Sailor Moon: AR
                       Alternate Reality
                         **************
                 Part 8: "The Glass Menagerie"
                                
                                
                    Written by Strike Fiss, 
                     Ninja Crowbotics, 1998
                                
                                
                                
                                
                                
                                
                                
     "Time is the longest distance between two places...."
                    
                    -Tennessee Williams
                    "The Glass Menagerie"






                            Prologue
                                
     
     At first, nothing.  Darkness.  
     
     Then...a loud thrum.  Only audible through the vibration that it gave off along the cold,
black walls.  A sliver of blue light pierced the darkness.  Tom looked up, squinting slightly. 
Then, a smile crossed his lips as the two, giant doors continued to open.
     The blue streak of light grew to the most amazing view of the Planet Earth ever seen by
Humankind.  Directly above him, the blue and white globe filled his mind's eye. 
     "You still there, Tom?"
     Crackling, the static knocked Tom from his state of awe.  "Yeah," he sighed.  It was a
breath mixed with both happiness and a sense of pride.  "Yes, Control.  I'm going to check the
rigging before the launch.  Moving into the rear bay now."
     Commander Tom "Noogie" Spartan latched the tether from his space suit to one of the
convenient safety holds that lined the inner wall of the Space Shuttle's cargo bay.  A light touch
from his heavy rubber boot to the wall, and he was floating across empty space toward a large,
crab-like structure in the back of the bay.
     "Ten-Four, Tom."  Sheryl replied over the radio.  "If you can, see if the left pivot
indicator can be reattached.  We'll only have one shot at the launch."
     He stopped himself as he got to the structure.  Upon closer inspection, it was the launch
rigging for a satellite.  During the shuttle's trip into orbit, one of the electronic sensors shook
loose from the launching assembly.  Although they had backups, more functioning indicators
meant a more precise launch.  
     "I see the cable.  The connection just jimmied loose.  It will only take a few minutes."
Tom said slowly, letting the sunlight illuminate the bay.  The shuttle was turning onto it's side,
preparing for the launch.  
     He was just about to get started, when a small shadow fell over his hand.  "What the...?"
     "Is everything alright, Tom?" Sheryl asked over the com link.
     Tom looked up.  Up was now facing out over the horizon.  "I don't know..." he squinted
his eyes, straining to see what he thought he saw.  "A snow flake??"
     "Tom?  Did you just say..."
     He paused.  "There's a large...blue snow flake floating past the shuttle." he blinked.
     Sure enough, his eyes were not deceiving him.  It was about the size of a beach ball.  It
floated past him, only a few meters away, just beyond his grasp.  
     Then, it curved around the wing of the shuttle, and continued falling toward the blue
globe below.  
     "You still there, Tom?"
     He shook his head.  "Yeah, yeah...I can't say I've seen that before."
     Sheryl laughed.  "It must have been something from Mir.  Maybe they lost some grape-
juice in the collision last year.  Sounds like quite a sight."
     He smiled, then returned his attention to the satellite.  "Yes, it was."
     









                           Chapter 1

     Rei shook her head with a sigh as Chris wrapped his coat around her.  "You didn't have
to do that." she said with a smile.
     Chris grinned and looked around.  "It's cold for this time of year.  Probably a wind
coming off the coast."
     "Thanks." she said as they continued walking down the street.  "It was nice of Andrea to
look after Miharu for us.  We spend so little time alone together." Rei reached up along his
shoulder and kissed his cheek.  
     He nodded silently as they continued down the darkened street.  "Have you noticed that
things have gotten stranger lately?"
     "What do you mean?" she asked, cuddling up in his coat.
     He sighed.  "Everything that's bad seems to be happening in a disturbingly small amount
of time."
     Rei sighed.  "I don't want to think about that." she laughed.  "I just want to enjoy the
disturbingly small amount of time I have with you instead."
     Chris smiled.  "Same here."
     "One thing Jadeite taught me was never take a good thing for granted." Rei said, stepping
in front of him, making him stop.  "You never know when it might be over." 
     They leaned into each other in a warm hug.  "I never did take you for granted." Chris
whispered into her ear. 
     She tilted her head upwards for a kiss.  Suddenly, a bright blue light filled the sky.  They
both opened their eyes and began looking for the source.  A shooting star was streaking down
from the heavens, off into the horizon.  
     "Wow!  Did you see that?" Chris asked.
     "I've never seen a shooting star that bright..." Rei blinked as they watched it fall.  
     A bright point of light signaled the front, and as it burned, the trail of gas it left was
absolutely stunning.  It looked as if someone had thrown a party-streamer into the air and then
electrified it.  Rei smiled as the light died down, assuming it burnt up.  "What was that?  It was
beautiful."
     Chris shrugged, noticing some of the trail the star had left was now floating back down to
Earth.  "I have no idea...I never saw a meteorite like that." he paused with a smile.  "Or even
heard of one like that."
     "Ah well." Rei sighed.  "You can call up NASA tomorrow and tell them all about it." she
hugged him tighter.  "As for tonight..."
     Chris grinned, and tilted his head down to meet hers.  Just as they were about to kiss,
Chris felt a light sprinkling sensation on the back of his neck.  "What the hell...?" he looked up.
     The trail left by the meteorite had fallen.  Some of it over them.  A faint line of shining
particles intersected over their heads.  Rei noticed this as well, and brushed some of the debris
out of his hair.  "What's this stuff?"
     He bent down and scraped together a tiny pile of the residue from the ground.  "Whatever
it is, there's not much of it." he paused, looking at it closer.  "It looks like salt..."
     "Blue salt?" Rei asked.  
     
     A few kilometers away, a small crystal impacted on the ground.  By the looks of it, it
should have shattered.  It didn't, though, and bounced in a shower of sparks as it left a trail of
burnt asphalt.  The streaking ball of blue mass finally slowed down as it ricocheted off a car,
producing a rather large dent in the door.  
     Klink....klink...klank....tick!  It half rolled, half bounced to a stop. Finally rested on the
sidewalk, smoking from the effort to fight friction.  Earth was notorious for having a thick
atmosphere, and indeed, it took it's toll on the small ball of crystallin spikes.  It looked almost as
if someone shattered a pane of glass, then arranged all the thin shards and spikes into a makeshift
sphere, and glued them together.  All in an arrangement just bigger than a baseball.
     Glass usually didn't move on it's own, though.  
     The little crystal began to flop around and roll like a fish out of water, making tiny tinks
every time it hit the cement.  It was naked.  Protective skin burnt off by entry into the atmosphere. 
Unless it found a replacement soon, it would die just from the pollution in the air.  
     He stopped flopping...gathering it's energy...had to think...where was he going to find
sand?  The hard, gray earth beneath had some traces of silicates, but they were locked inside the
mass.  Much too deep for it to access.  The crystal needed something more accessible.
     The air??
     No!  Wait!  It wasn't air!  A soft shine was visible on the side of a structure just a few
meters away.  It had to be...glass?  That was impossible!  It only occurred near meteorite impacts. 
Yet...yes!  It was glass!  Just above was a smooth, crystal-clear sheet of the precious material.  It
was amazing!  So clear!  He almost didn't see it.  
     With a quick blast of energy, the crystal chunk jumped off the sidewalk and embedded
itself in the window of an electronics shop.  The crystal had no idea that the window would
shatter, though.  KRASH!!
     It tumbled back out onto the sidewalk.  Luckily, most of the glass had fallen around him. 
He ignored the annoying burglar alarm and began to roll around on the broken shards, absorbing
them.  As one of the crystal's spines touched the broken glass, it was sucked onto the blue
creature like a magnet.  Soon, a thin shield of melting glass surrounded the tiny crystal.  It's body
grew a bit bigger as the glass solidified into a similar shade of crystal blue.
     He was safe...for now at least.   He continued to roll and skitter around the sidewalk,
absorbing more of the fragmented window.  He had to re-enforce his new skin while he could. 
There was no telling what kind of planet Earth had become while he was traveling.  
     His first indication came screaming around the corner in response to the alarm.  A police
car.  The crystal shivered slightly, unsure of what to do.  The headlights were pointed on him
now as the car pulled up along side the window.  Two people inside the vehicle looked very
displeased at the disturbance so late at night.  
     "I don't see anyone..." one officer said to another.  "Just a bunch of broken glass."
     "What the hell is that?" the other asked, pointing a flashlight onto the crystal object.  
     "Probably some new game.  Come on, the asshole who smashed the window might still
be around here somewhere."
     The police car roared to life once again, and took off down the street.  It thought for a
moment.  That had been a really close call.  The local peace officers had noticed him right away. 
It was only by sheer luck that they didn't realize he had been the one who broke the glass.
     He needed to become less noticeable.  

     Rei and Chris had seen the police car and decided to check it out.  "I wonder if that
meteor hit something." Chris wondered as they followed the trail of blue sand.  
     "That would explain the police...especially if it hit a car or something."  Rei guessed. 
"I'm curious to see what it looks like."
     Chris smiled.  "Maybe the shuttle dropped its salt n' pepper shakers."
     Rei rolled her eyes.  "Or maybe your brain is attracting interstellar debris again."
     "Ha!" Chris laughed.  "When has it ever stopped?"
     Rei suddenly froze in her tracks.  "I sense something..."
     "Oh oh..."
     "It's the...the meteorite!  It's alive!" Rei gasped.  "Come on!" she took off ahead of him
in a sprint.  
     Chris grabbed his jacket as it flew off, and ran after her.  "Are you sure?" he paused.  "Of
course you're sure.  Is it evil?"
     "I don't know..." Rei said as they rounded a street corner.  "Do you wanna take the
chance, though?"
     "I see your point." he said, taking out his disk.  Generally, life forms that fell from space
didn't spell a relaxing evening for the Sailor Scouts.
     In front of an electronics store was...Nothing.
     Only the remnants of a broken window.  They stopped running and walked up to the
store.  "Maybe the police scared him off?" Chris wondered.
     "I-I don't know." Rei frowned.  "I can still...sense it."
     Chris walked over to the ground, looking at some of the glass.  "Look at this...There's not
nearly enough glass to account for the window."
     "What do you mean?" Rei looked inside the shop.
     "I don't know..." Chris shrugged.  "Ever have one of those feelings that something's not
right?"
     "When don't I." Rei grinned.  "You're right...the cops will get the bugger.  Maybe that
meteorite just slammed into the glass.   Come on."
     Chris sighed and followed her off down the street. 
     
     The tiny crystal skittered out of the shadows, still shivering.  Well, at least he remembered
what humans looked like now.  
     
     







                           Chapter 2

     Andrea sighed angerly as light hit her eyelids, forcing her to wake.  "I wanna sleep in..."
she grumbled.
     Beavis was standing directly in front of her face.  "Wake up, Miss Pluto."
     She sighed.  "Aren't you nocturnal??"
     His pointed little face smiled.  "Only when I want to be."
     Andrea sighed, sitting up, remembering she had slept in her clothes.  Miharu was
snuggled in her bed across from her.  She had been worried when Rei and Chris didn't come
back, and wanted her to stay with her.  "Did they come home last night?"
     Beavis nodded, and shook his quills out in a stretch.  "Yes.  They just saw something
weird last night.  Had to check out a burglary or something."
     "Good." Andrea yawned and smiled.  "I had a dream that all these skeletons were dancing
in a mamba line."
     Beavis paused.  "Oh...I had a dream that my face turned into a banana.  Whenever I
talked, my face would peel and re-seal." he shivered, making another rustling sound.  "It was
creepy, since I was singing the Barney Theme Song."
     Andrea sighed.  "So much for my dreams being weirder than yours." 
     She straightened out her hair and stood up, lifting Beavis to her shoulder.  "I bet you're
wondering why I woke you." Beavis said finally.
     She nodded.  "Sure...though if it's for breakfast, I'll join you." 
     "I don't think you like cat-food." Beavis replied in his calm, Scottish accent.  
     "Okay," Andrea said, rounding the corner to her own room.  "Why did you wake me up
from my awesome dancing skeleton dream, then?"
     "Because I want to ask you a question." the little hedgehog cleared it's throat.  "How big
can your attack get?"
     "What attack?" Andrea asked.
     "Your Destruction Program." Beavis said simply.
     Andrea blinked.  "I'm not really sure." she frowned.  "I'm not even supposed to use it in
combat unless things get desperate...and I've almost never practiced."
     "Okay, do you think it could ever envelop the entire planet?"
     "Why would you want to do that?" Andrea asked.  "That's like taking an entire planet out
of time...with nobody to bring you back."
     Beavis sighed.  "Damn.  That's right."
     "Why did you ask?" Andrea asked suspiciously.
     Beavis paused.  "I'm weighing options." 
     Andrea yawned.  "You're rambling again.  Come on...I'll get you some cat food."
     "So, how's life?" Beavis smiled. 
     "Boring." Andrea yawned again, pouring him a dish of food and setting him down on the
kitchen table with it as she got some bread.  "Either we almost die, or nothing happens.  There's
never a nice compromise in the middle." she smiled.  "Though, the Negaverse was kind of fun...I
got to get in a little battle experience."
     "From what I hear, it was far from fun." Beavis said after eating a few pellets of Meow
Mix.
     Andrea sighed.  "Well, it's never fun to fight...but it's great when you can look back on it,
knowing you survived."
     "Like a roller-coaster." Beavis grinned.  
     "Yeah." Andrea said sarcastically.  "Exactly like a roller-coaster.  Only with no track,
cars, or amusement park."
     "It's not your fault that you enjoy a challenge." Beavis pronounced.  "You have to
remember that you're a trained warrior.  You're not so cold as to never question your actions, but
you are smart enough to hold reservations until after the battle.  Otherwise, your enemies would
simply kill you before you killed them."
     "I know..."
     Beavis nodded.  "Sorry, I don't want to seem like I'm all for the death and destruction
and what ever else.  But I do know that this is the only way."
     Andrea looked down at the small ball of quills.  "Shitty...huh?"
     "Yes."
     
     Chris and Artemis sat on Ami's bed as she analyzed a sample.  "My computer said it was
just silicate." he explained.  "I figured yours might come up with a better conclusion."
     Ami nodded.  "I didn't know your computer could do scans."
     "Well, I knew I'd only have one chance to get it from the Omega Web, so I picked the
best I could find." he smiled as Artemis yawned.
     "Tell me again why you're scanning sand?" the cat asked.
     "Because that sand came from a meteorite." Chris shrugged.  "That by itself wouldn't be
too weird, but Rei had some funky vibes about the whole situation."
     The small cat pressed his paw against his forehead.  "I don't like it when Rei gets funky
vibes."
     "My thoughts exactly." Chris smiled.
     Ami stopped tapping on her computer.  "Well, it's defiantly silicate." she paused,
examining her readings.  "I'd say it's a rough equivalent to grade P microchip silicone."
     Artemis looked over to Chris.  "Atlantis is up in orbit, isn't it?  Maybe it's a chunk of
satellite."
     Ami nodded.  "That would defiantly explain the patterns in the residue." she continued to
press a few more buttons.  "Take a look at this." she let Chris look at the screen.
     Artemis blinked.  "What the hell is that?"
     On the tiny, back-lit screen was a very complex, ball-shaped molecule.  Chris blinked. 
"That's not from a satellite."
     "What do you mean?  It's a crystalline structure." Ami said, re-examining the sample.
     Chris whipped out his own computer.  "First of all, not many satellites could survive a
trip into the atmosphere and still have chunks of their computers intact.  Second of all, that
molecule is a 'Bucky-Ball'."
     "A what?" Artemis asked.
     "Not too long ago, some scientists found these really complex molecules of carbon atoms
that were in the shape of soccer balls." Chris showed a similar picture on his laptop.  "They're
found in nature, and have some interesting properties...but THIS little soccer ball is made from
silicone.  Nobody knew that was possible." he turned to Ami.  "Especially not the good people
down in Silicone Valley."
     Ami nodded.  "I've heard of the carbon versions...but maybe the silicone got re-formed
during the re-entry."
     Chris shrugged.  "That could be it." he smiled.  "But then again, even the carbon version
is rare."
     Ami paused, then did another scan of the sample.  "These...they're all...Bucky Balls." she
did a quick estimate.  "The sample is over ninety-nine percent pure."
     Artemis sighed.  "Okay, so the thing is a meteorite.  So what?"
     "Nothing's just a meteorite when Rei thinks she senses something." Chris replied.  
     "Would you mind if I send this away on the Internet?" Ami asked.  "I can see if anyone
else has seen this."
     "Be my guest." Chris nodded, then stood.  
     "Where are you going?" Ami asked.  
     "To find that meteorite." he said, picking up Artemis.  "And you're going to help, Arty."
     "What?" the cat asked, startled at the proposal of his napping time being cut short.
     Chris smiled.  "Because although I couldn't care less if people look at me funny, I can't
crawl along the ground as fast as you."
     Artemis frowned.  "Damn these stubby legs."










                           Chapter 3

     He should have known.  Absorbing all that glass.  The figure let out a loud belch that
echoed throughout the alley.  To his surprise, an old man walked up to him and offered him a
glass bottle, muttering something in a drunken Japanese ramble.  
     "Poor guy!" the man laughed.  "Here have a drink.  Take the edge off."
     The figure managed a stiff smile.  The more he saw of the city, the better he could adapt. 
His hand reached out and accepted the bottle.  Instead of taking a swig of what ever liquor was
inside, his hand seemed to grow onto the glass, sucking it into his arm.
     The drunk stopped laughing, and watched wide-eyed as his bottle shattered and
disappeared into the figure's limb.  Clear sake spilled out over the ground with nothing left to
contain it.  
     "How did you do that?" the drunk asked, shrugging the unusual act off with another
laugh. 
     The figure only hiccuped.  Sooner or later...he was going to have to try and talk. 
"Uhstt...hhhaaar..." his mouth moved in vague motions.  
     "Ahh, don't worry," the drunk laughed again.  "You'll feel better after you sleep it off."
he sat down besides him.  "Rough night?"
     The crystal figure looked down and finally remembered that clothes would have to be his
first priority.  Well, at least once he learned how to talk.  "Blearhh?  Ruuk knitttee?"
     "Yeah," his new friend nodded.  "Lemme guess.  The Mrs.?" he laughed.  "I got married
once, and regretted it.  Personally, I like the bachelor's life." he belched.  
     If the crystalline form could have smelled the drunk's breath, he probably would have
stopped smiling.  "Yeah." he finally managed, re-forming his false lungs and throat passages. 
"Gots bat-" he struggled over the sounds.  "Bat-sholar life."
     "Hey, you sound like you have a cold or something." the drunk burped.  "You know, I
can get you some stuff for that." he paused.  "Shay...what's your name, friend?"
     The ridged smile dropped.  
     "You don't remember?" the man asked.
     The crystal couldn't remember.  What he could remember of Japanese was more than
enough for him to understand the man, but he realized he was still in shock from re-entry.  Only
his survival thoughts were fully working.  
     A sigh escaped from his makeshift lungs.  It would take some time to remember the rest. 
"Do..." he paused, frustrated. Slumping down angerly, he found another glass bottle that had
been discarded in the alley, and ate it.

     "I still don't get what we're doing here." Artemis complained.  
     Chris sighed, closing his computer.  All they were doing was attracting unneeded
attention.  "Nothing." he slid the computer into his backpack.  "All the glass is gone, and there's
nothing here now."
     "What were you expecting to find?" Artemis laughed.  "A little Martian who dropped his
glasses?"
     Chris smiled wryly.  "That wasn't funny." he smiled wider as Artemis frowned.  "I don't
know what I expected.  Some kind of asshole monster, I guess."
     "Well, that would defiantly go along with Rei's senses." the cat sighed quietly, making
sure he couldn't be heard to other members of the crowd.  
     "Actually," Chris sighed.  "I'm glad.  I really didn't want to start fighting in downtown
Tokyo."
     "Yeah." Artemis sighed, jumping up onto his backpack, then draping himself over Chris'
shoulder so they could talk.  "I heard that the Negaverse was pretty bad."
     "Well, it could have been a lot worse." Chris nodded.  "We didn't kill the poor people,
but we left them to die on their own.  I can't help but feel downright shitty about that."
     "The way Rei explained it, there wasn't much you could have done." the cat replied.  
     "That's the same thing Beavis told me." Chris smiled, then continued.  "He said that we
were warriors, and were not responsible." he frowned.  "I am not a warrior."
     "Let me guess." Artemis smiled.  "You're a lover, not a fighter."
     "For a small white cat, you certainly are a dirty old man." he replied with a smile.  "No,
I'm not a fighter.  I'm just a guardian."
     "A guardian is just a warrior with a noble cause.  I don't see the difference." Artemis said
bluntly.
     "I do." Chris said as they continued down the street.  "A guardian doesn't kill unless it's
necessary.  Every time I take someone's life, I wonder more and more if it was the only way."
     "Meanwhile, your enemies don't have that kind of conscious."
     Chris "hmphed" a laugh out under his breath.  "True...but when your enemies are
starving, innocent civilians..."
     "I know you think you're doing more harm than good, Chris." Artemis sighed.  "I heard
about what you told Rei.  A few times you were ready to just throw away your sword and sit back
to watch."
     "She told you?" Chris sighed.  "Yeah, I guess."
     "The thing is that without you, the team would be a lot weaker." Artemis continued. 
"That's not saying you're so important, rather if anyone was gone, we'd all suffer."
     Chris smiled.  "Thanks for the note of confidence."
     "You know what I mean." the cat said quietly.  "I thought you were over all that, though."
     "I enjoy protecting my friends." Chris said.  "Too much at times." he smiled.  "I guess it's
just the times in between that are killers on your mind."
     Artemis smiled. 
     Chris' face dropped.  "Have you talked to Beavis lately?"
     The cat blinked.  "No, not for a few days.  He's been hanging out by the temple, and I've
been with Mina."
     "Something's bugging him." he said simply.  "I don't know.  Ever since I got back from
the Negaverse, he's had this really weird attitude." he paused.  "Particularly toward Miharu."
     "What?" Artemis laughed.  "Maybe he's fallen in love with your new daughter."
     Chris shook his head.  "From what I gather, he's about a good two millennium older than
she is." he smiled.  "It wouldn't work out...and besides, that's not it."
     "What is it then?"
     "I don't know." Chris sighed.  "It's almost like he's afraid of her.  It's like he's avoiding
her, but always keeps within ear-shot."
     Artemis paused for a while.  "Maybe he's protecting her."
     Chris shrugged. 
     "When you and Rei are out fighting, maybe he took it upon himself to be..." the white
feline smiled.  "her guardian."
     He smiled.  "I hope that's all.  I've never seen Beavis so quiet.  But if he thinks I'm
paying him for baby sitting...ha!"
     
