Title: Seals of Heart and Space
Author: E. Cypher
E-Mail: LunarEB2@aol.com
Rating: PG

Well, here we go again! For all you still with me, Thanks! Guess
I'm doing something right, ne? Oh, and for all those that like a
lot of details, more then I can give in writing, you can always
search for Slayers and find pictures :). Well, here goes another
section of adventure, enjoy!

Chapter 4: Secrets

::Mina::
        I can scarcely believe my own eyes as Serena and Lina leave
the arcade in a giggling storm, or Serena is at least. It's not
them that caught my attention though, it's the fact that I can
see Darian's face clearly, and he's staring at Serena of all
people with a soft look to his eyes. Oh Why didn't I see it
before? After all the teasing and name calling Darian has a crush
on Serena! Serena would kill me for this, but it's time to play
maaatchmakerrr. I giggle and run past Darian on my way out. "Come
on Darian, you definately don't want to get left behind!" He
tears his gaze from the door and blinks as he hears me.
        "Don't worry, I'm coming," he says, heading out the door
behind me and Lita. I immediately race out the door to catch up
with Serena and see her and Lina chatting as they walk down the
sidewalk. I hurry to catch up as Raye, Darian, and Gourry trail a
little bit behind, talking amongst themselves.
        "Oh you'll just love the mall! There're so many stores and
soo much to choose from!" I hear Serena talking to Lina as I near
the duo. "Hmm, I wonder what'll look good on you..." I come up to
stand beside Lina, with Lita right behind me.
        "Well, we'll figure that out when we see what we have to
choose from," I say, bringing Lina's attention around to me. "But
don't worry," I wink at her, "we'll find the perfect outfit and
make you irresistable! That'll get your "friend's" attention."
        Immediately shock comes to her face. "What?? I told you!
We're not..."
        I wave her off. "I know I know, you're not dating," smiling
at her, I continue, "but that doesn't mean that you can't find
someone."
        Serena giggles and flits her hand at me. "Oh don't mind her
Lina, she just likes to play matchmaker." Then she laughs to
herself. "Even if she can't do it for herself."
        Acting totally calm, I swing my head to the side. "Hump, I
just haven't found the right guy yet." This sends Serena into yet
another fit of giggles while Lina just laughs. "So Serena, while
we're on the subject, why don't we think of what'd look good on
us? To pass the time," I smile sweetly while inside I'm laughing.
Here we go.
        "Oh yeah! That's always fun to do," she gazes up at the sky.
"Hmm, now who should we start with.."
        So we walk down the street with Serena gazing off into
nowhere, Lina just kind of absorbing the conversation, and me,
innocently of course, coming up with ideas. "Well...how about
Darian? That'd be a new twist."
        "Darian?" Serena blinks down at me, then looks around again.
"Hmm, well, he always looks good in nice dress it seems, so..."
She stands pondering. "Oooh, I bet he'd look absolutely dashing
in a tuxedo, oh and a cape!" Oops, that got a little off track.
She sighs, great, now she's dreaming of Tuxedo Mask again. Hmm,
this may be harder then I thought.
        Lina drops her head into her hand and sighs. "Little bit guy
crazy huh?" she whispers over at me.
        I smile and nod. "She's always got multiple crushes at any
one time," I speak softly, though not much disturbes Serena in
this state. "
        Lina turns forward again and folds her hands behind her head
as she walks. "So just how far away is this mall anyway?"
        Serena snaps back to reality. Sometimes I wonder if she ever
realizes when she leaves... "Oh it's not too much further. See! There it
is!"
She points at a very large building along the
roadside.
        Lina gazes upward at it. "Now THAT's a building."
        "Yep, biggest in town," Serena says, bouncing along toward
it. "Get ready to shop!"

::Lina::
        You know, I wonder what type of money they use here. Can't
believe I didn't think of that until we were already window
shopping in the mall. "Hey Serena, this may sound strange, but
what does the money here look like?"
        Serena turns to me, confused. "Huh? Our money?" she blinks,
but then pulls out a handful of coins. "It's called yen, did you
use something different where you came from?" I look at the
coins. Wow, 500 on a coin?? The currency here must be pretty
common.
        "Yeah, you could say that," now how am I going to fix this.
        "Oh don't worry about that," Lita cuts in, "we seem to get
a lot of foreigners here, so we have a currency exchange right
here in the mall!" She waves us over to a corner of the building
and we find a small, one room shop.
