>Magical Girl Hunters #12 Exposed! By John Evans, jevans@alum.mit.edu. >Beware the Radish >http://www.chaoseed.com/btr/ >4/18/01 >Now this is a bit of a trip. This was my verst first Impro chapter ever. And >it was quite a while ago. OLD SCHOOL!!! >For some reason, the mail header got included. Weird. This is kinda neat, >though, because it shows the date. And this was way before I started putting >dates on my chapters. Subject: MGH Episode 12! Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 05:25:46 EST From: "John D. Evans" To: twoflowr@pixelscapes.com >1998, wow. This also shows my old, OLD email address. And this was back when >ImproFanfic was http://www.pixelscapes.com/improfanfic/. Wild, huh? And now, it's time for another thrilling installment of... Magical Girl Hunters Episode 12: "In the Cards", or, "Shub-Basement" >I'm not really sure what possessed me to come up with that title. I guess I >just wanted both in there, because those were the two 'halves' of the >chapter. You'll see. by John D. Evans (jevans@datablast.net) >Oh, there's my semi-old email address... Presented by ImproFanfic (http://pixelscapes.com/improfanfic/) >And the old URL...the current one is, of course, http://www.improfanfic.com/ Magical Girl Hunters created by Aaron Shattuck Caution: This story contains depictions of people and things dying in unpleasant ways, not to mention some strong words. If you're surprised by this, you haven't read the previous episodes. So why are you starting with part 12? >Kind of obligatory warning for every chapter of MGH. This episode edited by my alternate personalities. Say hi, guys. Cover: Hi, guys. (snicker) Vedic: Despite what you may think, that didn't really need to be said. Stalker: Hail Aaron! Bandolier: Get ON WITH IT! >Okay, the thing is...that was a quirk of MGH, every chapter was edited by >someone or something strange. Starting with Chippy the Transvestite Gnome and >continuing on. So I decided to go all out. >Vedic and Stalker were MUD characters I played. I still have Stalker, in >fact...Bandolier is from the very first Ranma fanfic I ever wrote. Yeep. >Cover, well, is hard to explain... Uh, right....so, without further ado, we bring you live to Yoi-san. Yoi? ----- >Weird. I was using hyphens. This was before I came up with my trademark "row >of five equal signs". Well, it had been a hectic few days. After being stiffed on one contract, hired for another, time-stopped, beaten up, splattered with unnamable substances and shot at with an incredible variety of weaponry, not to mention killing sixty-four magical girls without any compensation other than, maybe, not being killed...many people in our line of work would take a day off. Although I'm not sure there *are* any other people in our line of work. The point was...it had been a hectic few days. After the assault on Shubby-chan's Happy Happy Joy Joy Fun Club, everyone was tired. Itami and Sailor H went back to his apartment to "recuperate". I was trying not to consider what that meant...not out of respect for Itami, but because I knew such a line of thought would engender a lot of frustration. Aika was presumably in school being repeatedly educated, unless she hadn't gotten enough sleep last night to stay awake in class. >"repeatedly educated" was kinda inspired by this Doonesbury cartoon about how >the media descended upon a town in New Hampshire, I think it was, to cover >the presidential primary. Some woman recounted her experiences with a well- >known media personality..."He INTERVIEWED me! REPEATEDLY!" That left me. I had been pretty banged up by the thing disguised as a magical girl (or maybe magical girl disguised as a thing...I hadn't been too sure). However, Aika's magical girl powers had worked so well that I got up and went to the office as always, instead of lying in bed and moaning all day as I had thought I would be doing. So here I was, sitting at my desk and throwing darts at the board. *thunk* I once heard about some famous musician who was only really good at composing when he was lying in bed drinking orange-flavored tea. Me, I just need to toss a few darts. It was the only reason I kept the dartboard up; playing darts against Itami is, if you'll excuse the term, pointless...He's just too good at using sharp things. >This kinda deepened Yoi's character, just a bit. I have a feeling this was >Beethoven, that this story is about, but don't quote me on that... *thunk* That got me thinking about the sword Itami had received recently. He had said there was a curse on it. He had also said he had gotten it from his mother, who had died in a tragic trash compactor accident. It seemed to suck in light and head when he pulled it out. Most unnerving of all, the one time I had seen him use it in combat, he had actually *grinned* at me. >All this is kinda me reviewing what's happened so far, bringing it all >together so it's easy for later authors to follow up on. >Incidentally...more about Itami's mother will be forthcoming in the Exposed >Do-Gooders chapters... *thunk* Now, my work forces me to have a certain perspective on things. I realize that my chosen role in life is to kill magical girls, who are not just young girls, but also usually Chosen Champions of Light and Good Things. A case could be made for me being on the side of Evil and Darkness, and I had long since come to terms with this moral dilemma. But Itami's sword...it worried me. It seemed like he was starting to be controlled by some dark force. I didn't mind him enjoying his work (hell, I did), but he was almost the only person I could call a friend, and I'd be damned if I would let him be the puppet of some Higher (or Lower) Power. *thunk* "Hey, pusbag." I had a nine mil in my hands and was getting a bead on the voice...but then I recognized it. >You may notice "nine mil" being used often in my parts, as it's my attempt at >making it look like I actually know something about weaponry... >9mm is, of course, .35-something inches, which *probably* means "35-caliber", >but don't quote me on *that* either... "HEY! What'd I tell you about waving guns around, you son of a--" "Oh, hey, I'm sorry, Murray." I lowered the gun. "It's just, well, surprising someone in my line of work is not really a good idea, you know?" Murray glared at me, and ruffled his wings. And let me tell you, when a buzzard glares at you, you really feel glared at. I felt the need to apologize...but then I realized that I had no idea how to make small talk to a scavenger bird. "So Murray...uh...what's up?" I said after a moment. Murray hmphed a bit and shifted back and forth on the windowsill. I got the strangest feeling that there was something he was having a hard time talking about. "Well, you see...this 'animal friend' crap. I got no idea how it's supposed to work. I mean, I know about all this shit Aika can do...but I don't know why she's supposed to do it." "I see," I lied. "I keep wonderin' if there's some way to resign." He glared at me some more, as if daring me to insult him. "I'm not gonna be a happy animal companion and shit. I'm a *buzzard*, damn it." >I don't think I ever *quite* got Murray's voice down completely...ah well... "So...You came to ask us, since we have...experience with magical girls." He shuffled and shifted his eyes a bit at this, but generally conveyed the impression of agreement. I decided my best bet was the smooth operator persona I used for clients. "Well, Murray," I began, "I'm not quite sure what to tell you. You see, all the girls we've, uh, come into contact with, have all been trained by magical girl