The Neon Knight Sabers
(A NGE / Oh My Goddess! / Sailor Moon / Tenchi Muyo / Ranma 
One Half / Gunsmith Cats / El-Hazard / Bubblegum Crisis / 
kitchen sink Crossover)
By Ammadeau
Roy.Fokker@UNSpacy.org
http://Ammadeau.tripod.com/fanfiction.htm

***

[Ayanami Rei:  The leader of the Knight Sabers, whose mission is 
to stop the misuse of EVA-based technology by Genom and 
prevent a probable Fourth Impact.  Founded sixteen years after the 
Third Impact, in which the Tokyo-3 Geofront was destroyed.  It left 
only three survivors: Shinji Ikari, Asuka Soyu, and Rei Ayanami.  
Despite being in her early thirties, Rei looks to be around twenty, 
and catches the attention of most people with her short blue hair 
and pale skin.  She wears blue tinted contacts to hide her red eyes.]

	Rei moved about her lingerie shop, attempting to smile at 
the customers.  She was still in practice even after nearly two 
decades, since most people didn't even notice when she was 
smiling or not.  No one suspected that she was the leader of the 
Knight Sabers.

[Ayanami Keiichi:  Saved by Rei when both of his parents were 
killed  by boomers.  She also adopted him, but is considered by 
him to be an older sister.  The boy turned out to be a mechanical 
prodigy and has been a critical asset in building and maintaining 
the hardsuits.  Special note:  Due to the onset of puberty he has 
recently developed some perverted tendencies.]

	Rei's 'brother' Keiichi was down at Washu's garage, 
working on Ranko's motorcycle and daydreaming about his blonde 
and red-haired goddesses (I must have them both!!).  When would 
they ever notice that he wasn't just a kid?

[Mizuno Ami:  A true wiz at computers.  Provides inside 
information by working as a dispatcher for the AD Police.  Also a 
fully trained medical doctor who abandoned her chosen profession 
for unknown reasons.  Has a penchant for silly poses and catch 
phrases in combat.  Overall, the weakest fighter of the group, but a 
superior tactician.  Obvious prior combat experience, source 
unknown.]

	Ami was diligently working the phones at AD Police, 
occasionally glancing at the old Sailor V episode playing on the 
terminal next to her and shaking her head.  Was it really ever like 
that?

[Masaki Mihoshi:  Obviously a foreigner, being a six foot tall, 
blue-eyed blonde.  Strange lack of coordination for an aerobics 
instructor.  A fierce fighter, but sometimes panics in the heat of 
battle.  Claims to be a former detective, but can find no records of 
her working in any law enforcement agency in the world.]

	Mihoshi was trying to teach aerobics without tripping over 
her own feet and doing surprisingly well to people who knew her.  
This would last up until the moment someone tried to get her 
attention.

[Tenno Ranko:   Most skilled fighter of the group.  However, has 
an abrasive and macho personality.  Strong possibility that she was 
raised as a boy.  Powerful phobia of cats and hot water, probably 
due to childhood trauma.  Name assumed to be an alias since no 
real records found.  Lead singer of the band Ranko and the 
Replicants.]

	Ranma ducked into the alley behind the Hot Legs, and with 
a quick splash of cold water, Ranko stepped into her dressing 
room.  She knew it was risky going out male, but she just couldn't 
spend all of her time female.  Besides, she doubted that his various 
fiancees would look for her in Mega-Tokyo.

Program 1: Knight Sabers, Go!

