A week or so (and one Droid attack) later, Chang stood on a street corner waiting for Minako.

{She said she had a surprise for me, and that it wouldn't take long, but she's fifteen minutes overdue! Is she *always* late?} he thought, annoyed. At the sound of a quiet stampede from around the corner, Chang turned and braced himself, opening his arms as he did. {Ah, here she comes...}

Sure enough, Minako came barreling around the corner and into Chang's arms, sending the pair skidding back a foot on the sidewalk. Then they almost fell as Artemis, trying his darndest to catch up to Minako, streaked around the corner and ran right into Chang's ankle.

"OW!" the Chinese boy yelled as Artemis tried for a foothold in true (clawed) feline fashion. Luckily, Mina looked down and plucked Artemis off before anything worse could happen to either boy or cat. She dropped Artemis into her backpack, getting an indignant "HEY-" out of him, and turned to Chang.

"Hi Chang! Sorry I'm late, I got detention again and then I wanted to finish my surprise, since it'd be kind of a waste to meet you here to give you a surprise and then not have it, and-"

Sensing a long monologue on the way, Chang cut her off. "So what's the surprise?" Grinning, Minako held out a bracelet woven of two bright plastic thongs. "It's a Promise Ring! You make it for someone you care about and if you wear them for a week it's a sign that your love is true! Usagi's trying to make one for Mamoru at the class held at the art shop! Maybe it'll help him finally get over whatever it is that scared him away from Usagi!"

Chang suddenly got a thoughtful look. "Scared him away... Mina-chan, I think you've got it! For some reason he's *scared* to be with Usagi!" He gave her a quick hug, then dashed for the corner, heading for a certain apartment. "See you a bit later, Mina-chan, I need to have a man-to-man talk with someone!"

Minako looked after him, a bewildered expression on her face. "Anooo..."

Despite his intentions, Chang didn't go directly to Mamoru's apartment. As he turned the corner, he heard a clock strike five, reminding him he was very nearly overdue for a prior commitment with someone else - who he'd already reprimanded for being late. {Kuso!} He thought. {I forgot about Makoto's training today! I've gotta be there in five minutes!} With little time (and several months of Nerima living, where half the residents bound from building to building, so he didn't think it was so unusual), Chang took to the Rooftop Express.

Unknown to him, a certain figure who featured in the Sailor Senshi's past had seen him go. "Wow!" Nancy Vargas said. "I wonder if he's with the Sailors? Ah - I smell exclusive!"

* * * * *

Four minutes and thirty seconds later, Chang dropped from a nearby roof to the vacant lot, startling the wits out of Makoto. "AAHH!" she yelled as he came down, and she had her henshin wand half out before she realized it was her erstwhile sensei. "Geez, you cost me two years of my life there!"

Chang grinned sheepishly. "Eh heh heh... Gomen, (sorry) Makoto, but I was trying not to be late. It's bad form to lecture your students about a fault and then give in to it yourself." As Makoto recovered, she grinned. "So you said yesterday that you were gonna try and train me in a special technique - finally?!"

Chang bigsweated, then facefaulted. "Argh! I knew I forgot something!" he groaned. Makoto's face took on the sad-puppy expression, big watery eyes and all. "You mean you've gotta back out!? But I wanna *learrrnn!*"

Chang retreated for a moment, then inspiration struck. "No, we'll just have to try an alternate training method, rather than the classic. It's not easy, but my friend Ranma - you know, the guy I mentioned from Nerima - did it a different way, and he's the best I know with it."

Makoto went from 'sad puppy' to 'brilliant grin' in a flash. "All right! So what do I do?" Chang smiled at her. "Well, the technique is called the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, which translates as the 'Sweet Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire Fist.' That's because the usual method of training involves building a hot fire, dumping 100 sweet chestnuts in, and trying to snatch them all out bare-handed before they burn. Also before your *hands* burn, which is kinda crucial."

Makoto goggled. "Whaaa?! But a hot fire'll burn chestnuts in just a few seconds!"

Chang nodded. "Yup."

"Are you saying that this technique means moving fast enough to gather one hundred nuts out of a fire before they burn?!" Makoto seemed a bit perturbed. Chang nodded again. "Yes, but there's no reason to go all-out from the start. We can work up to that level gradually. I'd planned to bring firewood and nuts, but I got kinda rushed, and, well, I forgot. So here's how we'll train." He picked up a rock from the ground. "I'm gonna shatter this, and I want you to grab as many pieces out of the air as you can."

Makoto took a stance. "Okay! I'm ready!"

Chang nodded to her, and jabbed at the rock as he tossed it into the air. "Bakusai-Tenketsu!"

* * * * *

As he resumed his trip to Mamoru's apartment, Chang thought about the progress Makoto had made. {She could grab ten or fifteen bits to start with, and she worked up to twenty by the end of the session. Even considering she's using sweeping grabs and not the Amaguriken's darting jabs, that's not bad. She's got a ways to go, but she's got the potential to match or surpass Shampoo - ow! What the-}

Stopping in midstep, Chang looked down at his wrist, where the offending twinge of pain had originated. It didn't take long to find the source - Minako's Promise Ring had been finished in a hurry and had a number of rough edges that were now chafing at Chang's wrist.