        I shrug. Well, it's worth a shot. "Hello, can I help you?"
The cashier looks at me, as I'm the one really approaching.
        "Umm, yeah." I pull out three gold coins. This should MORE
then cover their money. "I'd like to exchange these for yen."
I drop them into her palm where she just looks at them, before
looking up at me.
        "Is this a joke?" I blink and open my mouth, but she cuts me
off. "I'm sorry miss, we don't accept play money here." She holds
out her hand to me.
        "But they're real. That is gold." The others don't seem to
be paying much attention to me. That could be a good thing, won't
have to explain all this. "You can examine them if you'd like."
        She looks at me suspiciously, but then heads off to the
side. Looking in through her window I can see her sitting at a
table with an appraiser's eyepiece. She tries multiple tests
before muttering something I can't make out and heading back over
to me. Her face is full of amazement, shock, wonder, and gods
know what else. "Umm, one moment miss," she opens a drawer and
starts pulling out bills. Finally, she closes the drawer and
hands me about twenty of them with the a rather high amount
printed on them. "Thank you, please come again..." she stutters
out as I walk away pocketing the bills. Well, that could've gone
worse.
        "Okay, ready now?" I look up to see Serena looking at me and
nod. "Great! Onward to new outfits!" she walks on ahead with Mina
and Lita rushing up to her. While those two chat I hang back with
Raye and Darian on one side and Gourry on the other.
        "Wow Lina, it must've taken forever to build this place! Do
you think they used ma.." I cut him off short with an elbow to
the ribs.
        Raye glances over, but only sees Gourry rubbing his side a
bit. "So, how'd you two meet?"
        I shrug. "Oh, I was attacked by a group of thieves and he
ran them off." She looks at me in surprise and I can't help but
smile. By stating that so matter of factly I made it sound almost
commonplace. "After that we just continued on the road together
for a while."
        "That kind of thing happens to you a lot huh?" I look up to
see Darian with an eyebrow arched at me. He's a cautious one.
        I nod up at him. "I guess I look like easy prey or something
and being out on the road alone doesn't help any."
        Raye shrugs. "Yep, it happens a lot. Guys always think us
girls are wimps." Grinning she look over at me. "Fun to show
them up isn't it?"
        I laugh. "You bet it is! Guys that threaten me end up
begging for mercy." Raye laughs beside me while Gourry looks
over smiling.
        "Yeah, though you wouldn't tell by looking at her, she's
pretty strong for a little girl." He pats me on the shoulder and
doesn't even see my face.
        Growling, I tense. "Gourry..." he looks down just in time to
get a scabbard flat bladed across his gut.
        He grunts and bends at the waist a bit. "What was that for
Lina?" I sigh loudly.
        "Forget it Gourry." I look back over at Raye and nod towards
the trio ahead of us. "So, are you all good friends?"
        She nods at me and smiles. "Yeah, we do almost everything
together." she pauses. "Well, at least what we can, we don't all
share a lot in common."
        "So just where..." Then I hear Serena yelling out from in
front of us.
        "We're here! Come on Lina!" She rushes back to me and grabs
my hand, dragging me into the store. Looking around all I can see
is clothes lining the walls and on racks around the floor. "This
is the best store in the mall! We'll find you a ton of outfits!"
        And so it begins. Serena goes bounding through the aisles,
looking this way and that, mouth never stopping. I smile at her
happiness. She's so carefree, I've almost forgotten what that's
like. Well anyway, I'd better find something here to wear, before
they pick out something for me like they're wearing. Gods, I
haven't worn a skirt in years. Now let's see... I wander around
the store, looking carefully through the racks of clothes for
something that I like. Well, if nothing else, at least I'll have
the outfit I'm wearing, I'll just need to remove the cape, and a
few other accessories. As for now though... Suddenly, all four
girls find their way through the rows and to me at the same time,
each holding a different outfit. I blink in surprise. Wow, that
was fast.
        "Try this Lina! It's sooo cu.." Serena starts trying to show
me what she found.
        "Oh look at this Lina! You'll look bea.." There goes Mina,
holding hers up as well.
        "See if these fit Lina! I think they'll be ni.." Now it
seems to be Lita's turn.
        "Look what I found Lina! They're definitely yo.." And last
Raye, boy, these girls don't agree on much do they? They're all
talking at once now and I can't keep track.