     He shouldn't have been so cocky, but all that glass...it was too rich.  Too sweet.  If there
was a word for his condition, he would have been on the "wasted" side of drunk.  
     "Clothes..." he muttered in his metallic, crystalline voice.  A roughly formed finger
pointed past his new "drinking partner" and out onto the street.
     A young man walked past the alley with a white cat on his shoulder.  
     The bum besides him laughed.  "No, son.  You can't just go up to people on the street and
ask them to give you their clothes."
     The crystal stood up in a smooth motion, looked around, and found some rags to wrap
around his waist.  "I will..." he hiccuped.  "Be right back..."
     The drunk just blinked as the oddly ridged form began to walk past him and out onto the
street.  "Strange kid." he laughed, and opened up another bottle of sake.
     Chris didn't even hear the small tinks and cracks behind him.  Artemis did, and turned to
see a man walking up behind them, wearing only a rag tied behind his waist.  "What the hell?"
     "What is it?" Chris turned.  
     A bluish-skinned young man with jagged hair grabbed Chris' collar.  "Clothes..."
     Chris blinked.  "Excuse me?" he spun his shoulder into the man's arm, knocking him
free.  
     The blue-ish man staggered back, as if Chris had just punched him in the head.  "Cloo-ssse!" 
he repeated with a frown.
     Artemis blinked.  "I think he wants your coat!"
     "I gathered that." Chris frowned, then was grabbed again, this time, on the cuff oh his
trenchcoat.  "HEY!"
     Before he could knock the person loose again, a powerful tug caused Chris to loose his
footing, and he tumbled onto the ground.  Artemis leapt off at the last second, when the man used
a flick of his wrist to snag free Chris' coat from one of his arms.  "Clothes!"
     Chris coughed out some sidewalk dirt.  "Man, you are asking for it..." he wound up on
one knee, reached for his disk, and was about to blast the man with a repulsion spell, when he
was flipped around again.  His backpack fell off, and his coat was only hanging on by one arm.
     The blue-skinned figure finally flicked Chris' coat free.  "Tank ou!" he began to walk off,
putting the coat on.
     "Moo." Chris growled, regaining his footing.  "You picked the wrong person to rob." he
pocketed his disk, noticing too many people were around.  "CHIWAWA!" he leapt at the guy's
back, tackling him into the sidewalk.
     The two crashed down onto the concrete...quite literally.  They crystal's arm shattered as
he hit the pavement, spreading out in a fanning pattern of glass shards.  Chris was tossed off to
the side, cutting his arm up on the glass.  "Clothes?" the crystal asked.
     Chris looked him in the face.  They had both been stunned by the fall.  "You're the..." he
blinked.  "You're what Rei sensed!" he reached into his pants, pulling out his disk.  
     Artemis ran up to him.  "Transform!"
     Chris looked down at the cat.  "I kind of guessed."    The crystal's eyes widened as Chris'
disk extended into his sword.  He got to his feet and took off, ignoring the splintering remains of
his arm.  "Come back here!  That's my coat!"
     "I don't like clothes." the crystal said quickly.  
     As he ran, he passed by another store.  Pausing only for a moment, he pressed his arm-stump 
into the sheet of glass and absorbed a large chunk out of it.  The glass seemed to liquefy
and re-form into a new appendage. Chris was stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed.  "Mmm, you
don't see that every day..."
     With a new arm, and a new trenchcoat, the figure began running again.  Chris growled
and chased after once more.  Suddenly, the crystal leapt into the street.  Before Chris or Artemis
realized what was happening, the figure had latched onto the rear-windshield of a car, and was
yanked in the opposite direction, passing the two at fifty kilometers an hour.
     Artemis sighed as the car rounded a corner and was gone.  "So much for that."
     Chris rubbed back his hair, frustrated.  Traffic would make finding the guy impossible. 
"Man!  That was my COAT!" he sheathed his sword, and caused it to revert back to disk-form. 
He then looked over to the window that the man had absorbed.  "And what the hell is this? 
Attack of glass-eaters from planet X?"










                           Chapter 4

     "So, you got a coat?" the drunk asked as the form sat back down.  "Where were you? 
You've been gone for half an hour!"
     "Car...had to...find back." the crystal replied through his synthetic lips.  At least his
speech was improving.  
     "Say!" the drunk smiled.  "You get the guy's wallet?"  
     The form paused.  "Wall?  Let?"
     The dirty man laughed.  "Haven't you checked the pockets yet?"
     "No..." he replied, standing up, and opening the coat to rummage around.  
     After a moment of searching, he sat back down, producing a small, black, leather wallet. 
It flipped open to show a drivers licence with a picture of  the boy that he had taken the coat
from.  A few more cards were in the wallet.  A student bank card, and a few others.  
     "That was just a kid!" the drunk frowned as he saw the "student" on the card.  "I hope
you didn't hurt the poor guy."
     "No, he's fine." the crystal said coldly, opening the wallet.  A rather thick wad of cash
was inside.  
     "Holy shit!  That kid was loaded!" the drunk laughed.  "I'm sure his mommie can replace
his wallet."
     With a curious dig inside, the crystal pulled out the money.  A few photographs fell out as
he did.  "Mm?" he picked them up, raising them next to his 'eyes.'  
     One was of Rei.  She stuck out her tongue with a smile.  The crystal's drinking partner
made a whistle.  "Ah, young love." he laughed. 
     Another picture was of Rei, Chris and Miharu standing next to the temple.  There was
also a small, spiky animal in Miharu's head.  He looked to the back of the photo.  "Cherri Hill,
'98" it read.  He looked closer at Beavis.  For a moment, it looked like another of his kind.  A
small, spiky life form; only this one was brown and gray.
     The crystal then thumbed to the next photo, showing Maury and Andrea giving 'peace'
signs next to a large building in the background.  
     He froze.
     The drunk looked at him with a curious hiccup.  "What is it?  You know the girl?"
     "A-Andrea!?!" the figure nodded quickly.  "Andrea!  Princess!"
     "Whoa?  She's a princess?" the drunk asked, hardly as drunk as he had been earlier that
afternoon.  "Listen, buddy, if she's royalty, I don't think she's going to go for a street..."
     "My name's not buddy." the figure said suddenly, with a newer, clear voice.  "It's
Demeter."
     
     Andrea and Rei raised their eyebrows as Chris and Artemis returned.  Noticeably coatless. 
"Where's your..." Rei started, then was interrupted by a look from both of them that said 'don't
ask.'
     Chris let Artemis jump down onto the table, and then rolled up his sleeve and walked
over to the sink to clean out his cuts.  "We found your meteorite." he said flatly.  
     "What?" Rei asked.  "Where!?!"
     "Well," Chris sighed.  "He kind of found me.  Apparently, meteorites like trench coats."
     "This guy just came up behind us and shook Chris out of his coat." Artemis elaborated.
"When Fissy over here retaliated, he knocked the guy down, and the thing's arm shattered!"
     Rei walked over to the cupboards, getting a first-aid kit for Chris' arm.  "What does he
look like?" she smiled.  "If it's even a 'he'."
     "That's just it." Chris sighed.  "He didn't really look different.  Kind of a generic human. 
He did have a slight blue-ish tint to him, though.  It's still going to be hell spotting him in a
crowd." he finished wrapping his arm and slammed his head against the wall.  "Damn bastard
stole my wallet!  Argh!"
     Andrea laughed.  "Well, look on the bright side.  MOST people just get mugged by
humans.  You're lucky enough to get mugged by a meteorite."
     "Lucky me." Chris smiled back.  
     "So, was he hostile?" Rei asked.  "It would be nice if no more evil doomsday aliens
would come for a while.  I'm still tired from the Lords and Galaxia."
     Artemis shrugged.  "He probably just needed clothes."
     "Hostile or not," Chris growled.  "I'm getting back my wallet!"
     Rei smiled and gave him a quick kiss.  "Suuure you will.  He's probably half way to
Jupiter now."
     "Then once he gets there I'll get Lita to kick his ass." Chris grinned.
     "You better warn the others to keep an eye out." Artemis said.  "Just in case.  If we can at
least talk to him, then we'll know why he's here."

     Night fell slowly in the alleyway.  Over the rooftops, Demeter watched with fascination
as slowly, the sun set.  His eyes sparkled with perfect clarity, bathing in the light.  "That's the
sun?" he asked slowly.
     His drinking partner smiled and patted him on the back.  "You must have really been out
of it."
     "I-I've never seen it so close." Demeter smiled.  Throughout the day, his features became
more life-like as he got used to the glass shell around him.  "Are you all used to it being this
bright?"
     "Why?  Did you grow up in the arctic or something?" the man asked, sipping some
coffee.  
     "Pluto." Demeter said frankly.  "Have you ever seen the sun from six billion kilometers
away?"
     The man laughed.  "I can't say I have."
     Demeter pointed to the sky that was already black and had stars showing.  "It looks like
those...only a little brighter." he sighed.  "Not like that..." he pointed back to the sun.
     The last bit of blue had faded to a light, lollipop pink.  Only a slice of the sun's horizon
was visible now.  "It is a nice sunset." the man agreed.
     "How long until it rises?" Demeter asked eagerly.  "Please say it rises soon!" he laughed
out loud.  "I love this planet."
     "What ever your on, I suggest you get off of it before you try and fly off buildings." the
drunk laughed.  
     "Well, I can't fly with all this gravity." Demeter replied.  "But I can hover a little." his
eyes never left the spectacular horizon as it drained into deeper and deeper shades of red and
purple.  Finally, the dark blue morphed into the night sky.  He watched it all for the first time
with a child's eyes.
     "You really haven't seen the sun set before...have you?" the man asked incredulously.  
     "I never thought I'd see it." Demeter said, closing his eyelids finally.  "At least not like
this...I always thought it wouldn't be as nice.  Maybe it wouldn't be all that I expected." he
breathed out a grateful sigh.  "I'm glad Andrea grew up here."
     "What's with her, anyway?" his friend asked with a grin.  "She sounds nice."
     Demeter sighed.  "What's the phrase....pain in the...?"
     "Ass."
     "Yes." Demeter grinned.  "That's it.  She was a pain in the ass.  Always skipped out
practice with her sister.  Never took anything seriously." he sighed.  "But I'd do anything for
her."
     "Sounds like you love her." 
     Demeter shrugged.  "I wouldn't know.  Besides, she's in love with someone else
already."
     "Ooh, rough." the man sighed, taking another sip of his coffee. "She live here?"
     Demeter paused.  "I'm not sure.  Have you heard of the Senshi?"
     "Soldiers?" the man blinked.
     "No," Demeter said.  "What was her name...ah, yes.  Serenity.  She called her court the
Sailor Scouts?"
     The man blinked.  "Yeah, of course!  They saved Tokyo from aliens and a bomb that
went off a few years ago.  They haven't been up to much lately...but occasionally, they're spotted
running around town."
     "So they are here." he sighed.  "That must mean Beryl survived." he shook off a shudder. 
"If the Scouts are here, Andrea is nearby."
     The bum's eyes widened.  "She's a Sailor Scout?"
     Demeter nodded, not knowing any better.  
     "Wow!  You know Sailor Moon?" he laughed.  "Did I sure find an interesting drinking
buddy.  I gotta share sake more often!" he paused.  "Are you going to find Andrea?"
     "Yup." Demeter nodded.
     "Well, you better get some clothes before you do." he laughed.  
     Demeter looked down at the trenchcoat wrapped around him.  "How?"
     "Well, you have money." the man shrugged, then gave Demeter a strange look.  "You DO
know what money is, don't you?"
     

     

     
     
     





                           Chapter 5

     Tokyo has witnessed few nights like that one.  Quiet.  Even in a city so big, that it is
physically impossible for it to sleep, it somehow pulled through the night without a scratch.  No
two-A-M alarms, no monsters sucking out people's energy, no segmented body parts found.  No
reason to stay awake.
     Maury sighed as he watched the sun rise and his power return.  Sure, he was still a
formidable warrior at night, but the sight of the sun was always accompanied by the warm tingle
of energy within him.  
     He had been marshaling his powers.  Learning just what he could do.  He would never tell
Lita, but it was for her benefit.  Maury never wanted to put her in risk.  She would always fight
on her own, and that was something he couldn't change even if he wanted to.  So, to compensate,
he vowed to be ready for the next Sailor Galaxia, or group of Lords, or whatever else decided to
drop from the sky and play "Nuke The Sailor Scouts."
     One of his powers was the ability to shrug off sleep.  It took practice, but focusing a little
bit of energy allowed him to have a good night's rest while relatively awake and alert.  
     The side-effect of this was boredom.  Lita slept soundly in her bedroom, not ready to
wake for another hour at least.  Maury sighed, wrapping his black trenchcoat around himself like
a blanket.  It had been a cool summer night out on the balcony.  A rain seemed to be forming off
in the distance, and he was looking forward to the little shower.  
     "Maybe Chris is awake." Maury sighed, reaching into his coat and pulling out his cellular
phone.
     A few seconds after dialing, Chris' lap-top computer answered. "You have reached ME!"
it said in Chris' voice.  "Just a second...I'll see if I'm here."
     "Hello?" Chris' slightly more tired voice replied.
     "Hey, Fissy.  You awake?" Maury asked.  "Wanna go practice or something?"
     Chris snickered on the other end.  "Yeah, I just woke up.  Unlike you, I need a little sleep
now and then to keep sane."
     "What is this 'sane' thing you keep referring to?" Maury laughed.  
     "Good point.  I'll meet you underneath the bridge.  You know.  Same bat-time, same bat-channel." 
Chris yawned, but there was sounds of him rustling into his change of clothes.
     "I'll bring something sharp to play with." Maury grinned.  "Naw...actually, I'm going to
try out a bo."
     "Either way, I'll kick your ass." Chris laughed.  "See you there, home boy." the
connection was cut.
     Maury stretched, got to his feet, and walked into the apartment from the balcony.  
     
     Demeter's eyes widened as the first hints of daylight crept over the horizon.  
     At first, it was just a pink glow that reflected off the sky.  Morning clouds took shape as
nothing more than whips of cotton.  Now orange with the approaching day.  A deep, clean-rust
color.  Slowly, it was turning into the lighter, warm orange he had seen during sunset.  
     Rustling next to him told the crystalloid his new friend was waking up.  "Is it always this
beautiful?" Demeter asked quietly.  The chiming element in his voice had flattened to perfect
human speech.
     "Not always..." his friend yawned.  "You were up all night?"
     "I was scared it wouldn't come up." Demeter sighed happily.  "I wanted to make sure I
saw it again.  Besides, I don't need much sleep."
     "You have to learn how to relax, my friend.  The sun will always come up." he laughed. 
"And you should get yourself some new clothes before the cops find you and arrest you for
stealing that kid's wallet, or you'll be watching the sunrise from a jail cell, buck-naked."
     "I've been working on that." Demeter stood.  His body was now covered with nice, clean,
white clothes.  White shirt, and white jeans.  "What do you think?"
     "Snazzy." his friend shrugged.  "You must be a wizard or something...so I'm not going to
ask questions."
     "I thought humans were always curious?" Demeter shrugged.
     The man sat down next to him.  "Not when you could turn me into a frog or something."
he laughed.
     "I don't even know what a frog looks like." the crystal smiled.  "Are they the fuzzy things
with bushy tails and black eyes?"
     "Never mind.  I'm goina get a drink.  You want anything?"
     Demeter shook his head.  "No thanks.  I should be going, actually.  I have to find
Andrea."
     "Are you going to be okay?" the man asked, concerned.  
     Demeter turned to him and nodded.  "Keep the coat." he tossed Chris' trenchcoat at him. 
"It might get cold out later."
     "How do you know?" 
     "I lived on Pluto for my entire life." Demeter smiled.  "I know what cold is."
     
     "Man it's cold." Chris sighed, sitting on the grass, looking at his sword.  "Not a very nice
day...but hopefully, the evening will be warmer."
     The blade caught the reflection of a black blob moving up behind him, and Chris casually
pointed the tip of his sword over his head.  Less than a second later, Maury's bo hit the tip, and
got stick.  "How did you DO that?" he laughed.
     Chris turned and smiled.  A quick twist of his worst dislodged the sword from the staff,
and he stood.  "Practice.  Miharu's the best training partner I could ever hope for."
     "Awww, how sweet." Maury grinned.  "I'll nominate you for father of the year."
     "Yeah, I can see the reaction when they show me and Miharu trying to kill each other
with razor-sharp swords." Chris smiled, lowering his sunglasses slightly. "Nice night?"
     "Boring." Maury sighed.  "Lita fell asleep early.  No crime.  The only thing on T.V. was
dubbed A-Team re-runs."
     "Cool." Chris laughed.  "I pity da poor foo who touches mah sushi!"
     "Yeah...Mr T is cool." Maury swung around his bo in an impressive spin.  "Let's rock,
shall we?"
     Chris was already a step ahead, and a whistling swish of his sword chopped a small chunk
out of Maury's bo.  Maury frowned and slammed the blunt stick into Chris' vest, propelling him
back a few meters.  "He he!  Not too shabby!" Chris laughed.  "Though, what do you say we
really practice."
     Maury paused.  "Oh?  You mean Sol Flares N all?"
     Chris shrugged.  "Why not?"
     "Because we could kill each other." Maury laughed.
     "Are you so out of practice that you think you'll slip up and nuke me?" Chris asked,
looking over his glasses.  "Come on, Mo...let's show off a little."
     Maury paused, then smiled.  "It's your funeral."
     "That's more like it." Chris grinned, sword ready. 
     A dozen Sol Stars came streaking towards Fiss, who instantly rolled, dodging them. 
Maury had been expecting him to reflect them away with his sword, and was charging for an easy
strike.  Chris stopped rolling and used the repulse effect to send Maury over his head and into the
riverbank.
     Maury wasn't about to be defeated so easily, however, and used his bo like a pole-vault to
spring back.  "SOL FLARE!"
     Chris was caught off guard, and could do noting but block.  "FISS!"  The supercharged
plasma hit all around the shield.  Chris was protected only by a little bubble as the ground around
him was scorched into oblivion.  
     Maury landed, letting Chris have a moment to get up.  "He he!  I warned ya!"
     His friend, slightly smoldering from the attack, stood, sword raised.  "I like my Fiss well-done, 
actually." he grinned, then slashed outwards from his side.  The energy ribbon caught Maury's bo and 
singed a large portion of it into ash.
     "Man, these things are expensive!" he laughed.  "Now you're goinna die."









                           Chapter 6

     Andrea sighed as she looked at the price tag.  "Too many zeros and nines." 
     It was a nice shirt, too.  Damn.  Nothing's better than a shirt with a clever sexual
innuendo on the front.  And in Japanese, too.  She could wear it back home and the teachers
would be none the wiser.  Andrea grinned, and despite the price, decided to dig into her lunch-money.  
It was worth it.
     She brought it up to the cash register and payed for it.  The woman smiled at the logo and
shook her head, putting it in a bag for her.  
     Andrea walked out of the clothing store with a smile, and headed down the street.  Bus
would be by soon.  
     "Excuse me, miss..."
     Andrea turned, looking around.  "Yes??"
     Standing to her left was a tall young man wearing nothing but white.  He smiled at her,
looking down slightly to meet her eyes.  "Andrea??"
     Andrea blinked.  "Uhhhh...do I know you?"
     The man shook his head suddenly.  "Oh, I'm sorry, Pr...I mean, Miss.  I didn't mean to
scare you."
     "How did you know my name?" Andrea asked, trying to keep her voice down in the
crowd of people.  
     He paused.  No...she doesn't recognize him...probably scared the hell out of her.  As fast
as his crystal-linked neurons could process, he came up with an excuse.  "I'm sorry...you just
reminded me of someone."
     Andrea raised an eyebrow.  "With the same name?"
     The white-dressed boy nodded quickly.  "Yes.  Amazing, isn't it?"
     "Ahh," Andrea nodded.  "Okay, well, don't worry about it." she smiled quickly and
decided to head off down the street.  
     As she walked, she made sure her broach was still clipped on the inside of her jacket. 
Something didn't feel right.  The only time some guy off the street knows your name is if he's
been stalking you for a few weeks, and plans to make you his first victim in an eventual killing
spree.  
     "I watch way too many movies." she sighed to herself, relaxing a bit.  
     "Excuse me!"
     Andrea almost jumped when the same guy came running up to her again.  "WHAT?" she
gasped, turning to face him.  
     He smiled.  "I'm sorry...I was just wondering...are you free for lunch?"
     Andrea almost fell over.  "Pardon?"
     "I would like to treat you to lunch if I may." the guy bowed slightly.  "To apologize for
freaking you out earlier."
     She blinked.  "Well...I don't know..." she was just about to say no...but the light weight of
her purse reminded her that she had just spent her lunch-money.  Not only that...he was kind of
cute.  At least in a horror-movie kind of way.  The killers were always relatively handsome...but
she never heard of one offering to buy lunch for their victims unless it was late at night with
nobody around.  
     "Please?" he repeated.  "It would be my pleasure."
     She sighed.  "Okay, I have a few hours." her face lightened to a smile.  "Where do you
want to go?"
     The man blinked.  "I...Uh...I don't know." he paused.  "You pick."
     She smiled.  "Wow...I get to choose?  How keen."

     Chunks of dirt splattered down from the sky, creating a huge dust-cloud that rolled up the
banks of the river, over the bridge that oversected the area.  A few of the cars had to slow down
to avoid accidents.  
     Maury dropped down from a spooky-power-assisted jump.  His bo was nothing more than
a tattered toothpick now...but he was gaining ground in the duel.  "Show yourself, Saturn!" he
laughed.
     The deadly tip of Chris' sword appeared from the billowing dust, followed by his
shoulder.  Strike Fiss did a sideways jump at Destiny, forcing the trench-coat-wearing prince to
stumble back, deflecting the sword with what was left of his bo.  
     It snapped in two, and the blade stopped only an inch from Maury's chest.  Chris smiled,
dirty, but on the advantage.  "Give up?"
     Maury looked him over.  "You shouldn't reach so far over." Maury grinned, spinning
around, and kicking out Chris's leg.  Fiss landed, eating grass in a quick roll.  
     "Mmm, I'll keep that in mind." Chris coughed, sword along his arm, already posed for
another attack.  
     Maury looked up at the bridge, and saw a small crowd had gathered.  "Uh...we better stop
for today."
     Chris looked up and nodded.  "Mmm, okay." he was helped to his feet by Maury.  "Great
fight, though."
     "You owe me a new bo." Maury sighed, throwing the two halves away. 
     "Come on...I'll get you one downtown." he smiled.  "After we loose the fan-club."
     An eerie silence overtook the two.  "Do you...feel that?" Maury asked, looking around.
     All the traffic had stopped.  No wind.  No sound.  No nothing.  Chris nodded, raising his
sword.  "Oh oh..."
     "Come now, Strike Fiss...don't tell me you haven't been pulled from SpaceTime before?"
     They both turned to see Dave Reinquest walking towards them.  "Man...don't DO that! 
You scared the shit out of me!" Maury laughed.
     Chris nodded, sheathing his sword.  "Dave!  Long time, no see!"
     "I think the correct phrase is 'no time, no see'." he smiled, giving Chris a warm hand-shake.  
"How's it going?"
     "I was just about to ask you the same thing." Chris replied.  "You never did tell us how
the Omega Web is doing." he grinned.  "We didn't cause tooooo much damage, I hope."
     The man nodded, adjusting the double-breasted lab-coat over his shirt.  "You did...but
nothing too irreparable." he smiled.  "Actually we have things back to normal...more or less."
     "So what brings you here on this lovely, pre-rainy day?" Maury asked, motioning to the
clouds.
     "Your little practice session, actually." Dave said.  "You really should find a less public
place to do this." he laughed.  "Miharu isn't going to be happy you nuked half her training
ground."
     "Mmm, yeah." Chris grinned sheepishly.  The fight had left a few small craters in the
ground.  
     "Actually, I wanted to offer you a better training ground." Dave said, reaching into his
coat.  "You see, I can't really help you guys...you know...non interference and all that rot...but I
can let you two help yourselves without destroying half of Tokyo in the process."
     "Hey!  I resent that remark!" Maury smiled.  "Are you callin us underachievers?  We'd
destroy ALL of Tokyo!"
     "Yeah, save the aliens the trouble of doing it themselves." Chris nodded.  
     Dave finally found what he was looking for.  A set of small, business cards.  "Here." he
gave them to Maury.  "They're portal cards."
     "Ooooh, I always wanted one." Chris said.  "So, with these, can we go to Mexico anytime
we want?"
     "No." Dave smiled. "These aren't like that.  They open a portal to a special little universe
under the Omega Web's control.  We use it for target practice."
     Maury 'humped'.  "I wish I had a target-practicing universe..."
     "Well, you do now." Dave said.  "We aren't using it right now, because of the
headquarters rebuilding and remodeling.  Any of the Scouts who need to stretch out their powers
for a bit are welcome to use the cards to visit for a while.  If you loose them, I can get you
more...but try not to, because they cost quite a bit." he smiled.
     Chris swiped one from Maury's hands.  "Cool.  Mmm, let me guess how to work
this...you press the red square that says 'Portal', right?" he grinned.
     "Very good, Fiss.  You've been watching the Discovery Channel again, haven't you."
Dave snickered.
     "Never miss it." Chris smiled.  
     "Okay...well, I guess I'll be off." Dave sighed.  "Are you two...?"
     "Busy?  No no!" Maury patted him on the back.  "We were just about to go downtown! 
You want to come along?"
     "Yeah, we can treat you to a twinkie weenier sandwich!" Chris said, brushing the dirt off
his vest.  "Come on!  We haven't jammed for a while!"
     Dave blinked.  "Are you two sure?  I mean, I don't want to impose..."
     "Not at all...come on.  If you can get us to the car, well drive down to this place I know on
Toi and third.  They have great sandwiches." 
     "Sounds good to me." Dave sighed, then snapped his fingers.  They were suddenly
standing around Chris' car.
     Time had started up again, and the two Princes were back in their normal clothes.  "That
must be really handy for last minute Christmas shopping." Mo said.
     "I'd like you to meet Nacho." Chris said suddenly, pointing at the car.
     Dave blinked.  "Nacho?"
     "Nacho." Chris nodded again.  "Say hi to Dave, Nacho."
     The teal-colored car suddenly honked it's horn.  Dave jumped back.  "You put voice
recognition on a family sedan?"
     "Hell no...I just have a remote key-chain." Chris smiled, pulling the keys from his pocket
and unlocking the doors.  "And it's a sports sedan." he raised his finger.  "Not a family sedan."
     Indeed the car sported a sharp front hood-line, and aggressive headlights.  Dave smiled
and got in.  "It's been so long since I've been in a car."
     "Oh oh..." Maury sighed.  "I wish you didn't say that."
     "Why?"
     "Because now Chris will want to show off." Maury buckled up in the back seat as the
engine started.  
     "Yes...Yes I will." Chris smiled, shifting out of park and flooring it.  
     Dave was thrown back in the seat as they accelerated much faster than he expected. 
"Whoo!"
     Nacho zipped in and out of the traffic with ease, Chris turning the wheel with a grin.
     "Ahhh, I need to get a car." Dave laughed, finally doing up his seatbelt as traffic forced
them to proceed at a more sane speed.  "Dematerializing doesn't have the same kick."











