CHAPTER 3

The night sky was calm and the moon hung still against the stars. Usagi had her arms crossed on her windowsill, her head resting on them as she stared into the sky. “Sailor New V,” she said quietly. “Who are you? Are you really the senshi Rei sees that will harm me, or are you a friend?”

“Usagi?” Luna hopped up onto the windowsill and looked at the blond-haired teen. “Did you say something?”

“Oh, no, Luna,” Usagi said. “I was just wondering about Sailor New V. She saved everyone today. Could she really be the senshi Rei saw in her vision?”

“You mustn’t openly trust strangers,” Luna said. “We know nothing of this ‘Sailor New V.’“

“Exactly!” Usagi exclaimed. “We don’t know anything! She could be good!”

“And Rei’s vision?” Luna had Usagi there. She sighed.

“Well, Rei’s visions aren’t always right,” Usagi said. “There was- No, she was right. Oh, there was the- Oh, no, she was right then, too.”

“I will admit,” Luna said, “That on occasion, Rei’s visions have been more than met the eye. But again, we know nothing of this new senshi, or of this enemy who attacked the school.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know who she is,” Usagi offered. “She said she was the protector of Sougyokyuu Gakuen, not of a star or planet. Maybe she is a senshi in disguise that needs to hide, or maybe she lost her memories or-”

“-She may not be a senshi at all,” Luna interrupted. Usagi frowned.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” she said. She pulled her covers over her and lay down. Luna shook her head before hopping into the window and leaving.

She stopped walking once she reached the corner a block from Usagi’s house. Artemis was already waiting. “Have you confirmed it?” Luna asked as Artemis stood.

“I have,” Artemis replied. “I haven’t alerted Minako, but her V Pen is missing. This ‘Sailor New V’ definately has it.” Luna nodded.

“I trust you can track it?” she asked. Artemis smiled.

“Well of course,” he said. “I’m the one who made it so she could transform.” Together, the two walked down the street and into the night.

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Karen tapped her cheek with her pencil as she tried to focus on her history homework. She found it impossible. She was too excited! She had become a sailor senshi, saved the students and the other senshi, and sent a villain clean onto the ground. She was feeling great. Maybe a little too great.

She closed her book with her pencil still in it and went for her school jacket. Tucked safely in the pocket was the magical pen. “Mother and father will not be home until late,” she said to her vanity mirror. “Surely it will not hurt to experiment with Sailor New V.” She smiled and held up the pen. “New V Power, Transform!”

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“Luna!” Artemis stopped and held up his head.

“What is it?” Luna asked.

“The pen, someone used it again,” Artemis said. “Come on!” He charged forward with Luna on his heels the whole way.

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“I can practically fly!” New V exclaimed as she leapt from one roof to another. “This is so cool!” She skidded to a halt on the jewelry store roof and took in a deep breath. “I feel so alive!” She clasped her hands behind her back and stared out at the city. Then she had a thought. When she had fought that that woman, she had somehow summoned the fish mirror thing. “I wonder...” She looked at her hands, then held up the one that had received the mirror before. She thought hard about the mirror, but she never felt anything appear in her hand. “That is a pity,” she said as she dropped her hand. “I wonder how I did it...”

“Did what?”

New V jumped up in surprise and landed ont he roof’s edge. She looked around the dark roof to see who had spoken, but she saw no one. “Who... Who said that?” she asked.

“I did,” the voice said again. New V looked around in confusion before hearing, “Down here.” New V blinked, then looked down. Sitting on the roof were two cats, a white and a black, and both were staring at her.

New V blinked again. “Talking cats?” she asked. Then she laughed and smacked her forehead. “Of course! I’ve been Sailor New V for too long and I am hallucinating!” She laughed, then looked down at the cats. “I am, am I not?”

“You are not hallucinating,” the black one said. “We are speaking to you.” New V’s eyes bulged again and she twitched. Then she began laughing again.

“Well of course I am hallucinating!” she raved as she hopped off of the edge and strolled past the cats. “I cannot expect a hallucination to admit that it is a hallucination!”

“I assure you, ‘Protector of Sougyokyuu Gakuen,’ that we are not hallucinations,” Artemis protested as he and Luna followed her. “We are the guardians of the Sailor Senshi, and we come out of curiosity. Who are you?”

New V stopped and looked over her shoulder at the cats. “The Sailor Senshi?” she said. She turned full to them. “The sailor senshi have talking cats?” She rubbed her chin. “Hmm, I wonder how I get one.” “You can’t just ‘get one,’“ Luna said. “We were assigned to the senshi in their past lives to guide them in this one.”

“Whoa, past lives?” New V held up her hands. “Wait up minute. Talking cats and past lives? I think I’m just fine being me.”

“And who are you?” Artemis asked again.

“Why, I am Sailor New V,” New V said. “Protector of Sougyokyuu Gakuen, just like you said. I don’t have a talking cat or a past life, but I’m a sailor senshi, too!”

“How can we be sure of that?” Artemis asked. “How do we know you are not the enemy?”

“The enemy tried to kill my friends and classmates today!” New V exclaimed. “That’s the enemy, not me! I saved them!” She looked at her hand. “I just wish I knew how I got that mirror.” Luna and Artemis looked at each other, both catching what she had said.

‘The enemy tried to kill my friends and classmates today!’ Friends and classmates? They both silently concluded that this girl had to be from that school.

“I see,” Luna said. “If I may ask, how did you get your powers?” New V looked down at them and touched her mask.

