TEN
Serena was standing there in the airport watching Darrien's plane take off. There he went flying out of her life.
"Darrien come back!" she shouted.
Suddenly she heard a yell and to her shock she saw a lone figure jumping out of the plane and dropping towards the ground.
"Wait! I didn't mean that way!"
"Well make up your mind," she heard his voice say as he somehow flew back up to the plane itself and got onto it. She began to cry.
Suddenly a plane passed by her on it's side was a large Rose.
"What?" she asked herself.
"Oh..that's the newest airline miss, owned by some guy named Darrien. He flies boyfriends away from their girlfriends and gets them interested in other girls, pretty neat huh," a guy said standing next to her.
"Shut up!" Serena yelled and kneed the guy in the crotch. She raced out the door of the terminal and towards the plane.
"I'll teach you!" She shouted and jumped at the front wheel. She pulled at it and to her shock pulled the plane of the ground.
"Hey...this could be useful," she said and threw the plane into nearby Tokyo Bay.
"Heh heh," she said.
"How dare you do that to my plane. That cost money," she heard Darrien's voice behind her say. She whirled around to see him standing there as Tuxedo Mask holding his staff.
"Now...you will pay for that with your life," he said.
"Darrien, no, it's me Serena," Serena said.
"I know," he said and swung his staff at her. She screamed.
She awoke in a sweat.
"Aww....geez," she muttered and looked at the clock.
Relgar strode into Coardite's throne room confidently. The negaverse commander looked up from a projection he was studying.
"Report?" Coardite asked.
"Mission successful. I have merged with the human and are awaiting your instructions."
"Good. You realize Relgar that with the latest failures of my forces any success deserves a heavy reward," Coardite said.
"Wow. Party!" Relgar yelled.
"What?" Coardite asked in surprise.
"Sorry, that's this pathetic human's consciousness talking," the creature said. "Apparently the merger does not suppress some human tendencies."
"I see," Coardite said in disgust. "Well keep it under control, I don't want to hear any more human sayings, after all they are an inferior race."
"That's why they keep kicking our butt I assume," Relgar muttered.
"What?"
"That's why we'll soon be kicking their butt sir!" Relgar said.
"Watch it Relgar," Coardite said.
Sunday morning. Amy, Lita, and Mina were sitting in the middle of a nearby park.
"I'm not sure I should be doing this," Amy said.
"Oh come on Amy. This is the QuizLord game show and it's having a junior high tournament. You could get onto TV. You are the smartest girl in the city," Lita said.
Amy blushed.
"I'm not the smartest girl in the city," Amy said.
"Sure you are," Mina said. "You should enter Amy. It's Sunday. What have you got to lose? We're all entering," Mina said.
"Besides, next week is the traditional week the teacher's spend partying for some reason. Remember," Lita said.
"Oh yeah. They call it a nightly retreat, but we know what it really is," Mina said.
"I don't follow," Amy said.
"No homework. Don't you get it? They don't want to grade anything next week, so we won't have anything to do over the weekend anyway. You are ten chapters ahead aren't you?" Lita said.
"I guess I won't get rid of you two until I say I'll do it," Amy said.
"A valid hypothermia," Mina said.
"Mina.. I don't think you're saying it right. It's hypotenuse," Lita said in correction.
"Oh..." Mina muttered.
"Hypothesis," Amy said.
"What?" the two asked.
"Hypothesis. Hypotenuse is a part of a triangle and Hypothermia is a medical condition," Amy said.
"Whatever," the two said.
"Where's Serena and Raye? They were supposed to meet us here," Amy said.
"There they are," Lita said as Serena and Raye rounded a corner. They were discussing something. Raye had one of her trademark scowls on.
"You threw the plane into the ocean?" Raye asked in disbelief as the pair arrived.
"Yeah, but then Darrien attacked me so it wasn't that great," Serena muttered.
"Another dream Serena, have you thought about seeing some mental help?" Lita asked.
"Now there's something that would benefit all of humanity," Raye said.
"HEY! I'll be fine just as soon Darrien gets back," Serena said.
"Let's go, we don't want to be late," Mina said.
