Zoicite looked at the holographic image of Prince Nakorru and sighed.
She was not ready to fight against him. He had given her such a hard time
in the battle, and she had almost lost. She thanked her lucky stars that
he had fallen for one of her tricks. If it was one thing that Zoicite was
good at, it was optical illusions. She was almost as good as Kunzite...she
growled at where her mind was going. The mere thought of that dimwitted
doppelganger was enough to make her nauseous. And to think that they used
to be an item during the glory days of the NegaVerse...however, that was all
in the past. Her present was with Malachite, and that was the way it would
remain for all time. But, for some reason, she just couldn't get her mind off
Prince Nakorru...
* * * * *
Damien paced around the apartment in a furor. The last thing he wanted
was to be suspended from the game he loved so much. However, he didn't have
any say-so in the matter. Coach Brown had made up his mind, and that was
that. King Mercury stood in the center of the room and watched as his protégé
wandered around aimlessly a little while longer before turning to him and
yelling, "This makes absolutely no sense! What did I ever do to him?"
King Mercury looked at him sardonically and said, "Would you like a list?"
"Don't go there." King Mercury rolled his eyes to the heavens before
continuing, "You told me you basically said that the team needed you in order
to win. Personally, I do not think that was a fair thing to say." Damien
opened his mouth as if to speak, but King Mercury quickly silenced him and
continued, "You have no idea how the team would play without you, and I think
it is about time you found out."
"This is gonna be in every newspaper in the state! I bet it's already
on TV!" To prove his point, he reached for the remote control and turned
the television to ESPN. As they watched the extreme sports unveil before
them, the "Bottom Line" came up and, sure enough, the headline screamed, "UAB
Head Coach Watson Brown announced today that QB Damien Gordon has been sus-
pended one game for missing practice." Damien turned to King Mercury and
said, "There! You happy now?"
"Of course not. However, I do believe the suspension was just." Damien
looked at him and rolled his eyes. "You would say something like that."
"Do not take me for an old fool. I am wiser than you think."
"Sure you are. And I'm taking the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl
next year."
"Funny. Now, get ready for practice. If you are to find Nakorru, you
must be ready for any and all challenges. Understand?" Damien nodded his
head repulsively, accentuating his mood with a less than interested "Yeah,
yeah," before moving his furniture to the patio for another day of training.
* * * * *
The next day, Damien and Amy met up during their lunch break to talk
about how things had gone for them so far. "How's your shoulder," she asked.
Damien patted it and said, "It's fine. I just wish that it wouldn't have
happened the way it did."
"That's O.K. These things happen." She stopped for a moment before asking,
"Have you read the school newsletter yet?" Damien shook his head and
answered, "No. Ever since they gave me that bad review for the Nebraska game,
I decided that they didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. Why?
What’s in it?"
"Well..." she began as she flipped through the newsletter, "There's
something about your suspension..."
"Why am I not surprised?" Amy noticed that he looked glum about the
whole suspension thing and added, "It's only one paragraph-"
"With a big picture over it-"
"You are such a ham. And the quarterly predictions for Dean's List are in
here, too."
"Really?" Damien perked up and began to scoot over beside her to read
the list. "What's the order?"
"Descending to ascending." Damien laughed aloud at that before saying,
"I never have competition for the top of the list." Amy looked at him and
said, "Is that so?"
"Yep," Damien said with a reassuring nod. "We'll see about that," Amy
said.
"Wanna put your money where your mouth is?"
"I think I'll put my mouth where your mouth is."
"Ooh, you freaky!" They continued to read the list from beginning to
end, and when they got near the top, Damien yelled, "A-HA! I beat you!"
"By one point!" Amy whined. "You didn't say by how much," Damien said.
"Now, pay up!" Amy smiled and said, "With pleasure." She leaned in and
kissed him before mumbling, "I wonder who's at the top?" Damien froze for
a moment before looking at the list again. Granted, he was ranked higher
than Amy, but he wasn't number one. He broke away the kiss and growled at
the paper in disgust. "Who is this jerk?!" He looked at the name at the top
of the list and said, "You're from Japan; you oughta know who he is!" Amy
glowered at him and said, "My, aren't we the socially conscious one today?"
Damien ignored that comment and stared at the paper in disgust. Neither one
of them noticed the ominous figure standing behind them, reading the paper
right along with them. "Who the heck is Nakorru Kodanna?"