	Detective Rally Vincent was relaxing in the Hot Legs, 
listening to the music of Ranko and the Replicants.  The hard rock 
rhythms were making her homesick for old Chicago, when she had 
been a simple bounty hunter chasing down thugs, thieves, and 
other assorted low lives.  Then her partner wound up married and 
the whole business just lost its charm for Rally.  So she hopped in 
her custom Griffin and drove.  Hell if she knew how she had 
wound up in Mega-Tokyo.  Probably shouldn't have picked up that 
bandanna-wearing hitchhiker.  Definitively shouldn't have let him 
drive while she took a nap.  When the heck did they cross the 
ocean?  It was a good thing that she could speak Japanese.
	While it wasn't all wine and roses, working for the AD 
Police beat doing nothing.  For one, you had to be a cop to carry a 
gun in this town and Rally would've felt naked without one.  There 
was the added bonus that she could shoot down the boomers 
without worrying about damages, though she never did much 
damage to them.  You'd think that they would arm the AD Police 
with weapons that could actually scratch the boomers they were 
supposed to stop.
	Of course her beeper just had to go off when she was just 
getting into the music. Damn.
	Dialing up work, she saw the face of her new partner, 
Alielle.  A complete perv, but a good cop, and Rally had learned 
how to deal with her going after anything female, including Rally 
herself.  She wouldn't stay in the same hotel room with her ever 
again through.  Her last partner had been a former prostitute so she 
really wasn't one to judge.  Still, Rally had never met a lesbian that 
was that aggressive before.
	"Party time, babe," Alielle said and winked.  Rally groaned 
and hung up the phone.  Time to get to work.

	Ami quickly sent a coded message to Rei about the new 
boomer on the rampage, adding that she'd do her best to get away 
from work.  Chief Goto was determined to boost up the falling rep 
of the AD Police by nailing this boomer.  Ami wasn't worried.  
Even with the hardsuit she wasn't much of an asset in a fight, 
without her senshi powers that is.  And those she had given up to 
save the world nine years ago.  Still, it felt good to her to be on the 
side of justice once again.

	Ranko had just finished her gig when her watch went off, 
the secret signal that the Knight Sabers had a job to do.  Cool, she'd 
get to beat something up.  Day was looking better already.  She 
immediately called up Rei.
	"There's a boomer on the rampage,"  Rei said to the rock 
singer without preamble and without blinking.  Ranko, however, 
had grown used to her boss's terseness.  She knew that Rei wasn't 
cold or emotionless, just very, very subtle.
	"There's something different about this one.  I'll need to 
take a sample in for analysis.  You'll also have to be careful, this 
new boomer could be more than you could handle."
	"What?  No way!  I'll kick that tin can!"
	"Your bike is still in the shop, correct?"
	"Yeah, so?"  Since her driver's license was actually a 
forgery, Ranko had never taken a driver's test.  Still, she was 
starting to get the hang of it.  She only crashed, what, three times 
last week?  Rei's little brother was always eager to fix it up again 
anyway.
	"Good, I'll have Mihoshi come by and pick you up."
	"No!!!!"  In Ranko's book, Mihoshi's driving was just under 
cats in sheer terror value.  Why she never got any tickets was a 
mystery.  But it was too late, the phone was already dead.
	
	Mihoshi was really getting into the set when she started to 
hear a noise.  It was a sort of beeping and seemed close by.  Maybe 
it was part of the music?  She couldn't let herself get distracted 
again in the middle of a session, so she ignored it.  However, it 
really did clash with the music and started to throw her timing off.  
In Mihoshi's case, this was like a snowball that started an 
avalanche.  When it was over, the TV and half the people there had 
been knocked over.
	"Mihoshi, there's a phone call for you," her fellow 
instructor told her.
	Mihoshi nodded and sprinted for the phone, only managing 
to knock over two people who were about to get back on their feet.
	Arisa and Kyoko swore to get their revenge on that 
annoying blonde cat-like girl, just as soon as they recovered.

	Rally parked her patrol car and watched the fight as it 
played out on the street below.  A single boomer versus an entire 
squad of AD Police and the boomer was winning.  While she knew 
that the AD Police weren't as well-equipped or well-trained as they 
could be, one squad should have been more than enough to take 
out a single boomer.  There was also the strange thing that Alielle 
had mentioned, which she hadn't believed until she saw it herself.  
This new boomer really did look like some sort of humanoid bug.  
Weird.  Still, she wondered why her partner had called them 
'Bugrom.'
	*Just what is Genom up to?*

	Somewhere, Katsuhiko Jinnai laughed and laughed.  
Everyone within hearing distance shivered, even the boomers.  
Only Quincy, sitting in his darkened office, smiled.  By the dim 
light, it was almost impossible to see that he was wearing earplugs.

