An annotated history of Fred "Buggerit" Roberts By Steven Scougall Fred "Buggerit" Roberts, an obscure rock star, was born in the year- ...what? I'm supposed to be writing Do-Gooders? Oh yeah, that's right. Please excuse me. I'll forget my own head next. *ahem* Last time, in Do-Gooders Chapter 59: It was time to reunite the One of the Crystal Kingdom of Delight. Only... there were complications. Really silly looking complications, thought Tejina, as she stood on one leg in the center of a magic circle, with the Emblem of Delightful Rapture precariously balanced on her nose. To her left was Becky, performing a slow and silly looking dance that made the gaijin look a bit like a turtle, a bit like a monkey, and a lot like an idiot, the Icon of Rapturours Delight sticking out of her ear. Aki was standing in between them, her feet wide apart and her arms circling slowly, a very irritated expression on her face. "Who made this silly ritual, anyway?" asked Tejina. "Zathras think that it made by insane sage," muttered Zathras. "Or maybe developed to be hard to figure out. So that random people don't accidentally spontaneously merge." "It seems as though there were an awfully large number of insane people in the Kingdom of Delight," observed Becky, letting her Agent BA-3 mentality through for a moment. "Was it truly the paradise it's been made out to be?" "How *dare* you criticise the Kingdom!" Chiang screamed, his face suddenly red with fury. Tejina looked askance at him - she'd never seen the ancient sage angry like this. "Without it... er... um... that is..." Chiang trailed off, then he looked at Tejina, the scroll the instructions for the ritual were written on, and then at his watch. His inexplicable rage dissipated like dew in the morning sun as he directed the next stage of the ceremony. "Okay, Tejina, now it's time to change legs." As a collective all three sailors sweatdropped. It continued on, all three girls taking more and more ridiculous poses. As she emulated a goldfish out of water flapping about on the ground, Tejina thought back to when she'd somehow activated the two artifacts in Kireiko's house, and thought that it hadn't been this difficult. She hadn't even needed to touch the items, just touch someone who was holding one of them. She realised something. Aki had remained, for the most part, between Becky and Tejina, and hadn't once come into contact with either. And she remembered the strange voices, saying that only Sailor Joy could use the Icon and Emblem. Chiang commanded another change - now she seemed to be emulating a drunken cat missing a leg. The only thing she felt was increibly silly - she wasn't sensing any buildup of mystical power and with everything she had done and gone through ever since this all began, she was sure she should be able to feel something like that. Chiang ordered the three to hop on one leg and turn completely around as slowly as possible, preferably taking more than a minute. "The hell with this," said Tejina, "it doesn't seem to be working. Aki, Becky, let's link hands. I have an idea." "HEY!" roared Chiang. "This is the ritual as described by the Great Shiao, the original Advisor to the Court of the Kingdom of Delight! You dare mock his work?" "Advisor Chiang," said Ayame, "please exercise restraint and calm yourself. There's no magic or anything of the sort happening in relation to this ritual, so clearly something's not working." "Now that you mention it, I admit I'm not feeling any magical build-up or anything either," said Becky. "Inasmuch as magic really exists," continued Agent BA-3. "Me neither," said Aki, stopping and standing normally. "Neither does Zathras," said Zathras. "Only magic is what Icon and Emblem normally give, no extra." "You DARE challenge Shiao?" screamed Chiang, his face going purple. "So close to the end of the ritual?" "Yes," said Aki, and promptly took Tejina and Becky's hands. The Icon and Emblem flashed a brilliant white, filling the vision of everyone present. ----------------------------------------------- DO GOODERS The Proactive Teen Superhero Team With An "X" Somewhere In Their Subtitle Chapter #60 Escalation! Prophecies and a couple of Ones! Created by Stefan Gagne This part by Steven Scougall ----------------------------------------------- All was a brilliant white. The brightness slowly faded into all the colours of the rainbow, swirling madly. There was no sky and no ground, just a big space, bright, eerily silent, and a sense of hugeness. But not completely empty - Aki, Tejina, and Becky could sense the presence of the others. They concentrated, and their forms appeared in the midst of the whirling maelstrom. There seemed to be other presences hanging in front and behind and to the sides and everywhere, and voices boomed out, their echoes twisting around each other until they were almost indistinguishable. -Joy has come- -With Delight and Rapture- -The Prophesised Time is almost upon us- "What's going on?" shouted Aki. "I'm not sure," said Tejina, "but this is where I went before, when Cthulhu was expelled from Kireiko. I think the voices might be the Icon and Emblem." -In a sense- "What do you mean, in a sense?" yelled Aki, upset. "You either are or you aren't!" -We are not just the artifacts you think we are- -We are older than you can comprehend- -We shall exist long after you die- -We shall always protect your worlds- -It is our purpose and function- "Worlds?" asked Becky. "Do you mean the DarkVerse as well?" asked Aki. "Why? Aren't they enemies of the Crystal Kingdom of Delight?" -There was a time when they were not enemies- -We shall show you- -But first we wait- "What?" asked Tejina. "The end of the world is coming! If either Cthulhu or Shub-Niggurath win that battle, the world will probably be destroyed!" -We wait- said a voice, with a sense of finality, and the voices faded into silence. * * * Once vision had returned to normal, the Sailors Delight, Rapture, and Joy were glowing almost white and hanging a foot from the ground, the Icon and Emblem pulsing brightly in Sailor Joy's hands. Chiang sagged and sighed with relief. "They finally figured it out." "Excuse me?" asked Ayame. Wordlessly, Chiang showed her the scroll. "'There be no specific ceremony,'" Ayame read. "'Instead have the three Sailors assume poses of increasing ridiculousness, with the caveat that Joy never once touches neither Icon nor Emblem nor Delight nor Rapture, and let this continue until they rebel and work out what to do themselves. Egg this on with bouts of rage.'" She looked up at Chiang. "But Advisor Chiang, what would you have done if they had not worked this out themselves?" "Read the next paragraph." "'Ayame, have no concern, for they will work it out,'" Ayame read aloud, and sweatdropped. "Look!" shouted Zathras, pointing at Sailors Delight, Rapture, and Joy. Ayame and Chiang looked up to see the floating figures slowly change. Aki flowed into the familiar sight of Princess Annikki in a long white gown and tiara on her head. Tejina's hair grew almost down to her feet, twisting into two braids, and her Sailor outfit changed into a long gown almost identical to Aki's. A similar change was happening to Becky, though her gown was a mess of 'enhancements' that just served to turn it into a fashion disaster reminescent of her Sailor Rapture