        Anger and frustration hit me as they continue. Enough! "Will
you all just be quiet!!" I half yell and instantly they all
shut up, looking at me in amazement. He he, didn't know I had a
temper huh? They'll see... Now that I can concentrate, I look
through what they've brought. "Hmm.." Any one of the outfits
alone just aren't me, but maybe combined...
        While they stand staring at me in surprise, I grab a pair of
sturdy black pants, not jeans, from Raye, a dark green short
sleeve shirt from Lita, a light red denim-cloth type button up
jacket from Serena, and an auburn belt from Mina. "Okay, I'll try
these. Be right back," spinning around with clothes in hand, I
enter the dressing room. Okay, first remove the current clothes
and boots, wear this and then...

::Gourry::
        Well, there goes Lina, guess it's my turn to find something.
Guess I'll wander around a bit. Boy, they've got some strange
clothes here. Hmm, I hold up a pair jeans, looking at them. Seems
like strong material, wonder if they'll hold up...
        "So, what style do you like?" Turning, I see Darian looking
at me questioningly.
        I shrug. "Not sure, I haven't worn much more than this for a
long time. It suits life on the road."
        He nods at me, smiling. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Casual
and comfortable, yet effective. I think we can find something
that'll fit you, now that you're off the road." He waves,
beckoning me to follow. As we walk, I can't help but gaze around.
Wow, this place is huge, and completely full at that! Looking
ahead again, I find Darian sorting through some pants. He glances
over at me, seemingly studying me, then turns back. Finally, he
grabs a pair of dark blue jeans and hands them to me. "Now for
the shirt." Once again he heads off and I follow blindly. A guy
could get lost in this place...
        "This place is like a maze..." I speak softly and he
chuckles at my tone.
        "Yeah, but we get used to that kinda thing after awhile,"
he grins at me. "Just be careful when shopping with a girl,
they'll get you so turned around with their wandering you may
never see day light again."
        I gasp at the thought. "What? But what about Lina and the
others, will they be okay?"
        He laughs but keeps walking. "Man, you take things too
seriously ya know? Don't worry about them, I swear, they can
shop for hours and know exactly where they are the whole time."
He pauses, glancing off to the side. "Ah, here's the area." We
wander around for a bit, looking at this and that. Hmm, never
was much of a fashion expert myself. "Here you go." Turning, I
see Darian holding up a long sleeve black shirt with the four
buttons below the collar. On the left chest is a silver
embroidering of a shield with a sword crossed over it.
"Considering how you came dressed, I think this should fit
perfectly."
        He hands me the shirt. Well, the jeans are soft and pliable
enough, and the shirt seems to match well enough. I nod. "Okay,
guess I'll go try them on." I look around, but Darian grabs my
shoulder and points with his other hand at a small room in the
near wall.
        "That's the dressing room, just head in there," I nod and
walk off into the room. Once in there I first remove the
breastplate and guards, then work on changing the rest...

::Raye::
        Hmm, that girl sure is a strange one. We have all been
chatting and browsing around since she went in, just wasting the
time until she comes out. With that mixmatch of clothing she
took? Well, you never know.
        "Ooh, I bet she'll look sooo cool!" Serena was going on.
"With that outfit she had on before, she must know what she's
doing!"
        Mina nods. "Well, we won't know until she comes out, wonder
what's taking so long anyway?"
        At that moment, I see Lina from the corner of my eye coming
out of the dressing room. "Well, look who's here guys." Catching
their attention, I point towards the newcomer. We all turn and
rush over to her. Amidst the admirations expressed by us all, I
study her new appearance. She still wears her black headband
and round, topaz earrings,(AN: forgot to mention these earlier,
sorry!) as well as her supple leather boots. Still, the rest of
her attire has completely changed! With the assorted clothing she
collected from our choice offerings, she now wears the dark green
shirt tucked into the black pants with the auburn belt. Over all
this, she wears the red jacket, more for look then need seeing as
it's summer out.
        "Well, this should work as a second outfit." Lina says,
smiling and winking at us. "So how do I look?"
        A loud shriek comes from, you got it, Serena. "You look so
totally cool Lina!"
        Mina smiles enthusiastically. "Yeah Lina, it's a gorgeous
outfit."
        Lita and I merely nod to her and smile. "It's nice," I say,
"though it looks a bit warm."
