CHAPTER 25
In an underground bunker located at an army base, a large group of people sat around a square table. The lights were dimmed, but not much. One end of the table was empty. Behind it was a screen in case a projection needed to be shown. Across from the screen sat General Nagumo, General Akita and several other members of the army. To their right sat Police Chief Ozaki and several members of his department. The third side was occupied by several civilian scientists and at the very end the two Pattersons.
"What could the negaverse have wanted at a Nuclear Power Plant?" one of the police officers asked.
"They're after energy aren't they?" one of the scientists replied. "I have no idea how their form of energy works, but it's conceivable they could use nuclear energy to provide it I guess."
"Well we've doubled security at the nuclear plants and all energy facilities, if they try anything, at least we'll know about it," Nagumo said. "Now...what is the status of our rapid reaction force?"
"Sir," a junior officer said standing up. "In coordination with the Tokyo Police, we have assembled a force of several hundred men who will on rotating shifts be ready for action at any time. We have the man power to keep a force on alert, and if necessary can even bring more troops into action in a short time."
"So as soon as we find out about the attack we can have forces moving?" Nagumo asked.
"Almost instantly," the officer said.
"Good, it's about time," Nagumo said. "Any ideas where they'll strike next?"
No one said a word.
"Hmm....well let's just throw some ideas out. What does the police think?" Nagumo asked. The police officers looked amongst themselves.
"The negaverse has proven to be a very random group even when they have a goal. We wouldn't know," Chief Ozaki said. "If we knew that, it would make our jobs easier wouldn't it?"
"Very true," Nagumo said. "What about my fellow soldiers. If you have an idea. Suggest it," Nagumo said.
"Sir...maybe they'll attack Tokyo Tower," an officer said.
"Why would they do that?" Nagumo asked a bit surprised.
"Well doesn't everyone eventually? Godzilla, King Kong, every threat attacks the tower," the officer said.
"Are you trying to be funny?" Nagumo asked.
"You said any idea sir," the officer said.
"You're right. I'm sorry I asked, what about you civilians?" Nagumo said turning to the scientists. They all shook their heads.
"Not without further data," one of them said. The others nodded.
"Pattersons?" Nagumo asked.
"Hmm...I don't know. The police are right. They are very random," Mr. Patterson said.
"Are there any major events planned?" D.V. asked.
"Major events?" Nagumo asked.
"Yes, I guess Chief Ozaki would know more," Patterson said.
"Why would you ask that?" Ozaki said skeptically. He wondered what a junior high student was doing on a top secret security force anyway. But that had been Nagumo's decision which he fully didn't understand.
"The negaverse seem to like to attack large gatherings of people. I should know, I've been in crowds they've shown up at," Patterson said.
"Hmm...well...there are always many things going on in Tokyo," the Chief said. "Wait a minute...I thought was something was a bit weird. The Concert at the Arena. We received a request for a permit as well as security for a concert in a week. I mean, there wasn't a concert scheduled for another month, and yet this one just popped up."
"It could be just a strange occurrence. That happens too," General Akita said. "How stupid would we look if we ran in there and nothing happened. We could have a riot."
"We have to be careful and we can't move on just that information," Nagumo said.
"Come to think of it, I heard about that concert," The junior officer who had made a fool of himself before said.
"Did you?" Nagumo muttered.
"Yeah, they're supposed to have some contest to pick one band of students to play at the concert before the big band," The soldier said.
"Hmm...now that sounds suspicious. The negaverse has been known to target students. I wonder why," Nagumo said. "Patterson, you're a student. Any ideas?"
"None," Patterson lied.
"At least you don't know everything," Nagumo said and the room laughed.
Don't I? Patterson thought and grinned slightly.
"That's a good thing. I was beginning to think our jobs were obsolete, Ozaki added and the group laughed again.
"Here's what will do. The night of the concert will double the size of the
rapid reaction force for that time period as a precaution. We'll send in a few
operatives to keep an eye on things. If the negaverse is there. We'll be ready,"
Nagumo said.
"Wow, Deep Six is coming to play at the arena!" Mike said excitedly looking at a poster for the concert.