outfit. Ayame's mouth hung open in awe. "They're becoming the images of the Princesses!" "The magic's working," mused Chiang. Attracted by the increasing lightshow, a squad of Pikacthulhus attacked. Spears of light lanced from the Icon and Emblem, turning the Cthonic rodent creatures instantly to ash. After that, the various rampaging creatures left the three white figures alone, at least for the moment. * * * Flashes of light almost blinded the three girls. "What was that?" asked Becky. -Enemies- -They wished to attack while you three are indisposed- -They shall not do so again- The voices faded into silence. "This might have been a mistake," said Tejina in a low voice to the other two. "It's more impressive, but like before, nothing's happening." -It is no mistake- -There is more to happen- -It is not yet time- -You must wait- "We can't! Our friends are out there, fighting for their lives! We have to help them!" -You will wait- Aki felt a premonition of doom. "Guys, a while ago I had a dream where Sailor Joy showed me what happened when the DarkVerse overran the Crystal Kingdom... it wasn't pretty." She looked down at the nonexistent ground. She said it could all happen again." "You're worried that whatever this is will finish and we'll go back and it'll have happened again?" asked Tejina. Aki nodded, looking uncharacteristically vulnerable and nervous. -It shall not happen, Aki Villyn- "How do you KNOW!?" she yelled. -It shall not-, said the voices, and said no more. "That hardly inspires confidence," muttered Aki. * * * Keiko was worried. There was something about the pyramid base in the distance that seemed... wrong. As if it was both light years and a short walk away, or as if it was infinitely gigantic and infitesimally small at the same time. "Does something feel wrong to you?" Yaki asked. "Because there's just... something about that pyramid. As if it's not really there." "Kahi, what's going on?" Mariko asked. "What's up with that pyramid?" "Asss Dessspair sssaid, it appearsss not to be of thisss world," hissed Kahi. Keiko thought about the brightly coloured lizard's words and looked at the pyramid, this time through the eyes of a magic practitioner. "That's... true. It's... almost as if we're looking through a window between worlds." "Should we still check it out?" asked Yumeki. "I guess," said Matsuro, taking another step forwards. They pyramid grew fuzzy around the edges. A ghostly and oddly familiar voice said, "*You shall come no further,*" and suddenly the group was back in the battle, nearby Ayame, Chiang, and Zathras, and the three floating figures of Aki, Tejina, and Becky. "Guys!" shouted Ayame. "Over here!" * * * In an astral plane far beyond human comprehension (so far beyond, in fact, that an attempt to describe it would be utterly futile and doomed to failure), the Five Gods were having a party. They weren't celebrating anything in particular. If anything, they should have been feeling disappointed that the latest round had turned out to be an absolute mess, to the point of all five deciding to declare a draw. As is usually the case in mythology, all five were quite friendly when they weren't out to kill each other and each others' Champions, and the round was over with none of them dead. They felt that somehow, they needed a party for such a memorable occasion. Suzaku was terrifying the other four with her attempts at karaoke. While the red-haired phoenix goddess had lots of enthusiasm, she couldn't sing very well. Not unless she expended magic, and she didn't want to. It detracted from the essential karaoke experience, she said. So she badly sang the words to a popular song about the difficulty of love in the Afterlife, and the other four tried to tune her out as best they could. The white-haired tiger god Byakko was extremely annoyed and depressed that the latest round had ended up as a draw. Suzaku's irritating singing didn't help, either. He'd heard that in such a state humans drank lots of their strangely popular fermented beverages in an attempt to feel better, and didn't see how it could help. After eighteen cans of beer, three glasses of fine wine, rum, whiskey, half a bottle of sake, and some vodka to wash it all down, he still couldn't see how it made someone feel better. He couldn't see his fellow gods all that well either - he was pretty sure there were only five of them, not the forty-nine he thought he was seeing. Beside Byakko was the green dragon god Ryokuryuu, or as he preferred to be called, Aoryuu. After only just recovering from the hangover he acquired from his 'date' with Suzaku in the mortal realm, Aoryuu had decided not to drink so much, and so was drinking non-alcoholic drinks. Brushing his green hair out of his eyes, Aoryuu took another sip of his water and wondered when the hell his headache was supposed to go away. The turtle/serpent god Genbu was talking animatedly with the blue dragon god Seiryuu. Some of his long black-green hair had worked its way free and was hanging in front of his face. With an irritated gesture, he swept it back behind his shoulder, and continued talking with Seiryuu about how when you healed the world, you didn't have to destroy it first. The female god nodded, but it was clear she wasn't listening; she'd been a god of destruction and rebirth for millennia, and wasn't going to change any time soon. Aoryuu looked around at his fellow gods, and thought again about the latest round, and how so many of their Primary Champions had been firm friends, instead of ending up as enemies as usual. Something had clearly gone wrong somewhere, and he wondered what could have caused it. He'd have to drop into the Department of Mystic Destinies sometime and do some research. Byakko started bawling into his several glasses of rum and Coke, and Aoryuu tuned him out. It was just about the mess of the latest round again, and he'd heard it several times already. "Y'know," Aoryuu thought out out loud, "it doesn't seem all that surprising." This out-of-the-blue statement stopped everyone, and they looked up at him. Aoryuu looked at the four and felt embarassed, and put his hand behind his head and fiddled with his hair nervously. "What I mean is... well, look at most of us. I'm for letting the world continue as it is. Genbu's for healing it. Suzaku and Seiryuu are very similar, going for forms of rebirth. Byakko, I'll admit, doesn't fit in, he's just for destruction." "Your point?" "Four out of five times the world ends up 'healed' or whatever and continues on, you see? So I'm not surprised that all our Primary Champions ended up as friends." He paused to take a long draught of water, then continued. "So why fight each other? We could just pool our resources and help the world as a team, or something." "I protesh'," slurred Byakko. "I jush' for deshtruch... desh... alluvit goin' boom." "I must protest as well," said Seiryuu. "Us forming a team is not the way things are supposed to go." "You're being more philosophical than normal, Ryokuryuu," said Genbu. "Call me 'Aoryuu'!" protested Aoryuu. "I know it's not technically correct but it sounds nicer than Ryokuryuu, I think." He paused. "I don't know why I'm thinking like this all of a sudden. Could just be the aftereffects of the hangover and this headache." "Ryokuryuu," started Suzaku. Aoryuu gave