It wasn't exactly on the top of my list to have a showdown with Arashimaru so soon after arriving, especially when he had been so polite and generous as to store my and Makoto's soon-to-be-disrespectful butts here.

Then again, I also didn't expect to meet children running around in mini-skirts fighting against supernatural creatures and being led around by a talking cat.

Life was just unpredictable like that.

I'd been unable to meet Arashimaru right after I got home the day before since he was out patrolling the area. Apparently there was some sort of magical drug trade that'd been garnering his attention. I internally grated at the idea; here there was something he should have been dealing with immediately, and instead he was chasing after other random leads.

Luckily, I received word from Tamako that he'd be back later today. Even more luckily, I didn't have to worry about Makoto eavesdropping on our conversation, as she was over at the study session with Usagi and her friends.

I was glad that Makoto could spend her free time possibly making new friends, but I was also somewhat worried that it wasn't such a smart idea, since Usagi's friends were probably (okay, definitely) the other senshi. However, Makoto convinced me that she wouldn't be in any danger. I reluctantly agreed; I knew Luna wasn't going to cause any harm to my daughter, and I doubted the other senshi had the nerve to outright antagonize Makoto. Still, it didn't mean I couldn't worry.

I guess I'd just have to take out my frustrations on the semi-deserving Arashimaru.

Returning back to the safehouse after taking a walk to calm my nerves and notorious temper, I reached out for the door only to have it open just before I touched it. Tamako appeared in the doorway with her normal, stoic expression. She granted me a small nod.

"Sir Dresden, you have most fortuitous timing," she said. "Sir Arashimaru has just arrived home and is taking a break in his study."

I couldn't bring myself to give her a smile in return, instead giving a crooked scowl. My temper was still running too hot. "Is he? Great. I have some things I really need to discuss with him."

She must've noticed my change in demeanor, because her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit. Still, she granted me entrance and led me to straight to Arashimaru's room. Bowing slightly, she gestured at the door. "Please, Sir Arashimaru is inside." With that, she glided away, her slippered feet making no noise on the wooden floor.

I knocked on the door. From inside, I heard a voice telling me to come in. With permission granted, I opened the door, swept in, and witnessed the controlled chaos that was Arashimaru's lab.

It looked less like the traditional wizard's lab - with mystical items, grimoires, random objects, and magic circles - and more like the inside of a mad scientist's laboratory. Multiple beakers, Bunsen burners, measuring devices, and the like were scattered around the room with no apparent organization to them. There were several maps pinned up on the wall, some of the city and others of the surrounding country, but there was also a fair amount of hand-drawn weather maps, detailing the current patterns in the same areas.

I could make out a few devices designed to gauge weather, including an old mercury barometer, weather vane, and wind speed indicator – the latter of which was whirling away despite the fact that it was indoors. There was a tower of notebooks next to them, full to bursting with loose papers shoved haphazardly between the pages. Beside those were a few textbooks focused on meteorology.

Arashimaru was in the center of the room, focused intently on a small glass bottle the size of two fists put together. Inside, I could make out a foggy mist with small arcs of electricity racing back and forth. Before I could inspect it more, Arashimaru turned around, and a large smile crossed his face.

He raised a hand in greeting, the other lifting the pair of goggles from his eyes and settling them on his forehead. "Ah, Warden Dresden, to what do I the pleasure?"

I could've eased in. I could've explained my frustrations. I could've been diplomatic.

I've never been good at any of those.

"What the hell are you doing?" I ground out between my teeth.

The grin dropped off his face. "Pardon?"

"What the hell are you doing? Are you even aware of what's going on?"

He pursed his lips. "Warden Dresden, if you do not explain what you are accusing me of, I can't very well explain myself with any form of adequacy," he responded, with that calm, placating tone of voice that only ever seems to piss people off more.

I sighed. "I'm talking about the girls that are playing superhero in your jurisdiction."

A light went on in his eyes. "Ah." He removed his goggles from his head completely and gently placed them on the table next to the lightning jar. "I see. That's what you meant."

"Yeah, that's what I meant," I said. "What are you thinking, letting children fight when it should be your responsibility, or, heck, anyone else's? They can't be any older than middle school!"

"I would stop them if I could, Dresden," he said politely. "But it's a bit more complicated than that."

"Complicated?" I scoffed. "How could it be complicated? Find them, stop them, do something about the monsters they fight. There, done! How hard could that be?"

"It's hard because I have yet to actually witness them fighting, or even meet them."

I stopped short at that. "What?"

"These so-called 'Sailor Senshi'?" he said. "They're almost like ghosts when it comes to their fights. I'm never able to find them before they finish fighting, and my attempts to track them down afterward have all failed miserably. I'm barely able to get a scent on their general area before they completely vanish from radar. The only reason I'm even aware of them is from the massive collateral damage they leave from their battles and second-hand knowledge from eye-witnesses. Speaking of which..."

He walked over to a table positioned next to the wall and scrounged around before pulling out a small magazine. He flipped it to a page in the middle before handing it to me. "Did you know that they're a bit of a sensation in this city?"

I glanced at the magazine and my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. There, in full HD and color, were three girls in the gaudiest and girliest outfits, posing in front of a creature much like the ones I had incinerated a couple days ago (which I assumed were called youma from the bits and pieces yesterday). A couple more photos showed them fighting a 'youma', shooting off blasts of fire and blankets of mist.

'The warriors of love and justice, the Sailor Senshi!' 'Proud defenders of Azabu-Juuban!' 'Protectors of the weak, our lovable heroes!'

I looked up at Arashimaru. "You're kidding me."

He arched an eyebrow. "I only wish." He took the magazine back. "As you can tell, they're obviously well-known in this area. Not only that, but they have a bit of a following."

"So how could you not..." I trailed off as my brain finally caught up with my mouth. "This is because of that glamour on them, isn't it?"

He blinked at my sudden deduction. "Yes, and a rather potent one, in fact. How did you know?"

"I actually came across one of them. Face was in full view and yet I couldn't pull her out of a lineup even if I tried." Well, okay, that was a definite fib, but up until I knew it was actually Usagi, I wouldn't have believed it.

His interest obviously stoked, Arashimaru leaned forward. "Truly? You came across one?"

"She'd just defeated some random demon, or youma, I guess, before I got there. Disappeared before I could really ask any questions." Also true, though it did make me feel guilty about smearing the truth to the man.

"That is a shame. I would have liked to find any information that could reveal their identities." Double ouch.

Not noticing my inner turmoil, he frowned and looked at the pictures. "Despite having their pictures plastered across every magazine and newspaper in the prefecture, and presumably even the internet, no one has been able to recognize them even though they make absolutely no effort to hide their identities. Whatever spell they're using, it's a powerful one. Because of that, I've made no progress in tracking them, through magical or mundane means."

I took a closer look, and saw for myself what he meant. One of the pictures gave me a good look at Sailor Moon's face, and even I would have called myself crazy to think that it was my daughter's new friend. It was just little things - little twists to the face that made me feel as if Pigtail Spice just couldn't be Usagi. Guh, a glamour that even worked through print. She doesn't even wear glasses!

I shook my head. "Well, have you've been able to find out anything about them?" I pressed.

"Some," he admitted. "As you can see, there's a total of three in the city right now - Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars. Moon seems to be the leader, as she tends to be the one to take these so-called 'youma' down." A small smile slipped out. "Also, I have news that there's another of these senshi out in England, going by the name of Sailor V. Apparently, she's been at it for a couple years now."

