CHAPTER 4

The morning air was chilly and the sky was still dark as the girls gathered at the temple for a meeting. Luna and Artemis hadn’t classified it as an emergency, but their timing was odd. The last thing the senshi wanted to do on a Sunday morning was get up early, especially Usagi, but they all managed to get there on time.

Except for Usagi.

They all waited for her, and when she arrived, the two cats wasted no time getting on with the meeting. “Artemis and I have taken the liberty of making contact with Sailor New V,” Luna said. “We’ve determined that as of yet, she is not a threat.”

“And you are sure of this?” Haruka asked in her usual way.

“Positive,” Artemis said. “Or at least, she’s less of a threat than the senshi she defeated last night single-handidly.” There was a resounding “WHAT?!” to which Artemis added, “A Sailor senshi named Sailor Tritonus attacked a man and woman last night just after we’d made contact with Sailor New V. Tritonus was attacking them in hopes of attracting all of you. New V put a stop to her and, after some difficulty, seemingly destroyed the evil senshi.”

“What do you mean by ‘seemingly?’” Rei asked.

“The senshi disappeared in the attack and was not seen again,” Luna replied, “But we know better than to assume such a thing.”

“Sailor New V is powerful, however,” Artemis said. “She uses Minako’s transformation pen from her time as Sailor V, but her powers are far greater than what hers were.” Minako grew red in the face, clearly fighting back a very powerful tantrum.

“Meaning Sailor New V is a real senshi!” Usagi exclaimed. “This must mean she’s a lost senshi who is in disguise!”

“I don’t think so,” Luna said, shaking her head. “If she is, she is really clueless to it. She is under the impression that all of her power comes from the pen, which could be plausible if not for one thing.”

“The mirror,” Ami finished. Luna nodded.

“What mirror?” Hotaru asked.

“Sailor New V has a mirror which she uses to attack,” Artemis said. “We don’t know where is comes from, but it is impossible for it to come from the pen.” The others nodded in understanding.

“She checks out for now,” Haruka said, “But it doesn’t mean we have to trust her.”

“Which puts us back at the school,” Michiru continued. “She and the enemy are somehow connected to that school, and we have a plan to check it out.” She lifted her head and eyed the younger senshi. “It will require a certain amount of maturity from all of you.”

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“This is so exciting!” Minako exclaimed as she tossed things around in her closet. She’d completely forgotten the matter of her pen being in the hands of a stranger and instead was engrossed in the matter of Michiru and Haruka’s plan: Investigate Sougyokyuu Gakuen by way of the school’s annual dance. This had excited the girls to no end including, strangely enough, Ami.

“Oh, Artemis!” Minako spun around holding a long yellow dress with a white sash. “How about this one?” Her smile fell into amusement at the sight of Artemis curled up in a ball on the edge of the bed. “ARTEMIS!” The cat jumped and landed on the edge, sliding off and landing on his back. Minako's eyes widened. “I thought cats always landed on their feet.” Artemis grumbled and climbed back up on the bed. “Okay, so how about this dress?”

“Minako, remember that there is a purpose to this outing,” Artemis said. “Also, remember that is isn't until Saturday evening. There is plenty of time to plan.” The cat sighed and curled back up. Minako stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to her closet. She tapped her chin as she thought. “Perhaps you should put some thought into the homework you've been neglecting,” Artemis added. Minako responded by burying him with a pile of clothing, to which the cat panicked and clawed his way out, much to Minako's dismay.

“My dresses!” Minako shrieked. Artemis dove under the bed as Minako continued to shriek in a panic. Then is stopped, and he could hear laughing. Before he knew it, Minako had reached under the bed, pulled him out by the scruff of the neck, and held him up wearing a huge grin. “That's okay!” she said. “It gives me an excuse to go shopping!”

“Did you ever need an excuse before?” Artemis asked as Minako skipped out of her room, him still in tow.

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It didn't take long to pull together the others for a shopping trip. Minako crossed paths with Usagi and Rei on the way and met Makoto and Ami at the stores. Neither Luna nor Artemis were present, as both had gotten away shortly before arriving at the stores. Usagi was quick to pick a store. They could all agree on it and promptly began flipping through the various dresses. Minako and Usagi were quick to pick dresses to try on, Makoto was almost as quick, and Rei spent time carefully deciding which to try. Ami, however, didn't even bother flipping through the articles of clothing.