outfits. The Happy Healing Heroes, the Angel Idol Defense Force...you know. This 'solo agent' thing...it's new for us. Not to mention that we've never heard of anyone becoming a magical girl against their will." I realized that I wasn't being very smooth. Unfortunately, I really didn't know what to tell him... Then a thought occurred to me. "Do you think it could have been Mashihaisha Ultra who turned Aika into a magical girl?" I noticed that my hand was absently reaching back to throw a dart. I let it fly and it hit the board board with a satisfying *thunk*. "Although...now that I think about it, it probably wasn't him. He seems to be trying to a) kill us, and b) discredit magical girls, both of which require very specific instructions. He wouldn't just turn someone loose like that." "It wasn't him," Murray put in. My hand paused in the dart drawer. "How do you know?" >"Well, there's this handy plot device..." He snorted. "Magic. I have this magical friend sense, or some fuckin' thing. Ultra and the guy who made us are different." I blinked. "Can you tell anything else about Ultra? Can you sense who he is, or where he is?" Murray rolled his head around, which was rather strange to watch. "Not like that. It's like...smelling their minds or something. I don't *know*, dammit. I can just tell they're different." He looked straight at me with a beady buzzard eye. "Thinking isn't easy, you know. It used to be just fly around, eat, crap, maybe look for a female buzzard every once in a while, simple. Now I gotta worry about the fuckin' forces of Good and Evil. Not only that, I gotta worry about whether I really *do* have to worry about them." I took a moment to digest this soliloquy. I felt reassured somehow that Aika wasn't a plot to kill us...At least, not by Ultra. Murray didn't seem to be able to track Ultra, which would have been useful, but maybe his "mind smell" would come in handy later, somehow. But there was still the mystery of who had created Aika...and there was Itami's sword, and other things... I let a final dart fly and stood up, ignoring the *chink* as it missed its mark. "I'm going to go visit a friend of mine who might know a bit more, Murray. I'll let you know what I find out...or I'll let Aika know, she can probably get it it to you. Keep in touch." >The dart missed the bullseye. >FORESHADOWING! *dramatic chord* Murray barked a laugh. "You kick off and I'll keep in fuckin' touch." That one stopped me for a moment. Buzzard humor, I guess. >...Unfortunately, this joke came out flatter than Misty's--anyway, the point >was that if Yoi dies, he'll be a corpse, and Murray will be happy to dine >upon his rotting flesh. Or something. ----- Even though I chase down "magical" girls for a living, I really don't know anything about magic itself. Of course, I had never seen a need to, either. Why bother understanding magical girls when I could just kill them? My expertise, therefore, is mostly in the area of weaponry. However, I have an acquaintance who knows a little about the "occult arts", as he puts it. I can't really say he's the Finn of magic, but he did help me out when Sailor Mirth had cursed my face with her Love and Happy Smiles attack. If there was anyone with something useful to say on the subject, it was probably him. >Sailor Mirth never appeared in the story again. I'm not saying that's a good >or a bad thing, I'm just making a note. >Anyway, the thing about Keikaku...I realize that adding a new character to >straighten things out is *probably* not the best way to write Impro. And he >turned out almost to be a self-insertion. Sigh. But I was kind of an >inexperienced writer...and anyway Keikaku ended up not really affecting the >story at all, so...ah, well. Walking through Tokyo, I noticed a number of lights, trees and plastic guys in red suits brightening up the streets. It seemed it was getting to be that time of year again. With all the running, shooting, etc. that had been taking up my time, I hadn't realized it was December already. I hadn't even gotten a gift for Itami. Not that he would care; every year I get him a sumo highlights tape or something, and he grunts and gives me some ammo. I have a feeling he wouldn't miss this little exchange if I blew it off, but the gesture is kind of important to me. After all, as I said, he's pretty much the only person I can call a friend. >I like tidying things up and making sure everyone knows what's going on. One >of the things that often gets lost in Impro is the understanding of what day >it is. Or even what time. So...this paragraph. >It also led into a bit of characterization, as you'll see in the next >paragraph... Then I found myself wondering whether to get a gift for Aika. She was already starting to feel like part of the Magical Girl Hunters team. In that line of thought, perhaps I could get something for Sailor H as well. Maybe if I got her some more black vinyl panties, she would model them for me... >The fun thing about MGH was always that Yoi had a very strong voice. He was >pretty easy to write. Promising myself a cold shower when I got home, I finally spied the sign I was looking for: "Secrets of the Universe Revealed! Tarot, Astrology, Shinto Charms". I had always thought it was kind of weak, but apparently Keikaku likes it that way. I pushed the door open, entering a small, rather ordinary room which someone had tried to make look vaguely mysterious. The walls were a light blue with black astrological symbols painted on them, and pictures of exotic and presumably magical locales dotted the walls. In the center was a round table with a pink tablecloth, at which a man appeared to be playing solitaire with tarot cards. >This was kinda inspired by a shop near Anime Crash in Harvard Square, in >Boston. (Well, Cambridge, but, y'know.) I've never *been* to the shop, but I >kept seeing it... "Hey, Keikaku," I said. "Yoi, come in. It's good to see you." Keikaku was a rather plain guy, average height, kinda thin, short black hair. He was wearing a black robe, but somehow it seemed pretty ordinary, even compared to the lousy ones the Shubby-chan cultists wore. He didn't bother to look up from his game as he talked. "Please, sit down. ...By the way...is this business or personal?" "I don't know, what are your rates?" I turned the chair around and straddled it, looking at him from across the table. "It's not the money that matters, it's more the spirit of the thing. The exchange. If you want serious advice, you'll need to pay...but I'll give you a discount since you're such a cool guy. Say, 1000 yen an hour." >There's a magic inherent in commercial transactions, is the point. >Don't worry, it's just a little abstract thing I threw in that didn't really >matter to the story... I had never understood Keikaku, and I'm not sure I ever would. Nothing seemed important to him except this weird little shop where he told housewives' fortunes, and even it was pretty lame. I almost felt sorry for him sometimes. >The point was that he sort of improves people's lives and thus generates good >karma for the world. Or something. "This shouldn't take long, I think, but here's 2000 anyway. I'm feeling generous today." I peeled off some bills and dropped them on the table. "Fair enough." He gathered up the money and put it somewhere in his robe. Only then did he actually look at me. "I always like to know where things stand." He smiled, as if at some private joke. "So, what's up? How's business?" >No real actual joke there, just Keikaku being Keikaku. "Weird. In fact, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." I proceeded to fill Keikaku in on recent events. He didn't say anything the entire time, being a heavy 'think before acting' kind of guy. