Sailor Moon
Alternate Reality
*****************
Part 2: "In apprehension, how like a God."
Written by Strike Fiss,
Ninja Crowbotics, 1996
Prologue
A simple looking man in a long, flowing white lab-coat sat in his chair,
feet reclined on his desk. He waited patiently as the door to his office opened
and another man, dressed in a similar way, came up to him and handed him a
crystal. "What's this?" he asked.
The second man sighed. "The Director wants to know why you insist on
allocating three of our Tokyo servers on your little Sailor Scout friends."
The first man put down his feet and examined the data crystal. "I know
she's not pleased. What I asked was what's on this crystal."
"We detected another feed-back loop on our server number twelve. As you
know, that particular post is located in the Fujistzima Computers Tech
institute...a private company that has no affiliation with the Web."
The man raised his eyebrow. "So? Have you confirmed it?"
The second man nodded. "Someone else is watching."
He smiled. "Well then, I was right. Tell ALL the Tokyo servers to go
online and focus on the Sailor Scouts." he paused. "I don't care what the
Director has to say about it, just do it."
"I'll try to get authorization..."
"No." he interrupted his aid. "This is too important. I want you to do it
now, and I mean NOW."
The aid nodded.
"Also," he took a deep breath "set up a fifty-three point hex-grid with the
double triaxil monitor scans. All worms except numbers zero-zero-three and one-
through-eight. Also, see if R&D finished the new powder balls. Set up the main
monitor to display everything in a trigonal-penta-grid with three IP settings
and a 4D, three second uplink, and I want it by the time I finish lunch...got
it?"
The aid looked slightly distressed at the large list of orders to carry
out, but nodded quickly and left.
The man sighed. "We're too close to the Omega Point to fuck up the Earth
now."
The Sailor Scouts were going to need some help, or that's exactly what
would happen.
Chapter 1
Chris sat at his desk in 'Advanced Computer Class' with a bored look on his
face. He watched as the teacher explained how to turn on the computer with the
power button. "Why me?" he said under his breath.
The teacher looked at him briefly, probably hearing his remark, but
continued his lesson to the other students.
His thoughts drifted back to his new identity, Prince of Saturn, or Strike
Fiss. "I wish I could nuke this bastard with my sword, right about now." he
thought.
"Chris Stover?" a voice asked suddenly.
Chris looked up. Everyone was looking at him. He got nervous. "Uh?"
The teacher smiled. "Since you seem so bored, that means you must know
this stuff already."
Chris blinked.
"If you're so smart, please show us the last lesson. I believe it's how to
get onto the Internet."
"Is that all?" Chris said, surprised at his blunt answer. He began
punching away at the keyboard.
The teacher and students all watched in amazement as the homepage for the
White-House came up on the screen. "How'd you..." the teacher gasped. "I-I
locked it out! You can't do that!"
Chris nodded. "You were already connected. You just have to know what to
rename." he paused. "And yes, I can do that."
"Uh...thank you, uh, Chris...continue."
Some of the other students began laughing. Chris shot them a weird look
and they shut-up. Chris turned back to his computer with a smile. "Butt-
pirates..." he thought.
The bell rang, and all the students shuffled out the door. Chris packed up
his own laptop, which he had been using to hack past the little block the
teacher had put in the system to humiliate students that weren't paying
attention. The teacher walked up to him. "Chris?"
Chris looked up from his bag. "Yes?"
"I just wanted to say congratulations for doing so well in the course this
past few months." he said happily.
Chris shrugged. "It was nothing. I love computers, and they're no
different in Japan." he raised an eyebrow. "Except you guys have funky versions
of DOS." he grinned. "Its been fun trying to figure the kanji out."
The teacher smiled. "I bet you're looking forward to Spring break."
"You bet." Chris smiled back. "I'm going to kick back and vegetate."
"Oh...then I guess you wouldn't be interested then..."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "In what?"
The teacher sat down on the desk next to him. "Well, my friend, Mr. Omma
is running an advanced computer cram school on that week. It's a lot more
intelligent than this class...even I'll admit that, and you can use a passing
grade on your resume'."
"Sounds cool!" Chris said. "Do you have the info?"
He handed Chris a paper. "Oh, and all the schools are invited. You'll
probably see your girlfriend there."
Chris blinked. "What?" Rei wasn't THAT into computers, why would she be at
a super-advanced computer cram course?
The instructor blinked. "You know, Ami? Ami Anderson?"
Chris blinked. "Ami? Oh, you must have got it wrong. She's not my
girlfriend."
"Oh...Oh well, it's not important. See you at the course...I'm going to!"
he smiled, then turned serious. "I have to figure out a block you can't hack
into."
Chris smiled, getting up. "Can't be done." he left.
He walked out of the school, pocketing his paper. Rei stood up against a
nearby tree. "Hey, good lookin'." she smiled. "Going my way?"
Chris smiled, walking up to her. "Always." he remembered the paper. "I'm
going to that advanced computer thingy over the break. You wanna come?"
Rei shook her head. "Naw, besides, I'd be tempted to crawl under your desk
and start unzipping your pants..." she smiled sexily, pulling him in close.
Chris swallowed hard. "Really?"
Rei nodded, giving him a passionate kiss. "Besides...I already
checked...you have to be invited."
"Well, I could always let you in after hours..." Chris smiled, hugging her
waist. "Then I could sit you on the desk..." he kissed her on the nose, "then I
could always help you out of your panties..."
Rei moaned softly. "Oh, I don't know if I could take another night like
that one..."
Chris smiled. "You weren't complaining after you nearly passed out. You
wussy..." he teased.
Rei frowned. "Oh yeah?" she pushed him down into a bush.
Grandpa tapped his foot impatiently as he looked out the window. "Where IS
that Rei!?! She's late for the tenth time this month!"
Chad leaned against the wall. "Well, Grandpa, Chris is late too. I'll bet
they're..."
Suddenly, Rei came up the steps. Grandpa sighed. "Honestly, Chad. You
think EVERYONE's humping around. There she is now! And I don't see Chris with
her."
Rei walked in. "Hi, Gramps. Sorry, but the principal was just checking
with me over some details on the festival we had last spring."
Grandpa punched Chad in the stomach. "See?" he grabbed him by the ear.
"You're going to help me clean out the fire-pits today, pervert!"
"NO! I'm allergic to soot!" Chad whined as he was dragged off.
Chris came up the steps with a wide smile on his face. Rei opened the door
for him. "I told you I'd win." she smiled.
Suddenly, Grandpa came back. "Oh! Chris! Where were you?"
Chris blinked. "Uh...hi! Sorry. There was a summer computer course
meeting. I had to attend it, it looks like a good job-reference."
Suddenly, all at once, Maury, Lita, Serena, Ami, Mina and the two cats came
flying through the door at the same time. "AHHHH!" they all screamed as they
bowled over Chris into Grandpa, which led everyone except Rei in a moaning pile
against a wall.
Lita picked herself up. "Sorry, we just came over to see if you all wanted
to go out for a night on the town! Schools out!"
Grandpa sighed and left. "I'll go get dinner ready. I assume you're ALL
staying for food...again..."
Serena smiled despite the fact Ami's elbow was in her eye. "Thank you,
Grandpa!" she called after him.
Chris and Artemis desperately tried to free themselves from the pile-up.
Luna was enjoying her white-furred companion's comical squirming. Artemis
growled. "Do you mind?"
Lita blushed. "Oh, sorry..." she picked up Ami, Serena, Maury and Mina off
of them.
Maury smiled. "Is she great or what."
Ami brushed herself off. "So, did any of you get that advanced computers
thing?" she asked eagerly.
Serena began coughing. "You CAN'T be serious! That class is in the middle
of Spring Break! I don't attend any more school than I HAVE to!"
Mina sighed. "You should really learn to relax, Ami."
"I'm going." Chris said, pulling out a sheet of paper. "It's only for
three days."
Maury smiled. "Alright. Three days alone with you, Lita..." he kissed her
passionately.
Lita regained her balance. "Sounds good to me..."
Chris shook his head. "Cool down, horny-toad. It's just a few hours a
day."
Rei smiled. "As long as you don't get TOO involved with class this
week...I made plans for us." she leapt up on him and planted a very wet kiss on
his lips.
Serena sighed. "I still can't believe she didn't end up with Chad. I
thought it was a match made in heaven!"
Luna almost burst out laughing. "You're joking, right?" she attempted to
look like Serena by imitating meatballs with her ears. "'Oh, yeah! I can
totally see Rei going out with a rock-star!' What were you on, Serena? Chad's
not a rock-star."
Mina shrugged. "I thought he was a street-bum."
Serena started wailing. "You NEVER let me do any matchmaking!"
Chris and Rei stopped kissing and looked over to Serena. Everyone else
watched as she started rolling around, wailing like a one-year-old. "The future
of this planet is going to be ruled by a whiny little ditz? There is no god."
Rei sighed.
Luna eventually had to smack Serena upside the head to get her to stop.
"Anyway, back to business."
Artemis nodded. "Central told us that there's still unidentified traces of
energy around the area. Just like Chris' energy. That may mean we're getting
some more help."
Luna nodded. "Or, it could go either way. They might be evil."
"Yeah, but five bucks says they're like Chris and are Sailor Scouts."
Artemis grinned.
"WHAT DO YOU NEED WITH MONEY, ANYWAY?!?!" Luna yelled. "YOU'RE A
BLOODY CAT!"
Artemis smiled. "You in or out?"
Luna frowned.
"Well?"
She paused for a moment. "Okay, I'm in...five on each energy signature we
find."
Mina blinked. "Where do you guys get money from anyway?"
Artemis decided not to mention the fact he used some of her money on the
stock-market. "Uh, we find it in gutters and stuff."
Luna nodded, also not mentioning the fact that she 'borrowed' some of
Serena's allowance. "Yeah. Gutters."
Chris reached into his pocket. "Speaking of money, Rei..." he pulled out
two movie passes. "Care to join me?" he said nonchalantly. "My treat!"
Rei smiled. "Oh, a dark theatre, alone with you? I don't know..."
"I PROMISE I won't make clicking noises." Chris complained. "So? You
going?"
"Sure, if we hurry, we can make the seven-o-clock show." Rei said. "You
guys are welcome to stay for dinner. Grandpa really doesn't mind. He loves
having 'chicks' over for dinner."
Ami sighed as the two left. Mina walked over to her as the others went
into the kitchen. "What's wrong, Ami?" she asked. "You don't sense Nega-vibes,
or anything, do you?"
"No...It's nothing...come on." she said, walking past Mina.
Mina shrugged.
"We have sensors pinned on the largest group, my lord. We're tracking them
at the South East corner again. I wouldn't doubt if it's a meeting place for
the Sailor Scouts." Amoco Soo said, eyes glued to his computer screen.
Chako Serebe cocked an eyebrow. "Really? How intriguing. If this area IS
a meeting place, we avoid it until absolutely necessary."
"But, master! With them all together, it would be a prime ambush! With
enough men, we could overpower the entire group, all at once!"
"You seem very sure of yourself, Soo. But you forget they have survived
this long against their many nemeses...we are but a spider on the wall." Serebe
said, taking a sip of sake.
"I-I do not understand..." Soo said.
Serebe sighed. "If this is truly a meeting place, they would have had
defences and weapons set up to protect it. We stand against much better odds if
we attack them individually, without outside help." She smiled evilly. "Then,
they will find this spider has venom."
Soo bowed. "A wise choice, my lord. I will not question your judgement
again." he returned to his computer.
"I shall hope not." she said coldly.
The other monitoring stations returned to their duties. Serebe smiled.
Soon, the Watchers would retake the Solar System back from the Sailor
Scouts...and she would be their god.
Chapter 2
"Uh, I've got to stop ordering that damn Japanese popcorn..." Chris held
his stomach.
Rei smiled. "You wussy." she sighed. "At least the movie was nice.
Where did you hear of 'Terminator 2'?"
"It's been out for a few years overseas." Chris smiled.
"Ahh..." she laughed.
The two walked down the street in each others arms. It was getting fairly
dark, but the moon was casting a nice glow on everything. "You look wonderful
tonight, Miss Hino..." Chris said, kissing her hand.
Rei sighed. "You say that every night."
"It's true." Chris replied. "The way the moonlight hits your eyes...it
looks like an amoeba splitting into two gelatinous forms."