        She shrugs. "I'm used to that by now." She looks up at us
then, smiling. "So, shall we go see how the guys are faring?"
        We head out, searching the area for the rest of our group,
though it's fairly easy to find them as they wouldn't be anywhere
but the guy's clothes section. Sure enough, we find Darian
wandering around outside the dressing room.
"Hey Darian!" Serena calls out. He looks up and for a moment
his face lights up, then it resumes his normal calm expression.
        "Hey Meatball Head," he smiles and glances over at Lina.
"Not bad, you think of that all by yourself?"
        Serena's face struggles between anger, pride, and...who 
knows? Regardless, she smiles slightly. "Well, actually all four
of us picked an outfit for her, and she put that together from
pieces of them."
        Darian breaks out laughing. "Well well, looks as if you have
yet another taste to deal with." Smiling, he shakes his head. "I
swear, you girls don't agree on hardly anything!"
        "Now that I have another outfit, just where should I put all
this?" Lina hold up the bag and reraise the question of where
Gourry and her are going to live.
        Serena claps her hands suddenly. "That's no problem, you can
stay with me for a few days!" she exclaims. Living with Meatball
Head? Got to feel sorry for the girl.
        Still, she does need somewhere to stay, and she is now our
friend it seems... Nodding, she smile gratefully at her. "Thanks,
but are you sure it'll be alright with your parents?"
        She waves off her concerns. "Don't worry, they won't mind at
all. They love meeting new people!"
        "Okay, but now what about Gourry?" Serena leans her head in
her hands, pondering.
        Finally she smacks her fist into her hand and turns to 
Darian. "Hey Darian, do you think you could..."
        "..take him into my apartment?" He grins at her as he cuts 
her off.
        She nods. "Yep! Oh come on Darian, it'll be a good chance to
get to know him better, and it'd be really nice of you since he 
knows no one else.." She gives him such a pleading look that I 
swear that, knowing Darian, I expected him to laugh at her and
refuse. Instead, he blew my mind. 
        His face noticably softens and he looks like he has
trouble speaking. Then he smiles and nods at her. "Now how can I
refuse a request like that?" She blinks in surprise. "Sure thing
Serena, I'll tell him when he comes out." He then looks over at 
me. "However, you two are used to seeing each other constantly, 
right?" She nods. "Hmm, this ought to prove different for you guys then, of
course, we all seem to see each other often enough
just by coincidence, so it shouldn't be too bad." 
        Lina sighs and looks around. "Gourry! You slowpoke! Get out
here!" her sudden call startles all of us, but immediately it
accomplishes it's task as Gourry bolts out the door.
        "Ahh! Sorry Lina!" he stands in the doorway with his hand on
the back of his head in an anxious gesture.
        Lina nods approvingly at him. "Hmm, not a bad outfit," we
all look to see him wearing his new black embroidered shirt and
dark jeans. Well, they seem to suit him well enough. Suddenly,
Lina drops her head from a look at his midhalf. "Gourry, the main
point of these new clothes is to fit in," she brings her head up
and points at him sternly, "and wearing you sword belt eliminates
the whole point!" 
        He glances down. "Oooh yeah," he chuckles, "guess I forgot."
Lina sighs again while he looks at her blankly. "But I never go
without my sword, what should I do with it?" 
        Lina walks over to the counter and talks with the clerk, who
hands her a bag much like her own. Then she returns to Gourry.
"Just put all your old stuff in here for now, we'll figure out 
a better way to deal with it all later." She hands him the bag,
which he promptly fills, and then turns back to us. "Well, we've 
accomplished our first task," she waves her hand past Gourry and
herself, "so now what?"
        "Let's go for ice cream!" Serena exclaims.
        "How about we window shop?" asks Mina.
        "Or run by the cooking store? I need to pick up some stuff."
Lita states.
        "Grandpa wants me to pick up some stuff, so I have to get 
around to that as well," I say, remembering my list.
        "I think I'll just run by the book store, pick up some stuff
for college." Darian offers last.
        Lina throws up her hands. "Gods, why don't we all just meet
back at the entrance in an hours time?" she drops her hands to 
her hips. "Since you all seem to have different things to do, 
we can all just choose where we go or who we go with until the
deadline." She glances at each of us in turn. "Okay?"
        Hmm, she's not a bad planner, used to being in charge it
seems... "Sounds good," Darian says and we all nod likewise. 
