CHAPTER 23
"So...Argosante..my army is almost complete?" Jaedite asked as he and his knight walked down one Jade Corp's hallways.
"Yes, Jaedite. It will be completed very soon," Argosante replied.
"Excellent," Jaedite said and the two stepped into an elevator which began to descend.
"The first time I attempted to gather energy for the negaverse, the problem was that I did not have enough forces. Now, I will overwhelm the Sailor Scouts with pure numbers," Jaedite said.
"Yes Jaedite. But you are expending much energy to create this army. It will leave you with practically none yourself," Argosante said.
"I will have enough. Besides a group of loyal soldiers is worth it. By using humans I am safer then by using negaverse troops."
"Really?" Argosante said.
"You are a knight and thus devoted to your leader, me. But, many minions of the negaverse have no scruples and follow orders only until they earn enough power to defeat their master. It is the way we are. However, humans, at least in theory, have more morals, besides they will be in our power."
"Hmm..so you do not trust negaverse soldiers?"
"I am careful."
"Do you not believe that I would be capable of breaking my oath?" Argosante asked.
"You are a member of the Tresk, the only order of soldiers who have maintained complete loyalty to their commanders since they were formed. You have done this because you yourselves do not possess enough power to lead. Furthermore, you do not believe it is your place to lead, only to fight. If you are busy making command decisions you are not fighting and thus do not seek power. I doubt I have anything to fear from you, because even if you were to try to stab me with the sword of yours, it would take more than one hit to destroy me and by then I would have blown you to pieces," Jaedite said.
"You are quite correct," Argosante said.
"Hmm...yes I am," Jaedite said as the elevator door opened revealing a cavernous store room. It was filled with former Jade Corp employees arrayed in a form of battle armor and fighting each other to train. Others were doing physical exercises.
"The troops are training continually," Argosante said.
"Good, the Sailor Scouts are much weaker if you can fight them hand to hand," Jaedite said.
The two passed through the room and into another where several large chambers were set up, each holding a human. They were immersed in a glowing liquid and energy pulsed through them. This was the means by which Jaedite was turning them from humans to negaverse fighters.
"These are our latest conversions. They should be ready soon," Argosante said.
"Excellent," Jaedite said. "I can't believe how brilliant this plan of mine was."
Still. My energy reserves are down to almost nothing. I will have to send
Argosante out to get some or I will be defenseless soon. Still. I want to make
sure that all opposition is defeated.
As Lita left the school at the end of the day with Serena and Amy, she hadn't expected to see Mr. Katsugi standing by his car on the side of the road. He waved her over.
"Uh...guys...give me a minute okay," she said and walked over.
"Who's he?" Serena asked.
"He looks like Vice Chairman Katsugi," Amy said.
"Who?"
"Oh you probably wouldn't care."
"No really who?"
"He's the number two man in the LDP political party."
"You're right. I don't care."
"I should have bet money on your response," Amy said.
"Sarcasm?" Serena asked.
"I'm experimenting with it."
"Oh. That's funny I didn't think the world was ending," Serena said.
"Hello. Mr. Katusgi," Lita said.
"Hello Lita. Listen I wanted to talk to you. Care to go for a ride?" Katsugi asked.
"Um....sure....I guess. Just let me tell my friends," She said.
"Uh..you go on with out me. I've got something to do," Lita back to her two friends.
"Okay Lita," Amy said. Serena just nodded.
They watched Lita head back to the car followed by Katsugi.
"That's strange," Amy said.
"What is?" Serena asked.
"Why would such a powerful person come here to school to pick up Lita?"
"Maybe Lita's father is a member of a powerful political group?"
"A Police officer?" Amy asked.
"Maybe not," Serena said.
"What's this all about?" Lita asked, more suspiciously then she wanted to.
"Lita. We've known each other for years," Katsugi said. "Politics can sometimes be a mess. It can also be a place where friends are hard to find, especially in an election for Prime Minister."
"So what does that have to do with me? I'm just a junior high school student."
"You're also one of the few people I know who would tell me the truth if I asked for it."
This surprised Lita. Katsugi continued.
