###############################################################
 SENSHI MUYOU!
 Episode 13 - Call The Paramedics!
 By Madsman

 Original concept by Mervyn the Wonder Slug (c) 1999, 2000

 Hosted by Indie Madnesse
 (http://www.students.rhodes.edu/~knoke/indie/indie.html)
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"I feel so... so *dirty*..." came a disgusted voice.

This was Varese.

"Why... why must a man of my strategic competence be subjected to *this*?..."
another man muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.

This was Schein.

"I can't take much more of this! You hear me!? If I have to go back in there
and sing and dance to that godawful music, I'm going to *kill* someone!!!"
a voice interjected hysterically.

This was Tallis.

"Hey, guys! There was something wrong with the first shoot of that episode!"
a fourth voice called out cheerily. "We'll have to tape it again!"

This was Marais.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

"HEY! WHAT THE-...!?"

This was the other Dark Generals tackling Marais.

*****

Sachiko blinked as she sat on her place at the table. The family guest sat at
the end of the table. Their "guest", as it turned out, was a small,
prepubescent girl dressed in overly too much pink and white.

Sachiko went on staring.

"Sachiko-san, eat something," came the worried voice of her mother, The
Magnificent, Mysterious, Magical Nashida Emi. "You haven't even touched your
food yet."

The Magnificent, Mysterious, Magical Nashida Emi reached into a black top hat
sitting in front of her on the table and pulled out a bowl of rice. She
tossed it to her daughter and Sachiko turned just in time to catch it.

As Sachiko sweatdropped and put the bowl down, she turned to her father.

"Who is she?" Sachiko asked, indicating their visitor.

Bozo looked at Sachiko in surprise. Sachiko had been speechless ever since
she had caught sight of their visitor. Well, actually, speechless was an
understatement. Sachiko had been *led* to the table, as she would have just
stood there, in front of the door, gaping, if they had left her.

As Bozo was about to answer, the girl beat him to it.

"Hi everyone! I'm Princess Moonshine!" the girl giggled in delight. Sachiko
felt the illness she had experienced earlier slowly return. "Pleased to meet
you all!"

"Pleased to meet you too, dear," Emi replied and smiled at the alleged
princess warmly. "Tell me, Moonshine-chan. Where are your parents?"

"Oh, my parents?" Moonshine blinked twice and managed to look both utterly
clueless and cute at the same time, making Sachiko glad that she hadn't
eaten anything yet. Otherwise, she might have lost it anyway.

"My parents!" Moonshine said again and then began giggling to herself for no
apparent reason.

The Nashida family looked puzzled but didn't say anything.

Suddenly, Moonshine raised a finger and pointed at Bozo, who was at the head
of the table. "*He* is my daddy!"

There was a moment of silence.

"*WHAT!?*" was the collective cry of the table.

Sachiko and Takeshi stared at their father, shocked.

"..." said Foofoo-san.

"Bozo..." Emi said as calmly as she could, though she was visibly shaking.
Her teeth were gritted and her hands were curled into tight fists. The
uttering of the name was dangerously emphasized and lengthened in duration.

Bozo sweatdropped. He was about to say something when Moonshine interrupted
him again. She seemed oblivious to the scandal she had just caused at the
dinner table.

"At least, I *thought* he was my father."

Everyone's eyes returned to the smiling girl.

"He *looks* a lot like him, though," Moonshine added happily, still
apparently unaware of everyone's sighs of relief. "That's why I mistook him
to be my father."

Moonshine gave out one final peal of giggles before continuing. "Anyway, my
parents aren't here, Mrs. Nishida!"

"I see," Emi nodded understandingly, already over her initial urge to do the
sawing-in-half trick on her husband right then and there.

"Why are you here?" Sachiko snapped at Princess Moonshine.

Moonshine turned her head to Sachiko. She looked a bit startled but that was
all. Moonshine's smile returned to her face as if it had never left.

"I'm a magical girl from the Magical Kingdom of Happiness!" Moonshine chirped
gaily. "I'm here to spread happiness and save my kingdom from the external
gloom that threatens it! Wai!"

As Sachiko's jaw dropped. The rest of the family clapped their hands.

Takeshi looked at their guest with a big grin on his face.

