Chapter 18: The Hunt Begins
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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Beryl addressed her remaining generals - ones who would listen to orders, she hoped. "With the energy we have gathered, I was able to awaken our great ruler, Metallia. She told us we will need the guinzuishou to awaken her to full power. To find it we will need to awaken our seven greatest youma. When the Seven Great Youma accompanied by the Rainbow Crystals come back to the world, the guinzuishou will show itself."
"As I recall," Kunzite said, "our Seven Great Youma were sealed off by our hated enemy."
Beryl recalled the incident herself. "The legendary Seven great Youma... curse of our hated enemy. They have sealed the Seven Great Youma into the seven fragments of the guinzuishou and sent them to Earth. Those seven fragments are called the Rainbow Crystals."
"And what became of the youma?" Zoicite asked.
"They have been reincarnated as humans and lost their memory of being youma," Kunzite said.
"I see," Zoicite said. "If we remove the Rainbow Crystals from the reincarnated humans, we will have the guinzuishou."
"Furthermore, our Seven Great Youma will return as well," Beryl said. She motioned over her crystal ball. The Dark Crystal emerged, having been in her care since Zoicite returned with it weeks ago. She now sent it into Zoicite's hands. "I have modified it to respond to the Rainbow Crystals."
"Thank you, your majesty," Zoicite said, bowing his head. He projected his power into the crystal, setting it levitating inches from his outstretched hand.
It began to project an image. They saw an ordinary looking young man in T-shirt, jacket, and glasses, with a baseball cap worn backwards.
"One of the Rainbow Crystals is withing this human..." Zoicite said. He adjusted the projection to find where this human was.
"Be careful," Kunzite said. "That is within the area the Sailor Senshi have been fought. They have been very perceptive."
"Indeed," Magnetite said. "I recently lost one of my expert spy youma to them. I would not have thought they could penetrate its cloak." He did not mention the mission the youma was on was to spy on Zoicite.
"I am ever careful," Zoicite said. "But even if the Sailor Senshi find me, I am stronger than they are. I shall get this Rainbow Crystal in spite of them." He disappeared in a spiral of petals.
Magnetite and Kunzite returned to their duties. As soon as he arrived in his command center, Magnetite summoned another of his spies.
"Follow Zoicite. Be on your utmost caution. The Sailor Senshi were able to sense and kill the last spy I sent. I need you to return with good information."
"It will be done," the youma said, and vanished.
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Residents of Nerima were being treated to an unusual spectacle: Happosai chasing an underwear-bag-laden Ranma-chan around the rooftops.
"Come back here with my treasures!" Happosai screamed.
"Stole them fair and square, did you?" Ranma laughed. If he she had judged her ability to keep ahead right...
Her path came to a street, too wide to jump at one go. Instead of coming down in the middle of the street, she fell short just beside a residential wall. Happosai came down in the middle of the street and turned backward to face Ranma - who wasn't there.
A very pretty girl was. Seeing Ranma nowhere around, Happosai did the natural thing and went for the easy score. "Pretty girl! Wanna give me a kiss?" GLOMP. "Ack! What's this...?" Suddenly he began coughing and wheezing.
It was no girl - though Tsubasa screamed like one. "EEEKK! What the hell are you doing, you weirdo!" He kicked the now-helpless hentai over the roofs.
Tsubasa then turned to the trash can the lady that had landed next to him had rudely pulled him from. He reached in through the top layer, grabbed a handful of hair, and pulled the woman up, still gripping the underwear bag. "And you! What were YOU doing dumping him on ME?"
Ranma-chan handed Tsubasa the bag. "Just doing my part as a champion of justice! You can return these to their rightful owners." She jumped away back to the rooftops, heading for the Zoicite battle.
Tsubasa watched her go with a bewildered look. Then he realized he had been left literally holding the bag.
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Several of the gamers at the Crown Game Center had temporarily forgotten their own games as they took the opportunity to watch a master at work.
"That's Crane Joe," one of Usagi's classmates, a girl named Umi, told her. "He's a genius at playing the crane game. Any arcade he visits will lose every doll they have."
