CHAPTER 21:Business as usual.
Four objects smashed through Earth's atmosphere and plummeted towards the
surface at great speed, a trail of light following behind them. They spread out
as they neared impact and at about the same time smashed into the ground at
different points. Four different points on the outskirts of the city of Tokyo.
Army General Akita didn't like being woken up early in the morning for anything. If it was world war III he could have excused it, but a meteor shower? Of course four meteors crashing to Earth at the same time was odd, but he didn't want to have to deal with it. The jeep he was in drove up over the rise and revealed the various other Self Defense Force army vehicles scattered about a crater about the size of a tank. A helicopter was flying through the air scanning the site from above. The jeep slowed to a stop and he emerged. The first man he ran into was his second in command Colonel Kagata and a man in a lab coat he didn't recognize.
"Kagata, what the devil is going on?" Akita asked.
"Sir we don't know yet," Kagata said. "General this is Klampet from our Astronomy division."
"Klampet," Akita said.
"Yes sir. General, this is not good. This is a very odd event. Four meteor hits in the same area at the exactly same time of this size is highly irregular. Furthermore there isn't any sign of what caused this crater, no debris at all, only the earth it displaced," Klampet said.
"So you're telling me that four," Akita paused a second. "Things...hit the ground at the same time and you don't know what these things are."
"Yes," Klampet said.
"Well that's just great....I guess General Nagumo should be informed," Akita said.
"I already know," a voice said from behind Akita. The General turned to see a grim faced man wearing four stars on each of his shoulders.
"General Nagumo," Akita said and saluted. Nagumo saluted back.
"A case of unexplained phenomena. The Prime Minister will not be pleased to here this,," Nagumo said. "I have to move quickly. Take charge here Akita. "
"Yes sir," Akita said.
Nagumo turned and walked to his car and climbed into the back. It sped away back towards the city.. He glanced down at the floor and sighed.
There has been one other case of a similar effect. A meteor slamming to earth
and leaving no trace of what caused it. That was about a year ago. It looks like
that phenomenon they call the negaverse has returned, but this time...we're
going to do something about it. He thought. After all it's high time we stopped
relying on those..whatever...they're called....right....Sailor Scouts.
Despite the fact that anyone awake at three A.M. could have seen the meteors falling, the S.D.F. kept the whole affair quiet and gave the news no information. Furthermore they silenced all the newspapers to prevent panic. So when the sun rose and covered the city with light, most of it's inhabitants had no idea what had happened.. Among them was the blonde haired girl whose two long strands of hair were trailing behind her as she dashed along the sidewalk.
"How did my alarm clock get unplugged anyway?" she asked herself.
"You unplugged it remember?" Luna the cat muttered as she ran along with her.
"Why did I do that?"
"I have no idea Serena," Luna said.
"Oh..that's right....I didn't want to wake up early by mistake on the weekend and I forgot to plug it back in. Silly me," she said.
"I thought you had gotten your act together," Luna said.
"Well...so did I," Serena said before tripping and falling flat on her face.
"Hmm.....well obviously you've still got a long way to go," Luna said.
Serena growled and hurried back up.
"Well Serena. I'm surprised. You've managed to get to class on time for several weeks, but today you're late. What happened?" Miss Haruna asked.
"Forgot to set my alarm clock," Serena muttered.
"Oh...well....you're still late," Haruna said.
"I know...I know, detention," Serena said and sat down.
"Hmm...wait a minute. Where's Melvin?" Miss Haruna asked. "Patterson...any ideas?"
"I don't think so ma'am....I made sure the body would float out to sea when I dumped it off the pier," Patterson said.
"What?" Haruna said.
"A joke Miss Haruna," Patterson said stoically.
"Oh...with you..I'm never sure," she muttered. Melvin staggered in the door a second later covered in red paint. The entire class looked at him in surprise.
"I suppose you're all wondering about the paint," he said.
"Just sit down Melvin," Haruna said.
Melvin took his seat next to Patterson. Patterson looked him over.
"Are those new shoes?" Patterson asked.
