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On April 15th, 2014, Luca Krantz turned 17 years old.

She looked herself over in the mirror. It wasn't like she expected changes to just magically occur the second she turned 17 (though she had certainly had issues with magical changes recently). Her face was the same- same blue eyes, same slanted scar from the accident years ago. She ran her finger over the altered skin there, thinking of how there were many more just like it all over her body that most people hadn't even seen. A thought popped into her head from there: would she gain even more scars from the battles she found herself drawn into? Well, if she did, what difference would a few extra mystery lines on her body make? Her mom might notice them, maybe.

Luca's mind shifted to thoughts of the future. In a year, she'd be a senior, and then after that, she'd graduate... and do what? Go where? Decisions like these were hard. Hopefully she'd figure out a major or something in the coming year. Maybe Sovereign Heights would be a good idea if she couldn't just go right into DCU. Her grades, while decent, weren't exactly wowing (she was more of a B+ person when it came down to it). And how would this senshi thing impact her future? She had been appraised of the fact that there were way bigger things going on in Destiny City than costumed weirdos blowing things up. Being one of said costumed weirdos was beginning to tilt her perspective on things just a bit. Big things were going to happen, of that she was certain. What they were, however, she would have no idea.

Today was the day of that order boot camp thing that that purple-haired Page (Megiddo, right) had invited her to. Working out, training, and encountering others who shared her bizarre fate was not exactly how she expected to spend this birthday, and it cut into her plans to go out to dinner with her family juuuuust a bit. She didn't actually mind the "intrusion," however. This was going to be interesting, for sure. As more information trickled down to her, she found herself wanting more and more pieces of the puzzle. She couldn't keep being clueless if there were things like soul-stealing monsters running around and Negaverse agents looking to usher in an age of chaos (not that Luca was still 100% clear on what that meant). It was time to fight and do things, things that would hopefully become a little less vague in time.

Luca went to her bed, and took another look through the bag she had packed. Change of clothes (of course, she was already wearing her workout clothes, but spares couldn't hurt), check, waterbottle, check, phone, check, some other important things, check... yes, this was good for now. She couldn't hold back the smile coming to her face; she would give today her all, learn all she could, and devote herself to the future, both as a senshi and as a person. Life was going to be new and exciting for her all over again, starting today.

Let's do this!

Word Count: 521

[Backdated to shortly after Das Gift]

Rrha ki gagis exec gyen Hymmnos Z.
(I shall craft, and execute the Hymmnos Z.)

Rrha quel ra clemezen en manafeeze...
(Because of my wishing to live, and to not lose my place, I shall fall into madness...)

Luca generally turned to music to calm herself down, and tonight was no exception. Tonight she had chosen a song that fit her current feelings: chaotic, somewhat distorted (though a good deal more melodic than her current feelings, she suspected). The song itself (its purpose in the game it was from notwithstanding) was about not being able to turn back from an inexorable destiny. The singer continued to march forward, no longer hesitating or looking back on her self from before.

But really, what caught Luca’s attention at first was the second line in the song: “Because of my wishing to live, and to not lose my place, I shall fall into madness.” She was indeed falling into madness; she had been tense and fidgety and anxious and moody over the past few days, which had elicited questions from her family. She tried as hard as she could to defuse the questions: “It’s nothing.” “I have a test coming up.” “I don’t want to talk about it.” “Stop asking me questions!” Her family hadn’t quite stopped asking yet, but the flow of questions was starting to slow, and Luca took that as a sign of success.

She had not forgotten what had put her in this state. She had murdered a Negaverse lieutenant in cold blood, felt his blood seep onto her gloves, seen him fall over dead. For several nights now she had stayed awake replaying the scene in her mind and trying to push it away, only for it to replay again. She could have just fled and let him live. Why did she kill him? She wasn’t even sure anymore. She knew she had a tendency to act rashly in the heat of the moment, and this situation was no exception. She was paying dearly for it now.

Not many senshi that she knew of could claim they had killed someone. Could she continue fighting, stained as she was? Could she ever put on the fuku again and face her less checkered comrades?