Usagi knew his secret - though she could understand why other onlookers could not believe their eyes when they saw it. Instead of making the final plunge with the crane when he got it inches from the dolls, he put a hand to the glass and used telekinetic power to lift his targets into its grasp. Small wonder he was so successful!
Joe cleaned out the crane game, as was his habit. Usagi and Makoto followed him as he lugged his bag of winnings home. When he made a turn to jump down to a sunken road next to a parking garage, they continued on and entered the garage.
Joe was stopped in his path by Zoicite appearing in front of him in a shower of petals. "What the -?"
"This will only take a minute," Zoicite said with a soft laugh. He held the Dark Crystal out to shine on Joe.
The reaction was immediate. Joe cried out in pain. It felt as if his very soul were being torn out. In a very real sense, it was. A black hole opened in his chest; a red crystal began to appear.
Behind Zoicite and around the corner, Sailor Pluto was tensed and ready to pounce. This was the decisive moment. Ukyo was in the bushes, Sailor Moon in the garage ready to purify Joe, Tuxedo Mask crouching next to her ready to take the Dark Crystal and pass it back to Cologne. It would all be over in a few seconds.
BONK.
"Ranma, my boy! What the heck are you doing out here? Playing Sailor girl again, I see. Is there a bad guy around? What about those other girls?"
Pluto smacked Happosai over the head with her staff and drop-kicked him out of the neighborhood.. She turned and leapt at Zoicite, but the general, warned by Happosai's outburst, had stopped his attack short and was now on guard. He dodged several punches before one connected.
Zoicite wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. "How dare you injure my face?"
"I'm gonna injure a lot more than that," Pluto said. She was seething; now Zoicite would be prepared. She launched into another series of attacks.
Joe was on the ground, clutching his chest. He made his way past the fighting warriors and down the street. Ukyo came out of her hiding spot, not having had an opening to fire, and hefted her spatula. "Ranchan! Hold him!" She made to whack the general over the head with her spatula, but Zoicite backed off and teleported away.
"Dammit!" Pluto fumed. "The old pervert recovered too fast. We're gonna have to do this the hard way."
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Masked jumped down from the garage. "Pluto! Are you all right?"
"I'm pissed! We're gonna have to keep the old fart distracted."
"Where did Zoicite go?" Tuxedo Mask asked, trying to keep everyone focused.
Jupiter pointed from the garage. "I saw him head that way!"
"I'll follow with Ucchan. The rest of you stay back!" Pluto took off down the street in pursuit.
Joe entered a coffee shop. Pluto concentrated. "Zoicite will try there next."
"That looks too confined," Ukyo said. "There's too many people. Can we lead him out?"
"Yes. There's a park nearby that looks good."
They made their way back to the group and explained the plan. "We'll need Shampoo to force him out. The rest of us are going to a park nearby. I don't think we can get the Dark Crystal now, but we can get the Rainbow Crystal if we time it right."
They set up around the edges of the park, ready to converge. About ten minutes later, Joe came into the park, to be confronted by Zoicite. Now understanding the danger of the man, he cowered in fear. "Spare me!"
Zoicite gave a soft laugh. "There is no need to run. You are one of us."
"One of you?" Joe was too terrified to think. He just wanted this man gone.
Zoicite held out the Dark Crystal again. "I will have the Rainbow Crystal."
The hole opened again in Joe's chest. A red crystal floated out, heading for Zoicite's hand. It was halfway there when the array of spatulas came again.
Zoicite was a little more ready this time; he reflexively closed his hand on the Dark Crystal and lunged for the red one. He grasped it, then lost it again as Pluto tackled him. Pluto struggled to keep her grip. "It's loose! Grab it!"
People seemed to erupt from every angle. Tuxedo Mask, coming up from behind Joe, scooped up the crystal and threw it over the trees as Pluto wrestled Zoicite to facing upwards, where Shampoo and Ukyo hit him with their weapons. He cried out in pain.