"Oh yeah, those guys kick almost as much butt as we do!" Steve said.
"Calm down guys," Rick said.
"Oh come on Rick, you love them," Mike said.
"I know, I just see no reason to yell about it," Rick said.
"Hey...what's this?" Mike said reading the bottom of the poster. "They're having a contest for students! The band that wins....!"
"What?" Rick asked. Mike was overcome with excitement.
"It says the band that wins! Oh yeah!" Steve said.
"What is it?" Rick muttered and looked at the poster. "The band that wins gets to perform before Deep Six. Well that is interesting," he said stoically and then began to jump up and down.
"If we win! We'll be on stage! It's the break of a life time. This could put our band on the map!" he shouted.
"We've gotta tell Raye," Rick said.
"Raye? Why?" Mike asked.
"Because she should sing with us," Rick said.
"Wait a minute Rick. Sure we've messed around with her singing and stuff, but she's not in our band," Steve said.
"Sure she is," Rick said.
"Guys this is what leads to band break ups, a guy trying to get his girlfriend into the group," Mike said.
"She's the best singer in Tokyo!" Rick shouted.
"But she's not compatible with our band! We play rock, she's into that slow love stuff," Steve said.
"We can compromise," Rick said.
"But Rick, say we do get discovered, then we'll have to compromise a lot more," Steve said.
"Steve, if we do this without her, her feelings will be hurt, and then she'll cry, but more importantly afer she cries she then she'll kill us each in a different, but equally painful way. I can't let that happen," Rick said.
"I can't let her ruin our band," Steve said. "I know she's a good singer, but she doesn't fit."
"Wait a minute guys, let's put this in perspective. We haven't even won the contest yet and we're worried about when we get discovered? Come on, let's get real here. Raye is a good singer, we can play plenty of songs with her singing, we just have to mix and match," Mike said.
"Yeah," Rick said. Steve paused for a minute.
"I don't like it, but I'm going to give this a chance because you're my friend. Remember though, this could be trouble," Steve said.
"Only if you make the trouble," Rick said.
"We'll see," Steve said.
"Guys..let's put this back in perspective here. This is not some high school sit come involving a bunch of well dressed teenagers no one can relate to...this is real life. I'm sure it'll work out," Mike said.
"It had better," Rick and Steve said.
"A contest to perform with Deep Six? I love Deep Six!" Raye shouted.
"You do?" Rick asked in surprise.
"Sure, I think the lead singer's cute," Raye said. "Cuter than you even."
"Um...that's nice," Rick muttered.
"Just kidding," Raye said. "Sure, I like the slow songs, but Deep Six sounds good, and it's one of the few bands I can play that will effectively drown out Serena's whining."
"Oh...so you're interested," Rick said.
"Of course I am, but....are you sure I should be with your band? I mean we haven't really performed together. You're a rock band, I sing love songs." Raye said.
"Well..if you don't want to...." Rick said.
"I want to, but I just don't want to hurt either your band or your friendship," Raye said.
"Thank you Raye, but we'll work it out," Rick said. "Besides, that song "Carry On" that we came up with, it needs a female lead singer anyway, otherwise it's a bit bland. It rocks too. You'd be perfect."
"Well I'll try," Raye said.
"What a brilliant idea this was," Jaedite said.
"Yes Jaedite," Argosante said. "But how do you know the Sailor Scouts will be at the concert?"
"I have a plan to get them there. I hear this Deep Six band is one of the most popular in the country, and I'm sure those scouts would go if they were given free tickets," Jaedite said.
"I see," Argosante said. "And what about the concert for students."
"Well...using one of those spies we created, I've learned that the Sailor Scouts' boyfriends are in a band. I figure they'll try out, and then we'll let them win, and that'll draw the scouts in to see them," Jaedite said.
"Ah..so the spies have worked well?"
"Not really, the spy got lucky. They are not very good."
"Well that is because we're relying on a Jade Corp employee we had to train quickly instead of an experienced spy. What about the other one we sent to follow that kid with the cane."
