Somewhere around 23,000 BC or so. The hooded woman took the baby in her arms. To most people, it would have seemed a baby like many others. The little girl had no hair yet, her eyes were squeezed shut, and she bore almost as much resemblence to a prune as a human being, just like every other newly born baby. The mother sighed. She was tall, thin, and platinum blonde, her hair currently undressed in any of the elaborate hairstyles she normally adorned herself with. She wore a simple white shift, also unlike the palatial dresses she normally bore. "Must you do this?" The woman picked up her staff, a long rod topped with an orb. "If I do not, in 25,000 years, humanity will become extinct in the solar system. This one alone cannot prevent what is soon to come here, but where she is going, she will make all the difference in the world. She is a warrior born, and she goes to a place that needs warriors desperately." The woman sighed. "I am sorry, my queen. Cherish your first daughter. I swear I shall never take her away from you." The Queen sighed. "I know you know things I shall never know. She..She'll have a good home, won't she?" "She will live a long life and know much joy." And much sorrow, but this is not the time to mention that, the hooded woman thought. She pulled her cloak around herself. She didn't need it, but the baby would. "There is one who waits for her there, though he knows it not. She will know love...once she escapes her own stubbornness about it." The Queen got up and kissed her baby on the forehead. "Take my blessing with you, my child." The mark upon the Queen's forehead glowed brightly. "Your power will awaken when you most need it." She laid back down in the bed. "Go now, before I can change my mind." The woman obeyed her Queen's command. She raised her staff, and the world folded around her and vanished. She walked through mists briefly, then they parted and she stood in an office. She wrapped the baby in the cloak, and raised her staff. The cloak became a blanket, her own garb became a conservative suit, dark green in color. She sat down at the desk, and looked at the set of completed adoption papers on the desk. Yes, this will work nicely, she thought. Be brave, little one... ************************************************************************** Chapter 3: The Curtain Rises ************************************************************************** July 2, 2034 Ryu parked his car in the parking garage of Nene's apartment complex. It was an old clunker, a 2025 Mitsuru Special, the Pinto of the 2020s. They walked quietly into the building, holding hands. "I'm sorry I didn't have enough money for us to go anywhere special," he said. She smiled. "That's okay. We can just watch some of the stuff I taped this week and talk." And maybe a few other things too. She blushed at the thought. Soon, they reached Nene's apartment. Nene got the tapes set up, then plopped down on the couch with Ryu. They snuggled up to each other. "What's first on our list of fine entertainment?" "Magical Princess Evangelia, I think." The familiar theme song began to play, 'Midnight Scrambler'. Nene sang along, while Ryu just hummed. Nene had to tape this show every week, since she was usually at work when it came on. They watched the antics at Neo-Gemstone-Tokyo palace as Princess Rei's rival, Princess Asuka, tried to wiggle Lord Shinji into going out on a date with her when all three of them were supposed to be studying for a history test instead. Ryu laughed. "Reminds me of my mom." He began playing with Nene's hair. "Though her hair is a lot more like yours than mom's." Nene laughed. "Well, her voice actress is old enough to almost BE your mother, I think. Sailor V ran in the early nineties, I think...She must be in her fifties or sixties by now...sure doesn't look it. Oh wait, I'm getting confused...Rei has the really old seiyuu. Asuka's seiyuu is only a little older than me. And Shinji's seiyuu is actually married to Rei's, I think." She leaned her head over on Ryu's shoulder. "I'm soooo tired. Lt. Yamano is running us ragged." "I bet working out with me doesn't help either." She laughed. "Working out with you is fun. And I get to see you with your shirt off." He laughed. "Is that a hint?" Nene blushed. She was the oldest virgin she knew. She had come PRETTY close to it a few times, but none of her past relationships had lasted long enough, except one in junior high, but neither of them had been ready for sex, really, at that point. She had been dating Ryu since late March. Most people she knew would have had sex by this point, but she wasn't most people. She knew Ryu wanted it, but he was enough of a gentleman not to push too hard. She wanted her first time to be special. She