DO-GOODERS

                   The Proactive Teen Superhero Team
                  With One X Somewhere In Their Title

                      An ImproFanfic Improfanfic
                  http://pixelscapes.com/improfanfic

                    Episode Forty-One:
                    Apocalypse Now!?  Wait, I'm not ready!

                  by Kimberli McClanahan (hliana@xoommail.com)

                   Do-Gooders started by Stefan Gagne




     Keiko flipped shut her Book of Penultimate Evil.  With a bit of
effort and a few false starts, she had managed to modify the seeking
spell to hopefully lead her to the Book of Ultimate Evil.  What a
revelation that her book was only first in a set!  But that was a
good thing, because she had already gone through just about every
spell she wanted in this book.  So, she'd just follow the Seeker
spell to whatever dread bookstore or demonic suburbia the book was
at, and retrieve it.

     Too bad she hadn't been able to figure out a way to just summon
the book, or maybe transport herself to it's location.  She'd been
working on a great new style for a magic circle and was itching to
try it out.  This particular seeking spell left her with a lot of
legwork to go through tracking down the source of the mystical tug
she'd invoked.

     Of course, this would have been a great time to have by herself,
a personal treasure hunt with a plump prize at the end. 
Unfortunately, Keiko had Dragon Chylde staying with her.  They lived
in her room, were in the same class in school, and had taken to
basically following five steps behind her wherever she went.  It
seemed that since they had pissed off their 'Uncle', that hyper one,
Kohii, only felt safe around a proven 'dragon slayer.'    

     Or maybe they just didn't trust her out of their sight.  

     It was actually kind of funny, considering that Keiko had
already killed them once before.  Fat lot of good THAT had done. 
They were just rehatched to bother and attack them again.  She HAD
gotten just heaps of nifty spell components, though, so at least some
good came of it.

     It was beginning to be really irritating, though.  She couldn't
even go to the *bathroom* without one of them following her.  Maybe
she could sneak out today.

     Try for the casual exit.  Maybe they won't notice.

     As soon as she had the front door open, the three of them
appeared like magic.  Kohii and Scotch had apparently been in the
kitchen baking.  Kohii was carrying a spoon covered in chocolate
frosting, and Scotch was wearing an apron with a cute little baby
chick on the front.  Mermaid never even looked up from her manga as
she joined the formation.

     "What are you guys, psychic or something?  I'm just going to
pick up a book, I'll be back soon.  You can just continue what you
were doing."  Keiko tried a reassuring smile.



    Five minutes later Keiko was storming down the sidewalk with her
entourage.  She considered just blasting them with a bit of that
darkness she could feel coiling up inside her, but her friends had
seemed so squeamish about that sort of thing lately.  Poor Hanaki
seemed to have a weak stomach or something all of a sudden.

     She turned a corner and almost slammed into that new girl,
Mariko.  Keiko wandered if she'd imagined the malice she'd seen
twisting the girl's face for just a moment before Mariko recognized
her.  Then of course she was all drippy with sweetness as she fawned
over Keiko, using just the degree of insincerity that set Keiko's
teeth on edge.  

     "Keiko-san, how lovely that I ran into you.  We were just on our
way over to see you, weren't we, girls."  Her two followers nodded in
unison.  

     "Mariko, Yumeko, Yaki."  Keiko glanced at them uninterestedly. 
"What was it that you wanted?"  Keiko frowned.  Something about those
girls just wasn't right.  They had always given her the creeps, but
today the air around them positively shimmered with evil.

     "We're going shopping!"  Wasn't that what the typical non-world
dominating type teenager did in their spare time?  "We thought you
might like to come with us."  So we can brainwash you.

     "Sorry, I've got to find this book right now.  Maybe next time."

     "Oh, a bookstore!  That's what we're shopping for, right
girls?"  Mariko narrowed her eyes slightly at her two flunkies.  They
snapped back to attention and nodded again.

     "We'll go with you."

     "Yeah."

     Keiko gritted her teeth and strove mightily to keep from
striking them all where they stood.  How had she suddenly become so
damn popular?  Clenching her fists she stalked down the sidewalk, her
entourage having swelled to parade proportions.

     Light muttered an aside to Hatred and Despair.  "Try to show a
little enthusiasm, will you?"

     "Hn."

     "Ch."   