"Wow, that's some act, gal," Foofoo-san complimented her.

Emi smiled and turned to her husband. "She must be from a circus as well!
Isn't that a surprise?"

"Yes, she must be," Bozo agreed, though he sweatdropped a bit from the
earlier mix-up. "Seeing as that her father *also* looks like a clown... Tell
us, Moonshine-chan. Where *are* your parents?"

Moonshine pursed her lips in almost the exact same way Uzume does and put a
finger on her chin.

"Hmmm... actually, I don't even know where *I* am!"

She broke into a fit of giggles at that. Sachiko sweatdropped.

Emi turned to Bozo again, sympathy written all over her expression. "Dear, I
think she's lost..."

Bozo nodded thoughtfully. "Yes. She must have been on an errand and she ended
up here."

The clown's face broke into a smile. Of course, his being a clown, a smile
was *always* painted on his face. But he still smiled.

"Moonshine-chan," he started. "We'll be glad to help you out. You can stay
here as long as you like!"

"Really?" Moonshine squealed, forgetting to tell them that she *wasn't*, in
fact, lost and really *was* a magical princess out to save the Magical
Kingdom of Happiness. It was just as well anyway. "Thanks!"

"Cool!" Foofoo-san opined.

Sachiko just remained silent. She sighed. Okay, so it was just one more
circus freak hanging around the house. It wasn't that bad, right? Just as
long as she...

"Oh, and Sachiko-chan, she'll be staying with you in *your* room."

Sachiko fainted.

*****

It was the next day and Uzume was as happy and as bouncy as ever. The Dark
Queen's latest tape had been a smashing success with TV station people and
more episodes would be taped. As soon as they had, say, five episodes, they
would be ready to air the show.

Humming the theme from her show, Uzume skipped over to throne room door.
Schein suddenly emerged from the door's inner side.

"SCHEIN!" Uzume gasped in surprise and then sighed in relief. "You scared
the daylights out of me! What are *you* doing here?"

Schein sweatdropped. "I have some important business to discuss with you, my
liege. That is, if you aren't too busy."

Uzume thought a bit. Schein was one of her Dark Generals, so it had to be
important. She shrugged and decided that the matter of finding an accountant
to reduce the cost of running a Dark Edifice of Happiness and Terror could
wait.

"So, Schein," Uzume began cheerfully as she passed him to enter the room,
"what do you have in mind?"

Schein cleared his throat. "My queen, I was going to ask permission to do a
little reconnaisance work."

Uzume ascended the steps at the very head of the throne room and sat in her
terribly beautiful, terribly large, terribly expensive throne. "Hm? What for,
Schein?"

Schein stepped up to the front of the throne. "You want to conquer the world
and make it a happier place, right? Since by creating your show, you have
done something for the latter, I was thinking of executing actions that
would favor the former."

Uzume found something disturbing about Schein's expression. This revelation
however, only lasted for a whole of three seconds.

"So why don't you make one of our cute little youmabibbles do it for you
then?" Uzume asked, smiling. She began trailing her finger around the
patterns on her throne's armrest. She put one leg over the other in a relaxed
position.

This would have made further speech impossible for a lesser man, but Schein
didn't seem to have any difficulty going on.

"I... prefer to conduct my scouting missions on my own, my queen. It ensures
the accuracy of the data gathered," the Dark General told her.

*Besides,* Schein added silently, *those confounded youmabibbles couldn't
scout a bathroom stall!*

Uzume seemed to be mulling this over. As she did, she swung one foot slowly
up and down and she pursed her lips in her own kawaii fashion. Schein
remained as stalwart as ever.

"Okay," Uzume smiled cutely, eyes closed. "Why not?"

Schein bowed deeply. "Thank you, my queen. I shall report to you at once when
I have completed my assignment."

Schein turned and left the throne room.

Uzume smiled at Schein's back.

"That Schein," she smirked. "I wonder what he's up to..."

Something tugged at the back of her memory.

"What was it that I was going to do this morning?" Uzume wondered. "Hmmm...
well, since I've forgotten, it couldn't have been *that* important!"

Having said that, she clapped her hands and skipped to her brother's office
to urge him to go shopping with her.

