09_BD_WOASS_Ch_05_EX

2010-10-30 - moved ADP Second Division to Yokohama, annotations edit
2009-11-25 - credits fix
2009-11-22 - egregious missing word fix that I'm both furious and ashamed to have missed for so long, since it reverses the meaning of a paragraph.
2008-08-13 - more comma stomping and improved word choices
2007-06-11 - continuity edit and comma stomping
2007-06-08 - finished first draft(!) This is more writing than I've done at a whack in a year or more
2007-06-07 - finished Leon's report, much note/planning adjustment, added ghost scene because the newsfax was too short
2007-06-06 - finished fashionable heroine
2007-06-05 - finished sleepover/shower, working on fashionable heroine incident
2007-06-04 - finished Nene/mom sex talk
2:20 AM 6/20/2003 - preliminary notes

Dead... She'd died, and so CLOSE to winning freedom for all of them! It was so very frustrating, she could scream if she'd had any breath left. The timeless, drifting feeling changed somehow, and she opened her eyes to find herself in a swirling mist, faint shapes visible through it... Concentrating, they became clearer, almost as if she was there again, and she saw that she'd moved from where she'd died... She wasn't the only one, and it was still going on. She could see it as if a double image formed, a more solid version of the ghostly victims joining her ever so briefly in the mist, then whisking away, and she wondered why she had not.

There was a sudden scream, and she spun in surprise. It was hard to tell with the blank, black sky and shifting mist, but there was something just as dark moving not far away, mainly visible in how it blocked the sight of the thrashing, screaming man she'd heard. Should she help? Could she help? Was there anything she could use as a weapon?

There was a weight in her hand, even though she knew it had been empty just a moment ago. She looked down, only to find herself holding a softly glowing, crystalline sword. *Well that's really weird,* she thought, *I've never even seen a sword in person before...* It felt right in her hands, though, as she took a few hesitant swings.

*Sometimes, you just have to go with it and see what Fate has in the shop,* she decided with a shrug, then set herself and charged at the... thing. It was black and sprouted too many teeth, claws, and tentacles for comfort, and from the tearing sounds and the way the screaming had stopped it was probably too late for the guy it had attacked, but at least she could keep it from finding anyone else. After that... Well, maybe she could keep an eye on her friends, if she was some kind of ghost now.

FASHIONABLE HERO? Mystery Woman Ends Buma Rampage!
By Ara Dokoda

Three security-type buma attacked Highway Six on Thursday evening, disrupting rush hour traffic and bringing that section of the city to a standstill, but miraculously causing no loss of life. A pair of Genom guard buma in a company car were near the origin of the incident and battled heroically to protect nearby humans, but further investigation has revealed a third party involved in the battle.

Just as the bodyguard units were being overwhelmed, dressed in the hottest fashion page styles, a heroine appeared! Landing out of the sky without engines or an aerodyne, the mysterious figure's haute couture was recognized by fashion correspondent Ororo Nandeska who happened to be on the scene, a body glove and tabard straight off the Parisian catwalks.

No society flower this, however, to the amazement of motorists trapped by the disruption she quickly disposed of the attackers. Could this be the mysterious Bakemono Burglar, or perhaps a hero from some distant manga come to defend the Earth from him? Martial arts student Midori T. described-

The flimsy newsfax blew away as another group of fire and rescue vehicles roared by, sirens blaring, drawn from an outlying ward to help with the massive destruction in the city's heart.

Bewilderbeast Studios Present

BUBBLEGUM DISASTER

Season One

WISHES ON A SHOOTING STAR

A work of BGC fan fiction by ClassicDrogn

Chapter Five EX

Cover blown anyway, Priss carried Nam with her when she left, Sylvie's body cradled carefully in the motoslave's other arm. She'd flown to one of the warehouses Sylia owned, just long enough to get out of the hardsuit, lay her former lover out on an emergency cot, and turn the air conditioning all the way up, before continuing on to deliver the data disk, a deathly ill Nam clinging weakly behind her on the transformed motoslave. She'd helped the purple-eyed sexaroid up the stairs to the loft the buma shared, only to be bowled over as she opened the door by a bawling little blonde.

"Cynthia!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Everyone was worried about you!" It was unlikely the former buma even heard, the only even partly distinguishable words, muffled further by the musician's shoulder, were her own name and Sylvie's.

Huddled on a futon near the television, Hotaru and Yuki snuggled in one arm and the other still extended where Cynthia had fled from her side, Anri sniffled and said, "Don't be angry with her, Asagiri-san, we talked her into it, to keep our secret."

"You don't know how much Sylvie wanted to tell you once she connected you and Cynthia's 'Priss-onee,' but she just couldn't, for our sake," Nam agreed. "If things hadn't gone out of control, she'd have been back with you by tomorrow and all of us would leave, far from anywhere they were looking for us." The speedster's voice burbled in her throat by the end of the explanation, and she coughed uncontrollably, spraying flecks of dark blood on her covering hand.

Tinkling voices raised in alarm, the two fae buma jumped down from Anri's arm, metallic wings unfolding to catch the fall and carry them to the doorway. They each grabbed one of her hands, tugging worriedly toward her own futon. Anri too stood and came to help the pallid, sweating sexaroid in and down to rest.

Wails fading at last, Cynthia pulled Priss inside as well, still tearful eyes and red cheeks turning to her in a shaky but still recognizable attempt at Sylvie's 'serious' expression. "I'm very sorry, Priss-onee, I tried to help Sylvie-nee, but... But she was too far awaaay!" Collapsing against her first friend's legs again, the small girl relapsed into tears. The chestnut haired Saber gathered her up in her arms and held her close.

Not having wanted to draw out the time between realizing how much fun motorcycles were and going shopping for one, Nene hadn't stopped in at her parents' Miribile home the night before - she'd kind of resolved to expand her time less yesterday evening, when she realized how much she was changing while her friends stayed the same living twenty four hours per day instead of a week's worth, but that had been the immediate deciding factor.

She'd spent much of the day looking at various new and customized models with Nam before settling on a Raven Custom, the same base model as the last two the Doctor had tricked out for Priss before her current bike, but with a newer tuning process that should make it a close rival for the scratch built job she had now - the one that had been used on Nam's own ride. For that matter, Dr. Raven was a much more skilled mechanic than the guy who'd set up the other girl's cycle, and would undoubtedly wrangle even better performance.

After the night they'd just had, though, she didn't know what to think of it all, so when Hiryuko stepped out of a portal as they laid the still unconscious Linna in an infirmary bed, her bruises already beginning to purple, Nene decided to bake two cakes in one oven and sat down for a talk with her mom.

Her friend came first of course, so she put speculation about the sexaroid and what she'd really wanted on hold to ask if there had been some connection between the dancer's terrifying transformation and the supernatural world her family was so intertwined with.

"Nothing we could find had any unusual mystical significance," the elder redhead replied, "and believe me, we looked. No spells, no demons, we even checked for the were-curse and shapechanger-type vampirism, nothing. Her spiritual signature didn't change so much as intensify." Seeing her daughter's quizzical look, Hiryuko explained further. "She accessed a buttload more ki, of course, but that was more of a secondary effect - it's as if she went into a trance and her most primal self was brought out, so deep that her rational mind was completely suppressed and she didn't even know you as her friends." Shaking her head, the older woman concluded, "Whatever it was, that giant transformation is part of her natural being, not something imposed from outside."

"But, wait," the pink Saber protested, "if it was just like going into a trance, could it have been intentional? Obviously it didn't quite work if it was, Linna wouldn't just fight indiscriminately like that, but it was pretty scary when the DD transformed the way Priss's Guardian thingie did. I mean, considering what it did to Mason, and all."