**********

     Daichi sighed and put his head in his hands.  Putting on a
concert had seemed like such a good idea.  That band, the Do-Gooders,
was sure to come.  He would be able to see Tejina, the blue haired
singer of the group, in her tiny sailor fuku.  Maybe talk to her, or
capture her even.  He smiled briefly as his eyes came to rest on the
school uniform displayed on his walls.  It was genuinely Tejina's,
he'd stolen it off her himself.  Well, from her bag,  not while she
was wearing it or anything.  He paused for a second at that image.

     Anyway, auditioning the band would also give him and his fellow
Seals a chance to talk to that One guy Matsuro.  They really should
get around to recruiting him if they were going to remake the world
anytime soon.  Yoshimichi's kidnapping him a while back must have
ticked him off, not to mention the all out brawls that seemed to
happen whenever they approached him.  The needed him on their side if
they were going to win.  

     Their cosmic purpose in this whole thing was actually kinda
vague.  A few weeks ago he had just spontaneously sprouted a sword
from his palm and met the other Seals.  Finally those weird dreams
and visions had started to make a little sense.  But only just a
little, because they were still pretty weird.  Anyway, Yoshimichi
seemed to be the one with the knowledge, and he said they absolutely
needed that One guy to fulfill their plans.

     Still, this whole concert thing was one big headache.  Hanko,
the poor kid, thought is was FUN.  Ha.  It was a big ol' pain in the
butt, that's what it was.  Daichi was a deal maker, a mover and
shaker, not a bureaucrat.  The amount of red tape and paperwork
involved in putting on this sort of shindig was more than a guy
should be expected to take.  He could be standing on some telephone
pole right now, looking down on everyone.  Or better yet, stalking
the lovely Tejina.  But this whole concert thing had been his idea in
the first place, as a way to capture her.  The expense of it was a
bit more than the Seal accounts could handle, and he really needed to
make a profit out of the whole thing if they wanted to keep
themselves in leather and trenchcoats. 

     His brow wrinkled as he felt the room start to vibrate. 
Earthquake?


**********

     Dinner at Kireiko's house involved great food and a lot of 
hand/eye coordination.

     "Would someone please pass the rice?"  Hanaki flinched as the
rice bowl came arrowing towards her head.  Kireiko caught it before
it could smack her, and set it gently in front of her.  She returned
his smile gratefully.  It had been so sweet of him to invite her to
dinner.  She had met his parents before, but this was a more formal
and personal introduction.  She really hoped they liked her.  Was
this whole 'catch' thing a test for a possible daughter in law?  "Is
it always like this?"  She asked Kireiko.

     "Worse,"  was his reply.  "I'll show you my scars later, babe,
when we're alone."  He winked devilishly.

     Hanaki blushed endearingly.  She'd already seen several of his
scars first hand.  It seemed he was always wandering around without
his shirt on.  Of course, transformed he was a bit taller and wilder,
but Kireiko was still Kireiko, and she made a habit of enjoying the
view.

     It was nice to spend some time with him while he was normal,
though, like now.  It was like he traded brain cells for muscle mass
when he changed.  Two for the price of one, she thought, the muscle
bound tough guy and the cute and clever bad boy.  She was glad they
were at a western style table so they could play footsie.

     The only thing that would make this evening better was if she
had managed to duck.  She was nursing a rather ugly bruise on her
temple from the salt shaker.  She would have to work really hard on
her reflexes if she was going to visit here often.

     Kireiko made a choked sound.  She turned curiously to see what
was wrong.  The look on his face was incredulous as he turned his
hands over and over, studying the long silver claws that had just
sprouted spontaneously.  He was definitely untransformed, wearing
multiple layers of ofuda in his clothing, as well as several new ones
on his forehead.  His parents had reacted swiftly to this
development.

     Unfortunately, this was all the detail she could make out
through that blinding white light he was radiating.  
     

**********
     
     Kensuke and Haruka were playing an elaborate game of keep-away
from Nanami.  The Book of Ultimate Evil went winging through the air
over her head.  They didn't actually need to keep the book from her
for any specific reason, they just wanted to yank her chain.  The
goal was to irritate her, and it was definitely working.

     Nanami again cursed fate for hooking her up with these two
lunatics.  It was very very bad to kill your teammates, and Nanami
wasn't really going to *KILL* them, just maybe put them into
traction.  She stopped futilely grabbing for the book and instead
drew her Mallet of Duality in preparation for sending them both into
LEO.