        "But you don't know the mall," Serena looks over at Lina,
"where will you go?"
        "Well, first order of business," Lina states and raises her
hand, right as her stomach grumbles, "is to find some food. So,
anyone else hungry?"
        Smiling, Serena grabs her hand. "Yeah! You can come with me
to get some ice cream! I'll show you the best place around." Then
she glances up at Gourry. "Where're you headed?"
        He just shrugs. "Guess I'll follow you two, been too long
since last meal."
        "Great!" With a bright face she waves to the rest of the 
group. "Bye guys! See ya later!"
        We all wave back in turn and proceed to go about our 
business...

Later...

::Lina::
        Well, I must say this is a first. After arriving at the ice
cream shop, we found tons of different types, and of the 
strangest things imaginable. Serena choose what she said to be 
her favorite flavor, strawberry, I chose something called rocky
road, and Gourry picked a colorful one they labeled bubble gum.
We sat eating, chatting as was allowed, and was rather enjoying
watching the trouble he had in eating such a thing.
        "Hey Lina," he tries to talk around a mouthful of ice cream,
"I can't chew this stuff." time after time he chews, and chews, 
and chews.
        Eventually Serena's overcome by the giggles. "That's bubble
gum you're chewing on. It's meant to just chew, not eat or 
swallow." 
        Of course, right then he gulps it all down. "Oooh, okay."
And then digs into more of it. I finally can't take it anymore
and join Serena in her laughter, while Gourry sits just eating
his bubble gum.
        Suddenly though, we're interrupted by a loud scream from 
another area of the mall and instantly we're all on our feet. 
"What was that??" I ask, mainly just to myself as they wouldn't
know anymore. 
        "Someone must be in trouble!" Serena cries out. "I'll go..
umm..call the police, just wait here okay?" then she runs off 
before I can even get a word in. By the gods, I knew this day
was going to well.
        I grin up at Gourry. "Stay here? And miss the fun?" He nods
down to me and we dash off into the mall, searching for the 
trouble.

::Serena::
        Leaving my two new friends at the table, I run off into an
empty corner and quickly pull out my communicator. Hitting 
buttons rapidly, Amy's face appears on a little screen. 
        "Mercury here, what is the problem Serena?"
        "We're at the mall and a demon's attacking, I'm alone right
now because we split up, and if it's like the last one, we'll 
need back up."
        "Right, I'll be there as soon as possible." the screen 
flashes to blankness and I tuck it back into my pocket.
        "Well, here we go.." I raise my hand into the air and 
prepare. "Moon Prism...Power!" Right away my pendant glows
brightly and I'm surrounded in a swirl of colors. After a moment,
I'm enveloped in my sailor suit and I run off to find the fight..
        It doesn't take me long to find it with all the chaos 
leaving such a trail and I arrive to see that I'm the first one
there, and the demon is ugly as ever. It's not the one we fought
yesterday though, this one is a normal nega-creep. Rushing up to
the demon, which looks like an electrical junk menace for, well,
the negaverse, I try to divert its' attention from the innocents.
        "Hey, how dare you interrupt these people's shopping! I am
Sailor Moon! Defender of the innocents, champion of love and
justice, and your worst nightmare," I love these lines. "In the
name of the moon, I'll right all wrongs and triumph over evil!
And that means you mall crasher!" Finally it turns, took it long
enough, just about ran out of breath there, and glares at me.
        "Ahh, Sailor Moon is it? And just where are the rest of your
scouts? Hmm??" It queries evilly.
        Uh oh, they always are bolder when I'm alone. "Don't you 
worry about them!"
        It squints and stares at me. "So you intend to defeat me by
yourself?" It turns it's head upward and releases a loud, 
mechanic laugh before turning back to me. "We shall see Sailor 
Moon, whether you have the strength to beat the negaverse." With
that, it lashes outward, flinging a wire in my direction. 
Screaming, I leap out of the way, barely. It then shoots another,
and another. I dodge frantically, but can't keep my balance and 
fall to the ground aside the last cord.
        I look up to see it smiling wickedly as yet another wire
reaches to grasp me. "This is not good..." I back against the 
wall, but can't get away. Just as I close my eyes for the impact 
I feel a swish in front of me and look up to see Gourry holding a
sword over the now sliced wire.
        "What?? Who're you?" the demon glares at Gourry even as Lina
comes up to stand beside him. OH NO! What are they doing here???