And an accountant somewhere went on unemployed.

*****

Schein arrived at the corridor outside the throne room. Once there, he sighed
deeply and let his shoulders sag the slightest bit.

"That went quite well," he told himself, putting a hand to his forehead, a
smile playing on his thin lips. "There were unexpected... *difficulties*,
but that really went quite well."

The bishounen was suddenly tackled by two bodies.

"WHAT THE-...!?" Schein yelled from the floor.

"Oh, no! You're not getting off the hook *that* easily, Schein!"

Schein looked over his shoulder to see Tallis grabbing one of his arms and
pushing his shoulder down to the ground. "TALLIS! What are you doing!?"

"You were going to leave, weren't you!?" Varese accused from Schein's other
shoulder. "You thought you could leave for the day and let *us* do all the
singing and dancing in Speedos and leotards!"

"*What!?*"

"That's right!" Tallis continued. "But we won't let you! If *we're* gonna do
it, then *you're* gonna have to do it too!"

Varese looked up at Marais. "Aren't you going to help us?"

Marais simply shrugged. "Why? I like my job."

"Loser," Tallis sniffed and returned to restraining Schein.

"Hey, cut that out!" Schein told his fellow generals. "There isn't any taping
today anyway! Those girls who play the villains in the show are all in the
hospital, remember?"

"Hey, that's right," Tallis mused. He released Schein and Varese followed
suit.

Schein rose and indignantly dusted his clothes off. He was about to say
something when he caught a second glance at Varese. Despite Varese's just
having tackled a man, none of the hairs on his head were askew.

Schein sweatdropped slightly.

"Then why do you want to leave the castle?" Tallis asked Schein. "Queen Uzume
didn't ask us to go and drain energy yet... did she?"

"No, she didn't," Schein stated. "It's a little pet project of mine."

"Then can we come along?" Marais asked hopefully.

Schein snorted. "It's something I'm perfectly capable of doing on my own."

Then he walked away.

Varese, Tallis and Marais watched him walk down the hall.

"What an as-..."

"What's he up to, I wonder," Marais cupped his chin with a hand, interrupting
Tallis.

"Probably gone out to do some *real* Dark General stuff," Varese decided.
"He's really one serious bas-..."

Tallis held up a finger. No, not *that* finger. That finger.

"I've got an idea!" Tallis declared.

The three huddled to avail of Tallis' apparently brilliant idea, nevermind
that Varese and Marais didn't think it would be very brilliant.

Then they broke their huddle. Not because they were done discussing the idea,
but more because of Marais' unique... quality.

They opted to just talk like normal people instead. Nobody could hear them,
anyway.

*****

Or so they thought.

*****

Macavity scratched a bit before hopping off the ledge.

*So, Uzume's commanders are leaving the castle, eh?*

He landed, stretched and yawned a bit and went on his merry way.

*This could prove rather fun!...*

Spying on Uzume was a little more inconvenient, now that his kobold friend
had disappeared, but Macavity still appreciated the pleasure of collecting
his own info, which was why he didn't feel too bad against Genma, wherever
the hell he was.

Besides, a normal, everyday cat would make a much better spy than some clumsy
anthromorph, wouldn't you say?

*****

Morning passed swiftly... in the South Pole. However, in Tokyo, the morning
passed at pretty much the same speed and afternoon came at the scheduled time
as well, as there really was no reason it shouldn't have.

And that particular afternoon, Meryl was leaving the house.

"I won't be back 'til dinner, mom!" she called out before leaving.

*That's okay, dear,* Meryl's mother thought towards her daughter. *Are you
sure you won't be able to watch your sister today?*

"Sorry, but I can't," Meryl apologized. "I have to collect a debt from Kagi.
He owes me."

[Fine], came a voice from within the house. Meryl knew that it was just her
father, which was why she didn't run away screaming at the sound. She had the
slightest urge to do so, though...

[You take care of yourself now, you hear?], the voice came again.

"Don't worry about me!" Molly called from the living room. "I can play on my
own!"

Meryl couldn't see her sister, but she very well knew that she was making her
dolls dance again. Without touching any of them too.

Meryl sweatdropped slightly before calling out again. "Okay then! Bye
everyone!"

