Eureka

by Lathis

It has been three years since the mysterious disappearance of Ranma. But, finally, Ryouga has found his long lost rival . . . Unfortunately, that is only the beginning of their problems. A Ranma1/2 Megacross- The End is Here. Final Crosses - 36

5. Almost Done

Eureka

Chapter 5

Well, here we are, almost done now. Probably for the best, considering you're probably all just as tired of reading this as I am of writing it.

On a completely unrelated note, I just wanted to direct people to my profile. Not because of anything on there, because there isn't. As a few of you probably know, I've been lucky enough to receive some very impressive fanart since I started writing. To give the artists more credit, I've moved all of these pictures to a deviant art account (linked on my profile) in which I can actually thank each artist for their work. Thanks to EternallyLostRyouga, there's also a new piece available to see which I think deserves even more attention than the story I wrote upon which it was based.

Also, I would like the thank Claymade once again for his diligent efforts in making my work suck just that much less. In return, I'm shamelessly plugging his new Naruto story 'A Secret Little Game'. Let me just say, I don't read Naruto fanfics, and have actually gone out of my way to decry them for the most part, so bear that in mind when I say just how amazing this story is.

If you read one Naruto fanfiction this year, make it 'A Secret Little Game'.

Now, Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.

OOOoooOOO

The reality of Gendo's office dissolved away to reveal the strangely normal scene of a rather quaint little house resting in the center of a well-manicured lawn. Ryouga shivered lightly as the familiar tingle of teleportation ran through his body. He looked to the young woman whose arms were wrapped around his neck before smiling gently. She returned his smile with a teasing smirk before they both turned to watch as the other half of their little troupe arrived.

Ryouga and Ryoko shared a quick laugh at the sight of Ranma appearing from thin air, Washu clinging tightly to the pigtailed researcher . . . very tightly in some regions. The Lost One and the Space Pirate chuckled loudly as they stepped apart; for his part, the Saotome Heir shuddered violently.

"Man, I will never gonna get used to that."

Ryouga shrugged, amused. "I don't know, I find it pretty exhilarating."

At his side, Ryoko smiled saucily and raked her fingers through the air.

"Rrowr."

Ranma's terrified flinch just set the pair of Ryo's to laughing all over again. Rather than deal with them, though, the pigtailed researcher spun back on Washu. "And did you have to have your hand on my butt the whole time?"

Washu smiled broadly. "Nope!"

Which, again, set the Sheriff and Deputy into another fit of helpless giggles. Ranma on the other hand, resorted to the only option left to him: going brilliantly red in the face (from anger or embarrassment, Ryouga really couldn't tell . . . or care, for that matter)

Then, in an unusually responsible manner, Ryoko floated across the lush green yard and up to the front door of the blue tinted house. "Okay, you jokers, let's find the lab mouse and get outta here. I doubt you guys wanna get buried alive. I on the other hand, wouldn't even be inconvenienced by a few million metric tons of rubble dropping on us."

Ryouga considered that as he wandered up to join her at the door, before shrugging. "Meh, been there, done that."

The Sheriff then politely knocked on the door.

A moment passed.

Ryouga knocked again.

An errant breeze tussled the grass playfully behind them.

Ryouga knocked aga-

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

Ryouga's knuckles fell far short of the door's surface as he was pushed forcefully to the side and Ryoko simply stuck her entire head through the wooden obstruction. The deputy's shoulders shifted from side to side as she apparently examined the interior of the house. A moment later, she phased the rest of the way into the house and vanished from sight.

Ryouga let out a low whistle of appreciation. "You know, for a merciless space pirate, she sure has a lot of really useful abilities for this job."

Washu smiled proudly. "Some of my best work!"

A minute later, Ryoko returned, passing cleanly through the wall several yards to their right. The deputy floated back to join them before shrugging helplessly. "The place is empty, but a few of the lights are on. Dunno if she left in a hurry, or wasn't expecting to be gone for long."

Ranma hummed in consideration. "What about her lab?"

Both Ryouga and Ryoko turned to the pigtailed researcher. "What lab?" they asked in unison. Ranma rolled his eyes. "C'mon, all of us have secret, personal labs. I got my dojo, Tofu's got his basement, this Mizuno chick has gotta have one too." He turned to Washu. "You think you can find it?"

The self proclaimed 'Greatest genius in the Universe' scoffed loudly at the very notion of being unable to perform such a simple task, before summoning up her holographic interface before her. With a few simple keystrokes, information flying up the screen faster than Ryouga could ever hope to comprehend, a look of mild interest formed on Washu's petite face.

"Hmmm, interesting. There is what appears to be an elevator shaft descending from a concealed chamber in the basement. However, the shaft only drops down several dozen meters into the ground . . . then nothing."

Ryouga's face scrunched up in thought. "Nothing? You mean she built an elevator that doesn't go anywhere?"

Washu rolled her eyes. "No. Nothing, as in I'm not getting any sensor readings at all . . . if you get my drift."

Ryoko's eyes lit up with understanding. "Ahh! I bet that means her entire lab is encased in that crystal, right?"

The fanged warrior spun to look at his pigtailed counterpart, already knowing exactly what his rival was thinking. As one they barked, "Encased in crystal?"

Flowing forward in perfect synchronization, the slippered feet of the martial pair blasted through meager door and they flew through the entrance before the splintering wood or shattered doorframe even had time to hit the ground.

Still floating calmly on the front lawn, Ryoko rolled her eyes and looked down at her mother. "Men. I had unlocked the door, y'know?"

The tiny genius giggled. "I think it's cute, charging off all half cocked like that."

The space pirate turned deputy could only shake her head as they made their way through the thoroughly ruined doorway and down into the basement. By the time they arrived, the pair of overly energetic humans had already located the hidden elevator shaft and had removed the door in a manner that was likely not recommended by the manufacturers. In fact, judging by the twisted sheets of metal on the floor, it was a good bet that the two boys had seriously voided any kind of warranty that the good doctor might have gotten.

Before Ryoko and Washu could even join them, Ranma turned to Ryouga, wide smirk on his face. "Last one down is a little black piglet!"

The pigtailed researcher then leapt suicidally down the empty elevator shaft. He was followed less than a second later by a yellow and black blur of anger. "Raaannmmaaa!"

Ryoko snorted loudly at the display. "Is it just me, or are those two such stereotypical guys that it almost hurts?"

Her mother smiled in amusement. "They certainly are fine specimens of the male sex, if that's what you meant."

"It wasn't." Ryoko scowled darkly before beginning her own descent into darkness.