	One by one, the Knight Sabers filtered into their secret base 
under Washu's Garage while a catchy J-pop tune drifted in from 
somewhere outside.  For some reason it was always the same song 
whenever they suited up, but none of them really noticed it.
	Ami, still in her AD Police uniform, took off her scooter 
helmet, running her fingers through her short black hair.  She was 
starting to run out of sick relatives to use as excuses.  Chief Goto 
did accept them all in his usual deadpanned tone, however.
	Mihoshi practically bounced in with Ranko following 
behind unsteadily, her face a little green.  Ami sympathized; she 
had rode with Mihoshi once before and it made roller coasters 
seem mild by comparison.  She didn't want to know how her 
blonde teammate had gotten a license in the first place.
	Rei nodded to each of them and they all started to get into 
their plug suits.  Rei was Saber-Blue, in Unit-00.  Ami was Saber-
Purple, in Unit-01.  Ranko was Saber-Red, in Unit-02.  Mihoshi 
was Saber-Black, in Unit-03.
	When Ranko had once asked about the names and colors, 
Rei had replied, "I like them that way."  Rei was never one for 
elaboration.
	It didn't take them long to find the rampaging boomer.

	"I am Sailor Purple!"  announced Ami to the boomer, 
posing dramatically, like a figure skater at the end of her set.  The 
boomer didn't seem too impressed, but it was hard to read the 
expression of a giant robotic ant.
	"That's Saber Purple,"  Rei corrected her, and not for the 
first time either.  Rei believed that her teammate had watched far 
too much anime as a child.
	"Oh, right.  I am Saber Purple and in the name of the 
Knight Sabers, I'll punish you!"
	Mihoshi struggled to come up with a catch phrase of her 
own.  They just sounded so cool!  Posing dramatically, she 
declared, "And I am Saber Black.  In the name eating snacks and 
daytime TV, I'm going to blast you!"
	Rei and Ranko groaned in embarrassment as the other 
Knight Sabers charged after the bewildered boomer.  Ranko 
believed that Mihoshi had been dropped on her head far too often 
as a child.
	"And just why did you choose them again?"  Ranko asked 
Rei on a private channel.
	Mihoshi tripped on a rock as she ran up to the boomer, 
triggered her jump jets, and accidentally executing a powerful 
rolling jump-kick that knocked the boomer's head off like a kicker 
on an American football team.  The boomer crashed to the ground, 
but despite now being headless, managed to get back up again.
	"That's why," Rei replied to Ranko's earlier question, 
punctuating her sentence by embedding the boomer to the wall 
with a lance that shot out of her suit's forearm.
	When the boomer finally tore itself free, Ranko shouted, 
"Kashu Tenchin Amaguriken," hitting the boomer enough times to 
completely destroy the thing's chest.  This time when the boomer 
fell, it didn't get up.
	"And she complains about my speeches," Ami said to 
herself. She had hacked into the comm channels in an effort to find 
out a little more about their mysterious leader and so had heard 
Ranko's comment.  "At least I don't go on about roasting 
chestnuts!"

	"So these are the Knight Sabers," Rally said to herself as 
she watched the fight.  They certainly were impressive and better 
armed than the AD Police.  Their suits had to be about twice as 
powerful as the police's AV-32s.  "I wonder where you sign up to 
become one of them?"

