Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Whoo... Almost there... Naoko Takeuchi created the Sailor Scouts while I created the Knights. I don't own FIFA or the FIFA world cup either, although it would be nice... And I'm starting to get '24' withdrawal symptoms now that the second series has ended. :( That show is just so brilliant!

Chapter XXIV: Homecoming.

Int. Berlin International Airport, terminal 2 check-in hall - 19th December 2002, 3:10 pm CET

Christmas was coming, as was all too apparant by the Weinachten decorations covering the check-in hall from the floor to the roof, the magnificent green christmas tree standing tall in the centre of the hall symbolising the German love of the holiday season. The masses of tourists and Germans alike patiently waiting in line also suggested that the Christmas rush was well in swing. Amongst that queue were the eight Knights from England, waiting to check in for Flight JL-192, their plane to Tokyo and a reunion with Mark.

"Has everyone got all their bags and passports?" asked Anna to the rest of the group behind her, who started checking everything they had. "And remember you can't have any sharp objects on you, not after September 11th."
"How could we forget Anna?" called Lucy from near the back. "There's a big sign in fifteen languages outside the terminal saying that."
"Hey, just double-checking. We need to get to Tokyo ASAP, so the last thing we need is one of us getting held back."
"So how long have we got until we check in?" called Andrew, the Uranus Knight. He was of about medium height with shoulder length blonde hair tied into a pony tail and spoke with a fairly strong Birmingham accent.

"Not long Andy. There's about ten people in front of us." As Ben peered to the front of the queue a look of sheer surprise invaded his face, accompanied by an ear-to-ear grin.
"Heh. Surely it can't be her." He leant out further to try and get a good view of the couple at the check-in counter.
"Couldn't be who?" enquired a tall young woman standing next to him, her long ginger hair tied into a single platted ponytail.
"Emma, take a look at the couple at the front of out queue, the blue haired woman at the desk with the taller guy in the white shirt." Emma leant out towards Ben, trying to catch a glimpse of the couple. "Do ya reckon it looks like the Princess of Mercury?"
"I can't help you there. I'm Neptune, remember? Mercury's supposed to be your planet." Ben frowned.

"Hey, I'm just asking. If you had to give a decision, would you say that is the Princess of Mercury?" Again Emma looked long and hard at the figure at the front walking away hand in hand with her partner.
"Well, if I was forced to choose, I'd say it was. I'm not certain though." The frown on Ben's face instantly changed back into a smile. If this was true, this would be the first time he would have met the reincarnation of his princess, a woman he had served so loyaly as chief advisor in his past life. He wondered if this was coincidence, or whether she was being called back to Tokyo to help the other Sailor Senshi defend against the final assault by the Dark Kingdom.
"Wow. I don't believe it! If it is her..." Ben had frozen to the spot. As the line moved forward Emma instantly noticed this and grabbed hold of him, dragging him down the line.

Further down the line, hand in hand with her partner, was the woman that Ben had noticed, her long, slim, ocean-blue dress glistening from the crisp, mid-winter sunlight pouring through the roof of the check-in hall. Her partner was slightly taller than her with mid-length brown hair and equally autumnal eyes. His attire was seemingly almost as smart as hir partner, with a long-sleeve white shirt, top button open, hanging over a comfortable pair of jet black trousers. As the couple made the long walk down to the departure lounge, leaving the masses of people waiting patiently in line behind them, the happily talked away.

"Well, this is it Greg." said the blue haired woman joyfully. "This is the last time I'll be in Berlin as Amy Mizuno."
"Yeah. Just think, this time next wednesday we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Urawa." replied her partner in an equally joyous tone.
"Oh it's just so exciting!" squealed Amy, overcome by her happiness. "Oh my, I'm starting to sound like Serena now." Greg giggled at the prospect as Ami blushed.
"Hey, don't worry. You're still the Amy I'm always known, and you always will be. So is everything sorted with Serena and Darien?"
"Yeah, we'll be staying there for most of the time. I'm sleeping at my mother's apartment with Mina, Serena and Lita on christmas eve though so I can get ready for the big day." Greg seemed slightly confused as the couple reached the large departure lounge and sat down.

"Isn't Raye going to be with youas well? She was one of your best friends." Amy sighed before looking Greg straight in the eyes.
"There's something I haven't told you, something that I thought would have resolved before today." Greg began to look worried, a shocked expression slowly creeping onto his face.
"What's that?"
"There's been a Dark Kingdom revival in Tokyo as well." Greg took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "It turns out that they managed to capture Raye over two months ago and brainwash her. She's been at the forefront of most Dark Kingom attacks since."
"So this means that you might have to be Sailor Mercury in Tokyo too?" A saddened look spread across Amy's face as Greg's expression faded into one of extreme anxiety.