Several dozen meters below, the pigtailed researcher touched down lightly, landing on what looked to be the roof of an elevator car, complete with little trap door. A few seconds later, Ryouga landed beside him, scowling darkly.

"Slow as always, eh, P-Chan?"

"Oh, shut up, Ranma. Just you wait until I master that speed technique you taught me!"

"Heh, tell me when ya do, ya might almost be a challenge then."

"Why you-"

Ryouga's rant was cut off abruptly as the earth began to literally quake all around them. The pair of martial artists swayed unsteadily as worrying amounts of dust and the odd rivet rained down around them. The fact that they were currently over a hundred feet beneath the ground while this was happening was not lost on the pair.

"Um, back to work?" Ryouga suggested quickly.

Ranma nodded, just a little nervously. "Business before pleasure, and all that."

"Wow, you have no idea how gay that sounded."

Ryouga and Ranma both instantly sent blazing glares up at the descending form of Ryoko as she floated down to join them.

"That's disgusting!"

"Ryoko!"

The space pirate giggled shamelessly as she landed beside them. Almost as an afterthought, she formed her familiar energy sword and began to cut open the trap door at their feet. "If it's any consolation, you two would make an adorable couple."

"Shut up!" was their stereophonic reply.

Not really eager to put up with any more of the demoness' teasing than was absolutely necessary, Ryouga took the initiative and kicked out the molten edged trap door and hopped down into the darkened interior of the elevator car itself. Forming a small globe of emerald chi in his hand, he began to examine his surroundings through the shimmering, surreal light of his spiritual power.

A moment later, he was joined by his rival and his partner, each adding their own personal brand of illumination to the increasingly crowded cubicle. Just as on the surface, the elevator door appeared to be made of gleaming steel, and judging by the complete lack of lighting, it seemed unlikely that hitting the 'door open' button would have much effect.

Several seconds of the ear piercing squeal of metal being torn asunder later, the door was 'opened' to reveal a long corridor that stretched off into the darkness before them.

Ryouga scratched his head in confusion. "Hey, I thought she said this place was supposed to be filled with crystal?"

To his side, his rival tapped the wall of the corridor, producing a resounding metallic ring. "Must not be able to grow through the metal."

Well, that sounded promising. "That must mean she's safe if the whole lab is made out of metal, right?"

Ryoko and Ranma shared a quick look before shrugging in unison. It didn't look like they had any better idea of what to expect than he did. It appeared there would only be one way to get the answers they sought, so the trio began to make their way down the strangely illuminated hallway. The mingling and contrasting shades of emerald, gold and orange dancing along the walls generated unusual shadows which danced in time with the fluid steps of the light wielders.

It didn't take long to reach their destination. Less than twenty meters from the elevator shaft, their short trek ended at a large, vaguely vaultish door which blocked their passage.

Smirking weakly, Ranma chuckled to himself. "I don't suppose either of you have a key?"

Ryoko smiled malevolently, the crackling blade of her energy sword flowing out of the small sphere of power she had been using to illuminate the hallway. "I do."

The two males shared a quick glance before turning back to Ryoko.

"Why don't we try knocking first?" asked Ranma.

Ryouga nodded in agreement, causing his erstwhile partner to pout cutely. "Man, you two get to tear apart every door in the place, but when it's my turn, suddenly we should knock?" complained Ryoko sullenly.

The would-be-Sheriff shrugged helplessly before moving forward and rapping his knuckles off the metal surface of the door. Rather than the sharp ring he'd been expecting, all that resulted from his knock was a dull thud. Ryouga stared at the door, perplexed for a moment, before knocking again.

"Odd, almost sounds like there's something behind the door," he commented absently.

Ryoko groaned in annoyance, before pushing him to the side for a second time. "Oh, get out of the way already!"

The demoness then rammed her energy sword straight into the heard of the door, pushing it in all the way up to the hilt-

Only to have the crackling orange beam of light pulled from her hands and into the room beyond. A fraction of a second later, violent tremors wracked the corridor, forcing everyone to brace themselves lest they be tossed to the ground. It was several very long and nerve wracking seconds before the earth stopped quaking.

Ryoko looked down at her empty hands, and then to the narrow hole she had burned through the vault door . . . Already, a small spout of shimmering crystal had begun growing through the tiny aperture and into the corridor. The deputy chuckled weakly as she turned to regard her companions. "Heh . . . ummm, my bad . . . wow, that can't be a good sign."

Ryouga shared another glance with his rival. He imagined the determined expression forming on the pigtailed warrior's face mirrored his own. "Dr. Mizuno could be trapped in there," Ryouga explained tersely.

"We gotta help her!" Ranma added.

The cyan haired deputy rolled her eyes before letting out an unladylike snort. "Um, we're not even sure she's in there, boys."

"Just shut up and help us open the door!" ordered Ryouga.

Suiting action to word, Ryouga spun and latched onto the side of the heavy metal door, warping the steel with the strength of his grip. On the other side of the door, Ranma wrapped his hands around one of the large metal rods that ran up its surface. Ryoko watched the pair of them, then shrugged before simply punching her fingers straight into the center of the door.

"On three," stated Ryouga.

". . . Three!" they shouted together.

Again the squeal of shearing metal filled the hallway, this time accompanied by the relatively new sound of crystal shattering and raining down on the metallic floor. The laboratory door didn't even stand a chance against the combined strength of the trio and they casually tossed the construct down the corridor behind them.

The forceful removal of the heavy door revealed an unusual, though not entirely unexpected sight. A solid wall of translucent crystal stood directly behind the shredded doorframe. It only took a seconds examination to come to the conclusion that the entire lab was filled, from floor to ceiling, with the otherworldly material-

Ryouga gasped in shock. Near the center of the lab, he could just make out a glimmer of unearthly blue light. Dousing his own illumination, and signaling his companions to do the same, the hallway was once again drowned in pure darkness . . . almost. It took several long seconds for his eyes to adjust, but it soon became apparent to the Lost Boy that the faint glimmer originating from the center of the lab was far more than a trick of his imagination.

Pressing his face right up against the surface of the crystal, Ryouga focused on the eerie light dancing at the center of the lab. Though the rays of light were heavily filtered and distorted by several yards of solid crystal, he could still make out the source of the unearthly, yet strangely beautiful illumination-

The figure of a woman, hanging suspended in midair . . . crystal . . . whatever. The azure light almost seemed to pour out from her body, lending a ghostly air to the poor female's appearance. The effect was only magnified by the nearly ethereal blue ribbons that hung in the air, surrounding the woman in a decidedly meager attempt at modesty.

