CHAPTER 65
The afternoon following the battle between Richter and the Scouts.
"So...what will happen to Richter?" Chief Ozaki said.
"Well..once Sailor Moon healed him, he lost all of the negaenergy that had controlled him and caused him to attack in the first place. We can't hold him for that," Nagumo said.
"I see," Ozaki said. "So you're going to let him go."
"Sure, but we'll keep him away from negaenergy, just in case," Nagumo said.
"A good idea."
"You know Ozaki, we don't need to maintain such an antagonistic relationship."
"No we don't, but it's one of the few pleasures I get out of life."
"I agree..." Nagumo said.
"Hmm...military intelligence my butt."
"Go eat some doughnuts," Nagumo muttered. And the two laughed.
"Am I interrupting?" Maxfield Stanton asked poking his head in the door.
"No of course not Stanton," Nagumo said.
"We were just um...well..laughing," Ozaki said.
"I see, I just came to check on the situation," Stanton said.
"Well it seems to me like the case is closed," Ozaki said.
"Same here," Nagumo said. "All the humans Richter converted to his warriors have been returned to human form, it seems there are yet even more of these scouts to protect the city, and we can go back to our boring old jobs."
"Boring..yeah...right," Ozaki said.
"I see...so did you two fight hard?" Stanton asked.
"I fought very hard," Ozaki said.
"Not as hard as I did," Nagumo said.
"I disagree," Ozaki said.
"Well..you were knocked out first."
"Yeah..that's only because you were afraid to go near it."
"I was looking for a weak spot. I was using tactics. Ever heard of the idea?" Nagumo asked.
"Don't press me Nagumo," Ozaki snapped.
And the two started into an argument. Stanton let himself out.
"Glad things are going so well," he muttered.
"Raye..look..." Rick began. Raye sat there quietly ready to take any abuse Rick could dish out. "I would be lying if I said I didn't love you. I have for a while, and there seemed like there was nothing that could convince me otherwise. But you managed to find something that made me doubt it...for a while. I still love you..I just wasn't sure you loved me."
"Of course I love you Rick," Raye said.
"But you love Chad too."
"In a different way."
"How so?" Rick asked.
"I love him like a brother, and I guess I liked having him around," Raye said. "Rick...listen..my mistake was dating him..I just felt I owed it to him."
"Owed it to him?"
"Yes, I was wrong to make it a date. Rick, you were always my boyfriend, I just..didn't want to let Chad down...I always knew he hoped...uh..well..but.."
"Raye..you say that now..but could you honestly say all this if he was still living in that room."
"I don't know..but he still isn't living here so it's a moot point," Raye said.
"And if he comes back?"
"Then it will be my problem, not yours," Raye said.
"You sure?" Rick asked.
"Do you know how much pain I was in when you were gone?"
"Probably the same amount I was in," Rick replied.
"Then you know what I went through."
"Yes, I hoped that would happen."
"You what?"
"I wanted you to feel that pain. And now you have..so we're even. Now..it's very simple. We get back together, and you don't pull any more of your stuff, and things should work out," Rick said.
"Oh..Rick..I was hoping you'd say that..you're so romantic," Raye said and hugged him.
"Romantic?" Rick muttered.
"So anyway...you're Guardian Uranus right?"
"Uh..yeah.." Rick said.
"Just one question."
"Yeah."
"Are you nuts!"
"Huh?" Rick asked.
"Well isn't it obvious, being a Guardian Scout is dangerous work. You got yourself pretty beaten up during that last battle."
"So did you?"
"Yeah..but I actually beat my enemy, and didn't need to be bailed out."
"So you're saying I can't cut the cheese..ahem...mustard."
"I'm just worried about you Rick. Being a scout takes a lot of things...and..well..why should you put yourself through the stress of it all..you might get hurt and then where would I be?"
"Probably a lot better off," Rick muttered. "However, Raye..I'm going to do my best and I'm sure I'll be able to improve, after all..from what I hear..the Sailor Scouts weren't exactly a well oiled unit from day one either."
