Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Change of Fate ❯ The PUNS! The Horrible, horrible PUNS!! ( Chapter 7 )

Standard disclaimer. Sailor Moon is not mine, the idea and the show belong to people much richer than I. Please don't sue!

Dimmer however is mine.. of course if someone wants to use him or any of his transformations for ANY reason "thbbt" go ahead. You have my complete and total permission. I only request you tell me… Hell, I don't care if you do it without my permission, it's not like I could find out anyway.

Warning: mild language, and first fic. Maybe lime sometime in the far future, but I seriously doubt it.

Rei sat and watched out her window as Dimmer and Chad fought over another bag of cheesy poofs. Her transformation back into herself left only a few bruises where her ribs were broken. She wondered, idly, if Talenite would return to fight them. He seemed much more intelligent than the others Beryl had sent after them. Of course, the stranger from last night seemed to put a heck of a scare into him too.

And that was another thing, they didn't know anything about this new person who seemed to take Tuxedo Mask's place that night. Usually they could always depend on their friend in a top hat to help out in the nick of time. He had already helped them out that night though, and usually he wouldn't stay for more than 5 minutes before they finished whatever it was off, than he'd say good bye in a gentlemanly way and take off until they needed him again. Now this stranger had showed up much like Tuxedo Mask did, only he fought beside them. His manner wasn't at all like Tuxedo Mask's either. In areas Tuxedo Mask would be sly, witty and help them indirectly, letting them figure out how to do what needed doing themselves, this Sundown had killed the threat straight out. Not only did he kill them though, he killed them brutally! Usually when the scouts fought all that was left was dust that blew away with the wind. This time there was 8 bloody corpses lying dead in a street. Only one of the lizards was moon dusted.

The way he killed seemed to put more reality into what they did. She didn't like the thought of having killed all the creatures they had met so far. Of course they had to, the creatures were trying to kill them after all, not to mention take over the world and steal people's energy to help evil grow in the universe. Just before it felt more like a care bear cartoon, they never really hurt anyone, were never really hurt themselves!

And not least of all was Dimmer. He had grown suspicious of her whereabouts last night. Seemed he was up from insomnia again, and noticed her door open.

"I was in a real rush after all" She remembered Serena calling with her communicator, said only that Lita needed help at her apartment and signed out.

"And now Dimmer is really suspicious, he'll never let me out of his sight. Stupid Serena, it's been hard enough trying to get by Dimmer and Chad since she told them we were trying to hide our eating of cheesy poofs from them, when we were really trying to lose them in time for a sailor scout meeting."

She leaned against the wall and sighed. And than there was Dimmer himself. He fell from the sky created an already forgotten ruckus in the center of a downtown intersection, now even the crater was repaved. His uncanny learning abilities, and his amnesia.

Than it was her, herself. It was just a couple months before, that she was recruited into the Sailor Scouts. She always wondered if she was going to be special in some way, she was always very close to the spirit world, and she had the training necessary to exorcise demons at the age of 12. She really didn't know what to think any more. Her whole world turned around, and now she wasn't only special. The whole world depended on the scouts, whether the world knew it or not. There was no longer any chance of leading a normal life for her. Her real life would always be fighting to protect life itself, while her work as a priestess would always be a disguise for her other activities. It was very lonely having a secret identity that only a few friends knew about, not even her own grandfather was allowed to know, for fear the knowledge would put him in danger.

Rei was really starting to feel depressed, when she thought about it, that was alot one person's plate. She wondered if any of the other scouts felt overwhelmed by all this. Serena? It seemed she was trying to live a normal life even when transformed as Sailor Moon. Lita did well. She always took it in steps, which ever was the priority at the time. Amy? Well what could you say? Outside of school Amy pretty much had no life, she spent her time studying for the next test a month away, being in the scouts was good for her. It kept her in touch with people in general. In fact the only friend she had who didn't know she was Sailor Mercury, was Dimmer.