"England?" I said surprised. "How the heck is there a rogue spell-caster literally running around in the White Council's backyard?" The White Council's HQ was located near England, so to have someone blatantly fighting monsters in broad view of the not-clued-in public was more than just a slap in the face; it was a slap in the face with an iron gauntlet.

"They're having the same problems I am – a glamour prevents people from recognizing her, and all attempts at tracking fall flat. Luckily, they've managed to find counter-measures to lessen the impact of a young girl blasting baddies."

"Oh, and what's that?" I asked snarkily.

"They're touting her as a magical idol," he chuckled.

My mind's needle skipped a groove. "Wha?"

"The regional warden managed to get help from a local producer and had them publicize this Sailor V as a 'magical girl' performer, holding public performances of her stopping some evil syndicate. Every time she shows up and gets into a fight, they clean up by pretending they were shooting a live scene. The public loves it; if she ever stops fighting, she'd be a shoe-in in the entertainment industry. I've already set up similar arrangements over here with a friend."

Grinding the transmission, I attempted to get my thoughts back on track. Stay focused, Harry. It didn't matter how stupid or inane the situation was becoming; I had to get my displeasure across to this guy. I gritted me teeth, refusing to back down. I wasn't going to take these excuses. There was no reason that Arashimaru could just allow Usagi and the others to fight without exploiting any way possible to stop them.

It went double if this kind of thing had been going on for two whole years in London and several months here in Japan.

"What about the White Council, then?" I said, my tone getting a bit heated now. "I'm pretty sure they wouldn't just allow children to flaunt their powers in front of the vanilla mortals. Didn't you ask them for help in the matter?"

"I did, in fact," he said. "When I spoke to them, they told me to, and I paraphrase for brevity here, 'handle it myself.'"

Figures. Magical government or not, the White Council was still a bureaucracy, and that meant being no help at all while still demanding that its minions drop everything if needed.

Arashimaru gave me a wry look. "In case you might have forgotten, we are currently at war with the Red Court. Apparently a bunch of teenagers fighting random monsters is a lower priority than making sure the Reds don't wipe us out."

I winced at that. Though not really my fault, I was partially responsible for prematurely kicking off a skirmish between the White Council and Red Court vampires when I incinerated an entire mansion of them during my early years in Chicago. The Reds had been planning to wage a war against the White Council for a long time; I just sorta accelerated the process.

Even so, the war was not going well. We had lost a lot of good comrades because of it, and promoted a lot of greenhorns to fill in the gaps left behind by the older ones' deaths. Heck, if it wasn't for the war, there was no way I'd be a warden right now, given all the red in my ledger.

I sighed mentally. There really was no reason for me to be so aggressive towards Arashimaru. It was obvious he'd been doing all he could, and me barging in and accusing him of failing at his job wasn't helping him in the least. I had forced my morals and ideals on the man, and that was wrong.

I relaxed my shoulders and scratched the back of my neck. "Sorry, Arashimaru, I didn't mean to be so rough. It just really bothered me that there are children fighting out there when there could be more experienced people doing it for them."

Arashimaru smiled gently. "Don't worry about, Dresden. I can understand your feelings on the matter. I don't relish the idea of young people fighting when they do not have to, either. That belief has only become stronger with all the good friends I have met and lost in the past few years."

"Yeah," I said. "Sorry anyway."

"Once again, pay it no heed. However, if you're feeling that apologetic, maybe you can help me on something."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Well, since you seem so adamant about stopping these girls, do you have any information you can share? Anything would be helpful, and the more I know, the easier it'll be to find these kids and get them to stop."

I hesitated. My daughter was involved, now, and I didn't want Usagi or the other two resident senshi to get in trouble with the White Council, not if I could stop them without outing them. Even if they weren't technically breaking any of the seven laws, they were still skirting pretty close to the unofficial ones. Using magic in a public venue was firmly looked down upon, and the constant collateral damage they were causing (as mentioned by Arashimaru, several points in the magazine article, and even alluded to by Usagi herself) did not endear them to normal mortal officials. I had enough trouble back in Chicago with all the random fires I started in the line of duty, and I had Murphy on my side. Their hearts may have been in the right place, but these girls were delinquents at best in the eyes of both the police and the Council.

Also, as much as I didn't want to think on it, this was extremely similar to the start of darkness for most warlocks. Most warlocks were just ignorant kids who didn't have anyone to explain their powers to them, used them in the wrong way once to break a law, and then fell ass over teakettle down the slippery slope. With how reckless the girls were, it was only a matter of time before an innocent bystander got caught in the crossfire.

Even worse than that, Luna would definitely be put to the blade should she be discovered. Most supernatural creatures weren't heavily hunted down, because it was simply in their nature to act the way they did; they didn't have free will the way humans or other creatures with souls did. Luna, while not human, most certainly had a soul considering the soulgaze I'd shared with her.

She knew what was she was doing, and she believed it was the right thing to do.

Those two things combined were the road paved with good intentions that led to hell. I'm sure the council would make an exception and use the silver sword on her, human or not.

Cautiously, I gave a censored version of the events that'd happened yesterday afternoon. I mentioned Zoisite attacking the young man, how I'd chased him down, and the youma he'd sicced on me. I also mentioned the possible correlation between the other youma that had tried to eat me earlier that day. As a big point, I mentioned the young man who'd been transformed and purified, and had Arashimaru promise to keep some surveillance in case there were any setbacks. I didn't mention Luna, that my daughter had helped the man who'd been turned into a youma, or that she'd transformed into another senshi.

Arashimaru seemed particularly interested in the crystals Zoisite had attacked the man for, and the fact that he appeared to be an enemy of the senshi. I theorized that the crystals must be part of some ritual, which probably wasn't too far from the truth given what little Luna had told me about them.

"Zoisite seems like my best bet for finding out more about these senshi and the animosity between the two groups," I said. "So I figured I'd try to follow up on the matter, see if I can stop him from trying it again."

"There's no need for that," Arashimaru said politely. "I thank you for the offer of assistance, but this is my appointed territory, and I only find it appropriate to take care of the matter myself."

"Are you sure?" I prodded. "Because, really, I have no problem staying to help out. I have to make sure my daughter doesn't run into this whacko again." For multiple reasons.

He shook his head. "No, I have to respectfully decline. There's no need for you to stay any longer than you'd originally planned. You have your own region to look after, after all. I assure you, your daughter will be safe here. On my word."

"If you're sure..." I trailed off.

"Dresden," he said firmly, locking eyes with me. I glanced down before the pulling of the soul gaze started. Yikes. "I'm sure."

"Fine, if you say so." I looked around the room aimlessly. "I suppose if that's all that can be done, I'll leave you to your experiments."

"I thank you for that. But do know I will do my best to make sure your daughter is not brought in to the crossfire," he said. Yeah, good luck with that. "I will see you later, Warden Dresden."

I exited the room and walked back over to my temporary room.

From the curt way Arashimaru had ended the conversation, I had the feeling that he knew I hadn't told him everything. I wasn't exactly the best liar, something that's gotten me in trouble more than a few times, and it was an unfortunate trait I'd transferred over to Makoto. Hopefully he wouldn't feel the need to interrogate her, though I didn't see him as the type of person who would.

Hopefully Makoto was having more luck with her 'investigation' of the senshi.

A bead of sweat trickled down from my temple to the side of my cheek. My eyes twitched in their sockets. A lump formed and lodged itself in the back of my throat.

I was very much in a pinch.