"That is a complete debacle. Apparently this kid is insane. He almost could tell we were following him. He ducked into sewers all over Tokyo just to elude my spy. I still don't know where this kid lives and I've given up. What I would like to know is how the Sailor Scouts knew we were at that power plant."
"I have no idea Jaedite. It was as much a surprise to me as a you."
"Well at least we got enough energy to go ahead with the next operation."
"Yes sir."
"Here we are," Raye said as she, and the three boys stood in line outside a large auditorium. There were at least a hundred bands there from the looks of it, all with their various equipment.
"Looks like we've got a lot of competition," Rick said.
"Yeah, who'd have thought there'd be so many bands?" Mike asked.
"Well, it is a big city," Steve said.
I just hope we're good enough. Raye thought. Eventually the groups were all told to go inside. The auditorium consisted of a massive open space. Each band was told to set up in a certain area and the judges would be along eventually to each one to see who was the best. Their band was in the middle of the pack, so they had some time to wait.
"Hey I recognize some of these groups," Mike said.
"Yeah..over there is 'Skulls for Hire,'" Steve said.
"And there's 'Skulls Skulls, and more Skulls," Mike said.
"There's 'Skull in Law' over here," Mike said.
"Dead Skull"
"Skull of Skulls"
"The band formerly known as Skull"
"and the Pretty Chorus of Pink Tulips.....of Skulls."
"Speaking of that. Do you guys even have a name for this band yet?" Raye asked.
"Sure...the um.....Big...big..what was it again?" Rick asked.
"Big Crushers," Steve muttered realizing at that exact moment how stupid it sounded.
"Big Crushers? What a stupid name," Raye said.
"Hey, my father was named Big Crusher," Mike said.
"What?" The other three said.
Mike just smiled and laughed. So did the others.
"How about Fujimori?" Rick said.
"Your last name. What about it?" Steve asked.
"No, we call the band 'Fujimori'. You know it sounds cool," Rick said.
"It sounds stupid," Mike said.
"Yeah, why Fujimori, why not Carlin, or Leslie," Steve said.
"Or Hino," Raye said.
"Hey....Why not Carlin, Leslie, or Hino?" Rick said.
"What?" the other three said.
"The bands name, "Why not Carlin, Leslie or Hino," see it's all weird," Rick said.
"Yeah, I can see that," Mike said.
"Sure...I guess it's kinda cool," Steve said.
"I hate it," Raye said.
"Ehh...." the other three said.
When the judges finally got there the band members had not made any progress.
"So what's your band's name," the judge said.
"We never agreed on a name," the four said in unison.
"Interesting name," the judge muttered and wrote it down.
"That's perfect!" The four said again in unison.
"Are you going to play something or not?" the judge asked.
"Oh..yeah..." Rick said. "Let's do it."
The band then broke into a rendition of "Carry On," a song Raye had wrote the lyrics to, but Rick had written the music for over a year ago.
When it was done the judge thanked them and moved on.
"That was great. I don't even care if we win," Raye said.
"Yeah, at least we showed we could do it when the pressure was on," Rick said.
"Yeah, who cares if we win or not," Mike said.
"You three are lying through your teeth," Steve said.
"Yes we are," the other three said.
An hour later the announcement came.
"The winner is the band, "We never agreed on a name!" the judge said.
"That's just great, they haven't decided yet," Mike muttered.
"Shut up Mike!" The three others said and began cheering. Rick even hugged
Raye in the excitement. Mike and Steve thought about hugging each other, but
decided they'd better not.
As the judge walked to his car later that night, a figure emerged from the shadows.
"You did as you were told," the figure said.
"Yes, it wasn't hard, they would have won anyway," the judge said.
"Ah, I see," the figure said. "Your service is at an end," he said and pulled out a crystal. It began to flash and send light into the judge's eyes.
"Remember nothing of me, you did your job today, and never saw me. They were the correct band anyway," the figure said.
"I will not remember you," the judge said and fell unconscious.
"Good," the figure said and walked away. He'll wake up in a few minutes and not know what he has done. A car sped up in front of him and he got into the back.