"Well, I might have to, although I hope not. I want this to be a break from all the thing that have been happening here just like you do. I have to answer to my duty if there is an attack though Greg."
"Hey, it's okay Amy. I'm just scared I might lose you, especially when we're so close to marrying." he replied, placing a comforting arm around Amy's shoulders.
"Greg, you won't lose me. Don't worry yourself, I know how to look after myself." She slowly turned her head to look at him, an alluring smile on her face, while teasingly wrapping her arm around his waist. "And I defianately know how to look after you."

Int. Apartment 241, Hikawa View Apartments - December 20th 2002, 2:10am Japanese time.

"RAYE!!!"

The thunderous yet devastated scream of Mark echoed in his room. It pitch black bar the red digital alarm clock at his bedside, the darkness soon to be chased away by the pure glow of his bedside lamp. Mark was sitting straight up, gasping for breath, his torso suffering from a monsoon of sweat.
"Ten past two? Dammit!" He exclaimed, seemingly fighting back tears. Burying his head in his hands, Mark was clearly in a state of shock.
"Please tell me that IS NOT a pre-vision! Please tell me!" he yelled, trying to grab a pen and notepad from his bedside drawer, his quivering hands making the basic task an almost impossible affair. He frantically scribbled down the details, eager to get every single detail down before he lost his memory, his account of this horrendous nightmare.

His handwriting was barely elligable, his face projecting excruciating pain while he waged war against his shattered nerves as the first details became known.
"Final battle. Snow. Tokyo, central park? Beryl, Malachite, Diamond + Wiseman." Once again he breathed in with agony. "Sailor Mars at front. Mars Fire at Jupiter + Venus. Smashed down by Uranus + Neptune, hit again by Jupiter. Very weak." Still he scribbled furiously, the sheer look of determination in his eyes broadcasting his desire for Raye.

"I run over to Sailor Mars. She looks me in eyes and seems like she knows me, her eyes starry and watery. She lifts hand up to embrace me. I was about to kiss her. 'Raye... It's Mark... Just think back...'" This was becoming too much. His pen slipped off the notepad and stabbed the palm of his hand, the sheer force of his frantic scribbles causing the point to inflict a fairly deep wound.

"SHIT!!!" he cried out at the top of his voice, slamming the notepad on the floor and tugging the ballpoint pen from his hand, which had begun to stream blood. Using his other hand to try and slow the bleeding when possible, he quickly made his way to the kitchen to find the first aid kit. However, the ruckus that Mark had caused with his accident had woken up the other flatmates, who were left wondering exactly what was going on.
"Mark? Is that you?" called Sarah, slowly walking down the hallway towards the living room and the now brightly-lit kitchen.
"Hey Sarah, what's up?" Rubbing his eyes, Chad emerged from his room to investigate the commotion for himself.

"I'm not sure. It sounds like something's happened to Mark though." she replied. The opening to the kitchen was now in sight, and as the pair peered through they saw Mark, his left hand under a running tap and his right hand searshing the nearby cupboards for the first aid kit. Immediattely the pair dashed over to his side.
"Mark! What happened?"
"I just bloody stabbed my hand with a Biro!" he hissed, becoming increasingly frustrated with his inability to find the first aid kit. Seeing his plight Chad immediately opened the cupboard above the cooker and took down the green box. Sarah just took a quick glance at his hand before pulling out two chairs.

"Right... Let's have a look." Mark slowly moved his hand from under the tap and sat down on the chair as Sarah examined the hand. It was unclear exactly how deep the small hole was, but it was causing a fair bit of bleeding. She opened the first aid kit and took out a cotton wool pad, bandaging, tape and antiseptic cream, while Mark tried to look away from his wound as he placed his hand on the table.
"How could a ball point pen cause a wound so deep?" asked Chad, dressed in a white t-shirt and grey boxers, leaning against the wall. "It's the first time I've known a ball point pen to cause a deep wound like that."
"Where is it anyway?" asked Sarah, applying the cream to the wound as Mark gasped in sharp agony.
"It's probably somewhere in my room. Just bin the bastard for all I care." Shrugging his shoulder, Chad left to find the culprit pen in Mark's room.