I stared at the crisscrossing amalgamation of lines and curves that formed eldritch, archaic symbols in front of me. Ever since I started living with papa, symbols like these had become an ever-increasing source of annoyance for me. That line had to go that way, but only after this line swooped in this direction. Trying to make sense out of these blasted runes only got more frustrating the longer I lived in Chicago, and now they were being thrown at me like rice at a wedding.

Not helping were my current jailors. They hadn't left me alone since I arrived, bombarding me with something new and unknown every time I started making headway. To think that I had walked into this situation completely of my own volition, thinking it was the smart thing to do.

I'd certainly learned my lesson.

The person in front of me gave a not-unkind smile, obviously pushing me to try and solve the nonsensical enigma in front of me. Their partner followed it with a barely concealed scowl, swallowed up in a thin-set line.

The classic 'good cop' and 'bad cop.' Given their attitudes, Scowly Pants was the mean one. I'd seen the situation enough with papa and big sis, though the two tended to mix up who was good and who was bad, sometimes the difference being purely relative (and occasionally, not even that).

And then there was that one time uncle Tom came in with half his shirt off, Bobbu started to twang out a cheesy porno tune, and everything went downhill from there.

I held back an annoyed growl and resisted the urge to scratch my head, a bad habit I'd picked up from papa during his own 'tutoring' sessions.

At least these captors didn't threaten to literally light a fire under my butt if I took too long or got distracted from my task. …Though, if I was right about them, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened sooner or later...

But no, I had to solve this problem; it was the only thing I could do. I'd at least managed to narrow it down to a few possibilities. I just had to take a stab in the dark on the answer.

My tongue momentarily slipped out. "Um... 'create'?"

"No, sorry," the 'nice' one said. "It's 'divide'. But you were close!" She smiled again, almost seeming apologetic for correcting me. "Those two are really similar to one another; they even have the same number of strokes. Here, let me show you where you probably messed up." She proceeded to demonstrate the differences between the kanji.

I snuck a cross look at the sheet of sixth-grade kanji lying in front of me – or, as papa liked to call them, darn moon symbols.

I was currently getting a crash refresher course on the kanji I'd never formally learned while living in America with papa. It was the day after the explosive contact with Usagi and Luna, and I had come to one of her friend's house, the pro genius, for some private tutoring.

I glanced back up at the young teen who was showing me the common pitfalls between similar kanji in a quick and easy-to-understand manner.

Ami Mizuno was a small girl, barely any taller than Usagi. Her frame was slimmer, with a heart-shaped face rather than the blonde's rounder one. Her short, slightly curly hair was of a similar color and sheen to Luna's, a dark black that seemed almost bluish in the right light, though it was much more noticeable on her than on that darn moon cat. Ironically, her personality was much closer to Usagi's namesake than the flighty girl's would ever be - Ami was a quiet, gentle, and soft girl that looked like she would freeze up at the slightest exposure to social awkwardness or conflict.

In other words, she hit all the right switches on my cuteness sensors.

She also had the same kernel of magical power located right near her heart that Usagi did, which only validated my suspicions she was one of the two other senshi Luna and Usagi had mentioned.

Things weren't helped by the girl's partner/watcher/bodyguard, who was sitting by Ami's side on the opposite end of the low table from me and attempting to glare a hole through my face.

Ms. Scowly Pants's name was Rei Hino, and judging by the near-identical magic lump in her chest, she was probably also a cosplay soldier and not very pleased with me. Unlike Ami and Usagi, she had a more cool look and personality to her. When I looked at her, I imagined a more regal, female version of Mister.

I really had to hold in the chortles that threatened to escape at that thought.

With long, pitch-black hair that reached to the small of her back, a narrow face with high cheekbones, and a lithe, dancer's body, Rei was the epitome of the classic Japanese Yamato Nadesico.

I'm sure those looks would actually mean something if her face wasn't trying to scrunch itself out of existence.

Why wasn't Usagi here to join in on the awkwardness? Rei had told me that the blonde couldn't make it because she had to - and here I quote - "Shampoo Luna."

Now, normally I would immediately call bullcrap upon hearing the sort of excuse normally used to blow off a bad date... but this was Usagi making the excuse. Honestly, I had to take a grain of salt with my usual cynicism when it came to that girl.

I did have to wonder why Usagi hooked me up with her two friends and magical girl comrades, and yet didn't think to act as some kind of mediator between us. Things hadn't exactly been, well, all that great when we left the karaoke bar - not bad, but not fantastic either. And given the way Rei was looking at me, she obviously didn't take too kindly to the ultimatum papa had forced on them. So... awesome.

Ami must've mistaken my frustration at the situation as annoyance with the busywork in front of me, because she frowned nervously. "I-I'm sorry, am I going too fast? Maybe I'm not as good at kanji as I thought. Would it be better if we review the previous set again?" She looked down, her fingers touching each other in twitching motions.

I waved my hands in front of me. "No, no, you're fine, really!" I rushed to assure her. Just what I needed, scaring a girl that looked like she'd pass out if you blew on her too hard. I tapped my pencil on the sheet, trying to distract myself from my swirling thoughts. "It's just been a really long time since I had to actually write in Japanese. I kinda spent my first three years or so in Chicago learning a completely different language, so kanji was on the back-burner for me. Heck, I'm surprised I even recognize most of these."

"'Least you're doing better than Dumpling-Head," Rei snorted. Her expression was still cross, but I could see the start of a curling to her lips as she mentioned the missing girl. "She's full-blown Japanese and has the comprehension of an elementary student." The curl disappeared. "Though saying you're better than her isn't really much of a compliment."

I laughed nervously. "Um, so, have you been friends long? She speaks pretty highly of you."

The two shared a brief look. Rei stuck her nose up. "Of course! For a long while now. I don't know what the idiot would do without us."

Ami hesitated for a brief moment. "Yes, we've... been together for a long time. In fact, it seems like it was a lifetime ago when we first met."

...Huh. Don't know why they were exaggerating that much, but still, nice to know they cared about the blonde. Still, why'd they have to fib about something as simple as that? Before I could try and pursue the matter further, Ami zigged into a different topic.

"Um, h-how about yourself, Makoto? Do you have a lot of friends back in Chicago?"

Oi, right to the heart. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. "A few," I said. "Lots of acquaintances but not too many that I'm close to, at least in school."

My constant heroic crusades shockingly started to become old after the nth time I got the kids roped up with me either sent to detention or verbally lambasted by big sis. Weak, the lot of them!

"But I am pretty close with the family of my papa's best friend. Lots of kids, and since papa and his friend get together a lot, we usually do, too. They're a really nice bunch, real sweet. The youngest is even named after papa!"

And poor Harry Carpenter is going to be mocked so much once he gets old enough. Papa still thinks it was some sorta karmic payback on the poor kid for some slight in a past life.

"Does your dad not approve of you playing with kids he doesn't know?" Ami asked. She retreated a bit when I stared at her for a second, not saying anything, before barking out a short laugh.

"Wha..? Papa? Stop me from playing with kids he didn't know? Ha!" The two stared at me blankly as I continued to laugh. "When he first adopted me and I wouldn't leave his side, he would take me down to the local playground and literally shove me at the largest group of kids there. He always described it as a 'trial by fire.'"

And any kid that made fun of my horribly thick accent or scaredy-cat attitude usually got a pants-wetting death glare. Papa never dealt well with bullies, regardless of their age.

"Besides, if he didn't want me hanging around strangers, I doubt he'd let me come here today."

"Hmph, so you'd just listen to whatever he said?"

I looked at Rei, taking note of the deepened glare on her face. "Well, yeah, he's my papa. Why wouldn't I listen to him?"