	Keiichi was sitting in the monitoring room, watching over 
his big sister and the rest of the Knight Sabers.  Normally, he'd be 
out there with them in one of the two trucks they often used to 
transport the hardsuits and motoroids, but this time big sister had 
decided it was a little too dangerous for him.  More likely, it was 
his punishment for peeping on them while they got changed again.  
Not that the plug suits they wore under the hardsuits left much to 
the imagination, thankfully.  At least she didn't threaten to make 
him Dr. Washu's guinea pig again.  Shudder.
	Man he was hungry.  He'd spent so much time on fixing up 
Ranko's bike that he'd forgotten to eat.  He could have had Dr. 
Washu help him, but she had a habit of adding little improvements 
that usually just made Ranko mad.  She still hadn't gotten over the 
whole 'ejector seat' incident.  Keiichi didn't know how Ranko was 
able to throw those fireball things, but they hurt like hell.
	Big sister would probably be angry if he snuck out to get a 
bite to eat, so he reached for the phone book and decided to order 
up some take-out.
	A few minutes later he hung up the phone.  Hunger must be 
making him delusional.  What the heck was a 'Goddess Helpline' 
anyway?  Some kind of '900' number?  Rei would kill him if one of 
those showed up on their phone bill.  Now Ranko, there was a 
goddess.  He'd done everything he could to get her to notice him, 
but she still treated him like a kid.  He was only two years younger 
than her and she was as short as he was.  What was her problem?
	Needless to say, when a beautiful young goddess appeared 
out of nowhere to grant his heart's desire, he wasn't thinking too 
clearly.
	"I wish that I had a girlfriend like you."
	And then there was a burst of light.

	"Ranko, please collect a sample," Rei said in her flat voice.
	Ranko took one look at the oozing semi-organic mess and 
shook her head violently.  "No way, get one of the others to do it.  
If you want it so badly, collect it yourself."
	Rei turned to face Saber-Black.  "Mihoshi, collect a 
sample."
	"Kay," Mihoshi responded and hopped over to where the 
boomer lay.  Unfortunately, she tripped once again in her metallic 
high heels, desperately windmilling her arms in a futile attempt to 
stay up.  One of those arms just happened to catch Ranko in the 
stomach and sent her to land dead center in the boomer's remains.
	"Ranko, please collect a sample," Rei repeated, and after 
glancing around, added, "Ami, help Mihoshi to stand up."
	Two Knight Sabers groaned and set about their tasks.

	"So how was that boomer?" Keiichi asked nervously as the 
Knight Sabers filed into the Ayanamis' apartment.  Luckily, they 
were all too tired to notice his very forced nonchalance or that he 
was leaning heavily on the door to his room.
	"My computer's initial readings indicate that it was a 
different type of boomer entirely," Ami told him as she made her 
way to Rei's room.  "We'll know more once your sister examines 
the samples that we saved."
	"It was pretty tough," Ranko admitted, following Ami.  "No 
match for me of course, but it did last longer against us than any 
previous model.  Might be a good thing, you know?  I get more of 
a workout this way."
	"It was funny!"  Mihoshi added her half a cent and giggled, 
stopping so close to Keiichi that their noses were only inches apart.  
"It had really thin arms and these weird things on its head, like it 
was some big old bug!"
	Mihoshi put her hands on top of her head and wiggled her 
fingers in a crude imitation of antennae while puffing up her 
cheeks and opening her eyes wide.  She looked like a person trying 
to do a very bad imitation of an ant.
	"Where's sis?" he asked, turning away from Mihoshi and 
her embarrassing (and somewhat frightening) playacting.
	"Oh, she's dropping off the samples in the lab," Ami told 
him.  "She should be up shortly."
	"Ah, good.  When she comes up, can you tell her that I need 
to talk to her?  It's real important."
	Ami nodded.
	"Okay, I'll be in my room."  And then he opened the door a 
crack, slid in and shut the door behind him with a slam.
	Ami shook her head.  "That was weird."
	"Huh?"  Mihoshi asked, turning to face Ami, her fingers 
still acting like antennae.
	Ami shook her head.  *What isn't weird around this place?*

	"I don't see why I have to go."
	"It's your turn, Ranko," Ami reasoned with her, though she 
didn't have high hopes of reason getting though to the red-headed 
Knight Saber.  "I went last time and Mihoshi went the time before 
that."
	"What about Rei?"
	"She took us out for steaks, remember?"
	"Oh, yeah.  But I can't go, my bike's busted."
	Instead to replying, Ami turned towards Keiichi's room and 
shouted, "Keiichi, is Ranko's bike fixed?"
	"Yep," he shouted back, "I put it in the apartment's garage.  
The keys are by the door."
	*Damn,* Ranko thought, *no way out.*  They were all 
sitting around Rei's room for the traditional dinner and debriefing.  
They usually had fast food, but sometimes Rei splurged and they 
all went to a fancy restaurant together.  That night Rei would be 
too busy examining samples to go out.  Besides, it was Ranko's 
turn.
	The redhead grabbed her keys and left.