                           Chapter 7

     "If you don't mind me asking..." Andrea asked, looking over her plate "you never did tell
me who I reminded you of."
     Demeter sat across from her, eyeing his own food.  Actually, he was looking at the glass
of water next to it.  He could really go for a nice tall mug right about now...literally.  The air in
the city was constantly eroding his shell, and he needed to replace the outer layer of silicone once
in a while to keep his new appearance.  
     Andrea's 'a-hem' knocked him out of his gaze, and he shook his head.  "Oh, sorry."
     "That's okay." Andrea raised her eyebrow.  "I was just wondering who I reminded you
of.  This other 'Andrea'."
     He smiled.  It was quite interesting, when he thought about it.  This Andrea was probably
a reincarnate of the old one.  So, theoretically, she was a different person who only reminded him
of someone else.  "Well, she looked a lot like you.  Brown hair, gray eyes.  Almost exactly the
same voice."
     "Mmm, I must have a twin." Andrea mused, taking a bite out of her sandwich.  
     Demeter smiled.  "She was always slacking off in her studies, and was always too hung
up on this one guy."
     "Mmm, sounds like me, alright." she replied with a sigh.
     "Do you mind if I ask a little about yourself?" Demeter asked, taking a sip of water.  It
was a little weird trying to digest the liquid, but he figured it might come in handy if he had to
emulate a body function like crying or urinating.  
     "Not too much to tell." Andrea sighed.  "I go to school here part time...the rest is back
home in Canada."
     "You don't like it here?" Demeter asked.
     Andrea shrugged.  "I like it...just that sometimes I feel like I'm here for no reason.  I'm
here because of my brother and his friend." she smiled.  "I tagged along, you could say."
     "I know what you mean...I'm here in a kind of 'tag along' sense as well." Demeter
sighed, wrapping his hand around the glass of water, quietly absorbing a few microns of the
material.  
     Andrea stirred her own drink with her finger.  "Mmm, yeah."
     Demeter took a deep breath.  "I guess I should be going...I don't want to take up any more
of your time Miss Pl..."  He stopped himself, but Andrea had heard the beginnings of Pluto.
     "Excuse me?" Andrea asked, wide-eyed now.  
     "Never mind..." he pulled out Chris' former wallet and payed for the meal.  "Sorry to
have disturbed you, Andrea."
     Andrea shot him an icy glare.  "Sit back down if you value your existence on this plane of
reality." she leaned forward.  "What were you about to call me?"
     Demeter shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  He had never seen Andrea this...well...focused
before.  "Nothing...I was going to say please excuse me." he replied after thinking for a moment.
     Her eyes stayed locked on him, but the iciness had died down.  She must have been over-reacting.  
Just like before.  "Uh...okay..." she said slowly.  "But I never did get your name."
     He rose.  "Demeter." he said with a smile.  "It was a pleasure meeting you, Andrea." And
with that, he turned and walked out of the cafe.
     "Demeter?" Andrea blinked.  "No...it can't be..."
     Before she could dispute the idea any further, she was racing out the door after him.  
     He was already across the street.  "I can't get involved." he said to himself.  "She already
has a life.  A new one without a pet like me." he sighed.  "That's all I ever was to her."
     "Demeter!  Wait up!" Andrea called after him.  She leapt around a few taxi cabs to get
across the street.  "STOP!"
     He kept walking, and for a moment, was thinking about making a run for it.  He couldn't,
though.  
     A hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.  Andrea looked up at his face. 
"You...you're Demeter...aren't you?"
     He smiled.  "Observant as ever, Miss Pluto."
     She smiled back.  "I...I didn't recognize you in your new clothes.  You were a lot smaller
the last time I saw you." she straightened out his suit for him.
     He sighed.  "I'm sorry I couldn't have come sooner.  I knew you were in trouble.  Is
Queen Beryl still..."
     Andrea went wide-eyed.  "ShHHH!" she grabbed him and yanked him into the nearest
alleyway.  "Demeter...a lot has changed since the old days.  You can't just go around telling
everyone that I'm a Scout."
     If he could have blushed, he would have been beet-red.  "Oh, sorry, Princess."
     Andrea gave him a strange look.  "It's Andrea.  It always has been.  Now quit being so
formal!" she laughed, and then leapt on him with a warm hug.  "I missed you!!!"
     Demeter hugged back.  "I missed you too."
     She stepped back to look at him again.  "Mmm, not too bad.  I didn't know Zistles could
do that."
     "Well, we can't, normally.  But this planet has a rather ready supply of clean glass that I
can absorb." Demeter explained as they walked down the alleyway.  "Uh...do you like it?"
     Andrea nodded quickly, then blushed.  "Yeah, I like it..." she coughed.  "Ahh, so...come
on." she took his hand.  "Let's go back to the temple, and you can tell me how you got here."
     He followed like a little kid being drug home by his mother.  "Temple??"
     Andrea smiled and nodded.  "Yeah.  You remember the other Scouts, right?  Our
unofficial headquarters is at a temple.  You can get a room there."
     "I don't think I have to sleep, actually." Demeter said.  
     She turned and frowned.  "Well, you can't just hover around my room like you did back
on Pluto."
     "Why not?"
     "Uh...well, for one thing, you're not my servant anymore." Andrea said.  
     Demeter blinked.  "Oh?"
     Andrea laughed.  "Mmm, that's right...you missed all that stuff about democracy, free
speech, bleah bleah, didn't you?"
     Demeter shrugged.  
     "Okay...time for a crash course." Andrea patted him on the shoulder.  "There's only one
thing you need to know.  Nobody is better than you.  You aren't any better than anyone else.  Do
you know what that means?"
     "We're all clones??" he guessed.
     "No." Andrea smiled.  "What it means is that you're your own person.  You're not my
servant anymore.  All that crap is in the past, and you are only to address me by my name.  No
'princess' or 'Miss Pluto'." she raised her eyebrow.  "Got it?"
     "Mmmm." he nodded slowly.  "Okay, Andrea."
     "There ya go." she smiled.  "Now come on."
     He stopped.  "Is that an order?  I thought you just said..."
     She shot him a look.  "Well, it's still up to you...but since you have nowhere else to go,
you might want to just follow a friend's advice."
     Demeter let out a long sigh.  "Well...at least now you're making more sense than you did
back on Pluto." 
     "I take that as a compliment." Andrea said, continuing to the bus stop.  "Now are you
coming?"
     He smiled and nodded.  "Lead the way."
     
     "What am I goinna do?" Dave hiccuped.
     Maury patted him on the back, sipping his water.  "What do you mean?  You two love
each other, don't ya?"
     Chris nodded.  "She hasn't been able to stop talking about you since she came back from
your little vacation." he poured Dave some more sake.  "Mina loves you, man."
     He smiled goofily and took another sip.  "Ya think so?"
     "Mina's always been kind of giddy." Chris explained.  "Kinda scary sometimes." he
grinned.  "That's why she's so fun to be around.  But ever since she's met you, she's also been
really..." he paused for the right word.  "Happy." he smiled.  "Ectatic, actually."
     "So what's the problem?" Maury continued.  "I mean, look at us.  We live on different
continents than Lita and Rei.  All you have to do is pip!" he made a little magical gesture with his
hands.  "You're holding her in your arms."
     Dave nodded, then stood quickly.  "I gotta pee." he was about to dematerialize, when
Chris tapped him on the shoulder.
     "Bathroom's that way.  Just walk." he laughed.  "Please don't freak out all the drunk
people, okay?"
     Dave smiled and walked off in a zig-zag across the bar.  Maury looked at Chris.  "What
are you doing?"
     Chris sipped his water.  "What do you mean?"
     "Why are you getting him drunk?" Maury snickered.  "It's obvious the poor guy isn't
much of a drinker.  He's goinna hate you a day from now."
     "That's not what's worrying me." Chris took another sip. 
     "Do you enjoy seeing people drunk or something?" Maury shrugged. 
     "I enjoy knowing what the Omega Web knows." Chris said simply.  "Dave just gave us
an invitation to hone our fighting skills." he paused and raised his eyebrow at Maury.  "Now,
why do you think he'd do that?"
     Maury frowned.  "I'm not following your obviously de-railed train of thought."
     "He knows something big is coming.  He wants us to be ready.  It's not exactly a subtle
hint, but I'd still like more." Chris said as Dave came back and sat down.  
     "It's been really swell, guys." the man hiccuped again.  "But I really have to go now. 
Something tells me I'll have to experience a hangover in the morning."
     Maury smiled.  "Sure, Dave.  It's been a pleasure."
     Chris had a slight hint of disappointment in his eyes.  "Okay.  Are you good
to...transport...home?"
     Dave nodded.  "Yes.  All I have to do is think about my bed.  That isn't hard when your
head is spinning."
     "Okay, see ya.  Thanks again for the cards." Maury smiled.  Dave smiled back and waved
a good bye before stumbling out the door.  "What if he realizes you were trying to get
information out of him?"
     Chris shrugged.  "I'm getting sick of other people controlling my destiny.  At least if he
gets mad, it's my fault, and I'll be able to deal with it."
     "I know," Mo sighed, paying for his sandwich.  "But we need all the friends we can get."
     Chris did the same, and put away his wallet.  "I'd rather know why we'll need all this
help in the first place."
     The two stood, and walked out of the pub.

     









                           Chapter 8

     "So, are you going to use the little key card?" Maury asked.
     Chris nodded as they walked up the steps to Cherri Hill.  "I don't see why not.  I wonder
if they have some targets set up.  Or maybe something like on Macross where they had the
practice city to fight in."
     "That would be nice." Maury yawned.  "I'm so sick of fighting under that bridge.  Not
enough room."
     "Mmm, we could always see if the Moon is available.  That Sailor Teleport thing could
be great." Chris smiled. 
     "I'll bring a magic marker.  We can draw happy-faces on the American flag." Maury
grinned.  
     "Maybe write 'Mo Wuz Here' or something on it." Chris nodded happily. 
     Chris opened the door for them, and they went inside.  Andrea's shoes were at the door. 
"Mmm, we should see if Hoozey wants a card.  She's been wanting to try out her Ground Zero
attack to see how big it can get."
     "Who's shoes are those?" Maury asked, pointing to a pair of white sneakers.  
     "Mmm, Chad's?" Chris shrugged.
     They slid down the hallway on their socks.  "I'm hungry...care for one of those apple
things with the chocolate sauce and cheese?"
     "Sure." Chris smiled as they walked into the kitchen.  Then...his face dropped.  
     Andrea was sitting down at the table with the same guy who had mugged him.  She
turned to the two boys and smiled.  "Hi guys.  What's up?"
     Demeter blinked as he recognized Chris.  And so, from what little modern day language
he had picked up, he managed the phrase:  "Oh oh..."
     
     The outside wall of the kitchen exploded as Chris drove Demeter through it with a body
check.  The two didn't stop there, as a nice dew had formed on the lawn outside, and they slid
across the grass, finally rolling to a stop.  
     The crystalline figure gasped, feeling a few cracks forming along his body.  Chris stood
only a second before Demeter.  Reaching behind his back, his sword was there as his arm
withdrew.  
     Demeter froze, not sure of what to do.  "W...wait!"
     Chris jumped forward, bringing his sword down in a deadly slash.  Demeter was thrown
back, arm cracking off once again.  A long slash now adorned his clothes.  
     Andrea watched in horror.  "CHRIS!  NOOO!"
     He didn't appear to be listening, though, and was advancing on the frightened Demeter. 
"And now..."
     "STOP!" Andrea yelled.
     Chris slammed down his sword.  As everyone recovered from the involuntary wince, they
saw the blade sticking in the dirt next to Demeter's head.  Fiss bent down...
     And retrieved his wallet.  
     Demeter collapsed on the ground, scared shitless and breathing heavily.  Chris pulled his
sword out of the ground and reverted it back to it's less-intimidating disk form.  A quick check
inside and Chris nodded.  "Thanks.  Now I won't have to re-register all my cards.  That's a pain
in the ass, you know."
     Andrea walked over to Demeter and helped him sit up.  "Did you have to freak him out? 
He's Demeter!  From Pluto!  My assistant!"
     Chris pocketed his wallet nonchalantly.  "Nice to meet you, Demeter."
     Miharu and Rei had rushed out by this time.  "What the HELL?" Rei growled.  
     "Sorry...Had to get my wallet back."
     She rolled back her eyes.  "Good, cause you're paying for that wall."
     Miharu walked over to Demeter's arm and handed it to him.  "Here ya go, sir!  I think you
dropped something."
     Demeter blinked a few times than smiled.  "T-thanks." he pressed the arm back on, and a
few seconds later it was reattached.

     They all sat around the kitchen table, drinking water.  Rei found some older glasses, and
gave them to Demeter.  "Miharu, honey.  Can you feed Beavis for us?" Rei asked the girl.  "And
make sure your dad didn't wake up Grandpa."
     Miharu smiled and left. 
     "I'd like to formally apologize." Chris sighed.
     Demeter shrugged.  "I shouldn't have taken your coat."
     "I know, but still." Chris grinned sheepishly.  
     "What my overly-funked up love is trying to say is that he didn't mean to cut off your arm
and cream you into the front lawn." Rei smiled.  "Isn't that right, Fissy?"
     "Yes." Chris nodded.
     Andrea rolled back her eyes as well.  "So, now that we're done trying to kill my friend..."
     Maury smiled and leaned back in his chair.  "So, Demeter.  How's Pluto?  Cold?  Any hot
Zistle babes?" he raised his eyebrows.  "Got any pretty sisters?" he laughed.  "I love a woman
who can re-attach limbs at whim."
     "Well, we don't generate any internal body heat, so I'd have to say no.  No hot Zistle
babes." he replied.  
     "It was a bad attempt at a joke." Andrea advised him.  "Maury's screwed up, so don't
worry if you don't have a clue what he's talking about.  Most of us don't anyway."
     "Ooh!" Chris flailed his arm around.  "Mee toooo!"
     "Yes." Andrea nodded again.  "Chris doesn't make any sense either."
     Maury and Chris high-fived and started dancing around like headless chickens.  Rei
sighed.  "Keep in mind I have very sharp knives in the kitchen, and I know where you both
sleep."  They both stopped and sat down with cringing looks on their faces.  Rei smiled.  "That's
better."
     Demeter held his head in his hands.  "Ugh.  Are you sure I can't just be your assistant
again?  This world is too weird."
     "Ain't it cool?" Chris smiled.
     "No, actually, this place it a lot warmer than back on..."
     Andrea patted him on the shoulder.  "Figure of speech."
     The crystal sighed deeply.  "Oh, yeah."
     Andrea looked at everyone.  "Listen, it's been a late night.  Everyone get some sleep.  It's
too confusing with all of you freaks here."
     Maury and Chris both smiled.
     "Leave." Andrea smiled back.
     "Goodnight, then.  I'll make sure Miharu is tucked in." Chris stood.  "And I'll tell Beavis
about the situation."
     Rei nodded and stood with him.  "Goodnight.  And everyone...PLEASE...try not to knock
down any more walls?"
     They left the kitchen.  Maury did the same.  Andrea stood next to Demeter.  "Are you
going to be okay tonight?"
     "What do you mean?" he asked, looking up at her. 
     Andrea shrugged.  "Well, you look a little confused."
     "I am." he replied simply.  "But I suppose I'll get used to this."
     Andrea nodded and walked out from behind the table, headed for the hallway.  "Listen.  If
you do need to sleep, you're welcome to take the spare bedroom.  My room's got a couch too."
     "I'll be fine." he smiled.  "I gotta work on my body.  It shatters too easily."
     "Okay.  Well, good night." Andrea smiled, then disappeared down the hallway.
     Alone, Demeter sighed.  "It must be nice to sleep."

     Time.  It just wasn't going fast enough.  Things weren't so immortal now.  Not so
timeless and interchanging.  Shifting and pegged at the same moment.  Time was becoming a
much more tangible commodity now.  It no longer mattered about the sequence of events.  Steps
had been taken to make sure the actors were in place.  But the cues were all wrong.  
     Love.
     The strongest performer.
     The weakest in body.
     The most annoying crusader against this unholy nonsense that he had been labeled with in
the first place.  And what was worse...it wasn't even the last.
     A low, rumbling sigh filled the cavern.  Dust shook down from the roof and walls as the
invisible voice buffeted off the interior cell. What was the phrase?  Sooner or later?  
     Sooner.  Later.  Whatever.  It was time to help out the cause.  Lock on into this one
performer, and try to stomach the performance.  How Tumbler despised relying on these people
to free him.  It was dishonor enough to have been bound in the first place by the inhabitants of
this pitiful universe.  But now, to have to wait for their little lives to intersect with his agenda?  
     To top it all off, perhaps just to annoy him further, he was learning from them.  All the
little clichés.  All the little nuances of worn wisdom recycled, reprogrammed, reprogrammed and
recycled throughout the generations of what is laughingly considered intelligent life on planet
Earth.  
     And so, it was to be with great pleasure that he was going to use one of the oldest clichés
to finally tip the scales and destroy the Tumbler of Love.  

     Somewhere, not so far from Earth, a tiny crystal floated.  It's current direction left it
zipping past Earth's atmosphere and into the abyss of deep space.  Gradually.  Ever so slowly,
however, something pushed it.  
     The crystal's path was now clear.  It was headed for the great Blue Marble.  Sooner or
later.
                                









                           Chapter 9

     Andrea woke to the sound of a voice.  At first, it wasn't recognizable.  Then, as her mind
became clearer, she remembered Demeter.  "Mm, just like old times." she mumbled into her
pillow.
     There was another voice.  A rich, deep accent.  No mater how many times she saw the
little guy.  No mater how many times he spoke...Beavis sounded neat.  
     She stepped into the kitchen and saw Beavis walking across the pages of a book. 
Demeter hovered, not literally, behind him, watching.  
     "...this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a
foul and pestilent congregation of vapors." Beavis recited.
     Demeter seemed to be hanging on every word.  Eyes glassed over in an infinity of
reflections.  Beavis smiled to himself.  His own eyes were shining as well.  The few times Andrea
had experienced that situation, she knew it felt great.  To be a mentor.  To have a student so
willing to learn from what you have accumulated in your lifetime.  
     "What a piece of work is a man!" Beavis continued, his voice soaring.  "How noble in
reason!  How Infinite in faculty!  In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how
like an angel!  In apprehension how like a god!"
     The small hedgehog paused on that word like it was the climax of the entire play of
Hamlet.  Perhaps, to him, it was.
     "the beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this
quintessence of dust?" he turned back over to Demeter.  "Now, my friend." he said in a changed
tone of voice.
     "A...uh?" Demeter snapped out of his trance.  
     Beavis' short, pointed nose directed itself at the relatively huge Demeter.  "How does that
make you feel?" he said calmly.  
     "I don't know..." Demeter said slowly.  
     Beavis skittered across the pages.  "Don't think of the words.  Pretend I've been saying
gibberish.  Just tell me how you feel after hearing that.  After feeling the words.  That's what
makes Shakespear so great." he sighed.  "Half of his work is crap compared to modern literature. 
Certainly, there are better authors.  However, there are passages.  Phrases that stand out."
     The crystal nodded slowly.
     "Phrases that for brief moments give you a glimpse into that which is everything.  Reality. 
The universe.  Knowledge and knowing.  Right and wrong.  Death and life.  Good and evil." the
gray and brown of Beavis' quills rolled along his back as he curled up in a kind of a seated
position.  "The good authors can do that on occasion.  The mediocre can do it once or twice." he
smiled.  "Now, I ask again.  Do you feel it?"
     "I do." Demeter smiled back.  "I...at first, I was waiting for something physical...but...it's
the thinking." he almost giggled.  "Wow."
     Andrea took the pause to clear her throat.  "Good morning." she smiled.
     They both turned.  "Good morning, Miss Pluto." Beavis said so elegantly that he could
have been reading a script.  "I've been showing the good Demeter a little bit of Hamlet."
     "So I see." Andrea walked up to them and sat down.  "You've been up all night?"
     "Yup." Demeter nodded proudly.  "I can think so much clearer now...I don't know if it is
the new glass or Beavis...but I can think." he laughed, spinning around on his chair.  "It's so easy
now!"
     Beavis chuckled under his breath.  "I think your friend was suffering from a slight case of
mental retardation.  Seeing as how he spent close to a millennium drifting in space, it's to be
expected." the hedgehog flipped over the book with his nose, closing it.  "Luckily, his mind has
an incredible rebounding rate."
     "That's one thing I was going to ask you, Demeter." Andrea raised her eyebrow.  "Why
DID you come here?"
     Demeter paused, unsure of the answer.  "You were in trouble.  I wanted to help."
     Andrea laughed.  "Well, I guess late is better than never."
     "Well, I panicked." Demeter said.  "I knew the Moon was destroyed." he stood.  "You
were my reason for existing.  I had to help you." he sighed.  "So, I did some calculations, stored
up some energy, and jumped."
     "The process is actually quite remarkable." Beavis interrupted.  "There's even a chance
that Demeter and his kind were the first settlers of the Solar System.  Kind of a planet-hopping
race of intergalactic burrs."
     "Burrs?" Demeter laughed.
     "Yes." Beavis nodded.  "I didn't want to degrade you by calling you a spore, now did I? 
You're a perfectly wonderful species.  Hardly a lowly parasite."
     "Well, I'm not sure...but if that was a compliment, I'm sure Demeter is thanking you."
Andrea shrugged.  
     "All I know is that I'm going to enjoy reading." Demeter smiled.  "Books weren't exactly
common in the old days."
     "And they're hard to read when you have no eyes." Andrea pointed out.
     "I could see." he replied.  "I didn't have eyes, but I knew what you looked like."
     Andrea nodded...then blushed.  "Excuse me?"
     Demeter shrugged.  "What?"
     "You mean you could see me?" Andrea blinked.  "When I was CHANGING?" 
     "Yes." Demeter shrugged.  "Why?"
     "I knew I shouldn't have let you hand me towels after I showered."  She grumbled.
     Beavis coughed.  "Demeter, my friend.  You've got a lot to learn.  First of all, you haven't
heard of the phrase 'hell has no furry like a woman's scorn'."
     Demeter had a confused look on his face  "Isn't that like how you said all women were..."
     "No." Beavis interrupted him.  "Whatever you were about to say, I didn't say it."  Andrea
shot him a glare.  Beavis smiled.  "Well, look at the time.  I should sleep.  Nocturnal and all that,
you know." he skittered off, bouncing down to the floor with a squeak.
     "Yeah, sleep tight, rodent." Andrea called after him.
     Demeter smiled and sat back down.  "So, tell me, what did you dream about?"
     Andrea shrugged, walking over to the counter to get some cereal.  Luckily, Chris had
destroyed a section of the kitchen that wasn't necessary for food preparation.  "I don't know...I
can't really remember, actually."
     "Mmm, then why do you sleep?" he asked.
     "Because we need it to keep sane." Andrea laughed.  "Though, if you want to start
discussing sleep, you should talk to Chris.  He thinks it's his enemy or something."
     "I will." Demeter nodded.  "I...I must seem terribly naive to you." he sighed.  "You're all
so used to this but I'm just beginning to grasp..."
     Andrea shook her head.  "Don't think like that.  You're in no hurry to catch up.  You're
still Demeter.  That's all that matters."
     He smiled.  "So, you don't mind me asking you some questions?"
     She sat down across from him, bowl of frosted corn flakes in front of her.  "Go for it."
     "When do you dream?" he asked. 
     Andrea shrugged.  "Usually, you only remember dreams if you wake up during one.  That
just depends on your timing, I guess." she took a big honkin' spoon-full of cereal and chowed
down.  
     "So they're never finished?" Demeter asked with increasing interest.  "Why do people
like them so much if you never get to see the whole thing?"
     "Sometimes, they're cut off after the good parts." she smiled briefly.  "Sometimes not. 
When you're asleep, though, you don't have too much choice.  You have to go with the flow."
     Demeter nodded, then was silent for a while.  "What about the other kind of dreams."
     Andrea blinked.  "What do you mean?"
     He looked up at her.  "You know...what you hope will happen.  The things you want to
do."
     Andrea nodded.  "Those are a lot different." she smiled.  "What are your dreams?"
     Demeter was silent for a long time.  "I have none."
     She frowned.  "Impossible." she said defiantly.  "You have to want something."
     "Well..." Demeter sighed, brushing his hand through his hair.  As he did so, it made a
tinkling sound like a wind-chime.   "I wish..." he frowned.  "I don't know."
     Andrea and Demeter finished the breakfast in relative silence.  He snacked on the left
over glasses that Rei found, and she finished her cereal.  She stood, stretching.  "I better go and
clean my room." she walked over to him and gave him a hug.  "Don't worry.  You'll get some
dreams one way or another."
     He nodded as she parted and walked out of the room.  "Yeah...I know." he sighed, then
opened the book Beavis had been reading to him.  "To sleep...perchance to dream."
     