At that, she left.

As Meryl walked down the sidewalk, she couldn't help but think that this was
a pretty good week, as far as weeks went for her. Almost everyday now, she
was finding nice reasons to leave the house and ditch babysitting her sister.

This time, it was a debt from Kagi, a male classmate. Oh, sure, they were
friends, but really not all that chummy. Kagi was kind of... well... think
of a fledgling Fujin and you'll be close.

Kagi had told Meryl earlier that he was, as usual, flat busted, broke and
penniless even. However, he *was* the son of the movie theatre owner as well,
making him close pals with the theatre manager. That meant that he was
willing to pay Meryl back, not in cash, but in the form of one free show at
his father's theatre.

And Meryl had shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?"

Today, Meryl was wondering what kind of mind-altering substance she had eaten
to agree on something like that. The idea sounded good at the time, as Meryl
*did* enjoy the occasional movie, but now, something seemed to be amiss...
something almost contrived about the whole thing.

Kagi had refused to give her a free pass or something like that, saying that
if he did, his father would find out. He offered to go with her instead, as
he had already arranged something with the manager.

If Meryl didn't know any better, she would say that Kagi was trying to...

"Oh, Meryl! Don't be ridiculous! Kagi?" Meryl exclaimed to herself. It was a
good thing that there was nobody else on the street with her, otherwise she
might have gathered a nice collection of strange looks from them.

She laughed to herself some more as she went on towards the Tokyo Movie Haus.

*****

"Hmmm... sunset is rather early tonight," Schein said as he glanced up at the
heavens. "Peculiar..."

"YEAH!" Marais grinned and waved a fist in the air. "Guys' night out!!!"

Schein sweatdropped and looked at him, only to be reminded that Varese and
Tallis were with them as well. Schein couldn't believe that he had agreed to
bring them along on this little reconnaisance run. Well, it was that, or risk
being tackled again, just out of spite.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Tallis asked, hands in his pockets. He had
shelved his Dark General uniform in favor of slacks, a polo shirt and leather
shoes, making him the second most casually dressed of the four (Marais was
the most casually dressed... Duh?).

All four had changed out of their Dark General outfits. However impressive
and intimidating they might have been in them, it still wouldn't do for
people on the street to either a) run away screaming from them or b) try to
arrest them. They were, after all, on a scouting mission.

"Just around the block," Schein answered, his eyes returning to the road in
front of him. He, unlike Tallis, opted for more respectable wear in place of
his uniform. It consisted of a white shirt under a smart black suit with no
tie and snazzy looking black shoes.

"What are we looking for anyway?" Varese questioned. He, being the one with
anything closely resembling fashion sense, opted to wear something that
couldn't be described in full by just one paragraph. He very well knew this
and was proud of it.

"We are studying the tactical value of this area," Schein said evasively.
This was true, but it was only half the reason. "So that when it comes the
time to start claiming territories in the name of our queen, we will know how
to best use this particular sector and whatever energies may reside within."

That last statement was a bit closer to the truth. Schein was looking for a
particular energy form. But he wasn't telling what.

"Ah, come off it, Schein!" Marais said cheerfully. Marais was wearing a shirt
which said "Dark Kingdoms Rule, BABY!", jeans and sneakers. The other
generals thought that his attire smelled like it hadn't been washed in a long
while. Or maybe that was just Marais. Knowing Marais, it was probably both.
"You're just tired of being cooped up in the castle, aren't you? You just
want to go out into the town and par-TY!!!"

Marais really didn't know Schein all that well, or didn't care to do so.
Actually, it was both.

Marais suddenly turned to his dark colleagues. "Hey, I know! We could all
stop over at the Burrito Barn! How does *that* sound?"

"*NO!!!*"

"Okay then," Marais said sulkily. "It was just a suggestion..."

As they rounded a corner, Schein suddenly sensed a tingle of what he was
looking for. He detected its source and found what looked like a movie
theatre on that particular street.

He led the others to it.

"Oh, look!" Marais yelled. "They're playing Scarlett Marquee! I just love
Westerns!"

*****

Sachiko just had to get out of the house. It was bad enough that she had a
family of circus performers and a bunch of near-friends who were involved in
some magical destiny, but having *both* under the same roof was just too much
for her. She had to get out... and *fast*.