Rei smiled. "Somehow, just when I wonder why I love you, I remember...you
make me laugh."
"Then I'll take that as a compliment." Chris said happily.
"Chris...maybe it's just the movie and everything...but..." Rei paused.
"NEVER go to the palace. City Hall, or anything lie that."
Chris blinked. "Uh, whatever you say..." he shrugged.
"I mean this." Rei said firmly. "Even if the rest of the Scouts and I are
dead, and there's no other choice...I want you to leave the city."
Chris swallowed hard. "Rei, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"
Rei took a deep breath, remembering her dream. She had dreams like it
before, and they never came true. "Maybe you're right. Forget about it."
Chris nodded. "Okay, if you say so..."
She smiled and gave him a kiss. "Let's go. I have to make sure Serena
didn't steal any comics."
Chris nodded and they began walking off. He was a little shaken by Rei's
premonition, but chose to not worry. After all, it was probably just thoughts
reverberating from the movie. Suddenly, however, a low humming sound filled the
air. He turned. "You hear that?"
Rei also turned. "Yes...what is it?"
Chris looked over to where the hum was coming from. A large bush nearby.
He slowly walked over to it. "What if it's another Negabomb?"
"Transform?" Rei asked.
Chris looked around. The street was empty, but it was still only midnight.
"I'll transform. My costume isn't as attention getting as yours."
Rei nodded, pulling out a scroll. "Got it."
Chris pulled out his disk. "Saturn Power..." His sword appeared over his
head and preceded to spin around him, weaving a ball of light. The ball then
exploded inwards, forming his suit and sunglasses. His sword then attached to
his side. His glasses automatically adjusted to the darkness, giving him an
almost night-vision view of the bush as he parted it's leaves open with his
sword.
"Find anything?" Rei asked.
Chris motioned for her to come closer. "Look at this!"
Rei walked up to him and peered over his shoulder.
A Negabomb? No!
An explosive? NO!
A Negaverse Monster? NO!!
A small, white ball hovered between two branches of the hedge. "What the
hell is that?"
Chris reached forward, slowly, and picked it up. "It has a little lens on
it. It looks like a camera!"
Rei frowned. "What?"
Chris turned it around. On the opposite side of the black, focusing lens,
was two letters, printed in a clean, official-looking text. 'O.W.' Chris
blinked. "Oww? Why does it say 'oww'? Is it hurt?"
Rei sighed. "No! They must be initials or something."
Chris looked into the tiny lens. "What should we do with it?"
"It was following us...I say we toast it." she said. "I hate having my
privacy intruded on.
Chris nodded. He threw it up in the air, took out his katana with a silent
swish, and connected with the ball. It exploded into a cloud of white powder.
"Hey!" Chris coughed. "Where's the electronics?"
Rei coughed. "You didn't have to completely vaporize it, you know..."
"But, I didn't!" Chris complained. "It was made out of powder!" he
sheathed his sword and reverted back to his normal clothes.
Rei blinked. "Then we better tell the others. Looks like someone knows
we're Sailor Scouts."
"I wonder how long they'll live?" Chris smiled.
She frowned. "That's not funny."
Andrea sat on Cherri Hill, overlooking the street below. The twinkling of
the city lights was an awe-inspiring sight, but she sat there with a less-than-
thrilled attitude. She wasn't one to hold a grudge or anything, but right now,
she was jealous. Extremely jealous of Chris and his new friends. Even Maury at
least had a new girlfriend. So far, Andrea had gotten a trip to Tokyo, and a
boring month of school.
Something else was eating away at her, as well. She was, for the first
time she could remember, longing for a sister. That was impossible, at least
though the normal channels, but she still had this nagging feeling at the base
of her brain that she needed a sister to talk to.
Suddenly, Rei and Chris came running up the stairs in record time. Rei
grabbed Andrea's shoulders. "You'll never guess what! We found these weird
cameras! And they know we're Scouts...and..."
Andrea pushed her away. "I'm going to bed."
Chris ran up a second later. "Andrea! Come on, we need your input at the
meeting."
Andrea frowned. "You don't need me! You have all the super-powers and
gadgets and gizmos you need! And forget about calling Maury, because I bet he's
feeling like me...left out!"
Chris looked at her. "Come on...you're part of the team. Let's go."
Andrea rolled back her eyes and followed. "Sure. Right. Oh yeah...I'm
just a huge part of the future of life on Earth..."
Serena was snoring loudly, tangled up in her covers as the call came over
her wrist communicator. "Bleah? Wah? Nannamo!?" she mumbled incoherently as
she tried to wake up.
Luna smacked her across her face. "Sailor Moon! Get UP!"
She finally sat up, knocking Luna off her chest. "Just a second, Luna!
I'm on it! Hello?"
Rei's voice came over the muffled speaker. "Serena! Emergency meeting at
the temple! I'm calling the others! Try and get Darien there too! Mars out!"
Serena blinked, then wailed. "Waa! It's too early!...Wait! Darien!
Yeah! I guess I can go if he's going to come too!"
Luna rolled back her eyes.
Serena had rung the doorbell quite a few times before she heard rustling.
The door opened and she was welcomed by a half-asleep Darien wearing blue pj's,
a clock in one hand and a Sailor Moon plush doll snuggled under his other arm.
"Bleah?"
Serena smiled, "Yeah, that's what I said. Anyway, there's an emergency
meeting at Rei's temple at this very moment, so we better hurry!"
Darien looked at her with a dazed expression, "You never used to invite me
to your little gatherings before, so what made you decide to this time?"
Serena blinked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming...." he grabbed his housecoat and slipped on his
shoes and let Serena guide him down the hallway to the elevator.
The group of Scouts had finally gathered, however, while Chris and Rei
checked the premises for any more exploding camera-balls, they all fell asleep.
Chris walked in. "My my, aren't we all sleepy..."
Rei sighed. "Serena's laziness must be catching." She nudged Mina to no
avail. She shrugged and looked at Chris desperately.
Chris smiled. "Okay." he said loudly "First order of business is to have a
free-for-all ORGY!"
Everyone woke up. Ami started blushing. Lita almost laughed.
"Thank you, Chris." Rei smiled.
Darien coughed. "Okay, so what exactly did this 'camera' look like?"
"It looked like a white tennis-ball, only with a lens on it." Rei replied.
Chris nodded. "And it had 'O.W.' on the back."
"Oww? Why would it be hurt?" Darien asked.
"That's what I said!" Chris said happily.
Rei gave them both a mean look. "They were initials."
Lita smiled. "Well! That's easy! If one of them was a 'W' then that
narrows down what it could stand for!"
Mina nodded sleepily. "Yeah. How many 'W' words are there?"
Ami cleared her throat. "Unfortunately, a couple hundred...in English
dialects alone. We should probably start with Japanese, too. That's at least
about a thousand common ones. Not to mention proper names."
Mina frowned. "Hey...I'm half asleep here. What do you expect?"
Rei growled under her breath. "Would you all WAKE UP?!? Someone out there
KNOWS WHO WE ARE!"
Lita nodded. "Rei's right. What if they get all our friends and families
involved?"
Chris pulled out his disk and eyed it carefully. "Then we'll get medieval
on their asses."
Serena pouted, "Well, Ami, figure it out! That's always been your job!"
"I'm afraid it's not so simple." Darien said, finally waking up, "If these
people can make cameras practically out of toilet paper, why would it be easy to
figure out where they are?"
"I don't know, I just zap the bad guys, remember? Let the smart ones do
the thinking!"
Darien scratched his head, "Oh, brother."
"I wish Central had more on this..." Luna sighed to herself.
Chris leaned back. "One question, Artemis...who's this Central I keep
hearing about?"
Artemis shrugged. "Come to think about it, I'm not sure."
Chris looked at him. "You're kidding, right?"
Artemis blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you receive information from something you don't understand. That's
pretty risky."
"Central has always given us good information. Who cares who runs it!"
Luna defended.
Rei sighed. "Okay, why don't you go down there and check it out. Maybe
someone found out Central, and that's how they found us."
"We still don't even know if this camera was intentionally watching them."
Lita added. "It could be some weird sick-o who likes spying on people."
Rei frowned. "Oh yeah. A camera with no electronics inside is made my
some weird loner who wants to spy on people leaving a movie theatre."
Ami nodded. "Okay, it's settled then. Me and Chris will go see what makes
Central tick. You guys hold down the fort here."
Mina smiled. "Sounds good to me. The only computer programming I know is
setting the VCR to not display 12:00."
Everyone shrugged. "That's better than most people." Darien grinned,
earning a grumble from Serena.
Chapter 3
"How are we going to get in?" Ami asked, looking at the heavy chain lock.
She and Chris were now standing in front of the arcade. It was three in
the morning, but Chris seemed to be excited to do some late-night undercover
shit. "Well, we can always pick the lock..." he took out his sword "but then
that wouldn't be any fun."
Chris quickly cut the chain and lifted the huge metal mesh guarding the
front entrance. Ami followed under the mesh as Chris held it up. She quickly
scanned the building for alarms. "We're clear." she said, turning off her VR
visor.
Chris dropped the mesh quietly behind them and walked over to the "Sailor V
Video Challenge" game console. "Is this the game?"
Ami nodded. "Luna said it activates to a touch."
Chris nodded, touching the screen. "Welcome to the Sailor V Video
Challenge." the game said in a calm, male voice.
Chris pulled his laptop out from a back-pocket on his jacket that seemed
perfect for the task of holding small computers. Instead of pressing the fire
button to continue, Chris hooked up his computer to the game with a cable.
"Welcome to Burger World, may I help you?" Chris said to himself, happily
hacking through a standard password. "Keep a look out, Mercury. This
may take a while."
Ami smiled as she watched Chris start typing in codes and commands. She
knew what was happening to her. She hadn't felt anything close to this, except
when she met Greg. She remembered Rei and him had gotten rather close, but
didn't care. Chris was her perfect match...at least in her opinion.
"Hishka-bibble!" Chris yelled.
Ami jumped back at the sudden exclamation. "What?"
Chris turned to her. "We're into the program. Watch." he began typing.
The screen on his laptop took-over the one on the video-game. "Here's a really
huge program. I'll try running it. It may configure something."
The two watched as a symbol came up on the screen. It read OW.
Ami gasped. "That camera was Centrals?"
Chris frowned. "No. This program is separate from the Central program."
he began checking a few figures on his laptop. "You can see here, Central is
basically an old computer on the moon. There's a bunch of LAN-type connections
to a transmitter that's aimed at the..."
Suddenly, the power went out. Sailor V shut down. Ami looked around
quickly. "Fuse?" she asked hopefully.
Chris shook his head. "No...the police!"
No sooner did he say that, then a siren pierced the dark night outside.
The two Sailor warriors gasped. Chris ripped his computer away from the game,
almost tearing out the cord. "The back!" Ami yelled.
Chris shook his head. "We gotta make a run for it. To the front!" he
pulled out his katana, cutting the security mesh like it was butter.
They leapt out the hole and ran as they saw a police cruiser coming down
the street for them. Chris gasped. "Ami! They'll recognize your suit! Get
down!"
Ami dove out of the way as Chris held out his sword to face the police
car. Chris was hardly front-page knowledge to Tokyo, so he looked like a
burglar to the officer. Chris knew this. "The things I do to save the
world..." he sighed, running over to a lamp post and cutting it down in one
slash.
The post hit the ground, blocking the car's advance. It tried to swerve
around the obstruction, but ran over the light, causing shattering glass to
destroy the car's tire. Chris and Ami ran off down an alley as the officer got
out and began shouting swears at the car.
Chris and Ami hadn't slowed down since. They reached Cherri Hill after
twenty minutes of all-out sprinting. Rei and the others gasped as they
literally launched through the door, falling over and skidding to a stop on
their faces.
Rei rushed up to them. "What happened?"
Chris gasped. "I didn't know I could run like that!"
Ami stopped puffing. "We found out that there's a secret link in Central
that leads to a screen with a big OW on it. It might be the same as the
cameras. It called the cops on us and we had to book it!"
Chris nodded. "However, I DID download the file! You see, Central IS a
moon-based computer, but THIS program looks like it has been giving you info
instead. It's based on Earth."
Luna and Artemis. "EARTH?" they both said.
Mina gasped. "But, that means...someone has been feeding us info, and
they're not from the moon kingdom!"