"So Rei, you've been rather quiet, what do you think about our new masked avenger?"

Rei looked up to see Serena staring straight into her eyes not 2 inches away from her face.

"AAAH!!" Rei windmilled her arms desperately trying to keep her chair upright. She noticed her chair stopped tipping, and she looked down gratefully at the hand that had caught her by shirt collar. She looked up at the pig-tailed owner of the hand.

Serena simply smiled. "Saved ya!"

"Yeah! Well I wouldn't have needed saving if you hadn't stuck your meatball head in my face!"

"Please girls! Not now! This is serious!" Luna yelled causing everyone to look her way. She was standing on Rei's desk where she had been pacing all morning. "Now Rei, Serena's right. Amy thinks we should avoid him until we have further information. Lita thinks we should recruit him, he was obviously a big help last night. We can't seem to get anything out of Serena other than wondering if there is a cute face hidden under his hat and scarf. Which is as close to "I trust him" you can get from Serena, but we still have no opinion from you yet."

Rei let out a breath before saying anything. She took the small time to think on how to put what she thought into words. Than she started.

"Well, it's hard to tell isn't it? As far as trusting goes, yes, I don't think he'd lie to us. He seems more like the kind to not say anything at all if he had to lie, or change the subject to something important we couldn't ignore. As for an alliance? No. He has his own way of doing things, we have ours. Right now there is 8 dead half lizard, half man bodies sitting in an alley way that the police are looking over, that witnesses can say are connected to us! I don't think he cares if the police are after him, but I sure would if they're after me! As for watching him? Have you bothered to even think about our success in that area? Tuxedo Mask is our best ally. We know he is a friend and not a foe in any way, and look at our abilities trying to find out who he is. This stranger, this Sundown, well... if he leaves dead bodies lying around with no worries of the police finding him, than we're going to have a heck of a time trying to find him too."

"Rei's logic seems to make a lot of sense to me too, Luna" Amy pointed out, "I think he would be hard to work with. Last night left me feeling scared of him after he took down our enemies for us, not trusting, as one you stand and fight with should be like. It felt more like he didn't need us, we were just something of an advantage in "his" fight. I think more of a peace treaty is in order, not an alliance."

"Yeah, makes sense to me too. He'd be a great guy to have around in a fight, but I don't know if I'd want him around afterward."

"What is wrong with you guys?" Serena didn't like this way of looking at things at all. It sounded more like we should use him before he uses us type deal. "He saved our lives last night! I couldn't have dusted all those lizards Rei! No matter what we did to those things, whatever they were, there would be something left of them. Besides two of them also have burn marks from lightning and fire. I don't remember him using any such powers either." Serena had their attention now. She didn't often bring any kind of insight to these meetings, so when she did say something intelligent, everyone would tend to listen.

"... And most importantly, he let Talenite go. He spotted some good in him, and gave him a second chance. If it were not for that, I would say, "No, I don't trust him." But I do trust him, if only for that, taking for granted he rescued us." Serena ended her speech much quieter than she started it.

Luna was about to speak; it was obvious by the way she looked she much-preferred Rei's sensible plan.

"Well that settles it, doesn't Luna?" Rei smiled "Our leader has spoken. Whether it be for good or ill, we pretty much treat this Sundown character like we do Tuxedo Mask. It's either we trust him all the way or none of the way, and I can't help but trust the guy that saved my life at least a little. We cannot judge him by appearance alone." Rei was happy Serena spoke up, by drawing the line somewhere in the middle of all this, the girls would be confused on how to treat Sundown. Maybe to the point of upsetting him. By making it you are with us or you are against us, the confusion is gone. He had saved their lives, and gave the bad guy a second chance. That meant Sundown should be 2 for 2 in her books.

"Well it is true that Sundown has only been helpful to us so far, and Serena makes a valid point about him letting Talenite go. Yes, I agree with Serena as well, I believe we should lay suspicions behind until he does something to warrant them."