"In my campaign I'll have speech writers, strategists, consultants. These people are good at what they do. Making me look like the person the people should vote for. But they won't tell me the real truth. Furthermore I don't want to aim to please. I want to honestly believe what I'm saying to people. You can help me."
"I'm not sure I...."
"If you're not then that's okay. I wouldn't be offended if you refused."
"I still don't know what you want me to do."
"I want you to be my assistant. Just help me out with a few things, come to my rallies, but most importantly, tell me what you think. If I'm acting stupid, tell me and so on."
"I guess I could do that."
"You don't have to decide now. I don't want to pressure you. I'm just asking."
"Well I'll have to think about it."
"Fine. I'll just drop you off at your house and you just give me a call when you've made up your mind," Katsugi said.
"Uh...right I will," Lita said.
"Sylia Coral, I never thought I'd get to meet you," Mina said shaking the hand of her idle.
"Well...here I am," Coral said. "I make it a point to greet everyone who volunteers to work for me. And since you and your mother are some of the first, well I have more time to say hello. You must really believe in me to show up at my headquarters the day after I announce I'm running."
"Yeah..well...we want someone good to be elected for once," Mina's mother said.
"That's why we came here," Mina said.
"I'm flattered," Coral said. "I need enthusiastic people if I'm going to win. Say, Mina, do you have a lot of friends at school?"
"I have enough I guess," Mina said.
"She even has a boyfriend!" Her mother said excitedly.
"Mom!" Mina shouted.
"A boyfriend? I'm not surprised," Coral said. "You know Mina, you'd be perfect for one of my campaign ads."
"Me?" Mina asked in shock.
"Sure. You know how they always go and everyone thinks that it's just someone they hired to act like they support you. But you...you go to school. People see you. It would add some realism to it."
"I guess I could do it," Mina said.
"Of course you could. This could lead to bigger things," Mina's mother said.
"Yeah..right," Mina muttered.
"Hmm...so are you in?" Coral asked.
"Well...I guess so," Mina said.
"That's great," Coral said. "I may just win yet."
"Okay. We've all seen what can happen when we don't handle a rocket correctly," Steve began.
"Um..right," Mike said.
"So...after careful study of all of the rocket's component. Numerous visits to the "So your rocket still explodes" website and a cup of coffee." Steve continued and added a pause for dramatic effect. "I give you. The S-3T!," he said and pulled a piece of cloth off of the rocket it had been covering. The rocket was silver with black thunderbolts painted on it. It was the nicest rocket Mike had ever seen.
"If this doesn't work. I assure you nothing will," Steve said.
"Yeah...well...despite your assurances I'd much prefer to stand behind some cover, preferably a battleship, while you fire that thing," Mike said.
"Oh ye of little..." Steve began.
"Never mind that. I've quoted that line forty times this month already," Mike said.
"In what context?"
"I was trying to convince Mina I could move objects with my mind."
"But you can't!" Steve said.
"I know that!" Mike shouted. "She knows that now too," he added. "But I came close with a peanut!"
"I'm going to launch the rocket now before we plunge further into the depths of absurdity," Steve said.
As before they were in the abandoned field.
"I'll be in China if you need me," Mike said and ran away as fast as he could. Steve readied the rocket and pressed the ignition button. The S-3T shot of the launch pad and went straight up into the air.
"There...perfect," Steve said before the rocket made an abrupt nose dive and dropped to the ground, with its engine fire still spewing.
"Oh..phooey!" Steve muttered and backed off. The rocket hit the ground and embedded itself about a foot in the earth before exploding and making a small crater.
"Well.....what can you say about that?" he muttered.
"I can think of a lot of things," Mike said walking up. "Like...Dumb, Stupid, Idiotic, Nimrodic, Absurd, Birdbrained, Moronic.."
"You've made your point," Steve said.
"Yeah, well...I bet it won't help anything. You'll be out here tomorrow with yet another rocket I'll bet."
"Well..I've gotta keep going till one of them works," Steve said and shrugged.
"Yeah....that's using reason effectively," Mike said.
"Did that sound like an explosion to you?" Raye asked.