     








                           Chapter 10
     
     Grandpa sighed as he watched the team of three contractors patch up the hole in the wall. 
"Rei, how many times have I asked you to fight evil OUTSIDE of the temple?"
     "Uh, that was my fault, Grandpa." Chris said with a smile.
     The old man sighed.  "Well, did you save the universe?"
     "Well, I got back my wallet." Chris shrugged.  Rei smiled, enjoying the little
conversation.  
     "Your wallet?" Grandpa frowned even more than usual.  "I remember the good ol' days
when you had to save the world from demons!  Not none of this fancy aliens and robbers!  You
kids have it easy."
     "Yes." Rei smiled evilly at Chris.  She was standing behind Grandpa, so only Chris could
see.  "I think you should give him some extra chores, Grandpa.  Toughen him up a little."
     Chris frowned back, then stuck out his tongue.  "Hey, Rei...I didn't see you on the dishes
yesterday..."
     "Quiet, both of you!" Grandpa ordered.  
     They both shut up, but kept exchanging weird faces at each other.  
     "Now, have you thought about telling Chad about all this?" the old man asked. 
     Rei coughed.  "Chad?  Not really." she shrugged.  "I always figured he couldn't handle
the news."
     Grandpa smiled back.  "Well, I know he isn't the brightest boy...but he's goinna figure
out sooner or later."
     Chris nodded.  "I guess holes in the wall and attacking aliens will give it away
eventually."
     "I'm not telling him." Rei said after a second.  "Too many people know already."
     "Awww, Rei." Chris smiled.  "The poor kid..."
     "You can tell him if you want...but I'm not going to make things stranger than they
already are." Rei nodded to herself.  
     "Tell me what?" Chad asked as he came down the hallway.  The three all gasped.  
     "Nothing." Rei said quickly.  "We were just...uh..."
     Chris smiled.  "Discussing top secret things.  You know.  General Chang's empire of the
Iron Claw is growing too strong.  He must be stopped."
     Chad blinked, then shrugged.  "So, how's the wall going?"
     Rei breathed a sigh of relief.  One thing Chris' presence had taught her was that the best
way to cover up a secret is to make up an obvious lie so ridiculous, nobody will believe you
anyway.  "Fine.  They're just goinna put the outer paper on now."
     "Yeah!  Lookin good!" he nodded.  "Better than the original!"
     The contractors had repaired the wooden framework, and were finishing up the actual
layers of the wall.  
     Grandpa frowned.  "Hey!  I BUILT that original.  You have a problem with my work?"
     Chad blushed.  "O-a-oh no no!  Of course not, sensei!"
     "Drop and gimme fifty!" Grandpa ordered, sounding like a drill sarge.
     As Chad began to do push-ups, Rei and Chris snuck away.  "Iron Claw?" she laughed.
     "Inventing lies is soo much more fun than telling the truth, I find." Chris smiled.  "At
least when there's no need to tell him anything."
     Rei smiled and grabbed his arm.  "So, what should we do tonight?  The kitchen will still
be kinda weird from the construction, so do you want to go out?"
     "It would be a pleasure." Chris agreed.  "I heard of this little place just out of town..."
     
     Demeter walked slowly down the street.  His only company resided in the book in front of
him and the small quilly form on his shoulder that was helping him read some of the nastier
words.  It was four AM now, and they could talk pretty freely.  
     Tenth Street was always quiet.  Maybe it was a cosmic force that directed the Scouts to
gather and plan in such a place.  Rei would have said it was the temple.  A beacon of good and
purity in a city where the common man or woman was nothing more than a speck of dust on
some sidewalk, waiting for a slightly larger speck that was a bus or train.  
     Whatever it was, the street was quiet.  Peaceful.  The only sound was the wind, and the
wonderfully full voice of Beavis.  "So, Demeter.  What do you think of this city?" he asked.
     "I don't really know what to think." he sighed.  "It's...dirty.  Full of dirt." he shrugged
one shoulder, letting Beavis stay seated on the other.  "But...I like being with life again." he
smiled. 
     "Humans are a rather dirty species." Beavis agreed.  "But I think you'll find that their
hearts can be very pure if given the chance."
     "Have you known Andrea long?" Demeter said after a pause.
     The little hedgehog thought for a moment.  "Not really.  Just a month or so.  She seems
like a nice person.  Chris really cares for her."
     "I thought they weren't related?"
     "Back on the Silver Millennium, perhaps." Beavis continued.  "You see, Demeter, a lot
has changed.  Not just events and technology, but people have changed a lot too.  Earth has been
alone for all of it's recorded history.  The people here have had to fend for their selves and create
a separate society from what you're used to." the little hedgehog cleared his throat.  "Siblings on
this planet have their differences, but personally, I think they also have a stronger bond.  As far as
I know, Chris and Andrea never even met more than a passing glance back on the Moon.  Now,
they're best friends."
     The crystal nodded.  "I guess that's why I'm so..confused." he sighed.  "She's
Andrea...but...she's not." he tried to put it into words.  "Time didn't pass too slowly for me when
I was traveling here.  I lost Sailor Hooze, jumped to try and help her, and when I landed, I had
Andrea Stover."
     "Are you disappointed?" Beavis asked.
     Demeter smiled.  "Not one bit."
     "Then I will give you a valuable piece of advice I've learned." the little animal
announced.  "Forget what happened in the past.  The people today are much more interesting." he
smiled.  "And you don't need permission to change yourself."
     "Why are you smiling?" Demeter asked, noticing the grin on Beavis' pointed face.
     "That includes," he continued "perusing a relationship with Andrea."
     Demeter went wide-eyed.  "Wh...?"
     "Oh, bloody hell." Beavis laughed.  "It's obvious you like her.  Maybe what you need is
for her to teach you a little bit of the romantic side of life."
     "I could never do that..." he sighed.  "I'm...I'm a..."
     "You're what?" Beavis interrupted.  "A small, football sized crystal with an appetite for
glass?  If that is so, why am I sitting on a shoulder that is not supposed to exist."
     Demeter blinked.  "You can't be serious."
     "It's the nineties!" Beavis laughed merrily.  "I don't see why not!  We have everything
from same sex marriages to cyber-love.  A crystal and a super-heroine don't exactly sound too
far-fetched anymore."
     He thought for a moment.  It was all he needed.  In the back of his network of neural
pathways, he had always entertained the idea that Andrea had cared for him...maybe that was
why he did leave Pluto.  Try the old 'to the rescue' situation.  
     Slowly, he turned to the hedgehog and nodded.  "Where do I start?"
     Beavis smiled back.  "You've already started.  Just spend time with her."











                           Chapter 11
                                
     A gentle piano filled the night air from inside as Rei took a sip of wine.  Chris watched
her cautiously.  "What?" she asked finally, setting the glass aside.  
     He paused, considering the words.  "I don't know...I've just never seen you drink wine
before."
     Her eyes narrowed dangerously.  "I'm allowed." then, a slight smile.  "After all, you're
the designated driver."
     They sat across from each other on the patio of the restaurant.  A very classy place. It was
adjacent to a very expensive hotel.  Tokyo, as crowded as it was, offered a magnificent view at
night, and the two had decided to take advantage of it.  Chris had been watching the twinkling
lights of the city for a few minutes now.  Blissfully unaware of the stare Rei was giving him.
     "Sorry," Chris continued.  "I just didn't realize how quickly we..."
     "Grew up?" Rei smiled.
     He nodded and tapped his glass against her own.  "Exactly."
     Rei joined him in looking out over the city.  "We did start kind of early." a pause.  "I keep
wondering what advice to give Miharu when she wants to bring a date home for the night." she
blushed slightly.  "We should have waited."
     He gave her a reassuring smile.  "We can always tell her not to start dating until she's one
thousand and twenty like we were."
     Rei nodded and took another sip.  Miharu was snuggled into Chris' jacket on her own
separate chair.  Sleeping soundly. "Why the sudden reflective mood, Chris?" Rei asked.
     "I don't know." he sighed.  "I always get like this at night...looking down at the city.  I
just can't help but have this feeling that we were never really part of it...always the protectors,
never the citizens."
     "I think we got that out of the way back on the Moon." Rei said.  "And the time we didn't
have these..." she motioned to her purse...the slight red glint of her transformation wand stuck
out.  
     He nodded.  "But don't you wish for the old days?" a smile.  "School.  Saturday morning
cartoons.  Bike rides.  Matinees and movie rentals.  Birthday parties with pizza and ice cream."
he closed he eyes, maintaining his smile.  
     Rei couldn't help but smile too.  "I do...a bit."
     "I think the thing I miss most..." Chris sighed.  "Is at the end of the day...when you've
been out playing since breakfast...and you only finally come inside as the sun sets...and your
knees are all covered in grass stains." he laughed quietly.  "And your mom looks at you, trying to
hide a big smile, and she says 'My god!  Look at your pants!'"
     "So, you miss grass-stains the most?" Rei asked, eyes shining in the moonlight.
     He nodded, leaning back in his chair.  "A wise man once said: 'If your knees aren't green
by the end of the day, it's time to reevaluate your life.'"
     "Who said that?" she asked quietly.
     "Calvin.  From Calvin and Hobbes."
     Rei's face drew a blank.
     "Mm, remind me to show you Spaceman Spiff later on." he promised.  Slowly, he took a
sip of water, and returned to his gaze at the city.  "But now...It's all gone...isn't it?"
     "Yes...it is." Rei agreed sadly.  "No more fun and games.  Now, we have a job to do."
     "Now...it's a sword slicing through some hideously deranged monster." he continued. 
"Crispy demons and electrified psychotic animals."
     She reached across the table and took his hand in her own.  "It's also us."
     He smiled.  "It's not all bad." he agreed then, he looked over to Miharu.  "I'm worried
about her."
     Rei blinked.  "What do you mean?" she leaned in closer.  "You don't think we're putting
her at risk, do you?"
     He shook his head.  "No...it's not that." 
     "What is it then?"
     "I've been getting her ready to take care of herself." Chris sighed.  "She's good..." a smile
interrupted him.  "No, actually, she kicks ass."
     Rei let a smile of her own escape.  "Why so worried then?  I've seen you two
practicing...she can take care of herself quiet well for a twelve year old."
     "I'm just worried that she's never had the chance to..." Chris stopped.  
     She finished his thought.  "Have green knees at the end of the day?"
     "Exactly." he sighed.  "I'm worried that she's not having a chance to have fun.  That our
lives have shown her the only life is one of a Senshi."
     Rei nodded silently.  "She never did see us when we were kids.  Maybe this is all she
knows of us.  Fighting.  Protecting." a smile.  "And dressing up in fancy costumes."
     "And yet...I can't just say 'go out and have fun' to her." Chris took another sip of water,
finishing the glass off.  "I want her to feel like a part of the team." he turned to Rei with
admiration in his eyes.  "Like you made me feel when I joined.  Not because we had fallen for
each other...but because you believed in me as a Senshi."
     "It was hard not to." she smiled.  "We were pretty desperate at the time.  The more Scouts
we could scrounge together, the better." He scowled, making her smile wider. "But yes, I know
what you mean."
     A small beep interrupted them.  Chris' watch showed eleven.  "We better get our little
apprentice Senshi home before it gets too late."
     Before standing up, Rei leaned over and gave Chris a light kiss on his lips.  "What was
that for?" he asked.
     "Nothing..." Rei replied softly.  "I just think that either way, Miharu will have a good
dad."
     "And the best mother on this planet." Chris bowed slightly.  "He he...we're super-parents."
     "Cool..." Rei smiled, gently picking Miharu up in the bundle of jackets she had been
sleeping in.  "Do I get a set of red Spandex tights and shirt that have a big yellow 'Super-Mom'
on them?"
     "Maybe for Christmas." Chris grinned.

     Nacho glided smoothly over the pavement as the three returned to the temple.  Chris
didn't want to wake Miharu, so was driving extra carefully.  Maneuvering around bumps in the
road, carefully navigating the traffic lights, and even refraining from pulling the high gee-force
accelerations he loved to do.
     "Wow..." Rei said quietly over the hum of the engine.
     Chris noticed and smiled.  "Just want her to have a nice sleep."
     She was quiet for a moment.  "Did you really mean it...back in the restaurant?"
     Chris raised his eyebrows.  "I think you'd look pretty sexy in red tights." he joked.
     "Shut up." she smacked his shoulder playfully.  "I meant about the good mom thing." she
looked to the back seat where Miharu lay sleeping.  "Did you mean that?"
     "Of course." he replied.  "I think you're doing an excellent job.  In fact, you try too hard,
sometimes."
     That was the wrong thing to say.  "What do you mean 'too hard?'"
     Danger...his mind blared.  "Oh, it's just that you should spend more fun time with her. 
Don't worry so much about the little stuff." he explained despite his brains' objection.  "That's
all...it's no big deal."
     Rei frowned.  "I spend time with her...don't I?"
     "Rei...you spend more time with her in a day than some people spend with their kids in a
week." Chris reassured her.  "But you don't always have to be 'mom' around her.  Just be a
friend."
     She sighed.  "Well, someone's gotta make up for you always goofing off with her." she
grinned to herself.
     "True." he replied, letting her have the comment.  
     "You never did tell me how Disneyland was." Rei smiled.  "Maybe I should take her on a
vacation one of these days."
     "That sounds like a great idea." Chris nodded, slowing down for a red light.  
     "So, how was the vacation?" Rei asked.  "You didn't kill anyone I hope." she joked.
     "Nope." he said after a pause.
     "Good." Rei sighed.  "You know...for someone so goofy, you certainly can..."
     She was cut off by Chris suddenly popping Nacho's gear-stick into 'reverse' and flooring
it.  The seatbelts cut in, just barely, preventing Rei's head from hitting the dash by about an inch. 
"WHAT THE HELL??" she gasped as the car finally stopped.
     CHOOOM!  Just ahead of the car, where it had been stopped at the light, an explosion lit
up the area.  Chris parked it and turned to the back seat.  Miharu had been protected by her
seatbelt, but she was wide awake now, and gasping for air.  "What...what's going on?!?"
     Rei looked at the intersection.  It was a small crater now.  "A meteorite?"
     Chris let loose the breath he had been holding.  "Wow...THAT woke me up..."

     The two stepped out and began walking for the hole as it smoldered down past red-hot. 
Even though it was loosing heat rapidly in the night air, the center of the hole was white hot. 
"How did you know it was coming?" Rei gasped.
     "Saw something in the rearview mirror." Chris said, taking out his disk. 
     "Is that necessary?" Rei asked.
     He nodded.  "Two meteorites.  One is Demeter.  What chances do you give this one's
alive too?"
     She sighed heavily, but nodded, reaching into her purse and pulling out her wand.  "Well,
hopefully it's one of Andrea's buddies too."
     TINK!
     Both Rei and Chris jumped back at the sudden noise.  Sure enough, something was
moving.  He held his disk out like a shield.  "Hello?"
     Tink...tink...tink...Something was walking out of the hole.  It was a small blue crystal. 
Slowly, it used it's spikes to drag itself out onto the street.  Rei and Chris blinked.  "I'm not that
drunk, am I?" Rei snickered.
     "If you're seeing a moving sun catcher the size of a football, you're fine." Chris blinked,
then turned to the little crystal.  "Hello?"
     It waddled towards him a little...then began to shiver.  Each of it's spines began to
vibrate, making a rattle-snake like sound.  
     "I think he likes you." Rei shrugged.
     "PFFFT!"  The little crystal shot out some kind of gas from beneath itself, propelling it
upwards and into Chris.  
     He jumped out of the way, but one of the spines caught his arm, tearing a cut into his
flesh.  "Akk!" he fell, hitting the pavement hard.
     "HEY!" Rei growled.
     They watched it bounce and roll over to Nacho.  "Get your crystalline ass away from my
car!" Chris yelled.
     It jumped once more, landing on the windshield.  They watched in horror as it began to
absorb part of the glass.  After sucking half of the windshield onto itself, it shot out a larger
stream of gas, launching it up and over the city scape.
     Chris and Rei ran over to the car to make sure Miharu was okay.  She was, but had a
stunned look on her face.  "What's going on?" she asked as Rei opened the door.  
     Chris sighed, pocketing his disk.  "I don't like these Zistle-things." he ran his hand along
the windshield.  Only the outer layer was gone.  The safety-plastic layer was still intact.  "They
seem to have something against me."
     










                           Chapter 12

     Demeter slowly raised his arm and tapped on the door.  "Andrea?"
     "Yes?"
     "Can I come in?" Demeter asked.
     Andrea rustled around for a moment from inside, and then replied.  "Uh...sure, but it's
messy."
     He opened the door and immediately saw that she hadn't been joking.  The room was a
mess.  Mess was too lenient.  "Pig-Sty" was way too clean.  This bordered on "Hill-Billy trailer
park that got hit by a tornado" messy.  
     She raised her eyebrow.  "You can close your mouth now...it's not that bad."
     "I don't get it...your room was so clean back on Pluto..." Demeter shrugged, walking over
to a 'clean' spot on the floor.  
     "That's because you were always cleaning up after me." she smiled.  
     He panicked slightly.  "I could.."
     "No no no..." Andrea sighed.  "You aren't TOUCHING my glorious mess!" she ordered. 
"So there!"
     Demeter paused, then smiled.  "Okay." he sat down.  "So, what's up?"
     "Not much, I was just reading." she yawned, pointing over to some comics.  "You?"
     "Same..." he raised his eyebrow.  "What are those?  Books?"
     "Well, they're not exactly Shakespeare." she smiled and flung him an issue of "Squee."
     Demeter flipped through the comic in a matter of minutes.  "I never saw pictures in a
book." he shrugged.
     "That's because little Hedgehog-Boy has been showing you the classic stuff first.  Most
of us read picture books and stuff as little kids because we aren't born with a University reading
level." she smiled.  "Unlike you..."
     "I wasn't really born." he smiled back.
     "Ahh, you know what I mean." Andrea said, walking over to behind him so she could
point out some frames in the comic.  "Basically, it's a cartoon with written dialogue.  Get it?"
     He nodded, hair making a quiet tinkling sound.  
     "That sounds cool." Andrea said, looking at his hair.
     "Oh...I'm still working on it." Demeter said.  "Sorry if it bugs you."
     "No no..." Andrea smiled.  "I like it.  Gives you character." she ran her hand through his
hair, making a little symphony of glassy tinks and cracks.  
     "Really?" he laughed.
     Andrea nodded.  
     "Then I'll keep it like that." he smiled.  
     
     "Mommie!" the little girl yelled.  "Lookie over here!"
     Mr and Mrs Terrace walked over to where their daughter was calling from.  "Really,
dear..." Mrs Terrace sighed as they walked across the sand.  "Why did we have to come to
Miyagi?  The beaches look exactly like the ones in LA."
     The two were obviously tourists.  Clashing summer beach clothes, cameras, the whole
ball of wax.  Mr Terrace, in his balding forties, just smiled.  "Oh relax.  We'll have plenty of time
to check out the country.  Julie wanted to see the beach today.  You can pick tomorrow."
     "I hear there's a nice castle somewhere around here." Mrs Terrace replied.  
     "Mommie!"
     "What is it, honey?" she asked, slightly annoyed.
     The little girl was pointing to a large sea-shell.  
     "Julie, honey, watch out..." her father warned.  "You don't know what kind of shell that
is.  It might be poisonous."
     Julie had already picked it up out of the sand.  "It's puuuurrty!" she exclaimed happily.
     Her father bent down to get a better look at the rather large shell.  "Mmm, looks like
glass."
     "Don't cut yourself on it, dear." her mother sighed.  
     No sooner had she said those words, Julie let out a shriek, and dropped the crystal form. 
Her hand showed a few spots of red.  "It huuurts!" she cried.
     "Okay, don't worry, darling..." her father picked her up.  "We'll get you some band-aids."
     The family walked off, leaving the crystal alone on the beach again.  Anyone watching
would have been quite frightened, as in a matter of seconds, the blood from the little girl had
been absorbed into the glassy object.   
     Perfect...the glass thought.  Much easier than emulation.  Just copy a pattern of DNA. 
Now, it was true that Zistles were not organic.  The only organic elements they even tried to copy
were a kind of brain-like organization of thought processes, and the basic elements of life.  That
included absorption, excretion, movement, procreation...the usual set of rules.  
     However, Zistles could absorb matter quite quickly.  They could also analyze this matter. 
DNA was a perfect example.  Though this specific organic compound was not useful to a Zistle's
body, it could be used just as a human body would use it.  
     A set of instructions on building a human body.
     Now in the "hands" of a Zistle that could quite easily read those instructions and absorb
the amount of material needed to copy them.  At least approximately.
     The little, crystalline entity began to roll.  Down the beach, and into the ocean.  It was
going to take a while to convert all the sand into useable silicates, and she didn't want to be out
in the open while doing this.  
     Underwater was perfect.  

     Half buried in the sand, the crystal began to grow.