Suddenly there were blades in his hands, blocking the assaulting weapons. Pluto's magical strength was not a match for Zoicite's; he broke free and quickly ported several meters straight up. He surveyed the field below: three Senshi and three other humans in varied dress, all at the ready to attack. Sailors Moon and Mars were not among them; the youma Joe was turning into should be able to take care of them. "You Senshi and your friends... you won't be able to defeat us! Youma Gesen, take care of them!" He disappeared, leaving spatulas and throwing knives to pass through his shower of petals.
A youma's death cry came from the trees. Mars and Moon came running up, just as Joe finished changing. "I sensed another extra youma," Mars said. "We took care of it. Is that... Joe?"
The youma activated a hammer on its wrist, extending it on a long cable for a long-range smash. They all dodged as it smashed down, pulverising concrete.
Pluto jumped on it immediately before the youma could retract it. It tried to anyway, pulling Pluto towards it, and getting a hundred blows in a few seconds as she arrived. Pluto jumped away from the stunned youma. "It's still not at full power! Sailor Moon! do your thing!"
"Right!" Moon pulled out the Moon Stick. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"
Waves of energy washed over the youma. Its form shimmered, becoming pure light. With a cry of "REFRESH!" it returned to the human Joe, who then fell unconscious to the pavement.
The assembled group remained on guard in case anything else was lurking about. "Is that all of them?" Jupiter asked.
"I don't sense anything," Mars said.
"Scan is all clear," Mercury said after checking her visor. She began checking Joe, and soon pronounced him healthy.
They left him on a park bench and began making their way away from the scene, detransforming. "It's over," Ranma-chan said with a sigh. "I was afraid of this. The old perv is just too resilient..."
Ukyo put a supportive hand on Ranma's shoulder. "It was worth a try, though."
"Yeah!" Usagi said. "We almost had them!"
"Next time for sure!" Makoto said.
"Next time will be next week. He'll come with a youma to keep us busy."
"Oh, I think we can deal with an extra youma or two," Mars said.
"Yeah!" Usagi chimed in. "Don't let this get you down! We got the first Rainbow Crystal, after all! If we can get all of them, we don't need the Dark Crystal for ourselves!"
"That's true," Ranma said. "Problem is, what are the odds we'll get them all...?"
"Well, with you looking ahead for us, won't we always have the best strategies?" Makoto asked.
"Not always," Ami said. "It takes time for him to see things. You can't check every possible contingency, can you?"
"Not every one," Ranma admitted. "Not in one week. I just hope I can check enough..."
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"There are seven Rainbow Crystals in total," Beryl was saying. "We must have all to gain possession of the guinzuishou. You are aware of that, are you not? And you dare let the Sailor Senshi have one?"
"I beg for your fogiveness," Zoicite pleaded.
"Not to be concerned, your majesty Beryl!" Kunzite came to take some pressure off. "They must enter our realm to take the rest. Their numbers will be useless. We will take possession then."
"Then, get on with locating the remaining crystals for the resurrection of our great ruler."
Zoicite projected another image from the crystal. It showed a man in what they recognized as a type of priest's outfit.
As they worked on pinning down his location, Magnetite headed off to his own command chamber, worrying about the loss of another spy. He did not have all that many to send to keep tabs on Zoicite.
An idea came to him. "Perhaps there is another way..."
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It was a long week. Happosai, to start with, wanted to meet the Senshi for himself.
"Maybe if you want to feel what the youma go through..." Ranma said.
"But think how much help I can be! I can teach them some really great moves for beating monsters!"
"You'd just steal all their underwear and grope them all day long. They don't need the distraction."
"You know, Ranma, I actually understand if you want to play a warrior for Love and Justice. I'm sure you have a great sense of Justice..."
"Good enough to know I should keep YOU away from people."
Happosai ignored that. "But I think you need a lot of work on the Love part - which just happens to be one of my specialties, you know."
"Love... or Lust?" Ranma said sarcastically.
"You just don't have a FEEL for love! You really shouldn't have destroyed that pill. That would have given you the feelings you need!"
Akane overheard that. "Take it from me, feelings from drugs aren't real. I'm still trying to forget my day with Kuno..." She glared hard at Ranma. "Why didn't you destroy ALL the pills?"