was gradually coming to the conclusion that Ryu was the one she wanted it to be with, but she wasn't quite sure. "I..uh..." Ryu gently kissed her. "Just joking, dear." He had hoped she was serious. He didn't want to push too hard...that had killed off too many of his past relationships, but he was pretty sure by now that he really did love Nene-chan. Of course, he'd thought that about a lot of other girls too, but this time was different. Nene hadn't run away screaming for one thing. I never, NEVER should have taken ANY of Mom's advice, he thought. Not that his step-mother had been much help either. Ryu didn't WANT an arranged marriage, and all the girls she had tried to introduce him to had been far too formal and snobby for him. After the first episode was over, the tape segued into the next show Nene had taped, a romantic comedy named Mayonaise Boy. It had some kind of plot, but Ryu and Nene usually made out while watching it, so they really didn't have much of an idea of what it was about. This week wasn't any different. As soon as they heard the opening sequence. "You know, Puu, you are like a jar of Mayonaise, full of white creamy stuff that no one really knows what the ingredients for it are, but you put it on your sandwich anyway," they turned off their ears, and started smooching. They almost didn't notice when it finally came to an end. Nene got up to get another soda to drink while watching the next show, "You want one, Ryu-chan?" "Sure. Get me a Dr. Pepper." She did so and sat back down next to him. They chatted and snuggled and watched Anime until about 3 am, when he finally went home. Little did he realize he would have cause to regret this... ************************************************************************** Priss woke up in a pool of sweat from the fifth weird dream of the night. First she'd dreamed about being married to Leon. Unbelievable, but not as bad as the other dreams, though a few months ago, she might have thought otherwise. Then she'd dreamed about the encounter in the alleyway, only this time, there wasn't an energy sword to save her. The knife had pierced her heart. She'd looked up, and it was Celia twisting the knife. She hadn't slept for an hour after that one. Then she'd dreamed of stalking Quincy through Genom Tower. She killed him again and again and again, and every time, he just laughed, and it was a boomer. That wouldn't hadn't been too hard to sleep through, but then she dreamed about Linna throwing up in her trailer. That woke her up and left her disgusted. Finally, as Mr. Sun started to drop in for the morning, she fought her way back to sleep, only to dream again. Priss was somewhere in Genom Tower. Where, she didn't know. She was in her hardsuit, looking for something. What am I after? Quincy, maybe? No, that would be a waste of time. The dream was incredibly real, yet at the same time she knew she was dreaming. She came to a door. 'Boomer Morgue'. She opened the door, for lack of a better idea. Inside, two female techs were hard at work. One of them looked like a female version of Nene's boyfriend, with red hair. The second was short and young looking, despite her mature figure, with short green hair. Both were dressed in lab-coats, and hunched over some sexaroid on a table they were busilly operating on. Priss moved a little closer, wondering why they didn't notice her. Something familiar about that second tech, she thought. The first tech, slightly deranged looking, ran over to a massive lever on the wall, while the second tech put on welder's goggles. The first one shouted in a loud, yet childish voice, "It's ALIVE!!!!!" The second one said, "Not until you pull the lever, mama-san." "What? Oh yes." The first tech pulled the lever. Priss simply watched, CERTAIN this was a dream. She had a dim memory of some movie she had seen that was like this. A massive jolt of electricity shot down from a crystal rod over the table. The body jolted and sat up. As the sheet fell away from the body, Priss recognized her. Sylvie. She turned to the red-haired woman. "Thank you, mama-san!" The woman hugged Sylvie tightly. "You deserved another chance." Priss stared, unable to move. Sylvie...alive? No, it was impossible. It had to be a dream. Sylvie hugged the second woman. "Sister!" The woman took off her goggles. Priss recognized her as Anri, now. Priss stepped forward. It has to be a dream...so I can do whatever I want. "Sy..Sylvie?" Sylvie stared at Priss for a moment, and to Priss' surprise, her hardsuit melted away, leaving her in only her jumpsuit. Sylvie leaped off the bed and ran over to her and hugged her. "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive..." Sylvie repeated like a mantra. Priss said, "And so are you." It