"My name is Kodanna Nakorru," the stranger said in disgust. Amy and
Damien jumped as they realized that someone was behind them. Nakorru picked
up the paper and said, "Number one again? Why is it that every school I
go to, I am placed at the top of the Dean's List? American educational
standards are so trivial."
"Trivial!" Damien thought, "Why is he so special?" Amy looked at him and
saw that he was indeed enraged. She then looked at Nakorru and realized that
she knew him from somewhere. "Hey, pal!" Damien yelled, "Whaddya mean by
'trivial'?! Just who the hell do you think you are? Where are you from,
since you so damn special?" Nakorru looked at Damien and laughed. Trivial
and rude. "Well," he answered, "Why don't you ask your friend; she
knows me well. After all, we are from the same place."
"WHAT?" This statement instantly appalled Damien, and he felt the
blue aura beginning to rise in him. He was about to show his true anger until
he decided to calm down and ask the source. "Amy," he cooed, "You wouldn't
happen to know this jerk, would you?" Amy was silent for a moment while she
pondered whether or not to tell him. Finally, she gave her answer. "Actu-
ally," she began, "I do. His name is Kodanna Nakorru-"
"I think we've already established that one."
"Very funny. Everyone called him, 'Mr. Brain' at the Albert Einstein
School of Gifted Children, and he's from Nerima, Japan." Damien was shell-
shocked by this turn of events. Amy noticed it, but there was nothing she
could do at the moment. However, she thought, later on tonight would be
entirely different story altogether. "He transferred and went to Furinken
High School, where he was one of the top students. He even tried to date me
once, but I was still with-"
"DON'T!" The last thing Damien needed to hear right now was any
mention of Greg's name. "So, you mean to tell me that this jerk is from
Nerima? That's absurd!"
Nakorru groaned in disgust. "Don't you ever get tired of calling people
'jerks'? You remind me of that idiot Ranma Saotome." At the mention of that
name, Damien perked up. "Ranma?" he asked. His mind began to travel back to
when he visited Japan with his father a long time ago. He learned the Kempo
martial art while he was ther, but he couldn't remember from who...that is,
until now.
"You know him?" Nakorru asked, curiosity engulfing him. Amy was just as
curious as Nakorru, just not in the same way. "Yes, Damien," she
scathed, "You know Ranma Saotome?"
"Yeah!" Damien beamed, ignoring Amy's tone. "He taught me Kempo!"
"When was this?"
"It was during the summer a few years ago. My dad took a business trip
to Japan when I was fifteen, and I tagged along just for the fun of it. I
thought it would be cool to say that I went to Japan for my summer vacation.
I was expecting to see exotic sights and hear exotic sounds, but when I got
there, it was just like downtown San Diego. So, instead of being intrigued, I
was bored out of my mind! So, while I was waiting for the two and one-half
month trip from hell to end, I ran into Ranma...literally. He was getting
food, and I was getting angry. We started to talk, and I asked him if he knew
any martial arts. He said he did, and I asked him to teach me some. We went
into the mountains of Japan and trained for the longest time. It was rough,
but it was fun, too. I don't know any of his special moves, but I do know
enough of the basics to improvise; you know, make myself look good."
"So, basically, you were faking it, huh?" Amy asked, thinking back to
when he fought Darien and Veena. "Faking it?" he asked. "When was I faking
it?" Amy glowered at him and said, "When you were fighting Darien and Veena,
remember?"
"Ye- Wha- NO!" Damien quickly shouted in protest. "Didn't you
hear me? I said I knew the basics!" Amy looked at him and shook her head.
"'The basics,' huh?" She was getting very unhappy with his cockiness. "What
if you would have been more hurt than you were? What if you would have been
killed, huh? You wouldn't be here, and I'd still be alone! You didn't think
about that, did you?" Damien blanched; he never thought of it that way
before. "Well," Nakorru smiled, "I see you got your inconsiderate behavior
from Ramna as well as his martial arts techniques."
"Hey, pal," Damien growled. "I can still beat you! Just because I know
the basics don't mean I can't 'basically' kick your butt!"
"I don't fight," Nakorru sighed. "It's a pointless, barbaric ritual."
Damien thought about it for a moment, realized that he could possibly kill this
guy, and smiled. "You're right! Truce?" he asked, extending his hand for a
handshake. "Truce," Nakorru agreed, taking his hand in a strong handshake.