"Well that makes all of us than. After all I want him to teach me a few moves; he's got one hell of a fight to him. Besides he might fight beside us again like last night, and if our enemies are getting smart like that one, I know I'd feel a lot more safe if he and the rest of my friends had my back! Did you see that? SHWOOMP!" Lita gestured with her hands "The sword came right down into the things head! Nope, you got one thing right there Rei! He ain't afraid to get dirty!"

"AAAH!"

"Ah c'mon Dimmer, there's a bruise the size of truck on your back, and you're complaining over a bit of blood on your knee!"

"Shut up and pass me a bandage!"

"Seriously Dimmer" Chad handed Dimmer a small glow in the dark band-aid Dimmer bought and put in his backpack "just in case". "Everyone is staring at us, and your acting like a little girl!"

"I can't help it! I just hate the sight of blood okay?"

"And you call yourself a martial artist!"

"No. I call myself a martial artist in training. Mainly because of this." He gestured to their situation, Dimmer holding onto his knee with a few people watching his outbursts as they walk by.

"Well," said Chad as he gestured Dimmer to remove his hand so he could put the bandage on, "It's gonna take awhile with this thing of yours about bleeding. Hell, you go nuts if "I" start bleeding, how are you gonna go to tournaments if you freak out when you hit them and they start bleeding?"

"No prob Chad, I can focus myself if I want too. You don't see me like this when were training do ya?"

"Yeah I was wondering why it didn't happen when I actually wanted it to. There's the bar we're heading to." Chad pointed at a normal sized building with a sign in the window saying kereoke tonight. Please make reservations.

"They know you here?"

"Yup, been coming here for a while. I'll introduce you to everyone. He'll want to hear a rehearsal before he books us in for the afternoon shows. If, for some reason I can't think of, he decides we aren't good enough we wait until night and we sing our asses off to a crowd too drunk to care what it sounds like."

"As long as you remember the deal. You play slow, than, if I, for some reason "I" can't think of, will let you play fast, but it's gotta be one o' da Offspring songs I got ya to learn."

"Fine, but try to keep control of the accent, huh?"

"Hey dat's right! Aimes never did tell me where I was from."

"Your own fault, you passed right by her on your way out."

Dimmer stared a little distractedly into the bar door as they opened it to go in.

"Yeah well, I had some things on my mind."

Truthfully he was remembering her from last night. He knew enough about the Sailor Scouts from Pidge and John, to know what the witnesses told them of what they wore. He thought the only ones they interviewed were men up for certain late television shows after hearing the girls being described. He sighed; they weren't far from the truth really. He didn't think he'd ever see anyone fight in a mini-skirt other than in street fighter games and of the sort, but now he had a feeling that's all they ever fought in. What he couldn't understand was why the people couldn't tell who they were. "Jeez, even Clark Kent at least wore glasses."

Thinking about them made him think about the whole Sundown deal. The dagger was all that was left of the ordeal, he got back to his room, and everything else disappeared in a wisp of black fog. The dagger and its sheath he put into his bag. This had him apprehensive, being Sundown was pretty much like when Bruce Banner turned into the hulk from anger. All his emotions powered his actions, especially dark ones. Anger, depression, loneliness, and terror, it fed on these things and on the emotions of other things. Before he had gotten back he'd noticed the dagger had become even more powerful after the death of the lizardmen. He wasn't lying to the purple-haired, pointy-eared guy either. The blade was crying out for the guy's blood.

"You ready for the rehearsal Dimmer?"

"Yeah. Coming." Maybe he should speak to the girls about this later…

Dimmer thought about this, and sneezed as he held the door for a tall, dark-haired young man trailing behind him.