     When she drew her mallet, though, something strange began to
happen.  Never before had her mallet glowed with a mystic red light
and hovered four feet off the ground.  Haruka and Kensuke abandoned
their game in midtoss as they too were engulfed with the holy red
light of Suzaku.  The Book of Ultimate Evil fluttered to the ground
as the three Masons disappeared.


     Keiko rounded the corner and entered the room just as the light
was fading.  Her senses told her that the book was near, and this was
exactly the sort of place she expected to find it, a crumbling
basement underneath a boarded up old antique bookstore.  She had
never expected to find in flopped in the middle of the floor, though. 
Carefully she retrieved the book and studied the cover reverently. 
Yep, there it was, The Book of Ultimate Evil.  She'd expected it to
be guarded, and had arrived prepared to strike a deal.

     Didn't seem to be anyone here, though.  Guess it's free, she
though, and shrugged.

     Now that she had the book, Keiko realized that perhaps her
modification of the seeking spell had gone a little far.  It should
have faded when she came into contact with the book, and that
particular tug indeed had.  However, she could feel a different tug,
stronger, pulling her up and out of the musty old building.

     The others were right where she had left them, in the little
cafe across the street.  It was pretty obvious what a strain it was
for the two groups to find common ground, but at least they weren't
ripping off each other's faces.

     Her senses were strangely acute, and when she looked at Dragon
Chylde she could see shimmering dragon forms superimposed upon them. 
But she already knew they were dragons, so that was no bi
revelation, just her subconscious playing tricks probably.

     Mariko, now, that was different.  Some sort of Light hovered
around her head and shoulders, like a halo.  It still didn't seem
very angelic, though.  Yaki was covered in gloom, and Yumeki seemed 
surrounded by swirls of violent color.  Was this their auras?  Just
exactly how HAD she modified that spell, anyway?

     Regardless, she didn't trust either group.  And she *certainly*
didn't want them at her back at the Tokyo Tower.

     Turning from them, she followed the insistent tug she knew would
lead her there.


**********

     Becky and Tejina had been (what else) shopping with Aki when it
happened.  Homecoming was soon, and they needed to find the perfect
dress, although chances were that their band would be playing, and
they would just wear their uniforms.  But Aki was absolutely
determined to mimic a normal life as much as she could, and so she
definitely needed a dress.

     Since the kidnapping, her father had been a bit overprotective,
as if he wasn't before.  Aki's guards for the day were T-kun and the
Quake Camper.  They were trying really hard to be good and
unobtrusive  minions, but Becki-sama kept trying on the most amazing
dresses, and then T-kun would blush or start to faint or something.

     All of the girls were in dressing rooms when it happened, so
Becki and Aki didn't actually witness the minions' departure.  They
just figured T-kun had needed some air, after the way he blushed
everytime Becki modeled a dress.  But Tejina didn't come out of her
dressing room, and she didn't come out and she didn't come out. 
Finally Becky rattled the doorknob and called out, but the door swung
open to reveal the room, full of Tejina's clothes, but empty of
Tejina herself.

     Aki blinked, blinked again, and turned to Becky.

     "I need to go to Tokyo Tower!"  they blurted out simultaneously.

**********

     Matsuro had been having less of those apocolyptic hallucinations
the more people moved into his apartment.  He actually missed them a
bit, and was rather enjoying the one he was currently stuck in the
middle of.  Keiko and Aki were both lashed to the side of Tokyo
Tower, Aki in her white princess dress, Keiko in a black one very
similar.  There seemed to be several rabid weasels dancing an
elaborate minuet around them in midair, and the ground it all stood
on consisted of grape jello.  It was so realistic that Matsuro could 
actually *feel* it jiggling under his feet as he took a step forward.

     Another step and Matsuro fell on his ass.  Not only was the 
grape jello wobbling like crazy, but in the real, non-hallucinatory 
world he had smacked into a chair.

     Clear as day he could hear Keiko calling out to him, "Matsuro 
you pervert, get me down from here right NOW!"

     "We'll be late for Homecoming!"  Aki added, wriggling against 
her bonds.

     The disembodied head of Karen the Mystical Destinies chick 
hovered into view.  "Matsuro, you must choose one...."  She winked 
and Matsuro rolled his eyes.  "Chooooose one.  You must cho-  Hey, 
what the heck?"  Karen looked to the side for a moment and then 
turned back to him.  "Matsuro, you need to get your butt down to 
Tokyo Tower right now.  It's starting without you!"  The entire 
vision vanished abruptly.  



