Written by BHart
March 27, 2008

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Act LXXXIII
The Grand Central City

The sailor senshi were gathered around a large table near a machine laboratory. They were cheering on Sailor Titan, who was arm wrestling a robot. "Come on Utaroh, you can do it," encouraged Kousagi.

After a brief struggle, she slammed the robot's hand onto the table, breaking it and the table. "There goes another one of Cid's robots," commented Rie.

"Give me a few days and I'll come up with a robot that can surpass your strength," said Tokamo.

"A few days?"

"We're not going to be here that long, are we?" asked Mia.

"I don't know. It's already been three days. What's up with Omatase, anyway?" asked Nami.

"I don't know. Feral Heart and Vasteel went to go see how he was doing, but they haven't returned yet," replied Kousagi.

Feral Heart, Vasteel and Omatase walked into the room. "Finally! Is everything okay?" asked Nami.

"I've been meditating on how to proceed with getting the next sailor senshi. My contact is in Jeuno, which isn't easy to enter with all of the council goonies there," explained Omatase.

"That is a problem. The council has practically taken over Jeuno," said Kousagi.

"I may be able to remedy that problem for you," said a man, walking into the room. He was a tall hume with blond hair, wearing red mage robes.

"Parne? Is that you?" asked Omatase, surprised.

"Yes, it is. Nice to see you again."

"So the Alexandrian secret force (ASF) has been summoned. The end really is near," realized Omatase.

"Where are the other ASF members?" asked Vasteel.

"They are preparing for our strike against the council. I came here to give you this." Parne handed Omatase three passes.

"Airship passes? How did you get these?"

"We have connections. Use these to get into Jeuno. It's the only way to get in without being hounded by Traliz soldiers."

"I miss the old days when it was easier to board airships," remembered Kousagi.

"These must've been very expensive," said Omatase.

"I have a giant stash for such occasions. As you can see, it has two signatures; one signed by Princess Rainbow Rose and the other signed by the Grand Duchy of Jeuno."

"The Grand Duchy? However did you get that signature?" asked Omatase.

"We didn't. Pen Isaran forged it for us. Here is some gil for any accommodations or services you may require."

Omatase's eyes widened upon looking inside the bag. "This is a lot of money. It is too much, I can't take all this."

Feral Heart lightly kicked him. "Are you crazy?"

"I insist. I'll see you all again very soon. Good luck." Parne disappeared before their eyes.

"How much did he give us?" asked Feral Heart, eager to see inside.

"Stay away from it. I know how you are with money. We'll be going to Jeuno soon. Get your things ready, Feral Heart and Vasteel. The rest of you should wait here until we return. It would be a death wish for any senshi to walk into that town."

The three of them boarded the airship.

On the airship ride to Jeuno, Feral Heart kept asking how much money Parne gave them.

"I'll divvy up what we have so that everyone can get what they need."

"Look, there's where Death Gaze was defeated." Vasteel was pointing to some clouds in the sky.

"How can you tell?" asked Feral Heart.

"If you look closely, some of those small clouds back there are shaped like a bat."

"I don't see anything. I think it's just an urban myth," said Omatase.

"We'll be landing in Jeuno in 2 minutes. Please get prepared to enter Port Jeuno and have your passes ready to show at the gates," announced the pilot.

"Do you think they'll notice anything suspicious about ours?" worried Feral Heart.

"I hope not. I've heard there's an old guy checking the passes to make sure they're legitimate. Apparently he's an expert at reading people's signatures and spotting forgeries. The council likes to have a strong grip on things," replied Omatase.

"I think his name's Lamar Holdaway," remembered Vasteel.

They stood in line after landing, waiting to have their passes checked. Lamar scrutinized their passes, looking at each one. He nodded to one of the guards.

"You may go," said the guard.

"Phew, that was a close one," said Vasteel.

"I guess he's not as good at recognizing signatures as he thought he was," commented Omatase.

Feral Heart rushed to Lower Jeuno.

"Meet us at the Ru'Lude Gardens when you're done," ordered Omatase.

"I'll be there after I check the auction house and my mog house," replied Feral Heart.

Omatase and Vasteel went to Upper Jeuno, in a back alley, on the south east side of an eatery. Omatase opened up a small portal. It took them inside a luxurious room, furnished with expensive knickknacks.

"What is this place?" asked Vasteel.

"It's my contact's residential area."

"Isn't your contact supposed to be here?"

"Not necessarily. We'll wait for him to show up."

They waited for a couple of hours. "This is ridiculous. Let's go to the garden area and see if Feral Heart is there waiting for us," suggested Omatase.

She never showed up either. "I don't think she's coming back anytime soon. You know how she is around those auction houses," said Vasteel.

Omatase saw a taru taru sitting on a bench a few feet away. "Hey, there's my contact." Omatase pointed to him. "Wait here and I'll bring him over."