Then, something happened. Some sort of information flashed through their
minds, and it came on fast and furious. Memories began to hit them, memories
Damien knew of the Mercury Kingdom, but there were other memories coming to
him as well. Memories of another kingdom flashed in there, and standing on
a high cliff overlooking his kingdom was...Nakorru! Nakorru snatched his
hand back and was enraged.
"What the hell was that?" Nakorru yelled in disgust. "I have never felt
such insolence!" Damien was at a total loss to describe this new sensation.
"Uh...Amy," he finally managed to stutter, "I think we need to go...something
important just came up."
"Like what?" Amy questioned.
"You know...something really important...really important stuff,"
Damien said, trying his best to keep Nakorru in the dark. Amy finally caught
on and snagged Damien's hand. "You're right! Let's go!" Then, they bolted
out of sight, leaving a confused Nakorru behind, the only remnants being a
crumpled newspaper lying on the table. "These Americans," he sighed, "Always
in a rush."
* * * * *
Zoicite was busy in her chambers brushing her hair when she noticed some-
one was in the room with her. She turned around and saw Jaedite standing there
with an intense look on his face. "What do you want, Jaedite?" she asked, not
too pleased with his being in her chambers.
"I think you might want to take a look at this," he answered. He extended
his hands to the wall, and an image of Damien and Amy appeared before them. Zo-
icite looked at the image, then at Jaedite, and said, "I do not see what your
surveillance on Prince Damien has to do with me." Jaedite turned to Zoicite and
said, "Just wait." He then added a very reassuring smile to his face. The
scene between Damien, Amy, and Nakorru played out in front of them, and Zoicite
looked in amazement as a bright red aura began to take from around Nakorru as
he shook hands with Damien. "Freeze that image!" She then grabbed her Black
Crystal and compared the image of Nakorru with the image of Prince Nakorru and
found htey were the same. "Aha! Prince Nakorru lives! Now, it is time for me
to sang that fragment!" With that, she disappeared in a flurry of cherry
blossom petals.
"How ungrateful," Jaedite said. "She didn't even thank me."
* * * * *
"What was that all about?" Amy asked as they stepped into his apartment.
"I never knew you could act like this." Damien had been mum about what had
just happened, and she felt like it was time he told her. "Well," Damien began
as he wandered into the kitchen to grab a couple of apples off the counter, "I
know this is pretty early in the game, but-" he tossed an apple towards Amy,
"Nakorru is one of us."
"One of us?" Amy groaned, obviously confused by the dubious distinction
that he had just given. "Yeah," he answered, taking a bite out of his apple,
"One of us; a Star Guardian!"
"How do you know?"
"Remember when I shook his hand?" Amy nodded, urging him to continue.
"Well, I saw a vision; something I recognized from my own resurfacing memories.
You see, in one of my flashbacks, I see myself, Darien, and three others. Each
of us had Star Fragments, and all of us were over different kingdoms. Well, our
'I'm too smart for American schools' friend held the Mars power in him, which
means..."
"...Which means he is the rightful heir to the throne of the planet Mars
and the holder of the Mars Star Fragment," a voice called from the bedroom. Da-
mien groaned at this because he really didn't want to be bothered by him today.
"What do you want, Merc?"
"Ah, Damien," he chuckled, "I could not help but overhear your conversation
with Prince Nakorru today, and-"
"There you go again. You're always spyin' on me, ain't cha? Don't you got
nothin' else better to do?" Amy began to laugh uncontrollably at this sight.
She always got a kick out of seeing her Damien stressed out. "You two never
stop, do you?" she managed to get out amisdt all the chuckling.
"What are you laughin' at?" Damien playfully yelled. He then ran over to
Amy, picked her up, playfully threw her on the sofa and pounced on top of her.
He looked deep into her eyes and smiled. "Bet that'll teach ya." Amy looked at
him and had the decency to blush. "I don't know," she beamed, "I might need a
little more encouragement." Damien grinned and kissed her. It was a soft kiss
at first, then he deepened it to heighten the plesure. King Mercury looked at
the two and thought, "I really do not need to hear this." He cleared his throat
in an attempt to get their attention. When that didn't work, he simply walked
around the sofa and sat on the floor beside them. Amy looked up, noticed King
Mercury sitting there nad frowned.
"You pervert." Damien looked up and showed his agitation for his guest's
bad timing. "What?!" he yelled. "Do you mind going away somewhere?"
"Well, I..."
"'Well, I' nothing! Go away!"
"Very well," King Mercury sighed. He got up and walked to the door, and
slammed it behind him. "I'm gonna get it when he gets back," he said."