"Who told you that?" Raye muttered.
"Anyway...instead I see this is a challenge and I'm not one to back away from a challenge, in any form, which is probably why I'm still dating you," Rick said.
"Ooo....good one," Raye said. "We'll see about all this won't we."
"Yes we will," Rick said.
"So..you're Guardian Saturn," Amy said.
"Yep," Greg said. "You surprised?"
"Of course I am," Amy said.
"Well so am I."
"When did you find out?"
"About two days ago."
"Two days ago. So...one day before we went into battle?"
"Yes...Patterson didn't want anyone to find out about it?"
"Even us Sailor Scouts."
"Yes...he thought that it was best to avoid any potential conflicts until after the battle."
"Conflicts..like what?"
"Well..maybe one of the Sailor Scouts wouldn't want their boyfriends to fight or something and any confrontation between Rick and Raye was to be avoided," Greg said.
"Oh..well..that makes sense...though it's always cloak and dagger with him isn't it?" Amy said.
"He's got his quirks,"Greg said.
"Well Richter was sure surprised," Amy said.
"That he was," Greg said.
"But Greg, do you know what you're getting into?"
"Yes, and I know it isn't exactly great, to be on call twenty four hours a day to fight evil, but, somehow Amy, I prefer this to having to worry about you when you go off to fight. Now at least I can do something rather than hide."
"Well, maybe..but this job isn't exactly something we want to do. It's a duty," Amy said. "You can probably still turn back."
"I can't," Greg said. "I don't know about the others."
"Well..I probably can't persuade you otherwise. Still..you're life won't be the same after this."
"I think I can manage. You did."
"Yes..I guess I did," Amy said.
"Mike, I don't know exactly how to say this," Mina began.
"Let me guess..you're just a tiny bit curious about why I'm doing as Guardian Neptune," Mike said.
"Well a little," Mina said.
"To tell you the truth I have no idea. I mean...I have no fighting skills whatsoever...kinda like you."
"Hey! I'm not bad!" Mina said.
"Oh come on now..if you weren't a gymnast, you'd be a smear on the wall."
"Well..maybe," Mina said. "But the scouts are a team anyway."
"Exactly," Mike said. "See..Steve's the strong one, Rick's the slick one, Greg's the smart one, and I'm the funny sidekick guy who always gets into trouble."
"That's all we need," Mina said.
"Ehh...like you can talk...getting kidnaped twice in one week," Mike muttered.
"Hey!" Mina said. "The first one wasn't a kidnaping and the second one well..was..."
"A kidnaping," Mike said.
"Okay..so I've had a few things like that, but we all have," Mina said.
"Well..I'll just do it full time, save everyone else the trouble," Mike said.
"You're not serious are you?"
"Of course not," Mike said and jumped off the bench he was sitting on and landed behind a bush behind the bench.
"Why'd you do that?" Mina asked.
"To illustrate how I'm not being serious," Mike muttered from right beside her.
"Wha..how'd you do that..." Mina said.
"Don't know," Mike said and sat back down.
Mina sighed.
"Well here's something else we have in common that in no way contributes to our romance," Steve muttered.
"I think it's great that you're Guardian Pluto though. We could use the help," Lita said.
"Well..that we'll probably be," Steve said. "Except for Mike."
"Yeah..I can see why you would say that," Lita said with a grin. "Really though, the more the merrier, maybe I can take some time off...then again I doubt it."
"Well, if I can be a help, it will be nice," Steve said. "Of course you Sailor's are all the experienced ones and you've got more power too."
"That we do...don't forget that."
"I don't think it will be easy to forget," Steve said.
"And I'm sure some day, you might almost be as effective as we are," Lita said.
"Oh..I get it..you're just jealous," Steve said.
"Jealous of what?"
"Jealous that I've got some of this mystical power."
"But you just said I have more power you lame-cranium," Lita said.
"Ehh...don't try and deny your jealous," Steve said.
"I'm not," Lita muttered.