Lita growled. "It's a huge conspiracy against the Sailor Scouts!"
Artemis sighed. "Okay, wait a second, here. We don't want to jump to any
conclusions. Whoever they are, they've been helping, remember?"
Rei crossed her arms. "Sure, they give us a little help to gain our trust,
then lead us into a trap!"
"That's some trap..." Chris commented. "It looks like the program was very
old. It's been there for at least a few years. I downloaded the code, though.
We'll be able to track them down in no time flat!"
Everyone smiled. "Can my Chris hack or what?" Rei said proudly.
Chris suddenly gasped. Everyone looked at his laptop. The entire program
was...erasing itself...
Lita looked REALLY pissed off. "Great."
Chris tried desperately to recover the program, but it was gone. "Whoever
this is," he paused for a brief second "is REALLY smart..."
A sudden groan alerted them to Serena waking up. She looked around at
everyone with sleepy eyes. "Uh? What did I miss?"
Chris sat in his room, ignoring Trevor as he played game-boy. He was
worried this 'OW' organization was definitely out to get them...and what was
worse was that they had a VERY advanced computer, whoever they were.
He was also jealous.
Damn...he would love to spend 5 minutes with whatever made that program.
He picked up the Great Mambo Chicken and started on chapter 8: Ring-worlds
and Dyson Spheres. Not only that, Andrea seemed to be very pissed off at him,
and also, the cops might be on the look out now.
Suddenly, the extra weight of a person was on the side of his bed. Chris
put down the book. "Ami? Uh, hi...what do you want?"
Ami smiled. "Oh, I was just wondering if you could maybe help me in the
advanced computers class."
Chris nodded. "Yup, Sid will be defragged and de-bugged in time."
"That will be nice. Not only will your computer be okay again, I'll have
someone I can visit with during the course." Ami hung her head a bit, "Normally
no one ever wants to talk with me, and its hard knowing you don't have many
friends, you know."
Chris nodded. "If you need any help, no problem. The instructors here are
pretty low-class."
Ami smiled and got up. "See you tomorrow, Chris. Oh, thanks for the cover
with the arcade thingy..." she said, looking at Trevor.
Chris nodded. He then returned to his book. "Hey, Twemo..."
Trevor sneered. "What do you want?"
"Your batteries are low. You've been playing for twenty hours, straight.
You don't wanna squint your eyes too much!"
"You're not my mother!"
Chris smiled evilly. "If I was like your mother, I'd be twelve times
fatter."
Suddenly, the game started stuttering, then shut down.
"See? Always listen to your mother...or at least one twelfth."
The man in the lab-coat sat in his command chair. "Well?"
One of his aids nodded. "The police scared them off, sir. The file
included the self-delete command as well. They can't find us."
His frown didn't fade. "Okay, crisis one averted. What about the energy
reading near Uranus?"
"HEY!"
He laughed. "I meant the planet."
The aid blinked and turned red. "It's a ship, sir."
"Damn." he smiled. "A ship near your anus?"
"Sir...?"
"Yeah?"
"Please shut up."
"Sure."
Chapter 4
Darien watched with some amusement as Andrew paced back and forth. "I
don't believe it! The store *I* work in was robbed!"
"Really? What did they take?" Darien asked, sipping a cup of tea.
Andrew sighed. "Nothing, as far as THEY can tell." The police were
everywhere. Nothing seemed to be missing, but a strange computer interface cord
was found hooked up to the Sailor V game. Andrew sighed. "Maybe they wanted to
copy the game and sell it on the black-market. It IS pretty popular..." he
added.
Darien rolled back his eyes. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but you
seem kinda busy, and I have to go to work soon." he said, dumping his tea out
onto the grass.
Andrew smiled. "Well, see you later."
Darien nodded. "Right, sure..." he said under his breath. Just before he
left, though, he snuck behind a group of police officers and pocketed the
interface cable.
He walked down the street to Metro Studios. He had to work in a half-an-
hour anyway, so he figured a being a little early would help him get that pay-
raise. As he walked through the main door, he couldn't help but think of little
cameras, watching him. "This is spooky. At least with the Negaverse, they
didn't hide in bushes and shadows." he said to himself.
Darien smiled as he passed by a couple of his co-workers. As he was just
about to go into the bathroom for a whiz, he heard an argument coming from a
nearby office. "That's the boss' office." he said out loud.
One of his fellow workers nodded. "Yeah," he said, now conversing in
Japanese. "The boss hired a new woman for that executive finance planner
opening."
Darien gasped. "*I* wanted that job!"
His friend smiled. "Well, don't worry. She's been arguing with him ever
since she came in this morning. I wouldn't be surprised if she got fired right
now."
Darien glanced over to the office. The shadow of a tall woman hunched over
his boss' desk hit the frosted glass. SHE looked like she was winning whatever
they were arguing about, though. "Thanks Tetsuo, see you at lunch break."
Darien said politely.
Why would his boss hire a brand-new person instead of going for one with
experience like himself? He was just about to dismiss it as equal-opportunity
stuff, when he heard something. Something like "The Watchers will not be
pleased."
Darien was just about to get closer to eavesdrop, but the door opened
abruptly and the new woman stormed out. Before he could make sense of
everything, the clock on the wall hit 9AM, and he decided he had better get to
work.
Rei sighed as Chris handed her another dish. "Man, I could go for a
break."
The two had been washing dishes for the last hour now. The Temple had a
lot of china, and most of it got used every time ALL the girls stayed over for
dinner. Of course, Serena was the first to leave so she'd never get stuck with
the chores. Chris washed off another plate. "Come on, there's only a few more
to go."
She nodded wearily and dried her dish. "How come YOU'RE so full of energy
today?"
Chris smiled happily. "Because. This 'camera ball' thing is the first bit
of action I've seen since we toasted Zoicite!"
Rei smiled. "Well, don't get too excited. Remember, we're not exactly
playing around with dummy-targets like Grandpa's bamboo poles."
"I know." He sighed. "It's just great to save the world, you get a warm
fuzzy feeling...kinda like when you stick your tongue in a light-socket!"
Rei smiled evilly. "I did that once. It was kinda fun."
Chris handed her the last dish. "I know a cool way of drying these..."
Rei blinked, looking at the serving-plate. "How?"
"Got a toaster?" he asked with an evil grin.
Later that evening, while Rei and Chris were fixing the blown fuses, Andrea
and Maury were sitting out on the bench overlooking the pond. Maury was happily
sharpening his knife. Andrea watched him for a good twenty minutes, then
finally got sick of him rubbing his stone against his knife. "Isn't it sharp
enough?"
Maury pressed his finger along the blade. No blood was drawn. "Nope," he
smiled, then continued.
Andrea slumped back in her seat. At first, coming to Japan was a dream-
come-true for her. Now, it was starting to get boring. Same-old, same-old...A
glimmer of hope entered her brain as she saw Darien walking up the steps.
"Hey! Darien!" she got up and ran over to him.
He didn't look too impressed. "Andrea, can I talk to you later? I'm kinda
in a bad mood right now, and I just want a good night's sleep."
Andrea was downright surprised. He'd always been in a good mood anytime
she had been around him. This was the first time he seemed down. "What's
wrong?" she asked.
Darien sighed and sat down on the grass. Andrea sat with him. "Well, if
it looks like I'm walking funny, it's because I have ten-thousand jerks up my
ass."
Andrea almost smiled, but thought better of it. "Why? What happened?"
"For starters, Andrew was acting like a goof today. He kept going on and
on about how his precious store got broken into, even though nothing was stolen.
Then, before that, Serena's dad called me up and started asking where I took her
last night, even though she told him we were all over at the temple, and he's
been harassing me lately. Last but not least, some asshole bitch took the job I
wanted at Metro, and now she thinks she owns the whole building!"
Andrea sighed. "That's nothing compared to my problems."
Darien rolled back his eyes. "Thanks for being such a good listener..."
"Sorry, it's just that..." she sighed. "Never mind..." she got up and
walked away.
Darien caught up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey,
Andrea?"
Andrea looked up at him.
"I'm sure you're problems will work out okay..." he leaned down and gave
her a quick kiss on the cheek.
As Darien walked off, Andrea had a rather goofy grin on her face. "He's
right..." she said suddenly, running off.
Rei tapped her foot impatiently. "Well?"
Chris rooted through his stuff, looking for a fuse. "Hey, Mo. You got a
fuse?"
Maury sighed, "Did he try to dry dishes in the toaster again?"
Rei smiled. "Well, I helped..."
Maury got up. "I'll fix it. Just show me where the fuse-box is."
Rei and him went down the hallway. Chris sighed and flopped down on his
bed. "Well, at least Grandpa won't ask me to do dishes again!"
Andrea came in. "Hi, Fiss."
Chris smiled. "Hey, Hooze." He paused, remembering she was still pissed
off at him and his super-powers. "Whatsup?"
Andrea sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry I've been acting all pissy. It's just
that..."
Chris shrugged. "Don't worry about it." he smiled. "Besides, You're
pretty lucky too."
Andrea blinked. "What do you mean?"
Chris shrugged. "How many other people can say they've been kidnapped by a
floating bitch in Nazi-boots, have a brother who fights the forces of evil, and
has a nick-name of 'Hooze'?"
She frowned slightly. "Ooh, look at me go." she smirked. "I just wanted
to tell you though, that anytime you need anyone to talk to about it, I'm here."
He smiled gratefully. "Don't worry, I know." Fiss nodded. "After all,
that's why I told you in the first place, Hoozie."
They both nodded, then paused. "Wanna go draw some Pizza Cats?" Fiss
finally beamed.
"Perfect! I'll get my sketchbook." Hooze grinned and ran off"
Chapter 5
At three in the morning, it finally hit Darien. Rather like a lightning
bolt. He fell to the ground after a failed attempt of jumping out of bed, and
ran over to his phone. Luckily, instead of calling the Temple straight off, he
looked at the clock first. He looked on the wall to see he jotted down Chris'
number, which was on a separate phone, and dialled. "Come on, please be awake!"
Sure enough, Chris answered. "This is Chris. It is three A.M. Do you
know where your amoebas are?"
Darien skipped the formalities. "Chris, meet me down at Metro Studios in
ten minutes. If anyone else is awake, take them too. I gotta go."
"Uh, sure...I'm on my way..." Chris said, yawning.
Darien paused for a moment. "Why are you still awake anyway?"
Chris snickered on the other end. "Late night web-surfing. I'll see what
I can do."
The phone hung up. Darien did the same. As he got dressed, he remembered
WHY he woke up in the first place. That new girl, arguing with his boss. She
had said something about the 'Watchers.' That was a 'w' word. And that's
exactly what the O.W. camera was doing...watching.
Sure, it was a long shot...but what the hell...
Chris jumped out of bed, putting on his housecoat quickly. Maury noticed
the sudden rustling and woke up. "Chris?" she whispered.
"I gotta go. You know..." he showed him his disk briefly and pocketed it.
Maury sat up. "Cool! Can I come?!?"
Chris sighed. "Sorry. It could be dangerous."
Maury pouted. "Aw, come on. I can cut up the bad-guys a little!"
Chris frowned. "This is serious. We're not goofing around here, we're
saving the planet."
Maury sighed. "Okay...just tell me if I can help."
Chris nodded and jumped out the window onto the grass outside, still in his
housecoat. Only a quick "Strike Fiss!" and a blue flash of light signified his
transformation.
Maury sat in his bed for a while. "Man I'm bored..."
Darien was already at the Metro building when Chris came running down the
street. Cherri Hill was only a few blocks away, so it wasn't a long wait.
Darien too had transformed, and the two looked like rejects from a high-class
opera. "So, why am I here?" Chris asked finally as Darien lead him through the
security gate.
Darien looked really concerned. "I think something's happening tonight at
Metro. The studio doesn't close until two thirty. That means, whatever will
happen will happen soon. It's already three twenty."
"WHAT will happen?" Chris asked, adjusting his sunglasses.
Darien smiled. "I have no idea."
Chris leaned up against a lamp post. "Great. My weird sleeping habits are
rubbing off on YOU now."
Darien shrugged. "Hey. I have to keep saving Sailor Moon in the middle of
the night. Who says I'm NOT used to this?!?"
Chris was about to sit down and wait, when a sharp sound of shattering
glass filled the air. "Show-time."
