In our last episode: Much stuff happened, but you're going to have to find a more industrious person than me to give you a recap. ^_^ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do-Gooders The Proactive Teen Superhero Team With A Lot of O's In Their Title A FanArt HQ / Spoof Chase Improfanfic http://www.improfanfic.com/ Episode Forty-nine: Big Trouble! Weird Dreams and Stranger Reality by Kate Malloy (kmallo1@gl.umbc.edu) Original story concept by Stefan Gagne --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tejina was having a restless night. First she'd had trouble getting to sleep, as what Hanaki and Ayame had said earlier kept running through her head. Was she really high-strung? She didn't think so. After all, when a girl had lived a fairly normal life for most of her years, then discovered that she was the reincarnation of a princess from an ancient kingdom, a Sailor with mystical powers, joined a band whose members included a mysterious bishonen and a half- oni, discovered more Sailors, fought yoma, battled the minions of a crazed maniac who desired world domination and who happened to be the father of one of her friends and fellow Sailors, was attacked and had her half-oni friend kidnapped by a group of whacked-out cultists who were waging war against another cult and had him possessed by their god, discovered that she was adopted, then met up with her long-lost sisters, whose number seemed to grow daily, became a Harbringer but never got to distribute har, and lots of other things like that - well, was she supposed to just lie there and take it calmly? (154 words, not too shabby. Not even close to the title, but not bad for a first attempt.) When she finally did get to sleep, she dreamed that she, Hanaki, Ayame, and Yukiko were stuck in a room somewhere with lots of mirrors. She looked around in confustion at the mirrors, which were reflecting herself and her sisters (and mother) millions and millions of times over. Suddenly, the reflections' hair began to change colors, and they began to step out of the mirrors. She could only watch in horror as orange-haired ones, red- haired ones, indigo-haired ones, brown-haired ones, black-haired ones, puce- haired ones, aquamarine-haired ones - all of them identical to her - came pouring out, with no end in sight. And each one gave her an identical greeting: "Hi, Tejina! I'm your new sister!" Tejina woke up gasping. She nearly screamed when she saw one of the "sisters" staring right back at her, then realized it was just her own reflection in her bedroom mirror. She watched it for a few minutes to make sure that it wasn't going to come out and say hello to her, then lay back down and tried to get back to sleep. It wasn't easy. Daisy kept muttering something about her grandchildren from the corner where she was sleeping, and Tejina almost gave up and thought about reading for a while. But eventually, she drifted off into an uneasy slumber, and dreamed again. Aki - no, Princess Annikki, stood at the top of a high hill. She was radiating some sort of extremely bright light. It was hurting Tejina's eyes to look at her. Tejina looked down and noticed that she had transformed into Sailor Delight. Then she looked around and noticed that the other Sailors were there too - Rapture, Bliss, Winter, even Sailor Darkness. Matsuro was there, and Ayame, Koji, Dragon Childe, Villyn, Queen Charity, the Minions...but where was Kireiko? Annikki raised her arms to the heavens, and the light grew even brighter. Tejina could see shadows behind her now, shadows reaching out their hands to grab the Princess. Those creepy Cthulhu guys, those other cult people...and Kireiko! Kireiko, with slime dripping from his body and more tentacles than any self-respecting oni ever needed. Sailor Bliss screamed and started to rush up the hill, but Sailor Rapture put out an arm to stop her. On the top of the hill, Annikki lowered her arms. She looked like she was holding a small sun in her arms now, and she turned towards her attackers. She opened her arms, and the light flew out and engulfed them all. The group below the hill shielded their eyes until the flash died away, then looked back up at the hill. Annikki had de-transformed back into Aki, and she was barely glowing now. She was sobbing. "Kireiko! Oh, gods, Kireiko! I'm so sorry!" she cried. For there was nothing else left at the top of the hill but ashes. Before Tejina or any of the others could react, there was a sudden moment of darkness. Aki screamed. When the darkness passed, she was trapped inside what looked like a huge bottle, the kind children would keep fireflies in. Her light had almost gone out. "AT LAST, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IS MINE!" exclaimed a voice from somewhere, and a huge hand reached out and picked up the bottle. Aki was gone. Everything broke out into chaos then. Hanaki raced for the top of the hill. Keiko was clinging to Matsuro like one would cling to a tree in a storm. Tejina just fell to her knees, feeling the tears come. Someone placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up. It was Sakyou. "Sagare-san?