has to be a dream, but I don't care. She looked at the red-haired woman. "Who...are you?" The woman laughed. "I'm the greatest genius that ever was! I can fix anything! I think I'll fix you next!" Suddenly, Anri and Sylvie grabbed Priss and hauled her to the table. "Soon you'll be a magical princess just like us!" The last thing Priss saw before she awoke was the crystal rod beginning to glow. She awoke, on the verge of screaming. "That was the most fucked up dream I've had in months," she muttered to herself. "Mad scientists bringing Anri and Sylvie back to life...I wish." She sighed and dragged herself out of bed. Time for band practice. Our big day is coming up. ************************************************************************** Ryu rolled down the windows on Manami's car, and turned the radio down to where he was only going half-deaf. "Where are we going, anyway?" His sister had dragged him out of bed without telling him what was going on, just that it was 'critically important' that he come. Now he had to listen to her goofy hard rock music collection while sleepy. This was...a BAD thing. 'I'm your ANGEL OF DEATH, baby!' some woman shouted on the tape. 'I'm going to bring you....dooooowwwwnnnnn!' Oh god, what if she's dragging me to some concert? "You get to see me warm up for my first big performance." She smiled. This is going to be so cool, she thought. I hope Ryu likes the song I wrote about him. Ryu felt true, abject terror. "You...you're going to sing." He stared at the tape player. "Something like that." "Yeah!" "Your mother will have you crucified." "And yours will get me back down from it. Our mothers fight all the time anyway. Besides, unless you tell them, how will they know? I'm going to be in disguise. Only you will know who I really am." She smiled at Ryu. He recognized that smile. His mother got it right before she did something really stupid. Maybe I can run away and join the Foreign Legion, he thought. She might not find me there. "Would it be rude if I shot out my eardrums?" "RYU!!!!!!!!!!!!" Every driver on the highway for a half mile heard that. **************************************************************************** Naoko walked over to Nene. Things were going slowly at ADPolice HQ, and everyone was afraid Lt. Yamano would decide this was the ideal time for a quick jog to the top of the building or something. Naoko sat down and sighed. "My stupid face chose right now to develop a pimple, the day before I have a hot date!" Nene smiled. "I have just the stuff. Ever wondered why my face has a perfect complexion? It's because of this." She got out a small bottle and a cotton swab. The bottle was half full of a greenish liquid, which she daubed onto the swab, then began brushing it across Naoko's face. Naoko felt a strange, pleasant tingling feeling as Nene gently spread the liquid across her face, then brushed over the area with a fresh, dry swab. "There you go, my family's special herbal facial cleanser. Kills Pimples Dead. Better than Clearasil and half the cost." "It'll work by tommorrow night?" "It's already done." Naoko blinked and got out her compact. She took a look at her face. The pimple was gone. "I...WOW!" "My family has used this stuff for generations. I've got the recipie somewhere in my apartment, if you want it." "Trading makeup tips, eh, officers?" It was Lt. Yamano. "Why don't you continue your chat while you're running to the top floor up the stairs and calling me from the top floor?" They both sighed. "Yes, sir." They took her advice. *************************************************************************** Manami roared into the parking lot and slid her car into a parking space. The Takeuchi Arena was pretty small, but it would seat a few thousand. Ryu wouldn't admit it, but he WAS impressed. Too bad there was no way they could ever let the parents know about this. Dad wouldn't mind, and my mom wouldn't mind, but hers would FREAK. He could feel the bass coming through the walls of the arena as they got closer. Manami was carrying a huge carry bag full of stuff and had Ryu carrying a box. They entered through the stage door and headed into a tiny little cramped dressing room with the word, 'Sonic and the Royal Family' on the door. Ryu blinked. "..." She laughed. "I made sure my stage name wasn't recognizable, just in case we get in the news or something." Inside the room were several of Manami's friends from school, all of them music majors. They waved. "Hey, Ryu, your sister recruited you to join the band, eh?" Ryu laughed. "Thanks, I think I'd like to KEEP my eardrums. I thought music majors weren't supposed to be tone deaf." Daisuke stuck his tongue out at Ryu. Meanwhile, Manami got a bunch of stuff out of the