                           Chapter 13

     Two forms wandered down the beach just as ten P.M. struck on their mutual digital
watches.  Chris couldn't help but smile.  The subtle 'beep' was exact.  Ami seemed to notice his
smile.  "I use the atomic clock down in New Mexico." she pointed at her watch, momentarily
closing her little computer.
     "San Fransico Navy Base." Chris pointed at his own wrist.
     She nodded and they continued their scan.  "I'm still getting the readings...but all this
sand is making it hard to pick out a trail."
     "At least we know it's a Zistle." he followed a step off her shoulder, watching the reading
on her computer as well.
     "How many other species can eat a windshield that fast?" Ami laughed.
     "In this universe?" Chris shrugged.  "You never know."
     The sun was not only a slightly purple horizon as they walked, leaving little prints in the
sand behind them.  "I'm getting something..." Ami said, her computer beeping louder.  
     He peered over her shoulder and sighed.  "In the water?"
     "Yup."    
     "Damn."
     "I can always try sending a message to it with my computer." Ami said, pressing a few
keys.  "It appears that they are a highly evolved form of silicone microchip.  Should be
compatible with some kind of..."
     The water started bubbling.  "Just a second, Ami..." he walked a bit closer.  "I see
something..."
     The outline of a body was clear in the graying twilight.  "Oh my god!  Get her out!" Ami
gasped. 
     They ran over, thinking she was a drowning victim.  Chris jumped into the water ahead of
them, and picked up the woman's legs just as Ami did the same for her shoulders.  They carried
her a short distance up the beach, then lay her down on the golden brown sand.  "Is she...?" Ami
asked, already scanning.
     "It looks like she's been underwater for hours..." Chris said sadly, gently brushing his
hand against her cheek.  Wait...something wasn't right...he reached down to the red shirt she was
wearing, and felt it.  It was dry.  
     Perfectly dry.
     The pants Chris had been wearing were soaking wet...even from the brief moment of sea-spray.  
Ami's face reflected the sudden concern.  "She's...silicone based!"
     "Mm, funny...she doesn't LOOK like Pam Anderson..." Chris smiled.
     Ami shot him a dry look.  
     "Sorry." 
     The figure sat up.  It took them both by surprise, and Chris was glad he hadn't had a large
dinner or the shit would have been scared out of him.  Ami caught her breath a few moments
later and stood.  "Hello...I'm Sailor Mercury...do you know where you are?"
     The figure eyed her suspiciously.  "Mercury...??"
     They both weren't expecting the Zistle to have a fully developed pattern of speech. 
"Yes..." Chris continued for her.  "This is Sailor Mercury, and I am Prince Saturn.  We know
you're a Zistle, and we are here to help you after your journey."
     "Zistle...you know of my kind?" she asked.
     "Why, yes." Ami nodded, pressing her index finger to the bridge of her glasses.  "Another
Zistle named Demeter..."
     The name seemed to kick through the woman like a thunderbolt.  Her arms cam around at
lightning speed, grabbed Ami's neck, and slammed her back down into the sand.  Ami coughed
and struggled, but the Zistle had an iron-clad grip on her neck.  "WHERE IS DEMETER!?!" the
woman screamed.  
     "Hey!" Chris grabbed her shoulder, trying to pull her off of Ami.  "That's not very..."
     Three needle-thin spines shot out from her shoulder, striking and cutting clear through
Chris' hand.  He fell backwards in pain as the needles withdrew.  The woman didn't even turn to
Chris.  "WHERE IS HE!?!" 
     Ami coughed.  She couldn't breath.  Before she was in danger of blacking out, she
figured she had better do something.  She tightened her hold on her computer, and then smashed
it into the woman's head.  
     The little computer stayed intact, but the Zistle's newly formed head exploded into a
million pieces.  Her body weakened slightly, letting Ami push herself free.  Chris had stood, but
was nursing his hand.  Blood was trickling out across the sand.
     He winced, reaching for his disk.  "Run?"
     Ami nodded weakly.  They both sprinted past the recovering figure, who was using the
sand she fell upon to gain back her head.  "Are you okay?" she gasped.
     "Yeah...pretty clean...at least she had the courtesy to puncture me with something small."
Chris winced as he held his disk in his left, unwounded hand.  
     They were running for about a minute when they heard footsteps catching up to them. 
Turning, they both saw the Zistle...full-bodied again...sprinting towards them faster than most
cars could travel on sand. "GIVE ME DEMETER OR DIE!" she screamed.
     "Mm, can't say I like his friends..." Chris braced himself, held out his disk, and shot out a
pulse.  "FISS-IDY-DOODA!"
     The blue wave smashed into the Zistle's legs, tearing them out from under her.  She
collided with the sand like a small meteor, leaving a splashing crater as the impact shook the
particles.  Already, though, sand was reforming into new legs.  This gave Mercury more than
enough time to transform, however.  
     "We are not here to fight you!" she restated.  "We are your friends!"
     The Zistle growled angrily as it stood, once again whole.  "Where is Demeter..."
     Ami was getting quite pissed off at the situation.  "I already told you that we would take
you to him.  If you would calm down long enough for me to explain."
     Chris nodded his head in agreement, hoping the blood had stopped flowing from his
hand.  Blood was such a pain in the ass, he thought.  Messy, usually flowed when you hurt like
hell, and was vampire bait.  Why not?  Vampires didn't seem like a stretch once you've seen a
paused nuclear explosion, aliens that could shoot lasers from their hands, and of course, a life
form that got drunk every time it was thrown threw a window.  
     The Zistle seemed to be breathing heavily...for a moment, Chris also wondered if she had
lungs.  "Senshi Mercury...I will accept your terms as long as I can see Demeter." she said weakly.
     Ami and Chris both breathed a sigh of relief.  "Okay, come on...we have transportation."
she stated.
     "What?" Chris gasped.  "I'm not letting another Zistle NEAR Nacho!  Those damn cab-forward 
designs have expensive windshields!"
     Ami shot him an icy look that she seemed to have reserved for him lately. 
     "Fine...though I'm still driving." Chris sighed, wrapping his coat sleeve around the
wounds.   "Good...maybe you won't drive like a maniac when you're injured." Ami grinned.
     Chris grinned back.  "Only when you're in the car with me." he walked past her and the
Zistle.  "And YOU..." he snapped his good hand around in a point at the creature.  "I don't care
how hungry you are...DON'T eat my car's windows...okay?"

                    









                           Chapter 14
                                
     One of the strangest characteristics of a Zistle was that it was quiet.  Perfectly silent.  No
heartbeat to gently rock the body as it pumped blood.  No breathing that could create an annoying
wheeze or rushing of air.  The only processes that kept the little creature alive were buried deep
within it's glassy crystal structure, silently reacting chemicals and minerals that shot electricity
through the complex brain circuitry.  Like a quartz crystal that stood ever ready to tell the time.  
     Demeter was glad he was silent.  He didn't want to disturb Andrea.  She seemed to be
having a dream.  Hovering just a few inches from her face, he watched in amazement, and even a
bit of awe, as her eyes darted back and forth in REM sleep.  The deepest stage of our
unconscious rest.  The time of dreams and mental refreshing.  
     For a few hours each night, the mind was set to the task of organizing all it's stored
information.  That's how Beavis explained it on the more technical side.  Demeter still thought it
was amazing.  Be it dreams or a simple uncluttering of the brain.  
     The silent body continued to stay next to her until he noticed her eyes slowing
down...finally stopping.  Just as silently, he rose and walked out of her bedroom.  Didn't want to
scare her. 
     As he absorbed more and more daily life, he thought more like a human.  Another great
talent of the Zistle race.  Their ability to adapt to any situation.  Beavis had commented how well
he was doing.  Especially with his new 'body'.  Almost perfectly human.  The hair was still
giving him problems to try and soften, but Andrea had convinced him it was a nice quirk, and he
should keep it.  
     For a while, he tried to remember WHERE he got his body.  Ah, that's right!  He thought. 
The old man in the alleyway.  Demeter had assumed a fairly generic body at first...then, once he
had contact with the old man, he used some of his skin cells to recreate the final package.  Just a
lot younger....he smiled.  He would have to remember to tell Beavis about it later.
     A slight vibration in the air alerted him to Nacho pulling up on the street below Cherri
Hill.  Chris and Ami must be back.  
     Demeter walked over the floor with an eery silence.  Feet distributing his weight evenly
as he went, trying to make sure he wouldn't wake anyone with a creak or snap from the old
floorboards.  
     He remembered with a smile how that spooked the hell out of Andrea.  The day had been
nice.  Spending it with her for the first time in a millennium.  Though he couldn't figure it out at
first, one phrase Beavis had said was really sticking with him.  Falling in love.  Yes, that was it. 
It was a lot like falling.  Gravity.  Attraction.  Maybe not mutual, but when it was, four times as
strong.  
     When two objects collided in this fashion, it was a spectacular sight.  Not so much
physically, but emotionally.  Demeter couldn't help but know he was spiraling down at the
moment, just hoping Andrea would pull him in.  
     Time.  Time was something he had.  Beavis said that's what he needed.  He hoped his
new mentor was correct.  Though the thought of falling wasn't appealing to him in the
least...probably a natural fear that Zistles had...falling for Andrea Stover was worth the risk.  
     His mind snapped out of the little reflective trance he had been in when Chris and Ami
walked up the steps with someone else.  Someone not human.
     A Zistle.  Another Zistle?
     At first, Demeter thought it might have been a trick.  A lonely mind wishing to be near his
own kind once again.  This was real, though...the woman emanated the energy.  The only noise a
Zistle ever made.  A quiet, hypersonic hum that only members of their species seemed able to
detect.  
     Her eyes looked up and locked onto his.  The ferocity of the look forced Demeter back a
step.  She had sensed him too.  
     Familiar.
     Something about her hum...
     As the woman treaded past Chris and Ami to meet him, he held out his hand.  "I know
you..."
     She nodded.  "I see you kept your name."  Her voice was calm...emotionless.  
     Demeter, however, couldn't quite pin down her name.  Most Zistles didn't name
themselves, but they all had a distinct hum.  His face looked a little confused.
     Chris and Ami walked up to him.  "We found her at the beach soaking up some sand."
she said.  "We'll be inside if you need any help."
     Demeter nodded his thanks, and was soon alone with the other Zistle.  "What do I call
you?  I don't think you had a name." he asked.
     She smiled, then began beaming.  "Don't tell me you've forgotten how to beam." she
said, communicating with him directly through the field of energy she emitted.  
     Demeter looked slightly annoyed.  "Actually, I've found oral language to be quite
eloquent when used properly." he 'beamed' back.  
     "Fair enough..." she beamed, walking around for a moment.  "You can call me Julie. 
That was the name of the child I copied."
     A long silence between their energies.  Demeter had to ask.  "Why did you follow me
here?"
     Julie turned to him.  "Why did you leave Pluto?"
     As guardian to Sailor Pluto and Hooze, Demeter didn't communicate his privileged
position to many of the other Zistles.  Julie, however, was one that knew.  "I had to come after
the Senshi.  They were in trouble."
     A laugh.  Audible.  Julie laughed quite loudly at that comment.  "And what did you
expect to do when you finally arrived a millennium later?  Land on the enemies and maybe poke
out their eyes?"
     That annoyed him.  He took his duty to the Senshi above anything else in his life.  "If you
question my ability to assist Sailor Hooze..." he stopped before he got angry, and instead took a
deep breath.  The cool summer air swirled around his chest cavity, making him feel a lot better. 
"Never mind."
     Julie smiled.  "I'm sorry, Demeter.  We got off on the wrong foot." she raised her leg. 
"Now that we actually HAVE feet." 
     Demeter smiled weakly.  "You have to work on your jokes."
     "I will." she promised.  "Now that we're back together."
     He turned around.  "You can't stay here.  There's not enough room."
     Julie blinked.  "Why not?  I don't require any more room than I need to stand."
     "Not all the humans here know about Zistles.  A few of them are non-Senshi, so we
cannot simply invade their lives." Demeter explained.  "It would be best if you start a new life
somewhere far away from here."
     A long pause.  
     Demeter continued.  "A lot has changed.  I'm not the same anymore." he started turning
back to her.  "You'll change..."
     She was gone.  
     "...too."
     He took another deep breath.  "I'm sorry."











                           Chapter 15
                                
     Through the black, glossy lenses of his sunglasses, Maury saw a single silver line shifting
towards him...Sword.
     Chris had gotten a good run at his friend, and wasn't going to be stopped by a low
powered attack.  In the span of a second, Maury spun around, trenchcoat sliding through the
sterile air behind him, and powered up.  "SOL FLARE!"
     The Prince of Saturn positioned his sword like a javelin, and activated the deflection
command.  The flare smashed into the ground at Chris' feet, with the force propelling him up into
the air.  Maury had to duck to avoid the semi-drop-kick that Chris attacked him with.  
     THUD!  He landed on his ass...a second later, joined by Chris.  Chris laughed.  "That was
FUN!"
     Maury laid down on the barren sand.  "Man, if we could do that more often, we could try
out for the NBA." he laughed, stretching out.
     The two looked up at the colorless black sky above them.  "So, this is where they test
their new weapons?" Chris mused.  "I saw some pretty nice craters back there.  Hope they don't
plan on using those weapons on us."
     "Mmmm." Maury sighed.  "Well, they're still on our side, remember that.  Even if they
aren't telling us everything."
     Chris nodded, sheathing his weapon.  "You're right...Just can't help but be a little
paranoid."
     "Hell, I'm always paranoid." Maury laughed, sitting back up.  "It's fun.  I wish there were
trees in this little universe...then I'd see bears and wolves attacking us all the time."
     "Nope...just sand." Chris looked down.  "A gigantic beach.  The Zistles would love it
here."
     Maury nodded.  "So who's the new one?"
     Chris held up his hand.  It was wrapped in bandages.  Maury hadn't asked what it was
from, knowing Chris would have told him later anyway.  "I'm trying to keep an open mind...but
it's hard when she ate half of Nacho's windshield, and ripped through my hand with her
shoulder."
     "I don't like it." Maury sighed.  "Maybe the Zistles are what Dave was warning us
about?"
     A long pause.  Strike Fiss had opened his mouth, as if to disagree...but he stopped. 
"I...am not sure..."
     "Demeter?"
     He shook his head.  "No...but the new one...I don't know." Chris rubbed his sore hand
gently.  "When you think about it, there's a lot of glass on this planet...and if they absorb it, and
can use it as a weapon..."
     "Awww, man." Maury sighed.  "I'd rather not end up fighting a huge, thousand tentacled
squid that's made of glass."
     Chris nodded.  "And if they can imitate humans...that means they could look like the
Spice Girls." he shivered.
     "God NO!" Maury gasped.  "I say we kill it now."
     They both stood.  "We better keep practicing." Chris sighed.  "Though...the thought about
beheading a Spice Girl isn't exactly a bad thought."
     "True, true." Maury nodded happily.  "SOL STARS!"
     Chris' blade was already out, and they deflected off into the sand.  "Let's rock."

     Andrea stood in the dark alleyway.  Alone.  "Whoever you are, you picked the wrong
person to screw with!" she yelled out nervously.  
     In her hands, she held her staff.  Her full equivalent to Sailor Pluto's Key Staff.  Not to be
out done, it had many of the same powers.  Unfortunately, the wielder still needed practice.  As
she moved slowly along the walls, a limp was apparent in her step.  A gash along her forearm had
turned the deep purple shade of her fuku into a sickening brown as blood dripped off of her
glove.  "I'm ready for ya this time." she whispered to herself. 
     The walls of the alley lit up in tiny pin-pricks of light.  Andrea gasped, spinning around. 
The tiny dots began to extend out from the wall.  Each of them forming a three-inch-long glass
pin.  She lowered her head.  "Oh yeah?" she swung her staff around, crashing through the
advancing field of needles.  Though many were smashed away, more remained.  
     The pins began to shoot out at her at a faster speed, closing her in like a Venus Flytrap. 
She swatted them away as fast as she could...but it was no use.  A series of quick strikes by the
glass pins tore her staff away from her hand.  It clattered off into the shadows, useless.  
     She looked straight ahead, eyes clouded by tears.  "Demeter...help..."

     Demeter's eyes shot wide open, hair tinkling as his head jerked up from the kitchen table. 
"A...Andrea??" he gasped.
     No answer.  
     The Zistle was already on his feet by the time it took him to call out her name again. 
"ANDREA!!?!"
     Her door was locked.  He gasped, looking around frantically.  "ANDREA!" he yelled,
smashing through the paper and wood.
     Andrea gasped, eyes wide, still under her covers.  "Demeter!  What's wrong?!?"
     He stumbled through the mess and looked at her, confused.  "Y...You're okay!"
     Andrea blinked.
     "You're okay?" he said again.
     "Of course I am!" Andrea laughed quietly.  "I...well...I WAS sleeping until you busted
down my door..."
     "Hooze!" Chris was in a second later, sword drawn.  A quick glance around and he
relaxed slightly.  "Is...everything okay here?"
     "I thought she was dead...I saw her in an alleyway...and..." Demeter sighed, still
confused.  
     "Were you sleeping?" Andrea asked.
     Chris sighed and sheathed his sword angrily.  "It never fails.  When I actually DO fall
asleep at a normal time, something always wakes me up.  In this case, a dreaming Zistle."
     Demeter turned to Chris.  "Dreaming?"
     He shrugged, tightening the tie on his housecoat.  "What else would you call it?" he
turned to Andrea.  "I'm going back to sleep.  I was having a cool dream with penguins and some
kind of flying ants." he walked off down the hallway.
     Demeter turned to Andrea, looking very embarrassed.  She smiled.  "Aww, don't worry
about it.  Chris is just doing the 'protect your sister thing'.  He won't mind."
     "Are you sure?" Demeter sighed, trying to pick up what was left of the door.  "I'm sorry I
woke you up."
     "You're forgiven." she smiled.  "Good night."
     Demeter nodded sheepishly and walked back out.  "Good night."
     Andrea sighed to herself.  "Demeter?"
     His head poked back in the doorway, making a tinkling sound as his hair brushed up
against the frame.  "Yes?"
     She pointed to the couch.  "If you've learned how to sleep, you're welcome to stay on the
couch." she said.
     He looked at the little futon, and smiled.  "Really?"
     Andrea nodded.  "Sleep."
     He smiled.  "Is that an order?"
     "Yes." she nodded.  "Besides, you've already seen me in the shower, I doubt you
watching me sleep is going to be so bad." she winked.  
     It took him a second to realize she meant the other night.  If he had blood, a good
percentage of it would be rushing to his face at the moment.  "G...good night."
     Andrea watched him lay down and get comfy.  A few seconds later, his eyes were closed. 
She did the same, all the while with a little grin on her face.











                           Chapter 16

     Beavis trotted down the hallway on his silent vigil of the early morning.  In his mind, he
checked off the list in his head.  
     Grandpa, sleeping soundly.  Heartbeat seemed fine.
     Chad was still asleep, and seemed to be dreaming about monkeys or something.  
     Rei was awake...but was seated in front of a fire.  Something about the fire-reading made
the little animal nervous.  He didn't like it.  Just the powers he felt around her while she was
engaged in the activity.  They rivaled any he had felt before.  
     The little hedgehog continued.  Miharu's room.  The little girl was slept soundly,
clutching her sword at the side of her bed.  He wanted to ask her so many things.  About Chris. 
About her song.  About Yamoto.  
     It would wait.  Wait until later.
     He had heard Demeter's incident earlier on in the night, and the old man in him smiled to
see that he was spending the night with Andrea.  Beavis knew she was way too smart to just go
off seducing Demeter a few days after they met, but she was at least returning the favor of
spending time.  He made a quick stop in just to make sure they were sleeping soundly.  
     Chris was the only one awake.  Years of living together had made the man familiar to
Beavis' walk.  "Good morning, Mr. Beavis." Chris said in his best Sean Connery impression.
     Beavis sighed.  "Still awake?"
     "No, just woke." Chris grinned back at his friend.  "Rei wanted to do some fire-reading.  I
wanted to watch the sunrise."
     "Fffft!" Beavis ruffled slightly as Chris picked him up and placed him on his arm.  "Mind
if I join you?"
     "Not at all." Chris nodded, taking a sip of tea that had been besides him.  
     The hedgehog sighed happily.  "It's a nice night.  Peaceful day's ahead."
     A long silence.  "My friend.  What's going on?"
     Beavis was silent.
     "Why is the Omega Web telling us to bone up on our fighting skills?" Chris continued. 
"How far has this been going back?  Since the Web?  The Lords?  Queen Beryl?"
     "Can you keep a secret?" Beavis asked quietly.
     "I can try."
     "Can you keep a secret?"
     "I said, I can try."
     "That's not good enough."
     Chris sighed.  "Fine.  You have my word.  Sworn upon my sword."
     "Your first question." Beavis sighed.  "They know.  Of course they know.  The Omega
Web knows more than you could ever dream of.  Knowledge is power, though, and they can
barely hold on to it as it is."
     "Second question."
     "You Scouts were created for a reason." Beavis sighed.  "That reason is coming up very
soon.  Round two in the fight to save the universe."
     "What happened in round one?" Chris raised an eyebrow.
     Beavis' black, shiny eyes looked up at him.  "Stalemate.  A draw."
     Chris sighed and sat back against the porch step slightly.  "I hope this doesn't mean we
won't be unused afterwards." he smiled. 
     "No no no..." Beavis said proudly.  "You and the others have exceeded your duties by far. 
I'm rather proud of what you have accomplished.  It's just that..." the little animal sighed. 
"Round two is going to be hard.  The Omega Web knows a lot about what you'll have to face,
and they're rooting for you all the way.  They may even try to help.  I don't know."
     "They could have just told us that." Chris sighed.  "Battles are easier to fight when you
know what you're up against."
     "Not always."
     Chris looked down at the tiny animal like he had just said the most amusing thing in the
world.  "What do you mean 'not always'?  You just said yourself that knowledge is power.  In a
battle, the more you know about the enemy's weaknesses and strengths, the better you can
prepare for them."
     "A lion is chasing a gazelle on the plains of Northern Africa." Beavis interrupted.  "Who
will win?  Will the lion get his meal, or will the gazelle escape?"
     "I'd bet on the lion." Chris shrugged.
     "Why?"
     "Teeth and claws, I suppose."
     Beavis nodded.  "Then why is it that nine times out of ten, the gazelle will escape?"
     Chris had to think about that for a moment.  Finally, he admitted: "I don't know...why?"
     "The lion is in it for lunch." Beavis smiled.  "The gazelle, however, is fighting for it's
life."
     "I really hate to guess where this little metaphor is going...but I suppose that the Senshi
are the gazelle."
     "You learn quickly, Mr Saturn." Beavis nodded.  "Yes.  You are a gazelle.  Funny....you
look human to me."
     "I always did like eating grass."
     "Yes.  That always disturbed me to no end." Beavis laughed.  "So, what was the point of
my little lesson, Mr Fiss?"
     "No idea." Chris laughed.
     "The point is that you and the others get overconfident.  The more information you have,
the more of this annoying overconfidence thing that kicks in." Beavis frowned.  "In that respect,
you are fully human.  Not gazelle."
     "Oh...don't worry." Chris sighed.  "I'm sure the shit will be scared out of me quite
thoroughly no matter how much I know about the enemy."
     "Then I will warn you not to eat chilly on that day."  Beavis smiled.
     The tip of the sun poked over the trees of Cherri Hill.  "And how do you know so much,
Beavis?"
     A smile.  "I think I've answered more than enough of your questions for today."
     "Fair enough." Chris nodded.  "Thank you."
     "Tell you what.  You can ask another next sunrise."
     "Mmm, I love these games." Chris laughed.  "Sounds good."
     The two watched the sun rise for another hour, then went back inside for more tea.
     
     Insanity is a strange thing.  Come across one labeled as such, and ask them.  Three
possible answers.  They will probably have no idea what you are talking about.  Very plausible,
since the concepts of reality and truth are so subjective.  Though your reality may be one of
morals and paying the paper-boy on time as always...the psychopath down the street may
consider bathing him or herself in blood, and flossing with the entrails of a cat to be a quite
average afternoon.  
     A much more unlikely response will have the individual admit their insanity.  Not only
that, but speak of it quite fondly.  Proud to be a lunatic.
     The most dangerous of the three possible answers, however, is the third.  Where insanity
is recognized, but is twisted to a higher level.  Where the insanity is justified.  Maybe even
mistaken for something else, such as genius or love.  Obsession.  Something that is revered in
their own mind.  Something worth killing for, as well as dying for.  
     The spark of insanity watched carefully as Chris and Beavis walked into Cherri Hill. 
Watching.  Waiting.  Studying for weaknesses.  

     Sooner or later.  It would be time.