Darien nodded, and the two ran of in the direction of the sound. "Right on
schedule."
Chisten walked casually down the hallway of the deserted Anime section of
Metro Studios. It was coming on three thirty, but she was walking as casually
as when she wasn't breaking and entering.
Soon, she got to the head office. She let herself in with a professional
set of army lock-picks, and quietly shut the door behind herself. "Okay, I'm
in." she spoke into her watch.
She snuck over to the filing cabinet, picking it's weaker lock with ease.
It open with a quiet squeak. She shuffled through the papers and folders until
she found Darien's file and pulled it out of the cabinet. "Excellent. I have
the item."
Suddenly, a rose shot across the room from the far window, pinning the
document to the wall. "I don't think that this is your office." Tuxedo Mask
said in a low voice.
Strike Fiss then appeared next to him, "Let me guess. You got lost while
looking for the little girl's room." he took out his sword dramatically and
pointed it toward Chisten's face.
Chisten knew she could not leave empty handed, for she would be severely
punished. Acting on instinct, she pulled the pin of a laughing gas grenade and
freed the papers from the lovely, floral wallpaper just as the bomb burst into a
large cloud of smoke.
Chris took a step back, "What the...?"
"I'll take over from here!" Darien shouted, twirling his staff in front of
them as an effort to thin the fog. As it cleared, all they could see was a nice
little hole in the wall, a grenade canister, an open window...and no Chisten.
"DAMN! That was my file! She must be on to me!"
"Oh, great." Chris said, snickering a bit from left over laughing gas.
Darien began to chuckle as well, "We'd better get out of here before we end
up being reduced to giggling idiots."
Chris sighed. "Well, at least she had no idea who I was."
Darien smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Soon, ALL the
bad-guys will be trying to kill you."
Chris smiled. "Promises, promises..."
"Thank you, Chisten." Chako Serebe congratulated. "Your efforts will be
remembered." she said, comparing a snapshot taken of Tuxedo Mask to Darien's
file photo. "Very similar; same height, estimated weight and overall structure.
It's gotta be him..." Serebe stood up. "We needed more proof before we made a
move. Now," she grinned "we are certain. Well done, Chisten."
"Excuse me, my lord, but he isn't our only problem." Chisten added.
Chako jerked her head up, "Why? What do you mean?"
"There was another male warrior with him...I'm not aware of his name or
alias, but he was working side by side with Tuxedo Mask."
Chako became enraged, "WHAT?! You mean to tell me that they saw you taking
that document, and you didn't TELL ME?!"
Mantis coward before her, "I..."
"We cannot have them knowing what one of my followers looks like." she
withdrew a large, katana from her scabbard. "And you are too well trained to
make such a critical error. Was alerting the Sailor Scouts your plan all
along?"
Chisten gasped. "What? NO! I'd never betray the Watchers!"
Serebe wasn't convinced. "You were to become ruler of Jupiter. Why would
you pass up such an honour?"
Chisten kept a nervous eye on her master's sword. "I never meant for them
to find me! They must have...maybe our contact in Metro Studios leaked info to
Darien!"
"Trying to shift the blame? Hardly honourable last words..." Serebe lopped
off her servant's head with a swift, powerful swing. A sliver of blood
splattered on the ground in a wide arc at her feet. Chisten's body and head
fell limp to the ground in a bloody puddle.
All of the others were shocked into silence.
"Let this be a warning..." she announced, wiping the blood from her blade
with a cloth, "I will not have carelessness in an operation so important...ever
again. If anyone fails again, I will execute them, and their family. I expect
nothing less than 150 percent of your best work. Is that clear?" she made a
quick pass over the group. "You all know what is at stake here. What we have
done to get this far, and who we must answer to if we fail. I will not ALLOW
you to fail."
They all bowed in a respective agreement.
"I see there is an opening for the ruler of Jupiter. Anyone who has not
claimed a planet may now fight for the honour." Serebe said, sitting back in her
command chair.
Ten of her warriors all stood up and bowed. "We have come before you to
claim Jupiter and all of her moons." they all said in practiced ritual. "A
fight to the death, for the honour."
"Begin." she replied. "The last person standing claims Jupiter as theirs
to rule."
Chapter 6
Lita woke up everyone with the sweet smell of tenshin wafting from the
kitchen. Ami came in first. "Lita? Why are you up so early?" she asked,
looking at a nearby clock, stating it was only 6:45 AM.
Lita smiled. "I couldn't get much sleep last night, so I did some
cooking." she paused. "So, when's the computer class?"
Ami gasped. "Jeeze! That's right! It's today!"
"Well, do you want some breakfast?" Lita offered.
Ami shook her head. "Thanks, but I gotta get ready. It starts at seven!"
Lita sighed as Ami ran off. Mina and the cats came in next. Artemis
smiled as he saw food. "Aw, Lita. You shouldn't have!" he jumped up on the
table and started heaping tenshin omelettes on his plate.
"You're right. I shouldn't have..." Lita sighed. "I made you some cat-
food, you know..."
Artemis nodded. "I know."
Luna coughed. Artemis looked around to see everyone looking at him. "Oh,
sorry..." he put the food back and leapt back to the floor.
Mina sighed. "First they make bets about whether or not we'll die
tomorrow, and now they're helping themselves to buffets." She smiled. "They're
turning into humans."
Luna's eyes narrowed. "Artemis? A human? We're all doomed."
Artemis replied with 'accidentally' whipping his tail in her face. "Oops."
The smell of food finally got to Serena, and she literally floated into the
kitchen on the vapours. "Ooooooooooooooh! Breakfast!"
Luna smiled. "That's what we need. A cook to get lazybones here motivated
to fight crime."
Mina nodded. "The Negaverse wouldn't stand a chance."
Chris's eyes opened to the cute little guitar riff of "Today", by the
Smashing Pumpkins, then launched out of bed as the song revved up and hit the
main distortion. Maury also sprung out, while Trevor and Damien tried
desperately to cover their ears with their pillows. "Well, I see the thing went
well last night." Maury said under the loud music.
Chris nodded and turned it down. "Well, I gotta go. Freaking computer
class..."
Maury nodded. "Well, I smell cooking, so Lita's up. I might as well wake
up too."
Chris got dressed in his favourite shirt. "University of Mars" and walked
over to Rei's room. He knocked, but there was no answer.
He quietly slid the door open to see Rei, still asleep. He smiled evilly
and walked over to her. "When you wake up..." he whispered in her ear "you will
be a pumpkin. A really big, orange pumpkin."
Rei opened her eye. "What?!?"
Chris smiled. "Never mind."
She sat up sleepily. "Going to the computer class?"
Chris nodded. "Also, me and Darien checked out Metro Studios last night.
Someone broke in and stole his file. I think they're on to him too."
Rei went wide-eyed. "You went without me!?! You should have woke me up!"
"Aw, you know I can't wake you up. You look so cute when you're sleeping."
Chris grinned and gave her a quick kiss.
"Well, I'll go check it out while you're at class." Rei sighed. "Oh, and
I'll pick up some candles later."
"Candles?" Chris blinked.
Rei tapped him on the nose. "A pumpkin's gotta look her best."
Suddenly, Ami burst in. "Chris! Hurry! We'll be late!"
Chris glanced over to Ami. "Do you mind?"
Rei blushed considerably. The scene of her in rather minimal underwear and
Chris hovering over her in bed DID look a bit intimate. "Uh, we'll just be a
second."
Ami gasped and shut the door. "Sorry..." she said from just outside.
Chris sighed. "Ain't that our luck?"
Rei growled. "She keeps doing that! Always walking in on us! Doesn't she
know how to knock?"
Chris stood up. "Well, I better go. Ami will have a heart-attack if I'm
late."
Rei smiled as Chris waved and left. Ami closed the door behind him, and
had a strange look on her face Rei couldn't quite peg down. "Mmm, must be
nervous. New cram-school."
"Report." The man in the white lab coat ordered.
One of his assistants pulled up a graph on the huge, overhanging Command
screen. "As suspected, there IS a bug in server 12. The bug, however, doesn't
know it's on our computers." he smiled. "It thinks it's on a REGULAR computer."
He smiled. "Well, I shall have to congratulate R and D for that idea. How
about the Point Calculator?"
The assistant sighed. "We can get limited response from it, but we have no
idea how accurate it is."
"Well..." he paused. "We'll use it, but we will plan like normally. Any
possible futures it displays are NOT authorized to be acted upon. Is that
clear?"
Everyone in the command room nodded. "What about the bug?" the aide asked.
The man sat down. "See who it belongs too. Then, try and find a way of
warning the Sailor Scouts." he paused. "A very subtle way."
The class started. Chris and Ami were seated across from each other, to
Ami's delight. "Well, at least the class didn't start with 'how to turn on your
computer'" Chris whispered over to her.
She smiled. "I hope you're up for a challenge."
Chris shrugged. "Who? Me? No problem!" he smiled happily.
Ami smiled back and went back to her computer screen. She didn't really
need to look at Chris; she had already memorized his face. And she liked the
picture. Chris had an average, boyish face, but what really got to Ami was his
smile. It wasn't phoney, or forced. Chris was generally a nice person, and he
loved to smile. They were on the same table, as the computers in the class were
arranged in squares' of four desks each. Ami briefly considered reaching under
the table and caressing his leg. Then, she remembered Rei was in the picture.
She parked her hands above the table, and sat, gazing at Chris out of the corner
of her eye.
Chris sighed. Something was wrong. The computer was working way too slow
for it's speed. Something was slowing it down. In order to find out, Chris
dumped the main program shell and went into the actual system. It was DOS
based. "Excellent..." he smiled, and began typing in commands.
Two things were bugging him. First, there wasn't any obvious problems with
the computer, and he would probably have to take out his laptop to hack it.
Second, why was the man sitting to the right of him looking at Ami?
Wait a second...that's not a man! Chris immediately began to feel queasy.
He wasn't a homophobic or anything like that...but that 'woman' looked...just
like...a MAN!!!!!! Chris coughed out loud. And it was looking at Ami??
Wait...Ami was ALSO looking at her! Chris smirked. "This should be
interesting..." he thought.
Ami wasn't REALLY looking at the man/woman. In fact, she hadn't even
noticed her yet. To keep suspicion of her feelings down until she could tell
Chris, she was faced the opposite way, but still had him in her vision. Ami
decided to get Chris' attention. She wasn't as good at 'hacking' but she
managed to get into DOS anyway. She found a network 'send' program. "Perfect!"
she thought to herself.
Chris looked around the file directory for nearly five minutes before
realizing there was a hidden directory somewhere. He took a disk from his
laptop and plugged it in. "Let's tango..."
The hidden directory was called OW' and Chris smiled to himself. He
quickly tried downloaded it to the disk...making sure it had NO virus first. He
still wasn't sure if that's what was slowing the system down.
He was just about to quit, when the screen read "Hi Chris!"
Chris blinked. "They know who I am??!!!?" his mind panicked Then the
message continued.
"It's Ami! I got into DOS while the instructor wasn't looking."
Chris rolled back his eyes. "Bloody hell." he sighed in relief.
Chris found the send' program too. "Ami, I found a hidden directory named
OW in here!" he paused. "Not very subtle...I was expecting it to be harder to
find..."
The screen was blank for a moment. Then displayed "Are you sure? That
would mean someone here is another 'watcher'"
Chris nodded to himself. "I downloaded the file. Get back into the shell
before someone sees us. For all we know, the instructed could be a 'watcher'."
The two quickly logged back in. Class was over an hour later. Ami and
Chris were walking out, just as the 'thing' besides him walked out. Chris
snickered. Haruka casually approached Ami, then leaned against the wall,
blocking her path.
"Hello, girl. You know, I always liked women with blue hair."
Ami's eyes shot wide open, she immediately backed up, and, turning pale,
gasped, "Are-are you coming on to me?!"
The blond with a mushroom cut smiled, "Don't think I didn't notice you
staring at me with love in your eyes." She winked.
Ami looked insulted. "Why, YOU! I wasn't staring at YOU, I was staring at
- uh..."
Haruka frowned. "Well, then. Make sure you know what you're doing before
you start next time."
Chris was observing Ami's comical reaction with badly hidden amusement.
Ami became enraged. She rolled up her sleeve and, to even Chris's
surprise, levelled the taller woman with a Mortal Kombat style uppercut. "Come
on, Chris. Ooh! This is so humiliating!" She grabbed his hand and drug him
behind her.