Soon after the scouts had reacquainted themselves they all headed for Patterson's house. As they walked into the basement, Patterson was sitting at his map table, Luna and Artemas were sitting on it talking.
"No..no..Mina can just get a little spaced at times, I didn't mean to say she isn't an effective warrior," Luna said.
"One could say the same about Serena," Artemas said.
"I'm not denying that," Luna said.
"So we're in agreement, they're both very powerful flakes," Artemas said.
"Yes," Luna said.
"Behind you," Patterson muttered. The scouts and Tuxedo Mask stood there.
"Oh...uh..hey girls," Artemas said.
"You should knock," Luna said. "Not proper manners at all."
"We'll deal with you later," Mina and Serena said pointing a finger at them.
The scouts all sat down at the map table. Serena and Darrien at the end of it. The Guardians sat on the left, the Sailors on the right.
"All right, we called this meeting because things have been moving a little fast lately," Luna said.
"Yeah, there are probably some questions you'd like answered," Artemas said.
"Okay..here's a straightforward one, where did these Guardian Scouts come from?" Raye said.
"Yeah...and how come we didn't remember them?" Lita asked.
"The second part of the question can be answered quite easily. You know Queen Serenity is with her selective memories. She didn't want you to remember about the Guardian's until the time was right. That time is now," Luna said.
"Realizing that you may need help, Luna and I decided that it was time to reactivate the scouts from the outer planets," Artemas said. "A day before the battle we met with them and Patterson."
"We had to convince the guys they were scouts at first," Luna said.
"It took several hours," Artemas muttered.
The four guys laughed nervously.
"Anyway...so we gave them first level powers, just like we gave them to you originally. Eventually they may need more, but right now..it'll do," Luna said.
"But what about Maverick?" Amy asked.
"That's a different story," Artemas said. "We also had a new transformation crystal for him. What's also worth explaining is that Maverick is an amalgamation of the four powers of the planets. He has a piece of each of them inside of him," Artemas said.
"That explains why Maverick shows more confidence then the real Patterson," Lita said.
"Anyway..that's what allowed Maverick to act like Mike, Steve, and Rick the first time when you were trying to figure out who he was, he has a piece of them in his powers," Luna said.
"Fortunately I don't possess Mike's sense of humor," Patterson muttered.
"Hey!" Mike said.
"But..why did you wait so long to activate the scouts?" Mina asked.
"There were reasons," Luna said.
"Besides, you were doing fine," Artemas said.
"We were running all over the city," Serena shrieked.
"It's your job," Luna said.
"So?" Serena said.
"Next question," Artemas said.
"Could someone explain to me though what Patterson was doing that one day with the line painting in the street?" Mike asked.
"It was all a clever ruse to keep the negaverse off guard," Artemas said. You see..we gave Patterson a new watch and with it he had located who the negaverse soldiers were in the army and slipped their names to General Nagumo. Now they only had to be healed. But to do that, someone had to get Sailor Moon to do it."
" Patterson..suspecting the negaverse was following him, found the two of us and gave a message to tell the scouts, he then went around to where each of the scouts were, and made some sort of disturbance, all while appearing to be doing something more. This was to attract the negaverse's attention fully onto him, while we told the scouts what was going on. With the enemy distracted we were able to slip Sailor Moon out to the army base and heal all of Richter's soldiers without him realizing it," Luna said.
"But why all the theatrics?" Raye asked.
"Why not?" Patterson replied.
"Clever," Amy said.
"Say..I have a question, where did the truck full of Liquid Nitrogen come from?" Steve asked.
"Give you one guess," Artemas said.
Patterson said nothing as everyone looked at him.
"Okay, okay, that's great and all, but you Guardian guys didn't exactly do so well out there," Serena said.
"First time..hey..we can't be expected just to start kicking butt from the start," Mike said.
"We had to," Raye said.
"Yeah, well......" Mike said.
"Uh..yeah..um..." Steve said.
"Well.." Rick said. The three glanced at each other.
"DARRIEN STEPPED ON YOUR HEAD ONCE!" the three shouted.
