It all started when I was compelled to write "Settling Accounts" and after I had finished, was wondering how I should present that unplanned story to the rest of the SME mailing list. Then I decided to frame it with a few off-the-cuff "what if SME was actually a movie set" paragraphs. That throw-away idea caught on with the other authors and was taken in directions I could never imagine. The end result now dwarfs the little story that inspired it and has no end in sight.

FDB 02/27/02

From: Frank Barr
Subject: Meanwhile, back on the set...

"Okay people, places!"

"Trenchcoat Mask 7- Shadow of the Moon, Part three, scene 4. Take two. "

*SNAP*

"And action!... "

The dark energy from the sphere Kunzite had me encased in suddenly discharged negative energy into my body. The agony is so great that I cry out in pain. "Be careful," Zoicite cautions his companion, "don't kill him too quickly. I have a score to settle with him."

"Beryl will want to question him, so leave him more or less intact," Kunzite says.

"Don't worry," Zoicite says wiping his hair back from his eyes, "I won't." He shakes the waste grease that covers him and Kunzite off his hand and materializes a wicked looking crystal sword. "I want to watch and see what Beryl does to him."

Unnoticed by either of them Luna has crept up to the burning road flare on the edge of the roof. Drawing back her paw, she swats it off the roof into the pool of grease the two Generals are standing in. BOOM-WHOOSH! The mixture of grease and alcohol explodes violently setting the two ablaze. "Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!" Zoicite screams in panic as he runs around flapping his arms like a giant blazing chicken.

"What is this part about me getting stuck with the tab?" Margrave said stalking into the studio in front of the camera and ruining the shot.

"AW FOR THE LOVE OF... CUT!"

Some stage hands come out of the wings and hose Kunzite and Zoicite's stunt doubles off with fire extinguishers while others lower Ferrite to the top of the restaurant set. Ferrite opens up the plastic "force bubble" and takes a deep breath. Luna stalks off the set yelling, "How can I work under conditions like this! My concentration is shot! If anyone wants me I'll be in my trailer." Kunzite and Zoicite look up from their cafe la'tes at the buffet table and snicker. Luna was always a big pain in the ass to work with even during the initial run of SM. "Margrave!" I shout at the errant SME character, "what are you doing on the Trenchcoat Mask set? You don't show up until episode nine! Shouldn't you be working on 'Kingdom Come'?"

"I was looking at this script," she says waving the rough draft of "Case of the Missing Senshi" I sent over to Latus the other day, "and it says I get stuck with an unpaid life energy debt. That is, like, so out of character for me. I just won't stand for it."

"What the? That doesn't happen for ages! Mark hasn't even finished "The Babe Wore Blue" yet."

Further discussion is interrupted as Usagi charges in frantically trying to get into her Sailor Moon costume.

"I'msosorryI'mlate!AmIintimeformyentrance?" she gasps out.

"Don't worry, dear," I say patronizingly, "whatever schedule is fine with you. I was just having a little discussion with Margrave anyway. Script girl," I say calling the 'fire' half of the 'Gemini' twins over, "a soda for Ms. Moon."

Turning my attention back to Margrave she blurts out, "if you don't take care of this right now, I'm not showing up for my cameo in chapter nine."

"WHAT?" I shout causing one of the youma fixing Zocite's eyeliner to draw a line over his face, "That's integral to the SME continuity interweaving. I've already sent a proposal to Mark and he shot your POV back already."

"I know," she says smugly, "I was there when he wrote it. I know how much intellectual capital you've invested in that cameo in chapter nine and it'll all go to waste unless you do what I say."

"Margrave, baby..." I begin in a coaxing tone.

"Nothing you can say will change my mind. The debt goes or I do."

"Er... how about I resolve it instead."

"Hm?" she asks, her interest piqued, "you mean in a story like

'Girls Night Out' where I star?"

"Well... um..."

"I accept!" she says clapping her hands delightedly.

"Okay," I agree grudgingly, "I'll get the subconscious on it and later he'll..."

"Now." she says.

"Now? But I'm in the middle of Tmask 7! I'm already behind schedule as it is! Chapter five and six aren't even rough drafts. How can I..."

"Now or no cameo," she says adamantly.

For the good of Sailor Moon Expanded I grit my teeth and say,

"All right you little..." I stop myself before I make things worse and shout, "Okay, strike the set! Cast, Everyone except Ferrite is excused for today. Ferrite, go to costume and get into your Silver Millennium get up, Trenchcoat Mask disguise spell on top."

"Right boss," he says agreeably. If only they could all be that way.

I stop the 'cold' Gemini twin and say to her, "Go down to casting and have them send up a crowd of extras in party garb like they were at a disco." I turn to the stage hands, "Okay people I need a discotec club set up pronto. Don't bother with too much detail; it won't be described very much." The assorted monster of the day youma move about the sound stage tearing down walls and putting up others. (Hey, they're non-union, work cheap and are happy to have a job now that their episode is over.) "And as for you," I turn to Margrave, "go put on something short and slinky and hurry back over here on the double."

"Heh! Sure thing 'boss'," she taunts.

Why you little... if you weren't Latus's creation I'd...

Putting pleasant thoughts aside, I get on a direct line with the subconscious and tell him to start writing. Usagi says from around a mouthful of doughnuts, "Is it time for my entrance now?" I just sigh and put my head in my hands.

After a while, Bombu waves a pincer at me indicating the set is ready.

"Okay people, places!"

"Crystal Tokyo Stories - 'Settling Accounts', act one, scene one.

Take one. "

*SNAP*

"And action!... "

"CUT! Okay, print it, we'll send it over to editing and straighten out a few things. But that's a wrap. Okay, Margrave, are you happy now?" I ask. She looks smugly at me from the back seat of the caddy and says, "Perfectly."

I slap my head at her Magnesite quote and say, "one more thing, dearie."

She get's her robe from Vampeel and walks over to me. "Yes?"

"I've got this other story in mind," I say, "but I've got to get a look at your cat form to get something straight in my mind. Could you change for me?"

"Sure," she says. In a blink she shrinks down so that she looks like a little white cat. "Meow?" she asks in flawless Persian.

"Yes, Margrave, that's perfect." I say. Before she can change back, I scoop her up and stuff her into a leftover prop Moon cat sleep module.

"Barr!" She shouts outraged from inside the tube, "you let me out of here!"