"I don't think so, and as for the DD, she wasn't even lookin' at it, Kireiko. As soon as the moon appeared from the clouds, it fascinated her," Hiryuko explained, using her daughter's birth name instead of the nickname she'd adopted to join the AD Police. "That was why we checked for werewolf and vampirism - werewolves transform under a full moon, and Mideon vampires can stand the sun, transform themselves, and are also influenced by the moon. Neither of those would explain having a tail, anyway - most likely, she's got some spirit ancestry herself, maybe Sun Wu Kung, the Monkey King - It was a long time ago now, but he did set up a kingdom here in the Mortal Realm, after the adventure that inspired the story of The Journey to the West."

"Maybe that's why it only happened after her tail showed up," the (still, if barely) youngest Saber guessed. "But then why didn't it happen when we were sparring, or at least when that soul eater attacked in Miribile?"

Her mother shrugged. "Dunno, maybe it takes some time, or only works at night, or it is the moon after all. Once she wakes up, why not ask, though I'd've thought she'd mention it by now, knowing about us."

Nene hummed thoughtfully, and decided to wait until they could talk to her friend about it. That left Nam, Sylvie, and their whole situation, and she explained meeting them, the cycle ride, and the day out she'd had with the sweet-tempered woman who had turned out to be one of the rogue sexaroids, and who was probably the Bakemono Bandit as well.

"I suppose it's only natural if she's totally hot and has a nice personality considering what she was made for," she recapped, "but I really had fun shopping with her today, and I think she did too. We were going to get together again after my shift tomorrow - today, I guess - but now I don't know how to feel about it. What do you think, Mom?"

The older redhead sniggered and sang, "Sounds like my Ne-ne-ko-chan has a cru-ush!"

A portal formed behind the incandescently blushing teen, and Tora Kagami stepped through just as she sputtered, "MOM! I do _not_ have a crush on her! I'm just not sure if she was really my friend or wanted something else, you know, the whole sexaroid thing!" He froze, pale as a ghost, except for a face blue with shock.

An evil glint in her eye, Hiryuko stated seriously, "It's all right, dear, this is the twenty first century after all. No matter what personal choices you make, we'll still love you and support you, ne anata?"

Sweat drops pouring down the back of his head, Tora made an inarticulate sort of "kack-kack" sound.

Realizing that he was behind her and what her last sentence probably sounded like, Nene eeped, her blush, impossibly, deepened, and she hunkered down as if trying to sink into the ground.

Grinning now, the devil in the shape of her mother continued, "Your friends will be all right with it too, they were fine with Priss dating Nam's friend Sylvie, after all. It's good to have the support of your friends, ne a-na-taaa?"

Eyes blank, her father gagged and stammered a few more times, them managed to squeak out, "O-of course, dear... I just remembered... something ... I need to do... somewhere. Right, seeya!" After a couple of tries, he managed to get another portal open, and fled into it posthaste.

The older woman collapsed back in her chair, cackling like a hyena. She was still rubbing her eyes and giggly by the time her daughter recovered enough to squeal, "I cannot BELIEVE you just did that! How am I ever going to look at Daddy again!"

Forcing down another fit, Hiryuko retorted, "Eh, 's good for 'im. Anyway, I assume you meant the Bakemono Burglar situation by 'the whole sexaroid thing?'"

"YES! That!" Nene snapped. "Not some ... some perverted innuendo, ero-mama!"

Finally having suppressed her mirth, the still young looking Kagami matron replied seriously. "I was just teasing, but I also meant it - it would be all right, even if it meant you'd have to adopt. Don't think you can get out of giving me grandchildren that easily, little missy."

"MOM!"

"Seriously, you're eighteen now, sweetie, and I'm glad you decided to wait, but isn't it about time you started dating?" Her mother leaned forward, and finished off her cooling cup of tea. "I think you should go ahead and give her a chance, and time will tell. There's no magic answer to making friends, even if you literally make them like a golem, or more importantly, a buma, the friends part is still up to you."

Once everything had settled down, Cynthia used her healing ability again on Nam. The sexaroid had visibly relaxed and regained color as the lambent blue-green glow of magic played around her, falling asleep at last as the worst of the damage was reversed. Cynthia was too exhausted herself to finish it entirely, but at least now it could safely keep until morning - even with her apparently limitless source of magical energy, the concentration to use it was wearing on the child.

"What will you do now?" Anri asked quietly, after disposing of the tissues she'd used to wipe Nam's forehead. She glanced over to the little blonde before returning Priss's serious look.

Still kneeling on the other side of the futon, sleepy child curled in her lap, the Saber frowned in thought, then replied, "I don't want to take her on my bike, especially this tired, better to just let her sleep as she's been here." Uncharacteristically hesitant, she bit her lips before continuing, "If it's not troublesome, I'll stay here with her. In the morning we can call for a car, and maybe see if Nam's bike is salvageable after crashing it into the quake zone and that fight. The Akimotos will be overjoyed to see her again, and Sy- uh, Cecilia can easily do whatever is involved with that data disk for you. Then, I don't know then. A funeral, I guess." Downcast, she muttered to herself, "Another funeral..."

"It's no trouble, but the only futon left is..." Anri trailed off, knowing Sylvie and Priss had shared a bed a few times in the past weeks but unsure how the singer would feel about it now that her partner had passed.

"I think that's probably the only way I'm gonna get to sleep at all tonight," the chestnut haired woman replied, giving the sexaroid a haunted look. Forcing a smile, she changed topics. "Is there a shower in this place, though? I'm kinda rank, after that fight."

There was, and as she washed Priss sang _Konya wa Hurricane_, about half tempo and double heart, to the ghost of memories. It was still a pain how the water kept getting in her eyes, but somehow it wasn't quite so totally devastating, at least until she was done and it was time to face that empty bed.

Though she couldn't quite make out the words, Anri too was comforted by the musician's low, gentle voice, lulled to a semi-doze where she lay, Cynthia curled into her side.

And finally, outside but heedless of the rain, a dark-haired figure listened with senses beyond the human. Its eyes flashed pale red as it turned back to the street watchfully.

Though she'd sent Mackie off to get some sleep, Sylia stayed at her unconscious subordinate's bedside, wondering if she'd ever manage to get back to a life where she felt a comfortable level of control. She'd be the first to admit she was far from perfect or all-knowing, but it had been nice when she could make a plan and have a reasonable chance of pulling it off without the interference of kami, demons, or were-kaiju. 'Sometimes the only thing to control is yourself, and let matters happen as they must;' it was all very well for Kami-sama to say it, but look where it had gotten him!

Shaking her head, she sighed and brushed a stubborn spike back from Linna's brow. The last time she'd seen the brunette in here - something all too frequent lately, she could have been competing with Priss - was only a week before, when a buma had tried to gut her without even the benefit of a hardsuit's protection. That had been the night she'd worn the date outfit Sylia had gotten for her, fortunately, and the bulletproof nanoweave had stopped the worst damage, but even her remarkably tough muscles and flesh had torn slightly at the impact point, and needed a few stitches to close. If it hadn't been for Sylia's own recent enhancements she might not have been able to get a needle through, and she'd broken three doing it. New, monofilament reinforced titanium needles were available now, but at least this time the dancer's wounds were limited to bruising and abrasions from the rubble that had all but buried her when she changed back from a giant ape... And if that wasn't the least effective reassurance the Saber leader had ever heard, she didn't know what was.