her a dirty look, and she rolled her eyes. "Oh all *right*. Aoryuu, a hangover isn't supposed to last this long. And you're a god, you can just wish it away." "Oh yeah," said Aoryuu, feeling embarassed and fiddling with the hair at the back of his neck again. He magically commanded his mind to clear, and it stayed clouded - if anything, the headache grew *worse*, and he clutched at his head in pain. But with remarkably clarity, he now knew *why* he had such a horrible headache. "It is the Prophesised Time," he pronounced. "What?" asked the other four. "Remember, I'm not just one side in our five sided game. I'm also a patron god of the world and its continued existence. My Harbringers are called whenever there is a large threat - and right now, there is one. So large I'm feeling it, in the form of this headache." "A threat?" asked Genbu, concerned. "What have the humans wrought upon themselves this time?" Byakko chuckled, his words slurring. "It ain't them thish time, Turtle-Boy. I'sh gotta be Cthulhu and Shubby, right, Aoryuu?" "Correct." Aoryuu stood up. "I must go." He concentrated, there was a great flash of green, and he was gone, flying through the Planes to the realm of Earth. "Him shtill gettin' t' do shtuff really really really annoysh me," complained Byakko. * * * He'd been many things in his long life. He'd been Supreme General of the DarkVerse, a one-time leader of the Tokyo Legitimate Businessman's Club, and a highly-ranked cultist within the ranks of the Shubby-chan Happy Happy Joy Joy Fun Club (local #39924-99). He'd manipulated, charmed, lied and cheated his way to the top of various organisations, and generally been the sort of self-important evil person your mother warns you about. He'd been on the verge of taking all power in the Shubby-chan cult for himself, when Shubby-chan had rendered it all for naught by turning him into a vicious monster that spoke in capitalised consonants. True, he was now High General of all Shubby-chan's forces, a position he'd been wanting, but not like this... Deep within the monstrosity that had once been Yoi Maeda, the last of his humanity wailed and beat against the walls of its prison, but was held fast. The rest of the monstrosity that had once been Yoi Maeda didn't particularly care about its inner struggles, and continued beating on Kireiko and Hanaki with its newfound powers of shadow manipulation and mind attacks. * * * His own shadow twisted around his ankle and tripped him, and Kireiko cursed as he tumbled to the ground. He clutched at his head and felt like screaming as his mind was blasted into primal fear and anguish and terror, and he tried to fight back as best he could. He heard Hanaki yelling and then screaming. His head suddenly clear, he looked up and saw Hanaki held fast to the ground by shadows, clutching at her head and screaming something about goldfish. Standing above her was the Maeda-thing, his hands glowing with the same sickly eldritch energy that had absorbed the two minions. "NO!" he shouted, instinctively slashing at the Maeda-monster, wondering in mid-slash what the hell he was doing. But the results were clear enough - white lines of energy trailed behind his claws and shot towards Maeda. The creature looked up a moment too late and the energy hit, drawing deep gashes into its chest and face. It screamed and fell back. Hanaki got to her feet and kicked the thing with her Reinforced Boots of Duality, gouging out large chunks of flesh. It screamed some more and scrabbled away, hurling energy blasts and shadow blasts and mental blasts in its attackers' general direction. They jumped clear as best they could, but couldn't evade the mental attacks. They collapsed, unable to even scream in pain. "aND, NoW," gloated Maeda, "You SHaLL Die!" The creature really should have looked behind itself. Tetsu loomed up behind the Maeda-monster, swinging his Anvil of Duality toward its head. At the last instant, the Maeda-monster felt a premonition of danger. It quickly turned its head, saw the descending anvil, and just managed to evade. The anvil continued on and made a nice little crater in the ground. Maeda snarled and fired a few blasts at the newcomer, but they arced towards the anvil and sputtered out of existence as they hit. "WHaT?" shouted the Maeda-monster. For the sake of the readers, Tetsu shouted, "The Anvil protects me from all energy based attacks!" and swung it at Maeda's head once more. Maeda backpedaled out of the way. With a grunt, Tetsu stopped the swing and turned it into a straight thrust at the monster's chest. Maeda twisted out of the way, but Tetsu was always there, constantly attacking with the Anvil, and Maeda firing a constant barrage of energy blasts at the anvil, with the intention of heating it up to the point where Tetsu could no longer hold it. Tetsu seemed to realise the monster's intention, for he then shouted, "It absorbs the energy completely and never once heats up! And I can then do... THIS!" With a surprising lack of fancy effects, all the energy the Anvil had absorbed flew from it in a focussed beam directed at Maeda. With the supreme speed his new form had, Maeda avoided the blast and it went on to destroy a group of teal-haired Shubby-chan Sailors. Maeda growled and let loose with an undirected mental blast. Testu clutched at his head and went down, along with everyone in a thirty metre radius. This included Shubby-Chan Sailors that were coincidentally between Maeda and one of Yukiko's Snowdrift attacks, a couple of flying ofuda, and a blast of Mermaid's pink firebreath. It was a pity for Maeda that mental blasts don't work very well against physical attacks such as the aforementioned ones heading towards him at High Speed. He screamed as he was set on fire. He screamed some more as, a nanosecond later, the ofuda hit him and reduced his power. A split second after that he was bowled over by the snow and carried for twenty meters before it settled into a pile of snow with one of his legs sticking humourously out of it. * * * Aoryuu's call to the Harbringers went out once more. It delved into the forests in the northeast of Honshuu, the main island of Japan, and alerted the leader Ganno and his protege Amanamuro. Once they recovered from the surprise of having their Harbringer powers back, they teleported to where it was pulling them. It flew through a window in a large office building in the center of Tokyo's business district, alerting Tomoe Hirata in the middle of her workday. Her boss was used to her leaving at weird times to go save the world and didn't mind anymore, just as long as she made up the time some other day. He let her go, and she teleported away a moment later. The call flew through a shopping district, down an alley, and into a clothes shop that predominantly featured black clothes, where Yoruko was browsing. She flinched and clapped a hand to her head, but now that she knew what the call was, she didn't scream. She was gone a moment later. Sakyou felt the call, and then realised that it was calling him to the site of the battle. Specifically, to where the One was being reunited. And he wasn't too far from it, anyway, as he had to stay close to Tejina. He fought his way over. The call broke into the weird world of the Icon and the Emblem and alerted Tejina, but she didn't feel any