"Someone must have been talking about me…"

Back at the scout meeting

Luna was speaking up over the girls laughing at Lita's earlier comment. "Alright girls, settle down. Okay, although I wouldn't have agreed with your decision, I am proud that you all have made this decision together, and I will try to go on about this the same way you four have chosen to. But there are still other issues here! The Negaverse has destroyed it's last general it sent after us. This "Sundown" has put a good scare into another one. But where is the Silver Emperium Crystal? Where is Zoicite? Who and what will they strike next? What about Dimmer? Who is he? These questions are all very serious matters, and we don't have an answer for any of them!"

"Well as for the crystal, and Zoicite, and what they might do I'm completely at a lost. As for Dimmer though, I may have a small bit of information about that."

"Really Amy? You know where he's from than?" Serena was ecstatic.

"Mm hmm, he's either from Newfoundland or one of the surrounding areas. They say that is where the thickest Canadian accents are derived. So he is from this universe, but what confuses me is that the police cannot find his fingerprints recorded anywhere."

"Well it's something. Good work Amy." Luna was glad of that anyway. If he was from earth, there was very little chance he would try to help destroy it.

"As for the Silver Emperium Crystal, I will try to contact headquarters on a clue its whereabouts tonight. Rei, I may not be worried about Dimmer spying for the Negaverse now, but do try to keep him in bed tonight. I'm still concerned for his health, and Serena tells me he's having a fight with insomnia."

"Fat chance Luna. He's got the night shift at the arcade tonight. It would be about as easy as wrestling with a rhino to get him away from anything that has to do with video games. It's the only real thing he has remembered since he got here."

"She's got a point there Luna" Amy sighed, not even her yelling had stopped him from going to work before. "Besides" she said. "He's so much more happy around them. Maybe he'll be so exhausted by the time he gets home he'll get some sleep. Anyway, Rei would have to transform just to keep him away."

"Oh well, at least you'll try won't you?"

"Sure Luna, I doubt it'll do any good though."

"Alright girls, it was a long night last night, I suggest…"

"We go out for lunch!" Serena interrupted Luna. To Luna's despair all the girls cheered and agreed, saying it was another brilliant idea from their leader that they would see to the end.

The girls were all chattering loudly while walking down the street to their favorite chocolate shop when they spotted a large crowd in the park. There was singing of a sad sounding song in English coming from the center of it, and a quiet, serene guitar playing along to it. The girls pushed through the crowd to find Dimmer and Chad playing a duet. Their harmony and timing was perfect. A few of the people who understood the song had tears in their eyes. Serena joined them after Amy started translating the words. Dimmer and Chad didn't notice them among the crowd, and started a more upbeat, cheery song. The girls gathered from the talk and whispers around them that the crowd had gotten too big for the bar and the boys had to bring their act outside. Now Dimmer and Chad was standing on the park bench playing songs while joking around a bit.

Lita leaned over to Amy and whispered " I think Dimmer picked the spot"

"Why do you say that?" Amy was about to whisper back when she noticed what Lita was talking about.

Serena who was eavesdropping started laughing and waved up to the two boys. "Did you miss your bench that much Dimmer?"

Dimmer finally noticing them smiled letting a little bit of his laugh go into the song. The girls must have noticed that this was the bench that he had spent some weeks sleeping on. It was true actually; he did miss the bench a little bit. He came back every so often just to sit. He didn't know why he grew an attachment to the park bench, but it happened all the same.

He did his best to help one of the homeless that had taken his bench when it was up for grabs. The poor man, Toven, lost his job and his wife and kids when a fire had tore through his store. Dimmer was currently looking for a job for the guy.

He looked at the only other two other people laughing at Serena's shout. Seems Pidge and John were curious about the gathering crowd as well. The two policemen stood there with their coffees smiling widely at him. He smiled back; he owed those two almost all that he had now. He was scared he might have to mislead them about the girls ... They were probably going to see what he heard about the scuffle in the alley. He was very glad he had gotten rid of the bodies out of the alley.