Ami made to open her mouth, but Rei cut her off before she could say anything. "So you'd do anything he said, even if it was wrong?"

I closed my eyes, took a small breath, opened my eyes, and smiled, trying to hide the twitch that'd begun to form. "Well, of course not." A smug look began to cross the long-haired girl's face. "Papa would never tell me to do something wrong in the first place. And even if he did, he would listen to me if I said 'no'."

Well, I'm pretty sure he would listen, anyway. Maybe.

Rei's smug look shifted into something darker. That… probably wasn't good. She made to say something else, but stopped, glanced quickly to her side, sighed heavily, and settled back on her legs, expression lightning back to mere annoyance. Though my eyes hadn't moved from her face, my peripheral vision caught the hand Ami had placed on her foot. Seemed like the bad cop was getting a little out of hand and had to be pulled back.

"Sorry," Ami said. She tried to look me in the eyes, but hers kept flickering off my face too quickly to keep it up long. "Rei can get a bit touchy on that topic. In any case, what does your dad do, Makoto? Usagi mentioned something about being a PI?"

I briefly considered pushing on the matter, but decided to let it go for now. I did not need to willingly place myself in the middle of the minefield that was Rei's thinning temper. Though I did wonder why she was so adamant about it... Bah, moving on.

"Just like Usagi said, papa's a freelance detective. You know, basic things like finding lost items, paranormal investigations, consulting. That kind of stuff."

Ami perked up, her previous anxiety seeming to flow away at the new topic. "What was the second one?"

"Paranormal investigations. You know, like the occult and stuff. Papa's a wizard for hire. Even acts on tap for the Chicago PD."

There was a lull. Ami and Rei looked at me, eyes wide, mouths slightly agape at the nonchalant way I had revealed papa as an honest-to-goodness wizard. Probably didn't expect me to just use that as an icebreaker, but considering I brought him in for show-and-tell once (mind you, he did not enjoy that talk with the teacher about my 'flights of fancy') it was just par for the course for me.

"So, he uses magic?" Ami said carefully, though she seemed intrigued at how blasé I was about the whole thing. "Along with his detective skills?"

"Ayup, he's the real deal. In the phonebook and everything. Reasonable rates, too, but don't even try to ask for things like love potions, endless purses, or for him to perform at birthday parties."

"So… what exactly does he do for the police?"

"Oh, magicky things normies can't usually deal with. Fairies stealing your left sock, boogiemen haunting the closet, demons pulling unsuspecting victims off the street in the middle of the night for food..."

"What was that last one?" Rei twitched. I think I was beginning to get to her.

"Demons eating people? Pretty common. Though you should know, really."

"W-what do you mean?" Ami asked nervously, her eyes starting to flicker back and forth.

"Well, I mean, you're the senshi, right? Usagi's crimefighting friends?"

Damn, I was bad at being any kinds of subtle.

I'm pretty sure I heard Rei snap one of her teeth in half by grinding it out of pure, unadulterated frustration. "I knew the dumpling head couldn't keep her mouth shut."

"Well, I am the daughter of a private eye. I did pick up some stuff from him." Plus papa just pretty much told. Oh, and I cheat with magic radar.

Rei flipped her hair back and leaned forward, her face ascowl. "So? Are you going to lecture us now just like dear daddy?"

"You want me to? Because I totally can. And trust me, I have a lot to say."

Ami interrupted the both of us with a small, squeaky, "P-please don't start fighting."

Rei and I stopped looming across the desk at each other. We glared before simultaneously looking away, Rei with a huff and me with a 'tsk' of my tongue. I had the feeling the two of us weren't going to be all buddy-buddy here.

Seeing that we were no longer posed to start brawling, Ami cleared her throat. "So..." she started. "So, um, R-Rei may have put it somewhat aggressively, but what... what she said was right - you knew we were senshi, didn't you? Um... right?"

I said nothing for a moment, leaning back. I took a deep breath and then let it out.

"Yeah, at the very least, I knew you were magic users. Deducing you were senshi was just the next step."

"How did you know we could use magic?" Ami asked, finally regaining her emotional control.

I frowned. "All magic users can tell if someone else is one." I left unsaid that I was one of the few, maybe the only, ones that could tell if someone had magic in them without touching them. And if one magic user was touching another, it was usually only because of one of two situations – either they were on the same side, or one of them was unconscious or dead.

Ami looked surprised by my assertion. "Anyone can tell? Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, here, I'll show you." I extended a hand.

Ami frowned softly and gave my hand a nervous look. After a moment, though, she reached out her hand and, after a few false starts, gently touched mine. I felt the expected tingle as the energy of life gave its own unique greeting between two mages. Ami's hand vibrated a bit as she instinctively tried to pull her hand away, only to stop herself. She gave our grasped hands another look before pulling hers back to examine it.

"It... it felt a bit like static shock." She glanced back up at me, questioning.

I shrugged. "That wasn't because of my particular kind of magic. Almost everyone experiences it the same way."

Ami raised an eyebrow. "'Almost' everyone?"

I could read the question that was in her gaze. How could I tell if I hadn't touched her 'til now? I just smiled in response. My little secret.

Seeing that I wasn't going to say anymore, Ami looked at Rei, who was staring between mine and Ami's hands. "But I've touched Usagi and..." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Rei before, but I never noticed anything."

I pursed my lips. "Why would you? It's so small you'd have to know what to look for, and over time you'd get so used to it that you wouldn't even notice, anyway. Like you said, you probably just thought it was a static shock."

She gave a nod of comprehension. "I suppose." She tapped her fingers together. "But really, you were telling the truth before? Lots of people can use magic?"

"Well, not lots," I clarified. "Magic is still a pretty rare thing for humans. I think papa said it's only like one in ten-thousand that have the capability for it, and even then it's usually just small-time stuff. Still, did you really think you were the only ones in the world?"

"Well, why wouldn't we?" Rei put in her two cents again. "We haven't met anyone else who could, and Luna told us we were the only reincarnated soldiers in the world, here."

"Luna," I deadpanned. "You mean the cat that was supposedly frozen like a popsicle for heaven knows how many centuries and can't even remember half the stuff she's supposed to? You were just going to take her words at face value?"

Oh yeah, she'd told us about the gaps in her memory, and papa mentioned how his soulgaze with her had revealed a great deal of corrupted memories and knowledge. I wouldn't trust that darn moon cat to remember how to make a tuna salad sandwich.

Ami's lips perked up a bit at my description, but Rei trundled onward. "Why wouldn't we?" she repeated. "I trust Luna, and I know the others do, too."

"She also says she's from the moon and that she lived eons before pre-history. Pretty certain she's missed a lot that's happened since then."

"Well, fine then, miss know-it-all," Rei retorted. "If you're so smart, why don't you tell us why we haven't seen any other people using magic since we became senshi?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Ami beat me to the punch. "It's because magic is supposed to be kept a secret, isn't it?" She brightened slightly at my eyes widening. Her anxiety began to melt away again as her thirst for knowledge came to the forefront. "If magic was widely-known, it would become a big problem, wouldn't it?"

"Give the lady a cookie," I chortled. Ami brightened up even further, blushing as she did. "But yeah, pretty much. Magic's supposed to be kept under wraps, so most people don't go around advertising it."

"But you said your dad does!" Rei said. "If magic's supposed to be some big secret, then why's he putting his identity as a wizard in the public eye?"

I started to answer. Then I stopped.

...Hell's bells, Miss Prissy Pants was right. Darn it, papa, why do you have to mess with me even when you're not here?