And so Sachiko found herself standing in front of the Tokyo Movie Haus.

*Hmmmm... The movies,* Sachiko thought. *This should relax me... Let's see..*

As she studied the selection, a group of handsome, if somewhat mismatched men
rounded the corner nearby and walked towards her and the theatre.

*****

"Gee, it was nice of you to accompany me to get this rare sampaguita stamp
that just got in from the Philippines," Fushin said, smiling.

"Aw, that's okay," Whittington replied. "The Mystical Advisor rulebook says
that at least one of us will have to accompany at least one of *you* every
other hour, and I figured that it might as well have to be you."

Fushin raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why?"

Whittington darkened a bit and watched the road. "You seem to be the most
agreeable type of the bunch..."

Fushin sweatdropped.

He returned to the sensible task of watching where he was going and found a
familiar figure scanning the Saturday movie selection at a certain theatre.

Around the corner, four men emerged, one of them chattering happily.

Whittington didn't see them, but Fushin idly wondered who they were.

*****

From across the street, another figure which would have been familiar to
Fushin stepped outside of an ice cream shop.

"Wai! It was a good idea to go out today!" Nadako said cutely and licked her
cone (Triple Strawberry, of course). "I'm glad that Kitty-cat-san told me to
do so! Now for a movie!"

She waited patiently for the sign to signify that it was safe to walk.

*****

From outside the computer monitor, the reader could smell what was coming a
mile away >:D.

*****

"Sachiko!? What are *you* doing here!?"

Sachiko whirled in surprise at the voice from inside the movie theatre lobby.

"Meryl!?" Sachiko gasped. "Is that you?"

"I guess so," Meryl said amiably enough. "Hey, why don't you come join us?"

"Us?" Sachiko walked towards where Meryl was standing inside the lobby.

"Hello," Kagi greeted her. Sachiko saw a meek looking boy in plain clothes.
He was wearing swirly-eye glasses.

"Meryl.." Sachiko said in a low voice. "Are you on a... date?"

Meryl reddened faster than a thermometer thrown into a lava pit. "N-N-NO!!!
WHAT MAKES YOU SAY *THAT*!?"

"Ummm... you, a guy, movies? Isn't that what you would call a..."

Kagi smiled and opened his mouth. Meryl grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Don't... say... ANYTHING," she snarled, silencing him at once. Meryl
released him and turned to Sachiko. "It's NOT a date! He's just paying me
back the money he owes me! It's that simple!"

"Oookay..." Sachiko deadpanned. She was about to add something when movement
outside caught her eye. She gasped. "Whittington? FUSHIN!?"

The two whose names were uttered stopped just outside the movie theatre.

"Sachiko? Meryl?" Fushin blinked.

"It's mystic destiny I tell ya!" Whittington said and strolled over to where
Sachiko and Meryl were standing. Fushin followed, if a bit hesitantly. He
wondered why the ticket lady was letting him in without paying.

"Did that cat just talk to us?" Kagi was gaping.

"Get used to it," Meryl told him, not in the mood to start explaining things.

"Hey, I've got an idea!" Sachiko said, in a good mood all of a sudden. Fushin
thought she was standing just a biiiiiiiiit too close to him. "Why don't we
all watch a movie *together*?"

"That sounds alright," Meryl said, really not wishing to be alone with Kagi.

Something inside Kagi's heart broke into a million pieces. He remained silent
though, like a good little puppy.

"I don't know," Fushin told them. "I was just from the post office and I got
that sampaguita stamp I've been waiting for for a while. I think that that's
enough excitement for me for one day. Don't you think so too?"

Everyone sweatdropped. Everyone excepting Kagi.

"Hmmmm... the sampaguita stamp?" Kagi said, smiling slightly. "That *is*
exciting!"

Sachiko, Meryl and Whittington sweatdropped some more.

Whittington scratched a paw on his head. "I was there. I must have missed
something..."

"WAIWAIWAIWAI!!! You're all here!!!"

"Oh my-..." Sachiko started.

"Please, please, heaven, *NO*..." went Meryl.