	Mihoshi, unable to wait until dinner arrived, was off in the 
search of snacks.  Rei had told her it was okay before to raid the 
refrigerator whenever she felt like, but for some reason Mihoshi 
was having an unusually hard time finding the kitchen at the 
moment.  The room she actually ended up in was Keiichi's.  At 
least she assumed from looking around at the schematics mixed 
with bikini posters scattered on the wall.  She'd never been there 
before, though she was often in Rei's room, and occasionally slept 
over using one of the guest rooms.
	The strangest thing about the room, however, was the 
young girl in it, who was folding up scattered clothes and 
otherwise straightening up the place.  She had long brown hair and 
funny markings on her face.  Looking to be about the same age as 
Keiichi, Mihoshi guessed this to be a friend of his.
	"Hi there," Mihoshi said to the girl in a friendly tone.  "My 
name is Mihoshi.  Who are you?"
	Belldandy was only startled for a moment, then she turned 
and smiled as the blonde Knight Saber.  "Pleased to meet you, 
Mihoshi-san.  I am Belldandy."
	"So are you a friend of Keiichi's?"
	"Actually, I'm a goddess who came down from heaven in 
order to grant his wish," Belldandy explained, and then blushed 
suddenly.  "He could have wished for anything, but instead he 
proposed that I become his girlfriend."
	"That's sweet," Mihoshi said with a big smile, not 
completely understanding what she had just been told, but getting 
the general gist of it.
	Belldandy's blush deepened.
	"So why aren't you with Keiichi now?"
	"Oh, he went to ask his sister if it would be all right if I 
stayed here.  I do hope it won't be too much trouble.  I was just 
tidying up while I waited."
	"No, no, no," Mihoshi told her, waggling her finger for 
emphasis.  "You should spend every minute you can together 
because you never know when you'll have to be apart.  I'll go get 
him!"
	"No, you don't have to..." Belldandy started to say and 
stopped when she realized that Mihoshi had already left.

	Rally and Alielle were lounging in front of an all-night fast-
food joint, having a little late supper and discussing what they had 
just seen.  Both had heard rumors for a while, but neither had 
watched the Knight Sabers in action before.
	"Well, I did notice something important," Alielle stated, 
chomping down on a burger with a feral appetite.  Rally had no 
idea how the girl could eat like that and never gain a gram.  Asking 
her, however, would give entirely the wrong impression.  Rally 
didn't want Alielle to think that she was checking her out.  "The 
way those suits were shaped, they all had to be women."
	"How is that important?"  Rally asked, bewildered.
	Alielle wasn't even listening, off in a little world of her 
own.  "I wonder what they look like without those suits on."
	While Alielle was indulging in fantasies, Rally noticed 
someone familiar step out of the place that they were parked in 
front of, a big bag of burgers under one arm.
	Ranko took no notice of the police car as she made her way 
to her bike, grumbling under her breath about why she had to be 
the one they sent out to pick up dinner.
	"You're Ranko, right?" Rally called out to her, "Of Ranko 
and the Replicants?"
	"Yeah," Ranko answered cautiously, not really wanting to 
talk to anyone at the moment, especially not a member of the AD 
Police.  If her cover as a Knight Saber was blown, it'd be all over 
Japan.  'Her' fiancees would be sure to find her then.
	"I caught most of your show before I had to go on duty," 
Rally told her.  "You're really good.  It's a wonder that you're not 
signed to any label."
	Ranko rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.  The 
main reason that they weren't signed was she didn't want all of the 
added publicity that it would bring.  Becoming a popular singer 
wasn't a good way of hiding from people.  The money wasn't bad 
though.
	During their conversation, Alielle had snapped out of her 
dream world.  With a cry of "red hair!" she jumped over Rally and 
dove out of the open window to latch herself onto Ranko.
	"Aaarrrgghh!!!"  Ranko screamed in terror as the purple-
haired girl glomped onto her.  "Shampoo!!" Ranko jumped right 
out of Alielle's grip, leapt onto her bike, and drove away with the 
sounds of squealing tires and burning rubber.
	Rally thought the girl's reaction was understandable, all 
except shouting about hair-care products.  That was a bit odd.  
Well, rock stars were supposed to be eccentric types.
	Alielle picked herself up, dusted herself off, and grinned in 
absolute delight.  She would meet Ranko again, no force on Earth 
could keep her from her new love.