An idea came to her: yes, she could. Now that she had done this act, she had no choice but to fight. “Because of my wishing to live, and to not lose my place, I shall fall into madness.” The line from the song rung incredibly true in Luca’s mind, but now in a different way. The emphasis was now on the first two parts of the line, not the final part. She wished to live and not to lose her place. If she wasn’t part of the war before, she was certainly a part of it now. She had been thrust into an unavoidable oncoming fate, and like the singer of the song, she couldn’t hesitate or look back anymore. What was done had been done, and no amount of replaying the scene would make it change.

The time to fight was now.

[Word count: 520]

[Part 1: Arrival on Megrez]

There was one aspect of senshi life that Luca had not explored yet. It had been mentioned to her a long time ago by an Eternal senshi, Maia (one of the first senshi she had ever met, actually), and yet she had never actually made any motion to investigate it. For several months, she had neglected the concepts of a home planet and a past life, and ignored the presence of a certain button on her senshi phone. Now, during a time when being on Earth seemed to bring more trouble than solace, the idea of going into space seemed like a good one.

At this point, Luca knew better than to henshin up in her house, lest her Order aura bring Chaos baddies home. She headed into her favorite alleyway to transform in and pulled out her henshin pen. A glowing, egg-shaped light formed around her. Cracks appeared in the light, and Sailor Megrez burst forth from the egg like a hatching bird. Once that was done, she pulled out her senshi phone, pressed the center button… and wasn’t entirely sure what to do. Something about concentrating? She focused on the idea of finding her planet, of searching and traveling. Soon, the world seemed to blur around her, and she felt something like movement.

A few moments later, her feet touched ground somewhere. When her vision stabilized, Megrez found herself in a very overgrown field, with grass that came up to her knees. At first, all she saw was grass in every direction, and she wondered if she had somehow been brought to the wrong place. No, that wasn’t possible. How could a senshi phone be attuned to somewhere other than Earth and the home planet? For that matter, how could she be attuned to anywhere other than those places?

A little squinting and peering around revealed some shadows in the distance, and so Megrez started off in that direction. The shadows proved to not be a mirage, and they became bigger as she came closer. It took a good ten or so minutes of walking, but eventually, one of the shadows became clearer. There were four blade-like structures coming out from a tower-like base. When she got closer, she had her guess as to what the shadow was confirmed: it was a windmill. Obviously, it wasn't working, but it was the first sign that there had ever been life here for Megrez. An idea came to her: she took out her senshi phone, activated the camera function, and took a picture of it. This would be nice to show the others, she thought.

The door to the windmill had been torn off and was laying down by the side of the building. Curious, she entered and found that it had several floors inside. This windmill must have been for making flour, not just wind power, and certainly not just for decoration. Suddenly, a voice drifted to Megrez's ears. A man's voice said, "Here for the grand tour, Lady Megrez?" and a scene flashed before her eyes: rustically-dressed women and men loading grain into bins. Just as soon as it appeared, it was gone. She blinked, as though that would suddenly make it come back. Was this one of those visions of the past that Maia talked about? Well, duh, it had to be. It was a shame that she couldn’t take a picture of that.

Megrez looked back out the door of the windmill. It seemed that there was a village (or, rather, what remained of one) a short distance away. At the very least, she knew her next destination.

[Word Count: 602]

[Megrez went to her home planet on June 3rd, 2014. She will not be able to go again till June 24th.]

[Backdated to the 6th.]

Luca had been home from her family’s 4th of July beach trip for about a day now, and boy oh boy was she sunburned. She had gallivanted off into the ocean water without even thinking about putting suntan lotion on (though she did put it on later), and she was paying the price. When she got home, she pretty much had the energy to do nothing more than slather herself in after-sun moisturizer and sleep and whine back at the “I told you so”s her mother gave her. Casey kept chanting “Lobster Lady, Lobster Lady!” at her, to which Luca said back, “That’s Lady Lobster to you,” and threw whatever small soft object she could get her hands on at him.

It was really nice getting to do civilian things again, without any powered interruptions. Well, of course, she still went to school and did plenty of civilian things in her spare time, but this event was different. Ordinarily, she would be ruminating over things that had happened while she was powered, or making plans for what she’d do when she went patrolling that night. While she was out there, she had gone several solid hours (nearly a day, really) without a single thought of powering up or worries about youma or the Negaverse (well, spotting Keren and Jeanne had given her thoughts about powering up, but that was mostly because she was excited to see them). It was all sun and fun, swimming and sandcastles (…well, specially grouped together sand lumps, more accurately).