"Hmmm?" Fushin blinked.

"Meow?"

"..."

Nadako came hopping merrily in their direction. Sachiko and Meryl noted that
she was blocking the only exit and that they were surrounded on all sides by
theatre lobby. There was no escaping her. They groaned almost simultaneously.

"This is so *coooooooooool*!" Nadako squealed and hopped some more. This
action caused the top scoop of her strawberry ice cream to plop onto Kagi's
sneaker. He remained silent, though he was mildly annoyed. "My team and me
can watch a movie together!"

"You know, come to think of it," Sachiko said thoughtfully, "going to a movie
together isn't sounding as good as it used to..."

"Yeah, it doesn't," Meryl agreed, sweatdropping at Nadako. "So, I guess we
really should be going now..."

Kagi turned and broke his silence. "But what about the money I owed yo-...?"

"Not now, *Kagi*!" Meryl hissed and grabbed his arm so they could leave. Kagi
suddenly had the pulse rate of a small mammal (more than a hundred beats per
minute :D).

"Oh, don't be like that, you guys!" Nadako said in a friendly manner and went
between Sachiko and Meryl to hook their arms with both of hers. "It'll be
lots of fun! Wai!"

This time, Sachiko and Meryl *did* groan simultaneously.

"Maybe I should be going now," Fushin told the cat by his feet.

"You really should go out more," Whittington advised. "It's good for you."

"But I've *already* been out. I got my stamp, didn't I?"

Whittington sweatdropped. "Just... watch the movie with them, okay?"

*****

Meanwhile, the ticket lady was a bit apprehensive about the number of people
she had allowed through without tickets. The manager had told her to let in
Kagi and any of his friends... But really now... a group of four (and a cat)
seemed a little too much.

But it wasn't her job to ask questions now, was it?

She immediately turned her attention to the four gorgeous men just outside
the ticket booth.

*****

"One please," Schein requested the ticket lady. For some reason, she was all
sparkly-eyed.

"Just one?" Tallis observed from behind Schein. "What about us?"

Schein turned to him, a bit annoyed. "On *our* salary? I don't think so."

"Fine then. Be that way," Tallis grumped and dug in his pockets for his 
wallet.

"Look at the way that guy's dressed," Varese smirked vainly from his place in
the short line. "He's only slightly better than Marais over here!"

"Where?" Marais asked, curious as to who he had just been compared to. He
saw, inside the theatre lobby, a man in really plain clothing, accompanied by
two teenaged girls, a junior high girl and a kid in glasses who was almost as
plain as the first one was. Marais didn't see the cat with them.

"Oh, him," Marais snorted and dismissed the scene. He happened to see the
snack booth at that moment. "Hey! They've got burritos in there!"

"*STICK TO POPCORN, OR WE'LL HAVE TO HURT YOU, MARAIS*!!!"

"Okay, okay, chee..." Marais said resignedly. "Popcorn then..."

*****

Schein could feel it. What he was looking for was veeeeery close now...

*****

Outside, a group of three were about to enter the Tokyo Movie Haus. One of
them appeared to be carrying a goldfish bowl. And what should it contain but
some water and a talking goldfish?

"Come on, lighten up, Charles," the girl holding the goldfish bowl said. "It
was just *one* job..."

"I can't believe you guys," Charles, the goldfish continued to grump. "You're
the ones on the Nyx account, so you should very well have been in that school
gym when Acheron showed up! Where were you?"

"Uhh..."

"Oh, does it matter anymore?" one of the girls said to Charles grumpily. "It
was taken care of for us, wasn't it?"

"Hmmph," Charles huffed. "Now I owe Whittington and Carlisle a favor. I just
hope they don't ask for anything *too* serious..."

"Oh, relax, Charles," the fourth member in their group told the fish while
chewing gum. "Let's just go see this movie."

They went in.

Nearby, rounding the corner, were two girls and two men followed by... a
goat. Even with this unlikely group, they were having a pretty much similar
conversation as the three with the goldfish.

The goat seemed to be complaining about *some* people not handling a
*certain* Yasha account as was expected of them. Or something.

*****

Uzume, finally through with a whole day of shopping, happily bounced along,
Shiryo calmly walking behind her. Well, he was carrying all the shopping
bags, giving him no choice but to follow calmly.