"That's all fine and good," Amy began, "But, we've got another problem on
our hands."
"Like what?" Damien asked as he sat up on his knees. "Like, if Nakorru is
a Star Guardain, that would mean that the NegaVerse is after him."
"I think Veena was a good indication of that yesterday."
"Exactly. Now, since they've already started after him, that means he's
gonna need some sort of protection until he realizes his fate." Damien nodded
his head and smiled. "I agree 100%." Now, since they had gotten that out of
the way, he could get what he wanted.
"Good," Amy smiled. "Now, set this place up." Damien leaned in to kiss
her, but Amy had something else on her mind. "We're about to have a meeting."
She got up and left Damien kissing the sofa. "Yeah, but, what about-"
"It can wait." Amy dug around in her purse to find her telephone number
list. When she found it, she picked up the phone and headed to the bedroom.
Damien sat there on the sofa with a disgusted look on his face before whining,
"Until when?!" Amy didn't respond; instead, she poked her head outside the door
and gave her sweetest smile before going back to the phone conversation.
"Aw, man!" Damien then began the conversion from living room to meeting
place in preparation for their 'guests'.
* * * * *
Within moments, the whole crew had made it to Damien's apartment. Serena
and Darien were sitting on the sofa while Raye was standing by the bedroom door.
Lita was in the kitchen cooking some snacks for everyone, Mina was in an easy
chair skimming the newspaper for a car, and Amy and Damien were sitting at the
coffee table neatly centered in the middle of the room.
"All right," Damien began. "Now, I'm sure you all are wondering why you're
here." Then, in a much lower tone, he added, "I'm beginning to wonder the same
thing myself." Amy heard this, and, after elbowing him in the side, she said,
"We've found a new Star Guardian. His name should sound familiar to the rest of
us. His name is Kodanna Nakorru." Whin Mina heard the name, she dropped the
newspaper to the ground in disgust. Damien noticed this change immediately.
"What's with you, Mina?" he cautiously asked. Mina didn't answer or even
look in that direction; instead, she simply stared off into space. Distraught,
he turned to Lita, who had just stepped out of the kitchen with a fresh tray of
pigs-in-a-blanket, and asked her, "What's gotten into Mina? I've never seen
her like this before. Amy mentions Nakorru's name, and-"
"Mina used to date him," Lita answered inbetween bites of a pig-in-a-
blanket. "It was about the beginning of our junior year, and we were about to
have our first track meet against Furinken High. We're arch rivals, in case
you didn't know that already. Anyway, we were at the track meet, cheering Se-
rena on, and we saw this cute guy sitting on the Furinken-Crossroads dividing
line...
* * * * *
"Hey, Lita," Mina asked, "Do you think I should talk to him?" Lita looked
over at him and noticed that he did look kinda cute and said, "Go for it. But,
don't forget to cheer on Serena. You know she's up against that Akane Tendo."
Mina began to bubble up with glee and said, "No sweat!" She then got up, ex-
cused herself from the others, and sauntered over to meet the handsome man.
When she got there, she was amazed to find out that he had his eye on her as
well.
* * * * *
"We began to talk for a while," Mina continued before pausing for a moment
and saying, "You know, to this day, I have no idea who won the meet..."
"I did!" Serena blurted out in protest. "Anyway," Mina continued, "It
wasn't serious at first. You know, we'd go out to the movies every now and then
or go to the park or something like that; however, somehow it began to get ser-
ious. Then, there were forms of affection. They started out slight and inno-
cent at first, but before either of us kenw it..." she took a deep breath, re-
leased it, and wiped a tear from her eye before concluding, "I haven't quite
been the same since."
Damien looked flabbergasted. He had no idea how Mina was feeling inside.
He hadn't had that much personal experience with her outside of the one long
meeting they had, but she seemed like such a down-to-earth person with no
problems at all. Now, this changed everything. "Mina," he said, trying to pick
his words carefully, "I need to know the answer to this question: Can you or
can't you work with this guy? Because, if you can't, then I have no choice but
to limit your activity with us." Time seemed to stop for Mina St. Croix as she
debated the answer to this question. If she stayed, she risked having emotional
flashbacks with him. If she didn't stay, though, the Sailor Scouts would be
doomed. Finally, after what seemed like hours had passed, she gave her answer:
"Yes; I can indeed work with him. He is in the past, and I have put him
behind me." Damien and the others breathed a sigh of relief. "That's one bul-
let dodged," he thought. Little did he know what Darien was about to ask.