"Well Argosante?" Jaedite asked.
"The mission was a success, and luckily the judge was going to pick that band with Sailor Mars in it anyway. Now he won't be suspicious of anything," Argosante said.
"Good. I'm being very careful. I want nothing to be left to chance," Jaedite said.
"Of course Jaedite," Argosante said. "Some would say you are being overly cautious, but I agree with your position. If your efforts gain you a second of surprise over the Sailor Scouts, it may be just enough to win."
"Very true. You are a good tactician Argosante. Now we must make preparations. Is our Army Commander ready?"
"Yes, Tempkin is ready. He used to be one of the executives, that means he has leadership skills, cunning, and a tinge of evil in him," Argosante said.
"Argosante, are you being humorous?" Jaedite asked.
"Well...I've seen a lot of the Jade Corp staff with their human attitudes. Apparently executives are not that well liked for some reason."
"Hmm...curious," Jaedite said.
The next day.
Principal Oksua felt it was strange to be trying to address the students during lunch, considering half of them weren't even from his school. Still, he did it anyway.
"Your attention please!" he bellowed. Everyone gradually quieted down and looked at him.
"Thank you. I'm sure you all know about this Deep Six concert," Oksua said.
Most of the students cheered.
"Well...I've been given enough free tickets for the entire school, and any left over are welcome to you others here," Oksua said. Most of the people stood up and hurried towards him.
"Oh no you don't!" he shouted. Everyone froze. "They will be distributed in an orderly fashion. I'll have none of this riot stuff! Now....I will call you're name. If you're interested, come up and get a ticket."
The crowd of students waited anxiously as Oksua read off the names.
"Like we need tickets anyway," Mike said and laughed as he sat at the usual table.
"And we've got front row seats thanks to you," Lita said.
"Great, we'll be performing in front of the school, this could kick butt," Steve said.
"Yeah," Rick said.
"Say..did anyone give Darrien a ticket?" Serena asked.
"Uh..well..they only gave us four tickets total," Raye said.
"Oh..." Serena said. "Well...I'm sure he's not into that stuff anyway,"
Serena said.
Across the courtyard.
Well if this isn't a negaverse plot nothing is. Patterson thought leaning
back in his chair. Of course if I try and tell the scouts they'll dismiss it. Oh
well...you can't win them all.
That night, the area was packed with people as they crammed to get inside. The girls had arrived early and didn't have to face the crowd. Meanwhile backstage.
"Are we ready for this?" Raye asked.
"Oh you bet your butt we are," Rick said.
"Yeah, we may be nervous, but that's not going to stop us," Steve said.
"Yeah, at worse we can mess up and embarrass ourselves in front of our favorite band and half the city," Mike said.
"Shut up!" The other three said.
"Ten minutes," said the stage manager knocking in the door.
"Let's do it," Raye said.
"When do I attack?" Commander Tempkin said.
"After Sailor Mars' band performs. You'll catch the scouts when they least expect it," Argosante said. "Good luck."
"Yes sir," Tempkin said.
The lights dimmed and the crowd, mainly filled with students cheered.
"Here they come," Lita said.
"This is exciting," Mina said.
The curtain rose revealing Raye, Rick, Mike, and Steve ready to play.
"Okay...here goes," Rick said.
And they began to play "Carry On."
The crowd began to get into it as they kept going on and Raye was singing the lyrics she had written personally. They hit the guitar solo. Steve nailed it and the crowd roared.
When the song finished the crowd began to yell and shout.
"We did it," Rick said.
"Yeah, and we've got one more song to go," Raye said. "But this is your turn."
"You've got it," Rick said and took the microphone.
"This is a special number Raye wrote in honor of someone who I'm sure everyone knows deserves it. Sailor Moon, if you're out there! This ones for you!" Rick shouted.
Serena had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. It wouldn't have mattered since most of the crowd would have drowned her out.
Wow, a song about me. She thought.
How ironic. Tempkin thought waiting in the wings.
"Excuse me, this message came for you," a voice said to the girls in the front row.
"What?" Lita asked. There was an usher standing there.