Half an hour later the five arrived at the tv studio and found a massive line of junior high students already waiting at the door.
"You just had to stop for that donut didn't you?" Raye said sternly.
"I was hungry, you should pity me," Serena whined.
"I already do," Raye replied.
"Jerk," Serena said.
"Hog," Raye replied.
"Brat."
"Pig."
"Bully."
"Wimp."
"Spoon," Serena snapped.
"Spoon?" The other four said.
"So I ran out of insults okay?" Serena muttered. The five then turned their attention back to the line.
"This is a lot of people," Lita observed.
"There must be a thousand at least," Mina said.
"One thousand two hundred and forty seven to be exact," Melvin said appearing behind them. The group all let out a shout as they were startled by his sudden appearance.
"Don't do that!" Raye and Serena yelled.
"Sorry," Melvin muttered.
"How do you have such an accurate count?" Amy asked.
"I've been here for five hours. There's no hurry to get in though. Their administering a written exam to each group of two hundred. I thought I'd hang around and see who else showed up to scout my competition," Melvin said.
"Interesting strategy, though some would call it..." Mina started to say.
"Stupid," Raye finished. "If you were early, you should have gone in you fool!"
"That was never my plan," Melvin said.
"Is this man harassing you," said a voice from behind them. The girls turned to see Steve standing there, flanked by Rick and Mike.
"If he is giving you trouble we'd be glad to smack him around a bit," Rick said.
"Yaaaa!" Melvin yelled and ran off.
"He'll be back!" Mike shouted raising his fist.
"Hello Steve, how have you been?" Amy asked.
"Just fine since I met Lita," Steve said.
"You bet," Lita said.
"So you're entering the competition too. Too bad you're all going to lose to me," Rick said.
"That's doubtful," Raye said.
"Heh heh, just you wait. I'll be there in the final round," he said.
"Well you'll see, I'll be right there with you," Raye replied competitively.
Five hours later.
"Well I didn't get one question on the written exam right," Rick muttered.
"Hmm...I got two right. Still... out of twenty..." Raye replied. "Wanna get lunch?"
"Sure why not," the two said and walked out.
Steve and Lita emerged from the room they were taking the test in soon afterwards.
"Twelve ain't bad," Lita was saying.
"It got you into the next round. I wouldn't complain," Steve said. "I only got eight right. So I'm heading home."
"See you around," Lita said.
"Yeah..oh and Lita...call me..when you get the chance."
"Sure thing," she said with a smile.
"Perfect score!" Melvin cried as he emerged from another room.
"Ehh...shut up you little piece of fungi," Serena muttered.
"That's fungus, fungi is plural," Melvin replied.
"WHATEVER!" Serena said and bonked Melvin on the head.
"Serena didn't do too well did she?" Mina was asking Amy.
"Three right isn't bad considering those questions," Amy said. "How'd you do?"
"Ehh...fourteen," Mina said.
"That's great Mina," Amy said.
"It's enough," Mina said. "You've got one wrong. Right?"
Amy couldn't help but giggle at the oxymoron.
"That's correct," Amy answered.
"Guess I'll see you in the next round then," Mina said.
"Uh huh," Amy said.
The two looked in surprise as Serena was continuing to pound Melvin on the head.
"Hey!" Melvin was shouting.
"Serena, don't do that," Mina said. Serena stopped and stalked off.
"Hmph....stupid quiz show," she said and headed out. "Now I have to deal with
reality."
Later that day, after they had participated in a second round, the people left were mobbing a board that listed who would move onto the semi finals.
"I didn't too well in my game," Mina was seeing and confirmed her suspicions when she wasn't on the list.
"Hey. I was into negative numbers," Mike said standing next to her."
"I didn't know you were still in this," Mina said.
"Well I'm not in it anymore. Since when did New York stop being the capital of the U.S.?" Mike said.
Mina burst out laughing.
"I'm serious," Mike added.
Mina stopped abruptly.
"I didn't mean too..." she said.
"Just kidding. But one last thing. Where did this Beijing come from? I thought Peking was the capital of China."
"You really don't know your geography do you?"