Humming a merry tune, I stroll over to a bazooka that's being made ready for "Trench Warfare" and pick it up. Peering through a crack, Margrave sees this and says, "you wouldn't dare. I swear if you don't let me out of here this instant I'll..." But I ignore her graphically detailed description of impossible atrocity as I load her into the bazooka. Carefully, I take aim at Latus' soundstage on the other side of SME. VROOSH! I fire the troublesome feline back to her creator. "And don't come back until I call you!" I shout as the shell streaks over the SME backlot.

*sigh*

And that's what happens when characters start talking to you.

From: "Mark Latus"
Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back on the set...

Thy Kingdom Come Part 3 scene 2

Action

Overlord Calcite stopped at the top of the dungeon stairs and looked down on his guests. Haruka raised her head and glared at him with her remaining eye. Michiru just hung in her shackles head down and began to shake.

"Good morning ladies. It's another bright and beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming."

"Actually I'm lying. The sky is black as always, no flowers are growing after a year without sunshine and I'm told the last of the songbirds have gone extinct. Other than that it's a perfect day."

A catsized stasis module smashed through the dungeon wall and demolished several plywood and painted plastic torture machines.

"What the hell is this? Another last minute rewrite?"

The module popped open and a cat jumped out. Which quickly morphed into a furious Margrave. "I'll get you for this Barr! Count on it!"

"CUT!"

Calcite shrugged, peeled off the fake scar and headed over to grab himself a coffee. Michiru looked pissed. "Hey what's going on? I didn't get to do my poignant death scene yet?"

Haruka snorted. "Gimmie a break. You just get to die. I'm the one who has to emote over your sorry end. You just have to look pathetic. One of your talents."

"Bitch!"

"Yeah right. Well if the scene's off someone get us out of these things." A couple of stagehands headed over to unchain them and I groaned. More delays. I was already way behind schedule on "Kingdom Come". I get busy or distracted by a new idea and that's that. Any second now Magnesite's going to barge over and ask about his story.

Speak of the devil. "Mr. Latus ..." He's sucking up so he wants something, "I've got a few ideas about 'Casablanca Revisited' ..."

"Not now damnit! I'm already way behind on my own stuff. Go talk to Frank." He walks off muttering. Great. Now I have to worry about one of my characters jumping ship. Should have left him as a one time villain.

At which point Azurite decides to make an appearance. "Mark I was wondering if you could do me a favor. See I found this proposal for another POV story for me. I was wondering if you could move it up in the queue a little." I wasn't planning on writing "My Dinner with Ferrite" for quite a while yet but she's turning on the charm and I'm definitely considering it when Margrave interrupts.

"She's just pissed off 'cause I'm the most popular female character. Despite not getting my own story yet."

Azurite glowers and I feel compelled to say, "That's not true Margrave." Azurite started to smile but I couldn't keep my big mouth shut. "Titanite's very popular as well ..." She doesn't look happy.

Margrave's in a good mood though. "Face facts, you're the least popular, period!"

That's not true. "Actually that's Pyrite."

He looks up from his "First Contact" novelization. "Thanks a lot. And where's my story?"

"Later."

"It's always later. How you ever get anything done is a mystery. You start a piece then get distracted by something else.

Like right now."

I really hate it when they breach the fourth wall like that.

Besides it distracts from the point. "Anyway Margrave, Azurite isn't the least popular character. Just the least popular female character." That's when I hear her crack her knuckles behind me.

Time to try reason. "Azurite you have to understand that with three female leads one of them has to be the least popular ..." Not the best line of reasoning I've ever used.

I pick myself up and feel my nose. Sore but not broken.

Azurite's gone over to talk to Haruka and Michiru, probably about some upcoming scene in CR. Frigging great! If she turns in a lousy performance cause her mood's rotten Andy's going to blame me. At which point just to make my day a girl in a Jupiter costume peeks round the main door. Can't they read the "Filming in Progress! Do not Enter" sign?

"Ahhh ... Doug's wondering if you're through yet?"

"No! Tell him to use his own studio."

"Studio? You guys gave him a converted broom closet. He has to write by flashlight!"

"Yeah well we expanded a little to quickly. It's just temporary until we get the new stage built. Now tell him if he finishes the story we'll give him a real light."

"Your generosity is overwhelming." She slams the door and stalks off. Newbies! Next Sam'll be complaining about the rats in his trailer! I suppose I could loan him Margrave and see if that solves the problem.

Meanwhile it sounds like there's dissention in the ranks.

Calcite's complaining on having to work double time on this story because they're playing both villains and heroes. Titanite's complaining about getting laced into that leather outfit then being told there's a change of plan and it's a Sailor Polaris rather that a Princess Titanite scene. Frank's already saying Ferrite's not too happy about the death scene which means more problem actors. Well I've got a few weeks to iron that out. Time to get back on track.

At which point the Knight Sabers kick in the door. In addition to the four of them there are three people in black armor. The biggest black suit towers over me and looks menacing. Everyone shrugs and goes back to their conversations. Nothing interrupts coffee break. Lousy backstabbers!

The helmet folds back exposing an angry Mackie Stingray. "One year. It's been a year since you promised to wrap up our story." He holds up a list of dates. "These are all the times you promised the story was just a few more weeks. Well we're sick of waiting. I'm stuck with a crazy sister and three boomer knight sabers. One of them wants my body which is pissing Sonia off and the other two aren't adjusting well. As in they could snap at any moment! I want resolution damnit!"

"Uh sorry but it's been a lot of fun writing my own characters and ..." At which point the other two Knight Shadows step forward. "We're original characters and we've seen the outline." Uh oh.

Weapons hum and I start edging away. "We'd like to request a rewrite."

At which point (I need another phrase) the wall caves in and Ryoga Hibiki stalks in. "Thanks to you I have seen hell!"

"Uh, I think you want Ranma."

"Wrong!" He opens his chest making it clear he's a Ryogoid. I have the nasty feeling. "You destroyed our universe then promised a wrap up story. Where is it?"

"Hey! We were here first!"

The android glares at Mackie. "I've been waiting longer."

That's it. I'm not announcing deadlines anymore. I never meet them anyway. Meanwhile I need a distraction. There are seven hardsuits but I made those androids nearly unbeatable so ... "Well I can only get one done at a time. So if you'll discuss it among yourselves and come to mutual agreement I'll get started on that story."

Mackie seals his helmet and powers up his weapons. Everyone behind him follows suit.