"Hey, look, brother!" Uzume squealed. "A movie theatre! Let's go in!"

Shiryo, being too tired to resist, just followed his sister to the ticket
booth.

*****

Feeling that that was enough for one episode, the author decided to take a
look at someone who *wasn't* going to the movies...

*****

In a pocket dimension, Rei was observing the flames.

"Very strange..." Rei murmured. "Very strange indeed..."

=| The Pawn I have sent is inactive as of yet... |= said the wall.

=| But I have no need to worry... she will join Uzume soon enough... |= the
floor adjoined thoughtfully.

"But in the meantime, Macavity's pawn is being very busy..." Rei muttered.

She turned her head. A minute too late, she realized. The presence she was
feeling now had been there for a while. "Macavity."

"Still bouncing your voice all over the place, I see," the cat grinned.

"It helps me think," Rei said and returned to her perusal of the chesspieces.
"I'm sure you know of the actions I have taken to counteract your own..."

"Of course," Macavity nodded. "Not that it will do you any good."

He still seemed amused about the whole thing, but something gleamed in his
eye that hinted of something other than amusement being present.

"Oh?"

"I *will* win this wager, Rei. You do know *that*, don't you?"

Rei, amazingly enough, smiled. "We shall see, Macavity... We shall see..."

*****

Yuriko brushed against the strange vase on her table. It wobbled a bit, but
Yuriko didn't notice. She was suddenly formulating strategies that would be
called for when laying siege to castles...

*****

Rei's castle shook as the vase containing her pocket dimension seemed to be
in motion. Both entities in the room looked upwards.

"Are you still trying to take possesion of that girl's body?" Macavity asked,
genuinely curious.

Rei regarded him indifferently. "I cannot leave this dimension, you very well
know that. And as Uzume has abandoned the vase which has been passed down
from Dark Generation to Dark Generation, I will need someone else to do my
tasks for me."

"Understood." Macavity grinned. He turned and padded off towards where he
could exit the dark pocket dimension.

Rei watched him as he left. She sighed a small, almost nonexistent sigh.

Could she win this bet, really?

She turned to the chesspieces, which were still in very unorthodox positions.
And she wondered...

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

*****

Tune in next time, when a main character *kisses* someone! Controversial! Wai!

... or maybe not.

*****

Author's Spiel...

Fast, furious, and hopefully, funny.

As you may have noticed, I've let most *everyone* involved in the story
converge into one big mess.

A reason behind this would be probably in the way I write impro. I usually
prefer to, as others may put it, "set them up and let others knock 'em down".
It's more exciting that way ^_^.

Anyway, I know that the part with Rei near the end is a bit off tempo with
the rest of the thing, but please bear with me. It had to be put in, as I
couldn't bear to dump the entire Rei thing on the next author without helping
it along a bit. It was already confusing enough as it was where I picked up.

TO THE NEXT AUTHOR: I hope you appreciate what I've done for you ^_^.

Oh, and that part where Rei is in the pocket dimension in the vase... why
not, eh? Stranger things have happened. And on that note, by saying that Rei
was stuck in the vase all the time Uzume owned it, I was NOT implying that
Uzume was under Rei's control. Maybe Rei was just influencing a few things,
but definitely not controlling, or anywhere *near* controlling Uzume. She's a
Dark Queen, for criminy's sakes ^_^;. Yuriko, being a common human, was
easily controllable.

My idea was for Rei to be some kind of guardian or unseen guide to all Dark
Kingdoms. Hey, the good guys have Mystical Advisors, right? It's only proper
that Uzume would have one too! Not that she *knows* of it, or anything...

Having said that, do you think Queen Yasha, Nyx and Prudence have vases just
like Uzume's? I dunno. Maybe ^_^.

Godspeed, y'all. I had fun writing this. Nevermind that I started on the
afternoon before the deadline and with an extended extension :P

Finally, I shall launch a five hundred thousand megaton warhead of thanks
mounted on an ICBM towards the abode of the Demented Otaku AKA Demota. May
he wallow in the thousand-year fallout of gratitude that follows. ^_^


Madsman
"VICTOLY!!!"