Actually, Luca was surprised that there had been no powered shenanigans at the beach. With so many people gathered in one place, wouldn’t the Negaverse want to gather energy or something? Maybe they decided to take a break as well. How patriotic of them. It was to everyone’s benefit, of course; who wanted their beach trip ruined by a Negaverse attack? As much as Luca tried not to think too hard on it, she couldn’t help but find their absence suspicious. It might have been because she had come to expect them everywhere she went out of a blossoming sense of paranoia, but she was wondering just why the Negaverse wouldn’t take advantage of such a gathering. Then again, who wanted to power up when they were surrounded by people who were presumably normal civilians and would therefore have no idea what was going on? As odd as the lack of powered antics was, there were plenty of reasons for them not to happen as well.

Luca was starting to get tired again, and it was about time for another round of moisturizer (though she doubted that she wouldn’t still peel like crazy even with the moisturizer). Just accept the good time for what it was, she thought to herself as she pulled herself out of bed. Yes, that sounded just about right. Her mind was too sleepy and lazy to keep questioning her good day any further. She wouldn’t worry about what would have been if someone had powered up from either Order or Chaos; instead, she’d just be happy that things happened how they happened. She went, she had a good time, and now she was going to put some lotion and recover from her “overindulgence” (in sun, at least).

It felt good to have a normal day, that was for certain.

[Word Count: 558]

[Part 1: The Market]

Well over three weeks had passed since Megrez took her first trip to her home planet. Since she had a little time to kill on this fine summer day, Luca thought it would be a good idea to come back and look through the remnants again. She had wanted to go back for quite some time, but she simply… didn’t. Whether it was due to being busy with personal projects or forgetting, she simply hadn’t gone. Well, there was no better time than now. She hoped that this time, she would end up in a more relevant place than that little village.

Saying that she was going to go visit her friends, Luca hastily stepped out the door and made a beeline for the little alleyway she called Henshin Alley. Once there, Luca pulled her henshin pen out of her pocket (so lovely and newly-upgraded!) and transformed into Super Sailor Megrez. The same egg-shaped light formed around her, but this time, when the egg cracked and broke to reveal the super senshi, some feathers of light burst out and fell to the ground, where they disappeared. Giggling, she fiddled with her new, significantly larger butt bow and summoned up her phone. The new phone that Ash gave her appeared, and she touched the symbol for the Planet Teleport app. Like before, she focused on searching, finding, listening for the “song” of her planet. Soon, the world blurred around her, and she felt the sensation of movement.

After a moment, her feet touched ground, and her vision stabilized. She found herself on a cobblestone road that went on in front of and behind her. To her sides were large houses, all in various states of ruin. They were distinctly different from the cottages she had seen in the village; perhaps they were more opulent in their heyday. Deciding that there probably wasn’t much to explore inside the houses, she walked forward. The houses stopped after about two minutes of walking, and she arrived at a large open area. To be more accurate, it would be an open area if it weren’t crowded with what appeared to be counters or benches. Most were lined up in neat rows in the middle of the area, but some were along the sides as well. A moment after she took it in, the scene blossomed to life. The counters became filled with various goods, the people selling them, and people buying them.

As if guided by her vision, Megrez looked to the right and saw a man beside her carrying multiple bags of groceries on each arm. He had a mop of dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes, and he was wearing a plain brown shirt and brown pants with suspenders. On his right arm was a yellow armband. He said, “Isn’t the market great? I mean, it’s always great, but on a sale day like this, it’s even better.” He paused and shifted some of the bags on his arms. “What are you going to make with all these ingredients, anyway?”

In a flicker, he was gone, and so was the hustle and bustle of the market square. Megrez was left all alone with one pressing question: “Who was that guy?” she asked aloud to no one. It was easy to conclude that he was just some sort of aide, but he seemed awfully informal and friendly for a simple aide. Perhaps more information would be found further in, if her planet would actually reveal it to her.

Megrez walked up the center of the market square and continued along the road. She cast one look back, wondering if she would get any answers. Since she got nothing, she simply continued forward, and soon a very large building came into view. Surrounding the building was overgrown grass and hedges. When she stepped through an opening in the hedges along the road, a vision confirmed her suspicions for her. The garden restored itself to perfect order, revealing numerous flowers and works of topiary. Some bushes were shaped like birds, some like eggs, and one had a peculiar roundish shape with a lump on top that she couldn’t identify. The building itself was painted a glorious cream color, with brown and gold trim.