"Who's it from?" Mina asked.
"I don't know, it was just given to me," the usher said. Amy took it, it was a note wrapped in string. She opened it.
"After his next song....duck," she read.
"What does that mean?" Lita asked.
"It means we have to watch out. We've gotten two similar messages to this and they've both been right. We can't leave during this song or our friends wouldn't understand, but once it ends we have to be careful," Amy said.
"That's just great," Lita said.
"For once I hope they're wrong," Mina said.
And they began to play "She's got the power" with Rick doing the vocals. Once again they did it flawlessly and the audience went wild.
Tempkin waited as the band left the stage. Meanwhile Deep Six headed out to begin to play. The crowd roared. Tempkin ran onto the stage and pulled out an energy crystal.
"He's not with the band," Lita said noticing him.
"Everyone down!" Amy shouted. The four girls dropped below their seat seconds before the hall was filled with energy. The rest of the audience were knocked unconscious immediately.
"Success!" Tempkin yelled.
"What's going on?" Rick said from backstage as he heard the cries.
"They must have been cheering for the band," Steve said.
"Are you sure?" Mike asked. "They already cheered, this sounded different."
And suddenly they were surrounded by several people with devilish grins on their faces. Stage hands converted by the negaverse.
"Uh oh," the four said.
"Well...this is a surprise isn't it?" Tempkin said emerging from the stage.
"On three..." Rick whispered..
"One, two, three!" he shouted. The four all leapt at one of the people and ran forward. Raye kicked on who fell immediately to the ground and she dashed by. Rick did a similar move and was on his way. Steve barreled through one and kept going. Mike just dodged around two of the soldiers as they tried to grab him.
"Oh, no you don't!" Tempkin said and blasted Mike with the energy crystal. The other three ran were still split up from each other. A group of soldiers emerged in front of Steve, who barreled into them only to be grabbed by one. Tempkin zapped him. Rick kicked another and began to fight. He knocked down four before being hit by a blast of energy. Raye has slipped through the defense and hurried through a door.
I can't help them now. She thought. Need to transform. The door she had come through burst open and twenty Stage hands emerged following her.
Great, she muttered.
"Moon Crystal Power!"
"Mercury Star Power!"
"Jupiter Star Power!"
"Venus Star Power!"
And the four scouts still in the arena transformed and stood up.
"Now..where'd he go?" Sailor Moon said angrily.
"The Sailor Scouts? Still conscious?" Tempkin said with shock walking back onto the stage.
"Jupiter Thunderclap Zap!"
"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"
"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!"
The three girls shouted catching Tempkin completely off guard considering he expected the scouts to say their usual speech. He was hit with all three attacks and thrown back into a drum set.
"You impudent fools!" he shouted. "All forces attack!"
Out of every doorway in the entire arena, negaverse drones emerged and menacingly filled the aisles. They weren't completely human in appearance anymore. Their skin was grey and they were wearing a former of body armor and helmets which covered their faces. The four scouts looked around in shock.
"You're Sailor Scout powers are no match for our army," Tempkin shouted. "Attack."
And the army surged at them.
Raye wanted to stop to catch her breath, but she couldn't. Her pursuers seemed to be gaining. She rounded a corner and the sight she saw caused her to smile. As the group followed her around the corner they were hit with a barrage of roses, end first, which knocked them to the ground.
"Those are some roses you got there," Raye said.
"Home grown," Tuxedo Mask replied. "You get transformed. I'll handle these jokers."
The small enemy group began to stand up. Tuxedo Mask nailed one with his extending staff, and swung around taking two more to the ground.
Looks like he's got things well in hand. Raye thought and pulled out her power stick.
"Mars Star Power!" She shouted.
The army charged. The four scouts did the only thing they felt they could. Jumped into the air. The stunned army could only watch. The four flew very high, but began to come down. The army readied itself, but all four managed to land on one of their assailants and with a smaller jump reached the now unguarded doors. Into the lobby they raced. The army began to surge out of the arena as well.
"We have to find a better place to fight this army or we'll be overwhelmed for sure," Mercury said.