**********     



     In a dark subdimension at the end of the world, five points of 
light sprang into being.  Glowing and growing from sparks into steady 
pools of radiance, they highlighted five groups of rather confused 
people who had also sprung into being.

     "What the hell?!"



**********



     Tejina looked around.  A moment ago she had been in a store 
changing room.  She'd been just about to pull that dress on when her 
shoulder had started to hurt, and then her new Sword of Duality had 
pulled itself!  It was now floating before her and glowing an eerie 
green color.  Looking around she saw that somehow she was in a dark 
room, surrounded by her fellow Harbringers.  Half dressed.  In a 
spotlight.  She screamed and tried to cover herself.  The others, she 
hoped, were too preoccupied with their own glowing swords to notice.  
Reaching for her transformation pen, she thanked god it was on a 
chain around her neck, but when she triggered it and nothing happened 
she switched to curses instead.  What was going on?

     "What's going on?"

     The leader of the Harbringers looked somehow different, outside 
of his tent.  Smaller, or something.  Anyway, it was Tomoe that 
answered.  "I'd guess it's time,"  she stated calmly, and reached 
forward to grasp her elegantly suspended sword.  The green light 
flared and died out.  So did the sword.  Tomoe's face was almost 
comically surprised.

     Tejina decided to just let hers float for awhile.

     The spotlight was so blinding that the darkness around them 
seemed absolute, but when Yoruko tried to step out into it, she 
bumped into some kind of barrier around them.  They were trapped!



**********



     Aki wasn't really surprised to see Matsuro and Keiko both arrive 
at the Tokyo Tower.  Something was certainly calling HER here quite 
urgently, and seemed to be calling Becky even harder.  

     She WAS surprised to see Hiryuu, though.  He was standing at the 
entrance with several others, right underneath that banner that 
declared, 'One Day Only, World Revolution!'

     Matsuro and Keiko came around from different sides and met up 
near the doorway.  Becky and Aki hurried to catch up.  As a group 
they turned for the door.  Aki rubbed at the dull pain in her side.

     Hiryuu's face brightened considerably when he saw her, and he 
waved.  "Aki!  How wonderful to see you!  Look, I found a relative!  
Please meet my aunt."  He turned to the woman at his side.  She was 
maybe 25, with a long blue braid that swung whenever she moved her 
head.  "She wants me to come work for her."

     She nodded once to Aki and said, "That's lovely dear, but we 
really must be getting inside.  We're up first.  Excuse us."  She 
turned and stepped through the door.  Hiryuu hesitated, bowed to Aki 
quickly and scuttled off after his newly found relation.    

     Becky debated about drawing a weapon before following the 
strangely seductive call into the Tower.  She would feel pretty 
stupid stepping into the lobby waving a gun if there was nothing IN 
there, but all her senses were shrieking at her that there WAS.  A 
gun was less conspicuous than a sword, and she readied hers as 
Matsuro led the group through the entry.  Actually she could have 
drawn her sword, considering that Matsuro and Keiko both were waving 
around theirs, but by the time she thought of this she was already 
through the door and surrounded by the impenetrable blackness.



**********



     "Excuse me, can I have your attention, please?"  A voice broke 
the darkness and was heard in all five oasis of light.

     Kireiko looked up from his hands for the first time in several 
minutes.  He could swear there had been silver claws there just a 
moment ago!  When he'd suddenly appeared here in this room, with 
those two crazy miko chicks, he'd figured this was some bizarre plan 
to entrap him.  So, typically, he'd removed all of the ofuda upon him 
and attempted a transformation to his demon form.

     Imagine his surprise when nothing happened, and he remained his 
ordinary human self.

     Imagine his chagrin when Jinko and Junko completely failed to 
recognize him, let alone attack him.  They were too busy trying to 
figure out why their Ofuda Launcher 550's had started to glow and 
float around.

     Better yet, imagine the confusion of the three complete 
strangers, also summoned into this particular circle of light, with 
mystic glowing weapons they had never before seen in their lives 
emerging from some uncomfortable parts of their own bodies, only to 
disappear when touched.





     A strange pearly glow gradually lifted the darkness, and the 
five groups could see each other, as well as the tall blue haired 
woman who had addressed them.  

     She turned first to the Seals, standing silently in their 
kekkai.  "So I hear you've been trying to get in touch with me."