Pulling his face back from the crystal, leaving only a small trail of blood from where his nose had been pressed, Ryouga turned to his companions and pointed to the glowing figure excitedly.

"She's there!"

Ryoko only rolled her eyes in response. "And how would you know? You don't even know what the nerd looks like."

For just an instant (which was an unusually short time for a Hibiki), Ryouga's fragile temper snapped and he spun on his erstwhile partner and barked harshly, "Ryoko, enough! We have to get her out of there, now!"

Of course, where most people would have been intimidated, if not outright quivering masses of panic in the face of an enraged martial arts master, the Ex Space Pirate just waved off his ire with a casual flip of her wrist. "Sheesh, don't blow a gasket. One Geeksicle coming up."

Continuing with her remarkable lack of concern over his anger (which, come to think of it, was pretty reasonable considering she'd already bodily tossed him into a prison cell once this week), the deputy floated forward, obviously intent on phasing through the crystal to save the trapped resear-

A dull 'thunk', like someone dropping a coconut on a table, rang through the metallic hallway as Ryoko's head bounced forcefully off of the wall of translucent material. Instantly, she rubbed her forehead. "Ow! . . . Wait a second, what?"

Standing behind the pair of law enforcement agents, Ranma shrugged, doing his best not to chuckle at the sight. "It's a completely unknown element that feeds on energy. What did you think would happen?"

"Oh, shaddup."

Starting to feel desperation creep up on him at the sight of the helpless female trapped like the proverbial fly in amber, Ryouga took a determined step forward and pulled back his arm. "Fine, then I'll get her out. Bak-"

Only to have the pigtailed researcher grab his arm in a tight grip. "Don't, you idiot. It'll grow back faster than you can blast it with the Bakusai Tenketsu. You'll just end up trapping us all down here."

The rather tenuous hold on his temper was already beginning to slip again, completely unaided by his old rival's casual application of insults, causing Ryouga spun on the Researcher. "Then what?"

"I don't know. Maybe I can . . . or maybe Washu can . . ." The look of uncertainty on Ranma's face told Ryouga everything he needed to know.

"To hell with this!" With that, Ryouga quickly pulled his arm free from Ranma's hold and reared it back again-

"No! Stop-"

-And lashed out with a devastating punch dead center of the door frame. Spreading out from his fist in an infinitely intricate spider web, a series of rapidly deepening cracks began to split the surface of the crystal.

". . . Or you can do that," muttered Ranma. As Ryouga pulled back his fist and slammed it into the crystal again, the pigtailed researcher turned to the cyan haired deputy. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

The lovely female shrugged with mild disinterest. "All this hangin around with eggheads must be rubbing off on you. I mean, why do the obvious thing when you can do something in the most needlessly complicated method possible?"

Ranma considered the statement, before nodding sadly at the inherent truth.

Completely oblivious to the inane conversation taking place behind him, Ryouga continued to slam his fists into the blue tinted crystal with wild abandon, slowly and painfully beginning to carve a tunnel into the unusually hard material. Crystal shattered to shards, which powdered to dust as he continued his arduous task, and after only a few minutes, the target of his frantic efforts was nearly within his reach.

He could make out the trapped researcher's features much more clearly now that there was so much less material separating them. From this distance, it was much more obvious at just what a poor job the nearly translucent ribbons were doing of covering the surprisingly well toned researcher's body . . . he was just thankful that the woman's arms were crossed over her chest at the moment; he would have hated passing out just a few feet from rescuing the woman.

Asides from the researcher's rather hard to ignore state of near undress, he could make out her short blue hair, (or was it just tinted that color from the light?) which framed a face wearing a look of shock and fear which marred her otherwise perfect visage. The terrified expression was all it took for Ryouga to redouble his destructive fervor to rescue her.

Again and again his fists slammed into the glassy material; he could barely even feel his knuckles after so many furious impacts – only to pull his last punch frantically short, his bloody fingers hanging mere inches from the trapped female's fear stricken face. It didn't take long to realize his dilemma.

"Crap! How do I break her out without pulverizing her?"

To make matters worse, even as he paused to consider his first dilemma, he saw the makings of another dilemma beginning all around him. Almost as if it was feeding directly on the ethereal light emanating from the entombed researcher, Ryouga could already see the crystal walls of his recently carved tunnel beginning to grow. He was no expert on the growth patterns of space crystal, or how it related to naked ladies that glowed, but Ryouga was pretty sure he didn't have long to figure out this out. As such, he did the only thing he could think of.

"Ranma! What do I do?"

From the far end of the tunnel, he could see his rival shrug helplessly. "How the heck should I know?"

"I thought you were supposed to be the genius!" Ryouga looked around desperately before turning back to Ranma. "What would you do?"

He could nearly see the tiny gears turning in his rival's head as the pigtailed researcher thought, until Ranma suddenly snapped his fingers. "Minimum effort for maximum effect, Ryouga! It's what Anything Goes is all about!"

Ryouga just stared at the distant martial artist incredulously. "Minimum effort for maximum effect? What kind of useless, idiotic nonsense is –"

Everything clicked together in the Lost Boy's head so loudly that he almost imagined that his sudden epiphany was audible to Ranma and Ryoko outside his manmade tunnel. "That's it! Ranma, get your butt in here, I need your help!"

His rival rushed to his side, ducking his head slightly as the corridor slowly shrunk down around them. "What is it?"

"Just get ready to grab her and run," Ryouga barked.

The bandanna clad warrior took several precious seconds to psyche himself up before-

"Bakusai Tenketsu Revised: Powdering Point!"

Lashing out at near Amagurinken speeds, his hands blurred forwards, gently tapping dozen's of points across the surface of the researcher's glassy tomb. Each touch, barely even a light caress, transferred only fraction of the normal explosive energy that his infamous Blasting Point Technique was renowned for. Rather than shatter with the force of a fragmentation grenade, the crystal prison simply crumbled to dust and flowed down to the floor.

Of course, almost instantly he could see the crystal powder begin to glimmer with trapped power, but between the high speed of his attack, the incremental amount of energy he used and the infinitesimal surface area of each grain of powdered crystal, the reformation was occurring at a much slower rate than he was digging through the last several inches of his quarry's prison.

Within a mere thirty seconds, Ryouga's prolonged ministrations, he was finally able to erode enough of the crystal away to reveal their trapped researcher enough for his rival to pull her free from her would be tomb. Idly, even as the pigtailed researcher dragged the unconscious female free from the crystal's icy clutches, Ryouga noticed that her hair was, indeed, blue and not just a trick of the light.