She walked by them slowly, looking at them with slight glances. As interested in the dance as she was, she wasn't particularly interested in the festivity of it. Rather, she wanted more to learn about the school, and to find out more about the entry exams and the waiting list.

“Oh! This is perfect!” Ami looked over the clothing rack at Usagi, who jumped up and down excitedly holding and pink and white dress with a pale blue sash and trim. Ami smiled, then sighed into a frown. She loved her friends dearly, but it was times like these that she felt... distanced, like she didn't belong. She sighed again and turned to continue walked, but jumped back when she nearly ran into someone.

“Oh! I'm sorry!” the girl exclaimed. She had blue eyes behind silver-rimmed glasses and blond hair in pigtails and wore a vest with checkered trim over a short-sleeved blouse. “I'm sorry,” she said again. “I just... noticed... you seem quite sad.” Ami smiled.

“What would make you say that?” she asked. The girl looked over at Usagi and the others, and then back at Ami.

“You watch your friends from a distance, with a sad smile,” she said. Ami's smile faded.

“Yes, I suppose I do,” she said. She didn't say anymore, and the girl picked up on it.

“You're Mizuno Ami, yes?” the girl asked. Ami nodded. “I thought I recognized you. I saw your picture on your profile.” Ami looked surprised.

“Profile?”

“Yes, of the lead candidates for entry,” the girl said. Ami still looked confused. “Into Sougyokyuu Gakuen. All those who submitted forms for the entry waiting list have profiles to determine if they would be appropriate for entry into our school.”

“You're from the school?” Ami asked. The girl nodded.

“Yes, I attend Sougyokyuu Gakuen with my best friend.” The girl looked over across the store, where the brown-haired girl from the temple was browsing the dresses. The girl sighed. “She is my best friend, and for that I love her dearly, but...” She looked at Ami. “I feel like I don't belong. Everyone likes her, especially the most popular girl in school. I, however, am just another walking encyclopedia. Why she still insists that I am her best friend, I'll never know.” Ami understood the girl perfectly.

“You know, you know my name,” Ami said with a smile, “But I do not know yours.”

“Oh!” The girl laughed. “I am Tenka, Cupino Tenka.”

“Cupino!” Ami smiled. “I've heard of you! You carry the top mathematic scores in all of Sougyokyuu Gakuen!” Tenka blushed.

“Uh, well, I suppose that would be me,” she said meekly. “I don't usually advertise it, but I suppose with you being a genius and all, you'd know.” Tenka glanced back over at her friend and then back to Ami. “I don't think I've ever told her, and I wouldn't want her to know. I'd rather she see me as normal.” She laughed. “I don't even iron my uniform just so I'll seem normal.”

“You shouldn't have to,” Ami said. “If she really is your friend, she'll love you just the same no matter what.” Tenka looked up at Ami and smiled.

“Tenka! Where'd you go?” Tenka and Ami looked over as Tenka's friend came running up. “There you are! Look at this dress! It would look perfect on you!”

“Ami-chan!” Ami looked over to her friends as they looked around for her.

“I suppose I should go,” Ami said. “It was a pleasure to meet you.” She turned and returned to her friends, who also had a dress picked out for her.

“Say Tenka, who was that?” Karen asked, looking at the unfamiliar girls. Tenka smiled.

“My sister in another life,” she said. “Now, what makes you think I'll dare where that dress?”

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“I noticed I am more flexible,” Sailor New V said as she stretched. “I could never stretch like this in track.” She stood up straight and looked over at her “mentors,” the guardian cats of the Sailor Senshi. “I'm faster, too. Do the others get better when they become senshi?”

“I suppose,” Luna said. Artemis didn't say anything. He was more busy taking notes about the things New V said and did, anything that could add up to figuring out who she really was. He'd been at it for several nights now. Each night, he and Luna would catch up with Sailor New V as she passed by Minako's apartment building, giving them reason to think she lived nearby. They would then tutor her, train her as they had the other senshi.