The android activates his combat systems.

I realize I'm standing between them.

My scream and dive for the floor serve as the starter's gun.

Everything goes crazy and the DKR cast teleports out fast.

Leaving me to crawl away looking for cover as those maniacs demolish my soundstage.

I see an open door and Kasumi Tendo beckoning. I don't know why she's here but as she's the only nonviolent and sane person around I head for her. She slams the soundproof door and the noise of battle cuts off. I accept her offer of tea with gratitude. Part of being born British. Long as you have tea you can face anything!

It's green tea rather than my normal orange peakoe but who cares? I'm feeling much better.

"Another cup?"

"Thank you." Something's wrong here. "Excuse me, I didn't promise you a story did I?"

"Why no. Whatever made you think that?" She passes me the cup and I start to relax. Then she says, "I wanted to talk to you about one of your older ones. It wasn't nice what you did to me?"

"What I did to you? I don't write darkfic."

She smiles sweetly. "Oh my, you've forgotten. Well I'll just have to remind you." Her body starts to shake and expand and I remember what I did to her. I start spilling tea everywhere as my hand shakes. So much for the tea theory. I'm definitely not up to facing this. I just had to do that Guyver crossover.

The Kasumi Zoanoid roars and unfolds itself to its full ten foot height. I'm in trouble. It raises a clawed hand.

Correction, I'm dead.

There comes a time to face danger like a man. There also comes a time to scream and lunge for the door.

Zoanoids have a very long reach.

Things get painful.

The next thing I expect to hear is angels but instead it's

Titanite. "Well you got it. Not very sporting shooting it in the back of the head while it was pounding the creator."

"But effective. Pragmatists live longer than idealists."

Calcite. "Doesn't seem to be anything too serious injury wise.

What's the word?"

Pyrite looks away from the door. "No survivors. Looks like he's free to concentrate on us."

"Good."

Titanite is looking at a gooey mess on the floor. "What do we do with all this Zoanoid goop?" Calcite shrugs.

"Scoop it up and run it over to Sam. Maybe he can use it as soup base. Or rat poison."

Meanwhile I'm in pain and largely ignored. I'm feeling very unfriendly towards my creations when Azurite and Margrave wheel in a stretcher. "Load him on and we'll get him to the infirmary."

Margrave nods. "Can't give him another excuse for being late with the writing."

So they wheel me off and I ask, "How bad is it?"

"Bruises and scrapes mainly. Luckily even as a Zoanoid Kasumi is nice. It would have taken another five minutes before she got worked up enough to start dismemberment."

Somehow I don't feel lucky. Especially when I see a sign for the infirmary pointing the other way. "Hey! You're going the wrong way." They don't reply. Just wheel me into a small room containing a wordprocessor, a portapottie, a watercooler and several crates of survival rations.

Azurite upends the stretcher and starts folding it up. "We decided to call a truce and work together."

Margrave nods. "Yep. We realized we both want our stories so we're cutting down on the distractions. When you get the first series done we let you out. With that they slam the door and there's the sound of hammering outside.

Which only leaves one more thing to say

GET ME OUTTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just another day at the Youma Commissary and Test Kitchen.

Things're going fairly well for a change; after six hours of experimentation I think I've almost perfected Ur-prawn eggnog. My taste testers like it, but the stuff's still highly explosive. Maybe if I cut down on the direspice...

WHAM! A mooncat stasis chamber smashes through the wall, rockets across the kitchen and exits through the front door. I barely jerk away from the pot before the shockwaves detonate it. Now what the hell was that...? My assistant chefs didn't even notice; they're so wrapped up in the unusual (for them) experience of cooking food that will actually be eaten and enjoyed that a wild Gundam couldn't distract them. The youma and lemure temps out in the dining hall just shrug and keep eating.

Okay, looks like the shell came from Frank's section...and landed in the Kingdom Come soundstage. I step out to get a better look. Like I thought: character trouble. When the Ryogoid shows up I know it's time to leave.

Heading back through the kitchen, I catch Akane's attention. "I'm going on break, Tendo-san. Take over for me, would ya? ...And try to keep the fighting out of the commissary. We're over budget as it is."

Akane nods and grabs a fresh pot. I think I can trust Ayeka and C-ko to handle the filet of gardinel on their own. Who would've thought that the Anticooks could be harnessed for good? Now if only they'd stop trying to feed the stuff to humans...ah well, one step at a time.

Back in my trailer, I notice my theories were correct: rats are hyper-sensitive to veleth fumes. Millions of years of evolution and they lose out to shrooms. There's probably a moral in that, but damned if I can see it. I sweep the place out and switch on the air conditioner.

Sounds like the Shadows-Ryogoid fight is escalating. Time to make like a tree and get outta here. I pull the third button on my chef's jacket; with a loud SHRRIP, I'm gone. Ah, the sweet sound of Velcro in the morning...

Jerry Steiner's modifications work as advertised. After a moment of dizziness-shouldn't've kept my eyes open in transit-I'm back in hammerspace, on the biggest transdimensional fanfic soundstage ever constructed. Waving to the Ultra-Zoanoid construction crew, I head down to C&C.

Now, what's on today's schedule...? Okay, we've finally finished shooting in the Ruins of Relics Point set; once it's torn down that should be a good spot for the Kyoto Millennium Tree. Ranma and Ryouga have almost finished putting the new Niichuanranger mecha through their paces; the Acrithra Eleventh Fleet is finished and ready to invade Nerima; testing on the latest model Ki Augmentation Personalized Power Armatures is complete; Arkanfael is headed over here and he looks really mad; Psych reports they've found a temporary cure for Ranma's ailurophobia, so the Ulthar sequences in Tiger of Dreams are doable; the cast of Parker Lewis has finished their Japanese less...

...Arkanfael?

Ohhhh crap. He really doesn't look pleased. Not for the first time,

I wish I had some easy way to deal with a man capable of surviving a shootout with the SDF-1. Good thing I had the Zoanoid workforce put through the Lost Number process.

As the First Zoalord strides up to the office I put my best cool-and-confident face on. "What brings you here today, Lord Arkanfael? I-"

He doesn't give me a chance to finish. "I have come here," he grits, "on a matter of vengeance."

(Don't panic don't panic don't panic...) "I wasn't aware I'd offended you," I reply, trying to decide whether or not to call in Sho. The Guyver Gigantus might be able to handle him, but they'd probably reduce the complex to free-floating quarks...