“Well, I found this pen in my school bag one day, and I was just playing around with it, pretending to be Sailor V, when I became this.” She motioned to herself. “I do not know how or why, but I am a Sailor Senshi now.” She shrugged. The two cats glanced at each other. “Why? Do you know something I do not know?”

“Perhaps,” Artemis said. “This pen belonged to the original Sailor V. I found you here because I’m the one who made it for her.”

“I... I see,” New V said. She looked drastically disheartened. “That would certainly make sense. I suppose she wants her pen back.” Luna and Artemis looked at each other. Before either could answer, a scream arose from the street. New V and the two cats ran to the edge and looked over. Down below were a man and a woman being restrained to the building wall but swirling rings of aquamarine energy. New V looked closer, then gasped. “Mother! Father!” She jumped onto the edge and then over it, flying quickly down and landing on the street with grace. Luna and Artemis looked at each other with concern before hurrying to the nearest roof access.

Down below, New V ran at her parents. They were barely conscious. “Please be okay,” she said. Her father groaned and looked up at her slowly with misty eyes. She would have said more, but she had to stop herself. She couldn’t let her parents know she was a senshi. “Don’t worry sir!” she said with a proud voice. “I shall set you free!”

“Oh?” New V found herself frozen at the sound of a small, barely-there voice. She turned to see a woman with navy hair pinned neatly into a bun. She wore an aquamarine-and-brown dress with buttons up the left side. Over her shoulders was a collar like that of the senshi. It was aquamarine as well. Her arms were covered in silver fishnet not unlike the netting the other woman had worn.

“You are a senshi?” the girl said, her voice barely audible.

“Uh, yes, yes I am,” New V said, standing straight. “I am Sailor New V!”

“Protector of Sougyokyuu Gakuen,” the other girl said. “Yes, Mirandas spoke of you. Her head still hurts.” As the girl spoke, she stayed perfectly still. Even her mouth barely moved. She reminded New V of a statue, and this spooked her.

The girl turned her wrists so the palms of her hands would have New V. From her palms came swirling jets of aquamarine energy. New V moved, but only missed the one. The other struck her right arm and swirled up it, weighing it down and making it unmovable. “Wha- What is this?!” New V exclaimed. She looked up at the girl, who still had not moved.

“Mirandas was most upset,” she said. “She will wish to ‘thank’ you.” New V didn’t like the sound of that. She tried to stand tall, but her arm couldn’t be used. “But first, I must continue my work. I have real senshi to summon to me.”

“I am a real senshi!” New V shouted. Then she gasped as she felt her free hand dip a little. She looked down as she lifted it up, and in her hand was the fish mirror. She pointed it at the senshi. “Now I can prove it! Twin Beams!” The watery twin beams of light shot from the mirror and hit the woman, throwing her back stiffly as though she really were a statue. The spiraled water on her arm fell away, freeing New V completely. She ran to her parents. Their eyes were still misty, as though yet unreleased from whatever the woman had done. She turned back around and found the woman had stood already, as though she had never fallen.

“That is most irritating,” she said, her whisper-like voice now laced with a hint of poison. “Mirandas was right to be angry with you. Now I, Sailor Tritonos, shall punish you.”

“Punishing is my job,” New V said. “You’ve harmed innocent people, and for that you shall be punished!” She lifted her mirror again and shouted, “Twin Beams!” at the same time, Tritonos turned her palms and sent spirals of water at New V. The attacks met, gathering at their crossing point into a growing ball of brilliantly glowing water. New V groaned at the strain as it became harder to hold her ground. Tritonos, on the other hand, didn’t see to be affected at all.

“Hold on Sailor New V!” Luna shouted as she and Artemis arrived. “You must hold on!” New V glanced at Luna and Artemis, then turned her head just enough to catch sight of her parents.

I can’t fail. I must triumph! She turned her attention back to the attacks. “I will triumph! Twin Beams!” A second attack began, pushing the first attack forward into the growing ball and then shoving the ball at Tritonos. The evil woman’s eyes grew and she gasped before the ball enveloped her. When the attack dissipated, Tritonos was gone. New V panted and fell backward onto her bottom. “Did I… Did I kill her?!”

“You may,” Luna said. “We can’t know for sure.” Luna moved to check on the civilians as Artemis went up to New V. He sat down and stared at her, contemplating this unique situation. He glanced at her mirror every now and again as he did. Soon, Luna joined him. “The humans will be all right,” she said. “They will wake up soon.” She tilted her head. “Perhaps they would like to thank their savior?” New V didn’t respond. Then after several moments of silence, she spoke.

“Sailor Tritonos,” she said. “Sailor Tritonos.” She looked at Luna and Artemis. “There is such a thing as evil senshi?” The two cats nodded. This greatly surprised New V. “And… You thought I was one of them?!” She jumped to her feet, her hands clenched. “I am not evil! I am a good sailor senshi who intends on protecting the innocent!” She looked over at her parents. “Tell me this, where were the other sailor senshi? If I hadn’t shown up, what would have happened to those people?” She looked down at the cats. “I’m not saying the sailor senshi are bad or anything, but it seems to me you could always use an extra pair of hands.” She opened her hand with the mirror in it, staring at is in wonder. “I MUST be a real senshi, I just must be…”

“It would seem so,” Artemis said. New V looked at him. “You’ve gained our trust. We can vouch for you with the others; though, don’t always expect a warm welcome. They’ve learned to be wary around strangers.”

“I can understand that,” New V said with a smile. “I am a real senshi, and I plan on proving that to the enemy at every chance I get!”