The taru taru on the bench got up and walked away.

"Hey, Maxie! Wait up!"

Maxie turned around and looked at Omatase. He turned his back to him and started walking away again.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

Maxie continued walking without responding.

"Case of mistaken identity?" asked Vasteel.

"No, that's the right guy. I don't know what's up with him. He's rather strange at times."

"Now what?"

"Let's go back to his place and rest for the night."

They returned to Maxie's residential area, where they caught Feral Heart looking through some things.

"Will you stop snooping? What happened to meeting us at the gardens?" asked Omatase.

"Sorry, I got caught up in the auction houses longer than I thought. I made a lot of good deals today. Where's Maxie?"

"We don't know. I called out to him, but he just ignored me and left."

"He has been known to be quite stand-offish. I wonder if anything's wrong?"

"I don't know. Let's get some sleep for now," said Omatase.

The next day, Omatase and Vasteel woke up to find Feral Heart gone. "She probably got up early to get a head start on the business day," thought Omatase.

"Maxie didn't come home last night?"

"I'll never understand him. When he wants to avoid someone, he goes all the way," replied Omatase.

They wandered around Jeuno, in search of Maxie. "I think I see him. There he is," pointed Vasteel.

He was at Holy Owen's Square, purchasing something.

"Let's go and talk to him," suggested Vasteel.

"No, he'll run away from us. We'll follow him from a distance."

They followed him to the embassies, where they lost track of him. "Where'd he go? Did he use an invisibility spell?" asked Vasteel.

"I don't think so. I would've seen him casting it on himself first."

"I've hunted many things and never saw anything disappear like that."

"He probably used some sort of invisible portal he opened up. He'll turn up sooner or later, and then we'll confront him," said Omatase.

There was a group of Traliz soldiers heading into the Grand Duke Palace. "I wonder what's going on over there?" asked Vasteel.

"Who is the duke now? There have been so many since Eald'narche was killed," asked Omatase.

"I don't know. A Zilartian by the name of Chelan; or something like that."

Traliz soldiers and foreign dignitaries were in the duke's palace; one of them being Princess Rainbow Rose. The soldiers lined up on the east and west sides of the room facing each other, allowing the foreign dignitaries to walk down the center. Princess Rainbow Rose discreetly handed one of the soldiers a small bag.

The duke walked in after everyone had been seated. There were leaders from Basdor, Santok, Durst and other lesser known cities.

"Thank you for coming. There are important issues to discuss. As you all know, there have been many Traliz soldiers around this fine city for quite some time. There have also been many policy changes. The reason why, is that we have decided to ally ourselves with the council of moon princesses. This will strengthen our city. I encourage all of you to do the same," announced the duke.

Everyone in the room was stunned and shocked at the duke's announcement.

"I know it comes as a surprise. I'll be here for any questions," said Chelan. He walked around the room, answering people's questions.

People started looking at him strangely, as if they were scared of him. "What? What is it?" asked the duke.

"You're a member of the council! What are you doing here?"

"The duke was here just a minute ago," said someone.

The duke looked at himself, realizing his disguise was gone.

"You're not really the duke, are you? You're Rosalind, from the council," said someone else.

"What have you done with the real duke?" yelled another person.

Sailor Rosalind realized her cover was blown and ran inside the duke's secret chambers.

Princess Rainbow Rose walked up to one of the "soldiers" hiding in a corner. "Great work."

"It is I who should thank you. I wouldn't have been able to pull off that spell of true seeing without those ingredients."

The soldier's disguise vanished, revealing it was really Maxie.

There was chaos in the palace. The soldier's cleared everyone out before leaving themselves. Maxie and R. Rose hid until they were all gone.

The door to the duke's secret chambers was sealed shut.

"I'll take care of it." Maxie busted through the doors with a firaga spell.

No one was inside. "She's already gone," said Princess Rainbow Rose.

"At least we uncovered her deceit," said Maxie.

"What did she do with the duke? Is he dead?" asked R. Rose.

"I don't know. I wouldn't put it past the council to do something like that," replied Maxie.

Omatase stopped Maxie as he was leaving the palace. "Stop right there. I want some answers. What were you doing in the palace?"

"We were working on a mission together. We'll explain later. Let's head over to Maxie's residential area first," replied Princess Rainbow Rose.

Maxie explained everything to them at his mog house. "The duke had been acting peculiar for a few months. We've suspected something for a while, but didn't have the opportunity to do anything about it until now. Jeuno will be chaotic for a little while until people can figure out what happened and what to do about it; but at least we're making progress," said Maxie.

"You should've told us what you were doing. We could've helped," said Omatase.

Maxie remained silent.

"I must be leaving. Good luck to all of you." Princess Rainbow Rose left.

"We'll start looking for the next senshi tomorrow," said Maxie