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" He didn't answer, but helped her up and let her cry on his shoulder. Then she woke up. "Sakyou?" she whispered into the darkness. ***** At the Morizaki residence, Kireiko too was having a strange dream. It started out fairly normal, with Hanaki and...well, that part isn't really necessary. But rapidly things got very odd, what with the bizarre chanting in the background, and the sudden appearance of a very large, very dark THING. Kireiko looked around in confusion. Hanaki was gone, and now what was going on? "'This sucks,'" he muttered. "fOOlIsh mOrtAl," the big dark scary creature said. "Can't you think of anything more original to say?" replied Kireiko, who was not nearly as big or dark or scary as the THING (or should that be thIng?), but was no slouch himself in the bizarre creature department. Ripping off his shirt, he felt himself shift into his half-oni form, and prepared to give this monster a good whooping. "hA hA hA hA..." the creature laughed. "dO yOU rEAllY thInk thAt pAthEtIc fOrm cAn stAnd Up tO mE?" "Who the hell are you, anyway?" Kireiko demanded, flexing his arm muscles. "yOUr nEw mAstEr, bOY. gEt UsEd tO It." The creature waved a shadowy tentacle, and Kireiko turned back into human form. "I cOntrOl yOU nOw. thErE Is mUch wOrk tO bE dOnE. mY rEtUrn Is At hAnd." "You're that Cthulu guy, aren't you?" Kireiko asked. "thAt is CthUlhU! gEt It rIght Or pAy thE prIcE!!" the enraged Elder God demanded. "Make me," Kireiko retorted. "mY plEAsUrE." Cthulhu raised his tentacles (and any other appendages) and... ...Kireiko woke up. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "jUst A drEAm..." he began, then noticed the slime and the way he was speaking. "dAmn." Where was his ofuda? He looked down and saw it on the floor next to his bed. Had he knocked it off in his sleep accidentally? Then he noticed the scorch marks on it. Shaken, he grabbed a new shirt and put it on, relaxing as he shifted back to human form. He bent down and picked up the ofuda. Those were definitely scorch marks. He shuddered. This was getting worse than he thought. Maybe he should tell his parents? "Nah," he said after a moment of consideration. They would just get all overprotective and stuff. He and his friends could deal with it. He hoped. ***** Matsuro was having lots of strange dreams that night. But then again, he always did. ***** The next morning, Aki and Becky were walking to school together. Aki tried to ignore all five of her father's minions, who were trailing behind them. Well, all but Tharzog? Thurston Dunne? Oh, you know, T-kun, who was walking next to Becky. Aki stifled a sigh. Just because there were two cults serving otherworldly gods who wished to destroy the world chasing after her, her dad was getting all paranoid. He didn't have to send *all* the minions. At least she'd managed to talk Charity-san out of sending a few yoma bodyguards along as well. Becky and T-kun were having a nice conversation, when Becky spotted Koji, also on his way to school. She waved to him. "Anderson-san! What a nice surprise!" Koji exclaimed, coming over to them. He tried to walk next to Becky, but T-kun blocked his way. Puzzled, Koji tried to step around him, but T-kun still managed to keep himself between Koji and Becky. Koji's eyes met T-kun's, and there was a nearly visible show of sparks. "Oh gods, not another one," thought Aki. "Becky!" she called. "Can you come here a second? I need to ask you something!" Becky, completely oblivious to what was happening between the two guys, cheerfully agreed. She and Aki began to talk, leaving T-kun and Koji to face each other. A few minutes later, Becky turned around to find T-kun and the rest of the minions behind them, but no Koji in sight. "Where's Koji?" she asked. T-kun shrugged. "He had to go home and get something he forgot," he explained. "Oh." Becky and Aki continued walking. Neither of them noticed the smirk on T- kun's face. Koji, meanwhile, was fenced in. Quite literally, as T-kun had used his reality- warping powers to wrap a metal fencepost several times around Koji's body, pinning his arms and legs together. Koji struggled to get loose, but it was of no use. Groaning, he resigned himself to being late for school that day. Just then, Zathras came walking by. He paused to study Koji intently. "What Eidon doing in