Chapter 70

"Kaol.......inite!" Professor Tomoe said.

"Yes Professor," Kaolinite said trying to ignore him.

"Given our number of successes, which we can count on no hands, I've thought to try a different tactic?"

"Which is?"

"Pure random chance!"

"Professor, are you sure? I mean, shouldn't your computer give you a better idea of..."

"I feel that my method may be just fine," Tomoe said.

"Professor, your computer crashed again didn't it?"

"Um..well..of course it did. You wouldn't believe the operating system on this thing. I mean I could design a better one...remind me to punish whoever made it once we took over the world."

"Yes Professor."

"Anyway...the next target will be....give me a newspaper," Tomoe said and leafed through it. "Here...."

"The sale at the meat market?" Kaolinite asked.

"No, this air show!" Tomoe said and burst out laughing.

"Professor...pardon me for asking, but isn't an entire air show a little presumptuous?"

"Not the entire thing! I want you to find a pilot!"

"Oh..very well..." Kaolinite said.

"Say..Professor? Won't an air show like this be sure to attract the Sailor Scouts?"

"Why do you say that?" the professor asked picking up a lemon and sticking it in a microwave.

"Because they're always where we don't want them to be, and at such a public event they're bound to be there."

"Oh come now..what do girls care about airplanes?" Tomoe asked.

"Hmm..maximum speed mach two...a truly spectacular feat of aerodynamics," Amy said looking at the fighter jet sitting in front of her.

"Bet this could kick some serious butt," Lita said.

"Looks graceful too," Mina said.

"If we had that thing we wouldn't need to transform," Serena muttered.

"Always looking for a way to make you do less work ehh Serena?" Mina asked.

"You know me," Serena said.

"At first when Darrien said we should come here I wasn't exactly interested, but hey this is nice and all..besides...flying must have it's own special value," Mina said.

"Never mind the firepower here," Lita said.

"And the advancements in aerospace physics," Amy said.

"Oh..there you girls are," Darrien said. "You like it here?"

"Did you enjoy your trip to the bathroom?" Serena asked dreamily.

The other three girls eyes dilated in surprise.

"Uh..yes..it was...um...great," Darrien said. "Say, why didn't Raye want to come?"

"Something's bothering her we think, she won't tell us," Lita said.

"We thought we'd give her time to work it out," Mina said.

"Believe me, we've tried to talk to her," Serena said dejectedly.

"Isn't that the guys over there?" Amy asked pointing at what proved to be the four guardian scouts, of course in human form. The four were all standing around another jet fighter.

"Well..look at this sucker...bet..the self defense forces would love to have more of these," Steve said.

"That is if they were allowed to have more..," Rick said.

"Yeah...well..you wouldn't catch me in one of these anytime. Look at how cramped it is in the cockpit," Mike said.

"When you're in the middle of battle, I really don't think you care," Steve said. "What do you want a recliner?"

"Might be nice," Mike said.

"Think about the damage we could do with one of these," Mike said.

"Speaking of damage, hey, Steve, while you're here maybe someone can tell you why you can't manage to get a rocket into the air," Rick aid.

"Not a bad idea," Steve said taking it all in stride.

"Hey..Greg...you aren't saying much," Mike said.

"I think it's best to let you guys do the talking," Greg replied. "You three have such good chemistry."

"Oh..yes..yes...we do," Mike said slowly.

"Right...you wouldn't believe how much chemistry we got," Steve said.

"Greg, they have no idea what you mean," Rick said.

"I'm well aware of that," Greg said with a slight grin.

"Hey guys!" Lita said cheerfully.

The four turned to see, the four girls and Darrien standing there.

"Oh..hey..." Steve said.

"We weren't doing nothing," Mike said.

"Double negative, you should really study your grammar," Amy said.

"Yeah, then you'll talk good," Mina said.

"You are joking aren't you?" Lita asked.

"That time, yes," Mina said.

"When it's you I can almost believe that it wasn't," Lita said.

"You know what they say Lita, better to say the right thing the wrong way, then the wrong thing the right way."

"When did someone say that?" Lita said.

"Don't know, I might have said it wrong," Mina said.

"Ehh..." Lita said.

"So what brings you to the air show?" Greg asked Amy.

"Darrien suggested it and we came," Amy said. "You?"

"Well...I just went with them," Greg said.

"Oh..." Amy said.

"So..where's Raye?" Rick asked Mina.

"She wanted to stay home.." Mina said.

"Oh..wonder why," Rick said growing concerned.

"It's probably nothing. Raye has a solitary side to her."

"Don't we all?" Rick said.

"Well..that's true enough," Mina said.

"Hmm...say...Steve..what do you say me and you go off and spend some quality time together?" Lita asked.