"Are you sure there's anywhere we could go? There's thousands of them," Jupiter said.
"Yeah, we'd need our own army to stop them," Venus said as the girls dashed out of the arena and saw in front of them hundreds of Self Defense Force and Police vehicles and several thousand troops.
"Well....looks likes we're going to see some action," General Nagumo said standing behind a car.
"Well..that's..um convenient," Jupiter said.
"What do we do now?" Venus asked.
"My suggestion, is we get out of the way," Sailor Moon said and the four hurried away from the exits as the negaverse army came out only to see what awaited them. The wave of troops stopped in shock. Both sides stopped and stared at each other for a full minute. Then without any orders, both forces raced towards each other letting out battle cries as the melee began.
"Let's find that leader," Sailor Moon said.
"Good thinking," Sailor Jupiter said. The four scouts searched for a side entrance and found it to be locked.
"Oh well...so we destroy a little private property," Jupiter muttered. "Jupiter Thunder Clap Zap
The door blew apart and the four ran back inside.
Tuxedo Mask knocked the last enemy soldier aside leaving them all knocked out on the ground.
"Heh," he said and moved forward. A sword swung at him. He barely sidestepped it. Argosante stood there.
"Ah....I've heard of you," he said.
"Have you?" Tuxedo Mask replied and swung his staff at him.
"No, I think not," Argosante said and blocked it casually with his sword. The
two faced off and the fight began.
"What's going on around here!" Tempkin shouted standing on the stage alone.
"Mars Fireball Surround!" Mars shouted and hit him in the back. Tempkin felt the pain and stepped forward only to fall off the stage. The other scouts rushed in the door.
"You all dare to take me on!" Tempkin yelled raising his crystal.
"Venus, Love Chain Encircle!" Venus yelled and the yellow energy chain knocked the crystal out of his hand and to the ground.
"No!" he shouted.
"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!"
"Jupiter Thunderclap Crash!"
The two attacks hit him head on as he just didn't care anymore, he staggered even farther backwards.
"You'd better heal him Sailor Moon," Mars suggested.
"Right," Sailor Moon began to say, before Argosante leapt out in front of the injured Tempkin and grabbed him. Then the knight raced out the door.
Tuxedo Mask jumped off the stage and began his pursuit. The sound of screeching tires, while surprising, also told him it would be of little use. He turned back and smashed the energy crystal to pieces. The people began to regain consciousness.
"The negaverse? Using cars?" Venus asked in surprise. The other scouts shrugged.
"Tuxedo Mask! Where'd you come from?" Sailor Moon asked.
"I managed to get some back row seats," Tuxedo Mask replied.
"Uh...sorry about that," Mars said.
"We should check on the army," Sailor Jupiter suggested.
"What army?" Sailor Mars asked.
The Self Defense Forces and the Police were all outside, some more injured than others, but intact. The negaverse army was gone however.
"Where'd they go?" Sailor Moon asked.
"We were tearing into them, and then this light came from somewhere and blinded us. Then they were gone. We don't know how," General Nagumo said.
"I have a pretty good idea," came a familiar voice to all of them. D.V. Patterson climbed out of an open manhole.
"I can't begin to tell you how bad that looks," Mars said.
"The sewer. Hmm...ingenious. I'd follow them, but I doubt we'd be able to pick up the trail," Nagumo said.
"It's doubtful," Patterson said.
"Well it looks like you were right about this place being a target," Nagumo said.
"It had all the warning signs," Patterson said.
"Well we were a match for them today...too bad bullets don't work though, we had to fight those suckers hand to hand." Nagumo said.
"Well at least you hit them hard," Patterson said.
"Hey! We did a lot too!" Sailor Moon shouted.
"And we appreciate it," Nagumo said.
"Don't knock it Sailor Moon, we needed them today," Jupiter said.
"I know, I know," Sailor Moon said.
"I've got to check on the guys," Mars said and hurried back inside the concert hall. The others for lack of anything else to do followed.
"They're in a hurry aren't they?" Nagumo asked.
"They're busy people General," Patterson muttered.
"So they are," Nagumo said.