"Just out of curiosity," he began, "What planet does this guy oversee?"
Amy gave a worried look at Damien, then to Raye, and said, "Mars." Up un-
til this point, Raye had been unbelievably quiet. However, when she heard that
this new guy would bear the same symbol as she does, she was outraged. "No
way!" she screamed. "No way will I be paired up with some jerk who hurt my
friend back in Tokyo!" Damien shook his head and said, "You ain't got much of
a choice, Raye."
"Very well. Then I request to be pulled from the team." Amy looked at her
and shook her head. "Denied," she answered for him. "We need you here, Raye.
Now, we all have a reason to hate Nakorru, but if Mina can put it behind her,
then, we can definitely do the same." Raye let out a rough sigh and grunted,
"Deal. But I am NOT kissing him!"
"Damn it, Raye! Did we ask you to?" Damien was really getting frustrated
with this meeting. He wanted everyone to leave so he could have Amy all to him-
self. Granted, he spent almost every waking hour with her, but that's because
he loved her. He was getting annoyed with the distractions of keeping his hor-
mones in check and paying attention to what was going on. "Look, can't we speed
this up? I've got some important stuff to take care of!" Amy looked at him
with an evil scowl and whispered, "Keep this up, and you won't be taking care of
anything for a while." However, amisdt all the trouble that was going on, she
wanted to be with Damien just as bad. She just knew that this wasn't the right
time...so, she dealt with the emotional overflow long enough to conduct busi-
ness. Unfortunately, Damien hadn't quite learned that yet.
"So, now what, Damien?" Darien asked. "What are we going to do about Na-
korru until his memories awaken?" Damien sat there and pondered that question
for a moment, not quite knowing the answer himself. He had to admit that he
hadn't given it that much thought. As a matter of fact, after kissing Amy, he
hadn't given much of anything that much thought. "Gotta learn to control the
hormones," he thought. Finally, he came up with a fairly logical answer. "All
right; here's the deal," he began. "We all know this guy is from the Mars King-
dom, we all know the NegaVerse is after him-" here, he patted his arm for empha-
sis "-and we all know he needs protection. In order to constantly keep an eye
on him, we're going to need a steady communications flow. That being said, Dar-
ien and I will keep an eagle eye on him, and Raye will back us up with decent
comms with the others. What do you think, Darien? Sound good to you?"
"Wonderful plan, Damien," Darien said before adding with a smirk, "Who knew
you could still think straight, Lumpy?" Damien looked at him and growled on
the inside. He was really getting tired of Darien's little jokes about the bump
on his head. Fortunately for Darien, because of the emotional feelings that
were running rampant through him, he ignored his snide remark and went on to
more important issues. "How's about you, Raye? You up to it?" Raye looked out
of the patio door, then back to him and said, "Sure; why not? This could be
interesting!"
"It's all set, then!" Damien shouted, jumping out of his seat. "The fight
for Prince Nakorru is on!" The group responded with a cheer of jubilance, fig-
uring that Damien was finished. But, he wasn't finished...as a matter of fact,
he wasn't even close. "Now," he continued, "Everybody...GET OUT!"
"What?" Mina, as well as the others were totally confused by Damien's mood
change. However, Damien ended that confusion very quickly. "If your name
ain't Amy Anderson, then you don't have a lifetime pass here. So, take your
newspaper, your pigs-in-a-blanket, and your attitudes and get out!"
Serena put her hands on her hips and moaned, "Humph! What nerve!" Lita
added, "What nerve." Darien looked at Damien and said, "Why am I not sur-
prised?" Damien knew what he was saying was wrong, but at this point, he really
didn't care. "I'm glad you're not surprised," he said in response to Darien's
sardonic remark, "Now, surprise me and get out of my apartment!" Amy knew what
this was leading up to, but she didn't put forth an honest attempt to stop it,
either. "But, Damien-" she started, trying to hide her smile. Damien wasn't
listening, though.
"Not now, baby." By this time, Damien had began attempting tjo herd them
out one by one. "Come on, get out! We'll talk to y'all later! Get out!"
"Talk to you guys later," Amy smiled. "Yeah!" Damien quickly shouted,
"BYE!" With that, he slammed the door and turned to Amy and gave her a wicked
grin. "We're finally alone! I've been waiting for this for too long."
"Likewise," Amy said, blushing all the way, "But what about King Mercury?"