"I gathered that." Chris said on the verge of laughter. He waved an
apologetic hand to Haruka. "Nice to meet you, uh, miss." he laughed
uncontrollably as Ami refused to slow down and drug him off down the street.
As the two went out of sight, another girl with long, wavy light-blue hair
approached Haruka, "What were you doing hanging all over her?!" she said in a
jealous tone.
"Hey, chill out, honey." the blond said, standing up, "She was flirting
with me first, or something. Michiru you know that you're the only woman on my
mind."
Umino stood far away, scratching his head as he watched the two of them
kiss. "And some how, I can't get a date!"
There were three files. Each a binary number.
The Sailor Scouts all huddled around him as he carefully pressed keys into
the little laptop. "This is so exciting!" Serena giggled, startling everyone in
the complete silence.
"Baka!" Rei smacked her on the back of the head.
"OOOOOWWW!"
"Shhhh!" Ami demanded. "He's working!"
Chris finally made sure there were no viruses this time and decided to take
a peak inside.
EDIT 10000000
The screen displayed three numbers. "That sucks." Fiss sighed as everyone
relaxed slightly.
EDIT 10101010
The screen was the same.
Finally, the last file.
Loading...
Eighty five thousand lines of code streamed past the screen. Chris
blinked. Then smiled. "Anyone wanna crash a few passenger jets?"
At the top of the screen of gibberish only computers can read, there was a
single line of English text.
Omega Web
Rei smiled. "Well, at least we're not on a wild-goose chase."
Chapter 7
Serena looked at Andrea disbelievingly. "You get HOW MUCH for an
allowance?"
Andrea shrugged. "What? Is thirty bucks a lot?"
Serena began crying.
"What?" Andrea asked.
"I only get five!" Serena whimpered. "Hey..." her eyes brightened. "Where
did you get that?"
She was pointing at Andrea's little pin. It was a tiny little mask shape.
All gold. Andrea smiled. "Oh, this? I'm not too sure. I think it's a family
heirloom or something."
Serena blinked. "Wow! It looks cool! I wish I had one..."
Before they could say any more, Trevor and Damien came walking up to them.
"Hey, bitch. Can't survive Calgary without your brother?" they snickered.
Andrea clenched her fists, "No, it's just things weren't the same without
you two to insult."
Trevor sighed. "You just couldn't stand to be away from ME for so long."
he tried to "strike a pose."
Andrea almost puked.
Damien laughed. "Oh, oh...looks like you hit a nerve! Maybe her and
Serena, the donkey-brain, will team up and waste us!"
Andrea and Serena looked angry. Andrea was about to say something when
Darien popped up from behind the two morons and picked them up.
"Were these lesbians hitting on you?" he asked in a serious tone.
"Yes, dispose of them immediately." Serena ordered, trying to impersonate
Queen Beryl.
Darien quoted an old phrase of his, "Consider it done, my queen." He then
disappeared behind the temple. Two minutes later, splashing and shouting was
heard. He then came back. "Tell Grandpa I was at my apartment ALL day."
Andrea and Serena both smiled. "What a guy..." Andrea sighed.
"So? Are the watchers really called the Omega Web?" Rei asked.
Chris shook his head. "I'm not sure. Maybe the Omega Web is just
Centrals server name back on the moon or something. Or, it COULD be these
watcher people Darien and I ran into."
Rei smiled. "You always think of things in terms of science. Don't you
think Central could be magic?"
Chris smiled back. "Nope. All magic is just a science you don't
understand. I bet my sword even has an explanation."
Rei sighed. "I prefer to think of things more romantically."
Chris nodded. "Me too, but I can assure you, Central isn't magic."
"So, what's an Omega, anyway?" Rei smiled.
"Well," he began "it's a weird little symbol, used in electronics, or it's
just a fancy word. However..."
"What?" Rei asked.
Chris thought for a second. "I was reading in one of my books about
something called the 'Omega Point'."
"What's that?"
"It's supposed to be the point in human development where we know
everything."
"What do you mean? Like everyone memorizes encyclopaedias?" Rei laughed.
Chris shook his head. "No, I mean EVERYTHING in existence!" He paused.
"We'd be gods. You could know what everything in the universe meant at the same
time."
Rei shrugged. "So, if you know everything, you could make spy-cameras out
of paper!" she frowned. "But you wouldn't have to."
Chris blinked. "You're right! If the watchers need to find out what
the Sailor Scouts are, than they wouldn't know everything, would they? Maybe
they don't know everything...they just like to think they do." he smiled. "Ego
problems?" he blinked. "Or...there might be..."
Rei frowned. "What are you saying?"
"There's two groups watching us."
Suddenly, Rei gasped. Chris grabbed her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"I sense evil..." Rei shuddered.
Chris glanced around quickly. "Come on, let's get out of this crowd.
Probably more cameras or something."
The spotted a nearby park. Rei sat down on a bench, holding her head.
"It's not going away. And it's bad..."
Chris was lost on ideas. "Do you have a headache or something? Can I
help?"
Rei sat back in the park bench. "No, no...I'm okay...I just need to take a
breather."
Chris nodded and sat down next to her. "Uhhg. All this because we find a
camera in a bush."
Rei nodded and smiled. "So, what was this about at computer class today?"
Chris sighed. "Well, I'm not sure, but I think Ami's in love with the
instructor or something. Plus, we sit next to this strange-looking man/chick
person who actually came on to her after class."
Rei blinked. "Onto Ami??"
Chris smiled. "It was hilarious. I wish I had a picture of Ami's
reaction."
Rei leaned closer to him. "I was just thinking...why don't we go on a
date."
Chris shrugged. "Sure."
Rei shook her head. "We haven't been on a full-fledged date since just
after we met. I'm not talking a movie or anything. I mean dinner, dancing and
the entire evening to ourselves."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "You know, you're right. We've either never
bothered, or have been too busy with the Negaverse or something." He smiled.
Rei smiled. "I already made reservations at the restaurant on Saturday."
The two leaned closer and closer, going in for a kiss...
...when they hear a humming.
They both growled. "Not again..." Chris said, finding the noise was coming
from behind the park bench.
"Well, at least I was right about sensing evil." Rei sighed.
Chris found the camera ball. He turned it around to make sure it was from
the same "OW" place. Instead of having the initials...it read:
"Duck in 3 seconds!"
Chris blinked. "Shit! Rei, DUCK!"
The two dove to the ground as the park bench they were sitting on was hit
by a barrage of ten arrows, which would have hit their heads. Rei looked back
in horror. "What the FUCK is going on!?!?!"
As if to answer her question, the bushes around them exploded as people
jumped into the grassy clearing. Chris looked around and counted at least
thirty. They were all dressed in a type of Ninja costume, with a small logo on
their chests. "All this because we look for words that start with W?" he
gasped.
The lead Ninja walked up to them cautiously. "Sailor Mars. You are
surrounded, and outnumbered. You will listen to our terms of your surrender."
Rei gasped. "WHAT? How do you know who I am!?!"
Chris got up. "You assholes better be here to feed the birds."
The leader laughed. "You must be the one who helped Tuxedo Mask out two
nights ago. I guess I really should thank you. Because of Chisten's failure, I
was handed the planet of Jupiter to rule over."
"You can't be serious..." Rei smirked. "Who the hell ARE you guys,
anyway?"
The ninjas all looked toward their leader. He sighed. "I see no reason to
tell you. You'll be dead in a few minutes anyway."
Chris blinked. "Holy shit! The bad-guy didn't give away his evil plot!"
Rei gave him a weird look.
"What?" he grinned.
Rei turned her attention back to their adversaries. "Get outta my face
before I get mad." she took out her power stick.
Chris looked down at his hand. The camera ball had vaporized, leaving a
trace of powder in his hand. "Rei, I think this thing tried to warn us..."
"We have a bit more pressing concern right now, Chris..." Rei growled.
The lead Ninja took out a rather fancy scroll of paper and began reading.
"You will relinquish your claim on your planet. Further more, you will give us
any items which give you power or ownership to your planet. If you do not
comply, we will have the right to take your claim to Mars by force." he smiled
behind his mask. "PLEASE don't comply..."
"These people watch too many bad movies." Chris said happily.
The Ninja looked unimpressed. "Well? We await your answer."
Rei pulled out an ofuda. "You want my answer? Fuck you!" she chucked the
scroll at the Ninja's head. It caught him off guard and he had no time to stop
it. He screamed as it attached to his head and ignited. His head exploded in
fire, and the body fell to the ground. The other ninjas all gasped.
Chris sighed. "They're going to be pissed!" he held his disk out in front
of him. "Strike Fiss!"
Rei nodded and transformed. "Mars Star POWER!"
"ATTACK!" the crowd of ninjas roared, enraged at the death of their leader.
They all pulled out swords, knives and various arrow-shooting weapons.
Chris and Rei both went wide-eyed as all thirty ninjas began charging at
them in a huge semi-circle. "Oooh, this is goinna hurt..." Chris said, pulling
out both of his swords. "Get READY TO PARTY!" he yelled, bringing his swords
together, then around his head in a sweeping arc.
The resulting arc of energy shot forward at lightning speed, then slammed
into the torso's of five oncoming ninjas, vaporizing them. Rei turned to the
others. "Mars Firestorm...FLASH!"
Rei shot a huge jet of fire at the line of ninjas, which promptly
incinerated seven of them into crispy-critters. The rest were shot back from
the resulting explosion of the fire splattering everywhere off the fallen
ninjas.
As the ninjas regrouped, Chris and Rei watched happily. "Do you think
they'll give up?" Chris asked.
Rei shook her head. "Doubt it."
Chris put away his second sword back into the bottom of his scabbard, then
pointed his katana at the ninjas. "Looks like your were right."
The ninjas all took out bows and quickly loaded arrows into them. Rei
gasped. Chris quickly took off his coat and held it in front of her. The
ninjas fired and 18 deadly arrows streaked toward them. Chris held out his
sword. "FISS!" he yelled, causing his energy pulse to deflect the arrows coming
toward him. One got through, however, and nicked his shoulder. "Fuck!"
Rei was protected by Chris' armoured jacket, and leapt up once the arrows
had stopped. "Mars Celestial Fire...SURROUND!"
As her fiery disks distracted the ninjas, she grabbed Chris and ran. Chris
held his shoulder painfully. "Well, that was fun."
"Why didn't you keep your coat on?" Rei growled.
Chris sighed. "I thought my 'Fiss' command would work. And your skirt
hardly provides that kind of protection."
They ran into an alley as the group of ninjas passed them, running in their
last known direction. Rei took a look at his shoulder. "Well, at least they
didn't use any poison."
Chris went wide-eyed. "Oh yeah...I never though of that..."
Rei sighed. "Damn. The groceries. Grandpa's going to freak."
"Well, look on the bright side." Chris reached into his pocket. "I got
some of that powdery shit on my hand from the camera. Now, we might be able to
detect them once Ami analyzes it."
Rei smiled. "And you two can check out computer class tomorrow."
Chris nodded. "Looks like this is getting more complicated than finding
out what W stands for."
Rei raised an eyebrow. "Will you need backup?"
Chris shook his head. "No, too suspicious. I don't think they quite know
about me...yet. Only that I'm helping you. And as far as I know, they haven't
seen Ami transform."
Rei frowned. "Even so, you'll still have to watch out."
"Who? Me?" Fiss smiled. "I always do! Plus, I'm invincible, so you don't
have to worry."
Rei blinked, smiled and poked him in the shoulder, dropping him in pain.
"Yeah, I bet." she smirked.
Serebe sat in her chair quietly. The report came back from the strike
force. Considering the odds, they did badly. She held her face in her hand and
thought. The most disturbing fact is that somehow, they expected an attack just
before her force struck.
There were more factors at work than she'd previously thought.
Such a bothersome task. Who would have thought controlling the Solar
System would take so much time?
"Good job. Did the powder-camera self-destruct on time?" the man in the
lab coat asked.
A few technicians nodded. "Yes, we perfected the powderer. It's a good
thing Chris has such great ducking skills." laughed one of them.
"What about Uranus and Neptune? What's the expected Point?"
They all began to snicker at the mention of 'Uranus', but were silenced by
the man in the lab-coat's glare.