"Sure..." Steve said and headed off.

"Mike..same message," Mina said.

"Okay, but Steve isn't here?" Mike said.

"Stop taking things so literally. Do you wake up every morning and read a book about how to be annoying."

"Of course not," Mike said.

"Oh," Mina said.

"It's a book on tape."

Mina did a double take and pulled him away.

"Darrien..take me somewhere special..." Serena said.

"Here?" Darrien asked.

"Yes, I meant somewhere special in the context of the air show."

"Context?"

"Sure...context."

"Okay," Darrien said and lead her off.

"Hey..Rick....I guess you're.." Greg said.

"Alone..sure...don't worry, I'll keep myself busy," Rick said and walked off.

"Hmm...he must be worried about Raye," Amy said as she watched him go.

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Greg asked.

"None of us know," Amy said.

"Oh...I thought you girls were close."

"We're practically sisters, you know that."

"And she hasn't told you?"

"Raye keeps her problems to herself. She doesn't want us to see anything that might convince us that she's weak. That's her way," Amy said.

"Well I'd gathered that she kinda like that...but...still.." Greg said. "I'm no expert on friendship..well...but...I thought that was what being a friend was all about."

"Maybe..."Amy said.

"Darrien.we haven't seen a lot of each other lately," Serena said hugging her boyfriend's arm tightly.

"Well Serena, we have school work," Darrien said.

"Oh..that..." Serena said. "You know what they say about school work."

"What?"

"If you close your eyes...it isn't really there," Serena said.

"That's what they say?" Darrien asked.

"Well..it's something I came up with," Serena said.

"That's good Serena....aw...geez...I gotta get to the bathroom again."

"You all right?"

"Must be something I ate..you enjoy yourself..I'll catch up with you later," Darrien said.

"Uh right..." Serena said.

That's just great.

Hmm...I wonder what's bugging Raye..could she be going through the same thing I am...worrying about dreams and stuff....I wish I knew...but I don't want her to think I'm poking into her business either...I don't know what to do. Rick thought as he walked along. What a train wreck our relationship is. I wouldn't put up with it, if I wasn't so madly in love with her.

"Wow..you're a pilot?" Lita asked.

"Sure..." The blonde woman replied leaning against the side of a fighter jet.

"I hadn't thought they let women fly these things," Steve said. Lita glanced at him.

"I didn't say I didn't think they could..I was just wondering," Steve said.

"Well..I'm the first," the pilot said.

"Oh...that's great, we females can kick as much butt as men," Lita said.

"Sometimes even more," the pilot said and smiled.

"Yes, very true," Lita said glancing at Steve.

"Ehh..yeah..sure it is," Steve said.

"So Mike..have you dreamt you were flying?" Mina asked as the two of them leaned against a rail beside a large airliner parked at one end of the air show.

"Uh..sure I've dreamt I was flying, but I was always naked, and there were always girls staring at me," Mike replied.

Mina frowned.

"But that wasn't the worst of it..." Mike said.

"What was?" Mina asked.

"I would wake up and wish it wasn't a dream," Mike said stoically.

Mina collapsed and stood up quickly.

"Nice of you to tell me that," She muttered.

"This weapon is so advanced, it could hit a mailbox on any corner in Tokyo, and not even scratch the building it sat in front of it," A military officer was saying standing beside a missile. Amy and Greg stood amongst many of the curious spectators.

"How is that possible?" Someone asked.

"Using very top secret advanced computer programs," the military officer said.

"Is this the same missile that was aimed at a ship out in the harbor and managed to hit the old abandoned lighthouse?" someone else asked.

"No, that was the navy's," the officer said quickly.

"We have a navy?" Someone asked.

"Ehh..." the military officer said and sighed.

"Steve could probably use that system for his rockets," Amy observed.

"Yeah..but it would probably be a waste of money, his rockets only get up into the air twenty four point three percent of the time," Greg said.

"You've done an analysis?" Amy asked.

"Yes, though there were several conditions of error," Greg said.

"Oh..." Amy said and stared at him.

"What.." Greg said nervously.

"Oh..sorry..it's just...I loved the way you said conditions of error," Amy said blushing.

"Oh..." Greg said.

Minutes later.

"It's about time for the actual air show to begin," Serena said. "You all right Darrien?"

"Uh...now that you mention it? No," Darrien said and hurried back to the bathroom.

"Ehh..." Serena said and wandered over to a podium where a microphone was set up. Several VIP's sat behind it and a crowd gather. Serena found her friends standing around her.

"Where's Darrien?" Mina asked.

"Still in the bathroom," Serena muttered.

"Oh..I hope it's not trichinosis," Amy said.

