Some introductory words: This fanfic was written in the span of about two hours at the Anime North 2001 "Iron Author" fanfic competition. I had the luck to be pulled randomly when authors were being drawn, and the subject we ended up with was "Dominance" (rated G). So, after a short thinking period while they set up the computers, this is what I came up with! Sorry about the formatting, but this is exactly what I had written, typos and all... one thing I learned was that blank lines are a lot easier to work with than tabs. ^_^ In case you're wondering, I didn't win, and reading the winner's story, I agree with their decision, but at any rate, enjoy.... ======= POOLING OF EFFORTS By Greg Taylor "Yuri! Yuri what the heck are you doing?" "Not what you think, Yaoi." Her twin shook his head. "I think you're trying to use the anime generator before we've had a chance to completely perfect it." Yuri shrugged back. "Okay, then it is what you think." "Aw, Yuri, why?" Yaoi groaned. "I mean, what can you possibly hope to accomplish here?" "Some kind of dominance," Yuri retorted, connecting the final leads. "I need a good example to finish off my term paper." "You're going to get in trouble for this," Yaoi decided. "You're always getting us in trouble!" "Hey, you're the one who showed those Card Captor Sakura videos at the last anime convention, not me!" Yuri said. "I thought they were Gundam Wing videos!" Yaoi said in annoyance. "Someone switched tapes on me! I wonder WHO?" Yuri smiled innocently. "Still, you worry too much,"she continued. "We're in a closed environment here, more or less. And if anything goes wrong I reverse the transfer. No big deal." "Famous last words. Look, exactly what dominance are you trying to establish here anyway?" "I'm hoping to establish who is more dominant in the relationship between Haruka and Michiru of Sailor Moon," Yuri responded, now calling up the required portfolios on the anime central computer. "Yuri... remember the last time you got out the whips?" "I'm giving them a questionnaire, idiot!" "Oh. Well, I still say this is a bad idea. Just accept that the two of them are cousins, and move on." Yuri shot Yaoi a dark look. "Don't get me started on that again! You know you'll regret it!" It was Yaoi's turn to grin, but upon reflection he decided it was a bad time to push Yuri's buttons. "Okay, okay. Still, the anime generator hasn't been perfected, so is this really the best time for you to start your empirical research?" "This data is vitally important to my work! If you don't want to know, you don't have to stay here." "Nah, I'll stick around. Someone has to clean up the mess after all. Or should this chance to work, maybe I'll see about Mamoru and Fiore after you're done." "Well then, here goes nothing!" Yuri declared. She hit the big red button. Nothing happened. "You\re supposed to hit the green button," Yaoi pointed out. "I knew that," Yuri said in irritation. She hit the big green button. Michiru and Ami walked out of the large curtain in the back of the machine. "Drat," Yuri concluded. "Ami and Haruka just look too similar... reversing transfer..." "Wait, wait,maybe this isn't such a bad thing!" Yaoi pointed out. "I beg your pardon?" Yuri said. "Swiming, Yuri! Look, they're even in swimsuits! If we, say, film them in a swiming race for dominance... I'm sure there's a market for such a thing. They are the senshi of water after all and the only real race seen in the show didn't establish anything!" "Excuse me, but just what is going on here?" Michiru demanded. "How do you seem to know who we are?" "And how did we come to be here?" Ami inquired. "We were just about to go for a swim together." "You've become part of a scientific experiement," Yuri remarked. "Though Michiru, could you maybe fill out this questionnaire too, before we go to the pool...?" Ami and Michiru exchanged a glance. "Why should we do anything you're saying?" Michiru countered. "Because if you do we'll send you back. If you don't, you'll be trapped here with us forever," Yuri said. "You don't want to be in a room with Yuri after dark," Yaoi added. Ami and Michiru exchanged another glance. "Let's play along for now," Ami muttered. "It will give me time to mentally analyze what I've seen of this device of theirs." Michiru nodded. "Okay, we'll swim," Michiru agreed. "But I'm not filling out any stupid questionnaire." Yuri sighed, but shrugged. "Wouldn't be the same without Haruka anyway," she decided. "Come on everyone, to the pool, located conveniently in the next room!" "Thanks to Yuri messing with the dimensional portals last week," Yaoi added under his breath. They adjourned to the pool. Yaoi doublechecked that the security video monitors were recording everything. "Okay, then. This will be a standard one lap race to the end of the pool and back," he declared. "And you've both got to give it your all! On my mark... go!" Ami and Michiru jumped into the pool and began their race, Yuri and Yaoi watching closely from the side. For a moment, it looked like Ami had pulled away, but Michiru soon caught up. They reached the opposite side of the pool in a tie and began the trip back. The reverse happened on that trip; Michiru pulled away and Ami caught up. The race ended in a tie. "Oh, great," Yuri said sarcastically. "So things have played out exactly like they did in episode 97. This was your stupid idea, wasn't it Yaoi?" "You're the one who was looking for some kind of dominance," Yaoi countered. The two twins began to bicker back and forth, giving Ami and Michiru the opportunity to speak in hushed tones themselves. As such, Yuri and Yaoi were completely unprepared for the wall of water which crashed into them, smashing them back up against the back wall. Ami and Michiru exited the pool, which was now completely dry. "You two must be pretty stupid to have provided us with the very medium we use as the basis for our powers," Ami remarked. "You obviously didn't do enough research," Michiru added. "Of course me and Ami are going to tie on any race run in chlorinated water! We can both use it very effectively." "Versus me doing better in fresh water and Michiru dominating in salt water," Ami said. "Were you even thinking at all?" Michiru ventured. "Eh heheheheh. Oops?" Yuri said, sweatdropping slightly. "You shouldn't have attacked us though!" Yaoi said in annoyance. "Without us you're never going to get back to where you belong!" "Actually," Ami countered, "As I was just saying to Michiru I believe the big red button on your console that was marked 'reverse transfer' will do the job nicely. I'm surprised I didn't think of it sooner." "So we'll be going now," Michiru finished, pausing only long enough to destroy the video monitoring devices on her way back to the anime generator with Ami. By the time Yuri and Yaoi had peeled themselves off of the wall, the two senshi were gone. "Well, another fine mess you've gotten me into," Yaoi said. "Oh, I don't know, we did learn something," Yuri pointed out. "Yeah, that we're no match for a couple of senshi. I hope you've seen the light now and aren't going to try for getting Michiru here with Haruka." Yuri nodded. "Oh, definitely. I just came up with a much better idea for my paper!" Yaoi peered at her suspiciously. "What's that?" "I'm going to summon Utena and Anthy here!" Yaoi facefaulted. "Yuri!!!" he cried out in futility. FINIS