"What's with you Patterson. Introversion not fun anymore?" Haruna snapped.
"No....I'm just in a good bad mood, it's a manic depressive thing," Patterson muttered. "It'll be gone in a few minutes."
"It had better be," Haruna said.
Around noon came lunch and Serena, Amy, Lita, Raye, Mina, Rick, Mike, and Steve were all gathered around the replacement lunch table for the original one that had been destroyed in a battle months before.
"Rumor has it that a meteor hit somewhere last night and that the military's covering it up for some reason," Rick said.
"A meteor?" The girls asked in unison.
"Sure," Rick said.
"If a meteor hit why would the military cover it up?" Mina asked.
"I wouldn't know," Rick said.
"I heard it was two meteors. That's why they're covering it up," Mike said.
"Two?" Lita said in surprise. "Is that possible."
"It's possible theoretically, but highly irregular. Well...that depends of
course on the size of the meteor though..." Amy said.
"I heard these suckers were big," Mike said.
"How come you've got the access to all the information?" Raye asked snidely.
"I have connections," Mike said.
"No you don't," Steve said.
"Okay, so this drunk told it to me as he stumbling by my house last night, what's the big deal?" Mike said.
As this conversation was going on, Serena's mind had drifted. Her dreams had stopped thankfully. There was no more weird appearances by Darrien and nightmares and such. They were relatively normal. As normal as dreams could be. Now, it was spring. Graduation was almost in sight. Of course so was the high school entrance exams, but she couldn't worry about that now.
"I've got it. Let's ask the nutcase," Rick said.
"What?" The others said. Serena broke out of her stupor.
"Of course, the nutcase would know if the meteor story was true," Mike said.
"By nutcase you mean you know who right?" Raye asked.
"And by you, you mean...him," Lita said.
"And by him you mean...." Mina said.
"Cut to the chase," Amy muttered drawing stunned looks from the others.
"So I can be impatient sometimes....." She replied.
Patterson had been keeping up his solitary existence despite his earlier wisecracks in class. He was sitting at a table alone munching on his sandwich. His cane, still needed as a result of his wound, leaned against him.. When he noticed the entire table that he had been watching carefully stand up and move towards him he instinctively went for the cane, either to move away or use as defense. He realized though that either course of action would be futile. There were more of them and they were faster.
"Hey..Patterson," Rick said.
"What?" Patterson muttered staring at the table top.
"Any truth to the rumor about a meteor hitting the ground last night?" Rick asked.
"A meteor didn't impact last night," Patterson replied still not looking up.
"You sure. There's some military cover up I guess," Mike said.
"A cover up for an astrological event. I doubt it," Patterson said.
"So no meteor?" Lita asked.
"No meteor," Patterson said.
"Not two either?" Mike asked.
"No, not one, not two, not three," Patterson said.
"Hmm..well thanks for the time," Rick said and turned away.
"Well there's our answer," Mina said.
"With him...can we really be sure?" Raye asked.
I didn't lie to them. There were four meteors last night. Then again...we
don't know they were meteors either. If my suspicions are correct, they're far
worse. Patterson thought. But they'll probably learn that in due time. There was
no reason to worry them now.
As Lita walked along the sidewalk. Mina matched her speed, only the difference was that while Lita was walking on pavement. Mina was carefully balancing herself on the rail of a metal fence.
"Are you doing that to show off?" Lita asked.
"Not really, I just like to do it," Mina said with a smile.
"That's as good a reason as any I'd guess, still...it is a bit..what's the word Amy's always using. around us?"
"Unnerving," Mina said.
"Right, unnerving. Come down from there," Lita said.
"I'd rather not. I like it here," Mina said and flipped forward landing on her hands so that now she was being held on the railing by her arm strength. She then proceed to "walk" along the rail in her handstand position.
"Coming?" she asked Lita.
If I had any less self control it would have taken just one nudge... Lita thought to herself and followed.
"So where's Steve taking you on your next date?" Mina asked.
"I don't know," Lita said. "We've been going to a lot of hockey games lately."
"Hockey games? That's not romantic."