"If you're trying to forget, then the feelings are staying with you!" Happosai pointed out. "The pill's only AWAKENED love in you! You should embrace it!"
"Like you'd know anything about love," Ranma said dismissively.
Happosai babbled much of the week on his long-lost loves, of which there seemed to be more than a few centuries' worth in a love life that couldn't have lasted more than three decades. Ranma, in fact, dismissed all of it as fantasy. The old pervert had clearly never had a real love life worthy of the term - he wouldn't have, given the way he behaved.
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Ryoga showed up that week as well. Ranma noted Akane was more friendly toward him than she was to any other boy he knew of. He mentioned it to Kasumi.
"Why, yes, it does look like she's nice to him. She can be very nice, at times."
"You think it's because of what Nabiki says? She wants someone who's a friend first? I mean, he doesn't push her like anyone else around here. And with his curse gone, the only weird thing about him is getting lost all the time. That's more of a handicap than anything else."
It did seem to be food for thought. Akane persuaded Ryoga to stay largely in one spot near their bathroom, showing him the way to the main room so that he could eat dinner with everyone else.
It was during dinner that they saw a local color segment on the TV news. "In our 'People Search' segment today, we have an individual looking for her master. Checkers Hibiki, a four-year-old female dog, is here in our studio." The screen showed a dog, black on its left side, white on the right.
"Checkers!" Ryoga said.
"Is that your dog, Ryoga?" Akane asked. He nodded in response.
"She'd like her master to come home and see her new puppies..." The screen now showed the dog with a litter of puppies.
"Oo! What cute puppies!" Akane said.
"So... Checkers had puppies..." Ryoga became wistful. "I guess I have been away for a while."
"You actually have a home?" Nabiki asked. "I would have thought, as much as you get lost..."
"Oh, he has a home to go to," Ranma said. "I took him there about 300 times when he got lost. But yeah, he does spend more time on the road..."
"Well, then!" Akane said. "Why don't we all go to Ryoga's house?"
Ryoga paused at this. He was unused to a girl showing such concern over him. In fact, he was unused to being around girls at all; it was only recently that he was able to deal with them on a regular basis. "Ummm... sure... heh..."
Ranma sighed. "I guess it would be good if someone else knew where you lived. I really have better things to do than cart you around town..."
It wasn't that far to Ryoga's neighborhood. Once there, Akane wanted to stay for the day, to get to know Checkers. Ranma was glad to leave her there and head straight back to the Tendo home himself. He couldn't see anything else useful or fun he could do here.
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Magnetite set the last camera in place and teleported to a field command station he had set up in an unused business several miles away. The security cameras he had bought were all working now. He would be able to see all the useful angles in the church, the graveyard around it, and some of the nearby streets and parks if the battle should move away from Zoicite's intended location. The mundane nature of the surveillance should help avoid detection by the Sailor Senshi.
It still grated on him that the Dark Kingdom should need anything of human manufacture. Given that it was needed, however, getting it was trivial. They had plenty of gems and mineral wealth to sell for cash, but even these were redundant. All it had taken was a few seconds of time applying his power to a computer in the basement of a major downtown bank, and he had enough electronic credit for any possible need.
He set the recording equipment going and went to other duties. Zoicite would make his move some time today; for security, he had not said exactly when. If the cameras were all destroyed before then... well, that would tell him something important in itself.
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"I have a question, Father," Mamoru said. Though not Christian himself, he knew the priest would hear out anyone with an honest concern. "Something of a philosophical problem."
"Go ahead."
"It's about these youma attacks, and the Sailor Senshi. About what they might mean."
"You feel they mean something? I should think they are just another form of crime. There should be nothing unusual about them."
"I've... seen some of the battles. There have been... things that I can only describe as magic involved. Has anyone else in your faith felt that? That there is magic at work?"
"I'm not sure you could call it magic. It may be some trick, or advanced technology. In a threatening situation, you may have seen things wrong."
"I've talked with other people, who think there is something more at work here. Some greater power. What if there is? What if what we call magic is real? Would you be able to accept it?"