tug to any particular location. Not entirely surprised by this, considering the weird place she was waiting in, she just continued to wait for whatever the Icon and Emblem were waiting for. Keiko gasped as she felt something odd in her head - a faint sense of calling... And also... Matsuro clutched at his head, feeling the call of the god Aoryuu, being filled with the sense that he had to go in all directions at once yet was exactly where he had to be. His stomach started churning and he felt a sharp pain and pangs of nausea, as if he was about to pull out his Sword of Duality - but he had it in his hands already, didn't he? He opened his eyes and saw that he'd dropped his sword on the ground and it was right in front of his face. That was funny, he thought, he couldn't remember falling... "Matsuro!" everyone shouted at once, and then Keiko was kneeling down beside him. She saw something odd underneath his hair and brushed it away to get a closer look, and gasped at the stylised green dragon that was glowing on his forehead. Hearing more gasps, she looked up and saw that Yoruko had just appeared, and that she and Sakyou also had such sigils on their faces. "What's happening?" yelled Yoruko, panic in her voice. "The end of the world," said Ganno, as he and Amanamuro appeared in the midst of the group. Nobody was particularly surprised to see green dragons on the faces of the two men. "As the legendary defenders of Earth, the Harbringers have been called once more, to protect it in this battle." "But... but! Earlier on in this battle I tried calling the Harbringers and it didn't work! I thought our powers had been stripped from us!" said Sakyou. "Obviously we have them back, boy," sniffed Ganno. "What have I missed?" asked Tomoe as she appeared in their midst. There was a flash of green and Aoryuu, the Green Dragon of Center and Earth, appeared in their midst. "Harbringers," he said, "the Prophesised Time has come." "Prophesised Time?" yelled Chiang. He rolled the scroll that had been passed from Advisor to Advisor down to the Prophecy that the Great Advisor Shiao had made. "Of course! The Champions of the DarkVerse and Crystal Kingdom and the Harbringers! It's all coming together!" "What do you mean, you old-" started Tomoe. She got no further; Aoryuu raised a clawed hand and there was another flash. The Harbringers and Matsuro glowed white and were drawn to where Aki, Becky, and Tejina hung in the air. Matsuro ended up beside the three Sailors, and the five Harbringers were arrayed around them. Their faces were not surprised, but calm and peaceful. Aoryuu stood amidst the group of figures hanging in the air and glowed a bright green. * * * -They come at last- The multicoloured swirl flashed white several times. Once normal vision was restored, the three girls could see that they'd been joined by Matsuro and the Harbringers, all looking quite surprised. "What's going on?" shouted Yoruko, in a near panic. "Show yourself!" yelled Tomoe, her left arm bending in front of her body and her hand moving to her left elbow - and nothing else happened. Her surprised expression became even more surprised. "My sword! I can't draw it!" she shouted. -Calm yourself, Tomoe Hirata- -We are not your enemies- "What's going on?" she asked, her tone suspicious. "Who are you?" A figure appeared before them and became a giant green dragon. "Ryokuryuu!" gasped Ganno, and fell to the ground - or what passed for it - and started kowtowing. "We are not worthy to be-" "YOU ARE," said the dragon. "AND CALL ME AORYUU, I *HATE* THE SOUND OF 'RYOKURYUU'." Everybody sweatdropped. Even the disembodied voices somehow gave the impression of sweatdropping. "OKAY, HARBRINGERS," said the dragon. "THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH." "Begging your Grace's pardon and all, we *know*," said Sakyou, exasperated. "AND, AS IT WAS PROPHESISED LONG AGO BY THE GREAT ADVISOR SHIAO, YOU ARE TO DRAW TOGETHER WITH THESE OTHERS TO PREVENT THE APOCALYPSE FROM COMING TO ALL THE WORLDS." "All the worlds?" asked Ganno. "Even if there are more, we Harbringers are supposed to protect just this one." -Normally yes- -Let us show you, Tetsuya Ganno- A flash... There was an image of many worlds, floating next to each other in space. ("That's physically impossible," came Aki's voice. -It is an acceptable metaphor, Aki Villyn- -Be quiet and watch, please-) The view focussed on one world and started zooming in and in a few moments, give or take a few coastlines, it was visible as Earth. There was some sort of crystalline construction on the major landmasses that glinted as it caught the light of the morning sun. ("The time of the Crystal Kingdom, right?" asked Tejina. -Before the Crystal Kingdom, Tejina Nakao- "Before the Crystal Kingdom? But-" started Becky. -You shall see, Rebecca Petulia Anderson- "I really hate it when people use my full name," muttered Becky.) The view zoomed in and around and time passed quickly, the construction expanding across more of the world. There were images of royalty and nobility in beautiful castles. Then it was images of the common people, going happily about their day-to- day lives, laughing and chatting amiably to each other. ("That's ridiculous," said Tomoe. "Nobody ever likes their job, I doubt they did either." -It was a different day and age, Tomoe Hirata- "Still hard to believe. They'd have to be a different species." -You speak more truth than you realise, Tomoe Hirata-) They were shown an image of two queens sitting and talking amiably. One made a rude joke, a big grin on her face, and the other laughed so hard she almost fell off her chair. They looked very familiar. ("Queen Charity and Ayame!" shouted Aki. "But they hated each other!" -Distant ancestors- -In the time of the Kingdom of Prominence- -In a time when the rivalries of today did not exist- "The Darkverse and the Earth were once the SAME?!?" yelled the three Sailors. Matsuro said something similar, but neither as verbose nor loud. -Yes- "What are you guys talking about?" asked Amanamuro. -Watch and see, Hajime Amanamuro-) There was an image of a council of war. Judging from the wildly different clothing styles and racial features, the ghostly observers guessed that this was a meeting between the worlds they had seen in the first part of the vision. The Ayame-lookalike and Queen Charity- lookalike were conducting it. Prominent on the boards were pictures of a strangely multicoloured gemstone and a woman that looked eerily like a blend of Aki, Becky, and Tejina. ("I have a bad feeling about this," commented Becky. "How so?" asked Amanamuro. "This must be when all the worlds banded together against the Kingdom of Prominence. I heard this from Chiang, they're going to go after that woman and she's going to get turned into stone," explained Becky. "She looks like us, combined together," said Aki, her voice quiet. "If all goes as usual, we'll turn out to be her soul split into three, or something like that," said Becky, with the authority of someone who's seen too much anime for her own good. "And the Baron - convinced we've come back as her for him - goes insane and gets killed in a big battle. It's how that thing sort of goes.") There was a series of quick images, showing what Chiang had already guessed - the woman trying to escape the armies, being