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about magical girls shooting at him, so he could afford this luxury. What can I say? I live my work. "So I was wondering if you might have any insight into any of these events...you know, anything to say on any of these subjects," I concluded. "I feel like I'm getting a bit out of my depth, here, so if you could shed some light..." I trailed off, and looked at Keikaku to see if he was still paying attention. Keikaku was staring at the table. "Yes, I see," he said after a moment. "Lots of odd stuff. I'll have to think about this for a few minutes. Fortunately, I've already won this game, so I can use the cards." He gathered the cards up and started shuffling. Now this was the thing about Keikaku I had never understood. He went this stuff like it really mattered. "Keikaku...look, I respect you, man, but...you don't believe this all actually *works*, do you? I mean, cultists in robes performing dark rituals for black powers, that makes sense, but laying out cards on a table just seems...silly." "Ah, Yoi, you never did understand, did you?" He looked at me almost pityingly, which I found kind of annoying. "It's not whether things work or not that's important. It's how you think about them that matters." He sighed, and cut the deck one-handed. "For now, let's just think about this..." >This is me sort of soapboxing. ^_^; He started laying down cards in a presumably ancient fortune-telling pattern. "You talk about Good and Evil like they were absolutes. Like you could make an Evil-O-Meter, and use it to hunt down demons and lawyers. It really doesn't work like that." >Okay, here's where I started to flex my authorial muscles and try and make >some sense out of the whole mess of the story thus far. ^_^; "Oh, I know what you mean," I said, determined not to seem ignorant. "You're talking about 'Them and Us' instead of 'Good and Evil." A point of view I had picked up from some book and found to be both quite rational and almost uniquely suited to my line of work. >I think that was one of the books of the Belgariad, probably. (Let's hear it >for Silk!) "Well, yes, in a sense," he said, staring at the cards he was laying on the table. It struck me that Keikaku might be doing this just to concentrate, like I did with darts. Maybe that was what he had meant about 'how you think about them'. "You see, there are many supernatural forces at work in the world, some obvious and some subtle. I don't think it's really an exaggeration to say they're all on the same side: their own. Even so, we can make some generalizations. For example, there are many groups that seek to gain power in human society, or simply dominate society itself." >The point is that I, as an author and a reader, like stories where the >"morality" isn't so clear cut. Either that or the whole notion gets played >with. I knew this quite well, in fact. "Most of my clients would fall into that category." Keikaku smiled slightly as he considered the cards. "Indeed. Then there are the organizations that feel that humanity is worth protecting from evil." "Magical girls," I said, nodding. "Probably. But then there are the forces that are opposed to one or the other of the previous forces, and don't really care about humanity. They might field magical girls as well..." He flipped over a card from the deck and peered at it. "Chariot. Help, triumph, war, presumption, vengeance..." >I have a deck of tarot cards, with a booklet that lists interpretations for >all of them, and it really helped me here...(Rider-Waite, if you're curious.) A light dawned. "If they're only interested in fighting other things... They wouldn't care about civilian casualties." Keikaku smiled again. "Yes, they probably wouldn't. Then there are the ghosts and demons which are really acting on human desires...for vengeance, anger, or just hatred at the world. Many demons are, in fact, basically human ghosts filled with dark emotions that have been able to gain power after death." I started to get that 'in over my head' feeling again. "And...they might be used by, perhaps, my clients?" >Here we see that Yoi is trying to relate everyone and everything to himself. "Possibly. But they usually work in other ways. It's my feeling, for example, that the sword your friend Itami has is haunted by a spirit which has a great deal of hatred for the living. Not everyone wants to either hire you or kill you, Yoi." That was a bit of a shock. "So...it's not an Evil-with-a-capital-E sword?" "What is evil, Yoi?" Keikaku asked musingly. "In my view, evil only has meaning to humans...therefore, only things with human desires can do evil things. I mean, if an earthquake kills someone, you don't call it evil, since it doesn't have any desires. Of course...the sword might have had its spirit as a sword awakened by some hateful magician...but there's not much difference between that and a haunting...Five of swords; degradation, infamy, dishonor..." I realized Keikaku was drifting off on a tangent, and tried to think of something to bring him back. "What about...those two youma hunters, Kyo and Mai? Where do they fit in?" He looked up at me from the cards. "Well, they could be agents of some power similar to that making magical girls...Or they could be humans who have gotten access to some magical powers and decided to hunt youma to protect society. Self-appointed policemen. In fact, that explanation sounds more likely to me." I nodded; Kyo and Mai had seemed quite human to me. I kind of doubted an alien entity would go to the trouble of cross-dressing. "All right...what about the cultists and Shub-Niggurath? Are they evil?" "A difficult question," he said as he flipped up the top card of the deck and looked at it. "Shub-Niggurath is a alien entity. Her (or maybe its) motives are probably impossible for humans to understand. Perhaps she has a deal with the cultists; they provide her with sacrifices, and she provides them with the services of her Dark Young." A lot of wheels were turning in my head now. "Since she needs sacrifices, that might make her evil in a human sense...not something for normal humans to deal with. And the kind of people that would worship her, provide sacrifices, would probably fit the definition of evil." I noticed Keikaku looking at me with an odd smile; after a moment, I realized why. "I don't want to go into what category I think I fit into right now, if that's what you're thinking," I said, doing my Itami impersonation to discourage discussion. >A lot of this was, of course, me just spouting off about what I thought would >be cool. ^_^; "Of course," Keikaku said. "Your money, your talk. Anyway, I'm a web developer, not a psychiatrist." >"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a...oh, yeah. Well, I'll see what I can do." I stared at him. He looked back at me. "What, you think this shop pays my rent? But getting back to the subject..." He showed me the card he had turned over; it had a picture of a big thing with a goat's head, and the title 'Devil'. "One other thing about Shub-Niggurath is that her Dark Young are so unlike human life that most people would class them as demons, and certainly evil. They probably don't coexist well with humans." "Yeah, I think that's a safe assumption," I said. "So...this Ramsbottom character. Somehow, I'm not convinced that he hired us simply because we're good at killing people. I think he must have some reason