Damien looked around for a moment, then turned to her and said, "Let him watch."
He then fingered Amy over to him. When she finally sauntered over in arm's
reach, he grabbed her by the waist, pulled her close and began to kiss her pass-
ionately.
* * * * *
At 5:30, his alarm clock went off, but he was already awake. A very weary Na-
korru woke up the next day almost deranged from lack of sleep. He had been hav-
ing strange dreams and visions ever since he met the strange black man downtown.
He would occasionally see himself overlooking a kingdom; then, he'd see himself
dancing with an Oriental girl with long, flowing black hair. Then, he saw himself
dying at the hands of an evil, blond-haired, blue-eyed witch who called herself
Zoicite. "This is too much," he groaned as he finally gave up and got up. "I never
had a sleeping problem until yesterday. Now, it's almost impossible for me to
sleep." Frustrated, he prepared himself for the day ahead of him.
He began his early morning routine by doing 50 push-ups and 70 sit-ups. He
then took a quick shower, followed by preparing a particularly strong cup of
coffee. Finally, when everything was in place, he sat on the sofa and began to
read the morning paper. Suddenly, he was alarmed to find his TV turned on and
an immensely beautiful, but horrendously evil woman staring at him. He re-
cognized her from the dreams, but before he could get the name out, she intro-
duced herself. "Hello, Prince Nakorru. I am Zoicite, a general of the Nega-
Verse, and you have something I want." Nakorru looked at the screen, thought
for a moment, then said in broken English, "No a-speak-a English..."
"Don't play dumb with me, Prince Nakorru," she sighed, "I know you speak
perfect English." Nakorru looked at her and said, "Well, if you know all of
this, then y ou should know that I am not a prince, so I would appreciate it if
you left me alone, O.K.?" Zoicite laughed and said, "Of course, I will...so long
as you give me what I want." Nakorru smirked and said, "Sorry, lady...you're
not my type." When Zoicite heard this, she growled, "Don't you dare change
the subject! I want the Mars Star Fragment, and I want it now!"
"Fragment? What fragment?!" Nakorru was looking rather puzzled at the
strange woman in his TV. Then, it donned on him what the problems were.
First of all, he was sitting here in his underwear talking to his TV, which was
weird in and of itself. Second, the strange woman in his TV was asking about
a Mars Star Fragment, something he had no idea about. Finally, when he de-
cided to add up all of the options, none of it made any sense at all. "I know
nothing about a Mars Star Fragment, so leave me alone!" Zoicite wasn't
giving up that quickly, though. "On the contratry, you do know about
the Fragment; you just don't remember it yet. Don't you worry, though;
you'll remember soon enough...I will make certain of that." That being
said, she disappeared, leaving Nakorru more confused than ever before.
"What in the hell is going on here?"
* * * * *
"7:15?! Christ! I overslept!" Damien woke up that morning and quietly
but quickly slipped out of bed, making certain not to wake up Amy. He
bent down to look at her sleeping face one more time before getting ready
for school. In contrast to Nakorru, Damien's morning ritual was very dif-
ferent. He grabbed a quick shower, got a glass of orange juice from the refrig-
erator, and went to pick out his clothes for the day. Knowing he didn't have
that much time fefore he would be late for class, he grabbed his jersey from the
closet and threw it on with a pair of black wind pants. He then put on his
tennis shoes, snatched his bookbag from its perch by the door, and sped off
for class. He slammed the door behind him, and that effectively woke up
King Mercury, who was sleeping on the couch.
"Why can he not make it to class on time?"
* * * * *
The day went pretty routinely for everyone. Damien eventually met
up with Amy so they could go to lunch. Darien was with Serena most of
the day; however, that didn't keep him from keeping a watchful eye on
their target. Later on, they met at Dreamland B.B.Q. for an afternoon
meal before Damien went to watch practice. It was there they had a quick
meeting and swapping of eyewitness accounts. "Well," Damien asked Raye,
"Have you found anything out?" Raye shook her head and said, "Nothing
outside of the fact that he's an English Literature major." Damien looked
at her and shrugged. "Right; nothing. What about you, Darien?"
"Not a thing," he answered. "He's heavy on Shakespeare, but not
much after that. I don't think we'll have a problem protecting him." No
sooner did Darien say that when he noticed a red flash outside the window,
followed by a figure stumbling past it. "Damien, look!" Damien stopped
concentrating on the slab of ribs in front of him and turned around just in
time to see Nakorru stumbling by, followed by a sinister woman. "Well,
so much for practice," he said. "Let's go!" They all jumped out of their
seats and ran out, leaving just enough money to pay for the meal. When
they stepped outside, they saw Nakorru cowering in fear with Zoicite hover-
ing over him in sheer bliss.