As Chad followed the droplet trail of blood back to Mark's room, he could sense that something was not right with Mark at all. How could a person accidently injure himself in such a way with a Biro of all things? He looked in, and sure enough on the floor was the culprit, the blood-soaked black ball point pen. Yet there was something else strewn on the floor, a white notepad.

Chad was intreagued. He noticed that the handwriting on the notepad was in Mark's style, but he noticed that it seemed very perculiar. It seemed as if Mark had been panicking as the handwriting was barely eligable compared to Mark's typical standard, while the pressure of the force applied to the paper seemed alarming too, the letters deeply embeded into the paper, suggesting that Mark had been writing furiously. He was curious, curious enough to try and decypher the mangled text.

"My god..." he exclaimed while he tried to figure out exactly what was being explained by the text. It had stated in the final paragraph that Raye, the very Raye he used to go out with so many years ago, was the legendary super-heroine Sailor Mars. Not only that, but Mark was somehow involved too. In any other circumstances he may have just passed it off as some wild fantasy of the Sailor Scouts that Mark was dreaming about. However, given the way in which it was written and the dispostion that Mark was in, he doubted that any such dream about the Sailor Scouts could result in such distress. He had to find something, anything that could cast light on this situation.

Slowly Chad opened Mark's bedside drawer. It was fairly organised, a stationary selection, a space wher the notepad was, his mobile phone. However, one thing in particular caught his eye, a crimson red felt-covered box, seemingly a jewelery case of some sorts. He took one last look behind him to see if no-one was coming down the hallway. The coast was clear. With the upmoast care, he opened the jeweler box. His face tured pure white.

"This... this can't be..." Inside the case lay a red ruby pendant. However, this was no ordinary pendant. It seemed to glow with the most amazing aurora, and as he moved it under the bedside lamp he noticed the tiny golden symbol encased within, the symbol of Mars.
"You've got to be kidding me... There's no possible way..." He turned his attention back to the case itself. Inside the lid, etched in pure gold, was an inscription.

To ye who shall be the Protector and Server of Justice in the name of Mars:
With this garment comes the truth behind thy existence,
The reason why thy were reborn into this lifetime,
With this garment thy shall become the Mars Knight,
Protector, Server of Justice and loyal servant to the Princess of Mars,
Sworn ally and loyal subject of the Kingdom of the Moon,
Stay true to thy line of duty and thy cause of love and justice,
And stay true to the protection of all innocents, any time, any place,

Thy are the Knight of Mars.

"I don't believe it... He's the Mars Knight... And Raye's Sailor Mars..." To him, this was definately one of those moments when the truth was stranger than fiction. No wonder Mark had been so stressed ever since Raye had dumped him. Mark and Raye were two of a kind. However, that confused him even more over the fact of why Raye dumped Mark in the first place.

"Chad? Could you come here a second? I need you to have a look at this." Immediately he snapped the case shut and placed it back in the drawer before heading back to the kitchen, his head spinning from the shock.
"I'll be there in a moment. Could you pour me a glass of water or something please? I just get, like, a bit scared when I see blood."

Int. Chiba residence, Juuban - December 20th 2003, 12:25 pm.

It was extremely difficult to find one singlemoment for rest in the Chiba household. Darien and Serena were working as hard as they could to make sure everything was perfect, decorating the spare bedroom with various items and setting up the spare beds, checking to food was properly wrapped up and put in the fridge, making sure that Amy's flight had not been delayed and checking the news for any travel delays on the way to the airport. Unusually, everything was clear on the roads, and the happy hosts had completed everything with plenty of time to spare.

"Are you sure there isn't anything else Serena?"
"Positive. This is going to be the best homecoming Amy will ever receive, and nothing's going to stop me from doing otherwise." Serena seemed typically upbeat throughout, and seemed extremely proud of the work herself and her boyfriend had done to the house. "Anyway, it's her final days as Miss Amy Mizuno, so we might as well try and make them count."
"By that you mean parties?" smirked Darien, accustomed to the usual stories of wild parties on the Hen Night of brides-to-be.
"Yeah. It's not her style, but what the hell. We need to show her a good time before she ends her free life!" Darien simply buried his head in his hand, an ear-to-ear smile on his amused face.
"Hey, as long as you don't give her a hangover for the wedding day. I definately know I'm not out to get Greg plastered." Darien paused as he tried to regain his composure. "Anyway, don't you think it's about time we hit the road?" Before Serena had a chance to reply, the quiet air was brutally invaded by the ringing of the telephone.