"I like hockey," Lita said.
"That's not the point. When was the last time you really had a romantic moment with him?"
"Yesterday," Lita lied, but did so with a straight face. She convinced Mina.
"Oh...then..never mind," Mina said with a little embarrassment.
"You were going to tell me how to run my relationship weren't you?" Lita asked.
"Well..I just wanted to be helpful."
"I suppose Mike has been taken you all the best places..." Lita suggested sarcastically.
"Well..." Mina said stopping and returning to a standing position. "We did go to the rose garden, and then there was dinner at the skytop restaurant, and the harbor cruise...what else..." Mina thought out loud.
Lita sighed.
"That's great and all Mina, but do you really think he's enjoying that stuff?" Lita asked.
"Sure, the way he acts he's practically a girl,"Mina said. Lita glanced at her. Mina glanced back.
"Okay...maybe that's not the right way to put it," Mina admitted.
"I should hope so," Lita said and the two began walking again.
"What I meant was that Mike and I share many of the same interests. He has a deep romantic side to him that I haven't seen in most guys."
"He's your first boyfriend," Lita said.
"That's not the point Lita," Mina muttered. "Don't you agree most guys aren't really that romantic?"
"I don't know," Lita said.
"Okay...let me put it this way. Mike certainly has a very good romantic side compared..to say....Melvin...or...."
"Him."
"Right...him."
"Okay. That still doesn't mean he's any better than Steve."
"I would never say that," Mina said.
"Maybe not say, but mean.." Lita said.
"Come on, you know me," Mina said.
"Yes. I do," Lita said stoically. Mina frowned.
"Well...on that subject. Any idea where our prince charmings are?" Mina asked.
"Steve said something about them testing out a new and improved rocket. They said it was foolproof," Lita said. "Which is a necessity if they're working on it," she added.
"Yeah, I don't think the Governor has forgotten the little surprise they sent
a few months ago," Mina said.
"Why are we doing this?" Mike asked as Steve set up the rocket on a launching pad in an abandoned field.
"Why not?" Steve asked.
"Steve. Every time we build a rocket, it either launches itself, or explodes, or smells, or attracts bugs, or causes the government to censure us. Haven't we learned our lesson?" Mike asked nervously.
"I haven't," Steve said. "Listen, we're on the outskirts of the city. The rocket can't do any damage. Besides it's the 304-X4 edition paratroop model."
"So the rocket goes up and this paratroop guy parachutes down after the rocket burns out?" Mike asked.
"Exactly," Steve said. "Now stand back. I'm going to launch it."
Mike hurriedly raced to the nearest tree, a hundred yards away.
"Very funny," Steve muttered. "Here goes. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
The rocket's engine began to ignite and then lift into the air.
Only problem was it didn't take the rocket with it, instead. The engine and the paratroop guy burst through the hull casing and flew into the air, only to explode at about twenty feet up. As the burned paratroop man fell to the ground in a smoldering heap, Mike walked up and frowned.
"Hmm....poor man..only wanted to serve his country...and now...this," he said feigning sadness.
"Shut up," Steve muttered.
"So I assume that the engine doing that...was just a little bug that has to be worked out. Right?"
"I said shut up."
"Yeah....well..tell me when the funeral is," Mike said and walked away.
"This shouldn't be so hard," Steve muttered and picked up the shell of the
rocket and his launcher and began to examine them.
When Serena arrived at her house she was surprised to see a pile of fish sitting in front of it.
"That's pretty weird," She said to herself and walked inside. Her mother was in the kitchen cooking something.
"Um...Mom. Why is there a pile of fish outside?" Serena asked.
"Oh....I don't know...but I figure someone will come and pick it up eventually," her mother said.
"Uh huh, okay," Serena said and walked upstairs to find Luna sitting there.
"There you are...listen Serena....we've got a lot to talk about," Luna said.
"What do you mean Luna?" Serena asked genuinely surprised.
"You've probably heard about the meteors," Luna said.
"Sure I have, but those were just rumors," Serena said.