not to be involved in taking out the cultists personally. You?" "Well, I agree with you, for one thing...but I'm not sure what reason he might have. Maybe he really does want to save the universe...but I think it's more likely that the cultists are interfering in his plans somehow." I pondered this. "Yeah, that makes sense. So that leaves only one thing. Who healed Aika and turned her into a magical girl...and why?" Keikaku looked straight at me. "By now you should know as well as I do." After a moment, I nodded. "It could be any number of these 'forces'...but there's really no way to tell right now. Since you seem to be implying that you don't know of any way to sense who it was." "Correct. However..." He turned over the next card in the deck, then looked at me expectantly. I looked back at him. "However...what?" He indicated the card. "The Star; loss and abandonment, or alternately hope." Then I got it. "However, since nobody seems to be giving her orders, we probably shouldn't be worrying." "Didn't you tell me that Ultra hired you to get rid of his own magical girl?" I nodded, suppressing a shiver. "Captain Kawaii." I'd been trying to forget the sadistic little tot. "He was definitely trying to get rid of her. ...So if whatever force is displeased with Aika, they'll make sure we know." >The whole point of me writing MGH is that Captain Kawaii is my absolute >favorite character in the series, and in fact possibly my favorite Impro >character period. >In case it wasn't obvious. ^_^; "Right. So, just relax and don't worry. If something needs to be done, you'll know." Keikaku's grin took on a slight manic tinge. Well, this had been slghtly productive. "It's my job to worry about things, Keikaku. That's why we have a ninety-nine percent success rate, you know; I think about the details." I stood up and I turned to leave. "Thanks for the advice...I really do feel like I have a better handle on things." An odd mental image of a pair of handlebars mounted on a skyscraper popped into my head. >I like that image...don't quite know where it came from, though... "One more thing before you go, Yoi. Well, actually two." I turned around again to see Keikaku patting down his robe, like there were hidden pockets. Suddenly I felt like Keikaku was a lot more understandable. I had quite a few pockets in my trenchcoat, myself. I felt the bond strengthen when he took a knife out from somewhere. "This is for you." "What is it?" I asked, though it was obviously a knife. "Call it a good luck charm," he said, "although basically it's a knife." "Yeah, I noticed. What's it do?" >Yeah, kind of a cliched joke, but that's what builds up the story...little >bits like that. "I'm not exactly sure. I got it from a friend, who said it was an ancient spirit knife. ...Before you say anything, there's nothing haunting it or anything like Itami's sword. As far as I know, some priest might have just waved his hands over it and pronounced it magical, for all the power I can sense. If nothing else, you could stick it into someone and make them bleed." >Small HoL reference there. Normally I wouldn't bother with anything like this, but upon close inspection it turned out to be a really good knife. It was actually a tanto, a hiltless Japanese knife made with classical sword-making techniques. Usually I used ordinary army knives, but this looked like it might have been the last-ditch weapon of a Tokugawa samurai. I know I usually place my faith in flying lead, but after the Finn's prize gun had jammed on me, this looked pretty good. Besides, it was better than *my* current last-ditch weapon. >This is where I demonstrate my knowledge (such as it is) of ancient Japanese >weaponry. ^_^; "Well, Keikaku...it does happen to be a damn good knife. So if you're letting me have it for free, hell, I'll take it." I turned it around and noticed a small yin-yang design on the pommel. Raising an eyebrow, I pointed it at him. "And what's this?" "In this case, it symbolizes balance. I thought it appropriate for you." He smiled. "Just one thing...don't give it to Itami. I'm not sure it would like that sword of his." I pocketed the knife. "Sure. We just got a new load in anyway; he's got more than enough to play with." I turned and had the door open before I remembered something. "What was the other thing?" I asked, turning around yet yet again. >I really like the idea of characters accumulating changes as they go along. >Adding weapons, new techniques, little things like that... Keikaku looked off into space for a moment, then back at me. "Oh, yeah. It was just another thought about those cultists of Shub-Niggurath you were talking about. You said you were going to hit them again tomorrow...And you said the pamphlets said she was the 'Guardian of the Young'. Right?" "Yeah," I said, suddenly getting a bad feeling. "Well...whose Young is she Guarding?" >This was supposed to be a whole huge dramatic thing that would inspire a >whole plotline. ...Or something. But, well, it just kinda got left there. And >I guess I have to admit that I didn't build it up as well as I could have... ----- Well, that was enough screwing around. Time to get to work. I called Itami, and we agreed to stake out the pizza box address that night. I got the plans of the place from City Records, as usual, and then I picked Itami up so he could be uncommunicative during the stakeout, as usual. Once again, we were watching an abandoned warehouse. This one hadn't even been made up to look like a day care center. I felt like my brain was gnawing its own leg off to escape the deadly boredom. >Damn, I had an actual tab instead of my traditional four spaces. >Anyway...that's something about animals caught in traps who gnaw their legs >off, or something. "So, Itami," I said. Itami looked at me. "Er..." I desperately tried to think of something to say. "...Feel like listening to the radio for a bit?" Itami gave me a 'have you gone insane' look, which, after a moment, shaded into an 'oh, all right' look. He leaned over and switched on the radio. "--and don't forget, the Idol Benefit Achievement Concert will be held next Tuesday in the Tokyo Happydrome, so get your tickets soon! Now, continuing our Tokyo Fun Late Night Insomnia Hour, here's the lovely Angel Fighter Aiko with 'There's Someone For You'. This one's going out to everyone losing sleep over love. Remember...'There's someone for *CLICK*" I snapped off the radio and sank back into my seat, ignoring Itami's expression. Fortunately, I had managed to think of something to talk about. >That's a plot point that fortunately got picked up by later authors. Cool. "So Itami...Did Sailor H tell you why she hadn't shown up for the scouting mission a couple of days ago?" Itami shook his head ever so slightly. After a moment, I blinked. "She didn't tell you where she was?" "Grunt," Itami grunted. This struck me as a bit odd. "...Did you talk to her at all?" "Haven't seen her." Well, I knew that H was far from a regular member of the team. Maybe she had just decided that killing cultists was a waste of time. Still, I had realy had the impression that she had finally wormed her way into Itami's, er, heart for good, and thus would be sticking around for a while. >This was me addressing the fact that H hadn't been around in the story >recently...and it gets continued later in this chapter. Well, it's not like my being paranoid is actually news to anyone. Itami hissed softly. I jerked out of my reverie and noticed three girls walking toward the warehouse. My magical girl hunting instincts buzzed as I looked at them. They