She had found it. She had found her palace.

[Word count: 717]

[Megrez traveled to her home planet on July 31st. She will not be able to return till August 14th.]

Too much had happened for Megrez to take lying down.

It was a long list of small injuries and failures and realizations, all culminating in this moment. Castor’s “motivational” speech, the impaling of Mica, the lieutenant she could not kill, that same Castor’s declaration of war… those were only the most recent steps. The time had come for her to act. As Castor had said, killing Chaos was a duty. Something had to be done. She could not be content with just “helping” anymore. She had killed once, and the stage was more than set for her to do it again. The turbulent emotions she had experienced when seeing Castor’s declaration had finally settled, and it was time for her to do her part in the war, no matter what anyone else had to say about it (and boy, did they have a lot to say about it, she learned).

Tonight, instead of wandering aimlessly as she was wont to do, she was more systematic. Starting around the perimeter of the city, she worked her way in, plumbing every alleyway for Chaos auras. Her search led her to blast through some isolated youma, and that was a decent start. It would not be enough, of course. For the first time in a while, Megrez was out on a legitimate hunt and would not stop till she had found a worthy target. After some time, she shifted her patrol to the rooftops instead of the streets, though she would most likely sense a Chaos aura before she saw who it belonged to.

Indeed, that was exactly what happened. After hopping between a few rooftops, Megrez felt the needling of not just one, but two Chaos auras from below: a lieutenant and a captain. She would be outnumbered, so there was a greater risk of either her having to retreat from getting double-teamed or not being able to kill them both. What made her decide to strike against the duo was the presence of a captain. Ganymede had mentioned that Castor should strike where it counted, not against easily-replaceable lieutenants, and Megrez had agreed. A captain wasn’t the most valuable target in the Negaverse, but it was a step up. If she could at least kill the captain, she would be satisfied.

She jumped off the rooftop, hoping to land squarely on top of the captain and gain element of surprise. Such a happening did not come to pass, unfortunately; he became aware of something falling and jumped to the side, pushing his lieutenant out of the way in the process. Megrez still landed gracefully, if loudly. The lieutenant looked to the captain, a hint of desperation and confusion in his eyes. The captain remained stoic, staring at Megrez flatly. She did see his hand stray towards the sheath of his weapon, and she didn't mind. If he fought back, that would be fine. There was a good few seconds where no one said anything, and a few fragmented quips flew through Megrez's mind before she finally settled on one. "The world is changing," she said, a peculiar flatness to her voice. "Now..." It wasn't like she needed to steel herself, but that gap had thrown off her momentum and she needed to re-equip herself to attack. She shifted her posture, and then:

"DIE!"

She flew towards the captain at full Super-enhanced speed, fist poised to land a harsh body blow. The impact struck true, and the captain flew backward as he had the wind knocked out of him. The lieutenant, with full intention of protecting his superior, thwacked Megrez on the back of the head with the bristle side of the hairbrush that served as his obligatory pathetic lieutenant weapon. As he should have expected, the brush got caught in Megrez's hair, and he realized that he could in fact do something useful with this happening. He gave it a hard yank and Megrez pulled back with a yelp. Unfortunately, whatever usefulness that attack had was swiftly replaced by the terrible downside of having drawn Megrez's aggro. "A brush? Really? It's better than a straw and spitballs, I guess, but wow, your weapons suck." A twisted, almost fiendishly exaggerated grin spread across Megrez's face as she swung her fist towards the lieutenant's face and clocked him squarely in the jaw.

Megrez continued the onslaught on the lieutenant with a swift kick to the stomach; he simply could compete with her enhanced speed and strength. Just as she was gearing up to deliver a one-two punch, she felt a sharp pain in her back, and spun around to see that the captain had pulled out his weapon. It was a single small hand scythe, and it was bright red with what could only be her blood. "You piece of s**t," she hissed, and she felt an impact to her back. The lieutenant had kicked her while she was distracted, and soon the captain was right in front of her, swiping and successfully landing a flesh wound on the upper area of Megrez's chest. It went without saying that she was in a tricky position; if she didn't play her cards right, she would be endlessly ping-ponged between the captain and the lieutenant, and the captain would probably start trying to inflict deeper wounds after a bit.