I ignored the prim look of superiority on Rei's face. "Point," I muttered. "Papa's not exactly subtle, but he's the exception, and a lot better than the real whackos out there. A lot of people just think of him as some kind of crackpot, but at least he's not using his powers to try and take over the world like your Dark Kingdom creeps are."

Rei made to say something but suddenly paled. "You mean the Dark Kingdom's in America, too?"

"Oh, no," I said. The color returned to her face. "We've got much worse." Before she or Ami could say any more, I suddenly jumped in their faces. "Which leads me to the next point I wanted to make - are you three goddamn insane?"

Ami wilted before my sudden outburst but Rei took it in stride. "What are you-"

"Did you really think three girls just learning magic could fight against a group of warlocks and expect to win?" Granted, from what papa said one of them was a mildly incompetent warlock, but you'd be surprised how well crazy can make up for stupid. "I mean, maybe if you were older and there was a ton more of you, but-"

"Why are you ragging on us like this?" Rei interrupted. "You're supposed to be on our side!"

"Your side?" My eyes began to goggle.

"Yeah, our side! You're a sailor senshi, which means you're supposed to be helping us, not calling us worthless!"

"E-excuse me..."

"I'm not calling you worthless, I'm calling you stupid! There's a big difference!"

"Stupid?!"

"Yeah, stupid! Not only for thinking you can win when you're barely off your training wheels, but for not even considering the consequences of your actions!"

"I… I think maybe we should-"

"Did you even consider what your stupid battles may have been doing to your surroundings? About any bystanders that might be in range?"

"If it weren't for us, those people would be drained of all their life energy and then discarded like trash by the Dark Kingdom and their youma!"

"That's only if you didn't blast them to kingdom come fir-"

"Stop it! Both of you!"

The impassioned cry sliced through the air. Rei and I turned to its source, finding an Ami who looked on right the verge of emotionally breaking down again. Damn it, how many times was I going to make a cute girl cry? Heroes didn't do that!

Ami blinked a few times at my and Rei's mirrored stares, tears having gathered once more at the corners of her eyes. Her cheeks flushed something fierce, and she ducked her head to avoid looking at either of us. "I... I'm sorry," she stumbled. "But you two were getting too confrontational and it wasn't helping anyone and I didn't mean to act out of line but I..." She trailed off from her run-on ramblings, mumbling something under her breath.

"No problem!" I said quickly. "We were wrong, right?" I shot a frantic look at Rei.

The girl copied it and waved her hands in front of her. "Y-yeah, it was our fault, so don't worry, Ami. Really!"

Ami looked back up at us. "Are your sure? I don't want to-"

"Totally sure!"

"Absolutely!"

She put a hand to her chest. "Oh, thank goodness." Ami took a deep breath and let it out, the tension flowing from her shoulders. She looked up, her face still flushed, but at least a nervous smile was on her lips. "In that case, what... what exactly did you mean when you said we were going about this wrong? What exactly are we doing wrong taking on the Dark Kingdom?"

I... I sighed. I glanced around the room, trying to take note of the situation and buy some time to collect my thoughts. The kanji sheets had fallen by the wayside, completely forgotten in all the turmoil that'd come bubbling to the surface. Yeah, serves those stupid symbols right.

I rolled my shoulders. Well... may as well get started. "I meant exactly what I said - you guys are way too green to be taking on these DK jerks."

Rei made to say something, but Ami cut her off with a subtle gesture. "Why do you say that?" Her voice was not accusatory or demeaning, merely curious.

"You guys have been doing this for, what, a couple months, tops?" The two nodded. "Have you even been trained in your magic?"

"We don't have any need for it," Rei said. "Using our senshi powers is instinctual for us."

I think I knew what she was talking about. The one attack I performed in that fetish suit was like a pre-made combat skill - just add energy. Really, it was almost cheating... or would be if it didn't also set horrible limitations like I suspected it might. I sighed dramatically. "You're given magical powers out of the blue - by a talking cat, no less - shoved into a fight against some Saturday morning villain rejects, and you think you can just waltz through?"

"We've been getting along so far," Rei said petulantly.

"Yeah, 'so far'. Do you think that's gonna continue forever? Eventually one of you is gonna screw up, and I don't want to imagine the fallout." I shook my head. "You need to leave it to the professionals."

Rei snorted. "What, like your dad?"

"Him," I agreed. "Or someone with his level of experience. Certainly not a bloody cat, and definitely not yourselves."

"I'm sorry, Makoto, but what credentials does your dad have to make him the go-to person for something of this magnitude?" Ami bit her lip, looking divided between trying to criticize me and feeling bad about it. "The enemies we're dealing with are not exactly small, as you're so fond of reminding us. I mean, your dad may be able to use magic, but..." She looked like she was about to say something more but lost her nerve and just puttered out.

"Yeah," Rei added, seeing Ami wasn't going to be saying much else. "We've fought these guys before in our past lives and beat them. And we've been keeping Juuban safe from them since long before you or your dad showed up. Why do we have to drop everything and step aside for some puffed-up newcomers who think they're better than us? Besides..." She flipped her hair over her shoulder in a fashion that made me think she'd made the condescending gesture enough times to perfect it. "You said your dad's a private eye. When has he come across any possibly world-ending events?"

A shit-eating grin worked its way across my face. Oh, you did not want to go there, little miss 'I'm-so-smart.' "You mean in total, or just in the last year alone?"

The look on her face was priceless. "What."

I leaned forward, put out a hand, and ticked off my pointer. "Well, last Halloween he battled against a zombie horde and stopped a cabal of legendary necromancers from completing a ritual that wanted to sacrifice the entire city of Chicago so that one of them would become a literal death god." Next came my middle. "Before that, he worked together with a group of honest-to-god paladins with holy swords to stop a bunch of fallen angels from releasing a killer plague on the world." Then the ring. "And before that, he stopped a mad fairy queen from causing the next ice age."

I closed the rest into a fist. "Oh yeah, there was also the super-werewolf, killer vampires, and demon summoners, but those were on a much smaller scale."

And then there was glorious silence.

Oh yeah, papa was awesome.

Ami spoke up, a little shaken. "And you say your... your father had a huge part in this?"

"Well, yeah, cause papa's a superhero."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rei put her hands in front of herself. "Wait." She took a couple of breaths. "No, just… no." She leveled a glare at me. "If something like that happened, don't you think it'd be on the news? Everyone would have heard about it!"

I screwed up my mouth and sucked on my teeth. "It's a secret, remember? Besides, it was mostly limited to Chicago."

"No, not 'it's a secret'!" she shouted. "With something that big, it'd be all over the place! I mean, demons, gods, and fairies? Everyone would know about it! It'd be all over the news worldwide!"

"Hey, we didn't know about these youma you guys are fighting, or even you for that matter. I'd think monsters attacking people and getting beaten up by girls in mini-skirts would be all over the papers, but they're not, are they?"

Ami cleared her throat to catch my attention. "It's not just because of people hiding what happened, is it? People don't want to believe in the supernatural if a mundane reason can explain it away."

"Uh-huh," I said. "Papa calls it the 'weirdness censor.' People just don't like thinking about things that go bump in the night if they don't have it shoved directly into their face. Strangely-named terrorists? 'We've all heard of those.' Being attack by bloodthirsty mobs? 'Hey, riots happen all the time.'"

I frowned. "Normal people just don't like to step out of their comfort zone."

Shaking my head, I continued, "But do you see what I mean? Papa has all the experience, knowledge, and power needed to deal with this. If you'll just wait, he'll get it all done in no time."