	"Ah, sis?" Keiichi, now very nervous, called down the 
stairs to where his sister's lab was located.  As far as he knew, Rei 
hadn't come out of her lab since they'd gotten back from the fight. 
Keiichi might have wondered what was so odd about these new 
boomers that would fascinate her so much, but he had other things 
on his mind at the moment.  Other things that he knew he wouldn't 
be able to hide in his room forever.  "Ranko's back with the food 
already."
	 "I'll be there in a few minutes.  Make sure that Ranko 
doesn't eat any of my food this time."
	"Yeah  . . . Ah, sis?"
	"Yes?"
	"There's something I've got to talk to you about privately."
	"Come down to the lab then.  I'm almost done here."
	"Ah, okay."
	Rei could tell immediately that this was a little more than 
some prank that had gone sour.  Keiichi was acting very nervous, 
looking ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.  Rei smiled slightly 
at her brother.  He, even more than her work or her crusade, had 
filled the void in her life after the Third Impact.
	"Sit and tell me what's wrong," Rei told him.
	"What makes you think that anything is wrong?" Keiichi 
countered, laughing nervously.
	Rei raised an eyebrow.  This had to be bad.
	Just then Mihoshi burst into the room, grabbed Keiichi, and 
said, "Come on, you shouldn't leave your girlfriend waiting like 
that."
	"Girlfriend?" asked Rei.  Her tone was still level, but her 
left eyebrow twitched slightly.
	"I mean, if she's going to be living here, you really should 
show her around."
	"Living here?"  Eyebrow twitching even more, though her 
tone remained the same.
	"Yeah," Mihoshi said, finally addressing Rei.  "I found her 
waiting in his room, getting ready to move in.  Belldandy said that 
when Keiichi proposed to her it was like a wish come true, or 
something like that."
	"Proposed?"  Rei's voice went up an octave and she began 
to advance towards Keiichi, who was frantically trying to loosen 
Mihoshi's iron grip.  He had a feeling that this was going to be 
worse when Rei had caught him with one of her panties.
	"Please explain what Mihoshi meant by 'proposed', 
Keiichi."  Someone else might not have been able to tell, but 
Keiichi noticed a slight edge to his sister's voice.  He also saw that 
Rei had taken out her contacts.  Red eyes staring unblinking can be 
very intimidating.  He swallowed the last remnants of his courage 
and sat down.  "Actually, it's a pretty funny story . . ."