"I'm not here about you." He waves a script at me; I think it's the latest draft of the Cookbook. "Why wasn't I told of your association with Latus?"

This is unexpected. "Mark? What've you got against *him*? You didn't even appear in-"

"THAT'S EXACTLY MY POINT!" he roars. "A hundred thousand YEARS of planning and preparation, subtle manipulation of human civilization, keeping my Zoanoids safe and hidden from those who would destroy them...and just when the plan of ages is about to reach fruition, those damned androids show up and destroy everything I've worked for in ONE DAY!! And do you know what the worst of it is..?!"

I think I can guess, but he doesn't let me get a word in. "I didn't even get a CAMEO appearance! Not even the chance to defend myself onscreen, to show those Ryogoids what a TRUE Zoalord can do! If I had been there," he growls, "things would have been different. VERY different."

"And what, exactly, does this have to do with me? You're the major villain in HDW Guyver, even if it looks like you die in the first chapter..."

Arkanfael grabs me by the collar. "You know where he is. Show me.

NOW."

Come on, there's gotta be a way to handle this...but none of my forces are a match for this clown!...maybe a distraction...? Yeah, got it!

"I don't know why you want to waste your time with Mark," I gag.

"There're worse offenders out there, y'know..."

"For example?"

I wave my head at the latest issue of the Viz translation. He drops me and thumbs through it. After a while he stops, tensing up.

"You see what I mean?" I say sympathetically.

"...'Alcanphel'...?"

"'Fraid so."

"'ALCANPHEL'?!"

"Hey, it's not my fault. Blame the translators."

"Yes," he says, with a very ugly look. "I think I will."

The leader of Kronos teleports out. That ought to hold him for a while; gives us time to prepare a battle plan, anyway. Maybe I can get Tetsuro to call in a brigade of Cosmo-Knights. I wonder if the Ginzuishou would even slow Arkanfael down...? If all else fails, we could introduce him to my kitchen staff. Though that's really being too hard on him. Not even a hundred-thousand-year-old megalomaniacal superbeing deserves Akane's eggnog.

"MARS!!!" I yell, "Put that down, it isn't evil!" Geez, of all the things for Mars to do; try and torch a partial draft of the undead youma script. She got that sadistic look on her face.

"It is, do you know how much shit youma caused us, I refuse to work with anything that has anymore youma in it!" I grin to myself and say in a sarcastic tone "None of the Senshi are in it." The fire she'd just about torched the draft with goes out and there a mix of fury and hurt that speeds across her face. "What!?! How can you do a story without a senshi in it?" "Simple you eternal nightlight it takes place in DK and none of the senshi are around during that period." I don't think that the 'eternal nightlight' bit helped much but since my Avion friend is standing between me and her I feel rather safe. Dropping the paper she was about to torch she stalks out of the converted broom closet that I'm working out.

Smirking slightly I lean out the door and ask if she'd light the candle I just recently acquired. Mars just glares, some people just can't handle prodding, ne. Well Con's giving that look that reads 'either back to work or I find out how big a splat on the ground you'd make when dropped from 50,000 feet' I never knew avions could be so expressive.

I'm happily typing away when all hell brakes loose, first Sakuya comes in dressed like Sailor Jupiter, considering Andy hasn't even given her the proper Transformation Wand or anything I tell her to go change she nods but want's a 5% raise. Sheesh! Then what do I hear but the rumbling thump of combat coming from Latus's sound stage, uh oh, if it's anything having to do with the KS then I'm outta here Con or no Con. I thought he gave up on hurricane season?

Margrave and Calcite were walking along the edge of reality, waiting for shooting to resume on TKC. Neither of them ventured too close to the edge, but they stayed close enough that all the raw chaos at the boundary was visible.

They paused a moment to watch a particularly gorgeous flare.

Margrave leaned her head on Calcite's shoulder.

He looked down. "Hey, Cat, I thought you were the one who didn't believe in taking on-screen relationships offscreen."

She chuckled throatily. "I'm reconsidering. What do you believe?"

He stared off into the distance, watching the unreal negate itself. "I believe...." He paused, then went on ,in a different tone, I believe we have a problem."

"Huh?" She looked up, then followed his gaze. "*What* the-!?"

Off in what should have been empty nonspace, an enormous island of reality had formed. Margrave stared for several seconds before she realized that it was drifting towards the SME set...right at her and Calcite, in fact.

"Uh, Cal...why don't you..."

"Most definitely, yes." He wrapped an arm around her waist and they vanished. A few seconds later the new island hit home, shaking the entire set; sending props and actors flying in all directions, spilling coffee, and interrupting at least two tender moments.

Minutes later, a crowd had gathered at the impact point. Most of SME was there loudly speculating and arguing about what it meant. (However, in the background a sound could be heard, rather like a writer yelling, "I'm free! I'm free!")

The impact had pushed a large section of rock up into a rough pinnacle, and upon the peak a figure in a black, hooded cloak abruptly appeared. Everyone quieted as the figure raised a megaphone to its mouth and-

"I HAVE ARRIVED!!!!! BOW DOWN AND REJOICE IN YOUR SERVITUDE O MEN AND MONSTERS!!!!! FROM BEYOND ALL KNOWN TIME AND SPACE, I, THE DARK LORD KURI-"

KER-WHOOOMM!!! A wide variety of energy blasts and other attacks hit the shouting figure from all directions. After a moment the air cleared and they could see him, smoking but seemingly unhurt, holding the melted remains of the megaphone. There was a dramatic pause, then he tilted gracefully backward and off the peak. *THUMP*.

Pause.

Ferrite: "What the hell was that!?"

Magnesite: "Someone with an inflated idea of his own importance."

A buzz started as people began debating what should be done next. Mark studied the island. The sets seemed to consist of a grimy-looking city in a valley and, on a peak above the city, an ominous-looking castle of black crystal. Mark glanced to his left. "Cal?"

Calcite shook his head. "Not Dark Kingdom architecture. Maybe

Black Moon Family?"

Andy came out of the crowd in time to hear the last. He shook his head. "Opal says not. I wonder-what the *HELL*...."

Another figure had appeared on the rock pinnacle. This one was a young man in black trews and an SME T-shirt, with thick blond hair and glasses. He was however, also carrying a megaphone.