trapped in the courtyard, and the spell going wrong and turning her to stone instantly. But at the end there was a difference to Chiang's account - brown, blue, and greenish-yellow blurs flying away from her and delving into the ghostly forms of Aki, Tejina, and Becky, respectively. ("We *are* three parts of her soul," said Becky. "I was afraid of that. Can we allow her to fully die, just because we want to stay separate?" There was a new voice. "Whatever happens," it said softly, "my time is over, and I would not begrudge you your lives. It is all so that the Stone's power can be held in check.") There was a final burst of images. There were the various world leaders arguing with each other about the life of the woman and who was at fault for the entire affair. There were images of them asking if the Stone should be allowed to remain in the Kingdom of Obscurity, questions of which world would get it if it was taken away. There were images of leaders storming from meeting rooms and declaring war... ...Earth mage-scientists experimenting, trying to improve humans for the wars... ...a new and improved type of human emerging from the experiments... ...things going disastrously wrong and hideous monsters being created... ("Youma?" asked Aki. "I suppose so," said Matsuro, shrugging in his usual disinterested bishounen fashion.) ...the Queen Charity-lookalike urging distraught mage-scientists to ignore the failure and continue on. Her and the Ayame-lookalike arguing heatedly. Her storming away... ...the view pulled back, back, back, until the entire world was hanging against the backdrop of space, with all of the other planets from before gone from sight. As they watched, Earth split into two planets, one looking brighter than before and the other being darker and halfway transparent. It stayed there for a few thousand years, growing darker and more transparent as the crystalline constructions of the original planet grew ever brighter and more extensive. There was a final burst of activity between the two planets... ("The war between the DarkVerse and the Crystal City," said Aki hollowly, realising what was happening. "You sound... different, Aki-san," observed Yoruko. "I *saw* the destruction. Everybody was killed. *Everybody!* Mothers, children..." Aki remembered the baby's rattle she'd seen, and choked. "Everyone..." "You saw it?" "In a dream... We can't ever let it happen again..." -True- -It must not happen again-) ...the Crystal Kingdom falling and the brighter planet - the Earth of today, the viewers realised - growing dim and much less bright, and the DarkVerse world fully fading from view... ...and the images faded away into the multicoloured swirl of the strange home of the Icon of Rapturous Delight and the Emblem of Delightful Rapture. Joining the group was an image of the woman who had been turned to stone. "My name is Yalena," she said, "and it is time to correct the many errors of the past." * * * Yoru slowly slithered through the battlefield, staying in the shadows and out of sight on his way to where the Crystal Kingdom's One was being reunited. It wasn't hard to see - there were nine figures glowing a brilliant white and floating in the air, and there were occasional flashes as spears of light disintegrated anything hostile that came too close. There was a fluttering and muffled cursing, and Edgar tumbled out of the sky to make a controlled crash-landing a few meters away. Making sure that the coast was clear and that nobody was looking in their direction, Yoru slithered over to the raven. "One moment following that accursed Matsuro, the next I'm damn crashing on the bloody hardest ground of the entire stupid battlefield..." the raven cursed. "Shut up and get in the shadows," said Yoru, forgetting to hiss. "Have you no respect for a bird's feelings?" asked Edgar. "Owww..." he added. "Shadows, now," ordered Yoru, and slithered back into the all- encompassing shade, followed by a quietly protesting Edgar. Technically, the two had different duties - one was after Matsuro and the Banner, and the other after the One. However, now that Matsuro was hanging in the air along with the girls who would make up the One, the two DarkVerse Advisor Animals could work together to transport them both to the Baron. Once the girls had been united to form the One, of course. After conferring with each other as to the best way to transport them away, Edgar pressed himself further into the shadows, preparing the magic they would need. Yoru slithered forwards, catchng Keiko's attention. "Yoru!" she exclaimed. "Where've you been?" "Here and there," the snake said, hissing as best he could in a sentence without sibilants. "What'sss happening here?" "The Crystal Kingdom's One is being reunited. Only, Matsuro and the Harbringers have been caught up in it as well. It's to do with an ages-old Prophecy." "Interesssting," said the snake. "Yoru," acknowledged Kahi. At the same time he broadcasted, "I'd rip your limbs off and leave you to die if you had limbs, you treacherous snake." "Kahi," said the snake in return, broadcasting a similar message. These broadcasts were completely missed by everyone else and so a socially awkward scene was avoided. * * * Hiryuu flew over the battlefield in another strafing run, scorching at least twenty enemy creatures in one run alone. He rose up in the air, gliding to an almost complete stop. Hovering for a moment, he oriented himself for another run. This was too easy. They were some flying enemies - weird planes that had tentacles acting as propellors and a few others. But they were generally much slower than him and a lot smaller, and their attacks were too weak to get past his armoured scales. The only way they could possibly even hurt him would be by concentrating all their attacks on one spot simultaneously. Given what he'd seen of their organisation, this seemed unlikely. He streaked across the battle once more, breathing out huge gouts of flame, being careful not to aim at his friends. A Cthonic plane creature came screaming out of the sky at him, aiming at his head in a kamikaze run. Hiryuu rolled his eyes and twitched his head out of the way, engulfed the creature in flames as it passed, and banked up and away as another series of planes tried to crash into him. As the burning bodies of the plane-like creatures spiralled down to the ground, Hiryuu wondered what was happening to Aki. She was probably being merged with her friends to form this 'One'. He hoped that she'd come out of the experience okay. He fervently hoped that the three could even be demerged. His ponderings were cut short as another squadron of the plane-like creatures tried to crash into him. He ducked and twisted in the air, avoiding their suicidal runs, and breathed a huge ball of fire over all of the creatures as they crashed into each other. The twelve burning bodies fell to the ground as one gigantic fireball. Hiryuu breathed a huge draconic sigh, and continued his strafing runs over the battlefield. * * * "But Yalena-san," protested Becky, "your soul split into three and became us - how can you be here?" -She has been brought to complete the unification- -She is the One just as much as Delight, Rapture, and Joy are- -Things don't always have to make complete and logical sense, Agent BA-3- "That means that