     "Huh?"  Yoshimichi, as the spokesperson for the group, offered a 
puzzled blink and a little shrug.  This was all going just a little 
too fast for him.  "Um, have we?"

     "Yeah.  All this fancy talk about 'Calling on the Blue Dragon of 
Heaven and the East'.  We ARE in the phone book, ya know.  No need 
for all the rigamarole."

     Hiryuu stepped up.  "Please, everyone meet my long lost Aunt 
Seriyu.  Isn't she great?"  He beamed.

     Dazed, Daichi nodded along with the rest.  THIS was Seriyu, 
Sacred Dragon of Heaven?

     "What I want to know,"  the strange woman continued her spiel,  
"Is why OUR worshippers are always the BAD guys.  Usually at least 
ours are more powerful than the others, and most are even better 
looking, although there are always, "  she gave Gary a pointed glare, 
"exceptions to that."

     "Hey!"

     "But just once I wouldn't mind having the happy cheerful 
*heroic* followers the other gods all seem to get.  Is it because 
we're blue?  So my followers always have the blues?"

     Tejina, the little smartmouth, piped up, "Hey, it's not easy 
being green, you know."

     When the Blue Dragon of Heaven had made her grand entrance, the 
Harbringers had meekly tried to fade into the background.  That 
wasn't easy when you're isolated in a spotlight surrounded by an 
impenetrable barrier, but they had made a game effort.  Thus, when 
Tejina opened her big fat mouth she was almost immediately buried 
under a dogpile of her fellow harbringers.

     The woman turned for a moment and studied the Harbringer circle.  
"Maybe I'm not so bad off, after all.  Anyway, where is Seriyu no 
Miko?"

     "Um...Seriyu no Miko, Great Lady? Aren't we supposed to remake 
the world now?"

     "Yes, Seriyu no Miko!  I only grant wishes to virginal 
priestesses who gather the seven holy warriors.  Wait a minute, 
there's only six of you!  What kind of hoax IS this?"  Seriyu 
gestured, and then gestured again.  When nothing happened she began 
to curse, quietly and creatively.

     "Grant wishes?"  Daichi whispered to himself.  Maybe they had 
gotten the wrong copy of the script, so to speak.  But then he was 
distracted as Tejina managed to extricate herself from her fellow 
Harbringers.  What was she, wearing a bathing suit or something?  He 
squinted a little closer and felt his nose start to trickle with 
blood.  "Oh, wow."

     A bright crack of light appeared and widened into a doorway.  A 
man with shocking white hair for one so young and the most adorable 
fangs stuck his head through and asked, "My turn yet, Seriyu-kun?  
The others are starting to get restless."

     "Byakko-kun!  We've been tricked!  Don't-"  Her voice trailed 
off as he was shoved into the room by the pressure of the three other 
gods, in line behind him and impatient to get started.  They all fell 
in like domino's, and the door clicked shut ominously.  "-close the 
door...."

     "Hey, don't push!"  hollered Suzaku, last in line as she rubbed 
her sore shoulder.  "That was mean!"   The other three gods glowered 
at her from the floor.  "What?"







IS THIS REALLY THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT?  WHO HAS SET THIS 
CLEVER TRAP FOR THE GODS, AND WHY?  HOW ARE THE FOLLOWERS OF GENBU 
AND SUZAKU FARING IN THEIR SPOTLIGHTS?  WILL JODIE FOSTER AND THE 
CHTULU CULT EVER BEGIN FILMING?  WHY DOESN'T ANYONE'S MAGIC WORK?  
WHY WAS AKI DRAWN TO THE TOWER WITH THE WILDCARDS?  COULD IT BE SHE 
IS A WILDCARD?  IF SO, WHERE IS THE *OTHER* WILDCARD, AND WILL THEY 
HAVE THE SENSE TO PROP OPEN THE DOOR?  WHEN WILL DRAGON CHYLDE 
REALIZE THEY'VE BEEN DITCHED?  WHEN WILL MARIKO?  DOES IT MATTER?



don't ask me, I don't gotta write it....^_^
Good Luck, David Menendez



sorry if this sucks, I've been working through major writer's block 
and a messed up work schedule, and this is what came of it. threw in 
some grape jellow there for ya, Omi no Miko.  Couldn't get in touch
with my pre-reader, but I'm pretty sure at least of the spelling.

Got really tired of tiptoeing around and escalating the apocalypse, 
so....here it is!  Or not.  whatever.