Before the Hibiki could turn to apply his new technique to the increasingly narrow tunnel that led out of the lab, he nearly stumbled, a sudden wave of dizziness nearly overtaking him. Rather than ask what the problem was, Ranma just turned and thrust the scantily clad woman into his arms.

"Don't worry, man. I'll get us outta here! Katchu Tenshin Amagurinken!"

Suddenly the Saotome Heir's fists lashed out in an omni-directional blur that made Ryouga seriously reconsider his definition of 'near Amagurinken speeds'. He didn't have time to boggle, though, as his rival quickly began to pull away from him, burrowing through the collapsing tunnel in a display of raw speed that threatened to leave the fanged warrior and his rescuee in his dust, both figurative and literal.

It couldn't have taken more than a minute to escape back to the hallway, though it felt like several years longer than that to Ryouga. And by the time they did, both martial artists began coughing up lungfulls of powdered crystal in a series of hacking wheezes. The thought of several long nights talking to doctors about the effects of breathing in powdered crystal and whether or not he would be able to claim disability roughly thirty minutes into his new job almost made Ryouga forget the nearly naked girl currently cradled in his arms. At least, now that they weren't being held up by the crystal, the blue tinged ribbons that had been floating around her were actually draped across her lithe body offering at least a modicum of modesty . . .

"Sheesh, are you two okay?" asked a surprisingly concerned sounding Ryoko.

Ryouga was about to resort to the stock, macho response – when a weak cough from several inches below him drew his attention. Immediately, Ryouga, Ryoko and Ranma all turned their gazes to the blue haired scientist as she let out another weak cough. None of them, not even the cold hearted space pirate, could hid their amazement as the young woman's eyes actually began to flutter, struggling to open.

That's an impressive recovery time, even by Nerima standards, thought an incredulous Hibiki.

And then the researcher's eyes finally opened, revealing a pair of crystal blue orbs the likes of which he had never seen before. The fathomless eyes locked on to his for a moment, filled with uncertainty, only to shift down a moment later, as she shifted her gaze to take in her own condition. A second later, the lovely scientist's face went as red as Ranma's favorite shirt; interestingly, the blush went all the way down to-

Ryouga quickly clenched his eyes shut and turned away, if only to redirect the imminent threat of an explosive bloody nose.

A strange rustling sound prompted him to look again, however, and he watched in fascination as the bluish ribbons that were draped across the female's body hastily began to wrap around her, only to form into a tightly fitting and highly modified sailor suit.

"Oh, yeah, that's sooo much less revealing. Heh, nice legs, by the way." Ryoko's sarcastic remark was completely unnecessary . . . though not completely untrue.

Even though it seemed impossible, the sailor suited woman's face went an even deeper shade of red at the deputy's snide remark. She then shyly looked up in his direction once more.

"Ummm . . . you can put me down now . . ."

Ryouga started at the request. "Oh! Ah, yeah, no problem."

As soon as he put her down, the lovely, if still a bit scantily clad, woman took a moment to silently unfluster herself. The deep breaths she was taking wasn't doing anything to reduce Ryouga's level of fluster, but he was pretty sure that there was zero chance of him bringing that up in any manner that wouldn't make him sound like a complete moron.

Finally, the young scientist looked around, an increasingly worried expression blooming on her face as she noticed just who else was present in the hallway with them. "Ahhh . . . thank you, Citizens. I am Sailor Mercury, Champion of love and justice . . . heh . . ."

Huh? Ryouga scratched his head in confusion. "Sailor Mercury? I thought your name was Ami Mizuno . . ."

Raw panic flashed across Sailor Mercury's face as she quickly looked to Ryoko's smirking face then back to Ryouga. ". . . W-why would you think something like that, sir? I can assure you that –"

"Maybe cuz I told him when he was ogling your half naked body?" Ryoko interrupted the feeble attempt at deception with a viciously wide smile on her lips.

"Or, because this is your lab?" added Ranma, smirking in pure amusement.

Dr. Mizuno's face flushed red for a second time. "Ahhh . . . oh . . . Deputy, please, you can't tell the Sheriff about this. You have no idea what kind of trouble I could get in."

Ranma's smirk doubled in size into a full-blown smile. "Oh, I think we have a pretty good idea. Don't worry, though. I promise I won't tell the Sheriff your secret."

"Oh, thank you so much, Dr. Saotome!" The panicked researcher turned sailor turned to Ryoko, fixing her with an expectant look.

The exaggerated rolling of her eyes was enough to set off warning klaxons in even Ryouga's head as the ex-space pirate replied. "Oh, don't you worry, Dr. Mizuno. I won't tell the Sheriff either. I couldn't possibly do something that vindictive."

Apparently Dr. Mizuno was more socially backwards than Ryouga himself, as she released a vivid sigh of relief. "I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am."

Then, almost as if she had forgotten he was there, Dr. Mizuno turned back in his direction, an incredibly cute mixture of shyness and embarrassment tingeing her cheeks pink. The young woman took a moment to tuck several strands of her ocean blue hair behind her ears as she locked her gaze with his own. "I'm sorry, but . . . I don't believe we've met."

Ryouga chuckled goofily, his own cheeks starting to flush in response. "Um, no, Dr. Mizuno. I'm-"

"Oh, no!" Only to have Ryoko wrap her deceptively powerful arm around his neck and pull him down into a headlock, cutting his introduction breathtakingly short. "No way, buddy! You owe me this one!"

Unable to argue the point (having mostly to do with lack of oxygen than anything else), Ryouga was helpless to stop the wickedly smiling deputy as she quickly grabbed Dr. Mizuno's hand and shoved it roughly into his hand, locking them into a sloppy hand shake. Ryoko then pushed the point home, shaking their hands up and down several times.

"Scientist, Sheriff. Sheriff, scientist."

The aforementioned sheriff felt terrible as the scientist's eyes shot wide open in mortification. Dr. Mizuno quickly lanced Ryoko with a desperate glance.

"Please tell me that you're joking."

Ryoko shook her head with an over abundance of self satisfaction. "Oh, but the truth is just so much more fun right now."

Ryouga rolled his eyes. "Don't mind Ryoko, Dr. Mizuno. She did the same thing to me. I think she gets some kind of perverse enjoyment out of it."

His erstwhile partner smirked evilly. "No. Not some kind. It's definitely perverse."

Over the next several seconds, Ryouga was treated to the intriguing sight of watching the blood drain from the lovely scientist's face, adding strongly to the ghostly image of her that he'd seen earlier.

"Y-you're really the new sheriff . . . and you know everything?" Dr. Mizuno's last word came out in a painful squeak.