Linna had gone to meet her date that other night, a little late perhaps but not much. She hadn't counted on a traffic jam on the way into the city, though, and even more unexpected was the blast of an explosion somewhere up ahead where traffic was stopped. Seconds later the searing needle of a laser speared the police aerodyne flying in from the south, and she decided to investigate.

Thinking quickly, the Sabers' melee specialist pulled off a bandanna and tied it over her face, then eased her car into the break down lane - fortunately she'd been traveling next to it, and had left herself some space before the car ahead. Tripping the emergency beacon in her wristwatch and leaving the car's blinkers on, she stepped out onto the tarmac. Ignoring the gawking salaryman in the mid-life-crisismobile behind her, she gathered herself, crouched, and leapt up to the overhead light poles, bouncing from one to the next as she went to check things out.

Arriving, she quickly assessed the situation, still crouched on a nearby pole. The engine compartment of a slick black sedan had been crushed into the road by some massive impact, and a gout of smoke rose from the wrecked frame of a BU-55B security buma nearby, probably the source of the explosion earlier. A second security-type was being torn apart by three of its military cousins not far away, one holding each arm while the last twisted its head off from behind. On the ground where she'd fallen after being tossed into a second car, a whimpering woman in a ruined suit scrabbled blindly with one good arm, ineffectually trying to get away while blood gushed where bones had poked out of broken limbs.

Linna felt a hot ball of rage explode in her gut, sweeping away the last of her wariness like dust in the shockwave of a bomb at the sight of another buma assassination. Her battle aura flared to life, flickering to her awakened senses in the physical manifestation of her emotions, though the untrained would see a shimmer like a heat mirage at best. A metallic squeal marked an imprint forming in the aluminum lamp post as her hand clenched unconsciously, and then she was flying through the air, stylish white boots each slamming into a buma's head, just too late to save the beleaguered bodyguard.

Thrown off balance by her attack, the 55C that had ripped off its head staggered back while her other target was knocked off its feet, getting tangled in its victim's inert legs as it fell. The other attacker managed to stay clear only to fall under a relentless series of hammer-blows from fists and feet, armor cratering as a tiny burst of ki was released at each impact. It staggered back a step, two, then toppled as a Dragon Stomp shattered its left knee joint, all but snapping the leg right off with its force.

Crashing back to the road, the combat buma calculated, then braced its arms and sealed its optics to use the laser mounted in its mouth. The dim outline of the unexpected enemy extended an arm in a hopeless attempt to shield itself, and it felt a cruel satisfaction at turning the tables on such a powerful opponent - amazingly so, for a model with such a comprehensive human disguise. A glow of plasma formed in the outstretched palm, some kind of hidden weapon array, but the laser was already charged and the firing relay tripped just as the target cried out-

Linna released the ki blast with an explosive kiyai, a basic ball of superheated air compressed in a bubble of energy. It impacted just as the first glimmer of preignition light leaked out of the buma's mouth laser, blowing away the focussing array and the fat fiber optic lightpipe that came from the actual emitter, deep in the chest. Undirected, the laser blast vaporized the buma's own neck and head leaving the brunette Saber victorious but panting from exertion, regretting the energy expended even as the finishing attack landed.

She had to fight smarter. The impact bursts had been effective, if not as much as her hardsuit's knuckle bombers, but between them and the ill-advised fireball she'd used more than half of the energy boost gained by her spiking anger, and the other two buma were back on their feet, moving to set her up for a crossfire. The two-way pager watch had stopped buzzing on her wrist, so she knew at least that it had been noticed and backup was probably on its way, but one way or another this would almost certainly be over by the time anyone could arrive.

It was the difference between sparring and combat that had set her up for a problem - Hiryuko had told her time and again how inefficient a simple fireball was compared to beam style attacks, let alone advanced manipulations like the Kagami woman's Gamera Bombs or Tora's cold-ki techniques, but when she could always just jump back and call up more power it hadn't seemed like such a problem. Now, having leapt into battle fueled by unthinking anger and without properly powering up first then foolishly squandering the energy she did have with that same anger, Linna was at a disadvantage - the more so in fact for having taken one of the attackers out so quickly, as the remaining pair would be taking her seriously now. That was rarely the case with combat models, she'd found, unless they had a level of experience uncommon this far from the active sector of the Polar War. It was due to the pack-animal instincts instilled in them, and the far greater than human strength packed into their cybernetic bodies.

There was no time to contemplate abstracts, though, the 55C that had decapitated the bodyguard had taken the time to crush its skull before moving to deal with her but now it had set itself and opened the chest plates over its heat projector, probably expecting her to dodge away into the third's attack. That tactic might have worked if Linna wasn't aware of the weakness the array's focussing lenses presented, if someone was quick enough to take advantage.

That, the tailed woman certainly was. She formed a microburst just over the knuckles of her first and second fingers again and skipped in close, slamming it home and producing a shockwave of ki that crushed through the thinner, inner armor as well as spreading to shatter the lenses, damaging the buma's power supply. Fortunately it was not equipped with its own fusion core like the Superbuma, as some 55Cs had begun to be refitted with to allow unlimited use of their energy weapons, instead relying on a superconductor storage ring, but the liberated current was still enough to arc and energize enough plasma for a secondary explosion that ripped apart the unit's chest and pelted the vigilante with shrapnel. She blessed Sylia again for providing the bulletproof outfit.

Even with that protection she'd been a hair too slow this time, the skin of her face and upper body reddened from an instant's exposure to the weapon's effect, her left arm and fist blistering painfully under the tight-fitting body suit and glove.

Flinching back, she was blindsided by the last of the buma and then it was Linna's turn to go sprawling. Kicking off as she hit, the martial artist tucked into a roll and then sprang back to her feet. The buma had apparently learned from its fellows' fates, pressing a physical attack rather than trying to use its more exotic weapons. She changed styles, deflecting the attacks with gentle seeming circular moves that had all the inevitability of a river flowing to the sea, rather than the direct, power moves of the first stage of the fight. She wasn't as skilled in Tai Chi as Karate, but the defense it allowed was excellent, and its internal focus would allow raising her ki again without having to break contact and power up directly.

That wasn't to say she abandoned the attack entirely, of course - no defense can last forever and a buma wasn't going to tire before she would even if it did. Brushing its arms aside as the cyberdroid tried to capture her in a crushing bear hug, the brunette snapped up one leg, launching a kick that lifted the heavy combat machine off its feet. Pressing the attack in hopes of regaining the initiative Linna rechambered the leg and jumped after it, a second kick knocking the buma sideways to crash against the wrecked car, the Knight Saber catching herself with a crouched touchdown on the hood of another stopped vehicle and immediately kicking off again to keep up the pressure.

Staggered but not stunned the buma ripped the open car door out of its frame and threw it, making her dip into the Anything Goes aerial techniques to spin her body out of the way and push off from the flying debris, deflecting herself higher into the air. Linna came in from the higher angle with her hands curled like a stooping hawk's talons to dig into the enemy's shoulders at the collarbone, or in this case the analogous joint in the buma's armor.

Fingers reinforced by her own life energy dug into the seam in the armor and the buma roared in frustration and pain as Linna used her momentum to spin around their common center of mass and the pivot point of the car's roof and throw it again, this time crashing into the cement retaining wall on the side of the highway. Overstress indicators flared in its neural net warning of spinal damage at the small of its back where the edge of the wall had hit, and the combat buma wobbled on unsteady feet as it struggled to stand again.

