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ikari@wantree.net.au

Jim's not on this list, I'm just posting his fic here for your
perusal.  Hope you like it.  ^_^

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	The ceremony was well under way by the time the man who was
known as The Asian Hawk climbed through the small hole in the old
fortification's wall.  Hundreds of natives, bedecked in skins,
feathers and masks, and little else, were chanting at the relatively
tall stone statue of their god, built long after the fort's builders
were history.  Having managed to pull his backpack, containing all
of his tools of trade, through the hole, he sat back from his high
outpost, looking over the scene as a topless virgin, bound to a kind
of wooden frame, was slammed down in front of the High Priest.

	Of all the natives, the High Priest had to be the most
ridiculous looking of the lot, almost half of his upper frame
covered by an elaborate mask that should have imposed fear in his
opponents, rather than the stifled hilarity the Asian Hawk was
feeling right at this moment.  The Priest bent over the young woman,
much in the same way Asian Hawk had seen dirty old men lowering
themselves over naked young women in girlie bars across the globe,
and painted with what could have been blood, but was more likely
nothing more than some form of vegetable-based paint, from the base
of her neck, down towards her bellybutton.  The virgin seemed more
bemused than frightened by it all.

	Within moments, the virgin and her wooden frame were slammed
down in front of the statue as the natives and their Priest lowered
themselves, chanting and praying with a great intensity.  Asian Hawk
took the opportunity to stand, lifting a crossbow, with grappling
hook bolt, from his backpack and firing it down towards the neck of
the statue, a wire cable extending along its path, so silently that
none of the prostrated natives noticed.  He then attached a pulley
to the cable and slid rapidly over the heads of the natives down to
the statue, where what he had come for was to be found....  An
ancient, somewhat mystical knight's sword.

	And there he made his first mistake.  For the statue wasn't
anywhere near as solid as he thought it would be.  As soon as he
latched onto the statue's neck with his feet, the head came apart
from its shoulders, rolling forward and landing beside the now
utterly pissed-off virgin.  Her short cry of surprise caused the
Priest to raise his head, just in time to see the head roll in front
of him, coming to a stop, staring him in the face.  Calling out to
his followers, he stood and looked up with horror at his newly
beheaded God.  The natives became even more restless when another,
much smaller head popped up in its place, spouting babble.

	Asian Hawk did his best to cover for his blunder as he hung
onto the back of the statue, trying his best to give a impression of
a slightly miffed god.  And it worked, for the most part.  The
natives got back to their knees, bowing and chanting to his eminent
presence, making him feel rather special.  It had been a long time
since he'd had to impersonate a God or a deity.  The last time was
in some lost valley, in the middle of south-east Asia, where the
shrine maidens had made him feel rather godlike, to be sure.  The
memory put a smile on his face, just before the High Priest stepped
around the statue and noticed his new god's head was attached to a
smaller, rather more mortal body.

	Realising he was suddenly in deep shit, he attempted to babble
his way out as the Priest pointed his staff at him, making
accusatory gestures.  The Priest, con artist that he was, knew too
well what it was like to masquerade as someone of great divinity,
and wasn't fooled in the slightest, calling out to his followers
that their was an intruder in their midst.  Seeing that his ruse was
no longer working, as the natives got to their feet, grabbing clubs
and spears from the edge of the temple area, he swung around the
statue and reached down to where the sword was embedded in the body
of the statue, trying to prise it from its holds.  Before he was
able to release it, however, the Priest had followed him around, and
was about to strike him with his staff.  Asian Hawk gripped onto his
cable, still attached to the statue, flung himself around and booted
the Priest, with both his feet, over about a half dozen meters, down
into a group of his own follwers.

	Within moments, he had unwrapped a belt from over his back and
whipped it over the sword, the latch catching it with enough force
to wrench it from the statue's grasp.  Natives, climbing up the base
platform of the statue to stop him, were forced to jump back off as
he swung the belt, with sword, in a graceful arc shortly before he
attached both to the straps of his backpack.  Looking down at the
natives, he spotted spears being hurled in his direction, and a
couple of clubs, making for his head from either side.  He leapt
from the platform, in a series of rolls, onto the ground, where he
was set upon by the angry gaggle.  A few well-executed punches,
jabs, kicks and leg sweeps cleared him a path towards a boiling pot,
sitting on one side of the temple area, which he made for with great
speed.

	Executing a short leap, he collected the side of the pot with
one foot, landing face first as the pot's contents splashed over
him.  Spears that had been cast in his direction struck the bottom
of the pot, harmlessly.  He jumped to his feet, quickly brushing
away smoking embers and ash from the fire that had heated the pot,
before realising he was once more in range.  He ducked down and
kicked the pot rolling, himself performing a series of end-on-end
rolls to keep behind its protective base as more spears turned it
into a veritable porcupine.  The pot came to a stop at the edge of
what had once been a form of moat channel, running alongside the old
broken wall of the fort.  He leapt over the moat onto the top of the
wall, momentarily glancing back as his pursuers charged forward,
spears and clubs at the ready.  Turning, he looked over the other
side of the wall, which was a long drop, the ground hidden by bushes
and trees.  He could see only one avenue of escape.