Obviously, it was time to up the ante. Megrez cupped her hands and conjured one of her Super-level giant eggs. She lifted it up, and then brought it down on the captain's head with as much force as she could muster. He stumbled backwards, and she heard something metallic clatter to the ground. She looked in the direction of the sound and identified a gleam as coming from the captain's scythe. She dove for it, but she wasn't the only one who had that idea; the lieutenant had also jumped to recover it. Her superior speed led to her grabbing the handle first, and the lieutenant's hands ended up on top of hers as he attempted to wrestle the weapon away from her. Taking the risk of accidentally getting her face sliced open (hey, she already had one scar on her face; what harm could another one do?), she bent down and bit the lieutenant's hand as hard as she could, and the scythe was hers.

Again the menacing, wicked grin was on her face; she could practically feel a particularly dry part of her lip split just a tiny bit. She charged towards the captain, and the look of shock and fear on his face was plain to see. "Run!" the captain shouted, and when the lieutenant failed to do so immediately, he added, "I won't have you die, too!" Megrez's hopes that the lieutenant was stupid enough to continue trying to protect his partner were dashed when the lieutenant began to back away, calling out one last "I'm sorry!" before running off.

Megrez felt a little bad that she would not have the opportunity to kill both of them, but at least the more valuable target had chosen to stick around. Why would he do that, she wondered? Out of some twisted sense of "honor" or "duty?" It didn't matter to her anymore. Surely she would find that lieutenant later and take him out as well. She led the attack with one close swipe to the captain's front, gouging a wound significantly deeper in his chest than what he had given her. He aimed a low kick to try and knock her feet out from under her, but she countered with a grapple that got him in a headlock and allowed her to position that scythe very, very close to his neck. Though the captain was trying to pry her hands off him, he had some last words in him: "We'll never let you take this planet! You may kill me, but the Negaverse will perservere!" She let the tip of the scythe touch his neck, and he uttered a parting shot: "******** you... and your senshi dogs!"

A scene from a movie popped into Megrez's mind at that very moment. A certain Aldo Raine called out into a tunnel: "Donny! Gots a German here who wants to die for country. Oblige him." It was easy for her to mutate the line into something more fitting, and she attempted to imitate Raine's thick southern drawl as she said: "Gots a Nega here who wants to die for Negaverse. Oblige him." She made a mental note to have Penthesilea say that instead and get a recording of it that she could play whenever she felt down. With that, she applied the pressure and slit the captain's throat, right then and there.

Arterial spray was a thing, to put it mildly. She could feel drops of blood on her face, on her hands, her chest, adding to what was already running from her wound. More than feeling that warm wetness, she heard the horrible gurgling noises coming from the captain as he struggled and drowned in his own blood, much like that lieutenant in the warehouse had done at the beginning of the summer. He fell to the ground, limp, and more blood still pooled around his head. Megrez stared down at the dying young man for a moment, then lifted the scythe once more, only to bring it down on his body over and over again. More blood spattered, and soon the captain's backside was a slashed-apart mess. When she was satisfied, she kicked him hard enough to roll him over. There was one last thing to do... well, two things, really, but she lacked a lighter or the necessary firepower to burn the body Gunn-style, so the one thing would have to do. Putting all her weight on her right foot, Megrez stepped on the captain's neck, just as she had seen Penthesilea do when they first met, and she heard a crunch.

That noise was all Megrez needed. A tiny giggle bubbled up from within her, and it grew louder and more cacophonous with each round till she was practically shrieking. The world seemed to sway and tilt somehow, and before she knew it, she had fallen butt-first on the ground, still laughing. Some bile rose in her stomach, but she was able to just barely swallow it down. Shaking from heavy breaths and manic giggles, she summoned up her senshi phone and began to tap out some texts.

First, to Gunn, Megiddo, and Penthesilea:

klled captan
culdnt gt lt w hm

Each of the above people got special addendums to their texts. For Gunn: "u nd 2 hlp me brn bodis". For Megiddo: "do i get nothe cpcak". And lastly, for Penthesilea: "i stpppd n hs nec lik u do".