Buoyed by the obvious signs of damage the martial artist hopped down from her landing place on the ever more damaged sedan and was unprepared for the seemingly punch-drunk enemy to counterattack, its arm spearing out with a clawed hand to gut her. Linna rolled with the attack as best she could but was still doubled over by pain and the sheer force, egg rolling somewhat clumsily away and clutching her abdomen. Fortunately the attack didn't seem to have penetrated but she could still feel the hot, slick sensation of flowing blood inside her body glove and knew she'd need to finish the fight quickly. Fortunately the buma had knocked itself off its own feet with the move, teetering precariously over the side of the elevated highway, a forty foot drop from the upper deck to the ground level street below.

Bracing itself against the wall with its arms, the mechanoid targeted the troublesome enemy that had appeared and started the charge cycle for its mouth laser, calculating that her reduced mobility and battle damage would prevent the kind of counters previously used against ranged attacks. *This will definitely be a combat log worth reviewing at the maintenance depot,* it mused in the seconds before the weapon was ready to fire, *preferably with a level three lubricant and wear replacement in progress and a cold nutrient shake.*

It fired but was unprepared for the speed Linna used to zigzag around the beam, her stomach burning as the stress tore the damaged tissues further but will unshaken as she moved in for the finishing blow, a ki-infused uppercut topped with another knuckle bomb which blew the 55C's head off before it could even open its optic shields.

Leaning over the mechanical corpse, arms braced against the cracked but still relatively whole retaining wall, the victorious Knight Saber breathed shallowly, trying to avoid further strain on her abused stomach. Gathering herself after a moment, she again pressed one hand against the wound before hopping carefully up onto the barrier and jogging back to where she'd left her car, since she could hear more aerodynes approaching. Hopefully it was far enough from the front of the traffic jam that no one would have connected her with anything out of the ordinary, or taken notice of her license plate number... If nothing else, she'd be able to use the cell phone in her purse when she got back to it, and get in touch with Sylia or Nene to have them do their computer hoodoo and remove any connections to her that a search for the number might turn up.

They'd done that, a different number being entered into the record systems as registered to Linna Yamazaki and the next day she'd reported her plate stolen, as sometimes happened when criminals or simple joyriders wanted to disguise a similarly colored car. A small administrative fee later and she had a third, legitimate new number and plates, and then it was all over but the healing - gratifyingly rapid - and the lectures from Sylia and Hiryuko, which were dishearteningly long.

Now her team mate, her friend was lying in that bed again, apparently in considerably better shape but presenting an even bigger mystery than how she'd suddenly grown - or perhaps regenerated, since she remembered having one as a child - an agile, furry, monkey-like tail in the wake of the Griffon incident. They'd been unable to find any documented incidence of a human with such a fully developed prehensile member, nor even any animal analogues of the large ductless gland that ran most of its length and which seemed to have a direct connection to the optic nerves of all things.

Feeling herself nodding off, Sylia shook her head, a few silver-blue locks bobbing where they'd slipped free of the bun she wore under her armor helmet. Every scan she could run said Linna was simply in a deep but normal sleep, and the circling swarm of unanswered questions would keep until morning at least... Maybe afternoon, with how late it had gotten and how exhausted she felt.

It was around mid-morning before Leon was dug out of the rubble, the PMB having lost power when the gas turbine in the rear wheel folded on its back was damaged. Even at that, he counted himself lucky - the sturdy mecha and body armor had prevented any major injuries, all he'd suffered were sprains and joint stress when falling wreckage of the wall he'd been tossed into battered him around like a rag doll. Despite his energetic protests the rescue workers still bundled him off to the mobile hospital that had been set up, but with all the serious injuries they had to deal with, he'd done nothing but wait and grumble in frustration since the triage medic determined he had a heart beat, normal body temperature, and no abnormal swelling or bleeding wounds, then handed him a granola bar and waved him at the steel chairs where those who weren't in immediate danger were waiting for someone to have time for a more detailed examination.

He'd tried to leave once, actually, but the THP motorcycle officer who was handling security wouldn't allow it - apparently this was a special area set up for people who'd been buried, and everyone had to have a detailed check for internal injuries before they could go. Neither Leon's higher rank nor the fact that he'd been buried in a mecha that kept anything from hitting his torso impressed the cycle cop, the Inspector was a patient who'd been buried, he would wait quietly and get checked out or they'd sedate him.

His relief was considerable, then, when Daley appeared, dirt-smeared and more rumpled than he'd ever seen his dapper partner, but with orders from way up the political totem pole to collect him and get a report. Though, he did wonder, "How'd you get get here so fast, anyway? I'd have thought you'd still be floating around in space."

Brushing back dust-clogged red hair with one hand, the junior Inspector said, "When the explosions started I used police authority to hold a shuttle that was about to launch and get a seat. I was worried about my cute partner," he joked with a tired grin. Seeing that Leon was in no mood for humor, he continued, "They pretty much grabbed me at the spaceport lobby and sent me to help out - when you were found they called for the ADP to see if it was dangerous to leave the PMB there while looking for more survivors, and I happened to be nearby. I pulled the recorder's disk and played the video feed to see if it had anything important. When the chief heard you'd been on the scene, he sent me to get a report on what happened after the unit shut down, and I keep getting called with orders from higher up the food chain saying to hurry up about it. I'm just wondering -"

The chirp of the police-band cell in his suit pocket cut Daley off, and he answered with another wry grin to Leon, who was starting to be amused in spite of himself. "Inspector Wong ... Yes, sir. I've got him right here actually ... Absolutely, sir, I'll make sure to route a copy to your office ... I'm on it." Closing the phone and jerking his head toward the cruiser he'd arrived in, the redhead confided, "That was Defense Minister Callahan, calling from the emergency Diet session - this is serious, Leon."

Arriving at the car, he retrieved a standard tablet PC from the seat and woke it up, opening a file to take notes in and starting the audio recorder. "This is Inspector Daley Wong, AD Police, interviewing Inspector Leon McNichol, also AD Police, recovered from the scene of the incident in a prototype police motorcycle battloid. As the logs from the unit have already been retrieved, could you start from when it shut down?"

Running through his memories, the battered policeman paused a moment, then began, "I'd just caught up with the DD and was out of weapons, so I tried a physical attack. It caught the blow and threw me into a wall, and things are fuzzy from there - the next thing I can say for sure is that the DD was in about the same place but heavily damaged, and the pilot had opened the cockpit for some reason. The blue Knight Saber was in one of their motorbike units, but she'd raised her own suit's arm to aim at the pilot. For some reason she didn't or couldn't fire. Then that giant... thing attacked again. It ripped the DD's pilot out of the cockpit and tossed her aside, then beat it into scrap and hit what was left with another energy blast. Blue went to check on the pilot while the fast one attacked the monster, but she got smacked away as well. It moved then so it was hard to see from where I was buried, but the last two Sabers attacked it then, and lead it back to the quake zone."

Surprised, his partner queried, "You don't think it was working with them, then, some kind of battlemover piloted by the missing one with the green suit?"

"After what happened with the Griffon?" Leon shook his head. "She's got to be dead, crushed like jelly. As for the monster, it sure didn't look like a battlemover, and it was acting completely uncontrollable, like a rogue buma, not in any kind of teamwork with them or anyone else. It's more likely they were after that thing and the battles just happened to cross, though that still doesn't say where it came from or where it went."

Daley made a few notes, then looked back at the file and asked, "The pilot wasn't in the DD when it was destroyed, then? What happened to her?"

Leon frowned again, remembering. Eventually he answered, "I didn't look back that way until the monster and the pink and white Knight Sabers had left... She was covered in blood, dead or just unconscious, and her partner had collapsed but was still moving. The blue Saber carried them both away." The frown deepened at that, but the rest of his face was an unreadable mask.