	He leapt across the chasm, grasping for a tree he felt would
be strong enough to hold his weight.  It would have been, had it not
been for his backpack and the sword.  Combined, the branches
cracked, and he let out a short, strangled cry as he fell through
the thicket below, fully expecting to feel the ground meeting his
body at full, painful velocity.  Only it didn't.  He felt himself
land in the strongest, most capable pair of arms it had ever been
his fortune to land in.  Opening his eyes, he looked into the face
of a young, brown-haired girl, some sixteen years of age, her hair
up in a ponytail, with a tiara around her forehead and rose earrings
in both ears.  The girl seemed every bit as surprised as he was.

	"Hey guys...."  Jupiter said to her four Inner Senshi
companions as they skulked through the undergrowth, trying to find a
way out from the place they had suddenly, and inexplicably, arrived.
"Look what I just caught."  Asian Hawk looked at the girls.  Looked
at their short skirts.  And he smiled.  Damn, those shrine maidens
were pretty determined to find him!

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BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON
RECOGNISABLE FANTASIES
by nIGHT rIDER (Assistance by DDFA)

Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko and Kodansya.  All other characters 
were thought up by me.  Well, its true, isn't it?

Chapter 1a
Armour of Gawd....

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	SLIGHTLY EARLIER....

	Eternal Sailormoon opened her eyes, to see a whole lot of
nothing.  Well, that wasn't entirely true.  She COULD see some
grass, a few branches and a lot of dirt, all in shadow, but that was
after blinking a couple of times, and realising that she was lying
face forward in the middle of somewhere she didn't recognise.  With
the deliberate slowness of someone who was utterly confused and
somewhat bewildered, she picked herself up and sat, leaning on her
left hand, and she could see that Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter
were doing something similar, all within feet of her.  "Umm..."  She
said, startling Venus, who had been looking the other way at the
time.

	"What the heck..."  Mars rubbed her head, then brushed a hand
through her hair.  "Ah, I've got dirt all through my hair!  This
sucks."

	"Oh my.  I think I've landed on top of something."  Mercury
lifted something from under her skirt, holding it up to the others.
"Hmm...  It appears to be a kind of religious relic."  She studied
the small, rough-cut idol, turning it in her hands as Jupiter rolled
her eyes.

	"It's not the time for that.  Where the hell are we?"  Jupiter
was the first to her feet, banging her head on a lower branch.
After several moments of clutching her head and doing little dances
to the sound of agonised gasps, she was steadied by Eternal
Sailormoon, now having stood with the others, rather more
circumspect about what lay above them.

	"Well...  It's at the bottom of something."  Venus pointed to
one side, where a stone wall could be seen.  "Some kind of temple,
or something like that."

	"More likely an old fortress."  Mars brushed her fingers
through her hair, trying to get as much dirt out of it as possible.
"That still doesn't answer the question of how we got here, wherever
here might be."  She turned to Mercury, who was still studying the
idol, intently.  "Do you remember anything?"

	Mercury looked up at her, surprised and distracted.  "Hmm?
No.  Nothing at all."  She paused.  "You really should have a look
at this.  It's a true museum piece.  Might fetch quite a bit on the
market."

	"Really?"  Venus leapt forward, grabbing the idol from
Mercury's hands.  Mercury looked at the idol with concern.

	"Be careful with that..."  She started.  It was too late.  As
soon as venus flipped it over to have a better look at the face, she
lost her hold on it.  Within seconds, it was in pieces all over the
ground.  Mercury stared at the pieces for several moments, then
glared at Venus, who had several sweatdrops emerging like a crown
around her head.

	"Umm....  Sorry?"  Venus giggled, nervously, then did her best
to change the subject.  "Hey, can you hear something?"

	"Like what?"  Mercury growled, ranging up on her.  Venus put a
finger to her lips and everyone listened.  They could hear the sound
of chanting in the near distance.  "Hmm..."  Mercury put her hands
on her hips.  "Well, that would seem to confirm your theory about
this being a temple of some kind."  She glanced down at the
shattered idol.  "That too."

	"Hey, I said I was sorry."  Venus put on a painfully chastised
expression on her face, curling up her lower lip and pressing her
two forefingers together.  Mercury ignored her and knelt down,
picking up some of the fragments as Jupiter started making her way
forward, through some of the brush.

	"There seems to be something of a path, just through here.
It's not very clear, I have to say."

	"Hmm.  From the looks of things, this was a kind of moat.
Certainly an old form of defensive trench."  Mercury pointed one
way, then another.  "Running along this wall, here.  This probably
was, once, a fortress, as Mars said.  But I'm sure it has long lost
that usage."  She shrugged.  "Many fortresses, of ancient kingdoms,
became temples after the downfall of the kingdom.  At least, several
were, before they were abandoned altogether."

	"Well, whatever it is, I don't like the sound of that
chanting."  Mars crossed her arms and closed her eyes, swallowing
nervously.  "I mean, who KNOWS what kind of people they are."