"Now wait just a second!"

I groaned. "Oh, what now?"

Rei huffed. Her eyes had gained a more determined look than her normal enraged one. This was not anger, but a steady perseverance that brooked no argument and would not be swayed by anything I said. As annoying at she was quickly becoming, I had to give her props for being so adamant in following her own code of justice.

It was wrong, of course, but I had to give her respect.

"There is no way you and your dad are just going to come in guns blazing like a couple of those stupid cowboys and take over what we've been literally ordained by fate to do."

"By a cat," I felt I had to repeat.

"More than that!" she growled. "Your dad may have done those things you claimed, but where was he when Beryl and her generals first appeared? Where were the 'others like him' when they started draining people of their life energy? Where were you when we first started awakening and we could've used the help learning our powers?"

She stood up, one hand on her hip, the other pointed directly at my face. Her jaw was set in an unwavering scowl. I half-expected her hair to start waving in the wind.

"Maybe we are young and inexperienced, but we've been doing the best we can, and it's worked. We've defeated every youma sent our way, saved a whole bunch of people, and even managed to best two of the generals that the Dark Kingdom sent at us. So I don't care if you know more, or if you've seen more, or if you've fought more - we're here, and we won't be cast aside like helpless children!"

Uh, wow, I only just noticed it, but she was totally projecting this whole 'warrior princess' persona in her voice and body language. It was kinda awesome. It was even helped along by the way her magic node was literally pulsing with pure power in rhythm with her words, adding another layer of power to what she was saying.

I might've actually liked her if she wasn't such a bitch.

Besides, it was strictly because they were flying in blind that they were such a danger to themselves and others. They might've defeated some youma already, I'll give them that. However, I severely doubted they actually had any real hand in personally defeating the generals - people like that tended to self-destruct in absolutely glorious ways thanks to the whole 'bat-shit insanity' thing.

However, what if the youma got smarter, or there were more people than they could evacuate in time? I'd seen the way Usagi acted in her senshi form - the girl was completely incompetent in a fight, and the only real attack I'd seen from her seemed like it was just a purification spell, which probably meant she was supposed to be support of some kind. If the others had more offense-oriented powers like my lightning bolts wrought from heaven's wrath, then I really didn't want to see the results if and when they accidentally screwed up.

They were basically warlocks in the making - good kids with the potential to do some real good, but one small slip-up would end up with them water-sliding down the slippery slope.

"...And when you come across someone you can't beat without resorting to some truly desperate acts?" I said quietly. "Or when a fight starts with lots of innocent bystanders nearby? What then?"

"We've always managed to avoid involving innocents before!" Rei snorted.

Oh, I highly doubted that. Humans were surprisingly dumb when it came to dangerous situations. Sometimes that little 'fight or flight' switch in their brains got stuck in the middle, and they'd end up just standing there gaping while raw power came speeding towards them like an oncoming semi... with predictable and depressing results.

I knew that's what had happened whenever I saw that look on papa's face.

"And when you can't avoid it?" I pressed. "What happens when one attack goes off target, or someone's in the wrong place at the wrong time? One small mistake, and you've just broken one of the laws of magic, and trust me..." I shook my head. "That is not a pretty thing to watch."

"What do you mean, laws of magic?" Ami piped in. "There are actually rules that go along with it?"

I paused. Oh wow, I really had a lot to explain, huh? Was this how papa felt whenever someone fell into the know and he had to lay out every gosh darn thing? I slapped my hands together. "Okay, fine, time for the basics." Both Ami and Rei leaned forward. "Magic is essentially the energy of life - no life, no magic. Because of that, it's completely tied to your very being. If you do something bad with magic, it basically twists you into something darker and pretty soon you're trying your hand at conquering the world."

I flipped a finger out. "There's seven laws, but I'll boil them down - no killing, no messing with someone's body or mind, no raising the dead, and no calling up Cthulhu." Rei mouthed 'Cthulhu'' with a befuddled look, but Ami paled a bit, obviously realizing that frickin' outer gods not only existed but could be dialed for a genocidal booty call.

I briefly considered telling them about the one punishment for breaking the laws. But then I realized that doing so would only accomplish one of two things - make it look like I was blowing things way out of proportion, or make all other wizards and especially the White Council look like megalomaniacal psychopaths. Or, even better, both - and make them view me as a huge threat on top of that. Yeah... Not exactly the best thing to discuss right now.

"Wait, we've been destroying youma all this time," Rei countered. "I don't feel like I'm about to go on a murder spree anytime soon."

"Do they have souls? Probably not," I said. "Most supernatural creatures and non-humans don't, so the laws don't exactly apply to them. It's a whole grey area that even papa refuses to explain, but basically, since youma are evil creatures bent on literally consuming all life on the planet, you don't have to worry about killing them." I narrowed my eyes. "People, on the other hand, yes. Yes, you do."

"Is it really that bad?"

I turned to Ami. She took one look at me and then refused to meet my gaze any longer. I think she knew exactly what I meant.

She finally said, "I can see where you're coming from, and even understand what you mean. Maybe it would be fine to listen a bit, but even so..."

"Even so!" Rei looked between the two of us and crossed her arms. "Okay, fine, this just means we have to be more careful. As long as we are, we don't have to worry. So there's no reason you and your dad need to butt in on our fight."

I ground my teeth. You damn little...! "Stars and stones, have you not heard a word I just said?! You're dangerous to yourself and others! You could die! Someone else could die! Papa said that-"

"'Papa said this', 'Papa said that'! Are you ever going to say anything else?!" Rei shouted. "All you've been saying is what your father told you, and that's all the excuse you think you need to try and shove us to the side!"

"Because papa-"

"No, forget your father!" Rei shouted again, her volume rising with each word. "You're a senshi! You were born again across the ocean of time to stand at our side against the rising darkness! You're supposed to be our comrade, our friend, and instead all you've been doing is saying how we're weak, how we're stupid, how we're just going to make things worse! And all because your father said we would!"

Fire blazed in her very being, her presence seeming to swallow up everything around her. I felt like a little girl again, scared and alone.

"...I-"

"What's so special about him?" Impassioned, unstoppable, like waves that pounded against a beachhead, cracking against what was once thought to be eternal. "What makes him so important that you'd throw away your own destiny?" There was no stopping, no stumbling, no stepping aside or standing back. "That you'd just toss aside the one thing that brought us all together, that brought you here in the first place?"

"Because..."

"What?!"

"Because he saved me!" I looked up from the table, angry tears building up in the corners of my eyes. "Because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even be here in front of you!"

Rei's momentum failed her, her mouth open but silent, an unasked question hanging from her lips.

"My parents died right in front of my eyes, killed by monsters that some greedy asshole thought he could smuggle in a goddamned cargo hold for some quick cash! And when they came back to finish me off just because I was lucky enough to be one of the only people to survive a plane crash, he came riding in like a white knight to save me!" I rubbed my eyes and glared at Rei.

Oh how I despised her just then. Not for trying to tear down papa in my eyes, or for refusing to see the truth I was trying to show her, but for bringing up the most traumatic moment of my life.

Not on purpose, and not to hurt me. But she did it all the same.

And I hated her for it.

I sniffled noisily. "Not because he was paid to, not because he was asked to, not even because it would make him look good to save some stupid, lost kid from a different country. He did it because he wanted to, because it was the right thing to do, and because he knew he couldn't live with himself if he knew it was going to happen and didn't try his damn hardest to stop it!"