"Of course not. But what do triangles have to do with capital cities?"
"You idiot," Mina said cheerfully. Of course what am I thinking? That whole
hypotenuse thing didn't make me look too smart either.
"So Amy are you in it?" Melvin squeaked as he walked up to the fellow genius.
"Yes. I'm afraid I annihilated my opponents," Amy replied.
"That's nothing to be ashamed of. Guess who else is on that list."
"Who?"
"Our resident school nutcase."
"What are you talking about?" Amy said becoming annoyed.
"Patterson of course."
"He's not a nutcase, you shouldn't go around spreading rumors like that."
"Melvin! Do I have to throw you out the window! What did I tell you about that!" Patterson yelled appearing out of the shadows. He had apparently heard the conversation.
"Yikes!" Melvin said and ran down the hall. Patterson raced after him.
Amy just shook her head.
Nutcase? Well...maybe he is, but is it justifiably so?
What was left of the thousands of people could now be put in one room. The semi finals were held to determine the three people that would appear on TV that night. Amy was glad to finish and in a way she hoped she hadn't made it. Nevertheless the producer of the show came up to her following the round and said.
"Good job kid. You're going to be on tv tonight."
Amy blushed.
"Could I ask who my opponents are?" Amy asked.
"Sure. They're right over there," The producer said and pointed. She looked over and somewhat unexpectedly, somewhat not, she saw both Melvin and Patterson standing by a water cooler casually talking about something.
"You're kidding," she said.
"Nope. I don't know what they teach you at that junior high of yours, but you three are the best," the producer said. "Be back here at six o'clock." he said and walked off.
Amy watched him go and then turned back to Patterson and Melvin. Not
surprisingly, Patterson had Melvin in a headlock and Melvin was flailing wildly.
"So you're in?" Lita asked as Amy sat down at the restaurant table the rest of her friends were occupying that night waiting to hear her results.
"I'm in," Amy said.
"Stupid quiz show," Serena muttered.
"Are you going to stop staying that or am I going to have to pound you?" Raye asked.
"Those questions were so hard though. Aren't they supposed to make it easy cause we're kids?" Serena asked.
"Serena you're just not a genius. Live with it!" Raye said.
"Do you see me upset, because I'm not in the game? No," Raye said.
"Actually Raye you were a few minutes ago," Lita started to say.
"Enough Lita," Raye said cutting her off.
"So, Amy. This should be pretty easy to win huh?" Mina said.
"I'm not going to be overconfident," Amy said.
"So who are you're opponents anyway?" Lita asked. "Some other braniacs?"
"Well Melvin's one of them," Amy said.
"Melvin? But all he knows is useless information!" Serena whined.
"Can it Serena!" Raye ordered. "Hmmph it's so hard to carry on a conversation with you around. So who's the other opponent."
"Patterson," Amy replied.
"The nutcase," the table replied in unison.
"The nutcase," Amy said and sighed, not willing to fight another battle. For all she knew he could be a nutcase. Psychos come in various shapes and sizes.
"Well, he did help save my butt, but anyone who would stand up to the negaverse like that would have to have a few screws loose," Lita said.
"Didn't Steve do the same thing?" Mina asked. Lita paused a second to think of an answer.
"I never said Steve wasn't insane," she said.
"Touche," Mina muttered unimpressedly.
"You shouldn't worry about your opponents though Amy, you should just get in the right mind set so you can win some money," Raye said.
"Yeah, that's the idea," Mina said.
"Are you guys going to be there?" Amy asked.
"I wanted to come, but my mother said we had to do some shopping today and well..I guess I have to do it tonight. I'll try and tape it though," Mina said.
"My father thinks the game is rigged because I didn't do that well so he won't let me near the tv studio. Or a tv set," Lita said.
"Chad destroyed the roof of my room, so I have to help him fix it," Raye muttered.
"How'd he do that?" Lita asked.
"Using a combination of a skateboard and a sledgehammer," Raye muttered. "Don't ask...." she added.
"I'll be there Amy," Serena said. "What else have I got to do anyway?"
"Have you finished your project yet?" Amy asked.