"Ahem. Hello everyone?" The crowd quieted and looked at him, several of them ready to fire again if necessary. "Um, first I'd like to apologize for that greeting, " He looked behind him momentarily and sighed. "Hopefully it'll be easier to keep him under control here.... In any case, my name is Christian Gadeken and I'm the newest Author around here. We'll be working together quite a lot, so hopefully we can get along. Um....that's about it. I don't want to keep you from filming any longer, but if Uranus and Neptune could stay for a few minutes I've got their new script." After a moment, he put the megaphone down, grabbed a bookbag from behind him and slid down off the peak.

The crowd started to disperse as Andy walked forward. "Christian, what the hell??"

He grinned. "Oh, you know me, can't resist a big entrance."

"What *is* all this, anyway?"

"New sets, of course. I wasn't sure you'd have the room, so I just built them first and imported them."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"I admit I wasn't planning something *quite* this messy...oh, well.

Uranus! Neptune!"

Andy turns around to see the two Senshi standing there looking quizzical.

Uranus: "So who was that guy?"

Christian: "Mm?"

Neptune: "The Dark Lord Chestnut or whatever."

Christian: Oh, him. He's the bad guy. Couldn't you tell?"

Andy: "*What* bad guy?"

Christian grinned. "Ah....that's a secret." He bent over and started rummaging through the bookbag at his feet. "Now, I've got a script for a story for you two here....somewhere...." The rummaging got more frantic, then turned into rooting, and culminated in various books and articles being flung in all directions. After a moment Christian straightened up and scowled. "All right, if it's not in here, where....oh, hell. *Front*!"

A brown-haired girl in a white kimono popped in. "Hai?"

Christian : "I think Mercury's scotched her script again. Try and find it before she rewrites herself completely?"

"Hai" *Pop*

Neptune looked interested. "Mercury? The search for the younger Mercury? "

"Right."

Uranus frowned. "We don't get humiliated again in this one, do we?"

"*Chuckle* Not really. You get a little frazzled at the start of Chapter 2, but it's no worse than having your little brother drive you up the wall."

*Sigh*

Neptune: "And me?"

Christian grinned: "*You* get an origin."

"Really, really? Oh, at last!" She actually pirouetted.

Andy: "So what *about* this Dark Lord Chestnut? Is he the bad guy in that story? And is that his castle?"

Christian: "No, and yes. He's part of the *big* story."

"Big story?"

"Sorry, it's still secret. But I'll tell you this much, by the time I finish part 1, Titanite is either going to love me or hate me."

Everyone: "Oh, boy."

From: Andy Combs

"Action!" I yelled nervously.

Filming on the Holographic Chaos scene from Crystal Renegades #8 began. This had to go right the first time, because I'd pretty much blown the budget for CR on this one scene. Just the sheer number of guest stars and cameos in this one had been enough to make my accountant faint. But he had hired everyone I wanted for it, so it was actually happening.

Well, almost everyone. Escaflowne had refused, saying he wanted no part of the bunch of canceled losers I'd hired, so we'd replaced him with some generic giant mecha. Not quite as current, but it would have to do.

Gojiira alone had cost an arm and a leg. Not mine, fortunately.

The one thing that made this all workable was that the scene truly did require chaos. The type that often erupted on anime sets, given the egos of most toons. Put enough toons together in one place, and you were just asking for a riot. I had gone as cheap as I could with the set props, and was filming outdoors for the most part, so if the characters got a bit carried away, we'd just keep filming. That's as long as the stars remained in control. I had played on their egos to get that. The others might be stars on their shows, but here the stars were Titanite, Topass, Mars, Margrave, and later Calcite and Minako.

This was their time to shine, but only if they would remember their lines and avoid getting caught up in the surrounding chaos.

We started with Mars, one of the simpler parts. While she was normally one of the hardest Senshi to work with, the fact that she was getting huge sections of the scene done from her perspective, when she wasn't even a major character in the whole CR series, had been enough of an ego boost to her to keep her in line. Titanite hadn't been a problem, since large parts of chapters 4 through 6 had been from her perspective, and Margrave, usually the worst of the bunch, had enough focus parts in 7 and 8 to pacify her. That was the secret of working with toons. Give each a good share of the focus. They tended to stay pacified that way.

Topass had been a special case. He was my own creation, and had still been fairly nebulous in my mind. But in the past few days he had managed to get in some good time with me and flesh out his character. It's amazing how much a character gets mollified by the simple decision not to kill him off in the end. :) Not to mention the fact that he was now looking forward to being a revolutionary hero on Nemesis. No, Topass liked the future plans I had for him way too much to make waves. Which meant I would be having no trouble from him either. No trouble that is, unless he realized that at the speed I write his Revolutionary Hero status was still several years down the road.

I hunkered down in my bunker to watch the action. This would also be a dangerous scene for me and the camera men. But fortunately I had come across a supply of Gargoyle Brand unbreakable glass in the prop room, and fashioned a number of small enclosures from it. It would be nearly impossible for any of the characters to get in here accidentally, and if the characters went after me deliberately there would be little I could do to stop them anyway.

Mars' scene progresses smoothly enough. Small microphones hidden on her and Polaris pick up their lines over the din of hoots, screams, and war cries that filled the set. We would go over it later and digitally enhance their lines, while toning down the rest. And the stars would all be available to redub the lines cleanly if necessary. One of the benefits of the cancellation of the Sailor Moon anime was that the stars were now a whole lot easier to schedule for fanfic like this.

Everything went well until Titanite teleported away. She was *supposed* to teleport off the set, wait thirty seconds, and then teleport back in with Calcite and Sailor Venus. Oh, she teleported away well enough, but not off the set, at least not completely. How she managed to shift outfits in mid-teleport I'll never know, but suddenly she was in the bunker with *me*, wearing an incredibly revealing negligee. She quickly draped herself across me.

"Now, Andy-san, when *are* you going to get around to doing my sex scene with Topass. We were *supposed* to have this nice, romantic scene by the pool, and then you had to go and interrupt it with all this." She motioned at all the chaos around us.

"I... Umm... Well..." I stammered. No offense to Azurite, or Margrave, but Titanite could be overwhelmingly sexy when she wanted to be. Like now.

"You *know* that Mark-san will never give me a sex scene, as I'm just *way* too young and innocent in the main Dark Kingdom Renegades stories, so if I'm gonna get to do the romantic scene, it's gonna *have* to be in Crystal Renegades." By now she had maneuvered herself into my lap, and was pressed up against me, talking right into my ear at barely above a whisper.