there?" Zathras asked. "It doesn't matter! Just get me out!" Koji pleaded. "Sure thing. Now, where Zathras leave blowtorch...?" Koji sweatdropped. ***** The group met in the usual spot for lunch. Sakyou and Yoruko were the last to join them. Yoruko held up a small vial. "Here, Keiko," she said. "I finally remembered to save you some har." Keiko eagerly grabbed the vial and uncorked it. "It's empty," she stated, very disappointed. Yoruko took the vial back. "Oh, you're right. I'm sorry. I thought I had filled this one. And I distributed the rest of mine already, too. Tomorrow, maybe?" Keiko nodded, not terribly confident that she would have any more luck getting har tomorrow. She still didn't feel exactly comfortable around Yoruko. And now she needed some cheering up, so she gave Matsuro a big hug. If one was looking at Matsuro at exactly that moment, one would have noticed a barely perceptible smile on his face. But it faded away so quickly that one would be inclined to chalk it up to illusion. "Hey, Tej, you're awfully quiet today. Something wrong?" Hanaki asked. Tejina shook her head. "Not really. Didn't sleep all that well last night." "You know, perhaps the use of an anatomic eggcrate mattress pad would ensure a more restful sleep and..." Ayame began before Hanaki clapped a hand over her mouth. "That wasn't it," Tejina answered. "I had odd dreams." "Do you want to talk about them?" Sakyou asked. Tejina looked at him oddly, remembering the part he had played in them. "No, not right now," she replied. "All right. But if you want to, just let me know." He smiled at her. "Thank you, Sagare-san." She smiled back. Kireiko was somewhat disturbed. Tejina had dreamed weird things last night too? Well, he supposed it wasn't too unusual for two people to have strange dreams in one night. "Kireiko?" Hanaki's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Something wrong with you too?" "Nah." Kireiko shook his head and gave a confident grin. "Nothing we can't handle." "Then there was something?" Aki inquired. "No! I mean, well, okay, yeah, something did happen. I saw that Cthulhu thing in my dreams last night." That stopped the conversation cold. "It spoke to you in your dreams," Keiko stated. "What did it say?" "Just the usual 'foolish mortal, you are no match for me' stuff. Why?" Keiko looked pensive. "Talking to you in your dreams. That's...not a good sign," she admitted. Hanaki became worried. "Is that thing taking over more of Kireiko?" she asked. Keiko shrugged. "It's possible. I could try a few things, but...I'm not sure how well they'd work. I've never tried to de-possess an Elder God from a half- oni before." Her face lit up. "But it could be really fun!" "No," Matsuro said. Everyone turned towards him. It was the first thing he'd said since lunch started. "Keiko, if you can't be sure it would work, don't try it." "So what do we do?" Hanaki questioned. "Take him back to the cult and demand that they fix him?" "Negative," Becky/BA-3 answered. "That would be a most unwise course of action." "So what *do* we do?" Aki inquired. "For now...there's nothing we can do," Kireiko said bleakly. Hanaki looked at him in surprise. She'd never seen him so serious before. "I'll ask Dragon Childe about it tonight, though. They seem to have some knowledge about this sort of thing," Keiko suggested. "Where are they today, anyway?" Tejina asked. "I don't know. They said they had to do something important," Keiko stated. ***** "So, which one's it gonna be?" Mermaid asked, staring at the movie listings. "And hurry it up, guys. Humans never take a day and a half deciding on these things." ***** "Esu, I've always wondered something," Yukiko said to her Mystic Animal Advisor as they sat outside under a tree in the park. Esu had a bag of peanuts, and was munching away happily. "Sure, go ahead," Esu answered after swallowing a mouthful of nuts. "What's with my name? Sailor Winter. It doesn't go with the others. There's Bliss, Rapture, Joy, Delight...and Winter? I know I was from a lot farther away in the Crystal Kingdom than the others, kind of like I am now, but why the mismatched name?" "Well..." Esu paused to consider things. "They were considering making you Sailor Ecstasy..." "Ugh." Yukiko groaned. "But actually, you were going to be the leader of a new team of Sailors. You were training with the others to gain experience with your powers before the rest of your team was brought together. Then, after that whole mess with the DarkVerse trying to create too many Sailors without proper candidates and strong enough power sources, and then the invasion..." Esu paused. "Whoops." "*What* DarkVerse Sailors?!" Yukiko demanded. "You didn't hear that," Esu stated. Yukiko picked her advisor up and shook