Then, a very special text to Castor, which she hoped he would approve of:

kild caiptn
lets get strted
wll g 2 plnet tis wknd
wl tel wht i fnd

The world was still spinning rapidly for Megrez, and she contemplated just laying down where she was for a bit (never mind the fact that she would be lying down in very close proximity to a dead body). That dizzy feeling, coupled with her shaking, made it seem like the world was convulsing more than spinning, really. This time, she couldn't hold the bile back, and feebly crawled onto all fours to throw up. The too-familiar coppery stench was in the air very thickly, and she remembered the sights and sounds of the event a few days prior: Castor's display of the bodies, his meltdown, her meltdown, everyone's protests against her and him. "Are you happy now?" she mouthed to no one in particular. Was who supposed to be happy now? Castor? Gunn, Megiddo, Penthesilea? Megrez herself? She didn't know at all.

Was she still mad at the people who had stood against her that day? Yes and no. She was not mad at Kairatos because he was not a target. She was not mad at Ganymede because she raised good points. She was mad at that little Super Senshi man-b***h who had the nerve to lay a hand on her (Chaldene). And she was very mad at Hvergelmir, who had the nerve to be a namby-pamby holier-than-thou pacifistic deadweight nuisance (at least in Megrez's inflamed mind; whether even half of those adjectives applied was up for debate) and still confuse the hell out of her. The thoughts of the man-b***h and the nuisance made her remember the vow she had sworn that day: if she was corrupted, even by force, they all had permission to kill her, as they should. Eliminating a corrupted version of her would be a tiny step in the war, but of course, Megrez had no plans to corrupt. Nonetheless, the vow was a sort of backup plan, and it satisfied and reassured her to a degree that she could do something in this war.

Eventually, the world stopped shuddering and warping around her, and Megrez slowly creaked up to her feet. She was very tired now, just like she had been after her outburst the other day. With a hoarse giggle, she lurched off in some arbitrary direction, hoping she would reach Henshin Alley to power down eventually.

[Word count: 2202. Counts for two solos! Yahoo!]

[Mentions of Hugbell included with LP's permission.]

Megrez awoke to a blue, cloudless Megrezian sky. Sure, she could have just as easily seen something equally beautiful on Earth, but somehow it warmed her heart anyway. It was as though the planet itself was saying good morning to her. Good morning to you, too, my planet. After a quick dried fruit breakfast, Megrez began to wander the perimeter of the lake, looking for a road or anything that indicated a way to the town she sought. Sure enough, when she came near to where she had first arrived the day before, there was a worn-looking trail. She must have been so focused on the lake that she hadn’t bothered to look behind her.

It was a lengthy walk, but soon Megrez saw a worn sign. The writing had been completely eroded, but she took it as a sign that she was getting close. Continuing along the path, buildings began to come into view, and before long, she was standing in the middle of the street with buildings on either side of her. The noise of crowds filled her ears, and soon the street filled with people busily making their way around her. She could hear the occasional “Lady Megrez” from various locations in the in crowd, and it made her wonder if she was being called to or gossiped about.

The vision seemed to have started in first person, but a curious shift to third person occurred as Melantha ran from behind her to in front of her. “Come on, Elliot! We need to head to the Fancy Shop! I read their catalog and some great things just came in.”

Elliot sauntered up behind her, clearly in no hurry. “The Fancy Shop again? It’s your money, I guess. I swear, if you’re not spending your money on ingredients or sewing materials, you’re spending it on anything that looks cute in every branch of the Fancy Shop in existence.”

“Since when did you care about how I spend my money?” Melantha said, giving Elliot a mock stern look. “Come on, let’s go! Maybe there’ll be some cologne or something for you.”

The crowd vanished, and Megrez was left alone, the silence being nearly as loud as the crowd was. It looked like she had a new goal: find this Fancy Shop, or the remains of it. That qualifier of the remains meant that finding it would be very difficult, to say the least, but Megrez had plenty of time to wander the whole town and see the sights that would be revealed to her.

After a fruitless period, turning a corner brought the ruins to life once more. The building in front of her had an ornately-carved wooden sign above it that read: “The Fancy Shop.” As though guided forward by her vision, she walked through the open door of the shop and was greeted with a remarkable sight: shelves and shelves of all manner of products. One set of shelves was packed with stuffed animals, another had what appeared to be collectible statuettes (ancient action figures?), some had clothes folded on top of them… the shop’s stock was very diverse indeed. A glass case held jewelry and bottles that Megrez guessed contained lotion of some sort.