                           Chapter 17

     Chris and Miharu were always excused from early morning chores.  They would go out
onto the field next to the temple and practice fighting.  Often from eight a.m. till noon.  Chad had
always thought this unfair, but Grandpa excused this as martial arts practice for the young girl. 
Chris and Miharu would always make dinner and do most of the evening chores anyway.
     Andrea, Rei and Chad were the main team in charge of the morning.  Grandpa was on
hand for when people came up to the temple to prayer or ask questions, and usually just hung
around various places and tending to the fires.  Sunday was always busy, so Mina, Serena, Ami
and Lita always came up to help.  
     Demeter had decided to try and help with the day's flood of guests, and donned a pair of
blue pants and white gee.  He sat at the main 'service' window, making good-luck charms.  Mina
was helping him.  "Okay, then, take the brush and just follow the pattern that I have drawn up
here." she said, dipping her own brush into a small tub of black ink.  "It's a reeeeealy old saying,
and I'm not sure if it's fully Japanese, but I think it means 'I'm lookin for some good lovin'" she
stuck out her tongue.  "But I'm not sure."
     Rei looked up from the last customer she had helped.  "God I hope not." she laughed.  "I
just sold three of them to a ten year old girl."
     Demeter smiled.  "Actually, it means 'pure journey.'"
     Rei and Mina looked at him for a moment.  "Really?" Rei asked.
     "How did you know that?" Mina asked.
     He shrugged.  "I've been reading up on Japanese." he took his brush up and began to
write something on his fresh charm.  "The pattern here is a little muddled, though.  This is how it
should look."
     He proudly displayed the correct markings to the girls.  Lita grinned.  "Watch out, Rei. 
He'll push you into retirement."
     "Good!" Rei replied.  "I can become a famous rock singer."
     They all gasped.  
     Rei shot them an evil look.  
     Mina turned to Demeter.  "Uh...you better keep the original pattern." she winked.  "Let
Rei keep her current job."
     "I heard that." Rei growled.
     Serena and Andrea came back from the kitchen with some food.  "Anyone for a lunch
break?" Andrea asked, even as Serena was munching on a cookie.  
     Rei put up a little sign that said they were out to lunch, and they all sat down at the table
in the back room.  Demeter was eying a tall glass full of sand.  Andrea smiled.  "Yes, it's for
you."
     He smiled his appreciation and tilted back the sand into his mouth.  Everyone had to do a
double-take as he 'drank' it.  Andrea seemed unphased.  "I know too much glass makes you a
little tipsy, so I figured a little bit of sand should be fine."
     "Yes, and it saves us buying new sets of glassware every few days." Rei smiled.  
     Demeter finished his sand and set down the glass.  "Thanks.  Really hits the spot." 
     "Do you have anything planned for tonight, Demeter?" Andrea asked as everyone chowed
down.
     He blinked, and said "No." even before he fully understood the question.   
     "I was wondering if you wanted to go out around the city." she smiled.  "Paint the town
red...or some other color."
     "I like clear." Demeter nodded.
     Andrea wasn't quite expecting that.  "Pardon?"
     "My favorite color is clear." he nodded to himself.  
     "Oh..." Andrea smiled.  "Well, do you want to go?"
     "With you?" Demeter asked.
     Andrea nodded.
     "Of course!" he said, obviously excited.  Then, he realized he might have sounded a little
too hyper, and toned it down with a nonchalant "Sure."
     She grinned.  "Okay," she paused, standing up.  "and dress nice."

     A knock came at her door around seven.  "Come in." she said, putting on her ear-rings.  
     Chris' head popped through the door, followed by the rest of him.  "Hey Hoozie." he
smiled, then paused.  "You ARE Hoozie, right?"
     Andrea frowned at him, then smiled.  "What do you think?" she spun around, showing off
her outfit.  A black fitting dress, down to her ankles.  Silky flower-patterns adorned the fabric,
and the diamond solitaire around her neck (where Chris had NO idea where she had the money to
get) added to the total effect of stunning.  "It's not real." Andrea smiled, pointing at her necklace. 
"But I like it." she paused.  "What do you think?"
     Chris smiled and closed the door behind him.  "I think Demeter better watch out around
you."
     "Damn rights." Andrea nodded happily.  "You know, I forgot how much fun it is to be
after a guy." she sighed.  "Darien was my last...and pretty much only flame."
     Her brother nodded.  "How do you feel about that?"
     "I still miss him, but I'm glad that I'm over it." she said after a pause.  "But now, I must
admit, Demeter's more than replaced the void."
     "Already?" Chris blinked.
     "You don't understand." Andrea smiled.  "I remember so much of him.  It's like...I
dunno...long since due.  He's really sweet."
     "I'm glad." he nodded.  "I can see that you like him..." he smiled.  "Everyone can. 
You're extra hyper lately. Normally, you just kinda hang around the temple and wait for disasters
to rock the universe."
     She stuck out her tongue.  "Yeah, I guess I have been kinda quiet lately."  
     "Don't worry about it." Chris said, leaning up against the wall. 
     "So, what's up?" she asked finally.  "I doubt you came in here just to see my new dress."
     He nodded.  "True." a long sigh followed.  "Do you remember when Rei and I first met?"
     "Of course." Andrea laughed.  "That was about the first time I got kidnaped."
     He smiled involuntarily.  "Well, I want to give you some advice," his face got serious. 
"And I mean it.  From brother to sister.  The full-meal-deal."
     Andrea sat down on her bed and shrugged.  "Sure, fire away."
     "I want..." Chris sighed.  "I want you to take this really slow."
     Andrea blinked.
     "I mean it." he continued.  "Relationships within us Senshi and our guardians are built to
last.  It might be destiny, or it might be just the fact that we all share the same life-style.  It 
can be hard to remember that you're only human right now, and don't have a thousand or so years of 
life behind you."
     She sighed.  "So what?  I can't date Demeter?"
     Chris rubbed his forehead.  "Of course you can.  But..." a long pause.  "You know, I'm a
parent now...you think giving advice to people would be easier now." he shook off his little
thought.  "I want you and Demeter to wait until you are older before having sex."
     "What?" Andrea blinked.
     He raised his hand out in front of him.  "Now before you start retaliating, let me finish."
he returned his hand to his forehead.  "Rei and I were caught up in it.  It happened way too fast."
he smiled.  "I'm trying to allow you the chance to learn from your brother's mistakes."
     Andrea gave him a strange look.  Slowly, though, it turned into a caring smile.  "You two
were fine, though..."
     He nodded.  "We did take precautions from it getting way out of hand...but it's just
that..." he sighed.  "You're in no hurry.  You're only sixteen, and I want you to enjoy what's left
of your childhood."
     Andrea looked down at her dress, then back to him.  "Two years, huh?"
     He nodded.  "It's still your choice.  But, please, one night, Demeter will have a little too
much glass, or you'll have a few sips of sake or something, and it's not going to be too easy to
keep out of each other's arms." he shrugged.  "Just remember that you're in no hurry.  Okay?"
     Andrea nodded slowly, then stood.  "I'll be fine...no matter what happens."
     "Well it's not like I'm warning you not to jump off a building." Chris raised an eyebrow. 
     "Been there, survived it." she smiled.   "Thanks, bro..." they gave each other a warm hug. 
"Don't worry about me, though.  I can always screw with time or something.  Skip ahead a few
years."
     He looked down at her.  "Well, if you do, when you come back tell me who won the
world series or something.  I can do some betting."
     "I promise." she smiled back.  "Now, can you at least give us a ride into town?"
     He already had his keys in his hand.  "Of course."
     
     Demeter had been pacing back and fourth for a good forty minutes now.  Beavis couldn't
help but notice a slight indentation forming on the grass.  "Relax, Demeter...it will be fine." the
little hedgehog said finally.
     "No it won't be!  I have no idea what to do!" he gasped.  "This is too much." he nodded
to himself.  "I just arrived on this planet a week ago, and I already have a date?"
     "You learn fast.  You'll be fine." Beavis nodded.  
     Demeter walked up to the window sill where Beavis was watching him from.  "Yes, but
not only is it a date, but a date with Andrea??"
     "She is quite beautiful." Beavis nodded.  "Is that the problem?" 
     "Yes!" Demeter gasped.  "I mean, I'm not even humanoid, and she still looks..." a long
sigh.  "I don't even know how to describe her."
     "Stunning?" Beavis offered.  "Exciting?  Radiant?  I'm going for some kind of an action
word here...because she's having that kind of effect on you."
     "How do I look?" Demeter asked quickly.
     It was the ninth time he had asked, but Beavis humored him.  Slowly, he looked him from
head to toe.  A nice three piece suit.  Single breasted overcoat.  Dark gray.  His shirt was a rich
navy blue.  Pants and shoes were a darker shade that turned out black in the setting sun. 
"Compliments to your tailor." the little hedgehog smiled.  "I wish I was going in your
place...even if it was only for the pleasure of wearing that suit."
     "Thanks." Demeter smiled back. 
     "Now, all you have to do is treat this like a normal day at the temple with her." the
hedgehog said.  "Only one exception...she is the focus of tonight.  Only her.  You don't have to
worry about anyone else.  The rest of us are just background noise.  You have fun with her. 
Enjoy your dinner or whatever she has planned.  Be extra nice to her.  Take her seat out for her
and push it back in.  The usual gentleman code of activities.  Okay?"
     "There's a code?" Demeter gasped, his worry returning.
     "Ugh." Beavis sighed.  "No...just treat her extra special.  Okay?  Don't let it show too
obviously, but..." he thought of the perfect analogy.  "Treat her like you did back on Pluto.  She
is a princess to you right now.  You don't have to call her Princess, or act overly formal, but
show her the respect and courtesy you would show Princess Chibi Pluto."
     Demeter paused.  "I used to watch guys in the palace all the time.  I remember the chair-thing."
     "Perfect." Beavis nodded.  "Now, just follow their example.  Not too closely...I'm sure
things have changed since Pluto, so you must be ready to just adapt.  And don't do everything for
her.  Women hate that.  Let her have control over the evening."
     Demeter slumped down.  "I got it...but this is really confusing."
     "Ready?" Andrea asked, coming out of the front door.  
     Demeter almost jumped out of his suit.  Quickly, though, he regained composure and
found his gaze upon Andrea.  "Wow..."
     Beavis blinked, also seeing Andrea.  "An excellent choice in words, my friend."
     Andrea blushed considerably.  "Well, you don't look too shabby yourself." she smiled.  
     All of his anxiety melted away, and he took her hand.  "Shall we?"
     They walked down the lawn and down the steps together.
     Chris was suddenly besides Beavis.  "What are you staring at, old man?"
     "I never realized what a lovely young woman your sister was." Beavis replied.  "Makes
me almost wish I was human."
     "Well, I hope I've done my job right." Chris sighed.  
     "Your job?"
     "Being a brother." he explained.  "You can only look after your sister so long.  She's on
her own tonight, though.  I don't think I'll have much of a chance to help anymore."
     Beavis looked up at his owner.  "You did a great job."
     He shook his head.  "No...I think Andrea did a great job." he sighed, checking to see if he
had his drivers licence and keys.  "You have no idea how proud I am of her."  He said, trying to
remain clear-voiced.  Despite his efforts, his throat clenched up slightly.  
     The little hedgehog smiled.  "Drive safely."
     Chris nodded and walked down after them.  "See ya in a bit, buddy."
     Beavis watched him leave.  A few moments later, he heard Nacho's doors opening.  It
was just the right timing that would account for Demeter opening the passenger side door for
Andrea to get in, closing it, and then boarding himself.  "Perfect." Beavis smiled. 
     
     Andrea smiled into the side-view mirror as she caught the shine of his eyes.  He looked
away nervously, but a few seconds later, the glance returned.  Chris paused for a stop-light and
she flipped down the vanity mirror to check her hair.  Yup, she thought.  Dressed to kill.  She
made it a pledge to herself to do this more often.
     This was Demeter's first time in the car, and he was actually enjoying the ride as much as
Andrea's occasional glance.  He suddenly wished that Beavis was with him.  A guide to the
combined jungle of the city and a budding relationship.  Then again, he decided that if he could
survive the night without any help, he would be ready for pretty much anything.  
     Nacho slid out of the driving lane and decelerated as it reached the main entrance of the
restaurant.  A few other cars were there, and people were entering and leaving in great numbers. 
The mood of the place seemed very festive, yet nothing overpowering.  Chris turned off the
engine and got out.  Demeter remembered what Beavis had told him, and got out himself.  Just as
Andrea was reaching to open her door, he took the handle and opened it for her.  
     Andrea smiled.  "Thanks, Demeter..." she said, taking his offered hand and stepping out
of the car.  Demeter smiled back, glad that it had worked.  
     "My pleasure." he said, gently closing the door as she headed for the restaurant.
     Chris gave him a glance.  "Demeter...come here for a second." he said.
     Demeter paused, then complied.  "Yes?"
     "I want you to keep one thing in mind, tonight." he frowned, looming slightly over the
Zistle.  
     "W...what's that?"
     "Have fun.  Okay?" Chris smiled.  "Oh..and one more thing..."
     Demeter watched Chris duck into the driver's side window, and reach around to the side
of the seat.  When he returned, he had a long-stem white rose.  "For me?" Demeter asked.
     "No!" Chris laughed.  "Give it to her." he said, discreetly handing it to the nervous young
Zistle.  "Red roses are usually given on dates..." Chris said quietly.  "But I figured the white ones
fit your personality better."
     Demeter gazed at the rose for a moment, then back up to Chris.  "Thank you...I really
don't know what to say."
     "Don't say anything, and go join your date before she starts ordering for you." Chris said. 
"Also, I'll be up all night...so anytime you need a ride home, you can call."
     "Thank you, Chris." Demeter bowed, then glanced over to Andrea, who was waiting
patiently at the entrance to the restaurant.  "I better go."
     "Have fun." he replied, then opened Nacho's driver's door.  He waved over to Andrea,
then got in and started the engine.  
     Demeter stepped back, and let the rich green-teal car slide back into the traffic.  He then
turned to Andrea, who was flashing him a rather bright smile.  "Here it goes..." he took a deep
breath, then walked over to her.
     
     









                           Chapter 18
                                
     The potato was great.  She had to admit that.  Perfect.  Brown and golden, alternating
colors depending on the way the light reflected off of her glass of water and the ice-cubes inside. 
Once opened, the steaming off-white center proved just as tantalizing.  Delicious once a modest
square of butter had been allowed to melt between the puffy cloud's ridges and valleys.  
     It was then, when she realized that the man across the table from her hadn't touched his
own, that she had made a mistake.  Demeter wasn't like that, she thought.  He wants to...but he's
still not able to grasp all this.  
     Andrea's gaze came across to Demeter with just a hint of sadness.  "I'm sorry,
Demeter..."
     He shrugged.  Body language was easy for him to pick up.  He noticed things like that.  It
wasn't an overly big idea to grasp.  Just observe and catagorize certain movements and
expressions...sometimes combinations.  Andrea was currently showing one of embarrassment,
and sympathy.  She felt bad for taking him out here.  "I'm fine." he assured her.  "I just can't eat
a lot yet.  A stomach isn't something I really planned on.  It takes a while to perfect."
     She gave him a honest smile, despite her concern that she forced him into a date too
quickly.  "Are you sure?"
     He smiled back, and nodded.  "Don't worry about me."
     "Okay..." Andrea nodded.  "Oh, and watch out, that potato's hot.  Don't burn yourself."
she said, pointing her fork at his plate.
     Demeter blinked, raised his hand, and put his finger smack-dab in the middle of the
scalding-hot potato.  
     Andrea was surprised to say the least. "What...are you DOING?" she gasped as steam
began to emanate from the area around his embedded finger.
     Instead of pain, his face wore an expression of pure fascination.  "I'm burning myself."
     She reached over the table and separated his hand from the food.  "Well stop it!" she
pleaded.  "Doesn't that hurt?"
     He nodded happily.  "Oh yes." he said, admiring his reddened digit with pride. "Hurts
quite profusely!"
     "Grr!" she grabbed his hand and dunked it in his glass of water.  "Please don't freak me
out like that!"
     He almost jumped to his feet as his hand hit the icy water.  "Wow...that feels...good!"
     "Of course it does, you idiot!" Andrea shook her head at him.  "I thought you were made
of glass!"
     "Oh, well," Demeter said.  "I've copied some human DNA, so I replaced my old skin
with a silicone based equivalent."
     Andrea shot him a look that he couldn't quite catagorize.  "Good for you.  Now, stop
trying to learn about killing yourself.  Otherwise, I'll help you with your research."
     A long pause.  "That's a threat, isn't it?" 
     She let go of his hand, and sat back down on her own side of the table.  "Yes.  Enjoy your
food, before I have to kick your ass." 
     He nodded...not really the reaction she had been expecting...but at least he was now in the
process of picking up his fork and choosing some food to eat.  Andrea sighed inwardly.  Mom
always said I'd meet an interesting man, she thought.  
     Demeter smiled, finally chewing on a few pieces of baked potato.  "It's good." his face
suddenly went blank.  "Oh oh..."
     Andrea blinked.  "What is it?"
     He grabbed his cup of water and quickly downed half of it.  A look of relief was on his
face.  "Wow, eating's hard."
     "Still hot?" Andrea smiled.  He nodded quickly.  "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."
she assured him.  
     "It's too bad you don't eat glass too...it's much easier.  We could go on dates to 'Pete's
Windows' or something." he grinned.  
     "Mmm, sounds delicious." she skewered a piece of chicken.  "Actually, I think I'll stick
to carbon-based food for now.  I'm on a diet."
     Once Demeter realized that he could blow on the potato to cool it off, the rest of the
dinner went smoothly.

     Chris sighed and slumped onto his bed, throwing Nacho's keys onto the dresser along
with his coat.  For some reason, he was tired.  It must have been the normal sleeping pattern he
was falling into.  
     Quietly, he opened up his laptop and began surfing the net.  It was the easiest way to get
back on his abnormal schedule.  Surfing took little to no brain power, and kept him awake with
the flashy graphics and colors.  
     He never noticed that the window of his room was moving.  Ever so slowly.  Gaining
width in small spurts.  

     Rei and Miharu lay on the floor of the dojo, talking.  Rei always enjoyed telling her
stories of their adventures.  Today, she was recalling a time when they were up against a strange
cat-monster.  Just before she met Miharu, actually.  
     "Somehow, they had enchanted this puzzle that the little girl had been putting together."
Rei explained.  "Every time we blew her up, she would slowly re-assemble.  It was pretty nasty. 
We were only slowing her down by a minute each time."
     "What happened?" Miharu asked.  
     She smiled.  "Well, that was also the day that Sailor Moon got her supped-up weapons.  It
was nothing like she has now, but it was still enough to make the difference.  Probably the most
important thing that we can do is keep trying to find better weapons."
     "I could never do that." Miharu sighed.  "Once I have a sword, it's mine.  I'd feel weird
changing every month or something."
     Rei nodded.  "Even Chris upgrades occasionally, though.  Like his new suit and
computer.  You have to keep on top of things if you want to defeat your enemies."
     "What about me?" Miharu sighed.  
     "Well..." Rei stopped suddenly.  
     Miharu looked around.  "What is it, mother?"
     Rei stood.  "I sense something."
     Miharu was instantly at her side, sword drawn.  "Who is there?" she demanded in a gruff
voice.  "Show yourself!"
     They never thought to look at the windows.  On all sides, the view of outside was
blurring.  The glass was growing, getting thicker and turning a shade of blue.  
     "Demeter??" Rei asked quietly.  
     No response.  
     "Oh no...it's the other Zistle!" Rei gasped and grabbed Miharu. "Come on!" she ran for
the door.
     Seven long, clear bars ripped up from the ground in front of them, causing Rei to trip and
fall.  Miharu landed with a thud, carefully avoiding her own sword.  Both of them looked up to
see the glass liquefying and pouring into the center of the room.  "We have to get everyone out of
the temple!" Miharu yelled, kneeling and re-gripping her sword.  
     Rei watched as the little girl sprung forward and sliced through the forming wall of glass. 
It shattered harmlessly around her.  They both took off down the hallway.  
     
     Chris had no chance, really.  He had been checking out a web-site that had detailed
instructions on how to build a pumpkin-launcher when the room exploded around him.  If he had
been clutching his disk, it probably wouldn't have bought him enough time.  As he looked up
from his computer screen, he saw spikes.
     Long, thin, deadly spines, all around him.  "What the?" he gasped.
     "Don't move, or you will be dead." a familiar female voice growled at him.
     He blinked.  "Julie?"
     A pause.  "Yes.  I'm glad to see you still recognize my voice."
     "Do you mind telling me what you're doing?" he frowned. 
     The spines closed in a millimeter.  "Not at all, Strike Fiss.  I'm going to kill you.  That's
all."
     Chris took a deep breath.  "You've got a LOT of emotional problems...did you know
that?  WHY?"
     "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to kill you yet."
     "That's real keen of you."
     Julie's voice faltered.  "Uh...yes.  Anyway, I'm not really mad at you if that's what you're
wondering."
     "Ahh, that's great.  Then you don't have to kill me." Chris smiled.  
     "Well, I'm afraid I might have to.  There is a strong possibility." Julie replied.  "You see,
I'm really after your sister.  However, I've seen what kind of power she has, and I can't fight her
directly."
     "Andrea?" Chris growled.  "You're after my sister?"
     "Yes."
     He choked back the urge to say "Then you'd better kill me while you have the chance."
     "Why?  She hasn't done anything to you..." he said instead.
     "Oh no?"
     "No." Chris reassured her.
     A laugh.  Julie's head slowly formed in front of him, morphing from a set of spikes into
the face he had seen earlier.  "She did NOTHING to me?  I doubt you'd say that if you were in
love with Demeter."
     "If I was in love with Demeter, I would be a very sick individual." Chris laughed.  "I
think there's a medical term for that...you know...falling in love with someone who steals from
you?"
     Julie's face contorted into a hideous silent scream.  The voice came from her open mouth
as if she was talking.  "You will be silent.  I am not in the mood for jokes.  I have just traveled
billions of miles to your stupid little planet so that Demeter and I could be together again.  Just as
I arrive, your little slut-sister wants to start..."
     "Excuse me?" Chris growled.  "Did you just call my sister a slut?"
     "Yes." Julie continued, her face twisting into a smile.  
     "Watch your language." Chris warned her.  "Or I may have to break off one of your
spines and ram it into your head."
     Another laugh.  "You're welcome to try.  It wouldn't do anything to harm me."
     "Yes, but it would make me feel SOOOO much better." He smiled.  "So, you're in love
with Demeter?  So what?  Were you two a couple on Pluto?"
     Julie's face turned blank.  "No...but it was my intention to change that."
     "So...he was never really yours...in a relationship stand-point." Chris yawned.  
     "SILENCE!" Her face returned to a silent yell that would have given Stephen King
nightmares.  Indeed, it was freaking the hell out of Chris.  The way her features melted away to
form something else was unsettling to say the least.  "Demeter IS MINE!  Not Chibi Pluto's! 
MINE!"
     He sighed.  "You realize that you'll have a dozen pissed off guardians of the Solar System
outside within five minutes, don't you?" he laughed.  "What some people won't do to get a date."
     "They won't do anything as long as I have your family hostage."
     Chris' face drained of color.  
     Julie's face slid into a smile.  "Oh, that's right.  I forgot to tell you.  Mars, and your
adopted child are trapped just outside.  They were coming to warn you.  How touching.  If you
try to escape, I'll kill them.  I have told them the same.  Even you would agree that three Senshi
are enough to threaten the others to stand down."
     "REI?  MIHARU!?!" Chris yelled.
     A second later, they replied.  "Chris?  You okay?" Rei asked.  They were close...probably
just outside of his room.
     "Yes.  Stay there.  Don't do anything..." Chris sighed.  He looked Julie square in her
'eyes.'  "I've met only two Zistles in my life, and I'd have to say that because of you, I hate about
fifty percent of them."
     Julie just smiled back.  "Just don't move, and we'll get along fine."

     Rei and Miharu sat huddled in the hallway.  Miharu's sword had been knocked away, and
lay out of reach beyond a maze of crystalline spikes surrounding them like jail bars.  "Now
what?" the little girl asked.
     "We wait for the others." Rei sighed.  "And hope Sailor Moon has a new upgrade for
this."









                           Chapter 19
                                
     Sailor Moon stood outside, looking at the situation.  "Now what?"
     Mercury stood beside her, scanning as fast as her fingers could fly across the tiny keys. 
"We can't do anything without risking everyone inside.  Julie has gained five thousand percent of
her original mass, and has infiltrated the structure of the building.  It's like she's encasing it in
glass.  Inside and outside."
     Venus and Jupiter nodded.  "Well, then we just break some windows." Lita growled.  "A
whole bunch of them."
     Ami shook her head.  "Chris, Rei and Miharu are all surrounded by glass spikes.  If we
try anything, Julie would probably have more than enough time to kill all three of them."
     Venus nodded.  "What about Chad and Grandpa?"
     "They're fine.  Sleeping in the back rooms.  Julie didn't bother trying to encase them."
Ami replied, closing her computer.  "We are in major shit.  Even with Grandpa and Chad safe,
that doesn't make it any easier."
     Serena turned to her group.  "Where is Demeter?  He could probably help with this."
     "I have no idea.  Andrea's gone too." Ami sighed.  "If we could find Beavis, he would
know...but my scanner is having problems trying to detect him.  All this glass is interfering with
my scans, and I can only pick up larger objects."
     