“So, what will we do tonight?” she asked, bouncing on the fronts of her feet.

“Talk,” Luna said. “We will talk.” New V was surprised.

“Uh, talk? About what?”

“About you,” Luna replied. “Who are you? Where are you from? We just want to know about you.”

“I don't know,” New V said as she rubbed her arm. “I don't know what you would want to know. I haven't been a senshi long.”

“What about when you aren't a senshi?” Artemis asked. “Who are you then?”

“Well I'm certainly not me,” New V said. “When I'm not a senshi, I'm just another girl.” She shrugged. She wasn't completely comfortable talking to the cats. She was all for learning how to be a senshi, but when she was Sailor New V, she didn't want to think about Karen Thomas, even though Karen couldn't stop thinking about Sailor New V.

Luckily for New V, the cats didn't have time to push the subject. An alarm was going off somewhere. New V ran to the roof's edge instantly. She looked down and watched as black-hooded men ran out from the Jewelry store below. “Robbers!” she shouted excitedly. “Great! A normal bad guy!” She wasted no time jumping from the edge, leaving the cats behind to shake their heads.

“She is so reckless and impatient,” Luna said. Artemis nodded and ran ahead to follow by way of a safer route. Luna sighed and followed Artemis, hoping New V didn't break anything on her way down.

New V, meanwhile, landed gracefully on the edge of the jewelry store sign before stepping off and landing safely at the doors of the store. She ran after the robbers, who ran down an alley a few buildings down. She picked up the pace and skidded around the corner as a yellow convertible came to a stop in front of it. The female occupants watched the ensuing fight with interest.

New V charged after the robbers, catching up with ease and leaping over them. She landed in their path, causing them to stop in surprise. “I don't think those belong to you,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “In fact, I know they don't. Now I'd ask you to kindly return them, but I don't think you're smart enough to do that.” The two men looked at each other, then back at New V.

“And just who are you supposed to be, Sailor V?” the one laughed.

“No, I am Sailor New V, the senshi of New Justice!” she proclaimed, raising a pointed hand. She lowered it to point at them. “In the name of New Justice, you will be punished!” The two men laughed and dropped the jewels, quickly pulling out guns. They shot at her, but she had already ducked. She hadn't exactly counted on guns, but it was better than that Sailor Tritonus she had faced. She rolled out of the gun's paths and leaped from her crouched position. As she came down, she kicked one of the men, leaving a clear imprint of her shoe on the man's face. She then landed and quickly turned, kicking the other with the back of her heel. He flew backward, twisting and landing flat on his stomach. Both men were down for the count. “Well, that was refreshingly easy,” she said. She grabbed a discarded plastic bag and proceeded to use it to tie the two men's wrists together.

The females in the yellow car watched, mildly impressed. “She seems to know what she is doing,” Michiru said of the girl.

“So what?” Haruka asked. “She could still be part of the enemy sent to throw us off.” Michiru sighed. She tried to use some of Usagi's optimism, but Haruka's points were usually hard to argue with. Haruka wordlessly proceeded to turn her car key, but she was stopped when the car suddenly shook. She and Michiru let out gasps of surprise and looked up to see a cloaked woman and a strange senshi on the hood of the car. The senshi fit Luna and Artemis’ description of Sailor Tritonus, and the other… looked like the woman from Sougyokyuu Gakuen! Just enough of her cloak was to the side for them to see the fishnet on her arms.

“We’ve waited a long time for this,” said the hooded one. She stood tall and pulled her hood from her head, then pulled the cloak completely from her. She was dressed the same as the other, save for the differences in colors. She dropped the cloak and shook her mussed shoulder-length hair. It was pale, and gave Haruka a sick feeling in her stomach that made her squirm. “What is the problem?” she asked. “Does the sight of your planet’s guardian not please you?”

“Who are you?” Haruka asked.

“My lady, I am hurt,” the senshi said sarcastically. “How can you not remember you loyal guardian, Sailor Mirandas?”

“And you must be Tritonus,” Michiru said of the second senshi. Tritonus moved her head in a slight tilt, acknowledging Michiru. “You attacked innocent people a few nights ago.”

“You disappointed her by not showing up,” Mirandas said. “She was left to deal with some senshi nobody.”