I forced down the bad memories and feelings burbling in my gut. "He saved me, so he'll always be my hero." I looked down at my lap again. "So I know he'll always have my best interests at heart. I know he'll always try to do the right thing. I know he'll always try his hardest to help everyone."

I met Rei's eyes once more. Unstoppable force? Meet my immovable object - my faith in my papa.

"So fuck your 'destiny'. My papa's real, something I can see and hold and love. He's the reason I'm here today, and I don't care what you or anyone else says - I'll always believe in him first, until this planet grows cold and stops spinning."

And just like that, any chance of convincing one another of the merit of our arguments fell flat on its face, was driven over by a street-cleaner, doused in lighter fluid, and set on fire by a flying monkey flinging flaming poo.

The awkward silence lasted who knows how long until Ami broke it. "All... all right then!" she said softly. She was obviously straining to inject some good cheer into her tone. Surprising, considering how'd she been acting the entire session. "I think this means break time is over and it's time to get back to studying. Rei, get started on your classical Japanese assignment again while I help Makoto with her kanji." She lifted the remedial sheets from where they laid, forgotten on the floor, and placed them back in front of me, handing me a pen as well. She smiled again when I looked at her, but refused to look me in the eyes.

Rei looked like she was going to say something else, but whatever she had planned escaped her, and she slumped her shoulders in resignation. "Yeah, fine, I'll get back to that." She spared me a glance, tried to say something, failed, tried again, and just stopped herself. She gave a tiny sigh and turned to focus on her assignment.

There was no catty remark, no accusing stare, nothing. She just looked drained and tired and wanting to end this whole debacle as soon as possible.

I knew how she felt.

I didn't mean to explode, didn't mean to lash out. Papa was my everything, my reason for living. If it wasn't for him, and the people I met through him, I'd shudder to think how I'd turn out - if I wasn't already dead by then.

I could tell Rei was apologetic. I doubted she was going to try for an excuse after all that happened. I just think that... maybe she was too prideful for a verbal apology, or maybe it triggered something from her past?

...I don't know.

In any case, I started back on the kanji. I wasn't really in the mood for this, but any way to take my mind off of matters was better than nothing. I perked up a bit as I recognized the example in front of me.

I should've; it was the one I'd just learned, after all.

I cracked a forced smile. "'Divide'."

Ami winced. "Um, s-sorry, Makoto, but it's actually 'create.'"

...Son of a bi-

"You gonna loosen up that death grip you have on my arm anytime soon, kiddo?"

I looked up from where I was wrapped around papa's arm. He was gazing down at me with that classic sardonic smirk of his, keenly aware of the progress I was making cutting off all circulation to his limb. I laid my cheek back against his duster-covered arm, frowning slightly.

"I'm just recharging my papatanium. I'll be done in a couple minutes."

There was a slight shift as papa laid his free hand on my head. "Everything all right? You haven't let go of me since we met back up." He ruffled my hair tenderly, as if afraid I was going to break at any moment.

"…Yeah, I'm fine, papa. Just... let me stay like this a bit while longer."

Papa paused before swiftly morphing his ruffling into a quick noogie. I squawked in indignation and shot him a fierce look. He simply chuckled in return and flicked my nose. "Whatever you say."

I huffed and looked away from him, but I could tell he'd seen the small smile beginning to form on my face if his louder chuckling was any indication.

It was partway into the afternoon, only a couple hours after my somewhat disastrous meeting with the other senshi had ended. From the vaguely sour look on papa's face, his meeting with the regional warden hadn't exactly come up all roses, either. We'd both decided after sharing notes to do some active testing of the senshi suit.

We had moved to the small nature park where we'd first arrived in Juuban, feeling that it was the best chance we had at an isolated place. Even if people did find us, it would be easy enough to escape, should it come down to it.

Before we'd gone out, papa ran a few quick experiments with my transformation pen. What he'd found out was both cool and also kinda frightening.

So I have a semi-sentient magical artifact grafted to my spiritual being now. Fun, right? I think Luna was lucky papa didn't just melt the pen into slag the moment he found out, but then again, papa was becoming more willing to keep something if it could help out later, even if it could be a bit dangerous.

One of the experiments I wished I'd seen was him checking to see if the pen would have any effect on him. Luckily, he didn't transform - because really, papa may've had the legs for the outfit, but that skirt was already too short for me, so I didn't want to imagine what it'd look like on someone of his stature.

When I told him this after his somewhat disappointed reaction to nothing happening, he quickly agreed. However, he did make me promise to never ever let this pen fall into Bobbu's hands, even if papa was certain that he couldn't do anything with it.

Knowing Bobbu's rampant thirst for all things perverted, I made a lifetime promise before the thought even finished.

So here we were, about to test the combat effectiveness of the suit. We both figured that the sooner we could test the limits of the suit, the sooner we could find a way to do something about it and the other girls. I personally suspected that papa wanted to find any flaws in the thing so he could throw them in Luna's face, and quite frankly, I would do my best to support that endeavor.

I reluctantly parted from papa and walked into a small, open space near a copse of trees. Looking around, I saw that we were clear. Papa did the same thing before double-checking that my magical gear was on his person. He pulled out my collapsible batons and a pair of large batteries, both with runes carved all over them.

The batons were basically my version of papa's blasting rod, meant to focus and direct my electromagic. They also doubled as quick stun batons and as literally lightning rods. The batteries were made for the storage of extra electrical magic, literally magical batteries. They were basically larger versions of my electro earrings, meant so that even papa could use the energy stored inside.

"Got all your stuff, kiddo. Are your batteries fully charged?"

"One of them needs to be topped off. How about yours?"

"I haven't had any need to use it. But let's wait and see." He raised an eyebrow. "Already one thing I don't like about that suit - it removes all your equipment."

We'd discovered that anything on me disappeared into some kind of 'pocket space' whenever I transformed, clothes and items included. Papa theorized that it was something akin to what happened when a wereperson changed into a smaller form, shifting the excess mass into a small, private section of the Nevernever.

Of course, that just meant that I couldn't just transform without making sure my gear was off me first. I was going to have to carry a backpack around if this whole senshi thing became permanent.

I grinned. "Only one thing?"

He gave me flat look. "I already have a counter for the first thing I don't like about it. Now come on, we're burning daylight."

"Right." I calmed myself and steadied my feet. Instinctively, the activation words that sped up the transformation process came to my lips. "Jupiter Power, Make Up!"

With a bright flash, I shifted into my senshi form. I smiled nervously at papa's somewhat stormy expression. Yeah, he still didn't like the way this thing fit me. I couldn't blame him.

I jumped when he tossed a bundle of fabric at me. At my confused look, he lifted his chin and said, "Put that on. You may have to wear that outfit, but that doesn't mean I can't find ways of covering it up."

Unfolding the bundle, my eyes widened as I realized what I was holding. The grey cloak of the Wardens, the premier enforcers of the White Councils, looked back up at me. I turned to papa. "Um...papa? Isn't this kinda important? Isn't this the symbol of the wardens?" Well, besides the silver sword of death, but papa hadn't received one when he was made a regional commander for... reasons.

He raised an eyebrow. "Kiddo, do I look like I care about things like that?"

Point. I quickly slung the cloak around my shoulders. The bottom of it trailed along the ground as I moved back and forth to try and get used to it. I was going to have to raise the hem if I was going to be wearing this a lot in the future. I raised the cloak off the ground and presented myself to papa.

"Well, how do I look?"

Papa put a hand to chin and looked at me appraisingly. "Good, my urge to burn things is fading." I giggled nervously. He smiled. "Well, let's get down to business. First of all, let's see if that thing made any improvements to your body."