him. "Esu, stop playing dumb and tell me!" She stopped as she noticed a few people in the park staring in the odd way that one would stare at a young woman talking to and trying to choke a squirrel. She set him down, and the people moved on. "My house, *now*." Just then, there was a fluttering behind them. "Esu, you moron!" exclaimed a voice from behind them. Yukiko turned to see a huge raven. "Edgar..." Esu said despairingly. "Idiot! You get me to betray the DarkVerse for you, tell you all their secrets, then you go blabbing them to this girl and..." Edgar stopped. "Damn. I just got myself in deep too, didn't I?" Esu nodded. "Great. Well, I guess I'd better finish it off, then, hadn't I?" Edgar turned to Yukiko. "Hiya. I'm Edgar P. Allan, Mystic Advisor." "To who?" Yukiko asked. "That's not really important now," Edgar continued. "And you didn't hear a word the two of us said, okay?" He flew up and perched on her shoulder, his claws digging in. "Ow! All right. There are no DarkVerse Sailors. You said nothing." "That's a nice girl. Esu, I'm going to be keeping an eye on you..." With that, Edgar flew off. "Esu..." Yukiko began in exasperation. "I hate that guy. Edgar only looks out for Edgar. He's not loyal to the DarkVerse, the Crystal Kingdom, or anything. And now that I lost my last hold on him..." Esu paused. "We could be in big trouble." "We aren't done talking yet, Esu. But let's finish this at home." ***** Baron Stagner von Carrlson turned away from his peanut soup. "Interesting..." he mused. "An advisor betraying his own Sailor. Perhaps I shall have to inform Yoru that his little plan might have a few kinks in it." He then turned to his green tea to check on the current actions of the Cthulhu cult. His eyes widened when he saw what they were planning. "Very inventive. I never would have thought of that. This is certain to anger Shub-Niggurath and her group." Folding his hands, he surveyed the table full of soups and drinks. "Blast," he murmured to himself. "Which other ones are my scrying spells set on, and which ones are dinner?" ***** "Behold, Charity-chan! My latest creation!" Nemesis Serendipity Villyn exclaimed, as he removed the cover from the table in the middle of his new Top Secret Lab of Evil Plans. "It's lovely, Nemesis-chan," Queen Charity replied. "But exactly what is it?" The thing on the table bore a strong resemblance to an oversize vacuum cleaner. "This," Villyn enthused, "is the world's first, and only..." He paused. "You know, I don't have a snappy evil name for it yet." "It'll come in time, dearest," Charity consoled him. "Yes! Well, anyway, this machine is designed to catch beings infused with the energy of a certain Elder God and a certain Outer God and seal them away into a pocket dimension from which they will never be able to escape! My darling Aki will no longer have to fear these horrible monsters!" Charity paused to consider things. "But Nemesis-chan, didn't Aki say that one of her friends was currently being possessed by Cthulhu? What if you accidentally captured him as well?" "..." Villyn sighed. "You know, I hadn't thought of that." He paused. "But wait! He is one of my sworn enemies!" "But darling, wouldn't it upset Aki if you sent her friend to a horrible doom?" "You're right. Back to the drawing board!" ***** "Esu, make me a portal now!" Yukiko demanded. "You're going to go tell them, aren't you?" Esu asked. Yukiko nodded. "Darn right I am! If there are a bunch of evil Sailors lurking out there waiting to attack us, then the others should know about it!" "I'm sorry, Yukiko, but I can't let you do that." "All right then. If you won't teleport me there, then I'll just go there myself. Where's the nearest train station?" Esu jumped on to Yukiko's leg. "Please, please, please don't tell them, Yukiko!" he begged. "If you do, then Edgar will come after us. Both of us! You have no idea what he's capable of!" Yukiko blinked. "What could he possibly do?" "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hear something say 'Nevermore' every five minutes, nonstop, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week? It drove that one poor American poet simply mad!" "But how'd you get him to tell you in the first place if he could do that to you all along? And Esu, *why* wouldn't you have warned everyone else in the Kingdom?" "I found out too late. It took me so long to get Edgar to spill it that the invasion started just as I was about to tell Queen Amore." "Amazing coincidence, Esu." The squirrel shrugged. "As for how I got him to talk in the first place, well, Mystic Advisors are allowed to have a few secrets. Besides, if I tell even one person now...let's just say there are even worse things then having to listen to Edgar. Please keep this