"Soon. Probability...99.2%"
Chapter 8
Chris sat at his computer, idly typing in gibberish, trying to look busy to
the teacher. He was lost. His laptop couldn't find the hidden directory
anymore. That meant someone must have known he was snooping around. Clever.
Ami had gotten the seat right next to Chris this time. And she wasn't even
aware her computer existed. She was too busy contemplating weather or not to
jump Chris right in the middle of class. Chris was aware of a steady gaze to
the left of him, and sighed. The least Ami could be doing was helping out a
little.
********************************************************************************
And now, thanks to the miracle of modern story-writing, we take you INTO
the minds of Ami, Chris and the mysterious Haruka! Ooh! Spooky!
Chris: Mmm, this sucks. I should have brought some viruses.
Ami: Aw, fuck the assignment. I'm just going to daydream.
Haruka: Wow, she's really digging me! I bet she moved across from me to
get a better view!
Chris: Meow-meow-meow-meow, meow-meow-meow-meow...
Ami: What does Rei got that I haven't got anyway?
Haruka: Hey! Maybe I can get her in a threesome with Michiru and I!
Haruka!! That's sick! How dare you think of that. (Smile)
Chris: ...and our chitty chitty bang bang loves-us-to...heah-hooh...
ramalamadingdong!
Ami: Oh oh, I'm having that dream again! Oh well. Who cares if I'm in
public? I'll just stop it before the good part...
Haruka: Oh oh, she's going into that love-trance again...I didn't realize I
was THAT hot!
Chris: Oh no. Ami's doing that THING again. Not only that, she thinks I
don't notice. Man. You'd think just because I'm a super
hero...Well, enough of that! Let's see what's in the old garbage
files...and why do they call it taking a dump, when you're not
taking it anywhere? In fact...
Ami: Oooh! He's typing again...faster...oh yeah...POUND those keys,
baby!
Haruka: Is she fondling her keyboard?
Chris: What the HELL is she doing to her keyboard? Mmm, I'm going to have
to find the server. That bug must have come from a hidden network
or something. Whoever programmed that Omega Web thing is using all
the tricks. Class is almost over, I'll check it out afterwards.
Yeah! A little "Mission Impossible"!
Ami: Mmm, that would be cool, if we stayed after class...all alone...
Haruka: I'll have to stay after and find out if she's interested in a date.
Or maybe...
With a shrill ring, the clock hit four and the students began shuffling
out. Chris hung near the door, then circled back along the outer desks,
carefully avoiding the teacher, who was quite possibly a Watcher spy, by hiding
behind the door. Little did he notice the two girls in different hiding places.
The door clicked shut, and the jingle of keys confirmed it was locked.
Chris suddenly got worried. What if he got trapped in here? He took a deep
breath, and decided not to worry about that now.
He smiled and decided to hide under the desk until any security systems
activated. The lights went dim, and a few laser beams lashed out along the
floor, ceiling and windows. Rei and him were...up late...last night, and Chris
began to doze off in the comfy light. After all, one must catch sleep when they
can...even if they hate sleep.
Ami smiled to herself. She had seen Chris go under a nearby desk not too
long ago. "He must be waiting for me! He noticed me looking!" She thought.
Carefully, she peered up from behind her hiding place behind a potted
plant.
Chris looked around. It was time he started looking for the server.
Suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder. "Ahh!"
Ami giggled. "Did I scare you?"
Chris was wide-eyed. "Geeze!" he yelled under his breath. "I thought you
left with the others! I didn't want to get you involved if I tripped the
security systems!"
The blue haired girl just smiled. "Thanks for looking out for me, but I'm
a big girl..."
Chris was trying to wedge himself past Ami, but she was blocking his escape
from under the desk. "Uh, Ami...could I just...I need to look for the
server..."
"Oh? I decided on something a bit better..." she leaned forward, embracing
him in a kiss.
Chris almost launched back in shock. "Ami??"
She was about to lean into him for another kiss, when a voice behind them
suddenly said "WHAT THE HELL??!!??"
The both looked back to see Haruka, standing with arms crossed, glaring at
Ami.
Ami turned, then blushed. "What do YOU want? Can't you see this is
private?"
Chris shook his head. "No...really...in fact, why don't you two get a
room..."
Haruka flicked her nose up "It's not private when you're flirting with me
through out the class...then expect me to just forget about it!"
Chris just shook his head. "All I wanted to do was search for the server.
Do I deserve this?"
Ami blinked. "What? You mean you didn't stay after so we could be alone?"
Haruka smiled. "Oooh! That's an original line..."
"Would you...please move!" Chris said, trying to crawl out from under the
desk with Ami in the way.
Chris finally got out and brushed himself off. "Wait to go. Now we've
probably alerted every security system in this..." A piece of lint from his
dusting-himself-off hit a nearby laser. The doors and windows were instantly
sealed off via 2 inch thick steel slabs, and the room was bathed in red light.
"Ehh, never mind..."
"What's going on!!??" Haruka yelled, frantically looking around at all the
flashing lights.
Chris sighed. "Listen. We're about to be in serious shit. I suggest you
stay close. Don't worry, we'll protect you, right Ami?"
Ami growled. "Sure. Yeah."
Haruka looked at the two. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Suddenly, the main door smashed open. A ninja with a mean-looking sword
came through the door. In a flash, Chris leapt forward. He knew enough to know
the ninja wasn't ready, and he used it to his advantage. On his way, he grabbed
a chair, then used his momentum to hurtle the chair at the ninja's head.
The chair launched into the ninja's head, throwing him back painfully.
Ami took out her data computer. "Chris! There's more on the way!"
Chris looked back. "How many?"
Ami looked at the screen. "I-I...the number keeps going up! At least
forty!"
"So much for throwing chairs." Chris sighed, running over to his book bag
and laptop.
Haruka watched in amazement as eight ninja's smashed through the already
broken doorway. "Who-who are you?!?"
The lead ninja looked puzzled. "Aren't you Mercury?"
Ami frowned. "Get out of here!"
Haruka didn't budge, though. "You...you guys are the Watchers!"
The ninja blinked. "How do you know about..."
Haruka pulled out a weird looking object. "URANUS, PLANET... POWER!" she
yelled.
Chris and Ami looked at each other, with the expressions on their faces a
mix of 'what the hell?' and 'thank god!', then back over to Haruka as she
transformed into a Sailor Scout. "Ami! Transform! I'll get us an escape
route!" Chris yelled, plugging his computer into the network.
By this time, the ninjas started to charge at the new Scout. "In the name
of Uranus, I will kill you and your retched organization!" Uranus growled. She
held her hand in the air. Sharp slivers of orange and yellow light, matching
her uniform, began to slide up from a cone around her feet, until they had all
congealed in her hand. "World SHAKING!"
She brought her arm down in a quick snap, causing a dusty explosion beneath
her. A ball of light, surrounded by a ring-shape, launched forward from her
feet, ripping up he ground as it sped forward. It left the floor and hit the
oncoming ninjas, ploughing through them like a knife through butter.
After the tenth ninja was dispatched, the ball hit the wall and dissipated.
Uranus looked satisfied at the reduced numbers of ninja. "I knew you assholes
would try for MY planet soon..."
Ami, still pissed off that her romantic interlude with Chris had been cut
short, frowned. "They weren't after YOU, you idiot, they were after Mercury."
she said proudly, sporting her Sailor Scout outfit.
Uranus sighed. "So. You Inner Scouts finally decided to show yourselves."
Five more ninjas leapt forward, aiming for Uranus.
Ami spotted them. "Mercury Ice Bubbles...FREEZE!" she shot out a mist that
instantly froze their adversaries into icy chunks.
Suddenly, the lights went back on, and the windows reverted to their
original state. Chris leapt up from the desk with his computer in hand. "Let's
get outta here! The security system detected eighty more on the way!"
Even to the Sailor Scouts, eighty was too much. In that type of crowd,
attacking a few of them would only open their backs up for attack from the rest.
Mercury nodded and hit the wall with another freeze-spell. Chris and Haruka ran
toward the weakened area with chairs in their hands.
One slam, and they broke free. Instead of running, however, Uranus
stopped. "World SHAKING!"
This time, her attack hit the building's foundation. A huge explosion was
heard inside, and one entire side of the two-story office building collapsed.
"What the hell did you do that for?!?" Mercury gasped.
Uranus frowned. "They were the enemy. They want to destroy us, so I did
it to them, first."
Chris grabbed her arm. "Wait! Is there a Sailor Saturn?"
"What do you care?"
Chris pulled out his transformation disk. "Cause I'm prince of Saturn."
Uranus smiled, eyeing the disk. "Ah, you must be her brother. We haven't
met her yet, but Pluto told us about her." she began walking off. "We'll be in
touch, I'm sure."
Chris and Ami stood there, in the middle of Tokyo, as people ran off to
report the scene. Chris turned to Ami. "Now what the FUCK were you doing back
there?"
Ami blushed. "Uhm..."
Chris just walked off. "Come on. I'm getting back to the temple before
anything ELSE decides to screw up my day..."
"Yeah..." Ami replied quietly.
"Why did you risk contact so soon with them?" Sailor Neptune frowned as
they watched the two younger Senshi walk off down the block.
"Hey! I didn't KNOW they were Scouts!" Uranus contended angrily, crossing
her arms. "Besides, Pluto has us running in circles all the time because of the
Lords. You can't frown at me for having a little fun."
With a little sigh, Neptune nodded. "I'm not angry, if that's what your
asking." she smiled slightly. "Besides, if those little lackeys are after our
younger counterparts, we should just be able to follow them around."
"And then strike when they don't expect it." Uranus nodded with gritted
teeth. "Good plan."
There was a long pause.
"Of course, if you ever hit on a 16 year old again, I'm going to kill you."
Neptune stated.
Uranus cringed. "Sorry..."
Chapter 9
Luna's eyes shot wide-open. "Another Sailor Scout?!?"
Fiss nodded. "Well, unless someone ELSE decided to dress up like that..."
Artemis held out his paw. "That's five bucks, missy."
The black cat angrily forked over the money to her companion. "So? What
happened? What planet is she from? What..."
"All I know is she's some sort of sick FREAK!" Ami fumed, still mad at
Haruka's passes toward her.
Chris sighed. "I don't know about that, but she DID seem to know a lot
more about the 'Watchers' as she called them, than we do." he smirked. "What
original names. Damn, at least that Omega Web sounds cool..."
Rei smiled. "At least we know what they're called now."
Darien yawned. "Well, what I want to know is how this Haruka got in.
Weren't you staying alone?"
Chris glanced briefly over to Ami. "Yeah...but she must have stayed after
for something."
Rei nodded. "So, how many ninjas came up against you this time?"
"At least eighty." Chris sighed. "That must mean they have a lot of
members. Why else would they send so many against just three scouts? They
probably only expected Ami anyway."
Lita nodded. "It just doesn't seem right. Where would all these ninja-
type people be coming from? It's hard to hide so many people, and still be on
call to attack within a minutes notice."
"Unless they all have life-time subway passes!" Artemis chipped in happily.
Chris smiled suddenly.
Rei smiled too. "What is it?"
"Well...I was just thinking...if we trail these weird ninja-guys back to
their hide-out, we'd have an advantage finally!"
Serena smiled too. "Alright! We'll be able to moon-dust them before
dinner!"
Darien crossed his arms. "And just how do you intend we follow these
ninjas back to their hideout?"
Chris pointed to Artemis. "Artemis. Get something to cover that crescent
moon of
yours."
Rei smiled evilly. "Hey! Yeah! You cats would be the perfect spies!
Artemis here could trail the ninjas back to their base without even being
detected!"
Artemis gasped. "ME?!?! NO way!"
Mina picked up Artemis by his front legs. "You always said you wanted to
help out."
"I did!!??"
"Well, I'm sure that's what you always wanted to say!" Mina giggled.
Luna sighed. "We're all doomed. What if he doesn't get back?"
Chris pulled out his laptop. "That's covered too. All Artemis has to do
is be a target for a camera to follow."
"Can't Luna go?" Artemis whined. "She's black! Yeah! More stealthy!"
"Sorry, Artemis. I need a white target to get a good fix." Chris shrugged.
Lita blinked. "What camera are you going to use?"