bag, picked up the box, and stepped out. "Hey, where are you going?" She said, "I can't change in a room full of men." Yuka said, "Since when was I MALE?" "Well, the rest are men. I'll be right back." She bowed and left. Ryu said, "How on Earth did you manage to get set up to play here?" Yuka said, "Manami helped a friend of hers land a record contract, so we'll be opening for them. You know who Priss and the Replicants are, right?" Ryu nodded. "I met Nene at one of her concerts. We've met." "Cool. She rocks!" The door opened and Priss walked in. "You guys ready?" Yuka, a tall girl with dyed blue hair, put down her guitar and said, "Manami's suiting up." Priss was dressed in her stage outfit, blonde wig and leather outfit and all. She looked at Ryu. "Yo, Ryu, cruising for babes again?" Ryu laughed. "Kidnapped at gunpoint is more like it." He looked up and down at Priss. "You know, I think my Mom would probably wear something like that around the house if she ever saw an outfit like that." Priss laughed. "I have to meet her some day, then. She's got hair like yours too, right?" Ryu nodded. "Actually, you kinda remind me of her a lot." The door opened again and someone walked in. She had green spikey hair, and was wearing a tight fitting red jumpsuit that was unzipped part way down her front, showing off some of her cleavage. Her eyes were green in hue as well, though a very dark green. Something seemed a little odd about them. "Well, do I look like your mom, Ryu?" It was Manami. Ryu nearly fainted. She's not on drugs, is she? He took a look at the hair. "Is that a wig or did you..." Manami smiled. "You can do amazing stuff with foam and rubber cement and stuff. It's hollow so I could put my hair up in it." She spun around. "Think there's any danger of the folks seeing me now?" Ryu said, "I'm impressed. I wouldn't have bet a one yen coin that you would WEAR something like that." Manami blushed. "Well, it is genre." Priss laughed. "I wouldn't have guessed either. Good for you, girl. Come on, we have to get set up to run through everything. Ryu, you go play audience. Everyone else, let's get ready to rock." They did. ***************************************************************************** Celia and Macky parked the Silky Doll Van at a pay lot near the arena. "Did we REALLY need to bring the hardsuits, sis? I'd rather be inside than out here playing babysitter." Celia smiled. "Then you go inside, and I'll watch through the live feed. This is more your thing than mine." Macky blinked. Celia was going to go for that? No accounting for taste, he thought. "I guess this will make a good test for those remote cameras." "I have things I can be doing, anyway. Enjoy the show." Macky ran off to the concert. Celia turned on the external cameras, including one linked to the live feed from Macky's collar pin of a Tokyo Giants Baseball Cap. She then got out her laptop and called up some files. Running the test for the twelfth time, she compared some old video footage of her grandmother and the Queen of Swords. For the twelfth time, they matched up except for the tatoos on the Queen's face. "It can't be," she whispered for at least the tenth time. "This has to be some kind of trick...but why? The only way anyone could know to do this would be if they suspected I was connected to the Knight Sabres. But what IS she? She can't be a boomer. There isn't a boomer in existence with those kinds of capabilites. How can she fly without a jet?" She stopped talking to herself, and sighed. I want it to be her, but I can't trust my feelings. If it was her, surely she would have come to us... She paused. If it was a trap, why hadn't she come to us? It's not like I'm completely unknown. Anyone wanting to trap the Sabres without knowing I was one of them would not choose HER as bait. And if they wanted to find me, I'm not THAT invisible to society. It can't be aimed at Celia Stingray. Anyone who could find grandmother could CERTAINLY find me. I wouldn't have thought anyone in the world even remembered she existed. An idle thought ran through her mind. Maybe they used her for experiments. NO, I paid good money to keep her in a respectable hospital. What kind of experiments could enable her to do the things she's done? Her thoughts chased each other round and round. She sighed. Finally, she decided to just sit back and watch the concert. She could see Nene's new boyfriend through the feed from Macky's pin. His hair stood out in a crowd, even in a crowd of punks and crazed teenagers and college students. Looks like the auditorium is packed, she thought. I bet Priss is excited. To her own surprise, she found she was a little excited as well. My friend is hitting the big time. The concept of friend had almost