“As we recall,” Haruka said, “That senshi nobody destroyed her.” This made Mirandas laugh.

“A false, nobody senshi can’t do a thing to us,” Mirandas said. Then she smiled. “Unlike what we’ll do to you.”

“Twin Beams!” The two senshi leapt from the roof of the car, avoiding Sailor New V’s attack completely. They landed in unison in front of the car. New V gasped. “You!” she said, pointing at Tritonus. “I thought…”

“You are so foolish,” the senshi said in her soft, whisper-like voice. “A fake senshi cannot harm me.”

“I am not fake!” New V shouted. “I am a real senshi! You are fake! A real senshi would never harm innocent people like you do!”

“You think them innocent?” Mirandas asked, pointing to Haruka and Michiru. “They are traitors to the empire, and must be disposed of in the way all traitors should.”

“Slowly,” Tritonus added, “And painfully.” New V looked at the two women, which cost her precious time as she felt the heavy water snake up her left arm.

“No!” she shouted, jumping back and pushing at the water. She shouted as she was pulled down by the weight of the water spiraling around her left leg.

“A fool,” Tritonus said.

“A fool indeed if she thinks she can stand up to us,” Mirandas said. She glanced over at Haruka and Michiru. “Well what are you waiting for? Come and rescue her! Or, are you cowards now as her were in the past? Afraid to show your true identities?” Haruka and Michiru looked at each other.

“Get out of here!” New V shouted to them. “I can handle them, get out of here!”

“Listen to you!” Mirandas laughed. “You speak to them as though they were helpless! Can you not tell who they are?” New V starred at Mirandas, then looked back at the two women, who were now jumping out of the car.

“This ends now,” Haruka said, lifting her hand. In it was a wand. “Uranus Planet Power, make-up!”

“Neptune Planet Power, make-up!” Michiru shouted. New V’s eyes widened as the two women before her became senshi.

“I don’t believe it,” she whispered. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune posed defensively, ready to fight.

“That is better,” Mirandas said. She lifted her hands up at the two senshi. “Wind Distruption!” A swirling cyclone of blue and gold light shot at Uranus and Neptune. They leapt to opposite sides, but as soon as they landed, they were both weighed down by Tritonus’ water. “And now we can extract our revenge,” Mirandas said gleefully.

“No,” New V whispered. She looked at her mirror, trapped in her hand by the water. “Come on,” she whispered, “Come on…” She pulled and twisted, but nothing she did could free her arm. She looked up at Uranus and Neptune, who were completely at the mercy of Mirandas and Tritonus. “I am a real senshi, I can’t let them be destroyed!” She closed her eyes. “Come… ON! Twin Beams!”

Mirandas and Tritonus stopped their approach and turned to the suddenly burst of light coming from New V. Her hand glowed brilliantly as the mirror shined brightly in New V’s freed hand. Her leg was still trapped, but she didn’t need it. With a smirk across her face, she pointed the mirror at Mirandas and Tritonus. “Twin Beam!” The two senshi leapt away, but they hadn’t been New V’s target. Instead, the attack struck Tritonus’ water, dissolving it and freeing the senshi. They were instantly up and ready.

“World Shaking!” Uranus shouted, aiming her attack for Mirandas.

“Deep Submerge!” Neptune shouted, her attack flying at Tritonus. The two senshi were hit no problem, screaming in pain. They landed rough and disappeared.

“Good job, senshi!” Artemis said as he and Luna approached.

“Yeah, good job,” New V said. “Now, maybe a little help here?” She pulled at her leg. Uranus looked at Neptune, then both looked at the cats. The cats nodded. Uranus sighed and called forth her sword. Before she could make use of it, however, someone appeared they hadn’t expected: Sailor Venus, skidding backward on the road and landing limply by New V. The senshi looked up at the source of Venus’ pain. The source was a senshi not unlike Mirandas and Tritonus, except she was colored in orange and blue and had short gray hair in messy waves. She was silent as she lifted her hand for another attack. Uranus and Neptune didn’t react in time as the attack struck. The senshi laughed hysterically as it disappeared. When the light of the attack faded, the senshi found that Venus was untouched, and Sailor New V was gone.