"Hmm...yes, and my first guess is that Steve has not mastered the art of rocketry yet," Rick said. The two were sitting on the steps in front of Raye's temple.
"So here we are. What do you want to do?" Rick asked.
"I don't know. I hadn't thought about it," Raye said.
"Well we have to do something."
"Yes we do."
"We can't just talk."
"No, that would be pretty boring."
"I think so."
"Me too."
The two glanced at each other.
"Well?" Raye asked.
"Well what?"
"Well think of something!"
"I can't."
"Well I can't think of anything either."
"There must be something we can do together."
"We could go shopping."
"That's not really something we should do together. It could get rough."
"Why?"
"It's just not a good idea," Rick said and rolled his eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Raye asked.
"I have this problem," Rick said.
"What kind of problem?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Come on! You've gotta tell me. I'm your girlfriend."
"There are some things even you aren't supposed to know."
"Yeah, but this isn't one of them. Tell me."
"No."
"Fine. I will find out though."
"Really? How?"
"Trust me. When a school girl is curious. Nothing can stop her."
I do not like the way she said that. Rick thought.
"Well...let's just go for a walk then," Raye said.
"Okay," Rick said.
"You know Molly. According to this girls magazine of yours we're perfect for each other," Melvin said sifting though an edition of "Teen Dream Scream Machine" one of those teen magazines whose publishers most people wished Steve and Mike would inadvertently blow up with one of their rockets.
"What does the magazine say Melvin?" Molly muttered.
"See..it says that if you were born in May, which you are...you should go out with a guy who was born in July. I was born in July. See," Melvin said.
"Oh..gee...we'd better go right now then," Molly muttered.
"Hmm...I can tell your just being sarcastic," Melvin said. "Don't you believe what you read in these things?"
"Only when I want to," Molly replied. The phone rang. Molly picked it up.
"Hello?" she said. There was no reply.
"Hello," she said and again. Silence. She hung it up.
"Hmm..odd," she said.
"I get those kind of calls all the time," Melvin said.
"Wonder why," Molly muttered.
"Hey! This magazine says that girls are attracted to guys who are intelligent. That means you should go out with me," Melvin said.
"Melvin! Stop reading that magazine!" Molly shouted. "It says guys who are intelligent, they also can't be annoying,"
"It doesn't say that anywhere in here," Melvin said.
"It's a given!" Molly shouted back.
"Well, here we are," Artemas said.
"Yep," Darrien said.
Darrien was standing on his balcony holding the cat in his hands.
"You ever wonder about all this Darrien?" Artemas asked.
"In what way?" Darrien asked.
"Well..how you have to jump in and save the scouts occasionally and how they all swoon over you in different ways."
"Some more than others," Darrien said picturing both Serena and Raye in his mind.
"Yeah, but you know how it is. Ever wonder if you fit into the puzzle. I mean. Sure Serena and you are meant so be together. But, do you ever wonder what you're doing here, right now, amidst these junior high school girls?"
"I get what your saying. I sometimes wonder about how "independent" Darrien became involved with them. How if wasn't for the Moon Kingdom and the negaverse we would never have met, or at least not been friends. How strange it is. Yeah. It is curious. I wonder whether they'd do better by themselves."
"Me too. I mean...here I am a cat, but I'm also a male cat. Dealing with those girls constantly with all their quirks can be annoying some times."
"Men have quirks too."
"Plenty, but you don't hear the girls complaining about our quirks do you?"
"That's probably because they don't talk about it in front of us," Darrien said.
"Heh heh. Perhaps your right, but let me put it another way. We've got quirks and they've got quirks. But how distracting is for them to be swooning over the latest guy they met at the mall when they should be thinking about other things," Artemas said. "I mean they're welcome to their own opinions, but I hate to hear about it."
"Unfortunately it comes with the job," Darrien said. "That's what they talk about. Guys talk about other stuff."
"Yeah, and unfortunately we don't have anyone else to talk to."
"Well..except....but..." Darrien said and stopped.
"Yeah..but...he's not much of a talker," Artemas finished.
"So we're doomed."
"For now."
"Say Artemas. What the heck did we just talk about?" Darrien asked a minute later.
"I think we just exemplified what a male quirk is," Artemas said.