Chad and Dimmer finished with Offspring's "Get a Job", getting the crowd to clap along. The crowd couldn't have enjoyed this one more if they could understand it. Dimmer smiled sadly as the crowd started to depart after applauding loudly. He turned back to the girls that stood before him, right now they were all smiling and joking with him and Chad, mainly about when Chad decided to learn how to play a guitar. It was hard to imagine that these were the girls that went through the same kind of things he went through last night all the time.

Right about than Pidge and John passed him a third coffee one of them had stepped off to get him earlier. He smiled; it was the only price he put on the information he gave them. Living on the streets, even for little more than a few weeks, and still keeping up with old friends who still lived on them, Dimmer could find out about almost anything. They always asked to see what he knew, and just to see what he was up to.

"Hey guys" he said "You guys wondering about the alley next to the apartment building last night?"

John just shook his head, while Pidge smiled. The girls stopped teasing Chad at once and listened to what Dimmer might have found out about last night. How much could he know? How did he find out?

"As always, you're well informed Dimmer. What's the word on the street this time?"

Dimmer leaned in and whispered, not that the whispering helped much, everyone, even Chad, leaned into hear what he would say.

"The Sailor Scouts are real Pidge. There's no mistake. I seen them with my own eyes."

"What?!" everyone yelled at once. The girls were scared out of their wits. Had he followed Rei out? Did he know who they were? Rei had and added question. Did the pervert see me change into Sailor Mars on top of the temple roof?

"What the hell? Are you sure Dimmer?" John was ecstatic, if Dimmer really seen it than he just broke this case wide open for them.

"Mm hmm, even have proof. I know who they are too." At this the girls paled, except Rei, she turned red from embarrassment at being caught in the nude on her roof by Dimmer, figuring it to be the only way he would know who they were.

"Shit Dim! We may get promotions for this!" Pidge was laughing his heart out. They should have gone to him from the start.

"Hold on boys, I can only do so much for yas here. Ya see they saved my skin last night." Dimmer remembered the girl's help taking out the lizards. "I'm promising them I ain't letting go of their secrets. Heroes have secret identities for a reason ya know? Letting people know would put those people, the heroes, and their loved ones in danger, so I can't tell yas." Dimmer winked right at Serena, and the girls, than he looked back at the friends that helped him out even though he was a complete stranger. He still had Pidge's oldest son's uniform. "I'm sorry." He apologized to them with no small amount of sadness.

To his surprise neither of them looked saddened by the information whatsoever. In fact they both still looked overjoyed. John could see that Dimmer was obviously confused.

"Dimmer, we hardly mind that you can't name names. We're cops remember? We're used to of that. You can still supply hard evidence they exist? That alone will solve most of this. We'll see if the mayor can think of any way to track down superheroes if there is any. That isn't our job anyway. We're needed to solve the mystery of what's going on, little kids can't get to sleep at night because we can't figure out what's causing all this damage to their buildings and streets. If we figure out what it is, great! If we can tell them there are superheroes out there to protect them from what we can't? Even better!"

"C'mon I'll take you guys to the pier. You can swim right? It seems the bodies of these monsters don't float."

"Monster bodies? Well that will definitely tell what's going on around here, but how's that supposed to prove the Sailor Scouts exist?"

Dimmer smiled "Who else could have killed them?"

"He's got a point there."

"Whoa dude! Those gnarly girls in mini skirts exist? Monster bodies? C'mon Dimmer! I got to see this!" Chad was on his knees pulling on Dimmer's sleeve.

Pidge was about to say "Sure" when Dimmer held his hand up to stop him.

"On one condition Chad. We go splits on that Harley Davidson that came in the other day. "

"YES! Yes! Yes! Kick ass! Totally! A Harley and monster bodies in one day. Thankyouthankyouthankyouythankyou!"

The two policemen, four girls, and a cat were dumbfounded. The young homeless guy that fell into their laps penniless was about to go splits for a motorcycle with the other Temple boy. Not to mention he knew who they really were, and he just finished not giving them away to the police. Rei was the first to speak, she decided to ask about the one thing the girls should actually know enough about to not cause suspicion.