{I'm glad I don't believe in omens...} Chang thought as he vainly tried to work the band into a comfortable position. Finally, he gave up as he reached Mamoru's apartment building -
- on the roof. {Aargh!} he berated himself. {I was thinking so hard about the darn Ring that I went into the Rooftop Express mode out of habit! Dumb, dumb, dumb!} His thoughts continued in this vein until he reached the stairwell door and headed down to Mamoru's place...

* * * * *

Hours later, Chang left, having moved the irritating Ring in the meantime up over his fingers. {From there, I can get it back down over my wrist in a flash if I see Minako,} he thought, and went on, {But I don't see a way out of Mamoru's problem.}

After some urging from Chang, Mamoru (who seemed relieved to have someone to talk with about his problem) had confided that he was having nightmares in which a voice claimed that he must break off his relationship with Usagi or she would die. Chang could sympathize, as he honestly didn't know what his choice would be in that situation, either. {Geez, the poor guy,} Chang brooded. {To know that at some future point your love could die if you stay by her side! Would I stay with her and enjoy what time I could, or leave her and hope she finds happiness with someone else?} Depressed, he sat down on a park bench and sighed.

"Hey, moonchild, what's the matter?" Minako's voice drifted over to him from behind and on the right. Hurriedly, Chang slid the bracelet back down onto his wrist and turned to face Minako. As he noticed that Makoto was with her, he blurted out, "Ahh, I'm trying to solve a romantic dilemma." Makoto jumped as he said that, but since she was a bit behind Minako, the blonde never noticed.

Instead, Minako frowned. "Chang-kun - is there something I've done wrong?"

Chang sweatdropped heavily. "No, no, it's not *my* dilemma-" He got no farther. Minako interrupted him: "Well, then you're in luck, my friend! The Sailor Senshi of Love is at your service! No trouble too big or too small, Venus and Love will conquer all!"

Chang sighed. "It's Mamoru. I found out why he's acting so weird, he AAAaaAAaAA-"

As he began his sentence, the Promise Ring around his wrist had begun to crackle with Dark Lightning, which was now arcing all over his body. Seeing the offending item, Venus dithered for a moment, caught between need and superstition, while Makoto leapt forward and pulled on the Ring with all her might.

"It won't come off!" she cried as Minako ran to help, but Chang pushed them both away.

"Get... back!" he gritted out through the pain, and while they obeyed, stiffened his left index finger as he tried desperately to focus his *ki.*

"mmMMANAA... FLARE!"

* * * * *

As the Mana swirl died down, Minako and Makoto looked on in awe, and the remnants of the bracelet crumbled off Chang's wrist. His hand was somewhat scorched. Chang took a few deep breaths and asked, "Minako - where did you - get that bracelet?"

There was no reply, and he looked over to the girls to see them still in shock. "You - you used a new attack -" Minako began:
"-and you weren't even transformed!" Makoto finished. Chang sighed.

"That's 'cause it wasn't a Guardian attack, it was one of my martial arts moves," he replied. "Now could you get your jaws up off the ground and answer my question?"

Minako shook her head and answered, if a bit absently, "The new art shop in the Ginza District - the one where Usagi and Chibi-Usa were trying to make theirs -" Suddenly, she broke off, horrified. Makoto picked up the thread, though. "They stayed late to work on their Rings! They could be in big trouble! *Minna, henshin yo!*" (Everyone, let's transform!)

"JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"VENUS STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"MOON GUARDIAN POWER, HENSHIN!"

* * * * *

The three warriors arrived at the Ring Hall a bit late - the fight between a ring-tossing Droid, Tuxedo Kamen, and Sailor Moon was already in full swing. Even as they got on the neighbouring roof, the Droid threw a volley of rings at Tuxedo Kamen. He dodged handily, but the rings swung around boomerang-style and came at him again from behind. Lunar, already in motion, cried, "Shoot down those rings, guys!"

The Moonbeam Boomerang, Love-me Chain, and Sparkling Wide Pressure blew the spinning rings to bits, and Sailor Moon dusted the shocked Droid before it had a chance to recover. The black crystal statue on the roof suddenly lost its dark aura and toppled, shrinking and shattering as it did.

A familiar figure - {Emeraude, if I remember correctly,} Lunar thought - appeared in the air above the building.

"OOH! You sailor brats again! You can't keep doing this to me and expect to get away with it! That's three times now, and I won't stand for it!"

"Oh yeah!? Any time, old lady!" Jupiter cried in reply, causing the lady in question to turn an unhealthy shade of red. "OLD.. I.. I.. you.. rrrrr..." she gritted, and Lunar couldn't resist.

"Hey, old lady, be careful of your blood pressure! It's not good for old folks to strain themselves!" Emeraude went from red to purple as the other Senshi gave Lunar admiring looks.

Emeraude fumed in midair for a moment before saying, "Not now. I'll get you Senshi, I'll get you on my terms! You'll be sorry!" and with that, she vanished.

{Maybe I shoudn't have done that...} Lunar thought as Sailor Moon talked quietly to Tuxedo Kamen. {Naahhh!}