"I'll get it." said Serena, briskly making her way to the main hallway. "Tsukino and Chiba."
"Hi Serena, it's me Mark."
"Hey Mark." she replied sheepishly. She could instantly tell that something was seriously wrong with him, the quivering voice a giveaway.
"Is it okay if I talk with you and Darien please? It's pretty urgent." Darien entered the hallway to try and guess who the caller was.
"I'm not sure. We were just about to leave for the airport."
"It's about Raye. I've had another pre-vision, only I serously hope that it isn't." To Serena, that could only mean one of two things, a Dark Kingdom victory or the death of Raye, maybe even both.
"I'll see what I can do." Quickly Serena held her hand too the mouthpiece and turned towards Darien. "He says he's got more information about Raye and he wants to speak with us. What should we do?"

"Well, we've got hardly any time to waste, but he may have key information..." He paused and stood perfectly still as he thought. "How about we pick him up and take him to the airport with us? He can tell us along the way, plus we've got a bit of spare time to pick him up." Serena turned her attention back to the handset.
"We'll meet you and pick you up from your apartment in fifteen minutes. We really need to get to the airport, but you can tell us while we're there. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine by me." He seemed slightly less nervous now, but still she could sense the worry in his voice.
"Okay, we'll see you in fifteen minutes then."
"Okay, thanks."

Ext. Hikawa View apartments, Cherry Hill - 20th December 2003, 12:40 pm.

Sure enough, Mark patiently waited outside his home, the bitterly cold yet sunny day assisting in his choice of attire - a heavily insulated sports jacket over his usual blue shirt and cream trousers, a wollen blue hat with the crest of Everton Football Club woven in atop his head. Rubbing his hands together for even more warmth, he watched the street for Darien's bright red sports car, taking extra care not to even glance at the steps leading up to the Hikawa shrine, the nightmare of the night before causing him too much grief to even think of Raye.

Saying that, over the past few weeks he had visiting the shrine on a regular basis and had noticed that the posessed Raye was no longer looking after its welfare. He was no priest himself, but early every saturday morning he took the only straw broom from the storage cupboard and swept the floor of the entire temple. This, however, he had kept a secret from both his flatmates and the Senshi. His flatmates wouldn't have approved of it because of that incident in October, while he knew that the other Senshi probably had better things to do on a saturday. Still, none of that mattered at the moment - in the distance he could see the car.

He waved his hand in the air as the car came ever closer, eventually coming to a halt in front of him. The passenger window in front of him instantly lowered to reveal the typically cheerful faces of Darien and Serena.
"Thanks." said Mark, hoping he hadn't bestowed too much bother on the couple. "I'm hope I'm causing any bother with this."
"Don't worry, just get in." replied Darien as Mark found a place in the back to sit. "We're sorry we just had to meet you like this. Amy's plane is due in at three, so we're hoping to get there early in case there's bad traffic." Mark smiled too as he took off his hat and unzipped his jacket.
"Heh. That's gonna bring back a few memories." Mark was becoming slightly nostalgic, images of his first day in Tokyo rushing to his head.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about, Mark?" Mark took a deep breath, and though for a few seconds.
"I think I'd better not tell you while Darien's driving. It isn't good news, that's all I can say. I'll tell you when we get to the airport." Serena's nerves started to build up. The odds were already stacked against them, and her best friend had now been under Dark Kingdom command for nearly two months. Added to the fact that Mark probably had some very bad news, she felt that this might be the final stand for the Sailor Senshi. Still, with Amy around and someone to fill in for Sailor Mars, at least they stood a small chance. Darien had noticed that the mood had instantly begun to sink, so he turned on the radio, the trio greeted by a random selection of christmas J-Pop songs.

Ext. Tokyo Intenational Airport, terminal 3 visitor lounge- 20th December 2002, 2:40 pm.

It had seemed that Darien's decision to turn on the radio payed off, as the trio seemed upbeat and were having conversations on all sorts of topics, or at least the topics that Mark knew enough vocabulary for. Now, however, they had reached the airport and had found seats in the visitor lounge of terminal 3. Now it was time for Mark to reveal the horrors of his nightmare to Serena and Darien.

"Well, I'd just like to warn you that I am seriously hoping this is not a pre-vision, and that you'll probaly end up very upset by this, so brace yourselves." Mark took a very deep breath to calm his nerves. "It starts with the final battle. It's in the centre of Tokyo, central park I believe, and it's snowing, so keep an eye on the weather forcast over the next couple of weeks. In a nutshell, it's the ten of us, you two, me and the other seven Senshi, including one with blue hair who I think is Mercury-"
"You mean Amy's involved with this too?" exclaimed Serena.
"The same Amy that's arriving on this flight?"
"Yeah, that's her." Serena looked close to freaking out.