just between us for the moment? Pretty please?" Esu put his paws together and tried to look as cute as possible. "All right. I won't tell them right now. Besides," she considered, "Sailor Darkness is already our ally, so maybe we can bring the others around too." Esu shook his head. "Oh, you have no idea..." ***** Mariko scowled. "It's been weeks, and we're still no closer to having Sailor Darkness join us!" Yumeki smiled. "Maybe we should all just transform and let her know the truth. Then we could...MMPH!" Yaki shook her head and kept her hand over Yumeki's mouth. "We don't want to hear it, Yumeki." Kahi and Cecil exchanged glances. Perhaps it was time for some action. Kahi also wondered about Cecil's sudden reappearance. Although it appeared that they currently had the same goal in mind, that could change. And he was fairly certain that only he and Yoru had undergone the stasis process. If Cecil had come back, might that mean that Despair's advisor Edgar was also around somewhere? Kahi would have to keep an eye out for that annoying bird. He'd never trusted any of them. "We've just been sitting around here doing nothing!" Mariko complained. "We didn't even get to do some major damage to that Cthulhu cult!" "Yeah, can't we go back?" Yumeki agreed. "I'd really like to get a better look at their..." She stopped, looked at Yaki, and was silent. "All right, all right," Kahi grumbled. "You may go demon hunting tonight. Whatever you find on the ssstreetsss isss fair game." Cecil rolled his eyes. Kahi was hissing again just to annoy him. He knew it. "Yay!" Yumeki jumped up and danced around. "We're gonna get to kill stuff!" Cecil thought to himself that perhaps with the Sailors and Kahi out tonight, he would be able to slip off and have a nice little talk with Yoru. Yes, that was exactly the ticket. ***** "'Yo!' I'm home!" Kireiko exclaimed as he, well, came home. He was immediately confronted by his parents. His father held up the scorched ofuda. "Young man, how do you explain this?" "Uh, my cigarette lighter malfunctioned?" Kireiko stammered. "It's that Cthulhu again, isn't it?" his mother asked. "Kireiko, why didn't you tell us about this?" Kireiko shook his head. That buzzing sound was back, only this time, it sounded more like laughter. "Get out of my head," he murmured. "What was that?" Choji asked. Kireiko clutched his head with both hands. "Get out! Get out!" Atsuko started towards him, but Choji held her back. "Get the industrial- strength ofuda," he whispered to her. She nodded and headed for the kitchen. Kireiko could feel his control slowly slipping away. The ofuda on his back slowly began to sizzle. "nO...nO...nOt lIkE thIs," he moaned. "Hurry!" his father called. Choji readied a stack of ofuda and began tossing them, only to have them start to char as soon as they touched Kireiko. "I can't find it!" his mother yelled back. "Keep looking!" Choji screamed. He was rapidly running out of ideas and ofuda. All of Kireiko's ofuda burst into flames, and he felt himself change. He could see his reflection in the hall mirror. He was taller than his half-oni form usually was. His skin was darker, and slimier, and he had even more tentacles. "lEAvE mE AlOnE!!" he screamed. He pushed past his father and ran out the door, into the night. Choji stood, open-mouthed, as Atsuko rushed back into the room, holding out the World's Strongest Ofuda(tm). "I got it...oh, no." "He's gone," Choji stated glumly. "We may be too late." ***** In the sewer headquarters of the Cthulhu cult, His Eminence's eyes snapped open. Well, the one that still had an eyelid did, anyway. "the host of Great Cthulhu is free," he told Brother Maynard. "take our strongest forces and find him." "bUt I wAs jUst AbOUt tO lAUnch An AttAck On thAt AccUrsEd shUb-nIggUrAth!" Maynard objected. "don't whine, maynard. it is unbecoming. the host of Great Cthulhu is more important that anything else right now." His Eminence smiled. "and i believe i have found the perfect bride. do you recall those blasted sailors? one of them has a great interest in the half-oni. i think she would be exactly what we need. after we have retrieved the host, we shall commission a party to capture her." "rIght. cAptUre thE pUrplE-hAIrEd sAIlOr. It shAll bE As yOU cOmmAndEd." Maynard bowed to His Eminence and went off to mobilize the cultists. "bUt I rEAllY wAntEd tO stIck It tO thAt OvErblOwn ObnOxIOUs gOAt," Maynard whined as he walked away. ***** "The forces of the Cthulhu cult are out in full force tonight," Maeda reported. "GOOD. IT IS TIME FOR US TO PUT OUR PLAN INTO ACTION." Maeda, Wataru, and Aika all grinned. This was going to be quite amusing. ***** "...And he just ran off?" Hanaki said into the telephone. "Right. Don't worry, we'll find