	"Ano?"  Belldandy asked as she peered into Rei's room.  
That nice blonde lady had gone looking for Keiichi, but she hadn't 
come back yet.  It shouldn't have taken her that long to find him, 
even in this large apartment.  She couldn't wait to meet Keiichi's 
sister, though she hoped that she wouldn't be seeing her own sisters 
for a little while at least.  Belldandy loved her siblings, but they 
had a tendency to cause trouble wherever they went.
	Ami watched in surprise as Ranko jumped in the air and 
somehow clung to the ceiling, despite there being nothing to cling 
to.  All because of a strange woman who now stood in the doorway 
had spoken.
	"Look, Kasumi, it's not what you think, really," Ranko 
began to babble.  "I just needed some time away, that's all.  I mean, 
everything was so crazy that I just had to get some time for myself.  
So, it's not what it looks like.  Not even close."
	"Do you have any idea what she's talking about?" Ami 
asked the woman, who looked to be about sixteen and had odd 
marks on her face.  She sort of reminded Ami of Usagi the times 
she'd become Serenity.  It was a feeling that went deeper than 
general appearance though.
	The woman shook her head and stared up at the ceiling 
where Ranko was still busy babbling and defying gravity.
	"Are you this Kasumi that she's keeps mentioning?" Ami 
asked.
	The woman shook her head again.  "No, my name is 
Belldandy.  I've never seen him before."
	"Don't you mean her?"
	Belldandy looked a bit embarrassed.  "Oh yes, I'm sorry, I 
did mean her.  I guess its hard for me to tell the gender of someone 
who's clinging to the ceiling."
	"Forgive me for being rude," Ami told her, starting to 
recover from Ranko's spectacle.  "I've never seen you before.  How 
did you get in here?"
	"Oh, Keiichi brought me here.  He called me on the 
telephone and I came right over.  You see, I'm his girlfriend."
	Ami blink-blinked in surprise. *Keiichi was hiding a secret 
girlfriend in his room?  Dirty magazines?  Sure.  Used underwear? 
Maybe.  But a whole woman?*  It was the last thing Ami had 
expected from a ecchi, but terminally shy, kid like Keiichi.
	It was at that moment that Ranko's grip finally gave out and 
she fell to the floor with a thump.  Belldandy watched in surprise 
as Ranko stood and dusted herself off as if nothing had happened.  
The goddess hadn't known that there were mortals who could so 
easily brush off such a fall.
	Ranko looked over the new girl and said, "Hey, you're not 
Kasumi."
	"No, my name is Belldandy.  Pleased to meet you Ranko-
san," the young woman said to her, bowing.
	"Ah, yeah, nice to meet you too."  Ranko stage-whispered 
to Ami, "Who is she?"
	"She's Keiichi's girlfriend," Ami whispered back with a 
smile.
	Ranko was even more surprised than Ami.

	Belldandy sat next to Keiichi, offering support, as he 
recounted their story for the rest of the Knight Sabers.  To his 
surprise, they really didn't have a hard time accepting it.
	Ranko snorted.  "Stranger things happen to me all the 
time."
	Ami nodded in agreement.  She'd been dead before, 
multiple times.  How could anything top that?
	"It's just sooo romantic!" Mihoshi enthused, earning a blush 
from the new couple.
	Rei really didn't know what to think about this.  She was 
happy for her brother for having a girlfriend, even if it was in an 
unusual manner, but thought he really was too young to be living 
with her.  Shinji and Asuka had started living together at a young 
age and ended up having to get married sooner then they had 
planned.  Rei didn't even know if that particular concern would 
apply to a goddess, but she still didn't think it was right.  There was 
no hope for it however, Belldandy simply didn't have anywhere 
else to stay.  Ranko lived in an old trailer, Ami's apartment was 
barely large enough for her, and Mihoshi, well, Rei wouldn't wish 
living with Mihoshi on anyone.
	Maybe looking over the boomer samples again would help 
her think.
	"So you're a goddess," Ranko said to Belldandy.
	The goddess in question simply nodded.
	"And you have a bunch of powers?"
	"I do, but after granting a wish, my powers are extremely 
limited in the mortal world."
	"Could you cure a curse?"
	Belldandy shook her head.  "Curing your curse would take 
much more power than I have available.  I'm sorry."
	Ranko hung her head.
	"Wow Ranko, you have a curse?" Mihoshi asked, sounding 
very interested.  "That's so neat!"
	Ranko was suddenly defensive, doing the 'scratching the 
back of the head' thing.  "It's nothing really, hehehe."
	"What is it?  Tell me!  Tell me!"
	"No!"  Ranko shouted and bolted from the room, with 
Mihoshi in hot pursuit.
	When Ami noticed that Belldandy was looking with 
concern at the pair running all over the apartment, she told her, 
"Don't worry about it.  Things like that happen all the time around 
here.  You'll get used to it."
	Belldandy didn't know to be reassured or even more 
worried.