Serena reached into her pocket and pulled out her brooch. "It's
been a long time since I used this," she thought. "Hey," she said to
Amy and Raye, "Did you two find your transformation wands?"
"Yep," Amy said. "Sure did," Raye added. "Well," Serena said,
"Let's put them to use." Damien looked at Darien and asked, "You
ready, man?" Darien nodded and replied, "I'm always ready." Damien
then turned to Zoicite and growled, "Let's do this."
"Moon/Earth Star Guardian...POWER!"
"Mars...Star...POWER!"
"Mercury...Star...POWER!"
"Mercury...Star...Guardian...POWER!"
"Moon...Star...POWER!"
A mystical transformation took place, and within minutes, Darien,
Raye, Amy, Damien, and Serena were turned into Prince Darien, Sailor
Mars, Sailor Mercury,Prince Damien, and Sailor Moon. Meanwhile,
oblivious to what was going on behind her, Zoicite was about to get
just what she wanted; the Mars Star Fragment. "Now, you're all mine,"
she chuckled. She then grabbed Nakorru by the throat and lifted him
off the ground. This was just too much for him to take at the moment.
"Will...you...let...me...GO!" Suddenly, Nakorru's entire
body began to take a bright red glow. However, Zoicite didn't flinch;
instead, she held on stronger. Then, a wind began blowing out of
nowhere, blowing up the portion of hair that covered his forehead to
reveal the Mars planetary symbol. However, just before she was about
to take the power of Mars from him, someone shouted, "LET HIM GO!"
"Who said that?" she growled. She turned around to see the Sailor
Scouts and the two Star Guardians standing before her. "Not the Sailor
Scouts! I thought you girls retired!"
"Yeah, well, consider this our coming-out-of-retirement party!"
Sailor Moon yelled. "And we're gonna celebrate by stopping you! On
behalf of the moon-"
"-and the planet Mercury-" Sailor Mercury added, followed by
Sailor Mars' "-and the planet Mars-"
"We will right wrongs and triumph over evil...and that means you!"
Prince Damien looked over at Sailor Moon, then to Prince Darien and
smiled. "I'm impressed!" Zoicite wasn't, though. She let Nakorru
collapse to the ground with a thud adn turned her attention to the
Sailor Scouts and Star Guardians. "Well," she said, "I see we have a
coming-of-age party as well. Too bad I'm the party pooper."
"More like the pooper scooper," Prince Damien groaned. "We know
what you're up to, and we're not going to let you get that Fragment.
It belongs to Nakorru, and that's where it's staying!" During all of
this, Nakorru laid to the side, forgotten for the moment. He looked at
his body, noticed the aura around him and called for someone...anyone's
attention. "Excuse me," he said, "Would somebody tell me what's going
on here?" Prince Damien looked over at Nakorru and pulled out a pow-
der-blue rose. "Nakorru, catch!" He threw the rose at Nakorru, and
thanks to sheer luck, he caught it. Then, the rose mysteriously
changed color from powder-blue to fire-engine red. "What am I supposed
to do with this?" Nakorru whined. "Give her a bouquet?"
"No," Prince Damien answered, "Hold it in the air and shout 'Mars
Star Guardian Power!'" At this point, Nakorru didn't know what else to
do. So, instead of arguing with the strange black man in a cape, he
struggled to his feet and held the rose up high in the air.
"Mars...Star...Guardian...POWER!"
No sooner did those words come out of Nakorru's mouth did Zoicite
decide to turn around. She looked over at her victim and began to
shudder uncontrollably.
The hunter had become the hunted.
Nakorru puled hte rose down in front of him, and a red light shot
from it. His regular clothes disappeared as the Star Guardian armor
took its place. The rose disappeared from his hand in a beam of light,
and a swored materialized in its place. As this was happening, a sil-
ver fragment appeared on his chest dangling from his cape guard by a
chain. He held the sword in the ready position, nad it was done. Ko-
danna Nakorru had become Prince Nakorru, Defender of the Planet Mars.
But, unlike Damien, he knew exactly what to do.
How dare you try to harm me!" he yelled. "You will pay for that!"