"Yeah. The ability to talk about absolutely nothing for long periods of time."
"Well..that quirk can be useful sometimes." Artemas said.
"When?" Darrien asked.
"I'd better not say or we'll just start talking about nothing again."
"Agreed."
"Hey, baby. What are you doing with this guy when you could be with the main man?" a greasy looking man said slinking up to Raye.
"Excuse me?" Raye asked.
"Hey...come on, you know you want a real man?" the guy said.
"I suggest you buzz off pal," Rick said.
"Rick, I'll handle this," Raye said. "I'm not interested," she said to the guy.
"Oh...really..well let me make you interested," the guy said and grabbed Raye's arm.
"Hey!" Rick said and punched the guy in the face. The guy staggered back and Rick spin kicked him to the head. The guy fell to the ground and began to moan.
"Let's go," Rick said and he and Raye moved away.
"Rick. Why did you do that?" Raye asked somewhat angrily.
"What? He was giving you trouble," Rick said.
"I could have gotten rid of him myself. I'm as skilled as you are."
"But..I was just...defending you."
"You don't have to. I can take care of myself. You know that."
"Fine. I will. I was just being a nice guy. You don't have to be so uptight about it."
"Yes I do. You don't get it do you!" Raye said and stormed off.
"What?" Rick said and just stood there. He knew enough that this wasn't
probably the time to follow her.
"Serena. I've noticed your grades have been slipping," Amy said as the two walked along.
"They have? I hardly noticed. I mean...after all, my grades were so bad before, what's to worry about if I get a B here and there," Serena said.
"Serena, you almost got a C on that last test. I looked it over. You can't let yourself fall down again. We've got high school entrance examinations very soon," Amy said.
"Yeah...I know," Serena said. "But it's just hard for me to keep working like this. I've never done it before and I've got so much I want to do."
"Like sleep and eat?" Amy asked skeptically.
"You're tough when you're sarcastic," Serena muttered. "But Amy is dreaming of a life of sleeping and eating so wrong?"
"I'd like to think that..." Amy began to say before a shrill scream interrupted her. Instinctively the two girls took off at a run in the direction of the sound. A block away they found a house a five story apartment building on fire. Several residents were already out and sitting on the street, but a woman was screaming.
"My daughter's up there on the fourth floor!" She shouted.
"Where's the fire department?" Serena asked no one in particular.
Amy looked up at the fire and her eyes narrowed.
"Come on Serena!" she said and pulled her back into an alley.
"What are you doing Amy?" Serena asked.
"We've got to try and stop the fire," Amy said.
"But Amy, we're supposed to fight the negaverse not burning buildings," Serena said.
"There's no more time to discuss it, Mercury Star Power!"
"This is dangerous, but what else is new," Serena said. "Moon Crystal Power!" she shouted.
Both of the girls transformed and were soon running back to the building. Mercury looked up at the smoke.
"The fire looks like it's inside the building. I can't hit it from here," she said.
"Then what do we do?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Go in!"
"But Mercury."
"We have to try it, hopefully our Sailor Scout powers will help. Now let's go!" Mercury shouted and the two raced into the building. The fire was on the fourth floor and the fifth floor. The scouts hurried up the stairs. A man was hobbling down them on a pair of crutches.
"Sailor Moon, help him get down?"
"How?"
"Use your imagination," Mercury said and dashed up the stairs.
"Um...okay....how much do you weigh?" she asked the surprised guy.
"Um...two hundred," he said.
"Oh...this isn't good," Sailor Moon replied. "Hold on a sec," she said and began to concentrate.
"Of course...just use the Luna Pen," Sailor Moon muttered and pulled out the pen.
"Disguise Power! Make me into a female bodybuilder!" she shouted and changed into a bulky woman with massive muscles.
"How'd you do that?" the guy said.
"Never mind, let's go," Sailor Moon said, picked up the guy and pulled him
down the stairs.
Mercury reached the fourth floor and could see the flames spreading down the hallway. A shrill shout pierced the air a few doors down.
