A Tenchi and Friends Fanfic:

Magical Girl Adorable Achika
By Justin "J-Pikachu" Palmer

Version History:
Initial creation (beta 1)02/09/99
Pre-RC1 revision (beta 40)26/03/00
Release Candidate 127/03/00
Final Release10/04/00 22:52

Disclaimer: Objects in the mirror are closer than they actually
appear. These characters are not mine, nor are the situations. Okay,
perhaps a couple are. This work is not used for profit; it is
intended as an expression of my worship of Tenchi Muyo and its
characters; in particular, the raven-haired goddess Achika, and the
blue-haired goddess Tsunami, for whom there will never be any other
English seiyu than Sherry Lynn. Unauthorised MSTing is frowned upon;
if you absolutely, positively, have to MST this fic, please let me
know beforehand. Also, if you want to reprint this, let me know
beforehand, and remember to credit me. Remember, no matter where you
go, there you are.

Foreword: Yes, it's been done. Another character of the Tenchiverse
has donned the hallowed Magical Girl guise and fought evil. Now it's
time for another. This one is tied into the Pretty Sammy OAV
continuity, not the TV series that I haven't seen, nor am I likely to
see in the foreseeable future – I doubt Pioneer will be releasing it
in the UK.

There's a depressing shortage of Achika fics out there, from what I've
seen. There are a few, really good ones, but none too many use her. (I
guess being dead IS kind of a disadvantage.) This is part one of the
first of two series I'm working on to change that, and write for one
of the franchise's more challenging characters... Series two is herewith
"hi-mi-tsu" until the basics are finalised.

Oh, in case I forget…

LIME WARNING. This work contains elements of ecchi and fan service,
which, while not particularly graphic, may render it unsuitable for
younger audiences.

Thanks to Cav and K'thardin for pre-reading, help with some of the
technical aspects of this work, and also showing me the picture that
almost convinced me to advance Sasami and Misao in age, if it didn't
sit so badly with the rest of the plot. Oh, well, it's an idea…

Part One: The Ultimate Temp Job

"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH! NO! MY UTOPIA LIES IN RUINS!"
Tsunami looked out of her window, onto the kingdom that would
ultimately be hers. Although who would want the war zone she saw?

For a month that seemed like an eternity, the magic kingdom
known as Juraihelm had been in a state of civil war. It all started
when some of the 108 Priests of the Royal Court began to lose faith
in the one they had chosen to be queen. The exact words of the leader
of the opposition were "SHE'S HOPELESS! SHE'LL KILL US ALL!"

The reason behind this: Pretty Sammy, Tsunami's Magical Girl
champion, had been incapacitated in a fight with her rival, Pixy
Misa. Without Sammy, Tsunami could not be tested, and her campaign
was at a standstill.

There was some compensation to all this: Pixy Misa was also
wounded in the fight, and thusly the campaign of Tsunami's rival,
Ramia, had also hit a brick wall. This proved to be a devastating
rebuke for the loyalists' arsenal. In fact, a little too devastating.

The opposition said as much as, "Take that back!"

The loyalists responded with "You take yours back!"

And so the two parties threw tantrums at each other. However,
when the citizens possess true magic power – power that would make
David Copperfield look like an 8-year old with a magic set – such
tantrums get very destructive. And rather surreal.

The opposition began by dropping a bull elephant on the
loyalist leader.

The loyalists retorted by dropping a Cardassian space station
on the opposition leader. They were Star Trek fans.

The largest object dropped was a gas giant that nearly knocked
Juraihelm's planet out of orbit. Fortunately, Tsunami and Ramia – in
their first, albeit unwitting, joint venture – deflected the gas
giant before it crushed their world. Both of them thought they
single-handedly saved the world, and remained blissfully unaware that
this was not so.

Now the two sides were sniping at one another with directed
energy blasts. The result: the once beautiful landscape of Juraihelm
was a patchwork of fire and rubble.

Tsunami couldn't bear to look any more. She covered her face
with her hands, and sobbed loudly.

She didn't notice the cabbit Ryo-ohki materialise behind her,
until he spoke. "Sasami's gonna be out of the hospital today, but she
won't be able to transform into Sammy for a good week or two."

"I can't wait that long," Tsunami replied. "Take a look out
here."

Ryo-ohki bounced onto Tsunami's head, giving him a good
vantagepoint. The sight dismayed him.

"See?" Tsunami asked. Ryo-ohki voiced an affirmative. "We need
to act now, Ryo-ohki. In a week or two, there won't be anything left
of Juraihelm."

"Point conceded. But Sammy is out of action. What do we do?"

"Plan B, my friend. Plan B."

"You had a plan B? YOU LET THINGS GET THIS BAD WHEN THERE WAS A
PLAN B!"

Tsunami winced as the cabbit barked directly into her ear.
Then, out of thin air, she pulled an envelope. The words 'Plan B'
were written on it in katakana and romaji. Ryo ohki took the envelope
and bounced onto the windowsill, facing Tsunami. He opened the
envelope – no small feat when you lack opposable thumbs – and
extracted the piece of paper therein.

"Okay… 'In the event of the incapacitation of the Magical Girl
Pretty Sammy, recruit Robert Smith of the Cure.'" Ryo-ohki's face
dropped. "Tsunami, I hate to tell you this, but the Cure are
touring."

"I know. Read on."

Ryo-ohki continued to read. "…'Or, in the event of the
unavailability of Robert Smith of The Cure, recruit another Magical
Girl.' Recruit another Magical Girl?"

"Yes."

"Are you nuts? Magical Girls are not born every minute!"

"Point conceded. But I have been watching someone that was born
of Magical blood."

"Who?"

Tsunami turned away from Ryo-ohki and summoned her viewing
ball. Ryo-ohki leapt onto her head to see.

"The one I need dwells on this planet…" she said. "The one I
seek dwells on this planet…"

The view on the ball zoomed into Earth. Past the upper
atmosphere. Past the cloud layer. Down towards a town. Ryo-ohki
recognised it as the same town that Sasami lived in. But the view
zoomed in on a different building in the town. A gothic-looking
building that sat squat on its campus like a fat guy on the toilet. A
building that looked positively anachronistic next to the aircraft
hangar-like structure and various portacabins.

Only a high school could be so poorly designed.

In one of the myriad classrooms of this school, a gaggle of
seventeen-year-olds broke out of the regimental arrangement of their
desks and gathered into small groups, talking amongst themselves
during the brief period before their teacher would walk in.

The boys had gathered together, indulging in the time-honoured
tradition of bullying one of their own into going out with a girl.
The unfortunate victim of this seriously unwanted attention was
Tenchi Kawai, the shy guy who was trying to make himself very small.

They had already noted that Tenchi already had two potential
suitors – Ryoko and Aeka.

"C'mon, Kawai, what's your damn problem?" one of the boys,
Miyamura, asked. "Man, two hot girls throwing themselves headlong at
you, ya lucky bastard. Most guys'd give their right nut to be in your
shoes."

"Dude, you ever seen those girls!" Tenchi said, exasperated.
"Most guys would actually LOSE their right nut if they were in my
shoes."

"Seems to me you've already lost one, man. Where's your damn
testosterone! Just pick one and be done with it."

His spine ejected via his mouth with his last tirade, Tenchi
was now sweating enough salt water to successfully irrigate most of
central Africa. "But, er—"

Rather than wait for Tenchi's response, Miyamura went on.
"Damn, man, you're a wuss. Ya hear that, boys? Kawai's a wuss!"

"I AM NOT!" Tenchi attempted to defend himself.

"Then prove it," another one, Kumamoto – nicknamed 'Lard-Ass'
due to his unfeasible girth – said. He gestured to the front of the
class, where two girls were sitting at neighbouring desks, and trying
very hard not to acknowledge each other's existence. One of them had
long purple hair styled into a bob, with two ponytails extending from
beneath it. The other had a mane of cyan spiked hair. From the back,
with the obvious exception, they looked identical.

"Go on," Kumamoto said. "Prove it. Pick one."

"But… but…" Tenchi stuttered.

Miyamura took his words and made a chicken impression out of
them. Tenchi scowled at him, before coming to the inescapable
conclusion that he wasn't going to escape this without doing
something.

He turned, and like a condemned man, marched down the aisle to
the desks at which Aeka and Ryoko were sitting.

Aeka noticed the commotion and glanced behind her. Her heart
rose when she saw Tenchi walking towards her. Looking at her.

She glanced at Ryoko, with a look that betrayed every word she
thought. See that, Ryoko? Tenchi's picked me! Hahahahaha!

Ignoring Aeka's glance, Ryoko looked behind her, too, to see
Tenchi walking towards her. Looking at her.

Tenchi's picked me! she thought in glee. Haha! Take that,
Aeka!

A swarm of butterflies awoke in both their stomachs with every
step that Tenchi made.

Oh, my, Tenchi, I'm so glad you chose me… they both rehearsed
their response, blushing furiously as they imagined the scenario.

They both turned to face him, smiling at him, completely
oblivious to the fact that the other was doing exactly the same.

And this really spooked Tenchi. Two girls, looking at him with
an identical expression. Both expecting him to choose her.

And then he realised that the gaggle of men behind him was
awaiting a response. A response he was going to give them.

He stepped closer.

Tenchi! Ryoko thought.

Closer.

Oh, my Tenchi…! Aeka thought.

And then, right at the last minute… Tenchi changed course. He
steered very clear of them, and ran for the door.

Aeka and Ryoko facefaulted.

He'd decided, instead, to profess his love to the toilet.

Unfortunately, during his exit, he nearly tripped over his
teacher. As he was leaving, Professor Washu was entering the
classroom. He looked down at the child-like teacher who was a good
foot or so shorter than him.

"What's the rush, Mr. Kawai?" Washu said.

"Um, er…" Tenchi replied, just as the boys started a laugh that
cut through him like a chainsaw. He glanced up, then to the right, to
glare at the boys.

He double-took who was standing behind Washu, and turned back
to see…

Well, what he saw never actually left the queue of concepts
flowing into his mind. As soon as he clapped eyes on the object in
question, he froze up. His cheeks turned bright red, and, as everyone
predicted, he fainted.

The boys' laughter intensified at this, but even they fell
silent when they encountered the Aphrodite incarnate that rushed in
to try and help their fallen comrade.

The vision of loveliness at the front of them was ever so
slightly shorter than Tenchi was. Definitely taller than Washu. If
they counted her wealth of hair, shiny and raven-black, tied into a
ponytail that erupted from the upper back of her head like a
fountain, she'd win on the height front. Her hair perfectly framed
her unerringly cute face, and that look of almost maternal concern
she was wearing as she tried to bring Tenchi back to consciousness.
And if the eyes truly were the windows to the soul, then by God, this
girl must have been the most soulful creature on the planet.

Slowly, but surely, the girl's care worked. Tenchi's eyes
gently opened.

"Are… are you an angel…?" Tenchi asked, trying to reach out
blindly to the girl in front of him.

This, in turn, made the girl's expression change. Her concerned
frown was replaced by a smile that was a strange mixture of maternity
and mirth, which was so cute that the boys had to hold themselves
down to stop from hugging the stuffing out of her. She chuckled
softly, which played upon her face and, if it was at all possible,
made her look even more beautiful.

This in turn, had gotten the attention of Ryoko and Aeka, who,
like every other being with a pair of X chromosomes in the room – and
that included the guinea pig in back – was glaring at the new girl
with jealousy. Ryoko and Aeka's glares in particular were ludicrously
intense.

Washu, meanwhile, had anticipated this, and glanced down the
corridor. Moments later, the school nurse had come in, and began to
help Tenchi to his feet and to her office.

The swarm of teenagers returned them to their regimental order
and took their seats, but none of them took their eyes off the new
girl.

Seconds later, Washu entered the classroom, and took up a
position to the left of the new girl, who stood demurely next to the
diminutive teacher.

"Now listen up!" Washu began. "We have a new student joining us
this semester." She gestured to the girl. "Would you care to
introduce yourself?"

"Of course, professor," the girl said in a serene, smooth
voice, bowing to Washu. She turned back to the class and bowed again.
"My name is Achika Kekoi. I just transferred here from Kurashiki. I'm
very pleased to meet you."

The boys in the class only now began to notice. She was not
wearing this school's uniform; instead, she wore the black and white
sailor fuku of her old school, the common pattern of Japanese State
schools. They were locked into a gestalt mindset, thinking a single
thought. 'Damn, she makes that look good.'

A few, however, were concentrating on the body UNDER the fuku.

After Achika finished her introduction, most of the class began
to feel at ease. One by one, the girls turned the glare off,
seemingly placated by her peaceful expression. The boys were praying
to whatever deity they worshipped that they would forgive them if
they began to worship this goddess. That, and making their final
prayer that Achika would be giving out contact details before the end
of the day.

The only people that did nothing were Aeka and Ryoko, who
continued to pile upon the new kid the sum of all their jealousy.
Achika seemed oblivious to this; either that or she was a good
actress.

"Please take a seat, Achika," Washu said, gesturing to an empty
desk near the back of the classroom. About two seats behind where
Tenchi would have sat, on the same row.

Achika bowed again to Washu, before walking down into the desks
to her seat, passing between Aeka and Ryoko.

Ryoko was sorely tempted to trip the girl up. That should screw
up her divine elan. But she remembered that Washu was watching, and
if she tried it, she'd be outside with a flowerpot on her head, two
pales of water in either hand, and a rather demeaning placard round
her neck before Achika had hit the floor. No, she would get hers.
Just not now.

"You impressed, Ryo-ohki?" Tsunami addressed her cabbit
compatriot.

Ryo-ohki was too stunned to respond. Stunned by the girl's
beauty. Stunned by her heavenly demeanour. Stunned that, once again,
Tsunami had taken such a lovely young girl and thrown her into the
Magical Girl machinery, where she would be chewed up and spat out the
other end… Just like Sasami.

But he couldn't fault Tsunami's choice. Tsunami needed a kind
and compassionate girl with whom she could share her utopian goal.
And by god, that girl looked like she had those qualities in spades.
And she more than likely had them – Tsunami wouldn't have picked her
otherwise.

"When do we start?" Ryo-ohki asked.

"Right now."

Opening theme: Dream Away – Performed by Megumi Hayashibara and
Chisa Yokoyama; or Sharon Scott if you prefer

It was lunchtime. Students of all grades were flocking from
their classrooms to get outside and eat their lunch.