certainly weren't the cute-obsessed type; however, there was a certain self-confidence in their walk. I could tell they would be determined fighters...difficult to take down, as magical girls went. "Same," Itami murmured. "What?" "They all walk the same." I looked back at the girls, and got a strange feeling as I realized that Itami was correct. The three girls all walked with the same stride, and didn't talk much. If they had been walking in sync, they would have looked like soldiers on parade. Fortunately, they all looked different, or I would have been really spooked. One had straight blue hair which came to her shoulders, another had curly brown hair, and the third had a brown ponytail. Their clothes were also slightly different, but casual and forgettable. The girls disappeared into the front entrance of the warehouse. "Looked like magical girls," I noted. "Yeah." I turned in my seat to look at Itami. "Did they seem a bit...strange to you?" "Yeah." I waited, but he didn't offer anything else. "...Do you think they might have been transformed girls, like we fought at the other Shubby-chan Club?" I finally asked. "Maybe." That seemed to end that conversation. The rest of the stakeout was uneventful. Nobody went in or out of the warehouse the entire time, and eventually I turned the radio back on (on a non-Fun station, of course). Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, we left the stakeout and agreed to meet at the office in the afternoon to discuss our findings at the time we had agreed upon with Aika and H. I drove Itami home and then went back to my apartment. My dreams were weirder than usual that night, filled with dark, inhuman creatures and roaring, out-of-control lawnmowers. >Not sure where that image came from, either, but I like it. >Unfortunately, I kinda realized that I didn't know exactly what should >happen on a stakeout. So...hm. This scene could have been stronger, maybe... ----- The next day I slept a bit late, and got to the office about an hour before the meeting. I didn't really worry about clients coming by and not finding us in, since we still had enough ready cash to live for a while, not to mention an answering machine. Itami showed up soon after me, and we played darts until Aika arrived, right on time. "Itami, have you seen H yet?" I asked. Itami shook his head. "All right, then I suggest we start the meeting. I don't think H will be joining us...she practically defines the term 'loose cannon', so it's just us three. If you still want to work with us, of course, Aika." "Of course!" Aika said. "Where else could I get to use such wonderful guns?" >Small Batman (the first movie) reference there, of course... I smiled, trying hard not to sweatdrop. "All right, then. As we all know, the only lead we have is the address we got from the pizza receipt. Itami and I staked it out last night; it was a pretty standard cult warehouse, and wasn't fixed up like a day care center. The only suspicious activity (in fact, the only activity at all) was when three girls entered the warehouse. I thought they looked like magical girls, but Itami pointed out something odd about them that made me suspect they might be like the things we fought at the other place. Right, Itami?" Itami grunted. "Right," I said. "So I think we can expect the same kind of resistance, or even more, when we hit this place. We got two of the people on Ramsbottom's list so far, Bara and Jiyu, leaving Kotonatta and Reika. We get them, and the contract is fulfilled. So...any questions so far?" I smiled around the room. Itami looked like he always does. Aika did not appear very enthused about fighting more magical girl things. I deflated a little. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I grabbed two pistols from my desk and threw one to Aika, who quickly flipped the safety off. As I noticed Itami pulling out a couple knives, the door opened. It only opened a little, though, to let a familiar head peer into the room. "Hey there, Yoi, Itami," Kyo chirped. "Is this a bad time?" I exhaled and relaxed slightly, though I didn't lower my gun. "Kyo. You should make an appointment if you want to see us. ...But I guess this is as good a time as any. What's up?" Kyo grinned an almost-manic grin. "We've got something that I think belongs to you." I could tell she was trying to milk this. "Kyo, I had a long night. Either tell us why you're here or go away." Kyo pouted a little. "All right, I'll just show you then." She pushed the door open all the way and stepped into the room with a slight flourish. "Ta daa!" Sailor H fell face-first into the room. She was tied up with rather sturdy-looking rope, not to mention hand and legcuffs. A cord attached to the cuffs formed a kind of leash, the end of which was gripped by the smirking Mai, who stepped into the room behind her. >This inspired the "the leash gave me a real boost" line in #13, which led to >that wild fanart of Sailor H...so I'm rather pleased with myself. All three of us stood up. "H!" I said, too surprised to say anything intelligent. H looked up at me and snarled. Fortunately, she didn't look injured, just tied up and pissed off. My brain had started working again in the second it took her to snarl, so I said, "We were all worried about you when you didn't show up, especially Itami." H looked over and noticed Itami, and suddenly her whole attitude toward being tied up seemed to change. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Aika was blushing slightly. "We were out hunting youma on the waterfront when this little bitch came by and strangled Peachy Keena," Mai said, his voice heavy with derision. "The Fruit Fighters thought we were together and almost killed us. That just about ruined my whole day. You're lucky we didn't off her ourselves, Yoshi." >First of all, Peachy Keena and the Fruit Fighters were mentioned in #11. >Second, notice that she says 'Yoshi'. This builds on Mai calling Yoi 'Yoshi' >in #5. I winced. "Well...I'm not sure what to tell you, Mai. H isn't really part of our team, she usually works alone. You'll have to ask her about it." H snarled at me again. "That's right! I can't stand this obnoxious clod!" She looked at Itami and shifted mental gears. "Itami, on the other hand..." "Did you really get Peachy Keena?" Aika suddenly asked. I looked at her and realized her eyes were almost sparkling. H as a role model was not a thought I wanted to pursue. "Who's this?" Mai said, staring at Aika. "Well, this is Pretty Deadly. She also seems to be, ah, working with us." I stared at Aika, realizing that we hadn't formally made any arrangements for her to work with us...she had just sort of hung around more and more. Fortunately, she was able to speak for herself. "I was changed into a magical girl against my will, by forces unknown. They crushed my future and turned me into that which I despise. I will kill them all myself! I am...PRETTY DEADLY!" Maybe her speaking for herself wasn't *that* good an idea. >It seems like...I write Yoi so that there are a few big paragraphs, then he >has a one-sentence line of observation. >At this point I realized that, maybe it was getting a little old. ^_^; "Right, then...Deadly, this is Kyo and Mai. They hunt youma, but are unconnected to the magical girls. We tried to kill each other in the past, but we worked all that out. Right, guys?" I asked hopefully. "I still haven't decided what to do about you," Mai said, his eyes narrow. I noticed that Kyo and Aika seemed to be in some sort of glaring contest. "Your killing magical girls means more work for us." >This