to
give a proper greeting to the demons coming this way. Sailor Chibi-Moon
will assist."

**Usagi, you can handle it by yourself, right?**

**The demons will be easy. Slapping down the soldiers without hurting
them will be the hard part.**

Mom gave me a quick smile and turned back to the captain, who was still
sputtering. "Shall we go now? It wouldn't do to keep the Emperor
waiting."

The captain was forced to run to catch up with her; when Mom's in her
royal mode, she can walk as fast as most ordinary people jog. While they
were vanishing in the direction of the Palace, I looked over what was
left behind.

The palace guard was pretty, but didn't look all that useful for
anything other than ceremony. Definitely nothing like the guard we kept
back home in Crystal Tokyo.

"Do you guys have any guns? I've seen what's coming, and believe me, you
do NOT want to let it get within sword's reach. For that matter, do you
have radios? You're going to want to call reinforcements."

While they were arguing over that, I jumped to the roof and scanned the
direction of the pit. The sounds of gunfire were a lot clearer up there
than on the ground, so I was able to focus in on it very quickly.

**How far, Eos?**

**I estimate 2200 meters.**

**Who's with the soldiers?**

**Sailor Mercury**

**Oh, good! Sailor Mercury, what's the situation?**

**For every one we kill, five more show up. I think they're drawing off
whatever other groups of demons are in the city.**

**Damn! All right. How many soldiers have you lost?**

**We're down thirty percent. And the ones who are left are more
determined to beat these demons before they get to the Emperor.**

**Mom and I are at the palace. Why don't you tell the soldiers to back
off, and just keep them moving this way? You can join up with us here,
and we can defeat them.**

**You have a plan? Or at least some backup?**

**All I have is the palace guard**

**Oh no you don't, Princess. All you have is us.**

**Juno? What are you doing in this time?**

**Someone suggested we might want to take a vacation in this time. All
four of us.**

**Oneesan!**

**You'll have to wait until you go back to the future to ask, imouto.
You have more important things to deal with right now, yes?**

**Yes, she was just as mysterious when she sent us back. Now what's
going on?**

I pointed toward the sounds of gunfire.

"Demons, huh? How tough are they?" Sailor Ceres asked. As usual, she was
taking the lead for them.

"So far, they've been easier to kill than lemures, but that's not going
to last. Sailor Mercury is herding a group of them this way, so that we
can kill them before they're reinforced by more powerful demons."

"That sounds like a plan. When did you start making plans, Princess?"
Sailor Juno teased. I threw a playful punch her way, and she swatted at
my hand like Diana does when we're playing. We laughed together; it was
so good to have them at my side.

I heard the guards whistling below us. When I looked down, Sailor Vesta
and Sailor Pallas were flirting with them.

**Girls...you know it's not nice to tease. Especially when the enemy is
only a little over a kilometer away.**

**Yes, Princess.**

**Sorry, Princess.**

**If you really want to play with any of them, wait until after we win
this fight.**

The two looked up and giggled, then leapt up to join us. I waved to the
guards and called down.

"If you listen, you should be able to hear the gunfire by now. You'd
better go get your weapons before they get here. Then get inside with
the Emperor. If they get past us, he'll need you."

The guards looked at each other, then back up at us, then ran inside.
All of us sighed in relief. Some things are just not meant for ordinary
people to fight. Now we could prepare for the demons without having to
worry about civilian casualties. There had already been far too many.

The battle reached us far too quickly for my peace of mind, even if that
was my plan. Now I just had to hope it would work. I grabbed my spiral
heart rod and prepared for the first of them to arrive.

########

Keiichi sat with Artemis and Luna, watching the display over the coffee
table. On the table itself was a map of Tokyo, with crimson lights
showing where battles with demons were happening, and blue-white lights
showing where the Crystal Points were. The most worrisome part of the
display, as far as he was concerned, was the Imperial Palace.

"Isn't there anything we can do? I feel so useless!"

"We're doing it," Artemis said. "We have better access to information
and communications from here than we did in our old command center, so
we're staying right here and making sure everyone out there is in touch
and knows where the enemy is."

"David, can you give us satellite images on the wall screen?" Luna
asked. "The symbolic information is good, but I want to be able to see
what's out there."

The TV lit up with a montage of windows, each showing a different
enhanced satellite image. The effect was as if the videos were being
shot from the height of the Tokyo Tower, and what they showed was
horrible. Soldiers were fighting with demons in the streets, with so
much death and destruction around them that it looked like pictures from
a war zone.