Trapped within the sea of chocolate brown uniform-wearing
humanity, and being swept away with the current, was a girl with
shoulder-length auburn hair, wearing a black and white fuku.

"Um, uh, 'scuse me, but, er—" she pleaded. But this was as
effective as pleading with the tide. She had become firmly trapped in
the crowd, pumped around the building like a red blood cell caught in
plasma.

Blood is always ejected via an open wound, and in this case,
the open wound was the door to the outside. The girl was thrown out
of the building by the surge of students, coming to a rather dazed
rest in a clearing.

She could not get her bearings in this alien place. Nothing
seemed familiar to her.

"Tokimi! Over here!"

Except that voice calling her. She turned to see her friend
Achika sat under a tree with her lunch.

Achika's smile grew as Tokimi approached. She got to her feet
to greet her.

"You didn't wait for me," Achika pouted.

"Sorry, I ended up fighting the sea of humanity and losing,"
Tokimi replied.

Achika let out a soft chuckle. "Did you find your way around
okay?"

"Kind of. You were lucky. Your teacher ran into you. I had to
try and find my classroom. I ended up having to ask the janitor, the
little hentai…"

Achika's eyebrows rose partially in intrigue, and partially in
concern for her friend.

"Ahem, anyhow, how're your folks moving in?" Tokimi changed the
subject.

"Lousily," Achika sighed. "I was up most of last night setting
up my room. Finding places to put everything was a big job."

The two friends sat under the tree and opened their lunches.

"Speaking of jobs, how's your job-hunting going?" Tokimi asked.

"Just as badly. I'm going to check out the mall tonight, see if
any places there are hiring."

"Kill two birds with one stone, you mean."

Achika looked at Tokimi with shock. As she felt the blood rush
to her cheeks, she attempted to defend herself. "Wha… What do you
mean?"

"You want to check out the shops, too, don't you?" Tokimi
scrutinised her friend, who was slowly turning into a stop sign. "Do
a reconnaissance mission, hmm?"

Achika looked ticked. "I'll have you know that I am only going
to the mall with the express intent of locating and acquiring a job."

Tokimi cranked up her expression of disbelief by about a
trillionfold.

Achika broke eye contact and cast her face and eyes downward.
"That, and do a reconnaissance mission," she said, quietly.

Tokimi patted Achika on the back. "That's my girl," she said,
before breaking out into gales of laughter.

Achika looked at Tokimi with a hurt expression on her face,
before the irony dawned on her, and she too was laughing. Her laugh
was a musical one that pealed out across the yard like a symphony.

Somewhere, in a secluded corner of that yard, a small brown
cabbit watched the two girls exchange their merry banter. He smiled
in mirth. It reminded him of Sasami and her friend Misao.

His face dropped as a marauding cyan spiky-haired girl moved in
on them.

"Hey, new kid!"

Achika looked up to see the silhouette of a spiky-haired girl
towering above her. Her face was obscured by the glare of the midday
sun.

"Well, that identification clears a lot up," Tokimi mused
sarcastically.

"It's okay, she means me," Achika interjected. "She's in my
class." She moved to get up, but was pushed down again by the spiky-
haired girl.

"You sit down," she growled with menace. "I wanna get one thing
straight with you, new kid – you don't lay a finger on my Tenchi."

Achika took on a look that indicated that what the spiky-haired
girl had just said had flown over her head and gone to warp. "Um, uh,
excuse me, but who are you, and who on Earth is 'your Tenchi'?"

The spiky-haired girl thrust her face into Achika's. "DON'T
PLAY INNOCENT WITH ME, NEW KID!"

If the spiky-haired girl's intention was to scare Achika, it
either wasn't working or Achika had a poker face.

Achika rose at a speed that surprised her would-be adversary,
and would make most people dizzy. "Believe me, I have no idea what
you're talking about," she clarified, remaining completely calm and
diplomatic.

"Tenchi is the boy in our class you were helping this morning.
I am Ryoko."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Ryoko, but helping someone
is hardly a crime."

"IT IS WHEN HE'S MY BOYFRIEND!"

Tokimi had also risen. "You're paranoid," she said to Ryoko, in
a stark contrast to Achika's manner, but just as deadpan. Everyone
facefaulted.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Ryoko barked at her after recovering.

"'Scuse me…" Tokimi muttered to herself.

"RYOKO!" a shrill voice rang out across the yard. All turned
to its source to see a purple-haired girl storm across the ground
with a face like thunder. She was flanked by three other girls.

This girl loomed up on Ryoko like an ominous cloud of death.
Ryoko didn't even flinch.

"WHERE DO YOU GET OFF CLAIMING THAT TENCHI IS YOUR BOYFRIEND?"
the girl shouted. The combination of her proximity, her shouting, and
her shrill voice was quite an assault on the eardrums.

"Well, she took her sweet time registering that one," Tokimi
mused, but she thought about it, and realised that Ryoko's
proclamation would have taken a few seconds to cross the yard.

"I don't need to claim anything, Aeka!" Ryoko retorted. "Tenchi
IS my boyfriend!"

"Oh, and since when?"

"Last night," Ryoko's eyes began to glaze over, "when we sat
under the moon, and he proclaimed his love to me…"

One of the girls stood behind the one named Aeka piped up.
"That, uh, never happened, did it?"

Still in that warm and fuzzy feeling that her fantasy provided,
Ryoko replied with a dreamy "No… I saw it on TV last night… HEY!" By
now, she'd snapped to her senses.

Somewhere in that yard, a cabbit slapped himself on the
forehead with his paw.

"What a wonderful welcoming committee," Tokimi said, still
sarcastically.

"Yupper," Achika replied. "Let's get out of here. I don't
particularly want a floor show while I'm eating."

The two girls began to walk away, but found their path blocked
by the three girls that flanked Aeka.

"And where do you think you're going?" one of them said. This
girl was slightly shorter than Achika, but wore her hair in almost
exactly the same manner, except for a slight curling in her ponytail.

"This is beginning to get annoying," Tokimi declared.

"That's your understatement quota for today," Achika replied,
before turning her attention back to her challenger. "Who are you,
the hall monitor?"

"Close," the other girl said. "I bring a welcome message from
the President of the Student Council."

With that, she attempted to land a left hook on Achika, who
deftly stepped out of the way. The girl was carried forward by her
fist's momentum, straight into a position where Achika could sweep
her down.

Her entourage moved to intercept, but stopped when they found
Achika had planted her foot in a region of her assailant's back that
would be very sensitive to any form of external mechanical tension.
In short, she was totally at Achika's mercy.

"That's a very good idea," Achika said, calmly. "I have no
intention of hurting anyone unless you force me to, so just back off
and leave us alone, okay?"

"Better listen to her," Tokimi added. "She knows Tae Kwon Do."

One of the remaining girls, one with short spiky hair, laughed.
"Hahaha! A pathetic Korean martial art! Koreans, Koreans, they wear
funny shoes…" she sang mockingly.

This recital was mercifully terminated by her last compatriot
elbowing her in the stomach. "HEY!" she exclaimed indignantly. "My
mother's half-Korean!"

"Sorry," the other girl wheezed. "I meant no disrespect."

"Jeez, we got live ones here, ne, Tokimi?" Achika addressed her
friend.

No response came.

"Tokimi?"

Still no response.

Concerned, Achika turned to see her friend staring blankly into
space, stood deathly still. "Tokimi, are you okay?"

Tokimi could not even turn her head to acknowledge her.

The girl on the floor felt the weight on her back reduce, and
took the opportunity. She grabbed Achika's leg and wrenched her to
the ground. She then got up and kicked some dirt in her face.

"Welcome to the school, new kid," she sneered, before she and
her entourage walked away.

Shortly thereafter, Tokimi snapped to her senses. "What…? Where
are…?"

She heard a groan of pain from below her. She turned to find a
crumpled heap that used to be Achika.

It was now Tokimi's turn to be concerned, as she knelt beside
her friend. "You okay?"

"I'm going to kill that girl, slowly, and extremely painfully,"
Achika seethed in reply. "As God is my witness, I am going to kill
her."

Somewhere in that yard, a cabbit repeatedly hit his head
against the nearest solid vertical surface, before eventually
vanishing.

A few hours later, and the day had ended uneventfully. A couple
of thousand students, from elementary grades through to seniors,
filtered out of the campus. Among them were Tokimi and Achika.

"What happened to you today?" Achika asked her friend, who
still seemed a little distracted.

After about three seconds of no response, Tokimi shook herself
out of her thoughts. "What? Oh, uh… I don't know, Achika. I can't
explain it. The last thing I remember before I found you on the floor
was that girl elbowing that other girl in the stomach."

"You still don't look good, Tokimi."

"Yeah, I've been a bit tired recently. I should get an early
night tonight."

"Mmm," Achika concurred.

She glanced behind her, and hurriedly reeled Tokimi in. Seconds
later, Tenchi raced past them, in the same lane that Tokimi was
occupying. "Waah! Get away from me!" he cried.

"Oh, Tenchi!" came Ryoko's voice, as she came in pursuit.

"TENCHI!" Aeka's voice rang out as she gave chase to Ryoko.

Achika and Tokimi watched this, slightly bemused. "Well, I'm
glad to see the spirit of polygamy lives on in our nation's schools,"
Achika chuckled.

Tokimi could only watch.

"What? No glib remark, no quip, no sarcastic understatement?
Jeez, Tokimi, I'm getting worried about you. Seriously. You gotta go
see a doctor."

"Wha…? Oh, sorry, Achika. You're right. I'll go see one
tonight."

They approached a post on the pavement that appeared to be a
bus stop.

"Perfect timing," Achika smiled as a single-deck bus drove down
the road, "here comes my bus now. You gonna be okay from here?"

"Achika, I'm not an invalid," Tokimi replied. "Go on, go to the
mall, and tell me where the CD shops are."

"Sure thing. See you tomorrow."

"Mata ne, Achika."

With that, Achika boarded the bus. She took a seat on the port
side of the vehicle, with a view of the pavement. As it drove off,
she kept her eye on Tokimi, who began to walk off, oblivious to the
fact that her friend was casting a very concerned eye upon her.
Achika watched her until the bus' frame obscured her vision, and even
then could think of nothing else.

She'd known Tokimi Touma since kindergarten. At first, they
didn't get on too well, but gradually began to gel. Eventually, they
became each other's voice of reason; Tokimi, the hyperactive cynic,
would occasionally tell Achika, the placid diplomat, when she could
stand to go just a little bit further, while Achika would tell Tokimi
when to quit… for everyone's good. Eventually, they learned this
themselves – Achika finally learned when it became necessary to go
apeshit once in a while (which was VERY infrequently), while Tokimi
perfected the placid mannerism to further enhance her cynicism – but
they remained best friends ever since.

What worried Achika was that Tokimi's behaviour today was very
out of character. Tokimi was basically, as Achika once called her, a
walking MST – seldom anything went by without her picking up on it.
She was usually an incessant talker. Today, she wasn't herself on
both counts. Attributing it to first-day nerves wasn't even an option
– Tokimi was always very good at adjusting.

It was a puzzle that dominated Achika's mind throughout her
journey into town.

Tokimi's new home was radically different from her old one in
Kurashiki. For one, it was a stone's throw from the school, instead
of a lengthy bus ride. It was also somewhat larger, affording her
with slightly more real estate – which is what most teenage girls
wanted. The only problem was that her family had been broken up.

It was cruel irony that as her best friend's father announced
that he had a new job in this town, and was moving out of Kurashiki,
that Tokimi's father, another salaryman at the same company, decided
to walk out on his family, leaving Tokimi and her mother by
themselves. Tokimi had expressly requested that Achika never talk
about this, and it was a request that had been honoured all this
time. In actuality, it worked out for the best.

Tokimi's mother, fearful of being labelled 'single mother' by
the people in Kurashiki, decided to leave, and Tokimi, in one of her
masterpieces of tactical planning, suggested this town, under the
proviso that she'd still be close to Achika. It also had a few other
advantages that she didn't know about. One, this town had the highest
demographic of single parent families in the entire Japanese
archipelago. Two, her mother managed to find a very lucrative job,
with a generous salary.

Being with her best friend helped to dull the pain that the
split had entailed, but it didn't exactly take it away. So long as no
one discussed it in front of her, she was fine; but she'd be the
first to admit that she needed to talk about it. She just didn't want
to.

As Tokimi approached the building that she would eventually
call home, she scouted around for the red Mazda that was her mother's
car, but could not find it anywhere. A reasonable assumption would be
that she was still at work.

That assumption was confirmed when Tokimi let herself in and
called out, "I'm home!", and was met with no response. Not that
Tokimi minded; she could look after herself. She'd start dinner while
Pokemon played in the background.

As she proceeded towards the kitchen, away from the TV, she
brushed past and activated the answering machine. The digital device
loaded the first of five messages.

"Hello, Mrs Touma, are you interested in savings on long-
distance phone calls?" a smooth, charismatic male voice said. "Mrs
Touma, I know you're there."

Tokimi collapsed to the floor and rolled around laughing her
ass off. This guy must have been really stupid.

"Please pick up!" the man sobbed. "I need this sale, man, or
they're gonna fire me! Please!"

Faintly, a voice said, "Mr Miura, please report to my office."
Upon which, the man cried like a little girl, before he hung up.

"Oh, poor guy," Tokimi said. "Well, guess he'll think twice
before embarking on a career in telemarketing again."

That was the last message she heard.

The television turned off of its own accord. Puzzled, Tokimi
turned to see why. She saw a tall woman with purple-pink hair,
dressed in some strange robe, towering above her.

"Who are you?" Tokimi demanded. Or at least, she thought she
did, but she didn't hear herself. This woman of wild, golden eyes had
locked her in a hypnotic stare.

'Yes,' she heard her think, 'yes, Tokimi Touma, you will be the
one…'

By this time, Tokimi was too far gone to even question what was
happening to her.

The sky above Juraihelm glowed purple, gold, green, blue, and a
number of other colours. It was quite a beautiful sight, but one that
came at the cost of collateral damage. For every flash of colour that
rang out into Juraihelm's night sky, there was almost certainly a
destroyed building, most likely people injured, and quite possibly a
number of fatalities.