Tejina, Becky and Aki will merge to become this 'One', which is you?" Sakyou nervously asked Yalena. "A reincarnation of myself, for I died back then. I do not wish for life, only to see that the Stone is properly dealt with." Her expression grew sad and her voice heavy and choked with emotion. "To see that the worlds are saved from the madness Stagner-chan will inflict upon them in my name." -And now all are here- -All explanations have been given- -And It can finally begin- With a start, the three Sailors realised that the booming echoes were dying down and the voices were becoming more distinguishable - and there were *three* of them, not two. "Three?" asked Aki. "Isn't there just the Icon and Emblem?" "The Banner of the DarkVerse," said Matsuro. "It must be." -It is, Grand Duke Midnight- As the voice spoke, Matsuro's image changed into that of a DarkVerse military leader, with padded shoulders, a cape, a series of medals on his left breast, a little cap with a skull-and-moon motif on it, and boots. Big gleaming black boots, with nails making an imposing decoration. "Matsuro," said Aki, "You... changed." Matsuro looked down at his outfit, and frowned slightly. "So I've become the Duke now, as well." -Yes, Matsuro Villyn- Matsuro shrugged. "Whatever." Once again there was the impression of the voices sweatdropping. Tejina looked at her friends and Yalena and bit her lip. Could they really do this? "We don't have a choice, do we?" she asked Becky and Aki. "I suppose not," mused Becky. "Don't give us an example from some silly anime," said Aki. "And we do have a choice." "But if we choose *not* to, then what happens?" asked Tejina. "Does this Baron go crazy and destroy everything? We can't let him do that!" "We can fight him as we are," said Aki. "You might call it something from some silly anime," said Becky slowly, "but we can't. If I'm judging that display from before right, thousands of years of history and preparations have gone into this one event right now. Can we throw it all way just because we want to stay separate? And Yalena says it won't be permanent." "Oh, all *right*," agreed Aki. "But if something goes wrong, I'm saying 'I told you so' in advance. I can't do that once we merge." The three moved towards Yalena. Instinctive actions came into their heads, they linked hands and formed a triangle around the woman. Matsuro placed his hand on Aki's shoulder. "Aki," he said quietly, "don't forget to come back." "I... I will, Nii-san." They held eyes for a moment, and then Aki turned back to the others as Matsuro moved away, and Tejina wondered why Sakyou wasn't - "Tejina!" shouted Sakyou. Tejina turned her head. "Yes?" He stood, breathing heavily and nervously. "I... I love you, remember that." "Whatever happens, I love you too." Tears in her eyes, she turned back to face Yalena. An incredible force pulled her towards the woman - and into her, and into her friends, and she became aware of the others' memories and sensations as their minds merged as she lost the boundaries of who she was... Three points of the maelstrom of colour all around them condensed and swirled into the hands of Ganno, the newly reunited One, and Matsuro, becoming the Icon, Emblem, and Banner. The rest of the colour faded away, revealing the real world around them once more. The One opened her eyes. She could remember being Tejina, Aki, and Becky, and also Yalena many centuries ago. She knew their personalities and how they acted. But for now she was none of them - she was the One, and the Champion of the Crystal Kingdom of Delight. With Matsuro and the other five Harbringers, she would help stave off Cthulhu, Shubby-chan, and Stagner's Apocalypse. It seemed like a tall order for just seven people. Matsuro, dressed in full Grand Duke Midnight regalia, looked at her appraisingly. "You're giving off happy feelings," he finally pronounced. "And you have a green dragon symbol on your forehead." "I do?" Her hand flew to her forehead, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to feel it. Aoryuu appeared in mid-air and touched down lightly, his green hair settling around his shoulders as he landed. "All Harbringers are present and the One is with them," he pronounced. "The full force of Seven has finally been realised, and the worlds can be saved from the coming Apocalypse." Everyone turned to face Aoryuu- In the moment of distraction, Yoru sprang from Keiko's shoulders at the Crystal Kingdom's One, yelling something incoherent. At the same time, Edgar fluttered out of the shadows, chanting something dark and eldritch-sounding, building to a crescendo. They'd barely started their offensive when the Icon, Emblem, and Banner flared and shot lances of light and dark energy at the two advisors. There were twin thumps as the unconscious bodies of the two animals hit the ground. * * * The Baron stared through his takeout banana flavoured malt, breath coming short and fast. It was her, his long lost darling Yalena, it *had* to be. And she was back! But... everything was going wrong! She was the Crystal Kingdom's One, and she was on the opposing side! Edgar and Yoru had been taken out by the Icon and Emblem, and even the Banner! Well, he thought bitterly, Phase One of his plans was a complete shambles. He'd just have to grab the One and the Banner himself. Hired help just wasn't like it used to be. It was time for the backup Phase Two. He pulled out the special thermos - special not because of the liquid inside it, but because of the spells set on it. As he opened it, steam started escaping from the metal cylinder. He poured a little bit of the water into the cap of the thermos and it sizzled, more steam appearing and merging into a large cloud appearing over the table. A hint of a face could be seen in its depths. "*Yes Baron?*" the cloud of steam appeared to say. "Arisu. It is time. Seal off the Kingdom of Obscurity." "*Very well.*" Nothing seemed to happen, but appearances were sometimes decieving. The Baron tentatively probed out to the Kingdom of Obscurity, and found he couldn't access anything. Good. It had been done - nothing would be accidentally barging into the Kingdom of Obscurity now, and not for quite some time. It was time to call in Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath for real. * * * "Yoru?" asked Keiko, stunned. "What was that about?" asked Yumeki. Kahi realised there were no other DarkVerse Advisor animals to complain about his hissing, and took full advantage of the situation. "Obviousssly they are working for ssssomeone elssssse." "Probably for the Baron," said the One. "And who issssss thisssssss Baron?" hissed Kahi. "Kahi, could you stop hissing like that?" asked Mariko. "Its hard to understand you when you hiss that much." "Who iss thiss Baron, anyway?" asked Kahi, turning the hissing down. "Baron Stagner von Carlson," started Ayame, with a tone of informative authority entering her voice as she went into the obligatory long run- on sentence of the chapter, "is the ruler of the Kingdom of Obscurity and has presumably been so for so long that he was the ruler of the Kingdom of Prominence which was the precurser to the Kingdom of Obscurity before there was what appeared to be a big war over a powerful multicoloured gemstone of power, during which there was an accident that trapped the Baron's