"I can't think of anyone else who would be a better choice for this assignment," said Ranma.
"I do not understand this at all," said Nephrite.
Ranma let out a deep breath. He wasn't Beryl after all. "Okay. I'll explain it this once. You can project adult and play the part of a 'school administrator' better than Jedite, you with me so far?"
Nephrite inclined his head, acknowledging the point. "Yet this task..."
"We don't need to go around killing devilhunters and Senshi and such," said Ranma. "I have other plans that I can't go into as yet regarding them. One thing I will reveal to you, and only you at this point because you aren't as likely to slip up as some of the other Generals - is that there are other Dark Menaces out there. We keep these goodie-goodie types around and just point them at such things, that way we don't have to allocate OUR resources for such things."
"Hmmm," hmmmed Nephrite. "And this woman you want recruited for the school?"
"This particular teacher has an energy-suck ability you should study," said Ranma. "Very efficient and it stops short of fatal. If anyone can figure out how to adapt to it our harvester-yoma, you can. Besides, she can keep magical girls on a short leash if it comes to THAT."
"I see," said Nephrite. "Still..."
"You don't want to see what I did to Kunzite," said Ranma, letting the friendly demeanor slip away for a moment.
"I'll get right on it," agreed Nephrite with a shiver.
He went with the black and gold Chinese number. It had a certain traditional elegance. It also had a few weapons hidden in there. Because the life of a Dark Lord was fraught with difficulties.
So he had a few yoma, of whom he could trust - none. Well, one or two were fairly loyal - they did that whole obey-the-stronger thing.
He'd trained a few. Learned more as he went. He was, first and foremost, a martial artist.
First rate martial artist, second rate sorceror, second rate scientist. He had SOME power though. The drain, which could replenish his chi. At first it was just the typical drain, but he'd learned. He'd adapted. The scientist's logic and methodology. The sorceror's creativity. The martial artist's adaptability and focus. He termed them different. Vampire's Kiss, where he drained the human target but fed energy back in to create pleasure in the subject. Giving something back, as it were. There were other methods of drain, including into the dragon-lines.
Those were not his only tools though. Not very high in numbers, but he had access to other resources than yoma and some Dark Generals who would as soon boot the young pup off the throne than follow his orders.
Tough but fair, that was part of the Plan. He accepted surrender. He didn't accept betrayal. Keep faith with him, he'd keep faith with you. There were those whom he could use in such means.
Some did not respond well to such things. Others did. He'd work with the ones who did, and the others would be eliminated. Quickly, neatly, without a lot of fuss.
Though the image of a leather clad Sailor Pluto with a collar around her neck, lying at his feet had a lot of appeal. It would have a certain ironic justice, wouldn't it?
Ah well, time for such thoughts later.
Right now, he had to contact the local Senshi. Plus he'd have to try and "accidently" meet one or two others later.
The Inner Senshi looked at the cellphone lying on the table of Rei's shrine, not entirely sure what this meant.
"So, it was just sitting there with this note?" asked Sailor Mercury, a little uncertain of things.
Sailor Mars nodded. Just three words. "Call Senshi Meeting."
Sailor Moon swallowed nervously. Any moment now they'd be ambushed.
Sailor Mercury still had her Mercury Computer out and was scanning, as she had since they'd arrived. "I'm still not reading anything like dark energies..."
"Time, time, time, see what's become of me...
While I looked around for my possibilities,
she was so hard to please,
look around, leaves are brown,
and the sky -
is a hazy shade of winter."
"It's ringing," noted Sailor Moon, as soon as her heart rate had gotten back under control.
"It's a normal phone," said Sailor Mercury.
down by the riverside
its bound to be a better ride
Sailor Mars snapped the phone open. "Uhm, hello?"
"Hello, Sailor Senshi. I just wanted to let you know the Dark Kingdom is under new management, and that we won't be doing the whole 'monster of the week' thing. Thought you might like to get some sleep for a change."
"What kind of trick is this?" demanded Sailor Mars.
"No trick," said the male voice over the phone. "Tell Sailor Moon that Beryl has been... dealt with. The next menace to threaten you will probably be from someone pretending to be a Sailor like yourselves or something. I hope that we can meet amicably in the future."
"If you know who we are, why leave this phone?" asked Sailor Mars.
"Because you might not want me to call you at home?" asked the male voice. "Do you really want your grandfather to take a message for Sailor Mars?"
"Okay, I can see the point, and you're going to blackmail us with the information about our secret identities, aren't you?" asked Mars.
"The thought had crossed my mind," admitted the voice. "But don't you think blackmail and accusations are an awfully unfriendly way to start things off? Don't worry about it, I'll just give you a call some other time after things are settled. Maybe we can meet at a neutral ground or something."
Sailor Mars frowned as she clicked off the phone. "He's telling us that the Dark Kingdom is under new management, and he's calling off the monster attacks."
"YAY! I can sleep in!" reacted Sailor Moon.
Sailor Mars glared at Moon. "How can we trust anything they say?!"
"So you think they're telling us not to patrol, because you think they'll step up their operations?" asked Sailor Mercury.
"Of course!" said Sailor Mars. "That means... more all-nighters!"
"Waaaaaaaaaaah," predictably reacted Sailor Moon.
Meanwhile,
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(Posted Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:35)
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