was kinda sorta hinting at maybe Kyo taking a romantic interest in Yoi. >I always like those romantic interest plots, and I kept trying to develop >them in MGH... "Except when we get rid of the fake magical girls, like Ultra's," I put in. "In fact..." A couple things clicked together in my head. "...right now, we're currently pursuing a contract which is really more in the vein of youma hunting." "You are?" Kyo asked, turning to me. "We are?" Aika asked, turning to me. "Indeed we are," I said cheerfully, feeling more in control. "Perhaps you've heard of Shubby-chan's Happy Happy Joy Joy Fun Club. We recently destroyed one of their warehouses, and tonight we're going to hit another. They seemed to have quite an operation, with lots of Dark Young disguised as girls. Fortunately, we were able to get rid of two of their top people and several of these mutated youma." Kyo and Mai looked at each other. I had the odd impression that they were communicating telepathically. I hadn't been sure whether Dark Young qualified as youma, but it looked like they were buying it. Finally, they looked back at me. "We would like to go with you tonight," Mai said. "We were going to hit this place ourselves soon, so it works out pretty well." Something nagged at me. "Is there some special reason you don't like these guys, in particular?" More mind talk. "They took something from us," Mai said finally. "Something valuable." More alarm bells in my head. "Something dangerous?" "Yes, it could be dangerous," Kyo said, "but we're certain they won't be able to use it by tonight. And if we disrupt their operation, they'll *never* be able to." >This all gets explained later in the chapter, of course. I was rather proud >at how I was able to tie everything together. This was not really welcome news. However, it was better to know about it now, since it wasn't going to change. "Anything else we should know?" They shook their heads. "Do you know anyone by the name of Ramsbottom?" I asked, on an off-chance. More head shaking. "All right...let's plan out the assault. Aika? Itami? H?" I looked around and noticed Itami and H on the couch. "Whoa, get a room, you two," Mai called. I noticed Kyo and Aika blushing. I felt like another cold shower myself, in fact. ----- It was now ten PM, and we were at the warehouse. H, Kyo, Mai and Aika had all agreed to accompany me and Itami. Since we had so many people we had decided to split up and do a pincer attack. Itami, H and Mai were taking the right alley entrance, and Kyo and Aika were with me at the left. We would move toward the back while the other team searched toward the front, and thus we would soon have cleared all the entrances and hopefully forced any survivors into the center where we could surround them. It wasn't often that I got to do really strategic operations, and I was rather pleased with myself for thinking up this little plan. >Yoi isn't really good at strategic thinking, even though he's very good with >weaponry. Therefore his plans never quite work out. >Of course, this was also because I didn't really have the military knowledge >necessary to *really* plan out an attack... I looked at my watch. About one minute to the appointed ass-kicking time. I glanced at Kyo and Aika. "Ready, ladies?" Kyo smirked and Aika smiled, but both nodded. "All right, then...forty-five seconds. Get ready." I cocked my kickass gun and stared at the door. "Yoi?" Aika asked. "Yeah?" "Is your name really Yoshi?" I almost fell down. "Er...Deadly..." "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said quickly. "I was just curious." "Let's just say...I don't like having the same name as a video game magical animal friend. Call me Yoi." >And so I tie that plot off. ^_^ "Okay. I didn't mean to bother you or anything." "No, no problem. Just, now you know." "You know, Yoi, we just got your name from a file," Kyo put in. "We didn't mean to bother you either. Well, maybe Mai did, but I didn't." "Look, it doesn't matter," I said. This was making me kind of tense. We were about to invade a cult sanctuary, we should be meditating on the nature of death and dying in the service to a cause, or some crap like that. "Just think about this: Ten seconds." We all fell silent. I counted the last five seconds down with gestures, my heart in my throat...then it was time! I kicked the door in and instantly fell into a stance. "All right, FREEZE!" I yelled, even before I saw what was in the room. Aika and Kyo rushed in behind me, taking up what were mostly likely quite dramatic positions beside me. In the room were two girls eating a pizza. >Remember the pizza box receipt? "Oh, it's you," one of them said. She had long, lustrous black hair, and her companion had slightly wavy blond hair. There was something odd about them. After a moment I realized that they had the same odd aura of confidence that the girls we saw going into the warehouse earlier did. "Stand up and put your hands on your head," I barked, trying to sound authoritative. My instincts were telling me there was no way in hell these girls were going to give up quietly, but I couldn't really shoot them before they made any hostile moves. "We were told about you," the blond one said. "You killed our associates. We should probably get rid of you for doing that." She stared at me like she had heard of emotion, but hadn't seen any need to bother with it. "I'm warning you, give yourselves up or we'll have to use force," I tried to yell. These girls were creeping me out. "No, we won't," the black-haired one said, standing up. "You should give up, for we are the Sailor Shoggoths." I gave up fighting my adrenaline and blasted a triple round out as the blue light started up. The bullets ripped black-hair in half as Kyo and Aika opened up on blondie. The light of their transformation seemed to obscure things, but I was sure there hadn't been any blood. After a strikingly short time, the blue fields dropped to reveal the girls in full sailor fuku, totally whole. >Now, unfortunately there was some mixup about what Tim Harahan had meant by >"transformed magical girls" in #11. He meant...well, to be honest, I never >quite figured out what he was trying to get across, but it wasn't shoggoths >disguised as magical girls. I still feel guilty about it... >...And may I say that every part which I haven't written has mistakently >written "Shoggoths" as "Shuggoths". What the hell is a "shuggoth" anyway? >I just can't understand it...*consistently* wrong in *every* part... I realized we had a very big problem. Our bullets were opening holes in them, but they were closing in seconds. It was like that gaijin sci-fi movie about the guy made of metal, only these girls seemed to be made of black jello. It was time for the deatomizer. >Terminator 2, of course... "Back!" I yelled, diving to the side and reaching for the deatomizer on my back. At least, I tried to dive, but black-hair slipped forward faster than I had ever seen anyone move and punched me in the shoulder. I spun halfway around in midair as my shoulder almost dislocated again, and fell to the floor seeing stars. Then I heard "Lovely Canister WHUPASS STRIKE!" and a roaring above me. I scrabbled on my back for the gun as Kyo and Aika dropped to the ground next to me. Suddenly there was a blast of pressure and heat. I tried to stay conscious, but it felt like my body was going to overturn my mind's veto on that point. Then the blast faded, and I managed to stay alert and even get the deatomizer into my hands. "What the hell was that?" I yelled into the smoke. "It felt like a grenade!" "It *was* a grenade," Kyo yelled back. I rolled over onto my back and became aware of a pathetic whistling. As the smoke cleared, I caught sight of two black puddles smeared on the floor. I watched as they shivered and finally stopped moving. >Whistling, see? Shoggoths...