become alien to Sylia for a while in her life. She had been a quiet, though happy child when she was little, but she hadn't had very many close friends. After her father's death, she had tried to shut off her emotions. As she had gradually found out, this was impossible. She had laid out rules for the Knight Sabres, rules intended to prevent betrayal, rules intended to keep them dependent on each other and in a sense isolated from the outside world. This had an unexpected effect. They grew to like and trust each other. They grew to be friends. To her surprise, despite her distaste for the style of music that Priss performed, she was pleased to see Priss getting a big break. She was happy to be there, if only at one end of a camera link. She sat back and listened to the music, wondering briefly if the woman on stage was related to Ryu or if green spikey hair was in this year. ************************************************************************* Ryu sat with Nene in the audience and twitched. "Something wrong, dear?" Nene asked. She had FINALLY gotten off work and arrived late at the concert. Ryu said, "They force me to listen to them practice over and over and over again...I think I'm going to go deaf. Plus, I keep expecting my step-mother to walk in and explode." Nene laughed. "She's pretty strict, eh?" "How grandmother ever produced someone as strict as my step-mother, I don't know. Grandma is even more warped than my mom is." He laughed faintly. "I'd almost expect THEM to be related. Well, my sister's grandmother. She's only my step-grandmother." "So your dad has been married twice?" "It's a loooong story. I'll tell you some other time when I can hear myself THINK." Up on stage, Priss howled about being someone's angel of death. Ryu laughed faintly. "I think she'd make a good angel of death." Nene laughed. "Her bark is worse than her bite unless you make her really angry. She's had a lot harder life than either of us." Ryu nodded. "My mom's like that." Nene poked Ryu. "So when do I get to meet your mom?" Ryu laughed. "I'll see if she can spare time to visit. I think she'll like you." He hugged Nene. "Just imagine a cross between me and Priss." Nene said, "Thanks, I'll pass." They both laughed. ************************************************************************** They had a massive party at Spaghetti Palace afterwards. Hardly the height of class and taste, but most of the concert participants weren't exactly rolling in dough, yet anyway. They took up about five tables, between Manami's friends, her band, Priss' band, and Priss' friends. Ryu found himself at a table with Priss, Macky, Celia, Nene, Linna, and Leon. Celia smiled at him. "So, you're the infamous Hakubi-Masaki Ryu. Nice to meet you." He laughed. "And you're the mysterious Celia Stingray. Nice to meet you, and yes, the hair is NATURAL. I inherited it from my mother." Leon said, "Oh, by the way, my new partner is probably going to show up soon, so I hope none of you are wearing anything you mind getting stained." "Ahh, so we finally get to meet the queen of disasters?" Linna said. Leon smiled. "It will be a nightmare to remember. I wore special stain-resistant clothing today." The waitress was still taking orders when a blonde woman ran in, then skidded to a halt, slamming into Leon's chair from behind. The table did its level best to cut him in half, but failed. Leon said without looking, "Hello, Mihoshi." Ryu looked over and suddenly snarfed his drink, spewing Dr. Pepper through his nose onto the tablecloth. No way, he thought. What was SHE doing in the ADPolice? Mihoshi said, "EEP, I slammed you into the table!" She tried to pull him back from the table and the legs snagged in the carpet. He toppled backwards and fell on top of her. As he fell, his knees smacked the table and Ryu's drink fell into his lap. Ryu leapt up yelping. Everyone else on Ryu's side of the table jumped to avoid their drinks. Mihoshi looked over and saw Ryu. "What are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be at home with..." Ryu said, "Aunt Mihoshi, I've been attending Tokyo University for the last three years! Don't try and tell me that you haven't been told that 100,000 times!" Nene blinked. "She's your aunt?" Leon blinked. "She's your AUNT?" Further down, at the next table, Manami spotted Mihoshi and PRAYED Mihoshi wouldn't see her. She tried to slump down and hide as best she could. Mihoshi ran over and hugged Ryu, knocking a canister of Parmesan cheese onto him, sending a huge cloud of cheese into the air. Priss turned to Leon, "Is she always like this?" Leon sighed. "She's calmer and less destructive than normal." Macky said, "..." ************************************************************************ Manami