        "Name's Lina Inverse, and this is Gourry Gabriev," she has 
her hand on her hip at looks up at the being with pure 
confidence. "Now, seeing as I'm no longer in the forgiving mood,"
she draws her sword as well, "you'll have until we reach you to
escape." She smiles and nods to the demon. "Let's get ?em 
Gourry!"
        "You got it Lina!" Splitting to both sides, they dash at the
thing who, being not the slightest bit intimitaded, fires off two
cords at the pair. Gourry slices through his without missing a
step and Lina dodges hers. "Ha, if that's your best shot, get 
ready to lose!" Gourry yells as he leaps on the demon with his 
sword, slicing through wire and metal alike.
        "Auugggh!" It grasps its' side. "How dare you injure me!" 
However, it forgot about its' second adversary, who now leaps 
from behind for another slash. Screeching in pain it backs off
and fires live wire at them both, from near point blank. 
        "Nooo! Lina! Gourry!" I scream and leap to my feet.
        "Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"
        "Mars Fire...Ignite!"
        The energy blasts impact the wires and destroy them. "What?"
The demon swings around to the newcomers.
        Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury stand at the opposite hall
entrance. "Scouts!" I yell, rushing over to them. "I'm sooo glad 
you're here!"
        "Of course," Mars says, hands on her hips, "we're always 
having to come to your rescue."
        "Not now Mars!" I look at her in panic. "Lina and Gourry are
in trouble!" I swing my arm around to point at them and the 
others gasp. 
        "What?? What are they doing here?" Lita asks.
        "Doesn't matter now, let's hurry scouts!" Mina rushes 
forward, even then raising her arm for another attack. "Venus
Crescent Beam Smash!" the beam of light slams into the demon,
sending it to the ground.
        "Master Malachite..." it wheezes out, "I've failed..."
        Suddenly laughing envelops the area. "Not yet Electrode,"
none other then Malachite appears in the air above us, "I'll not
have one of my best creations defeated that easily!!" Laughing, 
he raises his arms and power crackles around him.
        "Oh what now???" Raye asks sighing, even as she attains a
guarded stance.
        "Something we won't like no doubt," comes a deep voice from
behind us. I turn and gasp in delight.
        "Tuxedo Mask! You're here!" Ohh, I just knew he'd come to 
the rescue.
        "Ahh, well, Tuxedo Mask, how nice of you to join us," 
Malachite chuckles. "Now we can get rid of all of you at once!"
Then he glares down at Lina and Gourry. "As well as the humans
that DARE interfere!" In an explosion of energy the entire area
around us goes dark and changes into a swirling mass a dark 
colors and undefinable boundaries.
        "Whoa, weird place," Lina comments, looking around.
        "Oh no! Look guys! We're not finished yet!" Mina calls out
to us all. Instantly, we all snap out heads back around to where
the demon was lying and instead find it standing up, fully 
repaired, larger then before, and simply glowing with dark 
energy.
        "Uh oh...." I softly, giving voice to all our thoughts...

::Lina::
        My my, this guy's persistant. After being joined by a group
of costumed teens and a guy in a tuxedo, a guy in a bland gray
uniform appears, threatens the Sailor Scouts, who I assume to be 
the newly arrived group, and sends us to god knows where. Also,
much to our dismay, he revives the demon and even strengthens it
many times over. This just isn't my day!!
        Clearing my throat I glare up at the man. "You've got some 
nerve! Interrupting my day and sending this creature parading 
through the crowds. And to think you could imagine that it'd 
defeat me," oh yeah, I'm not alone, "or rather, us." Depending
on how strong this thing really is though, my sword might not be
enough...
        He glares and grins down at me. "Well, don't we think highly 
of ourself little girl." Little girl?!?!? "I'll teach you to mess
with the negaverse! Go Electrode! Teach this pest some manners!"
        "Of course Malachite..." Gods, this thing is quick! Needless
to say, we all fight hard and consistantly assail the thing, me
and Gourry with our swords, the scouts with their strange magic 
attacks, and that tux guy with his...roses and cane? Well, to 
each his own. Anyway, it doesn't turn out quite as we'd hoped...
        After our barrage, the demon stands laughing along with its'
master, and we all stand panting. Enough playing, this thing has
shown that it is indeed strong, now let's show it what we can 
really do.
        "Gourry," he glances down to me, sweating rather profusely,
"it's time." He grins down at me as I stand up, taking a calm 
stance. 