"How did that happen?" Luna asked with a gasp of surprise. "Artemis! Do
you see the Crystal Points?"

"Someone's awakened them," Artemis said. "I think we have a better
chance now."

Keiichi shot the two of them a puzzled look, then looked back at the TV.
It took a moment of study before he understood. In ten of the images, an
enormous silvery crystal that rose out of the ground like a tower
occupied the center of the window.

"Those are the Crystal Points? So...they can give their power to Sailor
Moon?" Keiichi felt hope rising. "Then the fight should be over soon,
right?"

"It won't be over until the Death Phantom shows," Luna said gently.
"That's the cause of this, and that's what we'll have to defeat in order
to win."

Keiichi sighed and nodded. So much for that hope. Still, he had faith in
Sailor Moon. And he knew that with Belldandy on her side, there was no
chance of them losing.

"You're right, though," Artemis said. "The Crystal Points can give their
power to the Princess - and to the Prince. With the extra power, they
should be unbeatable."

"Artemis, Luna, can you tell me what- Never mind. Later." Bill's voice
came over the speakers.

"David! What's happening?" Keiichi demanded.

All the windows on the TV screen vanished, replaced by one large image
of the Palace construction site. Or, rather, what used to be the
construction site. Now it looked like an enormous pit, as if a bomb had
gone off in it. And demons - by the thousands - were boiling out of the
pit. There were so many of them that Keiichi couldn't see where any of
the Senshi were, until he saw the flashes of energy from their attacks.
Well, flashes of energy, anyway. It took a few moments to register that
the energy looked darker than he'd expected from the Senshi.

"Kami-sama...please let them be ok...."

"David, give us vital signs here at the table," Artemis said.

The display on the table changed from the Tokyo map to lots of little
windows, each showing graphs of heart rate, respiration, and brainwaves.
Artemis and Luna hovered around the table, studying the graphs intently,
while Keiichi watched the battle on the big screen with a sinking
sensation in the pit of his stomach.

########

"Rusty!"

The demons had boiled up out of the pit so fast that we were all
surprised. Rusty had gone down under a wave of them right away, and Bill
and I both started that way.

The demons piled on Rusty shuddered, then screamed in agony as a spray
of water came from beneath them. Rusty stood up, shaking himself like a
giant panda that was annoyed by foxes. He bent over, picked up that
ridiculous musketeer hat he'd been wearing, knocked the dirt off it, and
planted it back on his head.

"All right, you bastards, want to try it again?" he snarled, waving his
water gun menacingly. He began hosing down demons with abandon, like a
fireman beating down a fire. The demons reacted the same way as a
well-soaked fire - they fell back, mostly dissolving before they hit the
ground.

Bill had that weird sword of his in hand - the one that looked kind of
like a sickle - and was slicing demons like a chef slicing salami. The
sisters were quickly remembering their old magical skills, and the
demons were paying the price of having awakened them. I sent a silent
thought of thanks to my old friends and began introducing the demons to
my Smoking Bomber.

"Cooan! Fire at the bottom of that pile of rubble over there!" Bill
yelled, pointing at the most unstable of the rubble. "Petz! As soon as
she loosens it, blast it! I want it to fall into the hole!"

I saw what he was trying to do. It should take care of the demons still
in the pit, but it wouldn't even slow down the Death Phantom. Then
again, there wasn't much that would.

"Beruche, you and Calaveras go over there." I pointed to a spot about a
third of the way around the pit. "Soak her chain with some of the water
Rusty gave you."

I pointed about a third of the way around the pit in the other direction
and nodded to Rusty. "You go over there. If you and Beruche catch them
in a crossfire, it should take out more than what you're managing now."

Bill had worked his way partially into the pit and was holding his
ground. He had one of his many knives in his other hand, and was using
it on any demon that got too close for his sword to be useful. I
realized his tactic made sense. My Smoking Bomber was powerful enough to
vaporize even these demons, but it took a moment to gather the power. My
roses aren't nearly as powerful, but even demons have eyes, and I'm as
good with my roses as he is with his rifles.

I started hurling roses, and discovered that eyes weren't the only
vulnerable place the demons had. Like living beings, a rose through a
knee or elbow left that limb unusable, at least long enough for a more
powerful follow-up.