snuck out early, somehow managing to avoid Mihoshi, probably during the time when she somehow locked up the jukebox so it only played 'YMCA' over and over fifty times. It soon became clear that fleeing the Spaghetti Palace was the only reasonable option. Soon, they ended up at Linna's apartment, and the intoxication level began to rise. "And then, I leveled my laser pistol at the horrible three eyed monster!" Mihoshi said, continuing her tale of how she had faced a pack of space pirates and their horrible three eyed beast. Everyone laughed, concluding she was even drunker than they were. Nene and Ryu simply sat quietly on the couch and made out. Leon listened to the story and wished he was drunk enough to risk trying to make out with Priss. Unbeknownst to him, Priss was half wishing that too. Celia, Macky, and Linna could hardly stop laughing at Mihoshi's crazy stories. It was better than television. "So I fired my laser, and NOTHING happened! Suddenly, I realized I'd used the batteries from the laser for my CD player when its batteries went dead, so I ran for my life!" Leon laughed. "Good thing ADPolice issue guns don't have batteries, eh?" Mihoshi said, "They keep laughing at me when I ask them for a nice simple laser pistol without any of that nasty recoil stuff!" Linna laughed so hard she fell out her chair. "So did the monster eat you?" "No, it decided Kiyone looked tastier." The tale became even more implausible from there. **************************************************************************** Nene and Ryu were the first two to wake up, probably because the sunlight struck them first as they woke up. Ryu woke up first, and left Nene asleep on the couch, while he stretched and looked around. The room looked like someone had released knockout gas during an orgy. Everyone was half-dressed and passed out all over each other. Priss had her head on Leon's chest, and Mihoshi's head was on Leon's legs, her feet on Macky's chest. Macky had his head stuck under the couch, and Celia was curled up in a nice plush chair nearby. Linna had apparently somehow made it to bed, though. He laughed faintly. If only I had a camera. He walked over to Nene and picked her up, then tried to wake her with a kiss. It worked. She moaned. "My head..." "Time for me to take you home, dear." She stared at him. "Don't you have a headache or SOMETHING?" "I never get hangovers." "You're evil." "I know." They both laughed. They had almost made it out the door when Priss woke up and realized where her head was. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!" They made haste while the getting was good. ************************************************************************** Ryu met Manami for lunch at the campus cafeteria. As usual, she had spread a tablecloth over her table. Ryu wondered briefly how much of her allowance she spent on buying and cleaning those things. "Hi, sis." "Good afternoon, brother," she said. She was back to her normal, rather formal self. "Was that really Aunt Mihoshi?" "Yeah. She didn't see you, though." He could visibly see Manami relax. He smiled. "She's probably still passed out at Linna's apartment. We all got drunk and passed out there after eating at that Spaghetti place." Manami sighed. "Drinking is bad for you, you know that." She ate her roastbeef sandwich as if it was filet mignon. Ryu munched on his pizza. "Not half as bad as if Aunt Mihoshi ever sees you in that outfit and tells Mom about it." "What's she doing here anyway? And was that an ADPolice uniform she was wearing?" "She seems to be working for the ADPolice. Maybe she and Aunt Kiyone had another fight." "Well, I'm sure she'll come visit, now that she's been reminded that we're here." Manami smiled. "Have you told our parents about your girlfriend yet?" "Yeah, I mentioned her in my last few letters to Mom. Of course, Mom didn't bother to write back." "Hmm, Father didn't mention hearing anything about her in his last few letters to us." "Well, he's probably worrying about what Great-Great-Grandfather will do." Manami nodded. "Yes, she is rather low class." Ryu frowned. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know I couldn't care less about that sort of thing." He sighed. Sometimes Manami acts as awful as those snooty nobles back home. Manami nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry, brother. We both know that you will have to go through fire and hail to successfully pursue this relationship to the end of marriage. If that's what you want." "It'll be a while before I'm ready to think about that. I don't intend to back down, though." And if Great-Great-Grandfather doesn't like it, he can just chew on his sceptre and howl and gnash his teeth. "Well, if your mother could manage it..." Ryu smiled. "And I can be just as persistent as her, if not more so. The difference is that I'm stubborn in an intelligent way." "Like the time you sat at the table for THREE days because you didn't want to eat your peas?" "Let's not discuss that." ***************************************************************************** Celia sat at her desk quietly, thinking. I can't believe I got drunk like that. Okay, I've been drunk before, but never in front of so many people I hardly know. It just...It felt good to cut loose....to have so many friendly people around. To relax. To make new friends. She sagged slightly and felt like a heavy weight was flowing out of her. We do need to be more careful. Not that anyone would believe anything we said while drunk. Like that crazy partner of Officer McNichol's. I've rarely met anyone with such a hyperactive imagination. Unless she's really from outer space. She certainly acts like it. Celia began to laugh, a long healthy laugh. Macky walked in. "You finally snapped, sis?" Celia said, "Just wishing we had all those crazy stories Mihoshi was telling last night on tape." Macky grinned. "We never turned off the feed on my pin..." Celia smiled and got up. "Time to go check the tapes...we may have a hit on our hands." They both laughed and raced off to the garage to check the tapes in the van. For a moment, they were the people they might have been if their father had never died, their mother never left them. It was a pity the moment could not last. *************************************************************************** Manami walked into her advisor's office. Dr. Hiyama's office was a chaotic mess, the walls covered with art, degrees, pictures, and posters. There was a four layer bookcase stuffed full of various monographs, and her desk was a sea of papers fighting for space. The inbox had a large book stuck in it, and ten papers on top of that, with a Dr. Pepper can perching on top of the whole pile. Dr. Hiyama smiled. "Come in, Manami." "Greetings, Hiyama-sensei." She bowed."I think I've figured out what classes I want to take next semester." "History of Theatre, Gov 101, Asian History II, History of Monarchy, and Chinese IV, right?" Professor Hiyama smiled. "Feel free to sit down." Manami sat down and blinked. Professor Hiyama always seems to know what I'm thinking, she thought. "That's because I'm reading your mind." Professor Hiyama took a sip of her Dr. Pepper. Manami coughed. "You're what?" Professor Hiyama laughed. "I'm just yanking your chain, dear. I guess you hadn't realized you were mumbling under your breath about me knowing what you were thinking. Let's discuss those class selections." Despite the explanation, Manami was jumpy for the rest of the day despite a complete absence of apparent mind reading. *************************************************************************** Nene said to Naoko, "And then Priss threw Leon through the door into Linna's bedroom. He landed on her, and she woke up and freaked out. It only got worse from there from what I heard." Naoko laughed. "So that's why he has that bandage on his head." Andrea came up. "Either that or he injured himself after he saw what was on TV last night." "What?" "He and Mihoshi were the star attractions on 'The ADPolice Files'." The ADPolice Files was one of the most popular shows on Mega-Tokyo TV 5. They hired video vultures to follow ADPolice officers around and surreptitiously tape them messing up. Every officer's nightmare was to appear on that show. "Oh man!" Naoko said. "I'd bang my head too if I ever showed up on THAT!" Andrea turned to Nene. "I have a bit of an odd question for you." "Maybe I have an odd answer for you." "Are you any relation to the Romanoffs? The old emperors of Russia?" Nene laughed. "My great-great-many greats-grandmother claimed to be Anastasia Romanov. So maybe I should be ruling Russia right now instead of just being the Queen of the ADPolice Communications Department." Naoko laughed. "Well, we'd probably have more luck conquering Russia to seat you on your rightful throne than we do here." Everyone laughed. The sad thing was that it was probably true. ************************************************************************** Linna and Andrea bowed to each other. It was time for their weekly sparring sessions. Nene was there as usual, watching and waiting for her lessons afterwards. It had become a weekly ritual, of sorts. Linna and Andrea went at it like wildcats. Linna's combat style was very fluid, designed to flow out of the way of attacks and use an opponent's movements against them, while Andrea's was that of a raging river, battering down everything in its path. Most of her more advanced techniques were very