Rumiya considered himself lucky that he had escaped that while
he could. But that had come at a price. To do so, he had disowned his
elder sister, Ramia. That, he didn't mind. What he did mind was that
he had effectively abandoned his beloved Misao, whom Ramia had forced
him to periodically enslave to create her Magical Girl, Pixy Misa.

He hated that he had to take advantage of such a sweet,
defenceless girl. It disgusted him. But he was more afraid of what
Ramia would do to him if he didn't. Time after time, he forced Misa
onto Misao, burying what was Misao under Misa. For some unknown
reason, probably Ramia's doing, Misao's personality never came
through to Misa, nor did Misao ever remember what she did as Misa –
her identity hid her person, unlike her would-be nemesis, Pretty
Sammy, whose persona was completely under her owner's control. In
some cases, this was a good thing, but there were times when this was
not so.

The last straw came with Misa's last attack, but it had been
coming to a head since Ramia's abortive alliance with that American
guy, Biff Standard. Ramia had entered into a plan to crash the moon
into Earth to strip Sammy of her powers, completely oblivious and
uncaring as to what it would do to the other six billion people on
that world… and Misao. Ramia displayed that same trademark
selfishness again, during that last fight. She pushed Misa, and
pushed and pushed and pushed some more… and then a little more.
Eventually, Misa could not take any more, and the damage sunk down to
Misao too. When Misa exploded, she took Sammy with her.

And when Misa exploded, so did Rumiya. Before his sister knew
what was happening, Rumiya had vowed never to turn Misao into Pixy
Misa ever again. He could remember the last words he said to his
sister. "I have no sister. My sister is dead. She died when Misa
exploded." After that, he left for his new home.

This one.

He was a private citizen again. He had no need to follow
Ramia's whims any more. But he was now at risk from attack by either
of the factions – Tsunami's for being a collaborator with the enemy,
or Ramia's for being a traitor. And worse still, he was separated
from any prolonged contact with Misao.

He sensed something move behind him. A small object, looked
like a cat… a rabbit… something in between.

"Come to kill me, Ryo-ohki?" he said. "Wouldn't be the first
time one of your guys tried to do that."

"No, I haven't, Rumiya," Ryo-ohki replied, in all of his
copious sincerity. "I wouldn't do that to an old friend, no matter
what he's done."

Ryo-ohki's words cut through Rumiya. Maybe it would be better
if he did kill him. At least he'd care enough to spare him the
suffering. He turned to face the cabbit. "Then what are you here
for?"

"I came to talk to you."

Rumiya broke out in a gale of laughter. "You? Talk to me? You
haven't talked to me in years!"

"Not since you left to work for Ramia."

Rumiya's look became one of utter rage. "NEVER, EVER MENTION
HER NAME IN FRONT OF ME! EVER! SO HELP ME, RYO-OHKI, YOU SPEAK
THAT NAME AGAIN, AND I WILL BREAK YOUR NECK!"

"Sorry. How is R- your sister?"

"I have no sister," Rumiya growled. "My sister is dead. She
died when Misa exploded." That had become his standard response. "Why
the sudden concern for me?"

"Can't we still be friends? You don't work for R- her any
more." That was twice that he had to correct himself. He mentally
chided himself for slipping.

"Ryo-ohki, if you want to approach me as a friend, please don't
insult me by hiding behind your animal form."

"I'm sorry." Ryo-ohki's face contorted in pain as his body
began to grow and expand. No longer was a cabbit stood before Rumiya.
Ryo-ohki was now a boy. A boy with marked feline features – fangs,
enlarged furry ears. His clothes had trimmings that appeared to
mirror the fur of his animal form, just as Rumiya's clothes had
feathery trimmings.

"You okay, Ryo-ohki?" Rumiya asked.

"Yeah," Ryo-ohki sighed. "I'm a little out of practice."

"Hmm," Rumiya voiced his concurrence. "As for me, I change back
at least once a day."

"Good for you."

"Well, I'm sure you're not here to reminisce about the good old
days, are you? What do you want?"

"Information."

"Hmm… thought so. All right, Leo McKern, what information?"

"Tsunami would like to know if R- she had any contingency
plans for the incapacitation of her Magical Girl?"

"Tsunami! Tsunami couldn't figure out her own shoe size. Why
is she so interested in contingency plans?"

"She's not quite the same Tsunami. She's not quite as dumb as
she acts."

"She acts! Give her an Emmy from me. As for your information…"
Rumiya gave a good, long pause, before continuing. "…Go fuck
yourself."

Ryo-ohki's eyes nearly shot out of his skull.

"If you think for one moment that I am going to sell anyone
out, you are hopelessly mistaken. I may hate her with every fibre of
my being, but I won't sell her out, either. Now get out, Ryo-ohki.
And don't come back."

"But—"

Rumiya flashed Ryo-ohki a look that indicated that he would, if
necessary, back that up with a threat that he was more than capable
of executing.

"Take care," Ryo-ohki said, as he disappeared from the room.

"And may the sight of the Hawk Spirit guide you, old friend,"
Rumiya whispered.

The town mall was fairly busy, as people who'd just come from
work and school did a little shopping. It wasn't so busy as to become
the Square Where All Humanity Meets, but busy enough for the myriad
shopkeepers to turn a healthy profit.

Achika wandered the aisles of the mall's lower deck, slowly,
methodically scanning and noting the geographical location of every
store that she, as an ever-so-slightly-westernised Japanese teenage
girl, should know of… and the grocery stores. After all, the
responsibility of making and shopping for dinner often fell to her,
and her mother would probably want to know of them, too.

She was eager, however, to take on more varied
responsibilities, and earn a tidy sum of money while she was at it,
and so she began the search for a job, preferably one that didn't
interfere with her other obligations. Reasonable, part time hours
where she could do what she loved to do – help people.

She double-took a sign in the window of one shop that answered
the exact criteria she was looking for. She looked further into the
shop, to see what it was all about. Rows upon rows of CDs in jewel
cases.

A CD store. Sweet!

Achika looked up and noted the name of the store.

CD Vision? How very Japlish.

Still, a job's a job, Achika declared to herself as she charged
toward the shop.

Two young women were staffing the shop floor from behind the
counter. A tanned blonde and her teal-tressed friend served their
customers in turn. At that moment, the blonde had just handed a
customer an imported movie soundtrack, costing a good 4000 yen, with
tax.

This customer left as Achika entered. She approached the
counter.

"Hello!" the blonde said in a very cheery manner.

"Hi! Can we help you?" the teal-haired one asked, not quite as
cheerily as her friend, but just as warm.

"I, uh, hope so," Achika replied. "You looking for a part-time
sales assistant?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"Well, according to your sign, you are."

The teal-tressed woman left the counter and went up to the
front of the store. She found the card in the window, and read it.

"Well, it's about damn time she hired someone else!" she
exulted.

"What?" Achika inquired, concerned by her angry tone.

The woman blushed and faced Achika with a placating smile. "Oh,
nothing. You're hired. Welcome aboard. I'm Kiyone, and the bubblehead
at the counter is Mihoshi."

The one named Mihoshi bowed. "How d'you d-OW!" As she bowed,
she hit her head on the counter.

As a bead of sweat appeared on Achika's brow, Kiyone pulled up
beside her. "Don't worry," she whispered, "you'll get used to this.
Anyway, quick induction for you: you'll spend most of your time
working out here with us, selling stuff, putting the CDs in the jewel
cases, stock-taking, answering customers' queries and complaints,
talking down whatever crazed lunatic comes through that door with a
shot-gun…"

Achika snapped her head toward Kiyone. "You're kidding!"

"Nope, it happened once, when we sold out of Star Wars 1
soundtracks. On occasion, you may be asked to clean up at night. That
okay?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"Bathroom, should you need it, is in back. Fire exits are front
entrance, back door, and anything breakable, including the windows."

"Okay. Thanks."

The door at the front of the shop slid open. Through it, walked
a tall woman with curly strawberry-blonde hair. Two girls, who looked
about 10, accompanied her. One had long raven-black hair styled with
slight curls making it appear more voluminous, a pale complexion, and
green eyes. The other one had shocking pink-within-pink eyes, and
straight water-blue hair that would have tumbled down past her waist,
were it not tied into two ponytails.

"We're home!" the tall woman announced.

Kiyone turned to face them. "Oh, Manager!" she bowed. "Welcome
back! Are you okay now, Sasami?"

"Just fine, thanks, Kiyone!" the blue-haired girl replied.

"How about you, Misao?"

The sickly looking girl gave a slight cough before responding.
"Yes, thank you."

Achika could sense something about that girl. She didn't quite
know what.

"Oh, Manager, I'd like you to meet the new sales assistant… oh,
I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"I haven't told it you yet," Achika replied. "Achika Kekoi."

"…Achika Kekoi. Achika, this is the store's owner, manager,
patron goddess…"

The tall woman started to grin.

"…Chihiro Kawai. That's her daughter, Sasami," she gestured to
the blue-haired girl, "and her friend, Misao Amano," she finished
with the raven-headed one.

'Amano!' a thought screamed in Achika's mind. 'My god…'

Chihiro smiled warmly at her new employee. "Welcome aboard,
Achika."

Sasami bowed to her. "Hello, nice to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you," Achika bowed back. She turned to
Kiyone. "So, when do I start?"

"As of five seconds ago," Chihiro replied on Kiyone's behalf.
"Your first job is to make a delivery." She walked over to the
counter and dived behind it, coming back up with a CD-sized package.
"Could you deliver this to the abandoned mansion on Third Street,
please?"

No one noticed Sasami's eyebrows rising.

"The lady there also has a 4000 yen tab. Coupled with delivery
for this and her previous order, you should come back with 9000 yen."

"Now? It's getting dark out!" Achika protested.

"Sorry, Achika," Kiyone mused. "Company rules. New guy always
gets the crappy job."

"Yeah, but that usually extends to making tea."

"Nope, that's day two. Day one entails you making late
deliveries to the quiet part of town. Besides, that's an irrational
fear. Women aren't attacked in Japan, at night."

'Evidently the words Tsutomu Miyazaki aren't in her
vocabulary…' Achika thought. "Okay, I'm gone. Be back soon."

As Achika turned to leave, Sasami stopped her. "Good luck," she
said, softly.

"Thanks." With that, Achika left the shop.

Sasami watched her as she left, locked in thought. 'The mansion
on Third Street? That's where I met Tsunami! I wonder…' "Where's Ryo-
ohki?"

Kiyone's face dropped. "I'm so sorry, Sasami, but Ryo-ohki's
been missing for the last few weeks, since you've been in hospital."

Tears welled in the girl's eyes. "No…" 'He couldn't have died
in that blast! He couldn't have!' Sobbing, Sasami ran into the back
room.

"She didn't take that too well," Mihoshi stated. All assembled
glared at her.

"Stupid damn store, delivering to a stupid mansion on stupid
Third Street in the stupid quiet part of town at a stupid time in the
stupid evening…"

Achika stormed down the street, muttering her indignation. She
held the package close to her chest, guarding it like a tigress,
glaring suspiciously at anyone who might threaten to take it from
her.

Working in the warm shop, putting CDs in jewel cases, selling
stuff. That was in her job description. NOT waltzing halfway across
town in the early evening, then back again. They better not ask her
to go to Hokkaido…

Who the hell did they think she was? FedEx!

Oh, for god's sake, Achika, lighten up! she chided herself.

She approached a pair of tall gates, wide enough to fit a
family car through, that appeared to be the only means of ingress
through the 10-foot tall perimeter fence of a colossal estate. The
unobtrusive black-painted metal railings, set into brickwork,
afforded a glimpse into the unkempt and overgrown gardens, weeds, and
wildflowers that, with some tender loving care, could be a beautiful
sight. They probably were, once. Now, they were just ugly.

Achika stood before the gates, flanked by two huge green
bushes, contemplating whether or not to go in.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a flock of birds picked that
EXACT moment to fly out of the bushes, their fluttering and
screeching startling her. She clutched her chest, and attempted to
steady herself. "Take it easy," she said to herself. "You don't
control the birds. You will some day, but not today."

She stepped towards the gates, and, after taking a moment to
locate the latch, swung them open. She gingerly, tentatively walked
inside, and was about to turn around and close the gates… only to
discover they'd closed themselves. And there was no evidence of any
motors, or breeze that would have done so.

"This is starting to creep me out."

As Achika approached the huge house, she was dismayed. This
building was the textbook definition of dilapidated. Floorboards and
window frames had gone rotten, and the windows were beginning to
distort as the glass started to liquefy.

This had to be a hoax order. Hell, the folks from the shop had
probably winged over here and were planning some cruel initiation
behind that door.

Before entering, Achika took a moment to look into the house
through the windows. Seeing through the distortion was like trying to
see a stereoscopic picture, something she could never do, but she
could see an equal amount of disarray inside. It looked like the
place hadn't been cleaned in at least 20 years.

Just to make one last check, she knocked on the door and called
out. "Hello? I'm from CD Vision! I've got a delivery for you!"

No response.

Achika sighed. "Well, Achika, girl, you REALLY know how to pick
'em."

Then something, she had no idea what, pulled her forcibly
toward the doors. She wasn't pushed, she was definitely pulled
towards those doors; but there was nothing ahead. And the centre of
gravity was too high to be a snare wire. The acceleration and
velocity made her nauseous; simultaneously, adrenaline was augmenting
that, alerting her to the fact that she was hurtling towards a pair
of very sturdy hardwood doors at a high rate of speed. Either her
body, or those doors, had to give, and it was unlikely that those
doors would.

Fortunately, the doors swung open before she became chunky
salsa over them. Once past the threshold, the force stopped pulling
her, but inertia continued to propel her top half forward even after
her sneakers had engaged with the hardwood floor. She fell flat on
her face.

As she lay dazed, the doors closed behind her.

After a few seconds, she regained her equilibrium and picked
herself up off the floor, putting her nose back into joint. Then she
took a look around.

What she saw now, wasn't what she saw through the window.
Everything was… clean! No dust, no cobwebs… There was wonderful mood
lighting, a landscape picture at the top of the stairs, even flowers
in the flowerpots.

Achika was really starting to freak out about now.

Then a voice – a sweet, heavenly voice - called from the top of
the stairs. "Are you Achika Kekoi?"

Achika looked up to see a beautiful, blue-haired woman, with
two green dots on her forehead, dressed in an elaborate robe.