Cooan and Petz brought down the rubble, crushing a few hundred demons in
the process, and Rusty and Beruche were doing a pretty good job of
washing away those that came between them. Calaveras, Bill, and I had to
destroy our demons one at a time, but it was starting to look like we'd
be able to wipe them out before the sun set. Then we could rely on the
soldiers to watch the pit while we rested and prepared for the next
attack.

That was when I realized I wasn't hearing gunfire. What had happened to
Colonel Matsudaira and his men? I looked toward where they had set up
their field headquarters and let out a curse. Some of the demons had
managed to get that far, and they were fighting hand-to-hand. The
soldiers were losing, too. I immediately went for them. The others had
the pit as well in hand as possible, but the soldiers needed help.

I landed near the colonel and blasted the demon he was fighting with.
His sword had been more effective than I expected, but hadn't quite been
good enough.

"Arigato. What about the pit?" Colonel Matsudaira was already moving
toward a demon that was on the verge of disemboweling his aide. "If we
lose that, we're all dead."

"No need to worry. My people are beating them back. Don't you have any
machine pistols?" I couldn't understand why they weren't using their
guns, especially with the number of casualties I saw.

"Useless. The bullets just go right through them like they were made of
smoke."

"Damn. All right. As soon as you can gather your men, ask that man over
there who looks like Errol Flynn on acid to soak them down with his
squirt gun."

The colonel looked dubious, but nodded. I couldn't blame him, but was
glad that he didn't debate it in the middle of a fight. I passed the
word to Bill, so he could tell Rusty where to go. The soldiers were in
too much trouble for me to get him myself.

The demons kept coming at us like Chinese infantry, but with the numbers
we'd already cut from their ranks, those that got as far as me were
easily dealt with. About the time Rusty made it to the soldiers and
started soaking them down, I felt a surge of power like I'd only
experienced twice before - once when we'd all gone to the future, and
once when the Golden Crystal had awakened.

**Mamochan? Did you feel that?**

**You felt it too, Usako? It feels familiar....**

**Someone's awakened the Crystal Points.**

**All of them? Then we'll be able to...**

**...defeat the Death Phantom.**

I gathered my power for a Smoking Bomber, and this time it was almost as
easy as hurling a rose. With little more than a thought, I shifted to my
armor and began using the Earth Sword. With this new power, it sliced
through the demons as easily as that strange sword of Bill's, allowing
me to save my own energy for when the more powerful demons would begin
appearing.

The Goddesses were settling onto the rim of the pit as the sun set, all
of them in armor and carrying their weapons. Their angry expressions
made it clear that any demons that tried to get out with them there
would be exterminated as quickly and brutally as any that faced the rest
of us. If there had been any doubt that the four of them were Viking
Goddesses, there was none now.

Skuld peered into the pit through her goggles and called out, "It looks
clear for the moment. I think they may be trying to decide what to do
now that Oneesama has locked your power away from them."

"That sounds good to me. Can you tell where they're most likely to come
out?"

"The most likely place is right about there." Skuld pointed the pointy
end of her hammer into the pit and a laser burned an "X" into a spot
near the bottom, where the rubble Cooan and Petz had dropped hadn't
quite reached. "You should have enough time to gather the others before
they come out."

**We have a few minutes before the pit explodes again. How are the rest
of you doing?**

The last to respond were at the Imperial Palace - Sailor Mercury, Sailor
Chibi-Moon, Serenity, and Sailor Chibi-Moon's Guardians. I'll admit, the
four of them in this time worried me, given how extreme the situation
had been when they last came to our time. On the other hand, knowing
they were protecting our daughter made me feel better about not being
with them. Strategic planning is important, but it can't make up for the
instinct to protect those you love.

**Mamochan, we need King Endymion here. Let Venus and Saturn direct the
Senshi.**

**I'm on my way. What should I know?**

**We're talking with the Emperor. You'll understand when you get
here.**

While I was glad to be needed at her side, I wasn't quite sure I was
ready to face Emperor Akihito. Or - perhaps more unnerving - Michiko. If
she was anything like Serenity, she would be the more difficult one.

"Go on, your Majesty," Sailor Venus said with one of her maniacal grins
as she came to a stop beside me. "We've got it covered here. Right,
Sailor Saturn?"

"That's right." Sailor Saturn gave me a smile that had me wondering if
she'd been taking lessons from Sailor Pluto. "Rem