"Except that," Serena said.
"Serena, I want you to do that project. I'd rather have you get a good grade then be there," Amy said.
"Well..okay, but I think I can still get it done and make it on time," Serena said.
"Don't rush," Amy said.
"I won't," Serena said.
"Sorry we can't come Amy," The other three said.
"It's all right. It's not a big deal anyway," Amy said politely. The truth
was she didn't feel slighted in the least. Her friends were all active people.
That night was the big show. In the front row sat Rick, Steve, and Mike, all given tickets by Patterson. Melvin's family was there sitting to the right of a large burly man. Serena rushed in the door a few seconds before the show was about to start and sat down in the front row on the other side of the man.
The music began to play and the lights began to flash. The voice of the announcer came over the sound system.
"It's QuizLord, everyone's favorite quiz game. Now let's introduce our contestants. The first collects bugs and spores, please welcome Melvin Oglethorpe!"
Melvin slinked on stage and into his spot. Everyone clapped politely.
"Our next contestant collects functional weaponry of all shapes and sizes, please welcome D.V. Patterson!"
Patterson walked onto the stage. His ringers all let out a huge whoop.
"That's my boy!" Came a cry from next to Serena. She turned to see the middle aged burly man sitting there clapping madly.
"Hey. Are you his father?" Serena asked.
"No, uncle. His father's been dead a long while," The guy replied. Serena turned away in surprise.
"And now for our third contestant. She is an amateur scientist who works with computers, please welcome Amy Anderson!"
Amy came out. Serena yelled.
"This should be a good one," Rick said.
"Five dollars on Melvin," Mike said.
"Five dollars on Amy," Rick said and the two shook.
"It's good to know where your loyalties lie," Serena said with a grin looking back at Rick.
The host, Kent Jabberman was introduced and he walked out onto the stage. He then began to conduct the game. Surprisingly throughout the first round, Melvin was outdistanced by his two opponents. Amy took the lead by two hundred points. Patterson was still in striking distance though. The second round began with a strange question.
"Captain Charles Berenton of the Kobe Police Department was given the distinguished service award for his actions in ending what major crime spree?"
I have no idea. Amy thought.
What? Melvin thought.
"What the?" the audience collectively said.
"What a weird question," Serena said.
"Are you kidding? There's always a couple ones like that to keep people off balance," Steve said.
"No one seems to know..." Mike started to say when Patterson pressed his buzzer.
"Patterson," the host said in recognition.
"That would be the Buaku crime spree," Patterson said.
"That's correct, you know your stuff Mr. Patterson," the host said. The three guys cheered loudly again.
"He's the man," his uncle said.
The next question came up.
"The mathematician Pythagoras was responsible for what mathematical theorem. In equation form please," the host said.
Amy slammed her buzzer down in a fit of uncharacteristic excitement.
"A squared plus B squared equals C squared," She said.
"That's correct," the host said. Serena cheered and then turned to Rick.
"What's a mathematician?" Serena said. "Does he saw people in half or something?"
"No Serena. Someone whose job none of us would like," Rick replied.
"What Melvin will be someday," Mike added.
The round continued.
"We'll be right back with the end of the round right after this," the host said breaking the pace. Amy and Patterson were nearly neck and neck.
I've gotta go to the bathroom. Serena thought and she hurried up the steps out of the studio, hoping to get back before the next round began. She didn't and she found herself locked out of the studio since the crew didn't want anyone coming in or out while the show was going on.
The last question of the game was reached. Patterson was one point behind Amy.
"All right. We've got one question left and Patterson and Amy are very close. Here it comes..." the host said. The crowd grew tenser and tenser.
"Now!" the host yelled and before everyone's eyes it began to metamorphisize. Within seconds the human was replaced by a green skinned being with a chin even larger than Jabberman's massive one.
"Surprise!" it yelled and shot a blast of energy into the air and then through the radar dish out into the homes of the people watching. The host turned towards the audience.