"According to Kaufmann's statement, he hired the Knight Sabers to retrieve her and the DD, or at least destroy it," the redhead noted. "Given that I only arrested him a couple hours before, that would have been in line with their contract if they didn't know. It still doesn't look good for them, though."

Leon was surprised by that one, complaining, "They're trying to pin this on them? The Sabers have always been on our side; even when that building was destroyed the investigation showed it was the gas heating system, set off by the buma's grenades."

"Someone has to take the rap, and it's either them or the DD pilot, since the other battlemover disappeared," the other cop reasoned. He stopped the recorder and entered a few commands, sending copies of the file and his notes to headquarters and the various political offices that had wanted it and had the authority to make it stick. Then he settled more comfortably in the driver's seat and began again. "Okay, once more, from the beginning of the encounter this time. This is Inspector Daley Wong..."

Amid the massive rescue, cleanup and recovery efforts, no one took any special notice of one more buma clearing debris, especially not in the quake zone. That it was carrying a small metal cooler and putting chunks of flesh and hair inside before returning to the unmarked van it alone had arrived in, went unremarked as well.

Linna woke reluctantly, curling into the fluffy blankets. She hadn't slept that well for a week at least, not when she was alone. She didn't know why, but her strength problems had turned out not to be problems as her relationship with Yasuo progressed; after a certain point it just drained away and she could be a normal woman for a while instead of living in a world of eggshells and rice paper. It made... things... even better, and she was pretty sure Yasuo enjoyed her enthusiasm as well. Eyes still closed she gave a salacious grin and snuggled the pillow tighter - the new infirmary bed was just incredibly comfortable, she could sleep here all the...

*Wait, the infirmary? Why would I be in the infirmary?* Arms, legs, fingers, toes, tail, nose - everything checking in and twitching against the covers as she took inventory. Something else that needed taking care of, but not immediately yet, and no damage that felt worse than mild bruising. "What could have happened?" she wondered quietly. "We were just getting ready to jump the DD, but then what?" None of the other beds were occupied and the clock display on the monitor in the corner said it was around two PM of the same day they'd mobilized in the wee hours of the morning, so she hadn't been out for a serious amount of time.

Shrugging, she got up and took care of that increasingly urgent problem then took a quick shower, emerging draped in a big yellow towel and fluffing out her spiky hair so it would dry on its own. That was another question - why had she been sleeping in the buff? Even if she had somehow gotten knocked out without raising a welt on her head, she hadn't had any injuries bad enough to need to strip her to treat, though she'd noticed a needle mark in her left elbow, familiar from the times she'd need to have blood drawn for testing or to have a supply in case she needed a transfusion. It was one mystery after another, but if she'd been put here instead of her room in the HQ apartments there had to be a reason.

Letting out a resigned puff of air, she snagged the remote control and an emery board from the desk and perched on the bed to do her toenails and watch the news. She quickly forgot all thoughts of pedicures as coverage continued of the devastation that had struck the center of the city, from a battle that had lasted barely two minutes. With so little time to get any cameras on the scene footage was limited, just a few shaky, long range shots of something big and dark moving among the low buildings of a minor business district, firing a series of energy blasts from its head, and grainy stills from a cell phone camera.

"What the hell happened here!" she blurted.

"We were hoping you could tell us," said a man's voice from the doorway. She placed it as soon as she looked - it was Sylia's, no, 'Cecilia Ishioka-Wayne's' private doctor, T. T. Vector. "I take it that means you don't remember what happened last night, then?"

He sat down at the desk, booting up the terminal there and activating a second, dedicated monitor on the wall. Watching curiously as he navigated the file system, Linna could see that he was pulling up a clip from Nene's hardsuit camera, and momentarily it opened, showing a low angle shot of some giant, hairy monster swelling to fill the screen, a scrap of green and grey hanging from one shoulder then falling away as it slammed its fists together with a crash of displaced air and roared.

*Green and grey? That's the bodysuit for my new armor!* "Did that thing attack me, then?" she asked incredulously. "I don't feel worked over, but not like that time when Hiryuko healed me, either. What is it, some kind of buma?" *Oh, great, he's got Bad News Face. Do they give classes in that at medical school or something?*

Bracing herself for whatever was coming, Linna was still unprepared when the doctor solemnly stated, "Actually, that's you. Miss Kagami's hardsuit camera got the best view, but her mother was also watching from a more distant location and reported that when the clouds cleared, you became fascinated by the full moon and transformed into the giant, ape-like creature. Though exhibiting no signs of conscious thought you then proceeded to attack the designated mission target, but the collateral damage was extreme and once it was silenced Mistress Ishioka-Wayne and Miss Kagami were forced to lead you away from populated areas until the transformation reversed itself."

Paling and hugging her arms to her chest, Linna sickly said, "I attacked Nene and Sylia? Oh no, are they...?" Looking wildly at the other beds as if she could somehow have missed two of her best friends lying in them, she felt no reassurance - that thing had been HUGE, and the video on the news had shown energy blasts that leveled entire BLOCKS.

"They are fine, as is Miss Asagiri and the other BU-33S who was assisting the pilot of the battlemover, Nam I believe her name was. Unfortunately the pilot herself - the young lady Miss Asagiri had been involved with recently, if I understand correctly - did not, and as you saw on the news, collateral damage was severe." The doctor's face tightened briefly before returning to a professional calm, as he concluded, "As for yourself, apart from minor abrasions and contusions and your still anomalous tail, you seem to be in perfect health. I must recommend avoiding strong exertion or excitement until the cause of the incident can be determined, however."

The anchorman was giving the latest update on the numbers injured and dead, as well as still missing. The brunette laughed hollowly before repeating, "No exertion or excitement, got it." Eyes glistening, she grabbed the big pillow and hugged it, chin sinking into one end as she kept watching the news. The young doctor asked her a few other questions but she didn't really hear, just shaking her head until he went away and she could cry for real. Nene appeared sometime later to hold her and that was even worse, because murdering monsters didn't deserve to have friends like that.

The Knight Sabers were supposed to STOP rampaging monsters, dammit, not become them. That was what she'd joined to do, what she was proud to do. *What I'll do anything it takes to do,* she resolved, finally wiping away her tears, and dropping the pillow so she could hug Nene back. *If they can't find out what happened, and how to stop it ever happening again, I'll do what's necessary. To stop rampaging monsters from hurting people.* She gave the younger girl a squeeze - the redhead was one of the few who could handle the incredible strength she was still getting used to - and murmured thanks for being such a good friend.

Feeling Linna come around, the half-spirit patted her back and happily returned the squeeze.

Linna had stayed behind when Nene and Sylia left not long after, tail tucked close around her waist and once again hugging the stuffing out of her pillow - nearly literally - as she stayed glued to the news coverage with a deeply sorrowful expression, though the first crushing surge of guilt had thankfully passed. Nene was kind of glad, one of the things they had to do was take Sylvie's body to a funeral home where Sylia had connections, which the grieving former dancer would undoubtedly have found devastating. Nene was bad enough off herself and even Sylia, who'd never met the buma alive, was solemn. She'd dropped Nene off at ADPolice headquarters on her way to pick up Priss, the surviving sexaroids, and surprisingly enough Cynthia, who was no doubt in for a record-breaking Sylia-lecture after running away.

She was somewhat on edge, under the circumstances, so when the Chief spotted her coming into the office and bellowed, "ROMANOVA! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, EVERYONE GOT CALLED IN HOURS AGO!" she snapped back without conscious thought.