"PATTERSON YOU JERK!" Raye shouted and threw her shoe at him. Patterson ducked.
"Calm down Raye! It was hilarious!" Serena said and everyone, except Raye and Patterson started laughing.
"Oh..sorry..completely my fault..." Rick said imitating Raye.
"Yeah...you're right it was," Mike said imitating Darrien. The guys started laughing.
"Come to think of it..Darrien you jerk!" Raye shouted and threw her other shoe at Darrien's head. It bounced off his forehead and Darrien winced slightly.
"The point is that we Sailor Scouts have a natural instinct for fighting," Lita said with a grin.
"There is nothing we can't handle," Mina said.
"Yeah...exactly," Serena said.
"There's no need to get so competitive," Greg said.
"Sure there is," The three girls replied.
"Yeah...we never had a reason to before, but now..." Raye said.
"One day, and they've already started a rivalry," Artemas muttered.
"Why don't we just give up?" Luna said.
"I think we'd better get out of here before things get out of hand," Darrien said.
"Yeah he's right, let's go on dates," The girls, except Amy, said.
And the group all headed out.
"Patterson..you actually have Raye getting stepped on by Darrien on video?" Luna asked once they were gone.
"Uh..yeah.." Patterson muttered.
"Can we see it?" Artemas said.
Patterson grinned slightly and briefly and nodded.
As everyone walked out the front door they were surprised to see Melvin standing there. "HEY EVERYBODY!" he squeaked. "The weirdest thing has happened with the high school class assignments. I was just coming to tell Patterson, but I'm sure you guys want to see this too," he said holding up a paper.
"What do you mean by all this?" Serena asked snatching the paper away.
"What Amy...Lita..Serena...Mina..Raye..Rick..Steve..Mike...Greg.. Patterson..Melvin..Molly.. we're all in the same class!" Serena shouted.
"That's impossible, the odds of that happening..." Lita said.
"Are astronomical," Mina finished.
"We shouldn't complain, that kicks butt," Mike said.
"Yeah, that's cool, all in the same class," Steve said.
"It's just homeroom, but yeah, that's pretty cool," Rick said.
"But how could it have happened. Class selections are pretty much random. Like Lita said the probability of 12 exact students being in the same class is very, very low," Amy said.
"Yet it happened," Greg said.
"Well...conceivably someone could have gone in with a computer and messed with the schedule so it worked out that way," Melvin said. Everyone glared at him.
"Hey..I got caught once," he said.
Everyone glanced at each other and then at the house they had just left.
"Oh..." they said in unison as they realized the only possible explanation.
"Any idea who our teacher is?" Serena asked.
"They haven't released the names yet, but that's an entirely separate
process," Melvin said.
And across town in a small apartment, Miss Patricia Haruna was opening up her class assignment letter.
"THIS CAN'T BE RIGHT!" she shouted after looking it over.
"So...Darrien, is Ellie going to be okay?" Serena asked.
"She should be fine," Darrien said. "She's a smart girl and very attractive, she'll meet someone else, and then things will work out."
"Well that's good, I really have nothing against her, it's just she wanted you and you're mine forever."
"Uh..right.." Darrien said both amused at her comment and a little scared.
"There are a few weeks of summer left, how do you want to spend them?" Serena asked.
"Why don't you tell me?" Darrien said.
"Hmm...that's a good idea," Serena said and pulled out several pages of notes.
"You have a list?" Darrien said in surprise.
"Yep," Serena said.
"Well at least there's something you put effort into," Darrien said.
"I am the Valedictorian of Love Darrien," Serena said.
"You know what the word Valedictorian means?"
"Yep, it's on all of Amy's various diplomas, Valedictorian of Elementary School, then Junior High...various other things too," Serena said. "It means a really smart person."
"Well..sort of," Darrien said.
"I don't really care, just kiss me."
"Serena you've been pretty blunt about the kissing."
"So?"
"Well...it just seems odd."
"Do I have to take the initiative here?"
"Uh..I guess," Darrien said.
"Fine," Serena said and kissed him on the lips and then they embraced.