"It's the negaverse. Everyone duck," Steve said. The three boys and Patterson's uncle did the same as the energy flew over their heads. The rest of the audience collapsed. Amy crouched behind her panel. She looked to see Patterson and Melvin doing the same. Melvin was shaking with fear. The creature laughed as it changed into it's viler form. He turned towards the contestant's panels.
"Come out come out contestants. It's time for final jeopardy!" the creature yelled and moved towards them.
"That guy's going to zap them," Mike said.
"Not if I can help it," Mr. Patterson said standing up with a look of anger on his face.
What is with these Pattersons. They're nuts. Steve thought.
"Still...I've had enough of this negaverse," he said to the other two. "Let's get that guy."
"Yeah!" Rick said.
"All right!" Mike shouted. The three guys stood up.
"We're going to fight," Steve said.
"Then let's do it," Mr. Patterson said. The four rushed at the creature who didn't expect any humans to actually attack him. The four tackled the creature and began to pound on him. Melvin leapt up from his podium.
"YEAH! Let's get him!" He shouted and raced over to begin his own pummeling of the host-creature still in shock from the attack.
Amy glanced over and noticed that Patterson wasn't behind his podium anymore. The creature roared and threw the humans off of him.
"You dare!" He yelled and blasted all of them with energy. It whirled around to the podium Amy still crouched behind.
I should transform now. Amy thought There's no one else around. She thought.
"Come out contestants, it's time to get your prize," the host said. Amy pulled out her power stick.
She heard a loud grunt. She looked out to see that the creature had fallen to the ground and standing near it was D.V. Patterson holding a stage lamp.
"Come on! Let's do it!" Patterson said.
"You fool! I'll massacre you!" The host said and stood up swinging out with it's arms. It's palms enlarged into large fists and hit Patterson head on. The boy was knocked backwards into the Quiz Lord game show sign destroying it in the process. He looked unconscious.
"MERCURY STAR POWER!" Amy didn't hesitate to yell. The creature stood up and turned towards her. She emerged from behind the lectern.
"Well...looks like contestant number three is Sailor Mercury. That's interesting," the host said and flung a blast of energy at her. Mercury dived to her left as the blast hit the wall behind her and exploded.
"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!" she yelled. The creature dodged the blast of ice water laughing the whole time. The mist that accompanied the attack settled in over the studio.
The creature looked around hurriedly as the mist cleared. Mercury had moved to another position behind it.
"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!" She yelled again and the attack flew towards the creature.
"Hah!" The creature yelled and his chin flew out from him moving twenty feet
long and hitting Mercury right in the chest. She fell to the ground the wind
knocked out of her. The attack hit the creature, but not until he had done the
damage. He staggered back as the mist formed, but kept his eye on where Mercury
had been. When the mist cleared she was just standing up. He shot his chin at
her again. She dived out of the way. The chin hit the ground and impacted
forming a hole. He pulled it free. Mercury dived into the hole and raced through
the innards of the studio. The creature yelled and followed.
The hallway was narrow and Mercury didn't have much room to maneuver. The creature was right at her heels shooting blasts of energy at her. She barely avoided the attack and dodged into another corner. The creature shot it's chin out again which missed and embedded itself in the wall only to become stuck.
"Hah!" a voice screamed. A laser sword flashed through the air and cut the chin in two.
It screamed out as the chin fell and landed on the ground.
"Who did that?" it yelled and looked to see Maverick standing right near him.
"Give you one hint," Maverick replied and took a swing at Relgar with his sword. The creature dodged it and swung out with it's hands knocking the hero down a sidewall..
"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!" Mercury yelled again hoping to capitalize on the distraction. The creature leapt into the air and dodged the power. It landed right next to Mercury and knocked her back down the hallway she had come from. She stood up wincing form the pain form the impact she had made into the floor. The creature leapt at her. Mercury ducked. The creature let out a howl. A golden disk had hit it straight in the head. It fell to the ground and screamed again.
"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon yelled and attack. The disk hit the creature in its right leg and the limb fell off. Fortunately for them there was no blood.
"Mercury are you all right?" Sailor Moon asked.
"I'm getting weaker. My energy's being drained," Mercury said.