The wandering Hibiki ran his hand through his hair in mild embarrassment at the good doctors discomfort. "Well, temporary sheriff, really. You see-"

"Oh my! Your hands, they're bleeding!" Dr. Mizuno's shocked exclamation cut him off quickly.

Thinking quickly, Ryouga pulled his hand forward to check it . . . and indeed, his hand was indeed covered in blood. Gingerly, he reached back to touch the back of his head with his other hand, only to feel his hair slicked back into a sticky mess. "Ahhh, that's just gross! I must have done that punching through all that crystal."

Nearly forgotten in the background, Ranma took the cue to look at his own bleeding hands. "Ah, man! Look at my nails. I'm gonna need the Pedicure of the Fierce Tiger to fix these up."

To the pigtailed researcher's side, Ryoko rolled her eyes in disgust. "And he wonders why I call him Lady Fingers," she muttered mostly to herself.

Back at center stage, the sailor suited scientist looked up to catch Ryouga's gaze once more, an unreadable look in her eyes. "Y-you did that . . . just to save me?"

Unable to identify the unusual tone in the attractive female's voice, the sheriff began chuckling nervously again. Luckily for him, he was saved from descending into complete idiocy when he noticed he was halfway to rubbing the back of his head again. Looking at his dripping hand, then back to Dr. Mizuno in shy embarrassment (as opposed to hallucinetic euphoria), he replied with – "Heh, ummm, well, it is a martial artist's duty to protect pretty girls."

Even as the blue haired researcher's cheeks went red at the half intentioned compliment, back in the periphery Ryoko leaned toward Ranma. "Hey, he never tried to protect me from that rat thing," she whispered hotly.

The pigtailed researcher just rolled his eyes. "He said pretty girls, Deputy."

Lost completely in their tiny little moment, neither Ryouga, nor Ami even registered the sounds of unholy violence erupt from behind them. Instead, the lovely doctor gently took the sheriff's abused hands into her own, examining them with surprising skill.

"If only I had a cloth to clean off the blood; my skirt is too tear resistant to use, though . . ."

Ryouga thanked the gods for that small miracle. Like it wasn't short enough already!

"Um, you can use one of my bandannas." He quickly pulled off one of the aforementioned articles and handed it to her. The blue haired researcher did a quick double take at the fact that he was still wearing a bandanna, even as he handed her one, but shook off her surprise just as quickly. Without even a second thought, she expertly began to clean and bandage his hands, pulling off several extra bandannas as she required them.

During the entire process, Ryouga couldn't do anything but stare at the weakly smiling doctor, his own cheeks flushed bright red at the intimate contact –

At least until Ryoko cleared her throat with deliberate loudness. He shot the cyan haired deputy a quick look, only to receive a painfully pointed stare in return. Even with his understanding of females (or lack thereof), he got the gist of her meaning.

"Oh, oh, right." Even though he regretted it painfully, as soon as Ami finished her gentle ministrations, Ryouga politely pulled his hands from hers and did his best to school his features to his approximation of a 'professional look'. "Dr. Mizuno . . . I'm afraid that we need you to come back to Global Dynamics with us."

Ami let out a resigned sigh before nodding in defeat. "I understand. I suppose that Agent Ikari would like to . . . discuss my moonlighting . . ."

Ryouga shook his head in the negative. "Ah, we're not actually here about that. You see-" He gestured rather pointedly to the crystal filled laboratory behind her. "- we're here to get your help because your experiment has gone out of control and is only hours away from destroying the entire GeoFront."

The blue haired researcher slowly turned to regard the incrementally growing mass of crystal, raising a hand to touch her cheek in shock.

"Oh . . . well . . . that's much worse . . ."

OOOoooOOO

"So, I have good news and I have bad news," Washu stated proudly for her captive audience.

She pointed dramatically to the large holographic display currently hanging over the heads of everyone standing around Gendo's office. Agent Ikari, Doctor Ikari, Doctor Mizuno, Doctor Akagi, Doctor Saotome, Sheriff Hibiki and Deputy Hakubi all gazed up at the massive representation of the GeoFront and the crystal mass currently residing just beneath the sleepy little town.

"With the removal of Doctor Mizuno from the crystal construct, its rate of growth has decreased noticeably."

Gendo didn't shift his gaze in the slightest as he addressed the aforementioned researcher. "This will be discussed, Dr. Mizuno."

Ami shrunk in on herself in terrified anticipation, at least until Dr. Ikari dropped a gentle hand onto the Government Liaison's shoulder. "Gendo . . ."

Washu cleared her throat loudly to put an end to the quickly shifting focus of attention.

"The bad news, is that even without her powers to sustain it, the crystal is still feeding on numerous other power sources, even geothermal, and even at its reduced rate of growth, the western front of the mass will come into contact with the subterranean fusion reactor that powers this facility within a matter of hours."

"At which point," interjected Dr. Akagi, "Its rate of growth will no longer be reduced."

Washu nodded emphatically. "Considering how far its grown in only two weeks with only Dr. Mizuno for its main power source, I theorize that the uncontrolled growth of the crystal will swallow Japan in a matter of days. Due to the unknown nature of the material, I can't even hypothesis as to how much of the planet we could lose."

Everyone present turned to glare at the blue haired scientist.

"Way to destroy the planet, Poindexter," snorted a snarky Ryoko.

The strapping young sheriff interposed himself between Dr. Mizuno and the deputy. "Ryoko! She didn't mean to doom us all!"

Everyone's gazes shifted to the sheriff for a moment, mostly of the incredulous variety.

Ami was the first to recover.

"Actually, the situation isn't as dire as you theorize, Professor Hakubi."

The group gaze shifted back to the blue haired researcher once more. The young doctor shifted nervously under their combined stares, but quickly pulled out a small blue device which looked suspiciously like a PDA. Ami then pressed a button on the side of the device . . . then waited for several long seconds, apparently waiting for something to happen-

"Oh, no! The batteries must have been drained! . . . Wait a moment." Acting quickly, she flipped the small computer over and pulled a small data storage device from the bottom. Examining her prize for a moment, she then held it out to Washu. "Professor, can you upload this disk and find a file name 'CT-S'?"

Washu quirked an eyebrow at the young scientist. Why did everyone keep asking if she could do such simple tasks? It was more than slightly insulting to the Universe's Greatest Genius. With a derisive tap of a finger, the red headed Head of Research pressed a button on her holographic interface.

"Done."

Ami took a moment to glance at the small device still held firmly between her finger and thumb before shrugging and sticking it behind her back . . . presumably into a pocket . . . she presumed.

"Ahem," continued the blue haired researcher, "Contrary to what you think, the growth of the crystal is highly structured. If you open the file, you will see the end result of the construct's growth."