"Yes, I am. But… how do you know my name?" She sounded very
confused, and very, very worried.

When this woman floated – 'FLOATED!' Achika's overloaded mind
added to the queue of concepts that just didn't tally here – down the
stairs, these feelings were cranked up to overdrive.

"My name is Tsunami," she said. "I'm pleased to meet you."

As Tsunami made a graceful touchdown five metres in front of
her, Achika stammered out, "I-it's nice to meet you too, Miss
Tsunami…"

Tsunami stepped towards the trembling girl in the fuku. "I am a
candidate for the Queen of the Magic Kingdom known as Juraihelm."

About ten seconds after this proclamation, during which there
was a deafening silence broken only by the reverberation of Tsunami's
voice, Achika facefaulted with enough force to take out most of the
Kanto region.

"Um, are you okay, Achika?" Tsunami asked.

Achika got on her feet. "Let me get this straight: you think
you're a candidate for the Queen of the Magic Kingdom?"

"No, I don't. I know."

"Yeah, and I'm the Happy Magical Fairy from Happy Land!" Achika
retorted in a diminutive voice. "With a gumdrop house on Lollipop
Lane!"

"Please take me seriously," Tsunami pleaded indignantly.

"You have no idea as to the invalidity of that request. I've
been besieged by weird stuff today, but this has to rate a good 10 on
the Dali scale. I've seen every episode of Magic's Greatest Secrets,
enough to know that magic doesn't exist! You're probably Valentino in
a body suit!"

At that moment, the package she was clutching decided to free
itself from her embrace, and float into the air. The package
disintegrated – first the paper, then the polythene, and finally the
jewel case, all broke up in mid-air – leaving only the CD, which
started spinning at about the standard rate for a CD player. And then
music – a heavy rock track – started to play.

Tsunami looked at peace as she took in the music. "Ah! I just
love Guns 'n' Roses, don't you?"

Achika sweatbeaded. "Uh, actually, Tsunami, this is the Sheryl
Crow version."

"How did you know?"

"The key. Axel F and Sheryl Crow cannot share a key."

"You're smart. I like that."

"That, and the liner notes fell at my feet."

Tsunami looked down to see the remains of the CD's jewel case,
and the pamphlet-like inlay card, beside Achika's polished black
school shoes. "Oh! Uh, ahem… You're, uh, probably wanting an
explanation, aren't you?"

Achika smiled and nodded politely. "Couldn't hurt."

Tsunami sighed. 'It was easier with Sasami…' she thought. "I've
come to scout you as a Magical Girl, Achika. I believe you have the
qualities I need."

"Magical Girl! As in Sailor Moon! NO WAY!"

"Way. You will become Magical Girl Adorable Achika. You will
use your powers to fight evil, help the innocent, and make this
world… a happier place…" To emphasise her point, Tsunami floated
around the room, a happy smile on her face.

"Oh, my god. I see it all now. You're the illegitimate child of
David Copperfield and Mr Rogers!"

While hovering, Tsunami facefaulted and plummeted to Earth like
a fallen angel. Thereafter, she scrambled to her feet, and looked
like she was concentrating, willing something to happen.

At about that time, the music stopped, and if one strained, one
could hear a sound like a CD player assembly powering down, including
the laser moving to its home position. The disc stopped moving, then
changed shape, in a flash of light changing from a plastic disc lined
with an aluminium wafer, into an animal about the size of an adult
cat. This animal floated towards Achika like it was being carried by
the scruff of its neck.

"You're a… a… a… What the hell are you?" Achika inquired.

"I'm a cabbit," the animal replied. "Part cat, part rabbit. My
name is Ryo-ohki. I'll be your partner."

Achika looked mortified. "A… A… A talking… talking… CABBIT-
THING!" She held the sides of her head, and ran around like a
headless chicken. "I'M GOING INSANE, SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"No, you're not," Tsunami interjected. "If you were, then I
most certainly am."

Achika came to a dead stop. "I'm still not sure whether you are
insane. But I'll humour you guys just to see where this goes."

Ryo-ohki pirouetted around in mid-air, and materialised a
baton-like object homologous to a baseball bat, but far more
elaborate. Take the handle of a baseball bat, stick a modest-sized
loop to the hilt, then add an object akin to a personal organiser
wrapped up in white paper tied up in a ribbon, then a flower-like
arrangement to the top, then paint organiser and handle in pink, and
one would have this object.

And this object landed in Achika's hands.

"Okay, Achika, just lift that baton and say 'Adorable Mutation,
Magical Recall'," Ryo-ohki said. "Go on, try it."

"Why?" Achika inquired. "What happens when I do?"

"Try it, and you'll find out."

Achika paused for a second. "Never let it be said that I'm not
trusting." She flourished the baton above her head, upon which the
flower-like attachment opened up to reveal a heart-shaped object held
to the petals by a pair of ornamental turtles. "Adorable Mutation…"
she began, then added a dramatic pause, "…MAGICAL RECALL!"

She then pirouetted and floated into the air. Hovering about
two and a half metres above the ground, a series of changes took
place. Her fuku, and her underwear, fell off and vaporised, leaving
her spinning buck-naked for a spell. It was about this time that a
wave of euphoria overtook Achika, and she lost any meaningful
consciousness.

Seconds later, she landed. It took a few more seconds for her
to come out of the high of her own endorphins, but when she did,
everyone in that room knew it.

She took one look at her costume, and screamed in horror.
"WAAAH! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME! YOU'VE TURNED ME INTO A SAILOR
SCOUT!" To that, she collapsed to her knees and burst into tears.

Achika was now wearing perhaps the least flattering costume
known to humankind. It was a modified version of the sailor fuku. The
top was pure white, with a blue facing that extended from within the
collar, starting and finishing at her breasts, and wrapped around the
neck, leaving a flap on her back, and made the top into a V-neck.
Unlike the standard version, this was VERY figure hugging, holding
close to her waist and hips. And unlike the standard version, it had
no piece of fabric along the base of the V-neck, thus nothing to hide
the cleavage generated by a marriage of her ample bosom and the
costume's form, that poked over the heart-shaped sapphire on her
breast like a submarine periscope. This top finished in a point that
looked like a crotch, in that it wrapped around her bikini-line and
intruded on the insanely short radial-creased skirt, both of which,
together with the knee-high boots of the same dark blue colour as the
skirt and the collar facing, served to enhance the apparent length of
her legs. A pair of elbow-length white gloves with dark blue piping
at the elbow, and a light-blue bow at the front, surrounding the
sapphire, together with a larger one at the back, completed the
outfit.

Any red-blooded man would have died of a nosebleed by now, and
Ryo-ohki was fighting a flow of blood that was seeping out of his
nose. He leapt onto Achika's shoulder and attempted to console her.
"Quit whining, Achika," he said, "you look great."

"I look great!" Achika exclaimed in disbelief. "I LOOK LIKE
SAILOR MERCURY!"

Tsunami explained. "Well, uh, they were running a special at
Magical Girl Surplus. Two for one on Sailor Mercury outfits."

"Really?" Achika said, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"Who gets the other one?"

"You do, just in case you ever want to go to a costume party."

Achika facefaulted. "Thanks a lot, Tsunami. Thanks a lot."

Tsunami went on. "When, and only when you are transformed, you
can use magic. Ryo-ohki will fill you in on the rest. Do you have any
questions?"

"Just one," Achika replied, as she tried to recover her
dignity. "Why do my clothes fall off when I transform?"

"Fan service. Any more?"

"Yeah…" Achika looked at herself again, which served only to
remind her of what she was wearing. "WHY THIS COSTUME?"

"Aw, come on, it's not that bad," Ryo-ohki answered. "You could
have had a Devil Hunter Yohko outfit."

"I happen to like that show! I'd have been happy to wear one of
those outfits! And just look at it! It doesn't even conceal my
identity! If anything it's showing just a little too much of me…"
Achika blushed furiously.

"Don't worry about that," Tsunami assured. "As long as you are
transformed, you'll be recognised only as your Magical Girl self…"

"…And dismissed just as quickly," Achika jested in an ersatz
Rip Torn. "You don't exist, you were never even born."

"That's right! How did you know I was going to say that?"

Achika facefaulted.

"You'll only have to endure this for a while, Achika," Tsunami
continued. "It's only temporary, because the usual Magical Girl's…
sick."

She thought it best not to mention what happened to Pretty
Sammy… Achika already had no faith in the system; she didn't want her
running for the hills.

"Terrific," Achika sighed. "This has to be the ultimate temp
job. At least, I hope it's a temp job – I don't think I could do this
for the rest of my life."

"Well, then, I wish you Godspeed. Good luck, Achika." Tsunami
waved, as she floated back up the stairs.

"AHEM!" Achika coughed to get her attention.

Tsunami came to a dead stop. "What's wrong?"

"You, uh, owe me 9000 yen."

Tsunami's eyes bulged. "The tag was only 1000."

"Yeah, but there's 1000 for delivery, and you have a 4000 tab,
plus delivery for that one, plus a lateness penalty. Please pay up,
it's my first day."

Tsunami began to madly fondle every pocket and orifice of her
robe, trying to find some money. "Um, uh, er, oh…" If one didn't know
any better, it would look like she was… "Uh, will you take a cheque?"

A map of the town redrew itself on the TFT LCD screen of
Washu's heart-shaped laptop about sixty times a second. It did so in
a window in the corner of the desktop, while Washu dashed off a
sizeable batch of senior class school reports in the active word
processor.

The computer played a sound sample to get her attention, and,
in time to the sample, flashed the map window's title bar.

"Hmm… What's this?" she asked herself as she maximised the
window to stretch it over the entire breadth of the 12-inch screen.
The map resized accordingly, giving Washu a better view of what she
was meant to see.

Two points flashed on the map, indicating some form of activity
at different points in the town.

"Hmmm… Magical Girl activity? Now that's something I haven't
seen in a while. It doesn't appear to be in the normal place… Ooh,
the energy spectrum's different, too… Could Sammy and Misa be
fighting again?"

Washu felt something crawl up her arm. She made no reaction to
bat said thing off her arm, because she knew what it was. "Well, hi
there," she said, addressing the creature that looked like a cutefied
red crab – if one could make a crab cute.

"Good evening," the crab replied in a… well, crabby voice.
"What's up?"

"Check this out," she asked of the sentient crustacean. The
crab made its way up to Washu's shoulder, then came about to face the
screen. "We got magical aura in town again," Washu went on.

"Sammy and Misa?" the crab guessed.

"That's what I thought, until I looked at the energy spectra.
It seems to be broader, and more intensive."

"Hmm, you're right. To put out that kind of spectrum, the
object would have to be somewhat bigger than Sammy and Misa."

"Whatcha think? Those walking Jell-O-moulds again?"

"Nope, that's too big, I'd say. May I borrow the computer?"

"Sure thing."

The crab trotted sideways, back down Washu's arm, and, using
its pincers, started tapping away on the laptop.

In this crab, Washu found not only a great pet, but also an
ideal roommate. It had quite literally fallen from the sky after
hitchhiking on a comet that ploughed into a peninsula somewhere in
Izu. At that time, it was a mere, to quote Washu, "gloopy glob of
weird stuff". A gloopy glob of weird stuff with telepathic powers and
a formidable intellect, but still a gloopy glob of weird stuff. It
had been captured by the national scientific institute, which
promptly experimented upon the hapless blob and found no response.
They called upon Washu, the world-renowned prodigious scientist, to
give it a try. After 'coaxing' the blob out of its container, she
found out about the creature, which began to use its telepathic
powers on her. Its species had the power to link with any being it
encountered and take on some of its characteristics. Precisely how
this one became a crab after linking with Washu was never understood,
but it happened.

Fortunately, the creature it encountered wasn't hostile or
violent. If it was, chances were that it would become so, too. Such a
fate befell one that became the humanoid that blew up a sizeable
portion of Izu. That particular creature was kept in a jam jar in the
freezer, right next to the Haagen-Dazs.

Ever since then, the crab and Washu were seldom seen apart, and
Washu adopted it as a kind of pet-cum-roommate, with whom she could
argue the law of relativity, bandy about the idea of time travel, and
laugh at Star Trek.

Whatever the crab was doing, it finished. "Okay, I just wrote a
program that should calculate the size of body that can output that
kind of energy. According to this, you're looking at… your average
gas supergiant."

Washu facefaulted.

"OR…" the crab went on, "taking into account the information we
have on Magical Girls, most likely a girl of about 160-170
centimetres height, body mass of around 50-70kg."

"Doesn't match Sammy or Misa," Washu said, picking herself up
off the floor. "Suppose we got new players in town?"

"Looks that way."

"That'll be three thousand yen, including tax."

The customer handed over three 1000-yen notes to Mihoshi, and
took his CD away. As he left the store, a group of four rather burly
men dressed in leather entered. One of them approached the counter.

"Hi! Can we help you?" Kiyone asked the man.

The man spoke. "We are looking for the Star Trek Insurrection
soundtrack."

"That'll be on Soundtracks. Aisle five."

One of the men walked over to the section of the nominated
aisle. He stood, looked at it for a moment…

…Then proceeded to destroy the section with an almighty
roundhouse kick. CDs and jewel cases took to the air like Frisbees
and their less aerodynamic cousins.

Needless to say, Mihoshi and Kiyone were rather startled.

"Now," the first man spoke, "empty the register and put the
money in a bag."

"HOLD IT!" a voice rang out. Moments later, a flash of blue
shot past the assembled cast's eyes, and stood before them, in a
defensive yet demure stance, was a leggy, raven-haired girl in a
Sailor Mercury outfit.

The men recoiled in fear, as the man who kicked in the display
case made flashy callisthenics-like moves. "Damn you!" he said in an
over-dramatic, vaguely oriental voice that didn't match his lip
movements – kind of like a badly dubbed Hong Kong movie. "You must be
the infamous Magical Girl that fights crime and punishes criminals –
Adorable Achika!"

The apparent leader piped up. "My god! It's the Magical
Adorable Girl, Beautiful Achika!"

The raven-headed girl in the Sailor Scout costume winced.
"Actually, it's Adorable Achika, but I appreciate the compliment."

The leader bowed. "Don't mention it."

While he was bowing, Achika kicked him square in the groin. He
collapsed to the floor, still bowing, but now he was prostrate and
clutching his family jewels.