"I've been taking my FRIEND to the MORGUE, OKAY! She was KILLED last night, and I got hurt in it myself!" Suddenly realizing what she'd just done, she paled and stared at her feet, waiting to be fired for yelling at the boss. Fortunately she hadn't said anything about why they'd been there or how she was injured, that would have lead to even bigger problems.

Taken aback momentarily, Todo whispered a curse and wiped away the sweat on his balding pate awkwardly, before quietly apologizing, "I'm sorry to hear that, Romanova. There was too much of that going around last night." She wasn't a line officer after all, where death was a daily prospect and came all too often for friends and comrades. In some ways, she was very young, and to tell the truth he liked how she reminded him of his niece at times.

More firmly, the thickset man commanded, "Well, you're here now, so get over here and help me answer these damn phones. Everyone else from the office is out on disaster relief, and every two-bit politico from the Prime Minister to the Nerima-cho dog catcher wants to know what we're doing about that disappearing Z-class battlemover. Tell them the investigation is in progress and we'll deal with it as firmly as the law allows. The press gets the same story and not a word more! If there's an actual, current buma incident, transfer them to the Second Division in Yokohama, they've kept their response unit intact to deal with them while our officers and heavy equipment assist emergency services."

Eventually, the fires were put out, the streets cleared, everyone who could be saved had been saved, and life in Megatokyo returned to something like the old routine. Reconstruction would still be underway for some time and the buma crews were out in even greater force than the previous, still ongoing Kanto quake recovery levels. The ADP was kept busy with over worked and under maintained rogues, but thankfully no major incidents involving the more powerful security and military models occurred. The government witch-hunt a few of the more extreme politicians had tried to stir up against the Knight Sabers was stifled by more level heads, with some help from a subtle media campaign of data showing their many pro-bono sorties to stop rampaging buma and a couple of contracts to capture major criminals leaked to investigating reporters, though their standing in even the shadier government circles had taken a significant dive.

Sylia had set Nam and Anri up with full identities in another part of the city after making the necessary repairs and modifications to their systems. The shimmer of her synchronization system's energy field had prevented Leon or his mecha from getting clear images of Nam's facial structure, and lavender was a common enough hair color - including the dye jobs, anyway - not to be suspicious on its own. For her part, Anri hadn't been implicated in anything since arriving on the planet, so she was clear. Their records from the Genaros escape were simply altered enough for image matching systems to pass them by and since the voices at Genom who'd been putting the official heat on had only ever cared about the DD and its pilot, their disappearance was quickly swept under by the tide of current police work.

Nam had gotten a different cycling jumpsuit, of course, a little more subdued than her original yellow and blue - the new one was mostly black, with a white collar and trim stripes at the shoulder seams, a wide white stripe down the outside of each leg, and a pair of blue bands, one light and one dark, that wrapped around her from the left shoulder across her chest and lower back to end on the left thigh. It was actually quite similar to the white jumpsuit Sylia had worn to drive the Batmobile, but rather than a clamshell breastplate Nam had just added silver-grey boots, armguards, and a wide, segmented belt with a dozen little compartments to help hide the sonic blasters she still kept handy as a precaution.

Nam and Anri came to visit Cynthia a time or two, trying to build bridges with the Akimotos after inducing the girl to run away with them, with but limited success. She and Nene had continued to hang around together in their free time, though not often in company with Priss as it hurt the singer just to be around the purple-eyed buma who was so tied with her memories of Sylvie.

The singer filled her days with music to keep busy, and the Replicants' increasing popularity saw them score a gig at the fashionable Club Olympus. She'd lost a bit of weight as well, and every now and then she'd see a well-built woman with short dark hair from the corner of her eye, only to spin and find no one there. The funeral for the freedom-loving buma had been held a few days later, but Priss had been unable to lay her to rest in her heart.

Linna had quit her instructor's job at Phoebe's Gym, claiming a long term injury from what had become known as "the Doomsday Incident" after the battlemover's involvement had become more public knowledge. As the melee specialist had become more withdrawn and subdued, Sylia worried that there might be some element of truth to the lie, if not in a physical sense. The only time she was her old self was with her music-industry boyfriend, and despite the injunction against such outside liaisons in the groups' largely ignored charter the Saber leader could only feel thankful that the relationship seemed stable for once.

It was two weeks after the disastrous battle that she finally made some small headway in finding a reason for Linna's metamorphosis, as Dr. Vector finally delivered the results of the blood test comparisons he'd run between the sample taken that night and on previous occasions before and after her tail had appeared. Since regrowing the appendage, all of the samples had included varying amounts of an unusual hormone, and on the night in question the level was an order of magnitude greater.

The unknown gland running the length of the member was the obvious culprit, but the trigger remained unclear until Sylia remembered the odd link it had to the optic nerves, the extra fibers in her spinal cord that were the only other major anatomical difference between Linna and baseline human. The full moon seemed to be a reasonable possibility then since it had been the last thing she looked at before transforming, and to test the hypothesis a virtual reality headset was loaded with the simulation of an otherwise quiet moonlit field. On a pleasant sunny day they hiked out to the valley where the Orca IV had crashed, Nene and Nam also tagging along in case the experiment worked *too* well. Dr. Vector was not included in the expedition, as Nam was a capable medic and there was no way around the need to strip down unless she wanted to tear out of her clothes if it worked. While Linna could handle being nude in only semi-private situations, she preferred it to be in solely female company.

After setting up the recorders they'd backpacked to the site and taping the sensors in place on Linna's spine and a small shaved patch on the tail, the VR rig was booted up and the brunette carefully put it on, after a double-check to make sure the moon displayed would be behind her at first.

"Alright, we've got a good baseline for the daylight and inside the simulation, Linna, try turning around and looking at the moon," Sylia instructed.

She complied and for a moment it seemed like a bust. "Nothing, Sylia. Just a moon," the tailed woman reported, disappointedly.

"It's not the pattern itself that's important then, it seems," the Saber leader noted. "Turn around again, and I'll change the setting from a plain white and grey circle to an actual, true-color moon image."

After the settings were adjusted Linna turned again to look at the ever so slightly more greenish genuine moon, and it soon became clear they'd reasoned things accurately, the monitor equipment erupting in a cacophony of bleeps, chirps, and burbles as readings changed and values skyrocketed, followed by the sharp crack of the headset shattering as a baboon-like snout expanded under it.

Thankfully, the transformation hadn't even completely occurred before reversing due to the lack of moonlight after the headset broke, so there was little cleanup to be done this time. As the troupe picked up their gear and headed back to the base Nene reflected that Linna seemed happier than she'd seen the former dancer since the battle, while Nam, who'd bounced back for the most part, was shaken and pale, and noticeably keeping the other two women between herself and the brunette.

Linna had noticed the usually sweet-tempered buma's hesitance as well, and while it stung a bit she could hardly blame the girl. Figuring that the best way to reassure her was the way she'd be insuring the world would stay kaiju-free, she asked, "So, will Dr. Vector be able to take the tail off, or should I make a hospital appointment, Sylia?"

"That's an extreme solution to jump to," the Saber leader cautioned. "We still don't fully understand what purpose it serves for you otherwise. The simple shape of a moon had no effect, it was only when the specific light spectrum was received that the metamorphosis began. A pair of sunglasses that block those frequencies-"

"Could get lost or broken," Linna cut her off, irritated. "Then what? Just don't look? What if I saw it in a reflection from a window, or a puddle on the ground? More importantly, this can't be allowed to happen again, Sylia." Recalling her thoughts from that awful morning, she added, "We're the Knight Sabers. We stop rampaging monsters, it's what we DO." *Whatever it takes,* she reminded herself, snagging the tip of the flicking tail in one hand. Pulling it taut, she formed a knuckle bomb over the other, and slid the arm down her back, wrist twisted just enough that it wouldn't hit anything until reaching -

"EEYOOOWOW!" she yelped as the mini-blast went off with a crack, a small spray of blood falling to the trail while the length of the tail came away in her left hand. Staggering as her balance shifted, she whimpered and blinked back tears of pain. Rubbing her sore posterior, she shakily told her stunned companions, "Okay... I'm going to admit, that wasn't such a great idea," before tripping as she lost her balance again.

