Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't…

*****

Prelude



Enormous white wings folded primly along her back, Minako - angel of love and beauty - stepped carefully into the gilded elevator, its delicate design reminiscent of the early 1900's on Earth. A thousand and ten glistening silver buttons lined the edges of the swinging-gate door, shimmering with anticipation. Pausing only to search out the glistening button she needed to press, she thumbed its smooth surface, indicating that she wished to descend to the happy land of Limbo. In one hand she held a wrinkled ticket the color of a thousand varying rainbows, upon which instructions were etched to allow her past the guards. It had been ages since she had last seen Juurokougou and the other various guards; Minako rather hoped she'd be able to talk with him.

The elevator fell silently and without a hitch, dropping steadily out of Heaven and toward the level plan that was Limbo. Below that, in turn, was Hell - where the fallen angels and Lucifer dwelled in all their evil. She frowned for a moment. Kuririn and Juuhachigou, an angel and a devil in turn, missed each other dearly and were both grateful for their being able to meet once every other year. Juurokougou always did have a soft spot for his two cousins, Juuhachigou and…_him_. Irrationally, Minako scowled, crossed her arms over her robe-covered breasts, and slouched, glowering darkly at an innocent corner of the elevator.

Ah, well, at least she wouldn't have to think of him anymore after this particular mission. The instructions were typed neatly on the ticket - Michael had such nice handwriting - and she lifted it up, smoothing the crinkled paper out to read the list once more.

1. Travel to Limbo, show ticket to Juurokougou and get permission to descend to Earth from guard of Earth's outgoing-elevator - currently is Torankosu.
2. Find Setsuna, the Dimension Soldier, and have her assist in the locating of Chichi, the sorceress-of-undetermined-side.
3. Convince Chichi to entrust powers in God.
4. Return.

"Simple enough," she told herself firmly. "And Usagi said I might even get a promotion!" The thought was enough to considerably cheer her up. How often was it that _Juunanagou_ was promoted in Hell? She hoped it wasn't often. The jerk didn't deserve any station, low or high…

A sudden thumping sound snapped her out of her petty daze and Minako blinked her large sapphire blue eyes. Oh, was she there already?

Ami swung open the gate in front of the elevator as Minako opened the door-gate of the elevator itself.

"Why, Minako," the petite guard to Heaven's outgoing-elevator smiled happily, "welcome! It's been centuries!"

"It has!" added Makoto's voice, from where she and Yamucha were checking the tickets of various people exiting Earth's incoming-elevator. The tall woman and man were the designated Senders - if a person had the proper ticket, they would be sent before God, who would judge them. If they didn't have the right ticket, then they had died prematurely and were sent back to Earth, where they would be considered the 'lucky' people the doctors just managed to save and that, by all rights, they should have died. "And you'd better not stay away so long ever again!"

Minako grinned. For an eternal existence in Limbo, unable to traverse to Heaven or Hell, the inhabitants were always content and happy. She supposed it had something to do with the importance of each one's job; there were hundreds of elevators to be maintained and guarded regularly - Earth wasn't the only populated planet - and millions of tickets to be checked every day. They were too busy to ever notice that they were stuck in Limbo.

"Minako!" rumbled a deep, friendly voice and the blonde angel turned to see Juurokougou, Director of Limbo, approaching her, short, thick red hair tousled by the eternal wind. He was large, dressed in forest green robes and sandals, like each of the others - everyone had their own color, though. Makoto had the same shade of green as her trademark while Yamucha wore red-orange; Ami and Torankosu both wore navy blue, whereas Minako wore flamboyant orange. The only other angel that had ever worn orange had been Juunanagou - before he, along with the other fallen angels, was cast from Heaven into the newly birthed Hell.

"Greetings," she bowed respectfully, once more forcing away unwelcome thoughts of Juunanagou, "Juurokougou."

He waved a large hand dismissively. "Much as I wish I didn't have to say this, do you have clearance?"

"Yes, I do, right here." She held out the folded ticket and Juurokougou plucked it from her much smaller hand, quickly scanning the print.

"All right, then, here's your passport." He waved his hand again, this time pulling out a soft blue notebook from a wind that blew directly into his hand. "Show the first page to Torankosu and he'll let you pass. Record all going-ons you experience or participate in once you reach Earth."

Minako smiled gratefully, leaning over and up to hug him like she did her sister and brother. "Thank-you!"

Turning, she moved to Torankosu, who was laughing at something Ami had yelled across to him, her cheeks flaming.

"Passport?" he asked quickly, still smiling at Ami. She flashed it at him and he nodded, opening the gates for her.

"See you all later, after I get a sorceress on our side!" Minako called and Gokuu, Manager of Magic, waved a cheerful good-bye amidst the 'fare well!'s and the 'bai-bai!'s.

The instant she and the Earth elevator plummeted out of view, the elevator for Hell streaked up and a startled Gohan, guard of Hell's outgoing-elevator, snapped his head up. Rarely, if ever, was the elevator under his supervision used. The only one who ever used it was Juuhachigou. This, however, was certainly not Juuhachigou.

Apparently, it was her twin brother - Juunanagou, outfitted in his normal orange robes.

"Hey!" Gohan hollered as Juunanagou, gargantuan black wings outspread, walked calmly out of the elevator and through the crowd of Limbo. "Hey, you don't have clearance from Juurokougou! Get back here!"

"I don't need permission," was the calm reply as the ivory-skinned, black velvet-haired male reached the edge of Limbo's Earth side, "little boy." That said, he tilted his perfect face back, held his arms out even with his shoulders, and leapt from the edge, sweeping into a dive that led him into the shaft descending to Earth.

"Aw, crud!" Gohan swore and Rei, the guard of Hell's incoming-elevator, swiveled on her heel to face her partner. "Juurokougou! We have a problem! Juunanagou just, uh, dove into the…um, Earth's outgoing-elevator shaft. I think he's following Minako."

Juurokougou sighed and turned to Gokuu, grasping the oblivious man's robe's collar. "Tell Piccoro to take my position and Muten Roshi to take Gokuu's," he ordered Goten, guard of Heaven's incoming-elevator. "There's been a violation of the Code." Several sounds of shocked inhaling echoed around the area. "Gokuu and I are going to Earth to warn Minako and recapture Juunanagou before any serious damage can be caused."

Torankosu quickly opened the gates to allow the two into the returning elevator.

The elevator swallowed them and shot back down to Earth.

"Whew," Torankosu whistled, "I hope there won't be too much difficulty getting that one back!"

"You'll jinx them!" Ami hushed.





And there you have it - the prelude, prologue, whatever.

How'd you like it so far? I hope it wasn't too bad. Oh, if you're confused, Torankosu is Trunks - just the kanji spelling, I suppose. *shrugs* Piccoro is Piccolo (duh) and for the others, check the Author's Notes to "Ai no Yume," okay? Okay!

This is my goofy fanfic - I work on it whenever I want to, so updates will be scattered or swift, depending on my mood. If I feel silly, romantic, and crazy, this'll be updated. If I feel angry, depressed, and romantic, I'll write more on "Shellshocked," all right? Great!

Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.

[PS~ Reviews are my friends. *hinthint*]

DISCLAIMER:
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.
"Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.