        "Let's do it Lina!" Sheathing his sword, he grabs a small
needle and sticks it into his sword hilt in a way I know all to
well. Here we go. Take this and live....

::Serena::
        "I don't believe this is happening!!" I whine, looking 
around at my companions gasping for breath.
        "Malachite's no push over," Lita gasps out, "and we're 
nearly exhausted."
        "We can't give up scouts," Tuxedo Mask say, leaning against
a wall. "This thing must not escape us."
        "Well no kidding," Raye says dryly, "we've been giving it 
all we've got, but it just deflects or absorbs everthing we throw
at it!" She throws up her arms in exasperation. "Not even Saior
Moon's tiara works!"
        Sighing, I drop my head. I hate feeling so helpless, but the
thought that there's no hope is unacceptable! What more can we do
though... "Hey guys," I look up to see Mina staring off in a
different direction. Looking over I see Lina and Gourry. "What do
you think they're up to?" What are they doing? They're about five
feet away from us, so we can hear most of what they say quite 
clearly, as they can us. I so wish they hadn't been dragged into
this...
        Right now however, Gourry's holding his sword, or rather his
hilt for there's no blade in it, hmph, must've broken, and Lina's
standing with her arms to her side and her eyes closed. "I don't
know Venus. They look so helpless right now, Lina's unarmed and
Gourry's sword has no blade."
        "Wait scouts!" Raye's sudden call startles us all and we 
look quickly over. "That power I felt in Lina earlier, it's 
increasingly...dramatically!!" 
        Wha... "Look there!" Mercury gasps, pointing over at them.
I look over and... My god, is she...glowing? Rather, the very air
around her glows in a cloud of red. 
        Suddenly Gourry shouts out to no one. "Light come forth!!"
Instantly a blade of pure light extends from the hilt in the 
place his metal blade used to sit.
        Tuxedo Mask gasp and takes a step back. "A sword of pure 
light??? Where would such a thing come from..." Just then we hear
Lina apparently chanting softly while Gourry rushes the demon...
        "Heed me now thou who is darker then dusk...
        "Heed thou which is more red then blood...
        "In the name of that which has been buried in the bottomless
abyss of time eternal..." 
        "I summon thee, master of the ultimate darkness!" suddenly
Lina's voice rises in volume so that her voice becomes a yell.
        "Have no pity on the fools who stand in our way!
        "Infuse me with power, let your strength become mine!
        "To wipe it from the face of this earth!" Gourry reaches the
creature and leaps, swinging his bright sword and cutting right 
through the shield which instantly shatters outward.
        "To deliver unto them the ultimate doom!
        "DRAGON SLAVE!!!!"
        As Gourry completes his jump and flies past the demon, and 
as the demon yells in surprise from the strike, a ball of energy
the size her head turns into a stream and shoots directly into 
the demon. It screeches in pain as the power envelops its' being.
The aura around Lina fades and the lighting returns to normal.
        "Wow..." I breath out upon being able to see again. Not a 
single trace of the demon remains.
        "What??" yell Malachite. "How did you..???" He glances 
quickly down at Lina who, regaining her breath, once again takes 
a stance of pure confidence.
        "Never underestimate me!" she smiles and winks at him. 
"Kay?"
        He blinks, still startled by the occurrence, then growls in
pure anger and hatred. "We will return! The negaverse will 
succeed!!" With that, he disappears and our world reforms.
        We all turn back to the duo, as Gourry has come to stand
beside her again, mouths agape. I recover first and smile
brightly, running over to my friend. "Wow Lina!! That was great!"
I embrace her tightly, laughing as I do.
        "Well thanks, Serena," she whispers, smiling as well. Wait,
I'm transformed aren't I... Gasping, I look up at her and she
laughs. "I knew it! I can't believe that there'd be more then one
person with that personality around!" Leaving me still dazed, she
turns to the rest. "Nice job all!"
        Finally, Tuxedo Mask strolls over and looks at them both.
"Congratulations," he reaches out and shakes Gourry's hand, "it
looks like we have a lot to talk about..."
        I sigh. UNDERSTATEMENT TUX!



Secrets revealed!! Did ya like it? I'm trying my best to get my
chapters out by the deadline, so I hope I didn't cut any 
noticable corners. There you have it though, and I'll see you
again next week. Till then, Take Care!!!