"WOW! I've been kicked in the nuts by Adorable Achika!" he
babbled, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Damn you!" Mr Bad Dub said, continuing to do the
callisthenics. "You will pay for that!"

He lunged toward Achika, who nonchalantly extended a fist for
him to run into. He impaled his stomach right up to her elbow.

One of his pals, armed with nunchukus, started swinging the
weapons around in a threatening manner. Achika responded by throwing
Mr Bad Dub onto him, allowing his sizeable girth to flatten the
comparatively weedy man.

The last one giggled like a hyena, before producing a
switchblade knife. Achika sighed, put her right hand on her hip, and,
with her left, gestured for him to bring it on, all the while rolling
her eyes in disdain.

He charged…

He missed, and Achika coshed him in back of the head with the
baton-like device attached to her right wrist with a short chain-like
arrangement. Down he came like a redwood.

Achika looked about her for any more threats, and found none.
She turned to Kiyone and Mihoshi, who were quaking. "Are you two
okay?" she asked.

Gradually, the two women stopped shaking. They looked at her
quizzically, then as if they couldn't quite believe what they were
seeing.

Then, they burst out into gales of laughter. "Whoa, Achika, I
had no idea you were a Sailor Mercury fan!" Kiyone said as she
clutched her sides.

"Wha…? H-how do you know who I am?"

"What do you mean, 'how do you know who I am'? What, you think
you're actually Mercury in that outfit!"

Chihiro burst in from the back room. "Oh, cool, Achika! I
didn't know you had a Mercury outfit! You can help promote the new
Sailor Moon DVD release!"

As if that wasn't subtle enough, Achika felt something tug at
her skirt. She looked at what it was, and found Sasami, trying as
hard as she could to refrain from laughing. Then she collapsed, and
rolled around laughing hysterically. "Oh, my God, Achika, you look
goofy in that! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Achika clutched the sides of her head in a vain attempt to make
the noise go away. But it just wouldn't as she watched two women and
a ten-year-old girl laughing at her, and an older woman eyeing her up
for her commercial value. She did the only thing she could do:

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

On that, Achika bolted awake, carrying the scream on from her
nightmare. After taking a few seconds to steady her breathing, she
looked around to see shafts of the morning sun peek through the gaps
in the curtains. She looked at herself, dressed in the white shirt
she wore at night; not a trace of the Sailor Senshi outfit, or the
baton.

She came to the most logical conclusion her sleep-addled brain
could concoct. "I was dreaming. It was all a dream! IT WAS ALL A
DREAM! I DON'T HAVE TO BE A MAGICAL GIRL, OR WEAR THAT GOOFY OUTFIT!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She broke out into a brief period of maniacal
laughter.

Then a voice spoke. "Good morning!"

Achika stopped. That voice was not her mother's, nor her
father's. It had a slight male register to it, albeit a pre-voice-
breaking one. And it was in her bed.

She turned, gulping and nearly choking on her own saliva, to
see a cabbit poking his head and upper torso out of the covers. He
smiled a toothy smile at her.

"Oh, no, I'm not sane yet," Achika wailed.

Downstairs, breakfast was being prepared. The smell of miso
soup was beginning to diffuse through the house and wake its
occupants.

Preparing breakfast was a woman with long water-blue hair, tied
into a ponytail similar to Achika's. She hummed a tune to herself as
she stirred the soup in the pan.

The stairs creaked under Achika's weight as she descended the
stairs into the living room, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her
eyes.

The woman in the kitchen heard her, and turned to see. "Oh,
you're up!" she said, soppily, smiling broadly.

Achika was startled from her funk. "Oh! Morning, mom! Cooking
miso again?"

The blue-haired woman's smile faded, changing to a stare that
indicated she was not quite sure what she was looking at.

Achika laughed nervously.

The blue-haired woman looked like she was going to explode. She
stared angrily at Achika, growling lightly. Her left eyebrow twitched
alarmingly.

Achika sighed, deeply, before adopting a soppy expression of
her own. "OH, MOMMY!" she exclaimed.

"MY BABY!" the blue-haired woman retorted, charging toward
her daughter with open arms. They met in the doorway between the
living room and the kitchen, hugging each other… though the woman
somewhat tighter than Achika.

"Uh… mom…" Achika gasped. "I can't… breathe…" Her lips started
to turn purple.

"Misaki, could you please drop our daughter before she
asphyxiates?" a voice asked from the top of the stairs.

Still holding Achika in her death grip, the woman turned the
man who had spoken. She stared at him for three seconds, during which
Achika momentarily stopped breathing. The woman then dropped her
unfortunate daughter, who collapsed to the ground.

"Oh, Honey!" the blue-haired one said to the genial-looking
man, who had now descended the stairs. She ran to him, giving him an
equally strong hug, which he returned.

During this time, they noticed that Achika had failed to get
up. The man approached the crumpled heap of teenager, and knelt
beside her. "You okay?" he asked.

"Oxygen…" the heap replied, shaking slightly. "Need oxygen… Or
industrial air pump…"

At this time, something else descended the stairs. Whatever it
was, it was small enough to be concealed by the banister skirting,
and it meowed cutely. It entered view when it, too, expressed concern
about Achika.

The one named Misaki spotted the creature, looked at it for a
few seconds, then stampeded toward it, scooping it off the ground.
She spun it around in her hands to face her, and for a moment, they
looked at each other quizzically.

Then Misaki hugged it, rubbing its cheek against her face. "Aw…
kawaii desu ne…!"

The creature sweatdropped as its tiny frame was compacted by
the woman's hug.

"So, Achika, where on Earth did you find the… what IS it?"

The man stared at the odd little creature, trying to figure out
what it was.

"I found him outside school, Father," Achika replied. "I guess
he decided to follow me home and… Mother, do you have to do that?"

"Do what, sweetie?" Misaki replied. She had just finished
tightly tying a bib to the creature, who was sat in a high-chair and
looking extremely unhappy. He turned to Achika and flashed her a look
that no one could fail to translate as 'Kill me'. Achika returned her
own look, one that said 'bear with me'.

"As for what he is… I'd, uh, say some weird cross between a cat
and a rabbit," Achika went on. "A… cabbit, per se."

Well, I don't care what he is!" Misaki proclaimed. "He's
adorable!" She wrenched the cabbit out of his seat, to which he
meowed in protest. "I'll hug him and love him and call him George
and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Misaki!" the man put up his own protest.
"What if this… cabbit already has an owner? He's wearing a collar."

"Well, they couldn't have cared much for him, to let him wander
the streets all by himself. Whatcha say, widdle schnookies…?" Misaki
rubbed the side of her face against the cabbit's, making him meow
even more in protest. These protests fell upon deaf ears.

"Mom, that's what cats do…?" Achika asked rhetorically, under
her breath.

Misaki looked at the tags that hung from the cabbit's collar.
"Hmm… there doesn't seem to be an address, just a name… 'Ryo-ohki'.
Ryo-ohki! What a decidedly un-cute name!"

"Seems to suit him," Achika piped up, which got her glared at
by her mother for answering back.

In defence of his daughter, the man added, "If it's not broke,
don't fix it. He's got a name already, so why not leave it at that?"

Misaki milled it over for a second. "All right, his name's Ryo-
ohki."

The cabbit hopped out of Misaki's arms and landed beside the
crestfallen Achika. He meowed triumphantly.

"But," Misaki added, walking away to retrieve breakfast, "I'm
still gonna hug him and squeeze him and call him George and…"

At that point, Achika and her cabbit adopted a similar
appearance; in that they both facefaulted at exactly the same time,
before adopting that 'kill me' look.

"I'm sorry about breakfast, Ryo-ohki," Achika told her
companion as they walked down the street into town. None of the
people walking past her thought this odd; in fact, a girl holding a
conversation with her pet was considered quite normal in comparison
to the giant fighting robots, the walking Jell-O moulds with hearts
on the front, the scantily clad magical girls…

"No need to apologise," Ryo-ohki replied, trying to placate his
new friend.

"No, I mean it. No one should have that inflicted on them.
Well, except for a biped…"

Ryo-ohki smiled inwardly. 'If only you knew…'

From his cosy position, perched on Achika's shoulder, he could
see some more familiar sights of the city. The streets Achika was
walking down were ones he knew like the back of his paw. As she
walked, it became apparent why.

Ryo-ohki could see the city mall up ahead. Within that mall was
a shop, and in back of that shop…

"Gotta go," Ryo-ohki declared, hopping off Achika's shoulder
and making for the nearest bush. Before she could question him, he
was gone.

Achika spent the next few seconds pondering on this. She could
detect the urgency and hint of fear in his voice, but why was he so
eager to flee from her workplace? Was there something in there he did
not want to see? Or was it the fact that the mall didn't permit
animals?

She put the thought on the back burner as she resumed her
sojourn toward the mall.

As she approached CD Vision's front door, she could see Mihoshi
and Kiyone busily setting up shopped. She tapped on the glass door to
get their attention and get them to let her in. Kiyone obliged,
unlocking the door and switching on the automatic door mechanism.

"Sorry I'm late!" Achika bowed.

"Don't worry about it," Kiyone replied. "We haven't been in
long, either."

"Okay, where d'you want me?"

Kiyone gestured to a stack of boxes. "New Oasis albums. Stack
five on the shelf, mix a few up with the other ones, and cart the
rest backstage, then I'll direct you to this batch of laser discs we
just got in."

"Okay…" Achika approached her charge, and opened the uppermost
box.

As she, Kiyone and Mihoshi worked, the door to the backroom
opened. A very glum Sasami appeared from it. "Hi," she said,
solemnly.

Achika turned to face her. "Oh, hi…" she replied. "Is something
wrong?"

"Wha…?" Sasami was shaken out of her funk. "Oh, nothing, it's
just that my pet's been missing for a few weeks. I'm getting worried
about him…"

"Well, I can look out for him. If you want, of course…" Achika
thought that by offering to do this, it would remove an excuse for
Sasami to busy herself, which could be harmful.

Instead of refusing her offer, Sasami looked upon her
pleadingly. "Oh, if it isn't too much trouble…"

"Not in the slightest. What does he look like?"

"Well, he's small, about the size of a cat, he's brown, with
white paws, yellow eyes, and he's got these big ears with tufts of
fur growing out of them, and he drags them along on the ground when
he's upset…"

That description was immediately familiar. It was Ryo-ohki,
down to a tee. Achika thought of saying, "He's been following me
around since yesterday," but quickly decided against it when she
remembered Ryo-ohki's urgency to leave before he reached the store.
She deduced that Ryo-ohki did not want to see Sasami, for some
reason, and it would be a bad idea to drag them together. But she
would have this out with her furry confederate upon their next
meeting.

"I'll, er… I'll see what I can do," Achika finally replied.

"Thanks, Achika."

"No problem. Hey, it seems kind of quiet in here…"

"What's the matter?" Kiyone asked. "Don't like the silence?"

"Frankly, no. Most people don't like noise, but I find silence
even more distracting."

"Don't worry, I'll soon fix that. I've got to fire up the Hi-Fi
anyway."

Kiyone walked over to a Hi-Fi system perched on a shelf behind
the counter, and switched it on. She programmed the CD changer to
load one of the CDs left on it, and play a track. As she did so,
Achika began leafing through the box of CDs, comparing its contents
against the list in her hand.

She stopped dead when the music began playing over speakers
strategically placed throughout the store.

The music was an elaborate piano and string sonata, at an
allegro pace. It was almost classical in its style, but it was
haunting. By god, it was haunting.

"Wha… What is this music?" Achika gasped.

"This is the Sonata of the Seer by Shigeki Amano," Kiyone
replied. "He's my favourite Japanese composer, but he disappeared
years ago."

Kiyone returned to the boxes she was sorting. No one noticed
Achika move toward the Hi-Fi, until she stopped the CD and took it
out, returning it to its jewel case.

"What's wrong?" Kiyone enquired.

Achika prayed that she didn't see the tears in her eyes.
"Nothing," she replied, her voice imperceptibly quivering. "It's just
that that music brings back some bad memories, is all…"

There was a respectful silence for a few seconds, during which
Sasami and Kiyone gasped in empathy.

Achika quickly wiped the remnants of tears from her eyes and
cleared her throat, hoping that it would reset her voice. "Ahem!
Anyway, can I see what else you got for background music in here?"

"Sure thing."

Achika quickly leafed through the other jewel cases beside the
Hi-Fi, and came across one with a familiar woman on the cover. She
read the Kanji of the title. "Chihiro Kawai… Not the same Chihiro
Kawai as…?"

Sasami nodded in reply. "Yeah, Mom recorded a CD once, but no
one would distribute it… except for us. Check out the copyright."

Achika looked to the back of the jewel case, looking at the
copyright information at the bottom. Sure enough, it stated CD Vision
as the copyright holder. "So, you copy this disc and sell it in the
shop?"

"You're looking at the chief technician and track master,"
Sasami stated proudly. "With Tenchi doing finals, I'm the only one
with time to do it…"

"Tenchi?" Achika inquired, as she loaded the Chihiro disc into
the platter.

"My brother. You haven't met him yet, have you?"

"He's not a guy who's just ever-so-slightly taller than me,
with black spiky hair with a rat-tail, brown eyes, and a slightly
hounded look, is he?"

"That sounds like him."

"Yeah, we've met. He's in my class at school. His suitors as
good as warned me to stay away from him. Quite mercilessly, too."

"Ryoko and Aeka? Those two show no mercy to each other, let
alone anyone else."

"You got that right!" Achika replied, chuckling. It wasn't too
long before Sasami was, too. Unbeknown to either of them, Kiyone
looked on, quite impressed. She knew Sasami well enough to know that
when she worried, she WORRIED. So much so that nothing would distract
her. But here was Achika, somehow getting through to her… and
eliciting a laugh, no less. Forget working in a CD shop, she should
work in counselling.

"Miss Aeka! I have the new girl in my sights!"

"Where is she, Yuka?"

"She's at Tenchi's mother's store. She… she appears to be
working there!"

"Oooh, that slut! She probably got a job there to get close to
Tenchi and steal his affections… THIS MEANS WAR! Yuka, get the girls
together!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

It was half an hour later when Tokimi entered the mall. Truth
be told, she'd sooner had been asleep. She had a hell of a night… she
couldn't have slept because she was so tired, but why couldn't she
remember what she did instead…? The confusion was as hard to shake as
the tiredness.