Mildly interested, Washu entered a short series of commands which caused the floating representation of the Global Dynamics facility to disappear. A second later, it was replaced by an extremely different holographic image: what appeared to be a massive crystal pentagram with a large spire rising from its center. The geometrical and aesthetic perfection of the structure was something for even the jaded galactic level scientist to behold.

Everyone else was equally awed.

"W-what is it?" asked their adorable, if a bit slow, new sheriff.

Dr. Mizuno let out a defeated sigh. " . . . It's Crystal Tokyo . . ."

". . ."

Silence hung over the room for several long seconds before, in his own unique way, Dr. Saotome attempted to break the growing tension. With a mildly bored shrug of his shoulders, the pigtailed researcher let out a dismissive huff. "So, what's the big deal with that, then? I mean, now that we know that it ain't just gonna keep on growin till the world blows up, all we gotta do is worry about ourselves, right?"

In a somewhat tedious fashion, Ami sighed once more. "Unfortunately, Dr. Saotome, the situation is more dire than you think. Professor Washu, could you please overlay this schematic with the schematic for the Global Dynamics facility? Set the center of the structure to coincide with my lab."

With a quick nod, Washu complied even more quickly, her fingers dancing across her holographic interface light lightning. Instantly, everyone in the room leaned back instinctively as the depiction of the crystal pentagram suddenly swelled to twice it's size, nearly filling the room from one wall to the other. A moment later, the familiar wire-frame of the GD facility reappeared, roughly dead center of the large structure . . .

Except that the GD facility, including the town, the forests, even the GeoFront itself barely registered more than a foot in diameter at the heart of the (now obviously) massive structure. To call the entire GeoFront a small suburb in the sprawling crystal metropolis would be an overstatement of worrying proportions.

Nearly hiding behind an oblivious Dr. Saotome, Dr. Akagi blinked repeatedly. "That is . . . impressive."

Dr. Mizuno nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, Crystal Tokyo is a structure easily visible from space, so . . ."

Ranma whistled in appreciation. "So blowing our cover is the least of our worries."

Agent Ikari nodded gravely. "Having a city the size of . . . well, the size of Tokyo forming nearly a kilometer under the Earth's surface; I can scarcely even imagine all of the implications."

"Well, us being screwed is a given." Washu offered the gathered geniuses (plus Ryoko and Ryouga) her cheerful assessment freely. "The effect it would have on Japan would be pretty bad, too. Even at the at the rate which it's currently expanding, simple mass displacement will start playing havoc with the geological stability of the country . . . and Japan has never been overly stable as it is."

Yui shuddered visibly. "However, if it were to reach the fusion reactor, it's rate of growth would increase exponentially."

Washu nodded in agreement. "It'll be like dropping a Triphasic torpedo on a fault line. We're talking volcanoes, earthquakes, tidal waves; the works, really. The after shocks would not be limited to Japan."

The look on poor Dr. Mizuno's face at that moment could only be described as despondent.

Ryoko smirked wickedly. "And all that from one little crystal? That's awesome! Hey, maybe they'll name the ocean where Japan used to be after you. The Sailor Mercury Sea has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

Even as Ami's already pale face took on a decidedly green tinge at that unpleasant thought, the dashing young sheriff dropped a reassuring hand on the blue haired scientist's shoulder. The young Hibiki then leveled a heated glare at the cyan haired deputy. "That's enough, Ryoko."

Her daughter responded with a flippant shrug of her shoulders. "Yeah, yer right. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue."

Of course, while all of the mindless foolishness was occurring, Agent Ikari, looking as unflappable as ever, stared intently at the tiny, tiny little blip that silently hung at the heart of the sprawling crystal metropolis.

"Your inane chatter is irrelevant, as that outcome will not come to pass." Gendo slowly spun around, setting his gaze on each and every one of them. "Ladies, Gentlemen, we have several hours, at best, to produce a solution. I suggest we begin."

"-or the last time, Professor Hakubi, shifting the mass to another dimension might not work. The magical nature of the crystal may be resistant to the dimensional shift, but the massive energy required to create such a shift would definitely have the same effect as plugging it directly into the fusion reactor itself," stated an emphatic Dr. Mizuno.

It looked, to Ryouga's untrained eye, that Washu didn't appreciate being lectured to by someone that was likely half her age . . . except that she looked twice her age . . . hmmm, probably best not to think about that one again, it was just a headache waiting to happen.

As if to prove his point, the red haired Head of Research scoffed loudly. "Listen here, Neophyte. There is no such thing as magic, this is simply a unique substance generated by an exotic energy source. Once we determine its nature, we will be able to devise a method to control its growth."

Ryouga quirked an eyebrow at that statement, or, at least the middle part. "No such thing as magic? What are you talking about? Get me a glass of cold water and I'll show you some-mmph!"

His notably bitter diatribe was cut off sharply as Ranma slapped a hand over his mouth. His hated rival than whispered harsly into his ear. "Ixnay on the urse-cay in front of Ashu-Way . . . oron-may!"

The fanged warrior tore the pigtailed researcher's hand off his mouth, shooting the offender a smoldering glare. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Instantly he realized he'd left himself wide open for something, as a nasty smirk twisted his rival's lips. "What? I thought you would be an expert at pig-latin."

"Oh, that's it! Ranma! Prepare to die!"

Just as he crouched down to launch himself bodily at the pigtailed bastard, Agent Ikari's lovely wife interposed herself between them, holding up her hands pleadingly. "Gentlemen, please! Fighting won't solve anything."

To the side, Ryoko pouted adorably. "Awww, come on! I've been waiting to see that jerk get taken down a peg."

Ranma shot a quick look at the deputy. "Who, him or me?"

She replied with a quick shrug. "Either way is good, really."

Ryouga shifted to the side, but Yui moved to stay between them. That, coupled with the presence of so many fragile females (and one that wasn't fragile at all), was making it annoyingly hard for him to simply bull across the room and tackle his rival out the thirteenth story, plate-glass window.

"Just let me rupture his spleen; that isn't vital, is it?" he asked plaintively.

The gentle sensation of a hand coming to rest on his shoulder pulled him back a few inches from the metaphysical cliff of his temper. He turned to see who his rival's savior was . . . only to regret it instantly as he found himself staring into a pair of fathomless blue orbs filled with compassion. "Please, Sheriff, don't you think this situation is frustrating enough without breaking out into violence?"

Feeling more than a tad petulant, Ryouga pouted fiercely. "But breaking out into violence is how I deal with my frustration," he explained grumpily.