I nodded. We both figured that, since my electromancer powers had strengthened my body considerably on their own, the suit would probably enhance them further. Stepping over to one of the many trees, I decided to test the effect it had on my strength. Defense would be hard to check without papa tossing me around like a ragdoll, and speed could be done at any time. I took a basic karate stance in front of a large and thick pine tree, took a deep breath, centered my power, and then lashed out with a right straight as hard as I felt I safely could.

You know how in the kung-fu movies, when a character tries to punch another, misses, and ends up smacking something behind their target? You how the surface usually splinters and breaks, but nothing really more than that?

Yeah, that didn't happen.

The second I made contact with the trunk, it didn't so much splinter as explode. Chips and wood dust scattered everywhere as a good chunk of the tree ceased to exist in front of me.

I stared, slack-jawed at what I had done. …Well! That was a good hint at my power level. It also suggested that my toughness had been upgraded as well, as even after launching a punch at solid wood that should have shattered every bone in my hand on impact, my fist was intact and barely stung.

Papa made a strangled noise behind me. "Sparky, you are never to hit a normal person when in that suit. I don't need to see the real-life version of ludicrous gibs."

"G-good point," I stammered.

That's when the sound of more wood splintering came to my ears. I looked up to see that the rest of the trunk was quickly falling in my direction, no doubt due to the fact that I'd removed most of its structural support with my attack.

I grunted as several hundred pounds of wood got very close and personal with me, barely managing to catch it in my arms. Straining slightly, I managed to shift enough of the tree's momentum to the side of me so that the entire thing didn't crush both me and papa. With a heavy crash, the tree landed on the ground. My hands shaking, I turned around to face papa, who was looking at me with a mix of interest and trepidation.

"Another new rule: you're not allowed to hug me in that form either, at least not with the normal death grip. I don't feel like finding out what it's like to be a squeeze toy."

"Papa!" I said, stomping the ground like a child.

A small crater a couple feet wide and an inch or so deep appeared beneath my foot.

I looked at papa. He looked at me. I hung my head.

"Fine..."

He nodded. "Good, now, let's get to the really fun stuff." He pulled out a pile of paper with targets sloppily drawn on them... possibly in crayon. "Time to test your spells."

My pout turned into a savage grin. "With pleasure."

It wasn't nearly as fun or interesting as I'd hoped it'd be. Testing out my new spells turned out to be testing out a new spell - one, uno, ichi. Turned out that my suit did power up my magic by an order of magnitude, but it severely limited me in the process.

My one and only spell was shockingly named 'Supreme Thunder,' as designated by whatever operating system the suit worked by. And when I said it was my only spell, I meant it was my only spell. I couldn't even use any of the basic magic I'd learned so thoroughly from papa's magic lessons that I could practically do in my sleep; it was like anything other than what the suit gave me was censored from my mind completely.

Which meant that the not-small collection of spells I'd painstakingly learned and polished were useless to me in this form. Awesome.

At the very least, Supreme Thunder was not a bad spell. It was easily twice as strong as my normal standbys unless I was heavily boosting them, and it didn't seem to draw off my willpower and energy reserves to try and cast it. Instead, it came from the suit itself, or at least whatever power source it drew from.

It was even kinda neat to have a literal lightning bolt come down from the sky to act as the attack, if a bit on the flashy side and cause for some worrisome implications when I had to fight indoors. Also, side note - when lightning smashes through very woody and flammable tree branches, it should not not set them on fire. Electricity does not work that way!

Well, at the very least, watching the kinetic shields papa had placed on the targets break after only one attack was extremely satisfying, even if he couldn't make them as strong as normal without standing right next to them.

Of course, there had to be downsides to the attack, as well. I couldn't use my stun batons with the blasted thing; they didn't even factor into the attack, just the princess tiara that came with the outfit and acted as the lightning collector and releaser. It also had a longer casting time; normally, it would barely a fraction of a second for any of my normal attacks to go off, but Supreme Thunder took nearly two to finish.

Maybe that didn't sound like much to a layman, but having almost double the normal casting time for my only spell was ridiculous. Trust me when I say a second or two makes all the difference when you have an enemy barreling down on you and you have barely any time to react - that two second window was the difference between giving me some breathing room and only having most of my internal organs still be internal.

One last thing that bothered me heavily about the suit was that I no longer had access to my electro-sense. I can't begin to explain how much that extrasensory ability had had an effect on me. After the plane crash, I was constantly bombarded with the feelings of the lifeforce of everyone around me. And because of that, the presence of papa as a shining beacon among the sea of sparks was everything to me.

Even with him right next to me, not being able to feel him made it seem like I was all alone.

I wasn't very fond of that feeling.

The sun was well on its way to setting when we finally finished up the last of the tests. Papa started gathering up the bits and pieces used to gauge my strength and abilities while I tidied up as best I could the complete mess of fallen branches, cracked earth, and knocked-over trees my rather enthusiastic attempts at shooting the targets caused.

I was about to deactivate my transformation when something caught my attention. It wasn't like my electro-sense; no, it was more like a feeling of wrongness tugging me in a particular direction. I almost felt compelled to just race off after it, but I'd learned enough to know that running towards something just 'because' usually ended badly.

Deciding to test it, I said to papa, "Do you feel that?"

He looked up at me. "Feel what?"

"Feel... something." He raised an eyebrow at my enlightening explanation. I scratched my head in frustration. "I don't know, but it just feels like something's wrong."

Papa's brow drew into his 'super serious' look. "No, I don't, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Maybe it's another function of that outfit."

I pointed off in the distance. "It's coming from somewhere over there..." Suddenly, the sense intensified and shifted. "It's moving! C'mon, papa! This way!"

"Hey, Spar-"

Papa's call was lost as I dashed towards the source of the weirdness, but I was sure that he could keep up with me easily. Considering all the running practice he got from trying to avoid getting killed and/or eaten, I doubted he would lose me. I could still hear his muted cursing and thumping of feet as he chased me, after all.

As I ran through the park, I came to note just how fast I was moving. Every step I took seemed to take longer and longer to complete, and I almost stumbled when I realized I was almost flying with how far I was jumping. My foot pushed off a low-hanging branch, and I briefly saw the sky as I cleared the tree line.

Holy Zeus, I was leaping trees with a single bound!

But wait, if I was moving this fast, then... I looked behind me and realized that I couldn't even hear papa anymore. I'd left him in the dust heaven knows how far back.

Oh crud, he was so gonna ground me after this.

But still, I didn't have any choice but to keep moving forward. As far as I could tell, I was moving in a straight line, so if papa kept moving in the same direction, he'd eventually catch up with me. Besides, I knew that if I didn't keep going, whatever was setting off alarm bells in my brain was going to do whatever it was doing, and that wouldn't be good in the least.

So it was time for the intrepid hero-in-training to fight off whatever evil was ruining the day and hope my more experienced back-up would arrive before I unceremoniously had my butt handed to me. Joy.

Of course, that's when I realized that whatever goes up must come down, and I slammed through several branches, each one managing to whip me on a different part of my body as I made my way back to ground-level. I choked a bit when my cloak caught on my throat, but it soon passed, and I kept on running, my shoulders mysteriously lighter than before.

…Wait, what?

I looked down briefly and noted that I was now only clad in my senshi outfit. I didn't even bother to look back, already knowing what had happened to the one thing protecting my visual purity from lecherous eyes.

Papa was gonna ground me for this. Again.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. Once more good sirs, into the breach! And papa could clean up the mess!