However, sleep was not in her plans today. She had a town to
explore and two days in which to do so. And what better place to
start than the mall? Actually, she'd received a tip-off that Achika
was already here, and Tokimi was planning to meet up with her today.
Her tip-off, supposedly anonymous (but she recognised Misaki's voice
anyway), wasn't too clear on exactly what Achika was doing at the
mall, leaving Tokimi to surmise that she was resuming yesterday's
recon.

After acquiring an espresso from the new Starbucks franchise,
Tokimi began wandering the mall in earnest, occasionally taking a sip
of the double-sweet coffee. It was not too long until she discovered
the only CD and laser disc store in the building. Its very nature
piqued her interest, causing her to look in the window.

She scanned what was on offer. A Chisa Yokoyama compilation,
War of the Worlds '96 edition, an ABC discography, Achika marching
around in an apron with the store's name on it…

So that's what she was doing here.

"Okay, Achika, you got the disc?" Kiyone asked.

"Yeah," Achika replied.

"Scan the bar code with the scanner."

Achika complied, taking the pistol-shaped bar code scanner and
pulling the trigger, allowing the ruby laser beam to read the code.

"Now that's his only item, so press the subtotal button on the
till…"

Achika did as she was instructed, and the till rattled as it
printed on the receipts. She read the display, and then addressed her
customer. "That's four thousand yen, including tax, please, sir."

The man handed over a ¥5,000 note, which Achika deposited in
the till. She then handed him his CD, a ¥1,000 note, and his receipt.

She and Kiyone bowed. "Thank you very much!" they said in
unison.

The man bowed back, and took his leave.

"Hey, you're a natural at this, Achika," Kiyone said.

Achika blushed slightly. "Really? You think so?"

"Yeah, you're making us look bad. Quit being so damn good." the
teal-tressed woman mused, completely straight-faced. Achika was
somewhat unnerved by this, until Kiyone poked her in the ribs and
said, "I'm kidding!" and chuckled. Achika was not too slow in joining
her.

The door opening, and a voice speaking interrupted them. "My,
my, my, Achika, you have the luck of the gods. Not even a week here
and you have a job."

Achika recognised the voice instantly. "Tokimi! Whatcha doing
here?"

"Doing what you were doing yesterday – a recon of the mall,
with lieu to hanging out with you," Tokimi replied, mock-pouting.
"Guess that's kind of out of the question, with you working and all…"

"Not entirely," Kiyone interjected. "Breaks are very generous
here."

"Well, then, I suppose we could meet up at the burger bar for
lunch, or something—"

Tokimi did not finish that sentence; she was batted out of the
way by a girl with short brown, spiky hair. Tokimi was sorely tempted
to beat the crap out of her, but thought better of it – her friend's
job might suffer.

The spiky-haired one stepped aside, to introduce Aeka and her
entourage. "Achika Kekoi, you are in violation of the school code of
conduct," Aeka proclaimed.

Both Achika and Kiyone looked completely nonplussed.

"Part-time jobs are a violation of the conduct regulations. As
President of the Student Council, I am obliged to report this to the
School Board."

"When did that one come in?" Kiyone asked. "I had a string of
jobs while I was at school."

"Oh, it probably doesn't exist," Achika replied. "She's just
vindictive towards me because she's deluded herself into thinking I'm
in love with Tenchi."

"LIAR!" Aeka roared. "I saw you exchange romantic glances with
him!"

"Kiyone, could you please open the counter for me?" Achika
asked, not taking her eyes off Aeka. Kiyone obliged. "Thank you."
With that, Achika proceeded to hit her head against the newly created
vertical surface.

Just as Tokimi recovered from her first impact, she was again
pushed out of the way – this time by Ryoko. "So, new kid, you took a
job here to get close to Tenchi… You're a scheming little bitch…!"

"Duh! You just figured that out?" one of Aeka's henchwomen, the
same one that had Achika yesterday, said.

Kiyone stepped in. "If you're going to fight, take it outside,
otherwise I'll get the cops."

She was openly ignored.

"Oh, you shut up," Ryoko retorted. "This is between me, her,"
she pointed to Achika, "and her," she pointed to Aeka.

By this time, Achika had abandoned focusing her frustrations
upon the counter, and was stood, not quite sure how to proceed.

Tokimi extracted herself from the embrace of the life-size
cardboard cutout of Jean-Luc Picard that stood in the window, and had
joined the fray. "Then do as the woman says. Take it outside, or I
will."

The last one of Aeka's entourage responded by hitting Tokimi,
making her yelp in pain.

That did it. With that single motion, Achika's look of confused
frustration transmuted to unbridled rage. One could almost see the
flames burn inside her eyes.

She slammed her fist down upon the counter, hard. That got
everyone's attention; it even made Kiyone jump.

Ignoring the pain of her hand, she continued to glare upon
those who threatened her friends, barely containing the rage within.
She spoke, nearly hissed, two words; words that comprised the world's
shortest, most universal declaration of war:

"Outside. Now."

Rumiya was in another spell of moping. Stood in the same place
Ryo-ohki had left him in earlier – time passes more slowly on
Juraihelm's world – he was still watching the deadly fireworks. He
wanted to cry, but he didn't know whom for. For himself, alone and,
for wont of a better expression, naked without his sister and his
magical girlfriend? For Misao, who was naked without him, and subject
to Ramia's whim? Or for the citizens of Juraihelm, who were dying out
there? Instead, he settled for a loud, frustrated yell at no one in
particular.

Just as it ceased, he sensed Ryo-ohki's reappearance in his
apartment.

"I told you to stay away, Ryo-ohki!" he growled.

"I couldn't, Rumiya," Ryo-ohki replied, as he finished his
transformation into his humanoid form. "You're hurting, and you need
someone to talk to. And I need your help."

With his back still turned to his friend, Rumiya smirked. "I
was expecting this. What do you want my help for this time?"

"How do you feel about becoming a companion again?"

Rumiya facefaulted. "I wasn't expecting that!"

"I need you to become companion to Tsunami's new magical girl.
Sammy will be back on duty very soon, and when she is, I want to be
with her."

"Didn't it occur to you that when Sammy's back, Tsunami's gonna
fire your new girl?"

"No, she won't. I've already seen to that. This new girl shows
a lot more power than Sammy. We need to keep her on for that. We also
need Sammy for her experience."

"Oh, a tag team? Nice strategy. She had the idea of using a
stand-in, but not to partner them."

"There's an added bonus. This new girl has the power to do
something that only you have been able to come close to – free
Misao."

With those words, Rumiya came about on his heels. His eyes
looked teary, but he looked stunned. "Seriously?"

"By my honour."

Rumiya considered the ramifications of this. Misao could be
freed; at last Misao could be freed! But to do it, he would have to
side against her…

"I need some time to think about this, Ryo-ohki."

"Of course. I'll leave you the co-ordinates of our new girl, so
you can watch. You are aware that, if you refuse, the information
will be erased from your memory?"

"Fully."

Ryo-ohki's forehead gem flowed, as he copied information
telepathically into Rumiya's mind. With that done, he flinched. "I
can detect magical activity near the new girl. She might need my
help. Until later, Rumia…" He bowed.

Rumiya returned the bow. "Until later."

Ryo-ohki teleported out of the apartment, leaving Rumiya alone
again. He stepped forward, and then concentrated his power into
willing up a viewing portal.

What he saw astonished him so much that he almost dropped the
connection.

The warring parties had arrived at their agreed battleground:
the courtyard outside the housing complex in which Kiyone and Mihoshi
lived. Aeka had clearly been anticipating this, and had come prepared
by wearing her bright-red karate gi beneath her suit. Ryoko had
changed into something similar, as had Aeka's entourage.

Achika, meanwhile, wore the same clothes she had worn all
morning, indicating her extreme disdain with her foes.

"Last woman standing wins," Achika began. "I'm sure we know the
rules – there are none."

"I concur," Aeka replied. Her henchwomen murmured assent.

"Agreed," Ryoko added.

Tokimi ran to her friend's side, a look of desperate worry on
her face. "Achika, no! It's five to one! They'll wipe the floor with
you!"

"Not if I play my cards right, Tokimi."

"Nor if I help even the odds." Tokimi turned to Achika's
opponents. "The enemy of my friend is my enemy. Vendetta upon you."

"The more the merrier," Yuka, the girl with the ponytail,
replied.

Achika leaned towards Tokimi. "What form do you know?"

"Uh… 'form?'"

"Of martial arts?"

"None."

Achika facefaulted. "We're doomed."

A few streets away, three people ran as fast as their legs
could carry them. They were led by Kiyone, closely followed by
Sasami, with Tenchi quite literally in tow.

"You guys! Stop it!" he wailed, struggling against the rope
Kiyone had tied him up in. "I gotta study!"

"Study later, Tenchi!" Kiyone replied. "This is a matter of
life and death!"

Aeka launched a roundhouse kick at Achika's head. Achika
ducked, avoiding the kick and allowing it to hit Yuka, who was coming
in from her left. Aeka continued on the rotation to deliver a lower
sweeping kick, which Achika was not so successful in avoiding.

Tokimi, meanwhile, was trying to recall every martial arts show
and anime she'd ever watched, extracting every move and using it on
Ryoko and another of Aeka's henchwomen. Unfortunately, it all came
out as a desperate flailing of limbs that, when they connected, did
damage only by accident and sheer force, not design. "Achika, help
me!" she sobbed.

"Love to, Tokimi – OW! – but I'm just – OOF! – a teensy bit
busy here!" Achika called back, between sustaining hits to her torso.
Having enough of this, she threw Aeka off the top of her, sending her
careening into Yuka.

As this went on, Washu stepped out of the building. She had her
laptop under her arm, and a perturbed impression on her face. "Could
you keep it down!" she exclaimed. "I'm trying to work here!"

"We're fighting!" Ryoko replied. "Fighting inherently creates
noise! What do you expect us to do? Use harsh language!"

Unbeknown to either of Aeka's henchwomen working on Tokimi,
Washu's crab had scurried up to them, and was stood between them. It
took their ankles in its pincers, and clamped, hard.

They both shot up into the air, and landed a few metres back.

"Moral of the story: two-by-two cover formation sucks if you're
missing two people," the crab mused.

Tokimi looked at the cute red crab, and heard its every word.
"A… A talking crab… sweet…" she babbled, before fainting.

A woman with wild, yellow cat-like eyes and purple-pink hair
watched from her perch on the roof of the apartment block, and
smiled.

"Now is your time, Tokimi… awaken!"

Sasami rushed into the courtyard, breathless. "Is everyone
okay?"

From beneath the pile of Yuka and Aeka, Achika deadpanned, "I'm
having the crap beaten out of me. That can kind of ruin your day."

The burden on Achika was about to get one less, as Aeka spotted
who was with Sasami. "TENCHI!" she squealed, getting up and walking
over Yuka to go and hug her love.

Two seconds later, Ryoko followed suit.

Aeka pulled Ryoko off him.

They started fighting.

Still underneath Yuka, Achika sighed in resignation. She
attempted to get up, but found that Yuka, looking into her face with
malevolent glee, was not permitting her to do so. Her associates
quickly joined in, piling the hapless Achika into the ground.

"It's not over yet," Yuka purred. "You're ours."

Achika tried to break free of the pile, but the confines were
such that she could not effectively use her strength. Even with the
mass on top of her, she managed to pull a breath in. "Aw, f…"

"THIS ENDS NOW!"

The four women's trains of thought were immediately derailed by
this unexpected interruption. Achika, sensing the reduction of weight
on her, took the opportunity to break free, casting the girls
asunder.

Now everyone could get a look at this new interloper.

"THIS ENDS NOW," the female voice repeated, "SO SAYS ME!" With
a flash of red, the form of a girl appeared before the assembled
throng. "I AM THE MAGICAL GIRL CHIBI-TOMI!"

Achika's jaw had dropped in astonishment. 'Another Magical
Girl?' she thought, as she looked at this girl.

She was beautiful.

She was stunning.

She was three feet tall.

Someone had taken a shapely – very shapely – woman, and
squeezed her into a Sailor Senshi outfit that really did show off her
attributes. This one was red – evidently Magical Girl Surplus was
having a special offer on Sailor Mars outfits too. Then, they'd
scaled the poor girl down so that her body was only three feet tall.

Achika, and the others, immediately broke out laughing, which
really pissed off the diminutive Magical Girl. "HEY!" she growled.
"Stop laughing at me!"

Only one person did – Washu. And that was only because her
laptop was beeping at her. She opened it up, to see the map of the
town on screen. A blip, denoting magical activity, was over a point
corresponding to this very location.

Washu had good cause to stop laughing now.

Chibi-Tomi was now livid. It seemed that a demonstration was
necessary. She produced an object from behind her, and aimed it at
the building. A projectile of red energy shot toward the apartments,
then impacted with it. All of the windows were immediately smashed.

Everybody shut up.

"That's better," Chibi-Tomi said, in a cold, emotionless voice,
which fit her sinister sub-grin nicely. "Now, it would seem that your
little fight is getting you nowhere. Allow me to make a few
improvements!"

The small Magical Girl launched into the air and deployed her
energy weapon. Achika surmised it to be analogous to the magic baton.
Chibi-Tomi put this baton to good use, using it to cast something
that hit Aeka, Ryoko, and Aeka's henchwomen, and almost hit Achika,
had something not unlike a forcefield not been projected in front of
her, harmlessly diverting the beam.

Chibi-Tomi pirouetted in her floating position, and called out
a spell: "CHIBI-MECHA-TRANSFORM!"

The affected girls, struggling in vain against the beam,
stopped moving. They stood rigid, a blank expression on their faces.
Gradually, they took on the characteristics of machines: their skin
and hair went grey, their clothes were replaced with armour plating,
and weapons ranging from disruptors to quantum torpedo launchers grew on
their arms and chests. Finally, they grew until they were taller than
the apartment building.

"Uh… probably better that didn't hit me," Achika concluded.

She craned her neck up to see the huge mecha. Each of them
retained parts of their human appearance – Ryoko still had her spiky
hair, which now sported a number of strategically placed phaser
arrays. Aeka's twin-ponytails had turned into what looked like ribbon
blades. Each of them was a formidable death machine, primed for
battle… and controlled by the psychotic, diminutive Magical Girl that
was making a graceful landing on the apartment roof.