I glanced at the timing clock. Twenty of Polaris' thirty seconds off camera were gone. If I didn't do something soon, the whole scene would be ruined when she didn't reappear on time, or worse, when the other two appeared without her.

"Ti-chan, I promise. You and Topass will get your big scene before Crystal Renegades is over. We can discuss it later, though. For now, you have an entrance to make."

Titanite grinned and nodded, almost bouncing off of my lap. Her negligee was gone before she even was off of me, and she was back in her Sailor Polaris costume. Great. It had only been a glamour all along. She blew me a kiss, and vanished just in time to reappear back out on set at the exact same moment Calcite and Sailor Venus appeared.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I resumed directing. But the thought of Titanite on my lap kept creeping into my mind. What if I could afford to take her up on what she had been offering? I quickly grabbed the thought and stuffed it into a nearby trash can. Sex between humans and toons was a *bad* *idea*. Not for the reasons put forth in that old American movie, Cool World, but for simple compatibility reasons. Toons were built to do things no human could do, and had much less self control than humans. With Titanite's enhanced strength she could quite easily injure or kill a human partner, and there was little guarantee she wouldn't.

No, if I valued my life, which I did, she was forbidden fruit. But that didn't stop me from fantasizing about what could have been.

The rest of the shot went smoothly, with the trio of shapers creating a growing sphere of space empty of holo-toon. We didn't actually erase the toons. These were all actors, not the psychoplasm creations they were pretending to be. So we had the trio stand in a circle, pretending to dispel everything around them, and later on we would do a frame-by-frame edit to create the expanding circle, leaving only the trio and Sailor Mars behind.

It was with great relief that I finally yelled "Cut!". We repositioned for Margrave's scenes in the chaos, and life went on.

Yet Another Day Backstage...

EVIL MIDNIGHT LURKER PRODUCTIONS:

KAKUTOU SENTAI NIICHUANRANGER EPISODE 1, ACT 1, SCENE 3, TAKE 506 ACTION!

EXTERIOR: A sidewalk cafe in Nerima, across the street from a major video store. RANMA and RYOUGA are having an uncharacteristically civil discussion.

RYOUGA: Saotome, did I just hear you *admit* that you've made my life hell...?

RANMA (subdued): ...Yeah, you did. I didn't do any of that stuff on *purpose*, but that's no excuse...if I'd been payin' attention I mighta noticed you were takin' our food fights seriously. I thought it was just a game, like with Ucchan...

(The conversation is rudely interrupted as KARABERAS teleports in.)

KARABERAS: 'Scuse me, anyone seen that Lurker guy...?

"CUT!!"

Wonderful. Just when I've broken director's block...I storm onto the set, manfully resisting the urge to garrotte the Weird Sister with a length of Armenian string cheese. "I'm the Lurker, and *you* just ruined three hours of work! Ever heard of designated teleport stages? Like the one right over there?!"

"Hey, don't get all mental on me! It's not like you're ever gonna finish any of these stories, anyway..." She catches the look in my eye and wisely shuts up. Temperamental chefs and eccentric directors are bad enough taken separately, but when you combine the two into one whole (i.e., me) you get something no one sane messes with. Pity there are so few sane people around here.

"What...do...you...want?"

"Um...there's an emergency on the SME backlot...they need you to help rebuild the kitchen?"

Great. Just freakin' spectacular. I should've known bringing the worst cooks in anime together under one roof would backfire. "I'll be over in a few minutes," I sigh. "Now get outta here before I...waitaminute...How'd you get in here? The Lurkerdrome's teleport shields are supposed to be at full power!"

"Shields?" Karaberas looks genuinely confused. "I didn't notice any-thing..."

"Bloody hell! JERRY!!"

"You bellowed, sir?" I'll never understand how Steiner can sneak up behind people like that. He's a nerd, not a ninja...

"Jer, didn't you say the shields were up?"

"They are, sir. Operating at one hundred per cent efficiency."

"Then how'd *she* get in?"

Jerry extracts a six-foot-wide sensor array from his jacket (SHRRIP!) and checks the nervous Nemesian out. "Very simple explanation, sir. The shields are only meant to block psionic teleportation. Miss Karaberas uses magic..."

"Jerry?"

"Yes?"

Forcing myself to remain calm, I ask: "*Why* do we only have psi-blockers up?"

"Well, since the whole point is to keep Lord Arkanfael out until we come up with a defense strategy, and since he's from a nonmagical cosmos..."

"Jerry..." I grit. "Haven't you read the HDW Guyver script yet?"

"I've been too busy...studying for my part in Masters of Hammerspace, sir.

You *did* make me one of the lead characters, and I don't want to mess up."

Now why is he blushing?

"Commendable, Jer. But if you *had* skimmed the Guyver script, you might have noticed that Rifts Earth is magically *supercharged*. To keep Kronos competitive with the other bad guys, I had to give 'em all kinds of mystic training! In other words, as soon as Arkanfael notices he can't teleport in, he'll head for the nearest ley line nexus and open a rift! Which we, right at the moment, are absolutely HELPLESS to stop!!"

Jerry goes pale. Well, paler. "I'll get right on it, sir. I think Mr.

Segawa and I can come up with something..."

"Good. You'd better hurry..." Then I notice something surprising. "Uh, Jer...you know you've got lipstick smears on your cheek?"

"Um...gottagobye." He vanishes in a burst of speed worthy of the Great Gonzo. And was that golden cat hair on his jacket? Sonofagun. 'Studying for his part,' indeed! I never even dreamed they'd fall for each other off the set. Well, that means I'll have fewer problems getting two terminally shy types to display affection onscreen. Ah, young interspecies nerd love...

But I have other problems. "Okay folks, strike the set! We'll resume shooting...oh. tomorrow at ten."

As the crowd breaks up, Ryouga catches my attention. "Hey, if you're headed to the SME studios, can I hitch a ride? Ferrite asked me for some pointers on kasa-jitsu, and if we've stopped shooting for the day..."

"Sure thing. After all," and he chimes in with me, "the umbrella *is* the perfect weapon." Grin. "Just don't tell Ukyou I said that, right? She's kinda touchy when it comes to chefs and combat styles..."