"You should know our history. We did accept it for a long time. We can go back if need be. But much of what we know of magic was just an unsophisticated view of natural phenomena. I should think if there are unusual effects at work here, they will become part of our science in time."
"There's another thing I wonder, though. About what might be possible with these ... unusual... effects. A possibility of... healing people. Of... immortality." He couldn't mention what he remembered of the Silver Millennium, of a kingdom of magically immortal people... an immortality that might become possible again, on Earth, if the Senshi won and established a new magical Kingdom - a possibility Ranma and Cologne seemed to take seriously.
"I am aware of some doctors who think that our lifespans might be greatly extended by medical technology in the coming decades. But true immortality and happiness, as is offered by God, will only be His to offer."
"I seemed to recall your faith got its start among pagans who had a... poor view of the afterlife. One that was miserable and uncomfortable. Not a hell of endless tortures, necessarily, but not the paradise you offered."
"Some ancient peoples believed that. Others believed they were going to live in a better world, but many did think that the afterlife was no improvement over the living world."
"So that was a competitive advantage for you, wasn't it? You offered something they couldn't. Eternal life to those who thought existence ended at death, and unconditional eternal happiness for ordinary people who had lived mundane lives."
"Some might have found that an advantage. There were many reasons for conversion. Some tribes changed faiths through politics. Some saw their old faiths were not performing in times of crisis and tried our way."
"But could the same happen to you? If there were crises in the future, and your God was seen as not responding? If priests of some new faith appeared preaching immortality and happiness, not in Heaven but here on Earth, if they discarded you and chose them? Could you compete?"
The priest chuckled at this. "I think we would have to see if they could deliver on their promises first. And don't forget that God promises to offer immortality and happiness on Earth after a period of crisis. I don't know how seriously you might take apocalyptic prophecy, but there are sects that focus strongly on that."
Mamoru's watch beeped. It was time. "It seems I have an appointment, Father. But you've given me much to think about. Thank you for your time."
"Always glad to be of help."
Mamoru headed out of the yard and into some nearby woods and transformed to Tuxedo Mask. Any second now...
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Mars entered the church through the side door, out of breath from patrolling a wide arc around the area. "No lurkers," she said. "We're clear."
Shampoo was looking at the stained glass windows on the graveyard side of the church. "Shampoo not see why we no go through these." She thought the side door was too constricting.
"We can't do that!" Mars said. "You should have some respect for sacred ground."
"Everybody ready?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Let's do this!" Jupiter said.
"I just wish Ranma were here," Mercury said.
"Me too," Ukyo said. "But Ranchan is keeping Happosai busy. Zoicite isn't the only worry, you know."
"I wonder how he's doing it...?" Mars wondered.
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"THAT'S the Happo Fire-Burst?" Genma said.
"All this time, he had us terrified of FIREWORKS?" Soun raged. "Take this!" He threw a brassiere at his former master.
Happosai went for it, allowing the giant ball of explosives he had been riding to roll uncontrolled down the slope. He chased the bra to just short of a cliff and grabbed it, then turned around to stop the ball with a single finger. The fathers were amazed.
"Old freak, I gotta say, I'm impressed," Ranma-chan said, just before she kicked the ball off the cliff, and Happosai with it.
"Farewell, Master," Soun intoned.
"What a beautiful end," Genma added.
"Some master HE was," Akane said.
"I'm sure he'll be back," Ranma-chan said. "Too soon..."
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Zoicite teleported in mere feet from the priest, youma in tow. "The Senshi are in the church! Go in by the main doors and kill them!" he ordered.
"Main door!" the youma confirmed, heading there.
The general cast a ring of fire around himself and his target. The priest shrank from the flames. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Wouldn't you want to know more about yourself than me?"
"I'm an ordinary preacher."
"Or are you? The Dark Crystal will tell us your true form." He produced the crystal.
The priest screamed.
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In the church, Mercury was looking at the timer in her visor. "Three... two... one... NOW!"
Sailor Moon charged up her tiara. "Moon Tiara Action!" She threw at the doors. She would be very embarrassed if the tiara got embedded in the doors when they didn't open.