Priss was just on her way into the Comet Club to set up the band's gear when she saw the woman again, a svelte profile in blue and white leathers with short dark hair. Dropping the microphone stands she'd been carrying she spun to look, seeing only a shadow moving into a nearby alley. She dashed over, breath catching in a suddenly dry throat- It was empty, nothing but a dead end with a couple of half-filled trash cans, not even a fire escape or a window someone could have jumped to. Silently cursing herself for holding on to stupid, impossible dreams, the singer stalked back out and picked up the equipment again. "I'm going nuts," she muttered irritably, eyeing the scratched chrome where one part had scuffed against the pavement.

Sylia was dreaming. She had to be, she told herself, because there was no way she would ever, in a million years, be lounging on top of a piano in a slinky, sequined dress. Particularly not when Fargo was at the keys. There was a short drumroll from behind her, and she turned to see Linna grinning back at her from a drum kit, while Priss launched into a bluesy intro on an angular electric guitar, and Nene stood by with some strange combination of a bass guitar and synth. Without any input from her, her body turned back to face the front of the stage, which seemed to be in a smoky club of some kind, with an enthusiastic crowd cheering and carrying on. The only sounds she heard were the music, as Nene and Fargo joined in, and her own voice as she raised a microphone and began to sing.

*This is so completely embarrasing,* she thought, trying to ignore what her dream-self sang. She usually had far better control, but this dream seemed to be completely beyond her ability to alter. She could feel tears trickling down her cheeks, as some of the forms in the crowd became recognizable... Her mother, in her favorite kimono. Papa Stingray in a lab coat. Little Brian in the jumpsuit with the juice stain from a food fight when they were seven. Mackie, in his overalls, with a smudge of grease on his nose... Daddy... She could feel herself sobbing now, but her voice still kept singing as the second verse came around.

When she'd finished, she stepped down from the piano and across the stage, trading microphone for guitar with Priss. At least her outfit had turned into something a little less out of character, a sleeveless silver wrap-around that wasn't quite so tight and ended near the knees instead of almost at her ankles, with matching long, fingerless gloves. Of course, she hadn't touched a guitar since her second year in high school, but her dream-self seemed to know what to do with it.

Fargo played an intro on the piano, then she and Nene joined in on their strings, and Priss launched into a song she'd never heard of, though it was very much in the feisty singer's style, even at the slower, more mournful pace the bluesy atmosphere called for. "You're not the only one who's lonely/try sitting on the crescent moon..."

Hands still moving on their own, Sylia looked out at the crowd again, fearing the reaction she'd see on their faces, but Mother was smiling softly and nodding with the beat, Papa had that faintly puzzled expression that meant he didn't understand but was happy if she was, and Daddy... He pulled off the cowl and gave her a wink, as if to say, "It's all right to be a person, too." The tempo picked up, more the usual Replicants style after the first chorus, and Mackie danced around in front of the stage with a faceless, purple haired woman.

Sighing softly and snuggling into her pillow, the worry lines on Sylia's sleeping face smoothed away as she relaxed and let peaceful dreams soothe her mind.

In a run-down trailer perched precariously close to a giant footprint, Priss opened her eyes and sat up slowly. "That was one fucked up dream," she muttered, shaking her head. "Wonder if Sylia can really sing and play like that, though?" Dismissing the notion, she hauled herself out of bed and headed for the bathroom before grabbing a pad to write down lyrics and chords - it was never a good idea to ignore the muse when it flowed, and it wasn't like she'd have gotten back to sleep any time soon anyway. *Born to be happy, yeah right,* she thought, scribbling down the last of what she remembered. It was no good, she couldn't do something this upbeat now. She tossed the pad in the general direction of the shelf, and grabbed her guitar to work on something a little closer to her heart at the moment.

The intro was solid, and the first few measures, but the transition before the chorus was still a little awkward. She tried a few variations, chording around, before finding something that fit and singing along. "You, angel, fallen to earth, living here and now..."

*Yes.* Writing the new measure on the composition sheet still open on her table from earlier, she moved on to the next problem spot.

And, in the smoky haze of Bill's Blues Bar, Fargo waited out the guitar intro before hitting the keys and belting out the first lines of an ancient Cramps tune with a secretive smirk.


Next time on Bubblegum Disaster: Don't bring a gun to a Z fight. It never helps.


For those who still haven't recognized it (which seems to be *everyone*) Linna's high-fashion date wear is a slightly modified version of the Great Saiyaman costume from DBZ. The black body glove and green tabard are the same, though of course cut for a woman, as is the red sash (though that's apparently not worn often - my toy had it before the fire, but the reference images all just have a black belt with a round yellow buckle. D'oh. Maybe it was added to match the red helmet? All the shots I have are with the sunglasses or bare-faced.) but the white boots and gloves are much more form-fitting, and instead of a helmet or sunglasses, Linna had worn a red bandanna headband to match the sash, and pulled one down to cover her face (like a cowboy from a western perspective, more ninja-like to the Nipponophile.) Note also that this is the aftermath of Saiyawoman's battle with the Bakemono Burglar...

Cynthia and range of her abilities - In Ch3, she watches the battle on top of Genom Tower and puts up a shield that stops the satellite laser cold, all from her room at the Akimotos' cottage, but here she's in the city but can't help Sylvie heal, who's closer than the Tower was then. This is in fact intentional, not an error - for one thing, the shield is a spell, one of the simplest but which is as strong as there's power to make it, while healing magic spells are very much more complex; the simple energy infusion that she's been using can't be done at long distance. It's also more of a Jedi/Force type effect, the better your visualization and willpower the better it works - much more primal than proper spells as such - and even as an exceptional one she's still a child, and by that time an exhausted, distraught child. As unfortunate as it was, Sylvie's death was necessary for Priss's development and this way it also shows that Cynthia has limitations of her own.

As for her essentially endless magical energy, that's thanks to what Kami-sama did to turn her into a normal girl and two fairybots - as previously noted, that spell is intended to be used to prepare a new successor to the office of planetary Kami by separating any evil in them out to a new being, who then generally is either captured or escapes and becomes a new demon lord - it calls directly on the power of the Heart of the World, giving the person it is used on a link to it. Cynthia had no malice in her, so the spell was able to separate a different aspect of her being, the cybernetic from the biological. Despite carrying the Heart, Cynthia is not a Kami successor and does not have the power of the office - but she does have the link, and only Laviolus Daimaoh (or his counterpart Piccolo, a quarter of the way around the galaxy, the South and East quadrant kami having dealt with their darker selves) can rival her power. She will need to perform the spell as well when a successor does appear, hence her being tutored in magic with the knowledge instilled in the fae at the same time.

"Bake two cakes in one oven" - killing two birds with one stone, for those who like cute little birdies and yummy snacks.

"Anata" is a particularly polite way of saying "you" in Japanese, commonly used by wives to their husbands the way an English speaker would use "dearest" or something similar. I can't remember if it's specifically considered a feminine-use word, however.