"Mercury Ice Storm! Blast!" She shouted and blasted the fire in the hallway out. She ran to the door and touched the door. It had been cooled by her attack and was safe to open. She tried the knob. It was locked. She heard the scream again.
If I use my attack now I'll blast the whole room to pieces. A piece of flaming ceiling fell onto the ground.
"Uh oh," Mercury said and felt the floor beneath her begin to crack slightly.
"Mercury! Have you found her!" Sailor Moon said appearing back in the hallway.
"She's in here. Use your tiara and be careful, the floor is weak!" Mercury said.
"Got it," Sailor Moon said. "Moon Tiara Magic!" she shouted as she flung the golden disc at the door. It hit and blew it apart. The roof of the room above had fallen in partially and caused the room to be on fire. A girl was in the center of it all screaming. She was about Serena and Amy's age.
"Mercury bubbles blast!" Mercury shouted and send the icy mist through the room. The water put out the fire. The girl noticed and stopped sobbing, but was still in shock.
"Come on! We've got to get out of here!" Mercury said. "This building is unstable."
Suddenly the floor in the hallway fell away.
"Oh no!" Sailor Moon shouted.
"Now what?" she screamed.
"We go out the window," Mercury said.
"What?" Sailor Moon said.
"We can do that Sailor Moon remember?"
"Oh...right," Sailor Moon said. The two scouts picked up the girl and hurried to the window. The fire department was pulling up as they did.
"Here goes," Mercury said and the two scouts jumped out carrying the girl with them. They landed on their feet and felt nothing from their powers. They placed on the ground and she immediately hugged her mother who had run up and was hysterically crying.
"Is there anyone else in there?" Mercury asked.
"No, we're all out!" someone replied.
In that time the fire department had arrived and managed to douse the fifth floor fire.
"Well..looks like our jobs done," Sailor Moon said and the scouts hurried
away.
Later the two were walking back the way they came.
"You know Amy. You did the right thing today," Serena said.
"Thank you for saying so," Amy said.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have hesitated."
"Serena, it's all right. You were just scared."
"But you weren't."
"Of course I was. Don't think for a second I wasn't. I guess I just put that girls' life ahead of it. Come on Serena. You've done that plenty of times. Don't feel ashamed."
"Yeah..well..I should have been the one saying we should go. I feel almost cowardly."
"Don't worry about it. You're not a coward. You only need to remember all the battles you've been to tell you that."
"Thanks Amy. You really can lift someone's spirits," Serena said. "And on that note..how about dropping your experiment with sarcasm."
"It was just beginning to enjoy it," Amy replied.
"Isn't that Raye," Serena noticed. Raye was sulking as she walked along the sidewalk towards them.
"She doesn't look happy," Serena added. "Maybe we should avoid her."
"She may need a friend right now," Amy said. Soon they met.
"Oh...hi," Raye muttered.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked.
"Oh..it's not important. It's my problem," Raye said.
"Anything we can do?" Serena asked.
"No..It's between me and Rick," Raye said.
"I see," Serena said.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. So..you two saved that day, that's great," Raye said trying to sound as happy as she could. Word had traveled quickly.
"Well..it was Amy who did most of the saving," Serena said.
"Serena if you hadn't opened that door I don't know what I would have done."
"So you both are heroes. Just share it," Raye said.
Suddenly an object flew through the air and hit Serena straight in the head.
"Wha?" she said. "This happens much to often," she muttered.
"Where did that come from?" Raye asked looking around. There was no apparent thrower.
"You jerk!" Serena shouted. The three looked down. The object was a piece of paper rolled up and tied with a string. Amy picked it up and took of the string.
"It's a message," Amy said examining it. "For us."
"What?" the other two girls said.
"It says watch out for Jade Corp," Amy said. "From an ally."
"That's it?" Serena asked.
"Well we already knew that," Raye muttered.
"Hmm...who could have sent this though?" Amy asked.
"The Easter Bunny for all I care. I'm going home to bed," Raye muttered and stalked off.
"I wonder what's wrong," Serena said.
"I don't know, but she'll probably be able to handle it. She's tough," Amy said.
"I hope so. I've got a bad feeling that things are going to get ugly around here real soon," Serena said.
"Me too," Amy said.