Darien zoomed up to the fallen Fujistzima Computers Tech institute building
on his motorbike. He had Artemis on his shoulder. "Okay. Ami scanned the
debris, so there's at least three ninja still alive in there. They'll work
their way out, and you follow. We'll do the rest."
Artemis sighed. "Well, I've had a good life. It's been nice knowing you,
Darien..." he hopped down to the ground and walked off towards the building.
Darien smiled and zoomed off before any Watchers saw him.
Artemis sighed and hid behind a large rock. The police had long since came
and gone. Because the building 'mysteriously collapsed' off hours, nobody was
believed to be inside, so no search-and-rescue was attempted. The Watchers
inside were safe from being found out. Now, only a line of police-tape guarded
the building.
It was coming on twilight. Chris said that was the best time, so Artemis
would stand out better against the ground.
Artemis saw movement in the pile of debris, only five minutes after Darien
had dropped him off. "Well, Scouts. I hope you're watching!"
He walked quietly over to a large rock. It moved suddenly, and rolled away
to reveal a ninja, badly hurt, but alive nonetheless. He limped out into the
open, then began walking down an alley. Artemis followed.
The Sailor Scouts all huddled around Chris as he began typing. Andrea and
Maury were even allowed in on the meeting. Chris began tapping into a spy
satellite. "Remember. This never happened." he smiled, earning tired sighs from
the others.
Suddenly, an overhead image of downtown Tokyo appeared on the tiny laptop
screen.
Chris zoomed in with a touch of a key, and soon, they saw a bright white
dot, walking down an alley. Everything else was too faded to see, but they
eventually realized it was Artemis. Rei smiled. "So, that's why you asked him
to go. He's the only distinguishable object the satellite can pick up!"
Chris nodded. "As you can see, he's following a moving black splotch.
Normally, we could have never found that ninja unless we had his exact co-
ordinates. He looks like any other person from orbit. With Artemis following
him like that, he acts like a little tracer beacon."
Maury patted Chris on the back. "Using cats as guided missiles. What will
you think of next?"
Andrea smiled. "There's probably easier ways to track ninjas, but this is
the most fun!"
Artemis wasn't having fun. So far, the ninja had been very careful to look
behind himself. They had gone through three murky alleys, up a fire-escape, and
now were crossing a rickety-looking bridge that connected the fire-escape to an
old abandoned warehouse.
Artemis crossed the bridge after the ninja got across as not to rock it and
alert him to his movements.
As he crossed the bridge, he saw the ninja key in a number in an electronic
door-lock located on a roof-access door. He was too far away to read the code,
but figured that was the least of his problems. If this building was just
another diversionary way point on the ninja's trip home, he'd have to follow him
inside.
He leapt inside just before the door closed behind the dark-clothed figure.
Inside, he realized he was falling down a flight of stairs. His leap had
carried him too far. "MeOOOWWWW!" he screamed past the shocked ninja's head.
He hit head-first on a step, then bounced the rest of the way down the
staircase.
As his eyes adjusted to the new, bright surroundings, he saw hundreds of
ninja-clothed people looking at him. Oh shit... he thought.
Suddenly, a woman came up to him. "Well well! A cat! Isn't youze
adorable!" she cooed, picking Artemis up.
Artemis blinked and meowed.
"Ah! Mr. Fitzu. I see you're back from your mission." she said suddenly
turning her attention to the ninja Artemis had been following.
Mr Fitzu coughed rather loudly. "Sorry, Serebe, but Mercury got way. She
also had help from the one who helped Tuxedo Mask out at Metro, and a new Scout
showed up."
Serebe smiled. "Well, aren't you lucky. I was going to kill you for
failing. However, you have brought me information of a new Scout? I will spare
you for this. Good job."
The ninja smiled weakly. "Yeah, nothing to it..."
"Please report to your station and write up a report." Serebe ordered.
Fitzu nodded and walked past the crowd of ninjas. Serebe turned to the
group. "Okay. You now have a new enemy. I think you should practice for an
extra hour tonight."
The ninjas all bowed, then began sparing. Serebe smiled. "So, little
kitty, what's your name?"
Artemis just meowed. He was glad Rei had covered up his little crescent
moon with white makeup. There's no telling what they'd do to him if they found
out he was a Scouts' pet.
Serebe took him over to her chair and sat down. "Well, since you have no
collar or ID, I claim you as my own." she put him in her lap. "Now, we have to
find you a name."
Artemis blinked. "I just KNOW she's going to name me 'Fluffy' or
something..." he shivered to himself.
The Scouts all looked at the screen intensely for the next ten minutes.
Artemis didn't come out. Chris finally shut the cover. "I guess we found the
Watcher base."
Lita slammed her fists together. "Let's rumble."
Chapter 10
Rei peered around the corner of the hallway. Everything was quiet.
Grandpa was probably in bed early tonight. "Go! Go!" she waved the others
past.
All the Sailor Scouts ran out the door and into the bushes to avoid
detection by Grandpa. They all realized they had two visitors. Chris looked
over to Maury and Andrea. "What the HELL are you doing?"
Andrea frowned. "I'm bored, and I'm not going to let you hoard all the fun
for yourself."
Maury nodded. "We have knives. We're smart. It's not like we can't kick
ass on a few extra ninjas for you."
Rei frowned, "We already went over this, remember?" she told Andrea. "You
can help by making it look like we're back home."
Andrea stepped back, "So I'll bring one of the training swords or
something, okay? I'll do anything...but you have to let me come with you." She
looked over at her brother, "Chris, please?"
Chris blinked. "Oh, sure. What happens if you die? How am I'm going to
explain THAT to mom and dad? You aren't even a super hero!"
Andrea blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, yeah... I'll stay." she mumbled.
Maury smiled. "Hey, if you see Sailor Uranus, Chris, don't forget to say:"
"Huh, huh, huh...Maybe YOUR-anus!" they both 'Beavised'. Chris nodded and
the Scouts ran out the door, leaping like frogs, with Chris running behind them,
laptop in hand.
Andrea made sure that they were out of sight. "Okay, Maury, let's follow
them."
He blinked, "What? You got problems? He said to stay right here!"
Andrea rolled her eyes back. "Come ON, Mo! I know that you of all people
want part of the action!"
Maury thought a moment, then grinned, "I'll go get my knives."
Artemis frowned slightly, stuck on Serebe's lap as she was writing down a
letter to someone. The Scouts still hadn't arrived after one hour. Artemis was
beginning to wonder if the satellite even tracked him correctly. For all he
knew, the Scouts would never find him again, and he would be stuck with the name
"Kittles."
Yes. If there was ONE name that a cat could hate more than "Fluffy", this
was one of them. "Kittles." Artemis shivered.
Serebe looked down from her little notepad. "Aw, poor Kittles. Are you
cold?"
Artemis shook his head and meowed.
"Well, if you get cold, just let me know." she smiled, then returned to her
notes.
Artemis had gotten a good view of the Watcher base during the last hour.
The warehouse was one large floor, with all windows and doors shut tight with
steel plates. The main command centre was a makeshift 'room' surrounded by
half-height walls. Serebe's chair sat in the middle of a semi-circle of
computer desks, all manned by constantly-typing assistants. Outside of the
centre room, the warehouse was split into two more areas. One, he couldn't see
because of a strange fog emanating from within it's walls. The other housed
ninjas. Artemis had counted at least a thousand of them.
Artemis sighed. This was going to be interesting.
Serebe looked down at him. "Did you just sigh?"
Artemis went wide-eyed. "Meow?"
"Wait a second..." she picked him up and looked at his face closely. Her
thumb came up around his forehead, rubbing off the white powdery cover on his
moon. "BAKA!" she yelled, throwing Artemis to the ground. "You're Sailor
Venus' cat, Artemis! Aren't you!?!"
Artemis gasped. "Oh shit..."
Serebe pulled out her sword. "You little flea-infested bastard! I bet you
lead the Scouts here, didn't you!" she paused, thinking. "RED ALERT! Go to
full battle status!" she yelled.
The floor of the warehouse erupted in shouts of ninjas barking orders at
one another, trying to get ready for an attack.
It came quicker than she expected. A sword blade jammed itself into one of
the window covers and sliced it open in less than a second. "Venus! NOW!"
Chris yelled, retrieving his sword out of the way.
Venus was behind him. "Venus Love Chain...Encircle!" she shot out her
attack toward Serebe and Artemis.
Artemis jumped out of the way as the chain wrapped itself around Serebe's
waist. Sailor Moon was next in line as the ninjas all ran to help their leader.
"HOLD IT!" she yelled. "One move and your leader gets a tiara in the head!" she
pulled off her tiara and started it's glowing spin mode.
All the ninjas stopped dead in their tracks. Rei and Chris jumped through
the window and retrieved Artemis. "Nobody move." Chris said, keeping his sword
to Serebe's throat. "We won't kill her unless you try anything."
It seemed to be working. The thousand or so ninjas didn't move, and they
all looked worried for their leader. Rei put her hand over Serebe's mouth just
in case she ordered them to attack.
Artemis jumped into Venus' hands. "Thank god! That bitch named me
Kittles!!"
Venus frowned, keeping her love-chain in tight grasp. "You named MY cat
Kittles?"
Serebe mumbled something, then was shoved out the window. Chris and Rei
smiled at the ninjas just before they left.
The all gathered outside. "Let's GO!" Lita yelled. Venus wrapped her
chain around Serebe tighter and they were off into the neighbouring vacant lot.
Chris paced back and forth in front of the tied-up Serebe. "Well? What
about these cameras?"
Serebe frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"SILENCE!" Chris yelled in a 'German interrogator' voice. "Ve halve vays
oaf making you tokk!"
Rei shook her head.
"Well, she doesn't know." Chris shrugged, then sat down on the ground as
Darien smiled.
"Well? What should we do with her?" Darien asked evilly.
"We could call the police." Ami shrugged.
Mina frowned. "Do you think that's wise? What could they do?"
Serebe smiled. "It's too late. You'll never escape the Lords. By staying
in one area, you're only facilitating your destruction."
The Scouts all looked at her and blinked. Serena growled. "I'm SICK of
all you bad-guys saying it's too late, and that we're all doomed."
Serebe strained against Venus' love chain across her chest. "I had more
than enough time to send a message that we had positive confirmation of your
identities." she smiled. "That was more than enough of a reason to stop on by.
The fact you have me as a prisoner changes nothing."
Chris sighed. "Okay...for all of us who AREN'T crazy assholes who live in
foo-foo land on Saturdays...who the fuck are the 'Lords?'"
"Oh, you'll know them when you see them." Serebe grinned. "They'll be here
in a day. I suggest you get a good night's sleep. It will be your last."
Chris looked unimpressed. "You're full of shit, aren't you?"
Serebe continued smiling. "I don't care what you do to me. You're all
dead anyway."
"Can I kill her? Can I? Please?"
Rei shook her head. "Naw, we better keep her around for a while. But we
better not take her back to the Temple; Grandpa will get suspicious."
Mina growled. "I STILL can't believe you were going to name Artemis
'Kittles'!"
Artemis smiled proudly.
Lita sighed. "Would you leave it ALONE?!?"
"What?!!?!!" Mina snapped back. "SHE NAMED MY CAT...
Suddenly, two figures came crashing through the bushes. "We'll save you!"
Andrea and Maury yelled, holding knives.
That freaked the hell out of the Scouts. Serebe used the moment of
confusion to pull free of Venus and run off into the field.
Chris glared at the two, then ran after her.
Serena and Darien were next. "Look after these two, Mercury, we'll get
Serebe." Darien said as they ran off.
Andrea looked around sheepishly as Rei, Lita and Mina ran off as well.
Maury frowned. "I knew we should have stayed at the temple."
Mercury crossed her arms. "We told you two to stay. This is dangerous.
Now we lost our only lead to the Watchers."
Andrea glared at her, so she shut up.
"This show ain't no good..." Chris said as a wall of at least two hundred
ninjas, lead by the newly freed Serebe, advanced toward the Sailor Scouts & co.
Serebe smiled evilly, then cackled: "Attack!"
"Run!" Darien yelled. The six ran back as fast as they could.
Unfortunately, some of the ninjas must have been track-n-field buffs because
they were catching up.
Darien threw back a rose, exploding a chunk of ground in front of the
ninjas. All it did was give them a second pause. The ninjas regained their
speed and were catching up again.