aggressive, punches and kicks, rather than locks, holds, throws, and the like, though she seemed to have some basic training in just about everything. Andrea's initial assault drove Linna back across the mat and almost off it, but then she rolled to one side and slid under the hail of blows, coming up behind Andrea and kicking her in the back, nearly sending her off the mat herself. Andrea spun around and dropped low, lashing out with a kick at Linna's ankles, but Linna leaped up out of the way, then landed and hooked Andrea's legs as she started to get back up. Andrea went down, but she managed to grab Linna's foot and toss her. Linna rolled and got back on her feet, then dodged and blocked a flurry of punches from Andrea. Managing to get beside Andrea, she shoulder locked her and tossed her off the mat. Linna smiled faintly. Every time she managed to beat Andrea it was by getting her off the mat, somehow. Andrea didn't seem to feel pain much and hitting her was like pounding on rock. On the other hand, being HIT by her felt like being hit with a rock. She had moments when she wondered if Andrea was a boomer, except that she had yet to meet a boomer who laughed, cried, and ate as much as Andrea did. Boomers weren't much for getting drunk, either. Nene said, "Round 1, Linna wins. Fatality." They all laughed. "Now let's see if you can kick her butt, Nene." Linna said, going to get herself a glass of grape juice. Nene laughed. "More like time for my weekly beating." Andrea smiled. "You are getting better, Nene." Linna laughed. "That wouldn't be too hard." She sat down. Nene got into something resembling a fighting stance. The lesson was soon in session. Linna watched as Nene unleashed a frantic barrage of attacks on Andrea, who blocked them all, then worked on correcting Nene's technique. Linna watched, amused. One of Nene's attacks actually got through and Andrea got clipped on the nose. Nene started jumping up and down yelling, "Woo woo!" over and over. Linna laughed. Nene really is getting better, although I think Andrea let her get away with that. She's been doing better in testing as well. Between Andrea and her new boyfriend, she's really starting to shape up. It's about time too. We've been fighting boomers for two years now and she's just now really starting to take this all seriously. Finally, Nene and Andrea finished and sat down. Linna got them some grape juice as well. "So when are you gonna come join us at the ADPolice, Linna?" Nene asked, laughing faintly. Linna laughed. "When are you going to come teach aerobics with me, Nene?" Andrea laughed. "Seriously, do you plan to teach aerobics and martial arts for the rest of your life or do you have other plans?" "Well, I've been investing in my spare time, and I've thought about going into being a stock broker. I've been taking correspondence courses and some night courses." She paused. "How much longer will you be with us, Andrea?" "I'll be in Tokyo for at least a year." Nene smiled. "Good! Now we just have to set you up with a boyfriend. I'm sure Linna can find you one of her old ones. She's got dozens of them lying around unused." Linna glared at Nene. "NENE!!!!" Pretty soon, they all started laughing, then traded old boyfriend disaster stories for the rest of the afternoon. *************************************************************************** A woman with long green hair and lavender eyes, dressed in a dark green business suit sat in her hotel room. She got a deck of cards out of her suitcase, carefully removing them from the silk handkerchief wrapped around them. She shuffled the deck nine times, cut it, then shuffled it once more. She began to deal out the cards in a cross formation: * *** * * * The top card was the Querant's card, signifying the person seeking the future. The Queen of Staffs. The woman smiled faintly. The second card, forming the left bar of the cross, signifying the past, was the Moon. The middle card, signifying the present problem was the Tower. The right card, signfying the future, was the Devil. "So, the time has indeed come," she whispered. She laid out the next card, which fell below the present, the location of allies. It was the Four of Swords. The next card below that was the card of obstacles, the Two of Coins. Finally, the bottommost card, the card of her future goal, Judgement Day. Not much new here, she thought. She looked at the two of coins again. It showed a man bending to pick up two coins from the street, unaware a rock was about to fall on his head. "Unexpected calamity due to greed. The lust for power leading to destruction," she whispered. The time for waiting was over. It was time for action. *****************************************************************************