*sigh* >...Of course, they aren't dead yet. Not by a long shot. I looked back at Kyo and Aika. "Well...that was pretty good teamwork, ladies," I said, throwing out a thin smile. Aika smiled back, but Kyo looked more smug than anything else. Well, she was entitled. "Let's go further in, shall we," I said. I waited for Kyo and Aika to get back on their feet, then led the way into the hallway which was the only way out of the room. As I walked slowly forward, I reviewed the architectural diagrams in my mind. I remembered there being a lot more doors in this hallway, but it looked pretty blank. Then I heard a noise from somewhere further down. I quickly cocked my deatomizer, and Kyo and Aika took up similar positions behind me. Soon we realized that the noises were coming from a perpendicular hallway that met ours in a T-intersection a few meters ahead. After a moment, it became clear that the noise was several people running, and there was also some of that eerie whistling. Then, suddenly, Itami appeared from the connecting hall. "Itami!" I yelled. He immediately turned and starting running toward me. H and Mai soon followed him. I ran toward him, hearing Kyo and Aika behind me. Suddenly another magical girl appeared behind Mai. Time seemed to slow as my reflexes took over. I stuck my gun over Itami's shoulder and fired, praying that H would get out of the way. Then Itami did the same thing, firing over my shoulder. I realized what he was doing and relaxed so as not to throw his aim off. I saw H duck out of the way of my blast, which blewthe head off the blue-haired girl from the stakeout (who was now wearing a deep blue fuku). Then I heard Kyo and Aika gasp as Itami's shot flew by them and exploded somewhere behind us. I twisted around and saw blackhair's head turn to blackberry puree. "Damn, we're good," I thought, and time speeded up again. >I always have that time-slow thing in MGH battles. Not sure why...I just >kinda like it. I don't think I started it, either... "Not even the deatomizers work on these shoggoths," Mai yelled. Itami whipped around and ran into another hallway coming off of ours. As H followed him, I faded back and pulled a grenade from my jacket. Aika, then Kyo, then Mai ran after Itami as I pulled the pin with my teeth and threw it after the two girls in our hallway. Then I followed the others, and heard the explosion and more outraged whistling a few seconds later. Suddenly I realized what was happening. We had planned to force our enemies into the center of the building, but instead we were being herded there ourselves, like cattle. Oh shit, I thought. >This is, of course, a trademark MGH sentence. I stumbled into a room which seemed to be a carbon copy of the furnace room in the day care center. Altar, runes and circles in blood, and a cultist looking calmly at us. All that was missing was the three girls, until the Sailor Shoggoths appeared behind us, blocking the exit. I saw that the three Itami had been dealing with were the three girls we had seen entering the warehouse earlier. >Of course this is really only because I couldn't think of anything more >creative... >Notice also that only now does Yoi connect the Sailor Shoggoths with the >girls from the stakeout. That's why I followed him, Kyo and Aika, so as to >delay the revelation a bit. Not that it probably wasn't obvious to the >readers, but... "Greetings," the cultist intoned. Mai and Aika opened up, but their bullets bounced off an invisible wall in front of him. "You took us by surprise at the day care center, with Ramsbottom's little toys. But now you've fallen into my trap, and with the help of the Sailor Shoggoths..." "Sailor Thn!" blackhair yelled. "Sailor Yib!" blondie called. "Sailor Orl!" the blue-haired one cried. "Sailor Fth!" the one with curly brown hair exclaimed. "Sailor Gdo!" the ponytailed one said. >I worked long and hard on those names. And you know, I like them. I swear, this was the part of the job I hated the most. "...I, Kotonatta Niro, will destroy you!" The cultist began waving his hands and muttering. Well, that was number three on the list. Of course, most important at this point was surviving. Aika was firing at Kotonatta and Itami was trying his sword on the field, but neither was doing much. Mai and Kyo were desperately firing at the Shoggoths. Mai tried to rush them, but the ponytailed one knocked her back almost contemptuously. I could use my deatomizer, but the Shoggoths could heal completely during the ten-second charge time. Time seemed to slow down again as I considered my fate. This might be our last job. Maybe we had bitten off more than we could proverbially chew. If I didn't get some great last-minute idea, we were definitely finished. And then I had one of those strange impulses. I stuck my hand in my right coat pocket and pulled out the innocuous-looking device from the bottom of Ramsbottom's bag, which I had forgotten about. A hundred thoughts raced through my head, but I settled on one: how to use the thing. It looked kind of like a thin grenade, gripped for throwing, with a button on one end. I pressed the button and it started to glow, so I threw it at Kotonatta. >I knew I wanted to do something with that device. It was just too tempting a >plot thread to resist. The device bounced off the field and clattered on the floor in front of Itami. He looked at it, then backed away when it started to glow. Aika stopped firing and looked at it. So did Kyo and Mai. Kotonatta frowned at it, and even the Shoggoths were looking curious. The glow built to a peak, and suddenly a small beam of light shot out from it. The line expanded and then bulged outward, like a tear in space...and then something stepped through. I have no idea what it was, and I'm not going to try to describe it completely, either. It was big, though, and stood like a bear. It had no face, just a mouth with huge teeth, and its pale skin made me think of things squirming under a rock. >This is a shambler, the Quake (Quake I) version. >What can I say? I'm a Lovecraft mark. We all stared. The thing roared and swiped at Kotonatta, its claws ripping through the field. I instantly fired at him and was rewarded with the sight of the two halves of his body flying in opposite directions. Finally, something was going right. Then the Sailor Shoggoths jumped at the thing, and it roared and started clawing at them. We all ran the other way, past Kotonatta's remains and down a short hallway to a door. I pushed upon the door and stumbled into another room... "Hello," the receptionist said calmly. I stood in shock as my companions tumbled into the room behind me. I realize I probably should have been more alert, but while all the other surprises today were merely things I hadn't expected, this wasn't something I would have believed was possible. I was looking at an exact replica of the room we had stormed into when we invaded the day care center...right down to the magazines and receptionist. And she didn't even look bruised, which was really odd considering how hard Itami had hit her to knock her out. >When in doubt...rehash! "Uh..." I started. Fortunately, Itami seemed to be more on the ball. "Where is Reika?" he said, striding up to the desk with his deatomizer pointed dead at the receptionist. "You all have certainly