him." She hung up and turned to Tejina and Ayame. "Guys..." she began unsteadily. "Kireiko's moved up to the next level of Cthulhu possession. His parents say he's not fully manifested yet, but..." She began crying. "He just ran away into the night. His parents are worried that the cult might find him and take him back. We have to do something!" Tejina started. Was her dream going to come true already? No, usually ominous dreams like that took a while to work out. "Okay, Han. I'll call Becky and Aki and Matsuro and Keiko and Sakyou and..." When had Sakyou come into this? She paused to consider it for a second, then shook her head and continued. "I'll call everybody. We'll go search for him. Don't worry. We'll save him." She grimly reached for the phone. ***** "Busy night," remarked Cecil to Yoru as yet another group of cultists passed by the warehouse where they were having their meeting. "Why did you call me here, Cecil?" Yoru said in a bored manner. "You know damn well why. What in the name of the DarkVerse is Sailor Darkness doing with those Crystal City Sailors?" Yoru shrugged, or would have shrugged if he had shoulders. As it was, his head just moved around a bit. "She had already befriended and been accepted by them before I found her." "You were always so blasted lucky, Yoru, you know that? You got the only Sailor who isn't a mental case." "I was first, of course." "Yeah, yeah. All that wonderful, painstaking time they took in producing their first Evil Sailor, then the rush job they did on our three. And they blamed us! 'You're the advisors,' they said, 'you're responsible.' Right. Like we're supposed to make masterpieces out of damaged goods. We did the freakin' best we could! What an idiot that general was! Those girls were already messed in the head, but they were the only thing available, and when he didn't have enough of a power source to make three Sailors, he screwed 'em up even more trying to stretch the power out, and then he dumps them on me and Kahi and Edgar." Cecil paused. "Speaking of the devil...why'd you try to kill Edgar?" Yoru's eyes widened and he hissed in surprise. "Don't play innocent, Yoru. I saw you back then. I just barely managed to save him and stuff him in a spare stasis capsule near mine. Though come to think of it, I haven't seen him since I woke up." "Dear, dear Cecil," Yoru began. "You have made a terrible mistake. Edgar betrayed us." "What?" "Edgar was leaking information to someone in the Crystal City. One of their Sailor's Advisors, I believe. Do you know why your Sailors only found out about the attack just as it was happening instead of way ahead of time? The DarkVerse High Council had determined that one of you three was a traitor. We just didn't find out which one of you it was until it was nearly too late." "So that's why the girls missed out on the beginning of the attack. They were really pissed, y'know? And it's not like you trusted us all that much in the first place." "Anyhow, I am still working on Sailor Darkness. You must give me time." Yoru turned to slither away. "And do give my regards to Kahi. Ask him for me how his plan to get revenge against the DarkVerse is going." Cecil dropped his switchblade. "How'd that blasted snake *know?*" he asked. ***** WILL THE DO-GOODERS FIND KIREIKO? WILL THE CTHULHU CULT? WILL SHUBBY-CHAN? WILL THE DARKVERSE SAILORS WREAK MUCH DESTRUCTION? WILL YORU CONVERT SAILOR DARKNESS TO HIS CAUSE? WILL CECIL PERFORM DEEP HURTING ON EDGAR? WILL THE DARKVERSE AND CRYSTAL KINGDOM SAILORS FINALLY MEET? WILL EDGAR EVER FIND HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND, LENORE? WILL DRAGON CHILDE EVER DECIDE ON A MOVIE? WHAT IS VILLYN'S NEWEST PLAN? DID BALIN ACTUALLY MAKE COFFEE OUT OF SPIKE? AND IF SO, WILL IT HAVE UNFORSEEN CONSEQUENCES FOR THE DWARF? I don't know, but perhaps Clint Milton (making his second Do-Gooders appearance) will! And hey, everybody, it's the big 50th episode coming up next! Start the parade! Sound the trumpets! Throw the confetti! Roll out the red carpet! It's going to be an Impro first! (Hope I didn't put too much pressure on ya there, Milton-san. ^_^) ***** Author's Notes: None, I skipped class because it was such a nice day. Try That Again: Big big thanks to Steven Scougall, John "Squall" Evans, and Jonatan Streith for ideas and generally helping me get started on this chapter. Also big thanks to the aforementioned Scougall-san, Streith-san, Philip Barkow, and Eslington for admirably performing prereader duty. Finally, thanks to the DGML in general, for lots more ideas I unfortunately didn't get a chance to use, and for being a very fun and entertaining bunch to hang out with. See you in Senshi Muyou, a fun crazy Impro-style bit o'goodness from Indie Madnesse. ^_^ Kate