love of the time as a statue, many thousands of years ago, and if the snake and the raven were indeed working for him then that means there is more going on here than we realise, however, we have no idea exactly what it could be, or what he would achieve by capturing or killing both Matsuro, who is the reincarnation of the Grand Duke Midnight of the DarkVerse, and the One of the Crystal Kingdom of Delight of the Crystal Millennium, who we really must give a name to as soon as possible because calling her the One of the Crystal Kingdom every time one wishes to refer to her takes time and gets annoying quite quickly," she took a deep breath, because even though she was a master of circular breathing there were occasions when a deep breath to insert a pause into a lengthy run-on sentence of redundant exposition were useful, which Ayame knew well for not only was she a master of exposition, she also knew a lot about Drama and its applications, especially those related to exposition, which was perfectly understandable considering the talents Ayame has for expostion, and once this little internal dialogue on the essentially intertwined natures of Exposition and Drama had played itself it inside her head, taking less than half a second, she continued on, "however we do presume that because of the role played by the various worlds in the war that turned the Kingdom of Prominence into the Kingdom of Obscurity, the Baron wishes to rain vengeance down upon all those who had a hand in obscuring his world and trapping his love as a statue all those thousands of years ago, and we believe she is called Yalena based on the evidence of a small sign erected at the base of her petrified form, and this is really quite an understandable motive for vengeance, but even so, nothing can excuse the wholesale genocide of multiple worlds he appears to be fixated upon." "I... see," said Kahi, so stunned he forgot to hiss. "So he's a loony out to get both the DarkVerse and Crystal Kingdom." "That's what I said," said Ayame. "That's not all you said," Kahi totally failed to say. "Her account is correct," said the One. "And I, the One of the Crystal Kingdom, am a reincarnation of Yalena. If all else fails, he will perhaps listen to me and cease his mad schemes." "That is highly unlikely," said Chiang. "He seems to be too far gone to listen to reason." "You could just call her Yalena," said Amanamuro, who had fixated on one particular item in the middle of the sentence. "WHAT?" asked nearly everyone. "Amanamuro-kun, please explain your non-sequitur," said Ganno. "Y'know, she was wondering what to call The One to stop confusion and such. You could go with her old name and call her Yalena," said the man, sweating profusely. "I see. Amanamuro-kun, we shall discuss this later," said Ganno. "Indeed we shall, Hajime-*chan*," said Hirata, more than just a hint of steel in her voice. "It is a nice thought, Hajime-kun," said the One. "However, Tejina Nakao, Aki Villyn, and Rebecca Anderson are also incorporated into my self, and my old name Yalena doesn't quite encompass their selves and what they bring to this union." "Er... right," said the hapless Harbringer. Matsuro cleared his throat, and pointed his sword at the battlefield, where the battle between the forces of Cthulhu and the forces of Shubby-chan, with their friends in the middle, was still raging. "I suggest we join in. They could use the help." They looked at the battle and saw a big mess. There were the many and various forces of Cthulhu, which included the dreaded Clowns and PikaCthulhus, and the now standard regiment of Hello Cthulhu monsters of cuteness. There were the forces of Shubby-chan, which seemed to mostly consist of the many Sailor clones, though there were a few cultists with Big Guns flitting around the place. The DarkVerse Generals had brought their youma forces to bear, and while they weren't amazingly effective there were huge numbers of them. As they watched, Malaise and Vuudu brought a new squad of youma through a large portal, and the new arrivals immediately fell to fighting a group of orange haired Sailor clones. There was even a group of tap- dancing robots that didn't seem affiliated with any of the other sides. And of course, there were their friends and associates - Kireiko, Hanaki, Hiryuu, the minions, the Dragon Childe, Yukiko, Koji, the Darkverse Generals, the priestesses and the Mason Tetsu... hardly enough for the huge numbers arrayed against them. A large bluefaced monster dressed in what had once been an impeccably white suit burst free from a pile of dirty snow and start flinging energy blasts every which way in a blind rage, roaring inarticulately. The energy blasts were powerful enough to cut down anything in their paths and continue on, without even slowing down. "A withdrawal looks like the best option at this point," said Chiang. "True," agreed Ayame. "The two main forces can whittle themselves down by fighting each other and we can step in afterwards. We also have time we can use to rest and heal up and plan the best use of the Harbringers and the two Champions." "'The Seven Champions of Earth' might be a better name at this point," observed Amanamuro. "True," said Aoryuu. "Ah... right," said Ayame, trying not to get angry. "Now, the withdrawal?" "Sounds like plan," said Zathras. Sakyou looked at the raging battlefield. "But how do we tell the others we're withdrawing?" "Let me handle that," said Ayame. Closing her eyes, she sent out a mental call to the two Sailors in the battle - Hanaki and Yukiko - telling them to withdraw. "Hopefully, they'll be able to get away." Hirata rolled her eyes. "Obviously you have no idea of the strengths of your allies. Harbringers, go." With that, she teleported onto the battlefield. Catching on, the other four Harbringers and even the One joined in, picking up their friends and teleporting them back to the impromptu council of war. The entire group then teleported to the dilapidated old house that was the Harbringer's headquarters. Well, almost the entire group - the DarkVerse Generals teleported away on their own, to inform Queen Charity of the latest developments. * * * Deep in the the sewer sanctum of the Cthulhu cult (local #39924-91), the Dread Cthulhu monitored the progress of the battle, and cursed. As he was an Elder One that had been in existence for a long enough time for words such as 'millennia' to be inadequate, he knew a great many curses - curses that would drive a human insane and make his or her skin crawl up his or her nose. As all the cultists present were already insane or mutated into helpful Cthonic servants, this didn't matter all that much. He supposed the battle against the forces of Shub-Niggurath was proceeding, but the Light of the World - or what the Light of the World seemed to have become, which was giving off feelings of ever stronger power - had teleported away. And all his immediately available forces were busy fighting Shubby-chan's forces, unable to just up and leave to go grab the Light of the World. He supposed he could go grab her himself but would have preferred to remain low-profile until he was ready and all obstacles were dealt with. He twisted the face of his current host into a nasty grin. This was when cultists came in useful. "BROTHERS TARO AND KNOLL," he commanded, and