But they did. The youma that came through was instantly cut in half. The rest of the Senshi and martial artists opened the side door that opened on the graveyard and charged out.
The orange Rainbow Crystal was floating toward Zoicite's hand. Shampoo threw a mace at it, knocking it out of the flame circle. Zoicite cursed, having hoped the flame circle would prevent this. He dropped the flames and looked for the crystal, finding it near a tombstone. "Ah hahahaha! Your ambush failed, Sailor Senshi! I have it!" He dove for it - and was rudely surprised again.
Tuxedo Mask came out of the woods, throwing a rose at the tombstone. It was a fake tombstone - it exploded into Ukyo's trademark tricks, batter-glue and rubber noodles to tie Zoicite up, flour to blind him, gunpowder to put on the hurt. While the general was distracted, Tuxedo Mask extended his cane. It had glue on the end of it, allowing him to snag the crystal.
Zoicite appeared several meters above the graveyard and cleared his face. He tried to see where the crsytal had gone -
"FIRE SOUL!" "SUPREME THUNDER!" "SHABON SPRAY!" "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"
Zoicite teleported again, seeing the last attack aimed at the emerging Youma Boxer, which turned back to human with a cry of "REFRESH!" More attacks began to track him across the sky, and there was no sign of the crystal. He had no choice.
"Damn you, Sailor Senshi... I need more youma..." He teleported away, seething with hatred.
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Some hours after seeing Zoicite return much the worse for wear, Magnetite sat down at his surveillance camera monitoring station and looked at the tapes of the fight.
In the minutes before Zoicite arrived, several humans gathered in the church. A young man met the target in the graveyard and talked with him for several minutes, then left for the trees. Zoicite arrived, sent his youma to the church, and set up his wall of flames. He was not attacked as the Dark Crystal was exposed, but the Rainbow Crystal was hit by something coming from the church, something not stopped by mere flames.
He admired Zoicite, though he would never admit it; the blond general recovered quickly enough to go after the Rainbow Crystal, foiling the Senshi's plans. But then something totally strange happened: the tombstone near the crystal exploded, leaving Zoicite trapped in some sort of bindings and goop. Something reached out from out of view and took the crystal. Zoicite teleported out of his bindings, only to come under sustained assault in the air and forced to retreat.
Magnetite noted the crystal was taken in the direction the young man had gone. He switched tapes and looked at the camera for the woods, where he had suspected the Senshi might set up. It showed the young man going in, then his clothes phasing to a tuxedo.
"So... this must be the notorious Tuxedo Mask who helps the Sailor Senshi. Let's see what the church shows..." He switched to the tape of the church camera. Several young women entered; two remained in the pews while the others went into a side room. Seconds later, the Senshi emerged. Magnetite smiled; though the resolution of the images would not allow for identification by face, he now knew it was possible to get close enough to them for that. Another day, perhaps, with better cameras...
One of the Senshi left for several minutes and returned. Magnetite changed to a tape of one of the outside cameras to see her leave. He tracked her as she scouted the area. "Looking for my spies? Heh heh. This time I used spies your senses would not register..." He resumed monitoring the group in the church from the point where their patroller came back.
The youma tried to enter through the main doors; the Senshi, almost predictably by now sensed it coming and lay in ambush. "Hehe. You'll have to do better than that, Zoicite..."
Magnetite returned to the graveyard tape and reviewed the point where Zoicite was entangled again. A trap. "Clever... let's see when you set it." He moved back through the day and looked for the setting. He was surprised when it happened. "Only one trap? Were they just lucky, or that good?"
Either way, this looked to be a good way of keeping tabs on his rival's performance. Next time, perhaps, he would add microphones for sound, and try mounting angles that could get close-ups to see faces.
Not for the first time, he wished Beryl would let him operate in Juuban. Nephrite at one point seemed convinced Sailor Moon was a middle-school girl in disguise. If that theory had any merit, it should be possible to draw her out and track her to her home. And then their troubles with the Senshi would end quite suddenly.
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AN: Going to be getting into original battles, which are fun to write. Strategically, things go off the rails until Venus arrives - again, a factor not under anyone's control at this point.