	"Sounds like cliched chanting by natives from an old Tarzan
movie."  Eternal Sailormoon scratched her head, giggling inanely.
Mars shot her a look, sweatdropping.  "Well, I was only trying to
make a joke...."

	"Some joke.  If they ARE your cliched natives, who knows WHAT
they might try to do to us.  They could capture us and sacrifice us
to their God."  Mars waggled a finger in Eternal Sailormoon's
direction.  "They might even be cannibals, ready and willing to eat
the soft, supple flesh of young maidens such as we."

	"S...s...stop that.  You're making me nervous."  Venus
shivered to illustrate the point.  Eternal Sailormoon and Mars
looked at her, chuckling.

	"You don't really believe that that kind of thing still
happens, do you?"  Mars snorted.

	"Well, yes, it does still happen in some parts of the world."
Mercury said, matter of factly, not really paying attention to the
looks she was getting.  "There are tribes in Sulawesi and Irian Jaya
that still practice such things, albeit not as much as they used to.
These days its more ritualistic than actual, but it was only a few
years ago that it was stopped.  That we know of."

	"Thanks, Mercury....  We needed to know that."  Venus rubbed
the top of her arms, nervously looking around.  "Is it just me, or
has it suddenly gotten cold around here?"

	Ignoring Venus, Mars stepped up alongside Jupiter and stared
through the thicket.  "The chanting and stuff is getting louder.  Is
there a trail that can take us out of this place?"

	"Yeah, if you follow it through here, it looks like you can
get out.  I can see the horizon through those bushes over there."
Jupiter pointed.  "It's a bit...  I dunno, it looks awfully clear to
me."

	"Clear?"  Mars peered through the bushes.  "What do you mean
by that?"  Jupiter took a breath.

	"Well, I can see sky through the bushes, but I can't see any
ground.  It might be a cliff, or some kind of ledge."  She looked up
at the wall.  "Didn't they build these fortresses on natural vantage
points, like hills or mountains?  We could be on top of a mountain."

	"Not with this kind of growth."  Mercury stood and ran a hand
along one of the thicket branches.  "Unless this moat was especially
protected, the plant life would be a hell of a lot smaller.  But I
take your point, it is logical that this fortress would be built on
some high ground, with a good all-round view."  She waved some of
the pieces of the idol in Venus's face.  "The only way we're going
to find out is if we look for ourselves.  What do you say?"

	Venus crossed her arms, looking miffed.  "Whatever you say,
MERCURY-sama, oh great and wise one."  Venus brushed past Mercury,
then past Jupiter and Mars, pushing her way into the thicket,
yelping as twigs and sharp points dug into her side.  Jupiter and
Mars rolled their eyes at each other and tentatively followed her
in.  Eternal Sailormoon held back, scratching her head.

	"Doesn't anyone wonder just WHY we're here?"  She frowned.  "I
mean, how did we get here?"

	"That doesn't really seem to matter, does it?"  Mercury placed
a hand on her shoulder.  "We're here, now.  The only thing we can do
is find out where and why.  Then maybe everything else will fall
into place.  I hope."  Mercury reached around to her side and
flipped open a small pouch connected to the middle of her senshi
uniform, where she kept her computer and other gadgetry, and placed
the fragments of the idol there.  She closed the pouch and smiled at
Eternal Sailormoon.  "For future reference."

	"Like what?"  Eternal Sailormoon raised an eyebrow.

	"A thought came to me just then...  It was almost as if I was
MEANT to find that idol.  I'd like to run some tests on it to see
what it is made of."  Eternal Sailormoon bit her lower lip, chewing
over what Mercury had said, but said nothing and followed Mercury
into the thicket.

	Moments later, they were standing on the edge of a sharp
decline, covered in grass and bushes.  The landscape appeared to be
middle Europe, which didn't sit well with the sounds coming from
above, now louder than before.  Venus looked up at the bushes and
trees only just masking the top of the wall.  "Sounds like there is
fighting going on up there."  She swallowed.  "Someone must have
upset them."

	Jupiter smiled nervously.  "I think we better get out of here,
pretty fast.  I mean, you never know when the sky is going to fall
on our heads."  And to illustrate the point, she put out her arms,
just in time for the figure of a man, carrying a backpack and a
sword, to fall through the trees and into them.  The man stared at
her as she stared at him, then, when she finally found voice, she
looked over at the others and said....  "Hey guys....  Look what I
just caught."

	"Ah, thankyou very much."  The man smiled at her, then
wriggled out of her arms as she lowered him to the ground.  "I
needed a little bit of assistance there."  He paused, then pointed
at Jupiter.  "Didn't we meet at a shrine in Laos?"  Jupiter shook
her head, voicelessly.  He sighed and shrugged.  "Ah well.  It was
just a thought.  I don't often bump into young women in short skirts
in the middle of the boonies like this."


To Be Continued....


James T Woolford "nIGHT rIDER" ikari@wantree.net.au


Member of the AJAS Fanfic Circle


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