From: freezer88@hotmail.com   
      
   > Ch 7   
   >   
   > Life has funny way of sneaking up on you   
   >   
   > When you think everything's okay   
   >   
   > And everything's going right.   
   >   
   > And Life has a funny way of helping you out   
   >   
   > When you think everything's gone wrong   
   >   
   > And everything blows up in your face.   
   >   
   >             -Alanis Morissette!!   
      
   JOEL   : The choice of music isn't doing much for my opinion of   
   this fic.   
      
   > She smiled. They had arrived. And she would be filling her crystals   
   > with their energy before the night was done.   
      
   TRACE  : We're into Chapter 7 and we still don't know who "She" is.   
    Riveting.   
      
   JOSH   : And of course "She" knows they're there.  God forbid ANY   
   of these guys ever get the drop on a bad guy.   
      
   > Rajura stopped dead as the echoing laughter resounded around them.   
   > He frowned inside his armour.   
   >   
   > "A woman," he muttered. "I really should have guessed."   
      
   MARY JO: I choose not to be offended by that because I have no idea   
   what the hell that means.   
      
   > He took another step-and found himself falling.   
      
   FRANK  : Should've set someone as a Geomancer before you left.   
      
   > He instinctively threw out a hand to grab hold of something but   
   > encountered nothing.   
   >   
   > "Venus Love-Me Chain!" and his downward motion was halted quite   
   > abruptly. He could see the chain give a little and guessed, quite   
   > correctly, that Venus was having a hard time holding him up. He   
   > felt a sharp tug. That was probably Jupiter to help. Another tug.   
   > Uranus. Several more and most of the Senshi and Troopers had   
   > latched on.   
      
   JOEL   : [Rajura] Fair warning: First one with a "Lay off the   
   ramen" crack gets a scythe in the neck!   
      
   >  Then a very hard yank. That had to have been Gohan. But he wasn't   
   > out of the hole yet and after a few seconds, he felt the chain   
   > begin to give and heard the collective grunts of his comrades   
   > trying to keep him from falling.   
      
   JOSH   : One: Don't they all have enhanced strength when in   
   costume?  Two: Isn't Gohan basically Anime Superboy?  Why hasn't he   
   just flown down and grabbed him?   
   TRACE  : Class?   
   ALL    : "Because!"   
      
   > He took a scythe and tried to dig it into the wall but found it   
   > glancing off. He gasped as the chain gave a few inches.   
   >   
   > "Let me go!" he yelled up. He could almost see the look on the   
   > Senshi's faces.   
      
   FRANK  : [Rajura] No, seriously.  Two of you can freaking fly!  Let   
   go of the chain and come down here!   
      
   > "We aren't the Shogun," Jupiter's voice flittered down to him. "We   
   > won't abandon you. It's all of us or none of us!"   
   >   
   > He smiled grimly. True, the Shogun would have gone on without him,   
   > but then again he wasn't in the mood to get all of his new friends   
   > killed. He began working to lose the chain from around his wrist,   
   > but his support gave before he could and he found himself   
   > plummeting down into a dark hole.   
   >   
   > He landed on his feet and quickly dashed to the side to avoid the   
   > falling onslaught of soldiers and students.   
      
   MARY JO: So they saved him from mild discomfort, then?   
      
   > He picked up the students first, then Sailormoon, trusting everyone   
   > else to right themselves eventually. He finally took a look around   
   > him.   
   >   
   > The place was filled with what looked like giant bubbles, but   
   > Rajura knew better: years of buying his wife gifts had taught him   
   > to recognise pure crystal when he saw it. Inside the largest one   
   > sat a woman, dressed quite simply yet elegantly in a beautiful   
   > ballroom dress. She had long black hair that fell about her waist   
   > in ringlets, but her skin was clear, like that of her crystals and   
   > her eyes were solid white, and were betraying the purity and   
   > innocence of their colour.   
      
   JOEL   : Rose McGowan, no!   
      
   > She smiled cruelly.   
   >   
   > "So," she said. Her voice had a musical, lilting quality to it. "We   
   > finally meet, Sailor Soldiers. And you've brought some of the   
   > delicious morsels I've been enjoying so recently…"   
      
   TRACE  : Then Gohan vaporized her and they all went home.  The end.   
      
   > Four bubbles floated down before them. In each one, in the same   
   > bluish light that claimed each victim's eyes, floated a moving,   
   > aware version of themselves. Peeves was bouncing around the crystal   
   > and seemed to be singing one of his silly songs. The Ravenclaw girl   
   > was crying, and Colin and Ginny were both banging on their   
   > enclosures, trying desperately to reach Harry, Ron and Hermione.   
   > Hermione gasped and stepped back in horror.   
      
   FRANK  : And my Cliché Villain Bingo card is filling out nicely!   
      
   > "You weren't just taking their energy…you were taking them! Their   
   > personalities, everything about them!"   
   >   
   > The woman laughed-a sound that somehow sounded both very beautiful   
   > and very evil at the same time. "They have not been harmed…but that   
   > can change," she said, her voice taking on a much more menacing   
   > quality.   
      
   FRANK  : Aaand check!   
      
   >  Her eyes flashed blue and the light filled each of the crystals,   
   > obscuring the view that the would-be rescuers had of their   
   > occupants. When the crystals cleared again, each figure was lying   
   > as though dead. Rajura could see, however, by minute movements of   
   > each person, that they were still alive.   
   >   
   > "What did you do to them??" He asked.   
   >   
   > "Simply…had a small snack."   
      
   MARY JO: *URP!*   
      
   > She said, grinning quite awfully. "Of course, I've been priming   
   > myself for the main course."   
      
   JOSH   : Guys?  You can start attacking any time now?  Letting the   
   bad guy monolog doesn't help if you just sit there.   
      
   > Her eyes flashed again and each person found themselves encased in   
   > a separate bubble.   
      
   JOSH   : Told you so!   
      
   > Rajura quickly tried to free himself.   
   >   
   > "Web Of Deception!" he yelled, but to no avail. The bubble remained   
   > solid. He saw the other Troopers and Senshi blink in surprise. And   
   > couldn't help doing the same himself.   
   >   
   > "Burning Mandala!" Mars tried, but the fiery rings simply rebounded   
   > around her own bubble, making her duck and cover.   
      
   FRANK  : [Mars] Our less-than-strongest attacks have no effect!   
   What will we do now?   
      
   > The woman laughed again. "You will not escape. And I will have   
   > you."   
      
   TRACE  : Which just begs the question of why she didn't just nab   
   some of them back at Hogwarts?   
      
   JOEL   : That one actually has an answer: Villain Ball!   
      
   > Sailormoon, for her part, began to feel quite weak,   
      
   MARY JO: [Moon] I do declare, I believe I'm gettin' The Vapors!   
      
   > but not in the conventional way, such as when Ann had taken her   
   > energy. She felt all of her power draining out of her, out of her   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)