"As I was saying, the ten of us versus Beryl, Wiseman, Diamond, Malachite and Mars." Mark took care not to mention the Sailor bit any names in case there happened to be any eavesdroppers. "The battle rages on, and Venus and Jupiter are hit by flame sniper attacks. Uranus and Neptune smash her to the floor while Jupiter comes up for a revenge attacks." Again, Mark paused to try and regain his self-composure. The nightmare was beginning to play with his emotions once more.

"Once the other Senshi are keeping Beryl and company busy, I make my way over to the injured Mars and try to persuade her that she is just being used. It's working, and she's about to kiss me when..." Mark let out an almighty sigh and buried his head in his hand as he tried to stop tears from reaching his eyes. It was a few long, painful momentsbefore he could continue, and in that time Serena and Darien were on the edge of their seats, dreading the suspense.

"Beryl blasts her head cleam off after casting Mercury aside." Silence savaged the air. The worst fears of Serena and Darien were a firm possibility. After a few momets of contemplating how right or wrong Mark could be, she stood up and sat down next to him, putting a quivering yet comforting arm around him.
"How sure can you be that it is a pre-vision?" Mark was finding it hard to breathe, and so took his jacket off slowly before replying.
"I'm not sure at all, but my last major vision was the concert, and that was mostly right." Mark and Serena were both fighting back tears, but it was a particular shock for both Darien and Serena as they had never seen Mark this emotional before. It was perfectly understandable though given how close the pair were in the single month that they were going out with each other, and how determined he had been to bring her back since.

Mark was thinking along the same lines. He could not even begin to imagine how Serena, a loyal and true friend to Raye for seven years, could find the strengh to carry on amidst all this uncertainty. To him, Serena was an extremely strong-willed personality, a truely marvellous example of a leader despite the stories he had heard about her in England. In all truth, he was fighting to get Raye back on the side of the Moon Kingdom not just for the sake of his love life, but more importantly to return a wonderful personlity to the ones that care most for her.

"This is a public announcement." The call of the P.A. proved to be somewhat of a well-timed escape from Mark's bad news as the trio looked up at the white speakers suspended from the framework. "Flight JL-192 from Berlin to Tokyo due at fifteen hundred hours has landed fifteen miutes early due to technical problems. Will all visitors and greeters for passengers on that flight please make their way to gate twelve immediately."

"Well, time to meet the happy couple." said Serena, trying her best to return a smile to her face. Sure enough, the trio slowly made their way back onto their feet and followed the small crowd heading towards the gate, still trying their best to mask their feelings and simply hoping that the mere sight of Amy and Greg would lift their spirits.

"Welcome to Tokyo guys!" cheered Anna, leading the group down the ocean blue carpet, through to the exit of the plane. The mood amongst the other seven friends was equally optimistic, all extremely eager to see their Mars Senshi friend once again. Anna nodded her head with appreciation at the air hostesses and smiled before stepping onto the bridge leading into the airport. They were now on Japanese soil.
"Hey Jay, what time is it?" called Jess from near the back, tying her long blonde, almost white, hair into a high ponytail.
"Erm... I dunno. I don't know how far ahead or behind Japanese time is. "It isn't five to seven in the morning though. It looks like it's five to something in the afternoon." he replied as he gazed out through the creased soft acrylic windows of the bridge.

"So how long is it until we get our bags back?" Andrew had seemed slightly nervous throughout since it was his first time on an aeroplane, but now they had touched down he just wanted to get his bags and meet Mark again.
"It'll flash up above the carousel. It's usually about twenty minutes though."
"Thanks Ben." he replied as the vastness of the airport hit them. Above them stood a vast sign in a large number of languages, the english message reading "Welcome to Japan - co-host of the 2002 World Cup".

The next few minutes were somewhat of a bore for both sides of the gate. For the eight english friend, Amy and Greg, the luggage was the only thing holding them up. With two hundred and fifty passengers, the fifteen minute wait for the luggage to start arriving was one of mixed boredom and anticipation, all parties trying to ensure that they don't miss their baggage. For Mark, Serena and Darien, the boredom was starting to increase their already large anxiety. However, after what seemed like a lifetime, the bags finally arrived one by one, allowing the english senshi, Amy and Greg to finally get out the airport.