SHRRIP! and we shift from hammerspace to...wherever the heck the SME Studios are located. Raw chaos may be a more interesting view than the smoky gray void outside the Lurkerdrome, but it's also almost infinitely more dangerous...hmm, if we could push Arkanfael over the edge...no, he's probably got enough strength of will to survive cacoastrum exposure, and that'd turn him into a God. Large G. Very bad idea.

My reverie's broken by a mighty roar. With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, Gojira lumbers by on his (her? its?) way to the Toho warp-gate. Wonder what the big guy was doing here...? Well, whatever. I tell Ryoga to stay put (now we're in Mark's territory the U has vanished) and page Ferrite. Even with the locator beacon we had sewed into his prime bandanna he's still prone to vanishing, and with all the transdimensional traffic around here we might never find him. Best to have the student come to the sensei...

As I make my way past throngs of extras, I notice it's not just the commissary: there's severe structural damage all over the place. Looks like either the Anticooks outdid themselves, or it's something else entirely.

...Yeah, it's something else. A new set has crashed into the main complex (which as a result is now slightly larger than the Lurkerdrome) and caused widespread chaos. Doesn't look like anything we were discussing, unless it's some chunk of Dark Kingdom geography. Now, what the hell...?

I accost a passing Muvian naval officer. "Pardon me, but do you know whose set this is?"

The lieutenant nods. "That's Mr. Gadeken's territory, sir. Just arrived an hour ago."

Gadeken...? He's *here?* (Damnit, I'm *not* gonna act like a drooling fanboy!) "Any idea what he's got planned for it?"

"Not much. His major villain, the Dark Lord Kuri or something like that, tried to make a grand appearance, but we fried him before he could finish the expository monologue."

Kuri..."'Chestnut'?!"

"He didn't have the chance to get the rest of his name out."

"I see...Have you seen Mark around lately?"

"I think he and Mr. Gadeken were headed toward the cafeterias. The human quarter came through relatively intact."

Figures. For hygienic reasons the human and youma dining areas are on opposite sides of the backlot, and that means I don't have time to... "Do you have the time to give Mark a message for me?"

"Certainly, sir. What shall I tell him?"

I fill him in on the Arkanfael situation. "...So he's stuck out in reality for a while, but I don't know how long we can keep a ticked-off Zoa-lord out. He doesn't know where this studio is, but that just means his first move's gonna be to breach the Lurkerdrome shields and force me or Jerry to shuttle him over here. Military force isn't really an option; I do have a few characters who could take Arky on, but there wouldn't be much left of the 'Drome afterwards and I'm already way over budget on the sets. Plus I need him alive for HDW. Talking him down might work, but I think what he's really after is a major rewrite of 'Worlds in Collision,' and Mark's already swamped. I've done everything I can to slow Arkanfael down; If Mark or anyone else has any good ideas..."

"Got it, sir. I'll see that Mr. Latus is informed straightaway." The lieutenant salutes briskly and vanishes into the crowd. I pick my way through the battered backlot toward the YCTK, pausing to take a look at Calcite and Daniel Dumas engrossed in simultaneous games of chess, shogi, and go. All three boards are dead even, and there's some heavy betting going on among the observers. I'm not about to guess who might win, but Jiji's got a pool going-how long will the match take? I put down fifty bucks on at least ten hours. It'd probably take longer, but I figure the ultimate loser will concede well before the endgames. Those two scare me sometimes.

(To be continued)

Well it sounds like the natives are restless again. I've just sent out prologue and chapter 1 for final editing and am have a war with my moral self over the big fight scene with Neptune. I hear part of the lot is toasted so I'm perfectly glad that my converted broom closet's is in the Guard House at the front gate (grin.)

However Con has decided that he and "Galidor" (that's what he calls the knife) might not be able to handle some of the bigger things so he's put into place the 67 dead bolts (I had that put in when Mars tried to torch the Undead Youma script.) in place and winked outa sight. If he gone where I think he's gone then there no way we fit a D.P.T.T.A.M.P. gun in here. so I'll have to stop him somehow. Eesh character!

Well back to work, I wonder if Neptune's still fuming over me making her due the fight seen?

I was in my office conferring with Zocite, Kunzite, Nephrite, Jadite and Ferrite about the flashback scene of Tmask 5 when I heard a knock at the door. Assuming it was the pizza I sent out for earlier I said, "Come in." (Remember what happens when you assume things.) Rather than my anticipated fatty meat and dairy products on bread it was two young men in primitive, homespun clothing. One looked faintly Egyptian while the other was somewhat nondescript. Still there was something familiar about them so I ask, "Who are you?"

"Uh," the Egyptian says hesitantly, "We're Ferrite's second and third incarnations. Mr. Latus sent us over with a few story ideas."

"OUT!" I scream at the new characters, "Out! Out! Out! If you've got a story idea get in the back of the line." Cowed, the two new characters look around the side of my trailer and see the long line of SM, SME, and assorted anime characters waiting impatiently with notes in hand."

"Uh, couldn't we..." the other one begins.

"Couldn't you what?" Kunzite said doing that "glaring balefully while looming menacingly" thing of his.

"I think we'll go wait in line," says the egyptian.

With that, they scurry off just as a pizza delivery man walks up with my order. "Oh, great!" I shout, "Another Latus creation coming over to make a few suggestions," I snarl at him, "Well you don't fool me Magnesite! That uniform might get you past security but I'm wise to you. Get em' guys!" Angry with all the interruptions, the five Guardians pounce on the "delivery man" and proceed to pummel him mercilessly. Gleefully I watch as they really let him have it.

"Scuze me," a voice says from behind, "but could you spare a few lines for a character who's down on his luck?" I look around and see Magnesite standing there with more notes for "Case of the Missing Senshi".

Oh no, how am I ever going to get a pizza delivered after this?

From: "Mark Latus"
Subject: Meanwhile backstage

I normally avoid the fringes of SME. True it's a spectacular view but one misstep and you get to plunge into primal chaos. Which is not recommended even with a Zoalord after your blood. But the guy I needed to see liked to hang around the edge between scenes.

Filming was going to be a little delayed what with the holiday season coming up and Christian ramming his island into the studio complex. But I definitely couldn't really complain about the latter as it had broken me out of that improvised cell. My first experience with character mutiny. Hopefully the last.

Margrave and Azurite were avoiding me and gossip was they were afraid of getting reduced to bit players. Unfortunately both were down as major characters in TKC and I could afford to rewrite at this late date with production begun and the sets constructed.