"No they weren't. I saw them," Luna said.
"You couldn't have. It must have been an allusion or something," Serena said.
"That's illusion Serena and no it wasn't."
"But Luna, even Patterson says there were no meteors."
"He did?" Luna asked in surprise.
What could he be up to? She wondered.
"Serena. I'm telling you the truth," Luna said.
"Okay, so you are. So what?"
"Serena. Four large meteors plummeting to Earth at the exact same time is not a natural event," Luna said with dire seriousness.
"Well..whatever it is..what am I supposed to do about it?" Serena asked.
"Nothing yet, but you have to be prepared. I fear that yet another battle will have to be fought between good and evil," Luna said.
"I hope not," Serena said. "Well...see ya!" she said and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Luna asked.
"The Video Arcade. I'm meeting everyone there in a couple of hours and we're going to go shopping together," Serena said joyfully.
"That's wonderful Serena, but don't you have homework to do?" Luna asked.
"Heh....no....how about that?" Serena said unconvincingly.
"Serena. Please. Just do your work until you have to go. Is that too much to ask?" Luna asked.
"I'm sick of work. Do you know how much work I've done in the past few months?"
"Enough to pull your grades up and give you a chance of getting into school next year," Luna said dryly.
"Oh...you don't understand, you're just a talking cat from the moon," Serena muttered and opened one of her books up.
I don't know why I'm still doing this. She muttered. Me? Working? Ehh...maybe
once I get out of school I won't have to work as hard. She thought.
Rick kicked, Raye dodged it. The two leapt backwards to get better positions and faced each other. Rick made the first move running at Raye. Raye readied herself for whatever came. Rick surprised her by sliding to the ground and coming at her. She barely jumped out of the way as he slid past and rolled around, picking himself off the ground quickly.
"Impressive," Raye said.
"Ehh....it would have been more impressive if I had connected," Rick said. The two faced off again. Rick waited this time. Raye took the initiative and lunged forward striking with her left arm, but simultaneously swinging her right knee up. Rick barely noticed the second attack and managed to stick his own knee up to block it while his arm blocked her attack. The two knees smacked together. Both combatants yelped and jumped back holding their legs.
"Ouch!" Rick said.
"That's what you get for blocking it," Raye muttered grimacing herself.
"Ehh.." Rick said. "If this were real I would have beaten you already, but my spin kick isn't a move I can practice on people."
"Oh...really? You think that that move would win the fight for you?" Raye asked.
"Yeah, sure I do. I know your style."
Raye let a small grin form on her face as her eyes narrowed and she readied herself.
"Is that supposed to scare me? Rick asked and stood in a fighting stance.
"Maybe my look may not scare you...." Raye said and ran forward quickly. Rick stood ready. Raye leapt into the air and came down towards him. Rick stepped backward. Raye hit. Rick swung his arm out. Raye rolled and came up with her left leg so quickly, Rick felt didn't even know where the pain in his chest came from until he saw her leg pulling back. He didn't have time to really think about it though as Raye was already on her feet and swinging her right arm in a chop that his him in the chest and knocked him backward.
"If this were real. You'd probably be on the ground by now," She said and smiled.
Rick gasped for air for a couple of seconds and once he had gotten his breath back he said.
"You'd like to think so wouldn't you?"
He managed to smile.
"We'll probably never know," Raye said.
"Yeah...maybe it's better that way," Rick said.
"Hmm..listen to this Luna," Serena said. "This is what I have to deal with. A car leaves the city and drives at thirty five miles per hour."
"Okay," Luna said.
"A second car leaves the city going at fifty five miles an hour two hours later. When does the first car pass the second car? How am I supposed to know this...I don't know the layout of the road, heck, the first car might stop for gas and..then it throws the whole equation out the window!" Serena screeched hysterically.
"Serena, you're not supposed to think of it that way."
"But the books not being realistic," Serena said.
"Serena, the first thing you have to learn is that mathematicians have no idea of what the real world is like," Luna said.
"Oh," Serena said. "But I don't want to learn math."
"And what do you intend to do with your life might I ask?"