"Dimmer? Chad? How can you afford that?"

"I have three jobs and I room with Chad at his condo Rei. There is a bit you might not know about me, but can you imagine how much money I can make a week without having to pay room and board or for food?"

"Not to mention I have two jobs and a pair of rich parents. The reason we live at the Temple is because we like it there Rei. Not out of shear need." Chad had taken to sitting cross-legged instead of a begging position as before.

"Actually Rei that's something I'll have to take up with your grandfather. I'd like to continue to live and train there under his study, even though I can now afford to live elsewhere." Dimmer was still worried about intruding upon their home. He would live at Chad's if he was going to interfere with them, so now there was no pressure on them accepting him out of need, and if they were uncomfortable with him there, he could simply leave. Not that he wanted too. The temple had become inviting to him. Rei, Chad, and Sensei had become people he cared for.

But he still liked the bench too.

While Dimmer was talking, Luna had jumped up on Rei's shoulder, to most it looked like she was just walking across Rei's shoulder, rubbing up against her with her head, but Luna was whispering. "Rei, now we have to keep an eye out on him, because he knows who we are. You can't just kick him out!"

Rei whispered back, "We're not going too Luna, he's too dangerous knowing only the physical side of our temple training, Grandpa will just be ecstatic that Dimmer "wants" to stay, instead of staying out of need." Than Rei turned to Dimmer.

"Well than Dimmer, I'll be fine to that arrangement as long as you come to lunch with us. Your treat since your saving all this money."

"But I have to go with…"

"Far be it for us to interfere with your living arrangements Dim. Pidge fish out the map! You can just mark down the spot and we'll check it out."

"Me too! Just run by the temple! I got some diving gear there! It's one of my hobbies. Besides Dimmer promised!"

"Sure why not, if you can confirm they're down there, we won't have to call in the official divers in case there isn't any. Not that I don't believe you Dimmer, but if they really are monster bodies than they could've disintegrated or something like that by now."

"Hey fine by me, not like I know anything about that stuff. Hey Chad, charge the bike and ride her home, I wanna go on 'er when the girls here let me go."

"Don't you have work tonight?"

"After that!"

While Dimmer was talking Serena was already pulling him toward the shop by his hand. "Let's go already guys! I'm starving!"

The other girls laughed and waved to the police and Chad and walked off following Serena.

The walk there was a silent, uncomfortable one. Dimmer wasn't as concerned about it all as the others though. He knew they'd have questions, he would do his best to answer them. Being Sundown was more or less being the man behind the puppet, like things weren't really happening to you, you were just watching from Sundown's eyes and letting your body act completely on its own instincts, and it seemed Sundown's instincts were brutal.

He was really surprised no one recognized Rei and her friends before though. After all, all they did was change outfits and than they were the Sailor Scouts, they probably were just lucky enough never to run into good friends or family. He idly wondered where the outfits came from, if they hid them around somewhere or did they form around them like his did. He also looked at his wallet wondering if he could afford Serena's appetite.

Rei was trying to figure it all out, Dimmer may have seen her change on the roof, but how could he follow her when she was Sailor Mars? She was 5 times her normal speed when transformed so how did he manage to follow her? Also Amy did a scan of the area after that Sundown guy left, and there was no one around. So how did he spy on them? Where was the time in between where Dimmer would have had to catch up with her? Sure he is getting as fast as Serena from sprinting with her everyday, but even at that speed, he shouldn't have even been able to come close to her.

Amy had something of that sort on her mind as well. It was of course plausible that he followed Rei on her way there, even if he was just walking by and seen the fight and one of them reforming into their regular selves. It was even possible that he managed to avoid her scanning of the area, but there was something he said when talking to the police officers that kept her curious. He said the Sailor Scouts had "saved his skin". How? They didn't even see him there; did they save him without knowing it? Something wasn't adding up here.