     "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to take your hand off your computer." Julie said
softly.
     Chris frowned.  "Why?  I'm not even doing anything on it!"
     "True, but you could contact someone for help." a series of spines morphed into a hand
that grabbed his computer and sucked it away within the hedge of spikes, dumping it off on the
other side, out of reach.  
     "Listen, I'm helpless, right?" Chris sighed.  "Sailor Mars is too.  We both know you got
us.  We aren't going to try anything to escape."
     "Your point being?"
     "Let the child go." Chris said.  "She's not a Senshi, and will only cause you trouble.  She
might not be smart enough not to try and escape, and would get us all killed.  If we're killed, then
the other Scouts will destroy you.  Get it?"
     Julie's face nodded.  "She is a random element...perhaps I should just kill her now."
     "If you do, the Scouts will have a death-wish against you." Chris snapped.  "If you let her
go, though, they will be more understanding.  They won't feel the overwhelming need to rip your
heart out."
     "I have no heart." Julie frowned.  "But I understand your logic.  I will release her." her
frown turned into a smile.  "A gesture of good faith, I believe you call it."
     Chris nodded.

     "The girl may leave." Julie's voice said. 
     Rei breathed a sigh of relief.  "Honey, go outside and wait for the others at a safe
distance, okay?"
     Miharu shook her head.  "I don't want to go..."
     "Go.  Now." Rei growled.  
     A small pathway opened up in the spines to let Miharu pass down the hall.  She glanced
back at Rei.  "I...I should..."
     "Go now, or I'll throw you out myself." Rei demanded.  "You are NOT to be put in
danger.  Understood?"
     Miharu nodded slowly, trying to ignore a tear that was running down the side of her face. 
She quickly tuned, picked up her sword, and ran out of the temple.  

     "Miharu??" Venus and Jupiter ran over to meet the little girl.  "Are you okay?" Mina
asked, checking her for injuries.
     "She's got Re and Chris." Miharu sniffed.  "They can't move, or Julie will kill them.  She
wants to kill Andrea."
     The Scouts all looked at each other.  "Where IS Andrea?" Lita asked.
     "She and Demeter went out for dinner." Miharu explained.  "I think they will be back
soon."
     Lita sighed.  "Great."

     "I've let her go." Julie said.  "Now, I need to ask for a favor."
     Chris frowned.  "What kind of favor?"
     "Just a small pin-prick." Julie smiled.  One of the spines grew an inch and stabbed into
his left arm.  
     Chris cringed at the pain, but it was over a second later.  "What did you do that for?"
     Julie's head gave him an inquisitive look.  "We Zistles can read DNA.  It lets us simulate
humans quite precisely.  Everything from flatulence to vocal cords."
     His eyes went wide.  "What?"
     Julie's face turned in a smile.  With HIS voice, she said "It comes in handy when you
want to lay traps."
     He tried not to seem impressed.  He wasn't, really.  Actually, it was his fear level that just
jumped a few notches.  This particular species of interplanetary burr was proving to be quite
dangerous.  Intelligent, and formidable in the right environment.  Earth just happened to be an
exceptional environment.  "What if they don't show up tonight?" he asked quietly.
     Julie hadn't been expecting that question.
     Chris heard the pause.  "What then, Julie?  The Sailor Scouts won't let this go on all
night.  Sooner or later, someone will run out of good-faith and killing will begin." he took a deep
breath, hoping this was the right thing to say.  "What do you think Demeter will say when he
comes back?  Hmm?"
     "W...what do you mean?" Julie replied finally.
     Chris kept a low, steady tone.  "Well, what happens when he comes back to see that
you've killed some of his friends?  Do you think that's the way to earn his affections?"
     No reply to that comment.  Chris decided to press on.
     "Demeter has learned a lot this last week.  He holds the same values for life that we do.  If
you kill us, he won't respect you as a living entity, let alone a lover."
     "How can you say that when you want to kill me right now?" Julie retorted.  "You hold
the same malice in your heart against me that I hold for your sister right now."
     Chris sighed.  "True...but I have enough self control not to act on it without exploring the
alternatives."
     Julie's face laughed, but it was far from as determined and hearty as before. 
"Alternatives?  You have no alternatives.  You are surrounded by one hundred and fifty nine
spines that in the time it takes you to draw a single breath, could rip you apart from head to foot."
     He had to agree with that.  "Perhaps...but I do have the alternative of trying to help you."
     "HELP ME?" Julie roared.  "You admit to your wish to end my life, and you dare offer
assistance like I am your friend?"
     Chris frowned.  "Considering that helping you will save lives, yes, I do dare offer
assistance."
     Julie was silent again.  
     "This is not the way to win Demeter's heart." he said.  "That takes time.  Time and
chemistry."
     "Very clever."
     He raised an eyebrow.  "Pardon?"
     Julie's face smiled.  "I tend to underestimate you humans.  You make a good argument,
Strike Fiss.  In fact, I believed you for a split second that you were trying to..."
     "I AM TRYING TO HELP!" Chris yelled. 
     Before he could argue further, a large spike raised itself in front of his eye.  "No...you
want me to THINK you are trying to help.  It's classic hostage negotiation.  You try to convince
the offending party that you are their friend.  That you are trying to avoid an incident and you
want to help." a laugh.  "I can see why it's so effective.  It was working on me."
     "You stupid little bitch." Chris growled.  "I don't care what you think.  I don't care how
much you love Demeter, or how much you THINK he loves you.  This is NOT going to work. 
Do you understand?  If you kill anyone, you will die too.  If you let everyone live, Demeter is still
going to know about the situation.  If you kill Andrea, and Demeter loves her, you will only..."
     "HE DOESN'T LOVE HER!" Julie screamed.  "Don't you DARE say that again or I will
rip out one of your eyes and let the other watch as I crush it!"
     Chris clenched his teeth.  "You better remember that when I step on your little Zistle
brain and drive it into the ground."
     Neither spoke for a long time.

     Miharu squeezed Mina's arm tighter.  "What was that noise?"
     "I don't know..." Mina sighed.
     Lita smiled.  "It sounded like Julie.  Maybe Chris is playing some polka on his computer."

 








                           Chapter 20
                                
     "We could just call for a ride." Demeter offered.  "If you don't want to walk back."
     Andrea smiled sweetly.  "No, I'd like to walk.  I think we need some time to talk."
     He nodded.  "It would be my pleasure." he said as they began to stroll down the moon-lit
street.  "I love how the light..." Demeter sighed, trying to find the right words.  "You look
beautiful...I like how your hair and skin turns blue at night." 
     Andrea blushed noticeably.  "Thank you...I don't think anyone has ever said that about
me before."
     "Well, it's very true." Demeter said.  
     She smiled and hugged his arm tighter.  Somehow, they had both moved into the rhythm
of walking in tandem together.  Their feet never collided or tripped, and she was able to rest her
head lightly on his shoulder without hampering his movement.  They flowed quite well together.  
     "It's hard, you know?" she sighed.
     He looked down at her.  "Hard?"
     She smiled.  "Hard for a Senshi to get a date."
     Demeter nodded his understanding as they continued down the deserted street.  Only an
occasional taxi-cab or fellow couple-in-love were present.  It was romantic.  So much so that
even his mind could sense it.  Just how perfect the night was.  
     "For the last three years, I've been on three dates." Andrea said quietly.  "All with friends
that I later decided I didn't want to drag into my life and get hurt." she looked up at him.  "Chris
and Rei got it lucky.  Same with Lita and Maury.  They all fell in love with someone who was
part of the Senshi group...Hell.  They were all pre-destined."
     "It would make things easier." Demeter agreed.  "You don't have to hide your identity. 
You share many of the same ideas and traits.  Desires and fears."
     She nodded.  "Exactly." a long pause.  "When I first met you a week ago, Demeter, I
knew I was going to try." she blushed.  "You know...try and at least get you on a date...I suppose
it was my last chance for the harmony I saw in everyone else's relationships."
     He nodded and looked down at her.  
     "Now," she took a deep breath "I am going out with you...and I feel stupid for my
reasons."
     He blinked.  "You mean...you don't want to?"
     Andrea sighed, squeezing his arm tighter.  "At first, I wanted to go out with you because
you were one of us.  My last chance." her mouth slowly raised in a smile.  "Now, I want to stay
with you because I think I'm falling for you."
     Demeter blinked.  It took him a second to notice his own smile.  
     "Sorry for doubting the charm of a very hansom Zistle." Andrea said, leaning up and
kissing him on the cheek.
     "No problem." he replied happily.  
     Andrea laughed.  "Also, I want to thank you."
     "For what?"
     She shrugged.  "Well, for making me slow down."
     He smiled.  "Well, I guess I'm just not a fast kinda guy."
     "Well, still..." Andrea nodded.  "I'm glad I didn't go psycho like I did with Darien. 
You're a lot nicer."
     Demeter grinned to himself.  "Oh?  So you like the tuxedo?"
     Andrea blushed.  "Yes.  The cape too..."
     She felt the fabric on Demeter's arm change.  When she looked up, she was looking into
the eyes of a fully decked out Tuxedo Demeter.  Complete with a cape.  
     "Ta da!" he chuckled.
     Andrea had to admit she was impressed.  Even with all the strange and wonderful things
she had seen over the last few years, this was pretty sweet.  "Demeter...you're amazing."
     "You should see my impressions." he laughed, changing back to his original evening
clothes.  "I do a pretty mean Dangerfeild."
     "Yeah, I get no respect." Andrea laughed.  
     Demeter grinned.  "Well, I'm glad you don't go psycho.  I knew too many Zistles like
that."
     "Psycho Zistles?" Andrea laughed. 
     "You'd be surprised." He nodded.

     "Freakin psycho." Rei grumbled to herself.  She was well within earshot of Chris'
conversations with Julie.  
     "Do you have something to say, Sailor Mars?"
     Rei turned to see Julie's scowling head forming behind her.  "Yes, I do have something to
add, but I doubt you'd like it."
     Julie's face melted into a frown.  "Oh, please go on..." she cooed.  "I promise not to kill
you because of anything you say."
     "I just think you're a little strange to be talking so much of love when it's obvious you
aren't even in love." Rei said quietly.
     "And who are you to be talking of love?" the face turned into a smirk.  "You don't look
like Cupid."
     Rei smiled.  "Okay, how about a grandfather that I would do anything for?  A  fiancee
and daughter that I love more than anything else on this planet?  And how about the dozen
friends I have that have stood with me on countless occasions?  All of whom I would die to
protect, and I know they would do the same for me."
     "Strong words." Julie said.  "But they are just words.  I could have just as easily said
that."
     "Well." Rei sighed, folding her arms carefully to avoid the cage of spikes.  "You did ask. 
Compared to you, I'd say I'm Cupid."
     Julie frowned. "You don't know what real love is."
     Rei took a long, deep breath.  "Okay...I give up.  What, in your opinion, is REAL love?"
     "Well, I don't expect you humans to understand." Julie said with a smile on her face that
Rei swore was sympathetic.  "Zistles have the ability to communicate in a more direct way."
     "Telepathy?" Rei asked.
     "You could say that." Julie continued.  "Demeter and I shared a bond like that.  Even
deeper than most Zistles ever experience.  Far more than the occasional beam."
     "Beam?"
     "It's how we communicate." Julie smiled.  "Comparing beaming and speech is like
comparing high-definition-television to Moras Code."
     "Beep beep dash beep." Rei smirked.  
     Julie ignored her.  "Love is all communication.  The joining of two minds in perfect
harmony.  You poor, simple humans have to rely on a dictionary of words.  Even if you both love
each other with all your hearts, it is impossible to ever share that."
     Rei rolled back her eyes.
     "Zistles have the advantage of fully combining our minds with another.  A ballet of
thought that laughs at your pitiful attempts of love poetry." Julie said triumphantly.
     Rei wore a smile on her face.  
     "You're smiling?" Julie finally noticed. "Not the reaction I expected."
     "I was just wondering how an inorganic life form could be so full of shit." Rei laughed.
     Julie's face washed over to a frown.  "What?"
     Rei smiled.  "If you think words are all we have to convey our feelings, you are sadly
mistaken.  I can say more with one glance at Chris than I could with a speech towards you.  Love
comes in many levels...and the deepest ones don't need to rely on words."
     "I'm beginning to think you are correct." Julie growled.  "You and your fiancee both
seem to have the same smart-ass attitude.  Are you sure you're not telepathic?"
     Rei heard Chris laugh from within his room.   "We are when it comes to love." she
agreed.  "You on the other hand, have little connection with Demeter.  I doubt you even truly
love him."
     Julie's face contorted closer to her freaky, frozen scream.  "What do you mean?" she
demanded.  
     Rei shrugged.  "Well, on a very basic level, you aren't doing this out of love.  In fact,
you're probably quite insane."
     Julie growled.  The entire temple seemed to shake as she did.
     Rei continued.  "Love's very powerful, and it can sometimes hurt more than anything else
in life...but it also has the chance to fill your life with joy and happiness.  What YOU feel right
now is something more along the lines of homicidal tendencies, rather than joy or pain."
     "You tell her, Rei." Chris said.  
     "I DIDN'T ASK YOU!!!" Julie screamed at Chris, her face twisted in rage.  
     "You're only angry because you see truth in our words." Rei said.  "You're worried that
we're right.  That you never loved him.  That this is all a byproduct of a thousand years drifting
in space."
     
     Chris nodded happily at Rei's comments.  "You know, she's right." 
     The face returned on his end.  "I KNOW what love is...and I do love him." Julie
grumbled.
     "Then you know part of love is the want to do anything for that person." Chris closed his
eyes.  "Anything to help them.  Make them feel better.  Safe.  Happy." he raised an eyebrow.  "Is
that correct?"
     Julie's head nodded slowly, knowing she was being backed into a logic trap.  "To an
extent."
     Chris nodded back.  "So what happens if Demeter shows up...No...Your LOVE shows up
and asks you to release us and let Andrea live?"
     Julie was silent.
     "Are you willing to do even that small thing for the object of your affections?" Chris
asked.  "Nothing even as drastic as dying for them...but rather just letting his friends go free?"
     Both Rei and Chris heard the long silence.
     "You don't know, do you?" Rei asked finally.  "You're beginning to see what we're
talking about."
     Julie's face came up on her side now.  "I love him."
     Rei nodded.  "You may have...but this isn't right.  If you do love him, you won't put him
in this situation."
     The face contorted into a stern-looking mask.  "You two are very good..."
     "Here we go again." Rei sighed.
     Julie laughed.  "What?  Angry that your little plans aren't working?"
     "No, just angry that you return to this stupid 'ha ha, you guys are clever...almost had me'
routine when we all know you're seeing the logic.  We're not wrong, Julie.  We're not just trying
to save our own asses."
     "Then what are you trying to do?" Julie asked. 
     Rei had to think about that one for a moment.  "We're trying to save yours and Demeter's
friendship."  
     
     Chris' turn.  "This night is not going to end in the way you want it to.  Off together,
beaming happily.  Mingling your brains forever and ever.  It's going to end with some kind of
problem."
     Julie's frowning head appeared before him once again.  "It's strange.  I know that you
could be right.  I simply don't care."
     He blinked.
     "I may have under estimated your ability to express love, but Zistles still have advantages. 
Everything will work out all right.  Tonight, your sister will die, and Demeter and I can return to
Pluto." Julie explained calmly.  Even though her words were confident, they were directed more
to herself than Chris and Rei. 
     "I look forward to seeing you try." Chris said finally.  "You're not getting off this planet
alive.  I can tell you that right now."











                           Chapter 21

     "We're here." Andrea sighed as they rounded the corner to Cherri Hill.  
     He nodded.  "We should do this again." he smiled.  "I had fun."
     She smiled.  "Same here.  Though you didn't have to chase down those two kids who
were trying to sneak into the movie."
     Demeter grinned happily.  
     They walked up the long series of steps and headed for the temple.  "I hope Chris isn't
still up.  It's two in the morning." Andrea yawned, looking at her watch.
     "Something's up." Demeter said suddenly.  "The Scouts are all assembled."
     Andrea strained her eyes and realized he was right.  Every Sailor Scout except Mars and
Fiss were there.  Even Maury had showed up to lend his help.  But, they weren't doing anything. 
Just milling around in front of the temple.  "Hey, guys?  What's going on?"
     They all turned to her.  "You better transform.  Julie's got Chris and Rei hostage inside."
Maury said. 
     "WHAT?" both Demeter and Andrea gasped.  "Julie?" he said.  
     "Who's Julie?" she asked him.  "That other Zistle?"
     Demeter nodded.  
     "Do we know what Julie wants?" Andrea asked, walking up to the rest of the group.  "Or
is she just pissed off at Chris' polka music?"
     Maury smiled.  "Polka your eyes out, baby.  Yeah!"
     "We don't know." Ami said finally.  "Miharu says it has something to do with you,
though."
     "Where is she?" Andrea asked.
     "Safe.  Along with Chad and Grandpa.  They're waiting in the second building." Mina
said as she walked up to the two.  "But we have no idea what to do now.  Chris and Rei and both
surrounded by spikes.  If they move, or we move to intervene, they'll be mincemeat."
     "Shish-kabob." Serena said.  "Mmm, after this is all over, you guys want to go..."
     They all rolled back their eyes.  "ANYway..." Maury sighed.  "Demeter, you should go
talk to her.  We can give you cover if you need it.  It's our only real option."
     Demeter blinked.  "I don't know how much help I'm going to be."
     Andrea smiled.  "Don't be modest.  Just go up to her and tell her to let everyone go and
we can wrap this up."
     He smiled.  "Okay." he turned and started walking toward the temple.  The other Scouts
walked behind him, leaving just enough distance as not to seem threatening.

     "He's here!" Julie said happily.  
     Chris yawned.  "Hooray.  Do you mind letting me have a few inches room so I can turn
over and go to sleep?"
     "I don't appreciate your lack of enthusiasm." she grumbled.  "I thought you Sailor Scouts
stood for love and friendship.  Aren't you happy for me?"
     "Thrilled." Chris said wryly.  
     "Well, pay attention.  If any of your friends decides to interfere with my plans, I will kill
both you and your fiancee." her face was a smile.  "Surely you don't want to die in your sleep."
     He thought for a moment.  "I dunno...I guess that depends if I can have that cool dream
with the flying penguins and cheese wheels.  That might be a cool note to end your life on."
     "Oh shut up."
     Chris smiled.  Julie's face began to morph back into a series of spines, leaving him fully
encased once more.  "Sorry for having to leave you temporarily.  I must look at least semi
presentable to my darling Demeter."
     
     Demeter stopped when he saw a thin line of glass heading towards him.  It halted just a
few meters from his feet, and began to grow into Julie's full humanoid form.  "Julie?" he asked
finally as her features formed.
     "Demeter, darling." she smiled sweetly, this time talking with her mouth instead of letting
her face represent a series of angry screams and smiles.  "I've been waiting for you."
     He frowned.  "Why are you holding Chris and Rei?"
     Julie raised an eyebrow.  "Insurance." she paused.  "What do you care?"
     "They are my friends." he shrugged.  "If you hurt them, I won't be very pleased, Julie."
     "So they've told me." she laughed.  "But never mind them.  I won't hurt them unless
someone interferes with our plans."
     "What do you mean, 'our' plans?"
     Julie faltered for a moment.  "Don't you remember our plans to join?"
     Demeter's eyes snapped wide open.  "What?"
     
     Chris sighed to himself.  At least when Julie was around, he could annoy the hell out of
her.  Right now, he was just surrounded by spikes.  It was boring.  Not to mention a little
unnerving.  Time passed by very slowly when you knew the spines could kill you at any second. 
It wouldn't take much.  Just one to the head, neck or heart, and there would be no more Strike
Fiss.  
     No more Sailor Mars, for that matter.  That was what really annoyed him.  Julie, that
bitch, had gotten their entire family.  It was only by pure luck that they convinced her that Miharu
was better left alone.  
     "How you doing, Rei?" he called out.
     "Fine.  Just wishing I had a really nice glass-cutter right about now." she quipped.  
     He smiled.  "I'll get you one for Christmas."
     That's when he saw Beavis.  The tiny hedgehog ran into the room and looked around
quickly.  He smiled at Chris.  "Need any help?"
     Chris nodded.  "Shhh, she might hear you." he thought for a moment.  "Try and get to my
computer.  Turn it on so I can use voice commands."
     The tiny animal blinked.  "How the hell do I do that?" he whispered.
     "Try the on switch.  I'll tell you the passwords as you go." Chris said angrily.  "Hurry!"
     "Oh so now I'm Sonic.  First it's James Bond, then video-game characters." Beavis
mumbled angrily.  He trotted over to the fallen laptop.  Although it had suffered a bad fall, it was
fine.  The only side effect of it's drop was it's automatic power switch had kicked in to conserve
energy.  "You're a Star Trek fan, Chris...how about "Dammit Jim...I'm a doctor, not a computer
expert?"
     Chris rolled back his eyes.  "Please, just hurry?"
     "Okay." he snickered, skittering under the laptop like it was a tent.  A second later, he
nudged the keyboard with his spines, turning it on.
     "The first password is Mayonnaise." Chris whispered.
     Beavis struggled to turn himself over to see the screen and use the keyboard.  Sure
enough, the first password prompt came up.  "Uh...okay..." he began to press the keys with his
paws.  
     "Mayonnaise?" Rei laughed from outside.
     Chris snickered.  "Hey, shut up...it's a great song."
     "It's a song?" 
     "My favorite.  I'll play it for you sometimes." Chris promised.  
     Rei found her self smiling.  
     "Next password." Beavis said.
     Chris nodded.  "Nougat."
     "Figures." the little hedgehog sighed, typing it in.  "Okay, I'm in.  Now what?"
     "Find a safe place to hide.  Get outside if you can." he said.  "I owe you one, Beavis."
     Be crawled out from under the computer and skittered off.  "Good luck."
     Rei watched him go off down the hallway.  "So, Fissy...now what?"
     Chris thought for a moment.  "If this works, we'll have a few seconds to get the hell out. 
If it looks like Julie's going homicidal, get ready."

     Andrea took Demeter's arm.  "What do you mean, join?"
     He looked down at her.  "It's kinda like marriage." he looked up at Julie's figure.  "But I
never had such plans."
     Julie shook her head and sighed.  "Poor Demeter.  I understand the trip here was hard for
you.  I don't blame you for not remembering everything.  Now, please step aside."
     He blinked.  "Why?"
     "I need to kill Sailor ChibiPluto." she explained nonchalantly.  "She's the source of all
our problems."
     Andrea blinked.  "Pardon ME?"
     When Demeter didn't move, Julie looked very confused.  "You will not kill her." 
     "Yeah..." Andrea said, poking her head out from behind Demeter.  "And it's not
ChibiPluto.  It's Sailor HOOZE..." she sighed.  "I can't believe nobody remembers that.  Ugh." 
     "Silence." Julie growled.  
     "Must be that time of the month." Maury quipped.  All the female members of the Scouts
shot him a dirty look.  Maury just smiled.
     Demeter took a dangerously aggressive step forward, coming close to pushing Julie back
with his chest.  "I am a sworn protector of Sailor Hooze.  I would never join with anyone who
had such thoughts." his eyebrows lowered.  "I didn't one thousand years ago, and I won't today."
     For most of her life on Pluto and it's moon, Andrea had been with Demeter.  A life-long
friend and companion.  He had always been her loyal servant, and so much more.  They had been
deep friends, even if they never acknowledged it to each other.  
     Even so, Andrea had never seen Demeter like this.  At first, she decided it was his
protective nature.  He had the same set of instincts that Chris, Darien and Maury had...a true
Prince.  Then, she realized it was something more than that.  There was a difference between
duty...and love.  A distinct line.  He had crossed it for her.
     The look on Julie's face was strange.  It was scaring Andrea.  "Demeter...step back..." she
whispered.  
     Demeter didn't move.  "Get back, Andrea.  This is my problem...I'll handle it."
     "P...problem?" Julie gasped. "Is that what I mean to you?"
     Demeter nodded.  Before he could say another word, Julie's hand had slapped him across
the face.  Slap was too light of a word, actually.  Thunderclap was more like it.  Maury had to
resist the reflex to see if Lita had used one of her bigger lightning bolts suddenly.  
     The poor Zistle landed about ten meters away, with his chin shattered.  All the Scouts
took a step back, unsure what to do.  Andrea was held by Julie's glare, knowing if she ran over to
help, she would go mental.  "What did you hit him for?" she demanded in a tone that none of the
others had ever heard from her before.  It was serious as death, and twice as menacing.
     Julie glowered back.  "What does it matter?  You're going to be dead in a second
anyway." she raised her hand and pointed a single finger at Andrea's chest.
     In a single, split second, Julie's finger had shot out in a spike, headed for her heart.  The
moment before it hit, a crackling wall of pink energy shot up with a wave of Andrea's hand.  The
glass spine impacted and shattered away harmlessly.  Julie looked up at Andrea in surprise. 
Andrea glared back.  "Jan...Ken...Pon..." her flat hand gesture curled up into a fist.  "STONE!"
     The psychotic Zistle had no way of preparing herself from the invisible crushing blow
that Andrea's spell produced.  It hit her in the lower torso, causing the left, bottom half of her
body to explode.  She fell backwards with only one leg to stand on.  
     "Mmm..." Andrea smiled.  "That's why they say you should never play with rocks near
windows."
     Hooze's smile was cut short by Julie launching up to her newly formed feet, apparently
unscathed.  "You'll have to do better than that, Sailor Hooze." the Zistle replied with an evil grin.
"And about your brother?"
     Andrea gasped.