Exaggerated, humor-anime-style reactions - the Kagamis are the mirror clones of Ranma Saotome, after all, and half supernatural as well. As such, and bearing in mind DBZ's humor manga roots as well, those kind of larger than life expressions will occasionally come out, despite the generally more serious tone of BGC, which I usually adhere to. As things continue to get grimmer, they'll probably get more common, because too much angst and gloom makes my trigger finger itch.

Another funeral for Priss to attend - in the past year, she's been to Irene's, Sho and his mom's, and now Sylvie's - that's a lot, for someone under 25, with as few close friends as she has.

Answers that can keep until the afternoon - No indeed, our Sylia is *not* a morning person. Good thing everything seems to happen at night, ne? If you watch the series, there's about one scene per OVA that actually takes place while the sun is up.

Club Olympus - in one of the city panoramas, I believe part of the opening montage of OVA 1, a neon sign that says "Olympus" can be seen. While this is probably a reference to the shape of Genom Tower and Masamune Shirow's Appleseed, I chose to make it a nightclub's sign, and being on a bright street would make it either a fashionable and successful one, or very short-lived.

The Comet Club, of course, is from The Tick cartoon, a superheroes only club where they can kick back in the company of their peers. With the way even the canon Sabers mimic the classic superhero style, this amuses me greatly, but there isn't any major cape presence in the world at this point - the Bat-clan was all they ever had, and now there's only one active member besides Sylia, over in the Gotham sector of East City, the megalopolis created as Boston, NYC, and coastal cities even as far south as Hartford Connecticut grew until they merged, giving new meaning to the term "urban sprawl."

The song Priss performs in Sylia's dream is "Asu e Touchdown," included in both Hurricane Live 2032 and 2033, though only the 2032 edition has the music video with non-series animation showing the recruitment of the Sabers, which is officially canon. The one she's working out the music for is "Bara no Soldier" from H.L. 2033. "Rock Me" (despite being addressed to a "lonely boy" in the lyrics, framed for a mostly straight audience) and "Crisis - Ikari o Komete Hashire" (also from 2033) are probably also Sylvie-songs, IC speaking, even though the second was specifically written as a Gibson/Griffon song by Tsubokura Yuiko, the VA who played her.

*Batman* unmasking, and telling Sylia 'it's alright to be a person, too'? Yaright? - Two points here: A) this is a Batman who got married and had a daughter, who was two by the time he died; B) it's a dream, after all, by a girl who was only two when she last saw her daddy.

Fargo's 'ancient Cramps tune' is "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns," and I'm sure you can see why he'd be amused by it. Since I'm not really into the Blues genre (There's a few numbers I like, but not the majority - the original Bikini Girls is more Punk than Blues, even if his version isn't.) I had to kind of talk around whatever Sylia sang, because I don't know any that would fit. If anyone has a suggestion for something with piano and electric guitar that fits a feeling of faltering under the weight of the world, be sure to let me know. BB King's _How Blue Can You Get?_ maybe, modified for a female singer, but even that doesn't really fit.

Guardian 215 should be imagined with the vocal talents of Susan Blu; if you don't know her by name, she did (among other shows) Arcee on the post-movie Transformers episodes, as well as in the movie itself. You can even keep the flanging effect if you like, though it's not really there.

Many thanks to my prereaders: Nathan Baxter, Hide Hasegawa, Leong Mun Yee, Andrew Wilson, Christopher Gilbert, and Drakensis, and to everyone on the BDPreread mailing list - you get your name listed if you actually make commentary, but just reading and finding nothing bad enough to complain about is still commentary of a sort.

Drakensis used to keep a remote archive of the story on his web site, but unfortunately it no longer exists. Since he's a damn good fic writer himself, I'll give a link to his profile instead, as a thank you for the effort when he did. It's at .net/u/347490/drakensis

Bubblegum Crisis belongs to Youmex and Animeigo, I make no claims otherwise. Please don't sue me, I have no money to speak of and fanfic does more to promote your products than anything else I know of - without it, I never would have known about anime at all, and I'd certainly never have bought the BGC tapes based on the sucky box copy.

Ranma 1/2 I'm not so sure of, except that the creator was Rumiko Takahashi, not me, and that I make no claims to own IT either. Likewise, Dragonball was created by Akira Toriyama, and is distributed in the US on video by FUNimation. I THINK that both Ranma and Dragonball comics are done by Viz in the US, but that may be incorrect.

The Bionic Six is similarly of unknown provenance, but I have a very vague and unreliable memory that it may have been animated by Suncoast video... In any case, it's STILL not my own creation.

_Dykstra's War_ is by Jeffery D Kooistra, published by Baen Books.

Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were created by Akira Toriyama, owned overall by Bandai I think, and released on video in the US by FUNimation and in manga by Dark Horse (again not so sure about that one - could be Vis)

Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi, and is undoubtedly also owned by some animation studio or another. I know that the RPG rights in North America at least belong to Guardians of Order.

Omake! The straights/gays counter!

Lots of fanfic authors go nuts making the cast match their sexual preference and/or fantasies. I'm not, because even naughty, naughty perverts can have some standards - hence, I've only made changes where strongly justified or where the canon was unclear to begin with. And, what do you know, most of the major cast is, indeed, straight! Here's the breakdown:

Straight:
Sylia Linna Mackie Leon Mason/Largo (twistedly perverse even by my standards, but straight. You don't want to know what he used to do with that green haired, Sylia look-alike buma from the BU-25B attack sequence in OVA 2)
Madigan Chief Todo Lisa Vanette Vision Kou Irene Dr. Raven J B Gibson Naomi Tora Kagami Hiryuko Kagami -
Total : 16

A Little Bent:
Anri is just gay enough to have fun with a special enough woman, but generally looks at guys.
Nene is curious, she needs to experiment and find her preferences. She looks but only admits to looking at guys.
Quincy dresses like a gay pimp, but only really loves power. No one dares to ask about his private life, and he likes it that way.

Total : 3

Really Bisexual:
Priss Mina - of course, as sexaroids they're designed to enjoy it in as many ways as possible, so not being bi is anomalous for them Hyatt Dot Lou Nam -
Total : 6

Exclusively Gay:
Sylvie Meg Daley -
Total : 3

Not interested or too young:
Niichigo Cynthia Lisa probably belongs here, certainly the Chief thinks so! She's got that whole teen-girl-boy-crazy thing going on, though, even though she hides it well most of the time. Her room is utterly plastered with boy-band posters.

Double Omake Bonus!
Tales from the Cutting Room Floor!

I really wanted to include this, but it just didn't fit with the way things flowed, and while I couldn't see any way to have Priss plausibly join the outing I needed her to be part of the last KS sighting. Dammit. So, you get the noteblock.

Official disfavor not quite enough to kill another USSD contract, though - they've tracked down the next link in the buyer chain for the DD and want a deniable asset to make him vanish over there, just happening to appear over here, be overwhelmed with remorse after the massive property damage, and turn himself in. Air quotes as necessary. Now needing ca$$$h more than ever with still more equipment damage and the expense of trying to find out what the hell happened to Linna, Sylia takes the job. "Right now, the Knight Sabers are a very plausibly deniable asset, and not that far from being a liability. Which will it be?" I like this idea. There's at least a month, probably two or three, before OVA 6, and there should be something to fill that time frame. Who is it? How about a former terrorist turned assassin called Snake, who hides his face behind a mirrored mask? Combo GIJoe/TFs ref! Double score! "Sssuch a wonderful artwork you made in Megatokyo, but what wasss the point if you disssclaimed it? They jussst don't make terrorists like they usssed to... COOOBR-" interrupted by gut punch, doubles over wheezing.

EOF