Lita was just confused. She was fighting since it all began on her roof. She was also a little worried of the damage done there, but more importantly, even than Dimmer in her eyes, how did Talenite know where she lived? Did he know who she was? Were her friend's families in danger too? Did Talenite somehow figure out their identities like Dimmer had?

Serena was a little more focused on the here and now. She was looking at one friend to another feeling more than a little uncomfortable. She could tell they all had a lot on their minds, but could hardly stand walking in the silence of these six (I include Luna) gloomy girls. She sighed than looked at Dimmer getting an idea.

"Hey Dimmer, I have a question for you."

All the girls and Dimmer stared at Serena waiting for what ever she was going to say. They all knew Serena would talk about whatever she was curious about anywhere, even on a busy street like the one they were on now. Dimmer was mildly surprised it was Serena who was going to start the interrogation.

"Okay Serena. Shoot."

"Dimmer?" she pointed a finger dramatically at him making their walk stop, "How do you make holy water?"

The girls all just sweatdrop while Dimmer puts his hand up to his chin to think. His spiritual training never went that far at the temple yet, usually Rei was in charge of all that.

"Okay, I'll bite. How?"

"Boil the hell out of it."

The girls all face fault, and Dimmer laughs and applauds for Serena.

"Good one," he gives her two thumbs up.

Amy just groaned "Oh no you two aren't gonna start that up again are you?"

"I hope the rain keeps up."

Serena couldn't imagine wanting it to rain (especially if there was thunder involved) "Why would you want that?"

"That way it doesn't come down."

Amy, Rei, Lita, And Luna all wince at the horrible pun. Serena looks on with respect.

"Very well Dimmer, now the duel will commence. I've chosen the place, you choose the weapons."

"I choose…" (you know Ash's twirl and peace sign when he gets a pokemon? Dimmer does that) "Star wars!!"

A very quiet "no" was heard from the four (including Luna) onlookers of the most corniest joke fest these poor girls would ever listen to. Including lines like " Is it getting Darth out?" and "Luke over there!" Needless to say, all four were mentally scarred for life. It was with great pleasure and cheering that they entered the chocolate shop, knowing the duel of the most horrible jokes would probably be continued at some later time. Hopefully when they were not around. It ended at these last few remarks.

"Now that thE-Wok to the chocolate shop has been finished so has our duel!" Serena smiled thinking that would end it the match for her. She would be disappointed.

"Very well Serena. We'll call it a draw, until we can finish this Vader."

"Oooo one of these days Dimmer, I'll win this yet."

"Not as long as I'm breathin', besides didn't ya wanna order somtin'?"

Serena turned to look at the menu. She could feel the water start to tear up in her eyes, as she tried to decide what wonderful dessert would end up as hers today. She decided to be nice to Dimmer and only order three desserts this time, considering he was paying and all. She smiled as she looked at her friends already sitting at the tables with their orders. Their brooding done, it seemed all of them were just relieved the contest was over, and were enjoying the peace and laughing. It seemed Lita was telling them a funny story. Wait a minute! Did she just hear her own name? Serena stormed over to the table only to find that she missed the punch line and everyone was laughing. She pulled up a seat, and though she looked like she was in a huff on the outside, she smiled inwardly. "At least they're laughing now, even if it is me they're laughing at."

Endnotes: *shudders* puns, oh horrid puns…

Hey people! I wanted to ask you a question. Have you ever seriously gotten sick of getting addicted to fics that are so cool but are never again updated or finished? Well this may not be as cool as some of those out there, it will definitely have an end… I've already thought most of it up. Unless I die or something… Than there's not to much I can do about it…

Meanwhile, I will try to upload once a week, or every two weeks 'til finished. If that happens to be too slow for some, drop me a line or a review with an email address and I'll give ya however many chapters ya want. Considering I have up to chapter 28 written and completed, I can do that! ^^V

Warning: the chapters I send you may differ to those presented here, they maybe edited differently to avoid offending or scaring off any more people and some plot point I stick in may be missing.

Good luck and good reading ^^V