"Not anymore," Sailor Moon said and brought forth her scepter. "Moon Scepter Elimination!" Sailor Moon said. using her scepter. The creature surprisingly jumped out of the way with it's left leg as the white power missed it. It swung around and jumped at her. Sailor Moon ducked again, but this time the creature skidded to a stop and grabbed her with his hands pinning her arms to her sides. She made the scepter disappear and struggled to get free.
"Now...you lose," the host said.
Hmm...if he's part human, and if he's anything like Coardite. She swung her foot out and hit her target. The creature yelled and fell to the ground releasing her.
"Rotten kid," he moaned. Sailor Moon looked over at Mercury. She was unconscious. The heroine hurried down the hall to get a better position.
I could use the others right now. Sailor Moon thought. Wait a minute. I can become the others.
"I hate you!" the creature yelled and stuck it's hands in front of it.
"Just try and attack me, I dare you," it said and slowly moved forward. The hands were a shield. Even if she aimed for it's legs it could block it. Furthermore as soon as she tried to do it she'd be open to attack. She broke and ran back towards the studio. The creature followed at her heels. She slipped through the hole and whirled around. The creature followed bending down for a second to fit. She leapt into the air and kicked out hitting it right in the head with the added force of Sailor Mars' Aura. It screamed in pain.
"Moon tiara magic!" she yelled at close range. It impacted the creature's chest. Relgar yelled again and lost its concentration. Sailor Moon darted forward and punched it in the face with Jupiter's power. It fell across the stage and slammed into one of the podiums smashing it.
Sailor Moon made her Scepter appear again.
"Moon Scepter Elimination!"
Then it was over as the creature vanished. Serena returned to human form and was relieved to see the audience as well as the various courageous men that had been laid out all over the stage recover. Amy staggered through the hole in the wall.
"Amy. You all right?" Serena asked.
"I should be fine," Amy said.
"I would have gotten here sooner, but the door was locked. I saw what happened through the window and I had to find another way in," Serena said.
"The important thing is you showed up when you did," Amy said. Mr. Patterson, D.V., Melvin, Steve, Mike, and Rick had all recovered.
"Well we lost that battle," Mr. Patterson said.
"I still got in some good hits," D.V. said.
"Some day, we'll get them back for doing this," Rick said.
"Yeah, we'll pound the dirt out of em," Steve said.
"And we'll hurt em too," Mike said.
"I hate getting zapped," Melvin muttered.
Forty minutes later the show had decided it couldn't leave it's audience in the lurch. Since everyone was all right and despite the damaged set the game began again.
"All right. Here we go. The last question of the second round," The host said building the tension. Everyone tensed in their seats again.
"What planet is named after the roman messenger god," the host said.
Amy almost instantly moved towards her buzzer, but to her shock Patterson had beaten her to it.
"Mercury!" Patterson yelled.
"On that question of all of them," Serena said.
"Yeah it was pretty easy wasn't it?" Mike said missing the point.
The host went on.
"All righty. Now we need a tie breaker. Hold on to your seats here it comes."
The audience tensed one more time.
"The question is, name an eight letter word beginning with M that means a loner," he said. Amy slammed down her buzzer, beating Patterson by a millisecond.
"Amy?" the host said.
"Maverick," she said.
"Correct, you win the game!" the host yelled. Serena began cheering madly.
"How ironic this all is," Patterson muttered. "Come on Melvin, let's go get a brew," he said and walked off the stage.
"I'm not supposed to have any alcohol," Melvin said.
"I'm being sarcastic you fool," Patterson snapped.
"Oh," Melvin said.
"So what are you going to do with your money?" Serena asked after the show ended.
"Put it towards college of course," Amy said.
Serena moaned.
"So did you finish your project?" Amy asked.
"Uh...yeah..it's very nice...." Serena said nervously.
"You didn't did you?"
"Um..no."
"Let's go," Amy said grabbing Serena's arm.
"Aaaaammmyyyyy," Serena whined.
"Incompetent idiots! Is that all that I have to work with!" Coardite yelled. "No matter. I did gain something very important from this. I know who Sailor Mercury is and with my newly rebuilt cyborg, she will not live to see her next birthday."