"MECHA… FIGHT!" Chibi-Tomi ordered. And fight they did.

A flurry of phaser and torpedo fire rang out. This was a five-
way Battle Royale – Aeka's hench…mecha were not even holding quarter
against her, as Yuka launched out a barrage of quantum torpedoes at
her leader. None of them hit – it would seem Chibi-Tomi had forgotten
to tell them how to aim. The torpedoes hit in the building's garden,
leaving only a crater where it used to be.

Achika was sure she was going to die. As she searched for cover
– as if anything could withstand these weapons – she heard a voice
call her name. It was Ryo-ohki.

"Achika, I got a magical signal!" he exclaimed.

"Well, uh, yeah, I think the giant mecha kind of gave it away,"
Achika replied, gesturing to the oversized Transformers. Ryo-ohki
looked, and howled in despair.

"Who did it?"

"Uh… that would be the girl in the Sailor Mars outfit."

Again, Ryo-ohki looked. "He was right… Ramia did get a
substitute."

"What?"

"Nothing. Come with me, Achika…"

As Achika was being led away by the cabbit, Sasami watched
them. She called out to Ryo-ohki, but was unheard over the disruptor
blast that went off nearby.

Ryo-ohki and Achika found a nearby alleyway, completely
isolated from prying eyes, although the sound of the fighting mecha
could still be heard.

"Okay, no one will see you here. Quickly, Achika, transform
yourself!" Ryo-ohki implored.

Achika sweatdropped. "Uh… do I have to?"

"Do you want to die?"

"No."

"Then yes, you do."

Suddenly, death was beginning to look like the better option.

Ryo-ohki materialised Achika's baton, and allowed it to find
its owner. She clutched it, reluctantly. "Ryo-ohki, that costume is
not going to conceal my identity. It's just going to make me look
ludicrous."

"No it won't. Just do it, or everybody is going to die!"

"Well, if you put it like that…" Achika held the baton with
determination, but stopped for a moment. "You and I have to have a
talk about a girl by the name of Sasami—"

"QUIT STALLING!"

"All right, already!" Achika yelled back. She sighed, raised
the baton above her head, and closed her eyes. "Adorable Mutation…"
Insert dramatic pause. "MAGICAL RECALL!"

Chibi-Tomi's sinister grin became pure malevolence as she
watched her creations tear this part of town apart. They were,
however, learning to aim, so their shots were hitting each other and
not the scenery. However, when they threw each other into the ground,
it did manage to generate a little collateral damage.

The apartment block had been utterly destroyed after Ryoko pile
drove Aeka into it. Tenchi, Sasami, Kiyone and Washu were stood by
it, in shock. Mihoshi was there, too. If her way of dealing with
shock was eating, the family-size pack of Pringles she was eating
wasn't going to be enough.

Ryoko and Aeka continued to fight, this time with disruptors
and torpedoes. Most of these shots bounced off their shields, leaving
little more than Cerenkov radiation to indicate their presence.

The creators of Star Trek really weren't expecting their
technology to be used like this, which gave it just a few problems.
In space, these projectiles would normally just fly harmlessly away
after being deflected, but on a planet, with gravity, there was
really only one way they could go – down.

Which is exactly what one of Ryoko's stray torpedoes did. She
fired a salvo at Aeka, who quickly deflected it. The now unguided
weapon took on a new, earthward course.

It headed straight for the stunned gathering, which, like a
deer in headlamps, was frozen and unable to take evasive action. As
the screaming white flash of light approached them. They prayed, and
watched their lives flash before their eyes.

Kiyone had just reached puberty when the torpedo abruptly
changed course and hit Yuka.

Chibi-Tomi was stunned. Granted, she hadn't anticipated any
weapons hitting the populous – she wasn't THAT low – but for an
unguided torpedo to change course like that was impossible. It
quickly became apparent to her why it happened. "Magical aura! Who--
"HOLD IT!" a voice rang out. A flash of blue shot past Chibi-
Tomi's eyes, then materialised to form a leggy, raven-haired girl in
an almost identical costume to her own, but in light blue, and her
proportions weren't quite as distorted as her own. "Magical Girl
Adorable Achika to the rescue!" the raven-haired one proclaimed.

Ryo-ohki emerged on her shoulder and meowed in assent.

The gathered throng looked at the Sailor Mercury wannabe
bemusedly, in cases as if they could not believe what they were
seeing.

For Achika, this seemed all too familiar. "'Oh, they won't know
who you are, Achika,'" she mused at Ryo-ohki, parodying and
paraphrasing him at the same time. "Any second, now, they'll start
laughing. Thanks a lot, Ryo-ohki!"

Washu was too stunned to answer the beep coming from her
laptop. Her crab, however, was not. It climbed up her legs, and then
sat on her forearm to get a look at the screen. It then gently
pinched Washu, to get her attention. What she saw was amazing.

"Oh, my! Look at these energy readouts! They're off the scale!
This girl is the Real Deal!"

This shocked Sasami, who looked upon the new girl with
suspicion. She wore the uniform that Chibi-Tomi was wearing, which
led her to suspect that they were in cohorts. What clinched it, and
enraged her, was Ryo-ohki's presence with her. Obviously she'd
perverted Ryo-ohki to evil, taking him away from her.

Unnoticed she ran away from the scene, resolute as to what she
must do.

Achika was speechless. Rather than laughing at her, they were
in awe of her. It looked as though their hopes were piling on her.
And that, somehow, gave her strength.

Ryo-ohki noticed this too. "This is normal," he advised. "Other
people's thoughts and feelings give you power. Use it."

"Huh?" Achika was shaken out of her funk. "Right! Chibi-Tomi,
you're mine!"

"Bring it on," Chibi-Tomi deadpanned. "I wonder how you'll fare
against my mecha." She turned to the towering 'bots. "Play with her."

The five mecha promptly stopped fighting each other, then
turned toward Chibi-Tomi and Achika. The diminutive Magical Girl
teleported out of the way, allowing her mecha unfettered access to
her new nemesis.

"I'm not gonna stand here and take this," Achika proclaimed.
"HIGH KICK!"

She launched a high, roundhouse kick at Ryoko, and succeeded in
hitting her in the ankle. Other than making a resounding clang,
nothing happened.

A few seconds later, the sensation had travelled from Achika's
foot to her brain. She tried, but failed in containing the scream. As
she hopped around on her good foot, rubbing the pain out of the other
one, Ryo-ohki came up to her.

"Not like that!" he wailed. "Use one of your talents!"

"What talents!" Achika replied, as she tested her weight on
her foot.

"You can communicate with me when we are far apart; you can
hear a pin drop from a mile away; and you can pull rabbits out of any
container!"

Achika facefaulted.

Sasami burst into her house, out of breath. The house was
empty; her mother was at another singing contest. That was good; no
one would disturb her.

After pausing to get her breath back, she made a mad dash up
the stairs, quickly reaching her bedroom. Here, she started looking.

Ryo-ohki was smart, but sometimes sloppy. He usually kept her
magic baton until it was needed, but recently began leaving it with
her so she could contact him.

This was one of those times when he had left it. The fact that
he'd left it in her panty drawer made her somewhat disconcerted.

Wasting no time with preamble, other that a few thoughts of
revulsion – the costume she wore wasn't the most flattering; and
trepidation – her last outing did leave her almost dead, after all –
she concentrated on becoming a Magical Girl.

In response, the baton sprang to life.

Across town, Ryo-ohki flinched; not in response to the
shockwaves of the disruptor fire he and Achika were trying
desperately to avoid, but in response to another sensation – one he
knew well. It was the activation signal of a magic baton. And not
just any baton – one he made himself, for one person.

"Oh, shit," he gasped.

"Pretty Mutation…"

"Oh, shit!"

"MAGICAL RECALL!"

"Oh, SHIIIIT!"

"What's wrong now, Ryo-ohki!" Achika called, as both she and
Ryo-ohki found cover.

"Well, uh…"

Before Ryo-ohki could form his answer, a new voice called out.
"All right! This goes no further, says me, Pretty Sammy!"

Achika periscoped over the conveniently placed piece of rubble
to see whom this 'Pretty Sammy' was. She saw a young girl with long
blue hair tied into twin ponytails, dressed in a green and pink
Chinese style outfit, holding a baton identical to her own.

Chibi-Tomi was thrown off by all this; enough to momentarily
cease fire.

Ryo-ohki leapt up on top of the large concrete block, and saw
Sammy before him. "Don't worry, Achika, she's on our side."

Achika sighed a long sigh of relief. "Thank God for that." She
emerged from behind the block and approached Sammy. "Uh, hi, you, er,
probably don't know me, but—"

"Pretty Home Run!" Sammy cried, as her baton deployed a heart-
shaped energy discharge, which only barely missed Achika.

After dusting the fallout off herself, Achika rounded upon
Sammy. "Not me, you idiot! HER! HER!" she screamed, gesturing to
Chibi-Tomi, who was sat cross-legged on the floor, smiling broadly.

Sammy aimed her baton at Achika, and glared at her. "Return
Ryo-ohki NOW! Or I will vanquish you and your friend Chibi-Tomi!"

Achika, Chibi-Tomi and Ryo-ohki all mouthed "Friend?" After
that, Chibi-Tomi was seized by a gale of laughter.

To hurry Achika along, Sammy deployed another blast, this one
almost scoring a direct hit.

Seriously worried, Ryo-ohki charged forward towards Achika.
"Uh, Achika, I think she means it…!"

Achika turned to Ryo-ohki with a completely emotionless face.
"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?" she mused with as much sarcasm
as she could muster.

Another of Sammy's blasts detonated a few metres ahead of them,
prompting them to break up and run as fast as they could.

Chibi-Tomi proceeded to roll on the floor, laughing her ass
off. Meanwhile, Achika was running around trying to avoid a near-
constant rain of fire from Sammy, who was getting increasingly angry.
Ryo-ohki, on the other hand, was enjoying the status of not being a
target, while trying to give Achika advice on how to stay alive.

Tired of this chase, Sammy tried another approach. She
redeployed her baton, in a new mode. "Pretty Heart Boomerang!" she
called out. Another heart-shaped projectile shot out of the baton,
heading for Achika. It dived, to try and hit her feet and presumably
trip her up. Achika was quick enough to jump and dodge the first one,
but missed its return stroke. The projectile fouled up her stride,
forcing her feet to a stop, but inertia propelled her forward, into a
less-than-graceful landing.

"Achika, get up!" Ryo-ohki implored.

Achika tried to lift herself off the ground, but could not move
her legs. The energy provided to her arms in the attempt quickly gave
out, and her arms collapsed beneath her. "I… I can't…" she gasped,
with her last reserve of energy, as her vision was clouded by tears.

Ryo-ohki's guts knotted; Achika was immobile, totally at
Sammy's mercy. And by her expression, she had none. "Sammy! Stop!
Please, STOP!" he pleaded, tears welling in his own eyes.

But Sammy did not listen; instead, she wound up for her
ultimate attack: "Pretty Coquettish BOMBER!"

Another, much larger projectile emerged from the baton, and was
quickly deployed. The recoil from the projectile sent Sammy back a
metre, but she maintained her balance.

On the other side, Achika lifted her head to see a large pink
ball of death heading her way. She drew what she thought her last
breath, and then expelled part of it in a last plea. "Mommy…!"

From the final explosion generated by the Bomber, a pained
scream could be heard.

Ryo-ohki had had enough. He charged toward Sammy and, doing
what he thought he would never do, he ran into her ankle, knocking
her off her feet so he could more easily converse with her.

"Sammy, what the HELL do you think you're doing!" he screamed
into her face.

Tears were welling in Sammy's eyes. "I'm trying to save you
from HER, Ryo-ohki!" she screamed back, her voice quivering with
emotion.

"Sammy, she's on our side!"

Sammy fell silent. It took her a moment to digest this
information, during which a sob emitted from where she had aimed the
Bomber. Scrambling to her feet, she stepped towards the spread-eagled
Achika, who was battered and dirtied, with smoke emerging from every
orifice.

"See, Sammy?" Ryo-ohki went on. "She's not with Chibi-Tomi. She
was trying to take her on 'til you showed up. Tsunami brought her in
to stand in for you."

Sammy felt like crawling into a hole and dying.

Ryo-ohki nuzzled Achika, trying to rouse her. "Achika, are you
okay?"

Achika sighed past her tears. "I've been beaten up, shot at,
Pretty-Coquettish-Bomber-thingied… I'm just peachy, thanks."

"Sorry. I think now's the time to formally introduce the two of
you. Sammy, this is Adorable Achika. Achika, Pretty Sammy."

"Nice to meet you," Achika groaned, as she tried to opened her
eyes. "You're Sasami, aren't you?"

"And you're the Achika that works at my mom's store… How can we
see each other's identities?"

"I rigged it that way," Ryo-ohki explained. "It helps if you
know each other inside and out, so to speak."

"If you say so…" Sammy replied. She looked back at Achika, and
then inclined her head down in shame. "Sorry about the Bomber thing…
and, uh, shooting at you…"

"Oh, no problem," Achika replied. "As soon as the feeling
returns to my body… I'll just kill you."

"Aw, what a shame!" a voice said. "I was kind of hoping you'd
take each other out, save me the trouble."

Sammy whirled around on her heels, to see Chibi-Tomi had
regained her sobriety and was stood, baton aimed at her. Sammy
returned the stance. "Well, it looks like you'll have to get involved
after all…"

"Not necessarily," Chibi-Tomi smirked. "MECHA! KILL THE MAGICAL
GIRLS!"

"Oh, boy," Achika sighed. "Here we go again…!"

Instantly, the five mecha reappeared. Whatever battle damage
they had sustained was now repaired.

"I'll field this one, Achika!" Sammy proclaimed. "You sit
tight."

"Be my guest," Achika replied. "'S hardly like I'm going
anywhere…"

"I will free the girls you have enslaved, Chibi-Tomi! TURTLE
ENGINES!"

Sammy flourished her baton above her head. The two ornamental
turtles that held the heart section stable promptly let go of their
charge and became gold and silver energy planes.

"ATTACK!"

Following Sammy's order, the energy planes streaked away from
the baton, toward the mecha. They struck and passed through each of
the mecha, emerging and returning to Sammy's baton when done. Sammy
had powered attack so that it would not be too harmful, just enough
to immobilise her opponents. Sammy used the opportunity to try and
reach through Chibi-Tomi's distortion to their core beings – the
girls beneath the armour.