been busy," the receptionist (her name was Ichiko, I suddenly remembered) said. "I must commend you on the way you handled Kotonatta-san and our girls." "What the hell..." I tried to say. "Where is Reika?" Itami said in the same tone. Dimly I was aware of Aika, Kyo and Mai fanning out to cover all the exits of the room. "In fact, I think you're too much for us. That's why I'd like to surrender. I can offer you compensation." "I didn't think receptionists had much of a salary," Mai sneered. "For the last time," Itami intoned, "Where...is...Reika?" "Who are you?" I said, getting a sudden hunch. The woman looked at me and smiled. "My name is Reika Ichiko. A pleasure." >Finally, Yoi asks the right question. That stopped us all for a moment. "You're probably surprised that you were hired to kill a receptionist," she continued. "But this is really just a disguise, and sort of a day job. I'm really the fourth Necronomicute researcher, and I can provide you with information you'll be very interested in, if you just don't kill me." She smiled pleasantly at us. >I didn't feel like adding another researcher, and I liked her when she was >first introduced, so... Itami looked back at me. I wanted to tell him to look at someone else, but I probably had to make a decision. I looked back at the door we came through. "I can keep the Shoggoths from entering this room, and they can take care of the shambler," she said. "You don't need to worry about anything. You'll be perfectly safe while we talk." Somehow, that didn't make things easier. I really didn't know what to do; the shocks had been coming rather fast in the last few minutes. "What do you know that we would be interested in?" I asked, hoping to stall for a minute. Reika smiled. "I know some interesting information about Mashihaisha Ultra-san. I also know something about your employer, Nigel Ramsbottom. Quite an interesting character. One thing I will tell you for free is that I don't know what information about Ultra-san he had in mind for paying you, and in fact it might be something even I don't know. But I could give you an idea of their relationship. If nothing else, I could give you quite a bit of money if you let me go." >More of my tidying up the plot... I have to admit, she was making it harder and harder. Not only did she seem to be honest about what she could and could not tell us, but she was also willing to pay us. Would our integrity be compromised if we accepted money not to kill someone? It would probably be okay if we gave back all the guns and things, though. After all, we did kill three of Ramsbottom's four. Right? "How much money are we talking here?" "How about three million yen," Reika said. Wow. I wasn't sure how much we would get from selling Ramsbottom's guns if did complete the contract, but that was probably close. I looked around at my companions. Aika looked like she felt the same way I did, indecisive and helpless. Kyo, Mai and H all looked rather disdainful of Reika, but Itami was looking at me expectantly, like it was my call. "...All right, if you can tell us something useful in one minute, we'll think about not killing you," I finally managed. I surveyed my companions again; Aika looked sympathetic, Kyo and Mai peered at me suspiciously, H looked pissed, but Itami's expression was the facial equivalent of a shrug. I wondered again if this was the right thing to do. >This was all building up to providing an opportunity for the big revelation >of the chapter. Reika appeared to consider the offer for a moment. "All right," she said. "Here's something I know you'll find interesting. We at Shubby-chan's Happy Happy Joy Joy Fun Club have often been contracted by Mashihaisha Ultra-san to perform research." Oh shit, I thought. >There it is again! Reika stood up and walked over to a door opposite the one we had come in by. "We were responsible for the initial work on the Necronomicute, but more recently we have been involved in a fascinating project involving magical rites Ultra-san acquired from an unknown source." "Oh shit," Mai said. We all turned; he and Kyo looked downright scared by this revelation. >That source being Kyo and Mai. "Behind this door is the culmination of this project...no less than the raising of the dead!" She flung the door open before anyone could react. The door opened into a room cluttered with stacked boxes. An aisle between the boxes extended toward the center of the room, but our view of the center was blocked by the back of a lean blond man in a black uniform. I recognized him immediately as Haikite, Ultra's chief henchman. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Master?" he said, staring away from us into a bright light emanating from the center of the room. "I'M JUST AN OLD SOFTIE, I GUESS. MAYBE SHE'LL LEARN FROM HER EXPERIENCE." I couldn't believe it. Ultra himself, master of screwing us over, was right there in front of us...and he hadn't even noticed us. I couldn't decide whether to praise the gods or run for my life. "Well, at least if she doesn't come back, we won't have lost much," Haikite said, sounding kind of annoyed. Then things clicked in my brain again. Kyo and Mai came back from the dead, and they had said Ultra had stolen something dangerous from them. I looked a question at them. Mai scowled at me, but Kyo looked down and nodded. Oh shit, I thought again. "ARISE!" Ultra boomed. "ARISE, MY SERVANT, TO SERVE AGAIN!" The light built to an peak of intensity, and I felt a wave of...something ripple out from the room in front of us. "AH...CHILD, YOU DIDN'T OBEY ME BEFORE, BUT I BROUGHT YOU BACK FOR A SECOND CHANCE. WILL YOU BEHAVE THIS TIME?" Haikite moved out of the aisle, and I felt cold fear stab my heart. Floating in the center of the room, surrounded by light, was the dimunitive form of Captain Kawaii. She was looking at someone I couldn't see, probably Ultra. "Of course," she said in the voice that sent shivers down my spine. "I was in a bad place, and I didn't like it. But I learned some new games to play there, too." >i.e. Hell, of course. The little freak turned and looked straight at me...and smiled. Oh...............................................................shit. ----- Next, in Magical Girl Hunters Episode 13! (Oooh...spooky!) Yoi goes on a date! The Finn makes another appearance, along with a shocking surprise guest star! Plus, laughs abound as our heroes celebrate Christmas and attend the Idol Achievement Benefit Concert! Or maybe something TOTALLY DIFFERENT HAPPENS! (Don't ask me, I'm not writing the damn thing.) >I was trying to give a bunch of plot threads for later authors to use. >Incidentally...this "Next time on Magical Girl Hunters" stuff was another >quirk of MGH. I tried to encompass of much of the #11 ones as I could. I >managed to fit in "We discover where H was, and the Reika [sic] makes some >trouble." and "Or maybe everybody goes out and has a pizza with the Shubby- >Chan's Sailor Shuggoths?". >I had to correct it to "Shoggoths", of course. Well, I think that went pretty well. Say goodbye, guys. Cover: Goodbye, guys. Vedic: Don't make me come over there. Ki: There sure are a lot of us. Keikaku: Hey, guys, what's up. Bandolier: It's too damn crowded in here! >Cover is, of course, doing that old (classic) George and Gracie joke. Ki is >another character from a fanfic that sorta didn't actually get written. Also, >now that I created Keikaku, he's one of my "alternate personalities". The >point being that every character I create is sort of a self-insertion, in a >way... Uh...yeah. >That's all for that one, then.