"They're sure taking their time considering they landed early..." said Serena, gazing up at the clock, which now read tweny past three.
"Hey, just relax Serena." replied Darien, hands behind his head. "It takes a while for the bags to arrive. It took nearly an hour for me to get out of the airport when I first arrived in America."
"Yeah, it took me about forty-five minutes to get out of here when I first arrived." said Mark, happy to meet the last of the nine Japanese Senshi.
"Well, you know me. I'm very impatient at ti-"

"Serena! Darien!" The attention of Serena was snatched away from her instantly, the wonderous voice perking up her ears. Quickly she turned around to be greeted by Amy, one of her best and certainly most intelligent friend, sprinting as fast as she could in her ocean blue high heels.
"Amy!" cried Serena in reply, fighting back tears of sheer and utter joy. She knew she would have been emotional at the reunion, but she never anticipated being this thankful to see her return. Mark and Darien slowly walked towards the great friends, noticing Greg in the distance wheeling along their baggage trolley.
"Oh it's so good to see you again!" squealed the odango-haired blonde, tightly hugging Ami.
"You too Serena. I just can't wait to get back to Juuban and meet the others too." while the two women were exchanging their rapturous welcomes, Darien was making his way over to meet Greg. Mark, having only met these two people for the first time, followed Darien to try and get to know the Greg.

"Welcome back Greg. I've mssed you around." said Darien as he high-fived his old friend.
"Same." chuckled Greg, patting Darien on the back. "Well, it's more than just coming home for Christmas this year."
"So is everything sorted on that front?"
"Yeah." replied Greg, taking a small blue box from his right trouser pocket, opening it to reveal two glistening rings. "It really was a pain going through the security gates with these, but at least they were safe."
"Wow." replied Mark, admiring the two gleaming pure gold rings, hoping he wasn't butting into the conversation.

"Oh, Greg, this is Mark Davison, a friend of mine and Serena's. Mark, this is Greg Urawa, the guy who I told you about a while ago." Instantly the pair bowed, both smiling.
"Pleased to meet you Greg."
"No, no, the pleasure's all mine. A friend of Darien's is a friend of mine.
"So wherebouts in the world do you come from Mark?" asked Greg. Simply enough, Mark didn't look the slightest bit Japanese, so Greg was intreagued to find out where he cme from.
"I'm from England. I was born in Liverpool, but I moved to Southampton -" Mark briefly glanced behind Greg. In the distance was a large group of people, about seven or eight, he wasn't sure. However, he seemed to recognise three people at the front of the group from what he could tell. "Sorry Greg, could you excuse me for a moment please?"

Darien and Greg looked on in confusion while Mark walked towards the group, picking up pace as he recognised who the group actually were. It had also come to the surprise of the group that Mark was actually at the airport, something they hadn't planned on, but still, the celebrations began.
"Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!" sang the group in unison as Mark approached. It was the English senshi.
"Oh my god... What the hell are all you guys doing here?!" Mark's face was a complete piture. The horrified-yet-ecstatic emotion on his face broadcasting his confused state. Anna spoke to offer an explanation.

"Well, Christmas wasn't going to be the same without you, so we decided to pay you a little holiday visit." Mark was now laughing uncontrollably. He hadn't been this happy in several weeks, maybe even for a month or two. This had almost certainly brightened up his day from the nightmares earlier.
"What happened to your hand?" asked Ben, while firmly patting Mark's right arm.
"I got in a fight with a biro this morning and lost."
"Well you know what they say." replied Jay. "The pen is mightier than the sword." The line received a mixture of groans and laughs as the group crowded around Mark.
"I still can't believe it! All eight of you are here!"
"Well," exclaimed Anna. "Half of it's thanks to my father, and the other half's thanks to Ben's luck on the Lotto."
"Heh. I've got so much to tell you guys!"
"Save it for when we get to the B and B Mark." said Lucy, looking up at the clock. "We've got to get Ganymede back from the animal depot first, and we've got to find a way of getting all of us there."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get out there!"

End of Chapter 24

Why does this keep getting longer than I anticipate? I MUST finish this within the next 2-3 chapters! Anyway...

Now that the English Senshi have reunited and the Japanese Senshi have been reunited with Amy, how will this affect the outcome of the final battle? When will this battle occur? How will Chad react to Mark now that he knows that Mark is the Mars Knight? And do Mark's visions really mean that Raye is to perish during the final assault? There's only one way to find out...