Achika had managed to roll onto her side to watch Sammy, who
was now standing there. "What is she doing!" she exclaimed.

"Sammy's trying to break through to them, to pull them out of
Chibi-Tomi's spell," Ryo-ohki replied. "It usually works."

"I don't suppose you're usually under fire, are you?"

"Uh, no. Last time we tried this, the Magical Girl was too
wrapped up in a nervous breakdown to fight back."

"Really? Well, newsflash for you – THIS TIME WE ARE!"

Achika's gaze was locked on a barrage of energy fire coming
from a flying Chibi-Tomi, who was on a strafing run. A great
proportion of this was aimed at the immobile Sammy, who was too
involved in her mind-meld to take evasive action.

"Oh, dear Kami-sama, no…" Achika gasped as she watched
helplessly while the energy bolts careened towards Sammy. She
clutched her baton tighter, seemingly in vain, wishing she could
shield Sammy from the blasts.

Those blasts struck a big blue energy wall and dissipated.

Needless to say, Achika was quite taken aback by this, and
clueless as to why it had happened, until her right hand felt
comfortably warm. She gazed down at it, to see her baton's heart
attachment was glowing the same pale blue as the forcefield. "Okay,
what'd I touch?"

"You've found one of your talents, Achika!" Ryo-ohki exclaimed.
"Try to maintain that shield until Sammy's finished!"

'Easier said than done,' Achika thought, as the lack of
adrenaline in her body was sealing off that sudden surge of power
fuelling the forcefield. It began to flicker, allowing a few stray
bolts through. All of them detonated near, but not on, Sammy,
throwing her off her feet and knocking her out.

"Heh… pathetic," Chibi-Tomi sneered. "I'm growing tired of
this. Finish them."

Nothing happened.

Chibi-Tomi rounded upon her creations. "You heard me! Finish
them!"

Her mecha stood perfectly still, not even acknowledging her
existence.

She searched for a reason why this was so, then quickly
discovered why. "YOU!" she pointed accusingly at the unconscious
Sammy. "You've linked with them! You little bitch!"

Chibi-Tomi launched another, more vicious barrage of fire at
Sammy. Once again, that big blue forcefield came up, rendering the
blasts useless.

"What… keeps… DOING THIS!" Chibi-Tomi screamed past her
mounting exhaustion.

"I DO!" another voice replied. Chibi-Tomi turned to see Achika
struggle to lift herself off the ground, and ultimately succeed. Her
face wore every ounce of determination she possessed.

Ryo-ohki watched, and smiled. "They're all yours, Achika. Good
luck."

"I will defeat you, Chibi-Tomi," Achika growled. "I will free
the girls you have enslaved."

A bright blue aura shone around her as a minor transformation
took place. The ribbon securing her hair in its ponytail came loose,
and her costume began to change from the unflattering Sailor Senshi
outfit to a more pleasing (and dignified) kimono of lilac, pale blue
and white. Her hair colour changed from raven-black to silver, her
eyes became a deep scarlet hue, and two triangular black markings
appeared on her cheeks.

Chibi-Tomi's jaw had dropped in shock. There was nothing she
could do against this kind of power.

Achika flourished her baton high above her head as her aura
flared, her most powerful attack powering up within her. "Adorable
Coquettish BOMBER!"

Instantly, a HUGE bright blue energy projectile launched from
the baton, which she had aimed at Chibi-Tomi. Her mecha were standing
within the locus of the Bomber, and would inevitably be affected by
it.

From Achika's point of view, Chibi-Tomi was eclipsed the
Bomber, but the considerably larger mecha did not. The effect that
the Bomber had on them was very much apparent.

The Bomber detonated in a location that ensured that all of the
mecha would be exposed to it, and indeed they were. Blue lightning
streaked across their bodies, leaving in its wake indications that
their transformations were being reversed. The armour plating
reverted back to clothes; grey metal became hair and skin once more.

After expending the last of the Bomber, Achika collapsed to her
knees. Her eyes, her hair, and – lamentably – her costume returned to
their normal Magical Girl configuration. The only thing that wasn't
restored was her hairstyle; her hair remained loose and free flowing.

Ryo-ohki skipped over to Achika's side, a wide smile on his
face. "You did it, Achika!"

"Yeah…" Achika panted in reply. "Great… Check on Sammy for me…
I think I'm gonna pass out…"

"I'm okay, Achika," Sammy said flatly as she came to. She
lifted herself off the ground and dusted the fallout from Chibi-
Tomi's blasts off herself. Then she took a look around. The mecha
were gone now, leaving the sky clear, if clouded with masonry dust;
the apartment block, however, was now nothing more than rubble.
Washu, Kiyone, Mihoshi, and the other former residents – who had only
just escaped the doomed building – were now picking through the
debris to see what of their possessions they could salvage. "But I
think the building superintendent's gonna have a cow."

And just a few metres away, just starting to awaken, were the
ones who unwittingly caused this destruction. Ryoko, Aeka, and the
other three girls had completely reverted to normal, and landed where
they were once frozen, meaning some unfortunate souls – or in Yuka's
case, deserving – were strewn carpet-like over the apartment
wreckage. When they woke up, the first thing they felt were the
corners of the rubble and the severed ends of steel wiring
reinforcement.

Ryoko and Aeka had the good fortune to land on the flat
concrete, more or less out of harm's way. As they began to awaken,
Tenchi ran to them out of concern, kneeling beside them. "A-Are you
two okay?" he asked.

It took Ryoko less than a picosecond to regain full
consciousness and bolt to her feet, using inertia to propel herself
onto Tenchi, whereupon she glomped the hapless young man. He let out
a surprised yelp, the exact tone of which was known even to Aeka, who
also got to her feet.

"TAKE YOUR SLUTTY HANDS OFF MY TENCHI!" the purple-haired one
screeched, deafening all within a ten-metre radius.

"Make me, Princess!" Ryoko replied, mockingly.

"Gladly!" Aeka responded, slugging Ryoko in the face and
launching into a full-blown mêlée. "And when I'm done with you, I'm
going to put the new girl into a continuum of hurt! Trust that slut
to be late for her own funeral!"

From a safe distance, Sammy, Achika, and Ryo-ohki watched with
bemused expressions on their faces. "They get shot at," Achika summed
up, "turned into robots, almost killed, and they STILL don't
change!"

Sammy did not even take her eyes off the fight to respond.
"Yep, that's about the size of it."

As they watched, all three of them grew huge sweat drops, and
broke out into subdued, nervous laughter with no small hint of
resignation.

While all of this was going on, someone else was regaining
consciousness, unseen. Tokimi slowly opened her eyes, and pulled
herself up into a sitting position.

She was in exactly the same spot she had fallen in after
fainting, just a few metres away from the apartments. When her eyes
regained focus, she looked around, and then she looked around again.
It took around five double takes for Tokimi to finally accept what
she was seeing… then she fainted again.

The town had the whole weekend to resume some semblance of
normality, but even that was not enough. A good fifty people were
left homeless following the destruction of the apartment buildings,
which the authorities had chalked up to a gas explosion. The
unfortunate persons were forced to seek residence with friends and
family, meaning some had to move out of town. Mihoshi and Kiyone were
lucky – Chihiro had offered to give them board in her house, and they
readily accepted.

One thing, however, was not different – the school was
unscathed during the weekend's incidents, and as no fatalities were
apparent to warrant its closure, it was open as normal. This was
something that Sasami was especially displeased with. She had a test
today, and could not study for it over the weekend – Saturday had
totally wiped her out.

She was still feeling the after effects of her over-exertion
even now, and it was very evident by her expression.

"What's wrong, Sasami?" Misao said to her friend, who, for
once, was walking at her slow pace.

"Wha…?" Sasami replied with about as much enthusiasm as a
sloth. "Oh, nothing. I'm just very… very… very… verrrrryyyy…" As she
talked, her eyes drooped – she was falling asleep on her feet.

Ryo-ohki, who was riding on Sasami's left shoulder, made a
swift nip to her upper arm, making her jolt back to consciousness.

"Well, you would insist on transforming into Sammy when you
were in no fit state!" Ryo-ohki admonished, below a volume that Misao
could hear. Misao, for her part, was no longer taking any notice of
Sasami, and was keeping her eyes on the pavement on her friend's
behalf.

"I thought you were in danger!" Sasami whispered back. "I
thought Achika was the enemy! I hope she doesn't still hold a
grudge…"

"Well, I think you're about to find out… There she is."

Using no small amount of effort, Sasami lifted her head back up
to see two girls in senior class uniform stood outside the gate,
talking. One of these, she didn't really recognise, but the other,
the one with the large top-knotted ponytail of dark hair, was
immediately familiar.

"Good morning, Achika," Sasami said, in trepidation, bowing a
lot deeper than was normal.

Achika turned her head toward Sasami, her face devoid of
emotion. This rather spooked Sasami, who didn't know whether or not
she was due to receive her well-deserved payback. Achika kept this up
for a good minute or ten, and then…

She smiled her beautiful smile, that mixture of maternity,
genuine happiness, and mirth. In this case, there was probably just a
little too much mirth.

"Good morning, Sasami!" she bubbled. "Sleep well?"

"Do I look as though I slept well?" Sasami replied, part in
relief, part in envy. 'Just how can she be so cheery?' she thought.

"Actually, you look as though you've had just a wee bit too
much of the generic caffinated soft drink," Achika replied, "or over-
exerted yourself…" She winked slyly with that one.

"Achika," the other girl interjected, "aren't you going to
introduce me to your friend?"

Achika blushed. "Oh, my, where are my manners? Sasami, this is
my friend Tokimi Touma. Tokimi, this is Sasami Kawai, my boss's
daughter."

Tokimi bowed to Sasami. "Very nice to meet you."

Sasami returned the bow. "Nice to meet you." She turned back to
Achika. "I see you've got your new uniforms."

"Yeah, we got them this morning," Achika replied. "They're a
little drab, by comparison…" She leaned in closer, to whisper in
Sasami's left ear, ensuring Ryo-ohki could hear too. "But between you
and me, anything's better than a sailor fuku."

To that, Achika and Sasami giggled.

At that point, Tokimi and Misao were confused. "What are you
laughing at?" Misao inquired, smiling empathically.

"Oh, nothing!" Sasami replied with a little more sparkle.

At that point, the school clock's bell pealed out the chimes of
the hour. "Come on, guys," Tokimi began, "we're gonna be—"

"What's up, Tokimi?" Achika asked, facing her friend, who was
frozen in her position, with her mouth open, and a word on her lips.
Confused, Achika waved her hand in front of Tokimi's eyes, but she
didn't react. "This is very strange… What's wrong with her?"

"It's not just her," Sasami replied, as she examined a
similarly motionless Misao. Then she looked around her to see other
people motionless, some in mid-stride. Ryoko and Aeka were frozen
trying to pull Tenchi apart, while Aeka's henchwomen looked on.

"Could this be Chibi-Tomi's doing?" Achika suggested, getting
increasingly worried.

"No," Ryo-ohki announced. "Tsunami's doing this. She needs to
talk to us, so she's frozen time until we get back here."

"I didn't know she could do that with magic…" Sasami said.

"You'd be surprised. C'mon, let's go."

With that, Ryo-ohki leapt off Sasami's shoulder and hopped
away. Achika and Sasami followed him.

Achika, Ryo-ohki, and Sasami stood in the atrium of the
abandoned mansion. It had not been transformed into a habitable
atmosphere as before; Tsunami's powers were being spent elsewhere. As
such, the smell of damp, and rotting wood was heavy in the air.
Achika was resisting the urge to vomit.

"I hope she gets this over with," Sasami said, holding her
nose. "It stinks in here…"

"Y'think!" Achika choked.

A melodic voice rang out. "I'll try to be quick, girls."

The owner of that voice walked down the stairs. Tsunami wasn't
floating this time, another power conservation move to give her
enough power to freeze time.

"I have brought you here because I'm re-evaluating your use as
Magical Girls. Sasami, as you have already proved yourself ready an
able to pick up the baton again – pun intended – you should return to
duty as soon as possible."

Sasami's expression did not change. She turned to face Achika.
"Well, I guess your work is done here."

"Guess so," Achika replied. "I'd like to say that it's been an
enjoyable vocation, but in actuality it's been a living hell."

"A hell you won't be leaving just yet," Tsunami went on.

Achika's face dropped.

"Achika, you have a power hidden deep within you that could be
advantageous to you and our cause. Sasami may have the experience,
but you have far greater power. We need you, Achika. We'd like you to
stay on."

"Uh…" Achika said, retracting her jaw, "do I have a choice?"

"Not really," Ryo-ohki mused.

"Well, in that case…"

"So it's settled!" Tsunami bubbled. "You will be my Magical
Girl Tag Team!"

"Wait a sec, what are we here?" Achika said indignantly.
"Magical Girls or pro-wrestlers?"

Tsunami pretended not to hear. "Finally, I'm reassigning Ryo-
ohki back to Sasami. Ryo-ohki, I believe you still owe her an apology
concerning this weekend's debacle."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT!" Achika exclaimed. "You're
transferring Ryo-ohki? Who's going to help me? I cannot do this by
myself!"

"You won't have to," Tsunami replied, as she assumed that look
of concentration she once used to summon Ryo-ohki. In response,
another creature popped into being – a small, purple, exotic-looking
bird, an apparent cross between a pigeon and a hawk.

Achika looked at this bird curiously. Sasami recognised the
bird from previous experience, and looked at it with undisguised
suspicion.

The bird looked up at Achika, and then spoke in a friendly,
genial manner. "Hello, Achika. I'm Rumiya, and I'm going to be your
companion."

Achika's eyes darted upward, as a wry grin appeared on her
face. "Heh… a talking bird… Heh heh heh…" Achika giggled dryly. Her
giggle became a nervous chuckle, then an exaggerated laugh, before
degenerating into a hysterical cackle as her mind promptly went on
strike. Sasami, Tsunami, and Ryo-ohki did all they could to calm her
down, but Achika had well and truly lost it.

And if it were possible for a bird to look as though it was
about to burst into tears, Rumiya was looking like that right now.
"What did I say…?"

Closing theme: "Magical Door" by Chisa Yokoyama or Sharon Scott

Yay! Finished! C&C to