     "Computer..." Chris said calmly.  "Shatter this bitch."
     "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  The tiny laptop screamed to life, almost
bursting his eyeballs in the process.  The entire temple was filled with a pulse of pure sound that
disintegrated every glass spine around Rei and Chris into dust.  
     Rei ran into the room.  "Let's GO!" she took a running start just as Julie realized all her
protection inside the temple had been destroyed.  Seven snake-like spines chased her as she leapt
at Chris, grabbing him and carrying them both through the wall.  
     SMASH!  They exploded out onto the lawn, rolling and tumbling as they went.  Andrea
saw this and was ready.  "Jan ken pon...PAPER!" she yelled, and with a quick swipe of her arm,
the glass snakes chasing the two ran into a pink energy wall.  
     "Dammit!" Julie growled, forming a large blade from her left arm.  "Not this time!" she
wound up for a strike.
     KRISH!  The blade hit and shattered against another.  Demeter stood besides Andrea, his
own arm in a badly damaged, but still intact sword-like blade.  "Andrea!  RUN!" he yelled.  
     "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?" Lita yelled.  "JUPITER THUNDER...CRASH!"
     The lightning from Lita's extended tiara antenna lashed out, barely missing Andrea, and
into Julie's surprised face.  The impact of so much energy shot her back against the temple wall,
causing it to crumble where Rei and Chris had escaped.  
     This gave Andrea more than enough time to drag Demeter back with her.  "We have to
regroup...this is insane!"
     Maury and Mina returned with Chris and Rei draped over their shoulders.  "We gotta get
them to a hospital!" Mina said.  "They're both out cold!"
     Sailor Moon nodded.  "Hurry!  Get them outta here!  We'll take care of silicone bitch!"
     Andrea smiled and turned as the dust began to clear from the wall.  "Demeter?  You
okay?"
     He nodded weakly, jaw still dropping shards of glass from where it was it.  "I'ww eee
finee." 
     Lita grinned and popped her knuckles.  "Let's rock."
     A low rumble filled the air, coming from the temple.  "What the hell is that?" Ami
gasped.
     They all turned to her.  "That's your job." Lita smiled.
     "Oh..." Mercury quickly flipped open her computer and did a scan.  "Oh...oh my...this is
not good."
     "What is it?" Andrea asked.
     Ami slowly closed the little computer and looked up.  "You remember how I said there
was about three hundred pounds of glass in the temple?"
     They all nodded.
     "Well...I think she can control all of it...just like her body."
     Demeter even looked shaken.  "Three...hundred?" he asked with a fresh jaw.  
     "Any ideas?" Serena asked quickly as the rumbling continued.  
     "We have to hit the Zistle." Demeter said finally.  
     They all blinked in confusion.
     He shook his head.  "You don't get it.  All that extra glass...out bodies...is just for
protection.  Zistles are really just the blue crystal life form inside all of it.  If we can shatter that,
then she's dead."
     Andrea nodded.  "Where is the crystal?"
     "Sometimes in the chest...sometimes in the head.  I keep mine in the chest...more room
for error." Demeter explained.  "But if she has that much glass at her disposal, she could hide
herself anywhere."
     Lita nodded.  "Then we'll just have to shatter it all at once."
     "Chris' computer?" Andrea asked.
     Ami shook her head.  "No...it was only enough to hit a little bit of her body.  And she'll
be cautious of that now."
     Serena sighed.  "Then we better get ready."
     Andrea pulled out her broach.  "I was born ready.  PLUTO MOON POWER!"
     Transformed, five members short if you included Tuxedo Mask, and ready nonetheless,
the Scouts stood in front of the temple.  Demeter resided next to Andrea, but was still shaking
slightly from the previous blow to the head.  He needed to refresh his glass supply, but there was
no time to do it now.
     There had been one other incident like this one.  Long ago.  About a century and a half
before Andrea was even born on Pluto.  A Zistle had found a pocket of silicate on the moon of
Charon.  It was very pure, and very large.  Almost two and a half tones of glass-like sand. 
Although a Zistle could never assimilate that much, the one that found the glass had gathered
over five hundred pounds of it over it's body.
     The results were disastrous.  
     If Julie was anything like it, Demeter knew someone was going to die.  Andrea seemed to
be the prime target.  His mind raced for something to think.  Something to say or do.  Anything. 
Only one thought came to mind.  
     Over my dead body.









                           Chapter 22

     
     
     "I suppose this is going to get messy." Maury sighed as the dojo's walls began to crack
open and spill out a clear, glassy liquid.  Mina was still with Chris and Rei at the hospital.  It was
a good thing, too.
     If Rei was still at the scene and conscious, she would have been vocally blasting Julie for
destroying her temple.  The small add-on building that the Scouts sometimes used for fighting
practice was being ground up like it was in a blender.  Glass spines began to form and shoot out
from the blob inside.  Each left a trail of ripped wall and broken wood as the mass slowly rotated,
breaking free of the building.  
     "Any visions, honey?" Lita asked.
     Maury thought for a moment.  "No..nothing useful.  Not yet."     
     "Too bad you don't have a fast forward button, Mo." Andrea smiled.  "It would really
come in handy sometimes."
     "Yeah, but then fighting just wouldn't be any fun!" Maury smiled.  
     "I'd risk getting bored over getting killed."  Lita said.  
     Serena was very nervous.  "What's it doing?"
     Demeter shrugged.  "I don't know.  She just seems to be gathering up all her glass for the
fight."
     "Well, at least it's only three hundred pounds." Ami shrugged.  "She can't be all that
big..."
     "She doesn't need to be solid." Demeter shook his head.  "She could be hollow inside and
have enough size just to roll over us." he paused.  "All of us."
     "But she's not that stupid.  We could easily punch a hole through her if she was that thin."
Maury said.  "Oh oh..."
     "What?" everyone asked.
     "Just got a vision." he explained.  "Spread out...now.  She's going to..."
     The blob finally broke out of the wall, and morphed into six separate blobs, each
connected to a hub in the center.  The blobs then grew features...slowly forming six Julies.  One
to match each of the Scouts.  
     "Never mind." Maury sighed.  
     Demeter noticed that they all connected in the center.  "We have to destroy the hub! 
Come on!  The longer she's like this, the more people are going to die!"
     They all looked at Demeter in new eyes.  He was taking charge.  
     He frowned at them.  "Come on!  This isn't something we have a lot of time to prevent! 
I've seen this before and we need to do something NOW!"
     They didn't need to be told twice.  
     "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"
     "SOL STARS!"
     The two high energy attacks hit across the six Julies in a peppering spray of death, but did
little to the crystalline forms, who easily morphed back into shape.  
     The attack was like a game of chess.  The Scouts had moved first, and were not about to
get another turn for a long time.  The two 'Julies' that were paired against Maury and Lita
jumped forward, turning their arms into thick bars that wrapped around behind them, caging
them in a loop of bramble-like silicone.  Ami and Serena were next.  A deadly spine thrust out
from the chest of one of the Julies and almost shattered Ami's computer as she tried to reproduce
Chris' shatter-command.  The spine then thinned out into a blade and curved around Ami's neck. 
Sailor Moon had no luck either.  Her opponent jumped up into the air, exploded, and rained
down as a cage.  Once surrounded, it shrunk to an air-tight prison.  Each bar bristling with tiny
thorns.
     Then...the attack stopped.  The turn was over.
     Andrea and Demeter looked around them nervously.  All the others were surrounded. 
Captured.  In immediate danger of being decapitated, disemboweled, or otherwise ripped to
shreds.  Nobody moved for the longest ten seconds Andrea had ever experienced.  
     "My my..." Julie's voice said, coming from the two remaining figures simultaneously.  "I
lost two hostages, but gained an entire team!"  A yelp from Sailor Moon as she bumped into a
few of the thorns made Julie smile.  "And their precious leader."
     Demeter was furious.  An emotion he was proud to say he had never experienced now
shot through him like nausea.  "Even you wouldn't kill Sailor Moon." he growled. 
     In a sudden move, both Julies and the core connected to all the others morphed back into
one Julie.  Her arms branched out to the Scouts' cages.  "I would kill her in a second if it meant I
could have you." she said softly.  "My dear Demeter...You always had the clearest thoughts.  So
wonderful to hear.  Even now...even now that you've stopped beaming...I can hear your true
voice."
     She shook her head.  "But killing Sailor Moon is useless to our love."  Julie sighed.  "I
will not kill anyone unless Sailor Hooze does not surrender herself to me."
     Andrea's eyes went wide.
     "Now." Julie added, giving Hooze the most piercing gaze she had ever received.
     Time nearly stopped.  Given enough practice, she probably could have accomplished it,
but right now...inside Andrea's head, time focused down into a narrow beam of now.  Nothing
else...past, present or future, mattered.
     This is it. She thought.  This is what happens to the lonely little Sailor Hoozie.  Killed by
some jealous girlfriend made from reject breast-implantation material.  How could she not? 
There was no choice.  Julie knew that.  Andrea had no choice.  Her entire existence was there to
protect Sailor Moon.  If not everyone else.  
     Demeter.  She would be saving Demeter too.  The one person on this planet that she
knew...
     It was too early...they had just met really...but...
     Andrea knew she could love him so easily.  
     Love.  
     Not 'Brother Chris' love.  
     Not 'Past-Fling Darien' love.
     Not 'Sister Sharon' love.
     Not 'Best Friend Maury' love.
     Love.
     Just the simple, perfect word that in reality meant so much more beyond what it
represented.  The simple four letter word could never live up to what it represented...yet it was
the only thing that could ever come close.  
     At least...at least I came close.  

     Andrea began walking toward Julie.  "I surrender.  Let them go."
     Julie was almost surprised.  She had almost wished Andrea resisted.  Given her an excuse
to kill a few of the people she loved just before killing the bitch herself.  No need to be petty...but
it would have been fun.
     "No!" Maury yelled.  "Andrea!  Step back!" he was about to run over to her when a spine
hit his leg, reminding him to stay put, and to shut the fuck up.  
     "NO!" Andrea replied.  "I have to do this." she turned to Maury.  "She wants me dead.  I
won't take the rest of you with me."
     Demeter took Andrea's shoulder.  "Wait."
     Andrea turned to him eagerly.  Oh please...Andrea...let this one thing count.  "Mmm?"
she hummed quietly.
     He gazed into her eyes for a long time.  "This is my fault...I'm so sorry..."
     "Hey..." Andrea sighed, a tear coming down the side of her cheek.  "Shit happens...I'm
used to it."
     Slowly...carefully...Demeter lowered his head.  Andrea met him half way by standing tip-toed.  
The moment their lips touched was etched into both their memories forever.  So sweet and
warm.  Andrea never expected someone like Demeter to be so...human.  So easily perfect to her. 
Natural.  Right.  
     And then...something.  A new sensation...

     Julie watched with growing anger as they kissed.  "Demeter..."
     They continued.  Unmoving.  When they finally did move, Demeter wrapped his arms
around her, and spun her around once.  
     Maury and Lita had to take a double-take.  "Wow..." she whispered.  
     "I didn't know Zistles were good kissers." Maury replied smugly.  
     "ANDREA!  YOU WILL COME HERE NOW!" Julie screamed.
     The kiss lasted for just a few extra seconds.  Slowly, the two parted.  Demeter's face
looked blank....peaceful.  "I'm coming." Andrea said, turning away from Demeter and
approaching the homicidal Zistle.  "Let my friends go, and I won't resist." she said angrily.
     Julie paused.
     Andrea turned to the Scouts.  "This is my LAST wish...and you WILL obey it.  Is that
clear?"
     Everyone listened.
     "Nobody is to move if Julie lets you go.  If you do, she'll only kill you." she gave them all
a pleading look.  "Okay?"
     One by one...Maury last...they nodded.  Even Maury had to protect Sailor Moon.  "You
have my word, Andrea." he said softly.  
     Andrea turned back to Julie.  "Let them go.  You have what you want."
     Julie smiled, and all her traps, caged, and spines carefully retracted around their victims,
and morphed back into her arms.  "Thank you for co-operating."
     "Now, I believe you wanted me dead?" Andrea growled.  "Why not right in the
heart...that IS what you want, isn't it?"
     "Exactly." Julie's face twisted into a hideous smile.  She slowly raised her arm, formed a
point from the hand, and nodded.  "At least for you...the pain will be quick."
     Serena, Lita, Maury, Ami and Demeter all watched helplessly as Julie took a step
forward, grabbed Andrea by the shoulder, and plunged her needle-sharp arm right through her
chest.


















                           Chapter 23
                                
     Something was wrong.  

     Maury saw it first.  The look on Julie's face.  The long, silvery spike sticking out of
Andrea's back had no blood on it. "Oh my god..."
     The Scouts all turned to Demeter...only to see that his skin was slowly melting away to
reveal Andrea, wide-eyed and sobbing underneath.  It fell to the ground like sand.  "Demeter...?"
she gasped.
     Julie's expression was one of horror as she realized what had happened. 
"D...e....Demeter?" she asked softly, retracting the spine from the form in her hands.  
     The Sailor Scouts all watched as the fake 'Andrea' began to break apart and dissolve like
the skin Demeter had placed over Andrea.  Eventually, a small, blue crystal fell to the
ground...glowing weakly.  It had a small crack on it's side where Julie's arm had hit.  
     Andrea ran over and quickly picked him up off the ground.  "DEMETER??!!" she yelled. 
Thousands of images flooded through her head...ones of the tiny crystal always there...helping
her with studies, or cleaning her room.  Tears flew down Andrea's face as she held the tiny,
shivering crystal.  "No...Demeter...please don't die..." she whispered.  
     Julie had dissolved into a mass of shivers and quakes.  She tried to say
something...anything...but this was beyond her capacity.  The others quickly gathered around
Andrea as she gently rocked Demeter's true form in her arms.  
     "Sorry...Andrea..." Demeter said quietly.  The voice seemed distant, but it was
unmistakably the one he had used in his human form.  "I hope I didn't overstep my authority..."
     She smiled weakly.  "Just live, and I'll forgive you."
     "I...don't know about that." Demeter said slowly.  "I'm not sure how to fix this..."
     Ami ran over to her computer.  It was open and scanning in a flash.  "Oh no..."
     Maury looked Ami in the eyes.  "What is it?"
     "He's dying..."
     "How do we fix him?" Lita demanded, tears already leaving marks down her face.  
     Ami was having a hard time preventing her own tears.  "I...I can't...don't know...Earth
glass is different than their bodies...Bucky balls...we need Bucky ball silicone."
     They all drew a blank on that one.  The small crystal in Andrea's hands was getting
dimmer.  Then...the last ditch attempt.  Andrea looked up at Julie.  
     "Please...help him...?"
     Julie was frozen.
     "You love him." Andrea continued.  "Please, for you...save him."
     
     They all watched, not daring to breathe, as Julie's own crystal emerged from her chest
like a small caterpillar worming it's way out of a cocoon.  The spine or two that still touched the
body of Julie commanded it closer.  Andrea held up Demeter so Julie could do whatever she
needed too.  
     The two Zistles touched.  
     A bright flash of blue light filled the night air, and Andrea was forced to let go of
Demeter as he got too warm to touch.  "Stand back!" she warned everyone, keeping her hands
under Demeter, just in case he fell.  
     Three seconds of the silent, bright light, and it was over.  Demeter fell into Andrea's
hands...
     No longer glowing.
     Dead.
     Andrea blinked.  "Oh my god...he's..."
     She looked up to see Julie's crystal retracting back into her body.  "You bitch...you killed
him!?!" Andrea gasped.
     "No."
     The voice surprised everyone.  It was Demeter's.  
     Andrea watched as the Zistle re-entered Julie's chest...then began morphing.  A wave of
change passed over the body, slowly transforming it into Demeter's image.  "She's gone..." he
said slowly...quietly.  "She killed herself so I could live."
     Andrea looked up into Demeter's eyes...they were his now.  Warm.  Human.  More
human than she had seen in half the people on the planet.  They embraced in a warm hug that
made them look like two puzzle pieces that just found each other.  Fitting so perfectly and
precisely to form a new, wonderful picture.  "Thank you..." Andrea whimpered.  She wasn't sure
who she was thanking.  Demeter...or Julie.  Both, she decided.  
     Maury let them have a full minute before interjecting.  "Now that everyone's okay...can
someone tell me what the hell is going on?"
     Ami answered for him.  "The old switcharoo." she smiled.  "Demeter morphed into
Andrea when they kissed, and put a layer of silicate over her to make her look like him."
     Demeter stood, taking Andrea with him.  "I wasn't expecting to live through that...I
wanted her to kill me." he frowned.  "Teach her a lesson."
     He paused.
     It was a long pause.
     "We had to join for her to transfer me to her body...though." he sighed.  "I feel so bad..."
     "Why?" Andrea asked softly.
     He looked down.  "I realized she felt the same way about me that I felt about you,
Andrea...I'm sorry I had to destroy one to save another."
     Lita made a long, gulping sigh.  "I suppose..." she paused.  "Everyone needs a little love
in their lives."
     Serena smiled at her friend.  "That's why we're here."
     

     
     









                           Chapter 24
                                
     Sunrise.  
     Finally.
     It saw Chris sitting on the porch with Beavis.  Tea in one hand, and a sling over the other. 
Rei had escaped with a mild concussion, but he had a hairline fracture on his left wrist.  It was
going to be another two weeks before he could risk handling a sword in battle.  
     Beavis watched him slowly sip his tea.  "Well?"
     "Mm?"
     "It's a new sunrise.  You may ask me one question." a pause.  "You haven't asked me yet. 
I thought you would be eager." the hedgehog said.  
     Chris smiled.  "I haven't forgotten...I'm just wondering what to ask."
     "Well..." he yawned. "Don't take too long.  I'm tired."
     "Very well." Chris nodded, taking another sip before continuing.  "What's love?"
     Beavis blinked.  "Pardon me?"
     He looked down at the tiny animal and explained.  "Some people think it's nothing more
than a chemical reaction in the brain.  Some think it's natural instincts coupled with higher
thought.  I've always had a problem with it.  It's really nothing you can define." he smiled.  "I
mean, I know I love Rei, and Miharu...even you." he used his good hand to ruffle Beavis' quills
affectionately.  "But I still can't pin-point why."
     "Fttt!" Beavis re-arranged his quills.  "Chris...did you ever think that there are questions
better left unanswered?"
     He shrugged.  "I suppose.  There are things where if you knew the answer, it would
defeat the purpose of asking.  A kind of rhetorical question, maybe...or something where the
answer is dangerous."
     The small hedgehog smiled.  "Exactly." he turned to go inside.
     Chris blinked and turned.  "Hey!  You never answered!"
     "Love is love." Beavis sighed.  "It has no answer.  It just exists." he trotted off down the
hall.  "Love is it's own answer.  You already have it."
     With a raised eyebrow, Chris turned back to watch the sunset.  Slowly, his mouth curled
up in a smile.  "Thanks, Beavis.  Best answer I've ever heard."

     Andrea and Demeter both lay on her room's couch.  Though they had both pretended to
sleep for the sake of the other, it was morning, and they were both still wide awake.  "Demeter?"
     "Mmm?" he answered quickly.  
     She smiled.  "You've been awake all this time?"
     He nodded.  The motion echoed through his chest behind Andrea's head.  
     "Can I tell you something?" she asked softly.
     He nodded again, adding an "Of course."
     "I love you."
     Demeter smiled to himself, the tiny crystal inside his chest glowing with delight.  "I
know."
     She smiled and snuggled up to him a little tighter, shifting between his arm and body. 
     "Can I tell you something?" he asked after a moment.
     "Of course." she nodded.
     "I love you too." he said.
     "Good." Andrea chuckled.  "We'll get married, get a house on the beach, and I can dig
you up some sand at dinner.  You'd be a cheap husband to feed."
     He laughed.  "Why thank you, but I think that's a little far off, don't you?"
     Andrea smiled.  "Just planning.  Gotta look after the future, ya know."
     









                            Epilogue
                                
     One love lost.  One love saved.  
     
     The saved one had no effect on the Tumbler of Love...but the one lost?  It was just
enough to tip the scales.
     
     Ever so slowly, as if time had slowed just to witness the event, the giant stone ring fell to
the floor in a dozen pieces.  The blue glow intensified to almost blinding levels.  He would be
free.  Soon.
     So soon that he could taste the freedom like honey dripping across his jaws.  And with
those mighty, bone-white jaws, he spoke.  The first time in eons.

     "Bravo, Sailor Scouts." the voice echoed.  "Bravo."

     But the show wasn't over yet.
     Oh no.
     Not quite.
     He still had to wait though one last act.  An encore presentation.  A plan that had been put
in motion almost the moment he had been imprisoned so very long ago.  One that reeked of
irony.  Delicious, poignant irony.
     
     And the encore was just about to begin.





The End
-------------------------------------------------------
SAILOR MOON: ALTERNATE REALITY 8
-------------------------------------------------------





     Hello!  Yes, it's me.  Strike Fiss.  The horribly lazy, ungodly slow writer of the AR series. 
I apologize in many spooky, voodoo ways to all of you for taking so long to write this story. 
Please, I feel bad enough, so any comments about it taking so long will only make me cry like a
little girl.  

     Ahem...ANYWAY, I hope you enjoyed it!  He he!  Demeter is here to stay, and will be
helping out in the future.  Sorry to anyone out there who fantasizes about Sailor Hooze and her
single-status, but both the REAL Hooze and I figured she was in need for some lovin.  
     "Buckey Balls" are real.  They are kinda cool, so if anyone's interested in Physics and/or
Chemistry might want to check them out.  To my knowledge, they do not form in anything else
buy Carbon. 
     "Zistles" are a rip off from a National Geographic book called "Our Universe."  This is a
very cool book, and I've had it for over 8 years.  If I've pissed of N.G. by using the name and
likeness of Zistles, please, e-mail me and I'll include it in the Disclaimer.  I made them talk, and
assimilate glass, though. :)  
     Anyone who wonders what the hell "Nacho" is or the references to "Dragons" and
"vacation to Disney Land" are, please read AR 6.7.  All will be explained.  That little story can
be found on my site, and was written as a little side-project for the AR series.  It takes place
between AR 6 and 7.  

     A VERY special thanks go to Sandra for keeping me (somewhat) sane though a
strange time in my life.  Beware of the angels with their wings glued on.  
     Maury...YOUZE IS MAH BRUDDA!  I DO MIGHTY KUNG-FU KICK FOR YOU!       
     And Andrea, you will always be my favorite Hooze. :)  
     As well as all my friends, on the net and at home.  Thank you from the bottom of my
Zistle. 

     
E-MAILS AND STUFF!  WHEE!

Me:       strikef@bigfoot.com
Maury:    Prince_Destany@bigfoot.com
Andrea:   Hooze1@hotmail.com
Beavis:   ncrceo@shaw.wave.ca      (Single, female hedgehogs only)

WEBSITE:   http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110


And with that, I shall bid you farewell and goodnight!  AR 9 will be on it's way very
soon...hopefully within half the time it took 8 to come out.  I can dream, can't I? :)  

                    -Strike Fiss