Prince Nakorru sheathed his sword and began to meditate, allowing the
anger he had built up inside of him to come forth. "Mars Nuclear
Fire..."
"Hmm..." Prince Damien thought aloud, "He didn't need my help af-
ter all. Hey; what's he doin'?" He looked at Nakorru, cringed, and
said to the others, "Uh-oh...this could get messy. I think we should
clear out."
"ENFLAME!" An eruption of fire exploded from his outstretched
hands and zoomed at Zoicite at an outrageous speed. When she saw this,
she only had enough time to teleport back to the NegaVerse. "Queen Be-
ryl is not going to like this at all," she thought. However, she did
leave one message before she disappeared.
"You got lucky, Prince Nakorru, but everyone's luck runs out!
I'll get you next time!"
Prince Nakorru looked at the flaming trees he had just created,
then at the others and asked, "What was that all about?" Prince Damien
looked at him and said, "How much time you got?" Prince Damien walked
over to him and began to break the story down to him in detail. After
it was all said and done, Prince Nakorru was still confused. "I'm so-
rry; I still don't get it."
"Don't worry," Prince Damien smiled. "You'll understand it in
time."
* * * * *
"So, this is Prince Nakorru. My, my...what an impressive sight."
King Mercury was thrilled to be meeting the third Star Guardian. Da-
mien was less than impressed at King Mercury's behavior. "Get off him!"
Damien groaned. "He's just as clueless as I was." King Mercury looked
at him and said, "Well, you are still confused, Damien."
"Hey! You take that back!" King Mercury shook his head and said,
"I only speak the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
"The truth in your own mind! Just because I'm not a gung-ho Star
Guardian like you want me to be doesn't mean that I'm useless!"
"I did not say you were useless. I just said you are confused." Da-
mien looked at him and rolled his eyes to the heavens. "I am not confused.
Just because I have a hard time accepting this Star Guardian thing some-
times doesn't mean that I'm confused. I'm just working on the concept of
being what I am."
"You are confused," Nakorru said. "You're just trying to dress up the
words to make it sound different. You can fool everyone, but you can't fool
yourself." Damien looked at him and said, "You stay out of this! You're no
help at all!"
"It's not my job to be helpful. It's my job to point out the obvious."
Damien sneered at him and said, "You're an idiot, you know that? You really
are. I bring you into my house, let you meet my mentor, and this is how you
repay me? By stabbing me in the back? Give me a break! Just when I was about
to introduce you to your princess, you go and make me mad!" Nakorru perked
up after hearing his fate. "I have a princess?"
"Oh," Damien smirked. "So, now you're being receptive. Yes, you do have
a princess, but I'm not too sure she wants to meet you." Nakorru gave a way-
ward glance and asked, "Why is that?"
"Three words: Mina St. Croix." Nakorru paled instantly after hearing
that name. "What does Mina have to do with this?"
"You hurt her in Japan. You expect them to just forgive everything you
did to her? If you think that, then I'm not the one trying to fool myself.
That job belongs to you."
"I don't have to take this abuse!" Nakorru growled. Damien shrugged
at him nad said, "You're right; you sure don't. So, get out of my apart-
ment...now." Nakorru looked at Damien and yelled, "Look, just because I
made a mistake in Japan doesn't mean that I can't be a reformed man!"
"Spare me the colloquialisms, Nakorru! If you want to get back in their
good graces, then you'd better swallow your pride, and you'd better do it
soon. Let me tell you a little secret; it's not that they hate you, because
that's not the case at all. They don't like what you did to Mina, but other
than that, they have nothing against you. The only person you'd better look
out for is Raye. She's the one that truly hates you. And, coincidentally,"
he snickered, "She's your princess! Good luck!"
"Raye?" Nakorru shuddered. "Raye Hino is my princess? She's a Sailor
Scout?" Damien started laughing as Nakorru started practically begging
him, "Damien, you've got to help me! She hates me, and if I try to talk to
her, I'm good as dead!" Damien straightened up long enough to say, "Serves
you right! Next time, you'll learn to keep your hormones in check! Now,
get out of my apartment!"
"Fine," Nakorru scoffed. "I guess I'll face the wolves alone!" He
then left the apartment, slammign the door behind him.
"I'll be sure to leave a bouquet of roses at your funeral," Damien
chided. "I hope you don't mind if they're powder-blue."
Sailor Moon: Legend of the Silver Star Copyright 1997 Joseph Keith Seltzer and 2-Hype Productions. All rights reserved.
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