"Yeah...we wouldn't want to catch that bug," Mike said.

"Actually it's not contagious it's a..." Amy began.

"Welcome Everyone!" came General Nagumo's voice interrupting Amy. The Head of the SDF was standing behind the podium. The Prime Minister, Sylia Coral, sat to his left, along with several other military officers and to the group's surprise Patterson.

"What's he doing up there?" Mike wondered.

"I'm glad you're attending this air show, and we'd also like to mention that this is in part in honor of the valiant defense of this city that everyone showed during the battle with those flower creatures. That is why I have many of the heroes of that battle up here with me today.

"Anyway..let's begin..." he said.

They all heard a whistling.

"What's that?" Lita asked.

"Hit the deck!" someone shouted. A missile flew at the podium. The military officers all surrounded the Prime Minister, while everyone else scattered. The missile hit the podium and bathed most of the people near it with energy. They collapsed.

"That wasn't a normal missile!" Amy realized. The scouts looked up to see a winged creature flying above them.

"That looks like that pilot we saw," Lita said.

"Only know she's one of those creatures..." Steve said.

"She looks like she's merged with a jet or something," Mike said.

"Well..we've got to fight it," Serena said and the group hurried off to transformation.

"Celestial Moon Power!"

"Mercury Star Power!"

"Venus Star Power!"

"Jupiter Star Power!"

"Saturn Power!"

"Neptune Power!"

"Uranus Power!"

"Pluto Power!"

And the scouts finished their transformation.

"Now what?" Jupiter said as the pilot unleashed a missile attack that drained more energy.

"We'll she's flying low...we can knock her out of the sky," Pluto said drawing his sword. The other three did the same. They let loose an attack which flew at the pilot, but she weaved out of the way and came around right at them.

"Uh oh...." Neptune said.

The group started running as a missile flew at them.

"Jump!" Mercury shouted. The group leapt up as the attack hit the ground and barely avoided the energy surged.

"No more of your plans," Jupiter said.

"We'd have to fly to stop her," Venus said.

"Well let's steal a plane then," Sailor Moon said.

"Ahem..anyone here a pilot?" Jupiter replied.

"Hey..I could become one with my disguise power," Sailor Moon said.

"Uh...I'm not so sure that would be a good thing," Venus said.

They heard rotor blades and appearing above them was a helicopter.

"Hey...where'd that come from..." Neptune said.

"Hey Sailor Scouts....need a lift," came Colonel Patterson's voice from inside it.

"As a matter of fact," Jupiter said.

"Hop on, she's coming back," Patterson said hurriedly.

"You guys stay here," Jupiter said to the four guys.

"Why?" Uranus said.

"We may need you to back us up..." Jupiter said as the helicopter and four Sailor Scouts lifted off the ground.

"Hey!" Pluto said.

"You know guys...I think they're ditching us," Neptune said.

They heard a missile shrieking towards them.

"Time to go," Uranus said and the four jumped out of the way of the missile attack. The pilot frowned and whirled around to attack again.

On the helicopter.

"That attack took out most of the military leadership..guess I'm running the SDF right now," Colonel Patterson said with a slight grin.

"She doesn't seem have noticed us yet..." Mercury said.

"Yeah they're concentrating on the guys," Venus said.

"At least they're being a good distraction this time," Jupiter said.

"But how do we stop that thing..it can fly high and it can avoid any of our attacks," Sailor Moon said.

"Plus..we believe she has actually merged with the airplane. which means she has all sorts of radar and tracking devices in there...I'm only guessing, but she may be able to see you're attacks coming from anywhere," Patterson said.

"Never mind the fact that if we attacked her and brought her back to normal, she'd fall to her death," Venus said.

"Hmm...not if someone caught her on the way down," Mercury said.

"Like who?" Jupiter said.

"Well, maybe the guys could do it..." Mercury said.

"You're entrusting our success to those jokers?" Venus said.

"Well..they are down there," Mercury said.

"That's assuming we can knock her out of the sky in the first place," Jupiter said.

"Uh oh..she's coming at us," the pilot of the helicopter said.

"We've never attacked this high up before..I hope it doesn't do some strange things," Mercury said. "Try for accuracy Venus!"

"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" Venus shouted and launched her attack. The pilot creature moved out of the way and launched a missile.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon shouted and flung her attack out smashing it into the missile and exploding it before it reached the chopper.

"Good thinking Sailor Moon," Jupiter said as the tiara returned.

"What if you used your bubbles Mercury to confuse it?" Venus asked.

"No good....my attack would probably be blown back into us....you're attacks can cut through the wind up here..mine can't.." Mercury replied.

"Oh..good thinking," Jupiter said.

"She's only got two missiles left..." Patterson said. "If we get her to use them..."