I suppose I should have expected something like this from

Margrave. You can take the youma out of the Dark Kingdom but you can't take the Dark Kingdom out of the youma. However I was very disappointed in Azurite. I think her ego's got a bit out of control since Andy turned her into a messianic figure in CR. Well she can forget another POV story for a while. I'll have to find a way to take them both down a peg or two. I considered putting out tenders for a truly vile lemon script starring the two of them. Hey if people will write them with Ranma and Ryoga that would be a natural. But that doesn't fit in with the SME image. Besides Margrave would probably enjoy it and Azurite would just soldier through stoically.

I'll have to think of something else.

Hmmm ... "Girls' Night Out 2 : Eudial's Revenge!"

Yeah right, like I've got the time to write that. Maybe I'll turn them into comic relief in the Titanite POV story. I'll have to think about this and plot a suitable revenge. But that can wait until later.

Anyway I've got bigger problems right now. Sam's message came right out of the blue. I guess the sins of the past really do return to haunt you.

Ryoga Hibiki nodded as I passed. It's been a while since we worked together and the first few times were murder. Of course it wasn't easy for him to play six different versions of himself. Especially as most of the time the alternates were talking to each other.

The seventh part had been played by a Ryogoid but recent events made me regret constructing the damned things. At any rate after the experience of directing "Crossover" alternate selves fics were simple. Which is handy for my current project. Glad I only have two Senshi counterparts meeting. Trying to get Usagi to play two Sailor Moons talking to each other would have been a nightmare.

Coincidentally I passed Ami and Makoto. Makoto gave me a friendly wave but Ami just glowered. She's unhappy about all the time she needs in makeup before she can play Sailor Hermes. Maybe I overdid the horrific injuries a tad.

Through the exit door (marked with a number of ominous warning signs) and I was outside and near the edge. There he was, studying the constantly shifting sky and dictating the odd note to a crystal recorder. He didn't seem to have noticed me.

"Pyrite!"

"Huh? Oh hello Mark." He switched off the recorder and put down his sandwich. Which immediately tried to scurry away while I resolved not to ask what was in it. I'll leave the frightening menu descriptions to Sam. "What can I do for you?"

So I filled him in on the situation and he nodded. "In brief, there's an angry Zoalord by the name of Arkanfool ..."

"Arkanfael. He's apparently very particular about getting his name right."

"How particular? Are we talking a stern look or pulling your spine out through the back of the neck?"

"The latter."

"Gotcha. Okay this guy wants either revenge or a rewrite. He can't get here directly but if he gets into the Lurkerdrone he can access SME via hammerspace? Same way the Lurker does?"

"Right."

"He's a very tough bastard and beating him militarily isn't an option. At least not without the collateral damage turning SME into a wasteland. Besides Lurker needs him alive for an unconnected fic. Have I got that right?"

"That's it. I was thinking of trying out the Gundam class Ryogoids I designed but never used. But, on reflection, I've had enough trouble with them recently."

"You could cut Xerxes loose."

"He's got power to match Q but less selfcontrol and morality.

As for the other Walkers given their time scale it'll be twenty years after you contact them that they'll look at you and ask what you want."

"Tricky ... I'd say the best stopgap measure is to cut off SME from hammerspace. That'll hopefully buy us the time to think of something better."

"Good." It occurred to me that if we did that we'd either trap Sam here or seal him off from SME. Still it would be better than me getting ripped apart by the Zoalord. Sacrifices were necessary for the greater good of me ... I mean SME.

"So how do we do that?"

"No idea."

"WHAT!"

Pyrite shrugged. "I've never studied Hammerspace. I've looked at it enough to know it's different from the quantum pandimensional membrane I normally mess around with. It's also completely different from raw chaos which I've been studying lately." He waved an arm at the constantly changing lightshow surrounding us. "Get in touch with E.M. Lurker and ask him to have this Jerry Steiner contact me. Maybe we can work something out."

He looked a little devious. "As an alternative do you have any personal enemies among the other writers?"

"No, why would I?"

"Pity. We could have stuck one of them with a glamour of you and let Arkanfael tear him apart. He thinks you're dead and leaves then you're off the hook." I guess I looked at him sharply as he sounded defensive. "Just a suggestion!" Pause. "Is Doug expendable?"

"Of course not!" I admit I thought about it very briefly.

"That's incredibly unethical! Besides he hasn't finished his story yet."

"As you like. Well have Lurker's people contact me.

Incidentally are we resuming Kingdom Come soon?"

"Another day or two. The Sabers-Shadows-Ryogoid fight demolished most of the soundstage so we're still rebuilding. That island's abrupt arrival didn't help. Lucky we didn't lose too many of the sets and FX had already shot the 'Tokyo goes boom' stuff.

So I've commandeered the new stage we're giving Doug to wrap up shooting on 'The Babe Wore Blue.' By some fluke it wasn't damaged. It's way too small for shooting TKC but it should do fine for the CTU interior shots in Babe. Oh, if Doug asks it's still under construction."

"Gotcha!"

With that he went back to studying the chaos and I left to call

Sam. I'm still going to need a permanent solution to the Arkanfael dilemma. Maybe I could troll r.a.a.c. for a drekfic writer who won't be missed. Invite him to SME, stick a glamour of me on him then send word to Arkanfael I'm ready to discuss the rewrites. After the first few cliches Arkanfael makes a mess and goes home thinking his honor is satisfied. And the world becomes just a little bit of a better place.

I have to admit it's tempting

From: Douglas Helm
Subject: Meanwhile backstage

Well with the holiday season coming up and construction work going on with the Latus Sound stage it's relatively silent at SME. And that's relative to SME of course. Supposedly the new sound stage is still under construction. I know it's finished because of my own trusty avion friend. It doesn't really bother me though I have to do the scene shooting for the fights outside and preferably when it's dark. You know it's amazing what you can accomplish with a green or blue screen a Raytracing program, decent computer and a couple of stools and a portable video camera. I save almost all the money for locals by doing it via computer graphics generation.

Well the lead to the fight scene is under way and when the rest of my cast get back from holidays and personal business we can get on with the fight. I'm still trying to convince Neptune that she'll be safe.

Maybe, yeah that ought to get her to do it. Just suggest that if she won't do it I did get Uranus to do it. (Evil Grin) Mean while time to hide from any nasties that are looking for the other writers. That and Mars still hasn't forgiven me about the Undead Youma thing.