Across from him, Ranma chuckled in amusement. "At least until I beat him again and he ends up even more frustrated than he started."

Ryouga nodded sadly at the inherent truth of the statement. "It is a vicious cycle . . . speaking of which – Shi Shi-"

A second before the infuriated Lost Boy could lift his arms to cross them across his chest for his signature attack, his world burst into a wave of colors and stars. He hit the ground a second later, the painful sting ringing through the back of his head feeling strangely reminiscent to similar treatment he received the very same night he had arrived in this crazy town.

"Idiot! No blowing up researchers until after the world is saved!" barked a fuming Deputy.

Ami looked at Ryoko oddly. "I thought you wanted them to fight."

"Well, yeah," agreed the space pirate, "But not when my apartment is in danger of getting trashed!"

From his new home indented into the floor, Ryouga growled irately. "Damn it, if I don't get to kill Ranma before we all die, I'm gonna be pissed! Can't you just, you know, turn off the apocalypse for a few minutes? A few minutes is all I need."

Again his rival donned his patented condescending smirk. "To get pummeled? I'd saw one would do."

Yui shot a pointed glare in the pigtailed researcher's direction. "Dr. Saotome, you aren't helping."

Seeing a potential opening, Ryouga began to rise to his feet – but didn't make it far before he was smacked back down into his custom fitted crater. This time it was an annoyed looking Washu staring down at him, a large paper fan in her hand for some reason . . . wait a minute, had she just laid him out with a freakin' paper fan?

"Don't be simple, Sheriff! Do you think that if we could just turn it off, that we wouldn't have done it already? This is a highly exotic element that is literally tap dancing with the laws of physics; what do you want us to do, ask it nicely to stop destroying Japan?"

Feeling a bit put out, not to mention a bit leery at the prospect of trying to regain his feet again, Ryouga tapped his fingers petulantly against the floor, destroying the once smooth surface even further. "You don't have to be so snippy. I mean, it's only Ranma I want to kill. It's not like he's actually doing anything he . . ."

His small rant trailed off as his gaze errantly slid in the direction of a certain blue haired scientist. "Ummm, Dr. Mizuno, is something wrong?"

His inquiry instantly drew the attention of everyone else in the room to the moonlighting vigilante. Apparently he wasn't the only one to think the fact that her face had suddenly gone red and she was holding her hands to her temples in mortification while chanting "Stupid, stupid, stupid" was just slightly odd.

Taking notice of the heaping helping of attention she was receiving, Ami snapped out of her self-degradation cycle.

"I'm so stupid. How could I forget?"

"Dr. Mizuno . . .?" Asked Agent Ikari in a pointedly leading manner.

Even though it seemed impossible, the blue haired woman's face went an even deeper shade of red. "Ummm . . . well . . . you see, we – we can turn it off. I just need one piece of equipment."

"A photon drill?" offered Washu.

"A flux capacitor?" supplied Ritsuko.

"A sonic screwdriver?" inquired Ranma.

Dr. Mizuno just stared at the trio for a long moment, before shaking her head twice for good measure. ". . . A cell phone . . ."

In a flash of speed that impressed even the floored Hibiki, Gendo's hand zipped into his jacket and reappeared with a sleek black cell phone that undoubtedly came with some super awesome government calling plan. Without a second's hesitation, the government liaison handed the phone to Dr. Mizuno, shooting her a flat glance. "Dare I ask?"

Smiling weakly, she replied, "I'd really rather that you didn't."

With that, she hastily began dialing out someone's phone number. Deciding to take advantage of the distraction, Ryouga finally flipped himself up to his feet and dusted himself off. Already having forgotten just who'd planted him in the floor in the first place, he leaned towards his deputy. "So, who do you think she's calling?"

His partner shrugged her deceptively narrow shoulders. "I dunno, Goddess Hotline?"

"Why would she call them? Took them three hours to deliver that pizza I ordered."

The pair of them were immediately shushed by the rest of the room as Ami finished dialing the number and held the phone up to her ear. Everyone present held their breaths for several seconds long seconds, waiting for-

"Ah! Hello, Usagi! It's A-"

Rather unexpectedly, the blue haired researcher cut off of introduction, opting instead to stand there, staring out into nothing for several long moments.

"Um, Usagi, this is Ami. There's a . . . situation I could use your help with, so . . . if you could call me back as soon as possible, that would be wonderful . . . so, bye, I guess."

With a disturbingly final sounding beep from the phone, Ami ended to call, only to see everyone staring at her incredulously. Unsurprisingly, Ryoko was the first to break the silence. "Heh, wow. So now I get to tell Tenchi that an answering machine destroyed Japan."

Ranma shook his head sadly. "And, you forgot to leave Gendo's number . . ."

Ami slapped a hand to her forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Feeling a bit bad for the young woman, as she didn't seem to be handling her unintentional destruction of Japan all that well, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder again. "Now calm down, Dr. Mizuno. You aren't stupid, that's Ranma's job-"

"Hey! Researcher over here!"

"-Now, do you know any other ways to get a hold your friend? Could you call her parents, some other friends, a boyfriend? Anything you can think of might help."

The blue haired researcher's face took on a thoughtful caste, as she seemed to consider his inquiry. Slowly, the red began to drain from her face and she calmly handed Gendo back his phone. Then, with deliberate calm, she pulled out a small, blue watch from . . . somewhere behind her back. She held it up for them all to see.

"This is my senshi communicator. I know I could reach any of my friends with it, no matter what, however the crystal has undoubtedly drained its power, just as it drained my computer."

Washu took an excited step forward. "Wait, the friend you were just calling was another of the Sailor Scouts?"

Ami sent a nervous glance in Gendo's direction before nodding. "Our leader, but what-"

She was cut off as the Head of Research began cackling maniacally. "Aha! It looks like the ball is in Washu's court now!"

Immediately, the diminutive genius began typing away madly at her keyboard, prompting another screen, roughly four foot by six, to appear before them. In a grand fashion, Washu gestured to the screen proudly. "It just so happens that, starting just yesterday, I have been devising a method to locate and hack into exotic signal carriers, the same bands that, theoretically speaking, a group of . . ." Washu grimaced profoundly. "Magical girls might use to stay in contact."

Agent Ikari started, if only imperceptibly. "The surface contact permission you requested."

The boastful super genius nodded excitedly. "Granted, I only started developing the program yesterday, but I've already made some progress. I already have five separate Magical Girl team signals identified and monitored, but I just haven't had time to find the right group."

Dr. Mizuno gasped in shock. "You're monitoring the communications of Magical Girls? That's completely unethical!"