"Incoming," Jupiter said.

"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" Venus shouted and blew the missile apart.

"One more.." Nagumo said.

"She's coming around to the other side!" the helicopter pilot shouted. The scouts hurried to the other side of the aircraft..

"Oh..no..she's firing at the rotors! We can't shoot through them!" Mercury shouted.

"But I can fling around them," Sailor Moon said.

"No, Sailor Moon, you're tiara would probably hit the rotors on the way back," Mercury said and pulled out her computer.

"Only one thing to do then....Venus said and placed a parachute on her back...."

"Venus..no.." Jupiter said.

"Got to..." Venus said and jumped out the side of the helicopter.

"Venus! Crescent Beam Smash!" she shouted and blasted the missile apart at the last second.

"I can't believe I just did this!" Venus said screaming as she pulled the rip cord and started dropping.

"We only had one parachute," Patterson muttered.

"Typical army planning," Jupiter said.

"We have other problems right now.." Mercury said as the nega-plane flew right at them.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon shouted. The nega-plane swerved to the side.

"Evasive!" Nagumo said. The helicopter lifted up and the plane-creature flew by.

"She's got every angle on us and she's fast," Patterson said.

"Did you say that she's merged with the helicopter?" Mercury asked.

"Don't you have on board computers?"

"Yes..but.."

Mercury pulled out her computer and utilized her special power that enchances her.as she typed quickly.

"What is she doing?" Nagumo asked.

"Not sure myself," Jupiter said.

Mercury rapidly typed commands into the computer, suddenly the nega-plane stopped and began dropping.

"Now Sailor Moon!" Mercury said.

"Moon Spiral Hearts Attack!" Sailor Moon shouted and hit the powered down creature, so influenced by the merger with the computer that it was weak enough to be hit with the attack and destroyed.

"Scouts come in!" Jupiter shouted into her communicator. "Wherever you are...you've got to catch that pilot before she hits the ground!"

"What?" Pluto replied.

"Just do it! Can you see her!" Jupiter said.

"Yes!" Neptune said.

"Use one of your super jumps when she drops closer and get her," Jupiter said. "Venus are you there..."

"I'm kinda tangled up in the parachute," Venus muttered.

"Oh...." Jupiter muttered.

"I don't know if they can do it or not," Sailor Moon said worriedly. "Mercury..couldn't you use your bubbles like you did when you saved the guys when we were fighting Jaedite?"

"No, Sailor Moon, we're not close enough....and this helicopter can't get close enough fast enough I'm betting," Mercury said.

Colonel Patterson nodded solemnly.

"It's up to them,"Sailor Moon said.

"Okay..this is for all the marbles..we'll get four shots at it," Uranus said. "I'll go first."

"Why you?" Neptune said.

"Because I'm the man," Uranus said.

"Here she comes," Pluto said. Uranus jumped reaching maximum height.

"Dang it! She's too high up!" Uranus muttered and came back down missing.

"Wait..five seconds...." Pluto said...."Now!" he jumped and flew right over the pilot.

"Dang it!" he said.

"My turn.." Neptune said.

"Aim low!" Saturn said.

"I got it!" Neptune said and jumped, he caught the pilot but then became off balance and fell downward face first...if he hit, he wouldn't survive.

"Uh oh," Saturn said.

"Come on," Maverick said running up. "Jump!"

The two did and managed to catch the falling pair, but their fall was awkward and all landed in a twisted pile.

"Ehh...nice landing," Neptune said.

The helicopter soon landed and the three Sailor Scouts jumped out, Venus showed up soon after.

"Well..I guess the army owes you again," General Nagumo said staggering up still weak from the attack.

"General Nagumo, please...if you owe us..make sure you have enough parachutes in your aircraft," Jupiter said.

"It's a deal," Nagumo said.

"And I want a good steak!" Sailor Moon said.

"Uh..I'll see what I can do," Nagumo said.

"Dang...foiled again," Kaolinite said observing from above. "The Professor won't be pleased," she said and vanished.

CHAPTER 66 CHAPTER 67 CHAPTER 68 CHAPTER 69 CHAPTER 70  CHAPTER 71 

CHAPTER 72 CHAPTER 73 CHAPTER 74 CHAPTER 75  CHAPTER 76 CHAPTER 77

 CHAPTER 78 CHAPTER 79 CHAPTER 80  CHAPTER 81  CHAPTER 82 CHAPTER 83

CHAPTER 84 CHAPTER 85  CHAPTER 86 CHAPTER 87 CHAPTER 88 CHAPTER 89

 CHAPTER 90 CHAPTER 91 CHAPTER 92 CHAPTER 93 CHAPTER 94 CHAPTER 95

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