"Well...I thought about being Darrien's obedient housewife."
"Oh come on...don't tell me you aren't going to aim a little higher," Luna said. "Think of your friends...Amy wants to be a doctor. Lita a great chef. Raye a singing star, and Mina..well..Mina's as scatterbrained as you are for the most part..."
"I'll say," Artemas muttered. The two turned to see him standing on the window sill.
"How long have you been there?" Luna muttered.
"About five seconds, Mina came into her room and started bragging about how her boyfriend is more romantic then Lita's boyfriend, and she managed to tip over several pieces of furniture..." Artemis said.
"Hah! You see Luna, I'm not hopelessly out of whack. Mina's just as bad as I am," Serena said. "She just covers it more easily."
"Most of the time," Artemas muttered.
"Artemas is that a sore on your tail?" Luna asked.
"Unfortunately Mina keeps a very large dictionary on top of a very high bookcase, which she happened to hit very hard..." Artemis said.
"Even I've never done that," Serena said and leaned back in her chair, which predictably fell over.
"Uh...that was the chair's fault!" she shouted. "Stupid chair," She said and picked it up walked over to the window and dropped it out.
"Serena!" Luna said in surprise.
"I'm going to go get it," Serena replied. "Just not now..we'll see if it learns its lesson."
"Serena..it can't learn its lesson. It's a chair," Luna said.
"Then again, Serena can't learn her lessons either," Artemas said.
"Yes, maybe the chair will learn before she does," Luna said.
"Are you sure you're the only talking cat advisors there are?" Serena muttered.
"Well..there are many talking cats, but many of them prefer to go into the insurance and banking fields," Artemas said. Luna grinned.
Serena frowned and glanced at the clock.
"Oh, no, I'm late!" she shouted and dashed out the door.
"Late for what?" Artemas said.
"Oh, she and the girls are getting together. Have you found out anything else about those meteors?"
"Nothing," Artemis said.
A few hours later, the five girls had met at the arcade and walked to one of many of Tokyo's shopping plazas. This one was square shaped with a garden and several fountains scattered throughout a common area. Surrounding this area was all of the various stores and paths leading to even more.
"This place is great!" Lita said excitedly.
"Yeah. I love coming here," Mina said. With the exception of Amy, the girls were all laden down with various bags of clothes and jewelry and such. The girl genius on the other hand was holding a single bag containing the complete five volume set of "Advanced Biological Chemistry Theory:A Detailed Approach," and was satisfied.
The girls made their way to one of the many benches near the fountains and sat down examining their purchases.
"This new dress will look great on me," Raye said.
"Heh...not as good as my skirt will look. It's just perfect," Serena said a she was munching on a donut from the box she had bought.
"We'll see about that. If you keep eating those donuts, you won't fit into it," Raye said. Serena and Raye stuck their tongue out at each other like they usually did while their other three friends sighed.
A scream broke attracted all their attention. A woman raced across the plaza. Everyone began to look for what could have caused her to run. It was very clear that the figure dressed in armor and holding a sword composing of black energy standing at the far end of the plaza must have been the cause of it.
"Humans....run in fear!" It shouted. "I am here to destroy you all!" It shouted and swung its sword towards a nearby fountain. The stone structure broke apart scattering water everywhere amidst the pile of rubble.
"Well...you know what this means," Lita muttered.
"Yeah," Mina sighed.
"We have to accept it," Amy said dejectedly.
"Dang it!" Raye shouted.
"It couldn't have waited till I finished my donut could it?" Serena muttered.
The Knight destroyed another fountain. The girls hurried away and searched for the nearest place to hide. They found a nearby restroom and raced inside to find fortunately that the room was empty, but not devoid of some mold.
"Well...this is a first," Raye muttered.
"Never mind Raye," Mina said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah...Mars Star Power!" Raye yelled.
"Jupiter Star Power!" Lita yelled.
"Mercury Star Power!" Amy yelled.
"Venus Star Power!" Mina yelled.
"Moon Crystal Power!" Serena shouted.
And their transformations began.