As had happened in the last vision, Melantha walked “through” her, practically sprinting up to the wall of stuffed animals. “Ahhh, just as advertised! Look, look at all the Gergeo-brand dolls they have!” She began running her fingers along the stuffed animals on the middle shelf. “The craftsmanship is superb, like always! So soft!” She picked up a fuzzy pink stuffed creature with large ears and glossy wings. “I don’t know what this is supposed to be, but it’s so cute!”

The shopkeeper chuckled at Melantha. “You know, Lady Megrez, if you’re open to something other than Gergeo products, I have something very special for you.”

Still holding the pink thing, Megrez turned to face the shopkeeper. “Oh? What could be so special that it would make me shift my loyalty from my beloved Gergeo dolls?”

The shopkeeper went into a back room and came back out with a yellow bear with blue and pink ribbons on it and a blue bowtie. Placing it on the counter in front of him, he made a sweeping gesture to show it off. “Behold! Corporate has been in talks with certain people, and now we’re getting Hugbellion imports! This bear right here is inspired by the fuku of the senshi of Hugbell. To add icing on the cake, we might even be able to pass on custom orders. Imagine getting a personalized plushie, straight from Hugbell!”

Slowly setting her current creature back on the shelf, Melantha went over to the counter to examine the import. “Wow, this is… really something. It might even be softer than Gergeo plushies. And the seams are so subtle! Gergeo has a rival on the Megrezian plushie market now, for sure. But…” Her focus went back over to where she had found the first stuffed animal. “I’d feel a little awkward buying this one. I’ve never met Hugbell, even in diplomatic gatherings. I hope I can meet her sometime soon now, though. Maybe I’ll arrange something with the council.”

“Fair enough.” The shopkeeper took the bear up. “I take it you’ll be keeping an eye out for further imports in the capital’s Fancy Shop?”

“Of course!”

With Melantha’s concluding words, the scene blinked away, and Megrez was left standing in the middle of a ruined building. Oh, so she collected plushies, too? Even she was left impressed by the array of goods in the Fancy Shop. Her focus had been aligned with Melantha, but she had seen a mint green stuffed animal with a round body, short, stubby legs, and a long, diamond-tipped tail in her peripheral vision. I would have bought that one. The pink one looked too much like a Furby with wings. Alas, the shop’s stock was obviously gone now. There would be no stuffed animals of cute exotic creatures for her to add to her collection today.

Leaving the shop, Megrez took to wandering the streets once more. It seemed that this stretch of her journey would be feast or famine; she would go long periods of seeing nothing but ruins, then the town would flicker to life briefly. Dotted through the intermittent visions were Melantha and Elliot’s visits to various shops, most of which appeared to be dedicated to imports or souvenirs. Initially, Megrez tried to take note of as many unique products as possible, but as time went on and Elliot began to practically drown in Melantha’s shopping bags, she started to lose her patience. She was finding nothing pertinent just watching her past self have a fantastic shopping spree. There weren’t even names of import sources dropped for her to investigate.

After about the fifteenth shop or so, Megrez flat-out drooped. Please tell me I don’t shop like this. I don’t know how Elliot kept up with her. Heck, she’s my past self and I can’t even keep up with her. Undeniably, she was frustrated by the frivolity of the visions she had seen on this day. She had come to gain information, and all she had gotten was vague allusions to issues out of her reach and her past self screwing around. The sun was starting to set, and a quick look at her senshi phone revealed that it was getting late on Earth as well.

That’s it, I’m done. Megrez yawned and pulled out her phone. She would have to be content with the little kernels for now; she still had a civilian life to attend to. More specifically, she had homework and school the next day. Using the planet transfer app on her phone, she sailed across the universe back to the familiar grubby walls of Henshin Alley. When the world stabilized, she had one last thing to do before she could power down, go home, and enjoy her bed.

She pulled up Castor’s name in her contacts and typed out a text:

Just came back from my planet. Heard vague things about threats to the planet/trade routes and something about a ritual on the first day. Second day involved watching my past self shop for souvenirs all day. Only interesting thing was the mention of imports from “Hugbell.” I don’t think it was a total waste, but I didn’t find much. Will keep you posted if I find anything interesting.

After sending the text, Megrez powered back down into Luca and headed for home. Her bed sounded absolutely amazing right now.

[Wordcount: 1432]