the two freshly mutated cultists appeared before him. "YOU SHALL GO THIS ADDRESS, CAPTURE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, AND DESTROY ANYBODY ELSE PRESENT." "Yes O Great Cthulhu!" they shouted. "SHAGADELIC AND SMASHING, BABY," said Cthulhu. Noticing them staring at him, he continued, irritably, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET *GOING*." They sweatdropped and disappeared in a burst of tentacles. Cthulhu sat back and mused. The two cultists should be able to do it - after all, they had gone and found that American actress quite a while ago. And if they didn't succeed... well, he'd have to handle things personally. * * * Within the Shubby-chan Happy Happy Joy Joy Fun Club (local #39924-99), Shubby-chan snapped her eyes open. "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD HAS LEFT THE BATTLE! AIKA! GET A TEAM TOGETHER AND GO TO THIS LOCATION!" ordered Shubby-chan, projecting the image and address of where the Light of the World had disappeared to into the gun-happy cultist's mind. Aika smirked. This would be fun. "BUT DO *NOT* KILL THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, AIKA," said Shubby-chan, leaning ominously towards the cultist. "OR IT SHALL GO VERY HARD FOR YOU." Aika's smile fell. That meant she'd have to be careful. She'd have to pick her targets. She wouldn't be able to use grenades or rockets for fear of accidentally damaging the Light of the World. This would not be all that fun after all. Shubby-chan watched the cultist leave and felt that she was almost certain to screw things up. "IF WORST COMES TO WORST," she mumbled as best she could with her booming voice, "I'LL HAVE TO HANDLE IT PERSONALLY." * * * The Baron looked up from his bean and carrot noodle soup, sweating from the exertion of casting suggestion magic through scrying spells set on murky liquids, and felt almost like passing out from the effort. That had not been easy. It had been made harder because of the Elder One and Outer God nature of the targets. But if all had gone well, the two would show up at the headquarters of the Harbringers shortly and start fighting each other. He'd have to get Yalena out of there before they showed up. * * * The first item of business was the vision the One, Matsuro, and the Harbringers had seen during the reunification process. It was important and it felt like time was running out, so the One spoke as quickly as possible and managed to condense several thousand years' history into just five minutes. "I... see," said Ayame. She looked at the floor, downcast. "Earth and the DarkVerse were once the same world and humans and youma have common ancestry..." "It doesn't matter that much anyway," said Chiang. "Whatever we do with this information, it would still be advisable to team up with the DarkVerse queen immediately, as the DarkVerse is facing the same threat as Earth. Are there any present opposed to this course of action?" The sage looked around. There was grumbling, but also comments along the lines of "we practically are already," and nobody raised any objections. "Very well. To the Villyn household." The Baron showed up a few seconds later, just missing them, demonstrating that even if you have an incredible spy network that can be set up to monitor anything anywhere in the world in less than a minute, you can still be behind the times. A few minutes after that the Cthulhu and Shubby-chan operatives showed up and saw each other. They called for backup and started fighting. * * * "Our two worlds were once the SAME?" yelled Queen Charity. "Yes," said Ayame shortly. She might have to ally herself with the woman, but she didn't have to like it. "Apparently our distant ancestors were once very close friends." "Certainly nothing like now," said Queen Charity coldly. "It doesn't matter!" yelled Chiang. "For now the Kingdom of Obscurity is presenting a threat to both our worlds. You can argue about what this means later, but for now we have to ally our forces!" "Please," pleaded the One. "We need your help. Queen Vengeance, our worlds need you." Charity looked at the girl and chewed her lip. This meant she'd be *helping* Earth, instead of taking it over like she'd always intended. But if she didn't, then the chances of the DarkVerse falling to whatever madness this Baron was planning were much higher. "I... I shall help," she said cautiously. "Afterwards... I don't know. But for now, I will help." WHAT SHALL HAPPEN NEXT? WAS THE REST OF BECKY'S PREDICTION CORRECT? OR WILL THE BARON GET LUCKY? OR WILL THE DO-GOODERS FIGHT BACK AND PREVENT THE BARON BRINGING AN APOCALYPSE TO ALL THE WORLDS? WILL CTHULHU OR SHUBBY-CHAN GET LUCKY AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD? OR WILL VILLYN GET REALLY REALLY LUCKY AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD? HOW LONG WILL THIS NEW ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE REMNANTS OF THE CRYSTAL CITY AND THE DARKVERSE LAST? WHY DIDN'T MR. DEEP ONE ROGERS MAKE AN APPEARANCE IN THIS CHAPTER? DOES THE AUTHOR WANT TO STOP WRITING THIS CHAPTER? IS HIS CAPS LOCK KEY STUCK? IS THERE A REASON HE USED A LAME OLD GAG LIKE THAT? Hopefully all these questions, and any others you might have, shall be answered next time when Do-Gooders is finally brought to a close by John Evans. That's right, folks, it's no longer 'to be continued', but 'to be concluded' time. Author's Notes -------------- I've got a million and one things I'd like to say. However, that'd take too long, so I'll try to be brief. This is my eighth chapter of Do Gooders and I don't want it to stop; but all things have to end sometime. It's been an absolute blast over the last year and four months (or thereabouts) that Do Gooders has been going. It was THE fic that drew me into Improfanfic all those months ago. It was also the fic that eventually turned into the example of how to not write an Impro well, which I always thought was a shame. Oh well. They have been lessons well learnt, so Do-Gooders has not suffered cast bloat and plot-angle bloat for nothing. To everyone who's read and written for Do-Gooders, a great big thank you, just for supporting the story. Yeesh, it's starting to sound like these are the notes at the end of the final chapter, not the second last chapter. I'll leave any more gushy stuff for Evans-san. ^_^; Apologies to Mark Elliot for setting my chapter partially during his, and hacking around with some of what he wrote. And also for not following up on Mr. Deep One Rogers - I had no idea who this was a reference to and felt I couldn't do him justice. Thanks go to my suicidally loyal band of prereaders, for ideas and picking me up on my silly mistakes, both typographical and storywise. They (the prereaders, not the silly mistakes) are: Jonatan Streith Philip Barkow Kate Malloy Signus Megido Give them all a round of applause and a cheer or two. Huzzah! For those who were wondering, the number of words in that long run-on sentence was 424. Nowhere near Eckert-san's 871 word run-on sentence in chapter 57. Oh well, I had to see how many words I could go for, I guess. Thanks must go to Will McDuff for starting that particular tradition. ^_^ See you next time in Final Fantasy Legacy chapter 17. Thank you for reading. Steven Scougall 1st April 2000 http://www.crosswinds.net/~sscougall/