Washu rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. It's not like I'm spying on them for any super important secrets. It's just that listening to those girly girls going on about love and justice is better than any soap opera." "Really? Awesome, you gotta set me up with that, mom!"

Before things could degenerate any further, though, Gendo cleared his throated loudly. "Dr. Mizuno, if you have the signal frequency necessary to contact your comrades, I suggest you give it to Washu now. Provided you don't desire to be buried under several hundred million tons of debris, that is."

Ami looked around at all of the expectant faces currently staring at her, before clearing her own throat. "Ahem, right, of course."

The blue haired scientist quickly joined the red haired scientist at her computer and inputted whatever series of digits it was that composed the frequency they needed. With one last, deft touch of the 'Enter' key, the screen hanging in the air suddenly blinked to life.

What they saw, though, was hardly inspiring. All that could be seen through the screen was . . . a ceiling, or a floor, though the fringe of what looked like a lamp shade somewhat supported the former supposition. A light fixture could be seen on the ceiling, though it wasn't currently on. If anything, it looked like they were looking up from someone's nightstan-

"Oh, Mamoru!"

Instantly, Ami's face flushed as red as the sun. To her side, Ryouga dropped like a sack of bricks, flopping back into his human shaped indentation. Ritsuko, Yui and Ranma all had the good graces to start blushing as well, while Gendo coughed politely into his hand and turned away. Washu merely leaned in closer, obvious interest on her face as the sounds of two people really enjoying themselves continued to flow through the virtual speakers unabated.

Ryoko, on the other hand, cheered enthusiastically. "Alright, Mom! You finally sprang for the Playboy Channel!"

Immediately, even (that wasn't unconscious in a slowly spreading pool of blood) spun on the shameless deputy and shushed her loudly, when-

"Wait, did you hear that, Usagi?"

Ranma, Gendo, Washu, Ritsuko, Yui, Ami and Ryoko all froze like a herd of deer in the headlights of a barreling tractor trailer.

". . . Yes, I did . . . it almost sounded like my-"

The image presented by the screen suddenly shifted wildly as a massive hand entered the scene, obviously picking up the communicator. After several seconds, the view reoriented itself so that it revealed the face (and notably bare shoulders) of a very lovely blonde woman. Instantly, the telegenic female's gaze locked onto Dr. Mizuno, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Ami! Where are you? We've been trying to get a hold of you for wee . . ." The blonde's concerned inquiry trailed off as her eyes slowly began to take in the whole of the situation. ". . . Ami, is it just me, or are you standing in a room full of people that can see me naked right now?"

Still as red as a beet, Ami nodded timidly. "It's, ah, it's something like that . . ."

Instantly, everyone in the room was forced to cover their as a high pitched, nearly super sonic wail suddenly filled the air, attacking eardrums and wracking minds for miles around.

"Cut the visual!" came Ami's frantic shout.

With a disappointed pout, Washu complied and a moment later, the broad screen flashed to black. The shriek, on the other hand, took another thirty seconds to finally subside.

Looking more than just a little hesitant, Ami tentatively reached a hand out to the blank screen. "Are – are you still there, Usagi?"

There was a short pause, playing on the already frazzled nerves of everyone –

"Of course I am, Ami. In fact, I can't wait until your next visit –" The statement was made in such an overly cheerful tone that even the unconscious Ryouga shuddered faintly.

Quickly, Ami turned to Washu and mouthed, 'Cancel my vacations'.

"-So, what do you need that is so important?" finished the suddenly saccharine Usagi.

Dr. Mizuno tugged at her collar. "I . . . I don't suppose you have . . . that on you at the moment?"

Ryoko snickered silently. "Didn't look like she had much of anything on her, except maybe a han-" But was cut off starkly as Washu stomped on her foot.

"What do you mean by that?" asked the dulcet disembodied voice.

Ami looked around the room nervously. "You know . . . that? The really, really important that?"

". . . Oh! Oh, that that! Of course I have it, Ami. But why would you need to know that?"

The blue haired scientist began wringing her hands in front of her. "Wellll . . . I've had a – a slight mishap at work-"

Working proactively, Ritsuko slapped a hand over Ranma's mouth just before he could burst into laughter.

"Oh, no! Is everything alright?"

Ami looked around, flushing badly once more. Amazingly enough, Ryouga was vaguely able to notice this fact, as consciousness was once again befriending him.

". . . Yeees. I just need you to use that to do a quick favor for me."

"Of course, just let me get it out."

The sound of fabric being sifted through filled the air, interrupted briefly by – "Hey, that's not your locket!" followed by some girlish giggling.

Ryouga, almost up to his elbows, dropped back into the sweet bliss of unconsciousness instantly.

"Okay, I got it. So, what do you need me to do?"

Taking a deep breath, and doing her very best to ignore Agent Ikari's highly disapproving look, Ami explained, "You see, there is currently a growth of crystal located in Japan . . . special crystal, and I was hoping that you could find it with that."

"Umm . . . suuure. Just gimme a sec." Several seconds ticked by. "Woooo! That's a big crystal you got there, Ami. You thinking of getting into the jewelry business?"

"No, not really. Now, Usagi, this is really important. Can you use that to render the crystal inert so as to cease its rapid rate of replication?"

". . . No . . ."

The world was almost treated to the first documented case of septupal spontaneous human combustion as everyone stared at the black screen in abject shock.

"Why not?" Ami asked the question roaring through all of their minds.

". . . Because I have no idea what you said . . ."

Before anyone of the GD side of the conversation could explode, literally or figuratively, the rushed sound of a male whispering could be heard from the Tokyo end of the conversation.

"Ohhh! Is that all? Sure, heck, just let me shrink it back to its original size, too-"

"NO!" came the unanimous uproar.

Ami chuckled nervously, before coughing surreptitiously into her hand. "T-that's really not necessary, Usagi. It's ah – loadbearing . . ."

The gathered congregation could almost hear the blonde warrior of love and justice shrug her shoulders through the blackened screen. "Okie Dokie! There ya go, all done! Now, about you calling me during my private ti-"

The sharp interrogative was cut off abruptly as Ami dove for the holographic keyboard and slapped her entire hand down and through the disconnect button –

"Gottagobye!"

And without even the slightest aplomb, the screen vanished back to the nothingness which spawned it. As soon as it did, Ami let out a grand sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness that disaster is over."

Unfortunately, it was then that she turned around, right into the smoldering glares of both Agent Ikari and Professor Hakubi. Shrinking visibly beneath the combined heat of their glares, the young researcher reiterated her relieved sigh with a sigh of deepest resignation.

"My disaster is only beginning, isn't it?"