Mars spun around to launch some fire-works, but there wasn't enough time
and she had to keep running. "We've got to warn Mercury and the others!"
They were coming up on a park bench. "Quick! Everyone on the bench!"
Chris yelled, taking out his sword.
They all leapt on, only five or so seconds ahead of the ninjas. Chris
pointed his sword at the ninjas and yelled: "Saturn Disk REFLECT!"
The sword shot out a wave of energy from it's hand-guard, uprooting the
bench, and shooting it forward like a rocket. It then crashed into a bush, and
the scouts all tumbled out. "Keep running!" Mina reminded the stunned group.
They had gained some distance, but they were still way outnumbered.
Andrea dug at the ground with a stick. "How hard can it be to find some
old chick who's tied up?"
Mercury shrugged. "They should have been back by now."
Suddenly, Chris, Lita and Mina sprung over a hill, running toward them.
"RUN!" they all yelled at once.
Rei, Serena and Darien were close behind, followed a few metres behind by a
cloud of black-suited flailing arms and ninja masks. Mercury just stood there,
wide-eyed. "Uh?"
Maury grabbed Andrea and ran, "Come on!"
Darien literally picked up Ami and ran with her under his arm until she got
the idea and started running too. Suddenly, Maury tripped, taking Andrea with
him. The scouts all tumbled to a painful stop as the ninjas pounced on the two.
"Andrea!" Chris yelled, whipping out his sword.
Suddenly, the lead ninjas held them up as hostages. Serebe, huffing and
puffing, finally caught up. "Ha...we...got...koff...your sister! Surrender!"
Lita gasped. "Let her and Maury go! Now!"
Chris almost leapt at Serebe right there. "If you don't let them go, I'll
kill every last one of you!"
Serena stepped forward, "If you don't, you meanie, you've gotta be the
ditziest ditz in all of DITZ LAND!!" Darien looked at her funny, then drew his
attention to the hostages.
Andrea, a cloaked hand around her neck, was nearly in tears. Maury was
desperately trying to reach his knife.
The ninja tightened his grip around their necks, "Come on!"
Now, one thing that one should know about Maury, is that, he hated not
being able to do something. In fact, the only thing he hated more was being
choked by someone who was preventing him from doing something.
Maury, suddenly, yelled a pissed-off kind of yell, and the symbol of the
Sun appeared on his forehead.
Chapter 11
Out of nowhere, a shaft of pure sunlight came from the sky, piercing the
night. It enveloped Maury, throwing back the ninjas.
Andrea's forehead now showed the PL symbol of Pluto overlapping a crescent
moon. "All RIGHT!" she yelled, watching her little mask-pin on her jacket start
to glow. "PLUTO POWER!" Her pin jumped onto her face and turned into a full-
sized mask, covering her eyes and nose. She began rotating around in a shaft of
green light, transparent except for her mask. The green light faded to reveal a
kimono-type suit with a cool cape and high, lace-up boots. She looked herself
over and smiled.
Maury smiled too. "SOL POWER!" Sunlight melted onto Maury, then boomed
into a blinding explosion. Maury materialized into a completely black
trenchcoat with matching pants and glasses. His belt filled with various
glowing objects that looked suspiciously like throwing weapons. The shaft of
sunlight disappeared and the two regrouped with the other scouts.
Chris blinked and shrugged with a smile. "Well, welcome to the club."
"Glad to join up." Hooze smiled. "Do we get free dental coverage?"
"Nope. Just medical." Fiss nodded.
Darien smiled with the addition of two more Scouts. "What was this about
surrendering?"
Serebe just glared at them.
"Attack!" Serena yelled as the group of Sailor Scouts leapt forward at the
stunned ninjas.
Andrea pushed Serena aside, "I'll handle this one, Sailor Moon." She
giggled at the cheesy line, but stepped forward in front of all the others and
followed her instincts. Kneeling to the ground, she rose her arms and
shouted into the night, "Pluto...Ground...ZERO!!!"
A large ball of energy formed around her. She moved her arms forward
forcefully, sending a shock wave of green light toward the ninja and vaporizing
ninety-three...and a half.
Serebe ran, "Retreat! NOW!"
The rest of the ninja ran after their leader.
"Oh YEAH?" Maury grinned. "Sol Stars!" he yelled quickly, throwing five of
the glowing objects from his belt at the ninjas at the back of the group.
Each star split into five more, colliding and melting another one third of
the ninjas. The rest ducked into the bushes.
Maury grinned. "Cool."
Darien walked up to them, "Good work, you two. I'm quite impressed." he
smiled at Andrea a little longer.
Andrea beamed happily
Chris and Rei hugged. "Memories..." Chris said. "It's all happening
again."
"Oh yeah, I remember..."
Rei leapt on him. They kissed passionately on the ground for a full
minute, then were broke up by Mercury coughing.
"Come on, we have to keep moving." she said quickly, then walked off.
Chris and Rei got up. "I love memories." Chris nodded happily. "Just
don't go getting your fighting uniform all taken off," Chris smiled "we don't
know if it'll disappear or not."
Rei smiled coyly. "Oh, I'm sure you'd just hate that happening, wouldn't
you?"
They got up and the group of newly formed heroes walked off.
"Man, I'm going to give a raise to the member who invented the point
calculator. It's been right again." The lab coat said.
"You did, sir."
The man in the lab-coat just chuckled. "Oh yes. Well, I suppose it helps
when I cheat, too."
His aides all blinked. "How do you mean, sir?"
"Come on." he smiled. "You don't honestly think both Sol and Charon would
find their powers on the exact same day...without a little extra help...do you?"
They all blinked.
"I told you." he cracked his knuckles. "I've already found their power
signatures. Giving them a little jumpstart isn't hard."
They all smiled and nodded.
"Oh, yeah. What's the update on the Lords?"
"Twenty hours, five minutes."
The man in the lab coat smiled. "Well, then, time to see if all that
research was worth it."
Chapter 12
Chris walked into the only familiar building on the busy street. The
Samurai Shop
He looked around for Mr. Yamato. He heard some pounding in the back, and
decided not to interrupt. On the walls were the racks and racks of beautiful
swords. In a way, Chris was surprised the door wasn't alarmed or something to
protect the valuable items from shoplifters.
Suddenly, Mr Yamato came out of the back room, covered in dust. He
blinked, smiled, then ran out from behind the counter. "Chris! How's it
going?"
Chris smiled. "Absolutely great. Would you believe me if I told you my
life has gotten fifty times better ever since I bought that sword?"
The old man smiled. "Yes, I probably would. Finding your soul is a
momentous thing, I'm sure you know."
They shook hands. "How's business?" Chris asked.
"Good. I just got a deal with some foreign antiques company to make a
bunch of fifth-generation clubs and about twenty swords. It'll take a year to
do, even with help, but it's a multi-million dollar deal."
Chris blinked.
"Yeah, that's what I said too!" he chuckled. "How's your sword holding
up?"
Chris reached behind his back and revealed his sword. He withdrew some of
the blade. "Excellent."
Yamato blinked. "Have you used it much? It's still in mint condition!"
"Hell! Use it every day. Not just straw targets, either."
"Wow..."
Chris smiled. "I just wanted to check up on you." he sheathed his sword
and put it behind him. "I haven't talked to you in over three months."
Yamato opened the back door. It was to a office this time, not his work
room. "Come here. I've got something to show you."
Chris shrugged then followed. Yamato lit up the office with the light
switch and the walls came into view.
Hundreds of drawings. Of the same dream Chris had, back when he was first
discovering his power.
"You're that new Scout...Strike Fiss, aren't you..." Yamato asked.
Chris blinked. Then nodded. "Have you been having the dream too?"
Yamato sat down in a chair and twirled around a pencil. "Yes. I guess I
was your guardian back on that moon. What was it called?"
"Enceladus." Chris reminded him.
"That's right," he smiled "If I remember, you were a good student of the
sciences too."
Chris looked astonished. "You remember?"
Yamato took a deep breath. "What I remember comes to me in the dream. I
believe I have to give you a message, though."
"Yes?"
"You're not like the others. The inner planets are too unified, the outer
too independent. You're like a bridge. You fill the gap between them. It's
you're job to supervise both teams, and make sure they work as one."
Chris nodded. There was something familiar about this conversation. He
most have got advice from his mentor in the past, more than once. "Cool, so
like, I'm a bridge. I can do that!"
Yamato smiled. "Where's your little sword necklace?"
Chris blinked, then blushed slightly. "Oh, I, uh, gave it to Sailor
Mars...we're, well, in love."
Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Just remember. You're not part of the Silver
Millennium. Don't favour either side, just make sure Earth doesn't go
unprotected...even if you have to put Mars as your second priority."
Chris smiled confidently. "We have two more, now...plus any outer planets
that decide to help us. And Mars is quite capable of protecting herself."
"What's her name?" he asked, curious.
"Rei." Chris smiled happily.
Yamato blinked. "No way! Old Hino's daughter?"
Chris sighed. "Just don't tell anyone."
He shook his head. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Chris sighed, looking around at some of the pictures he saw. "Listen, I'm
short on time. We just got word on something bad coming our way." he smiled.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay and everything."
Yamato frowned. "Can I be of any assistance?"
Chris thought for a moment. "Yes...do you know where a chemical supply
store is?"
Chris left the shop. His mind was full, yet he pushed it all back to make
space for one congruent thought...What if the Lords were this horrible evil?
They were due sometimes that night if Serebe's forecast wasn't just a bucket of
sandwiches.
Chris spirited his sword away with a touch of his disk. He pocketed the
disk and walked down an alley. Suddenly, Ami was behind him. "Hi, Chris. What
are you doing in this part of town?"
Chris remembered the 'little' kiss Ami had given him and shivered. "Just
getting some advice on sword-care."
Ami walked up beside him. She was wearing an obvious attempt to attract
his attention. For a moment, Chris wondered if Ami had swiped one of Rei's
shirts. "You know, you haven't said a word to me ever since the little incident
at the computer lab..."
Chris swallowed hard. "Well, there hasn't been much to say. What do you
want to talk about?"
"Well, I don't believe in hiding my feelings too long. I'll just say
what's on my mind."
Chris nodded. For once, he was interested. It wasn't everyday he was in a
love triangle.
"Well, I know you and Rei are going out and everything, but I was
wondering..." she cornered him slightly against the alley wall "is there any
chance of, well..." she took a deep breath "me getting you in my bedroom, no
clothes?"
Chris blinked, wide-eyed. "Wh-wh-wh-what?"
Ami wrapped her arms around his waist. "You, me, in bed..."
Chris shoved her off. "Ami, I don't think you understand...Rei and I
aren't just going out..."
Ami frowned. "Whatever it is, I'm willing to accept..."
Chris sighed. "You want me to say it? Okay, then! We've even done the
horizontal tango! Alright? We love each other!" he shrugged. "And although
I'm flattered, it's not like I'm just able to pick and choose here."
Ami blinked. "I'm-uh, sorry Chris..."
Chris stormed off. At the end of the alley, he stopped, as if to turn
around. Instead, he just said "Ami, I'm sorry, but it's better I told you now
than later. I hope this doesn't mean we can't still work together." he walked
off solemnly.
Ami watched him for a long time, then sat against the alley wall. She
buried her face in her arms and cried silently.
Andrea pouted. She never did like seeing Darien and Serena together...
especially doing their smoochy-woochy stuff. The sun was beginning to set in
the west, and Serena kissed Darien, explaining that she had to have supper. She
ran down the steps to catch the bus. Andrea's greenish-grey eyes shone as she
approached Darien.
"Yeah?" he asked friendly.
Andrea fidgeted with her pin, "Could I talk with you? Over by the lake?"
He nodded and they walked around to the other side of the temple. Andrea
sat down on the grass and turned her head away from him for a moment, taking a
deep breath. She faced him again, slightly blushing. She lowered her head,
"Well...what I-uh...Darien, I have feelings for you."
Darien blinked.
Andrea stood up, looking away, "Even when I'm beside you I feel like a mile
away. I mean, I know you and Serena are meant to be, but I..." she looked into
his eyes, "I want to know if I'd ever...you know. Have a chance."
Darien scratched his head, looking sort of embarrassed. "I really don't
know what to tell you. I mean, you'll get over it and-"
Andrea's eyes watered, "No I WON'T, Darien. What do you think I've been
trying to do since I first met you? Its not just some little crush." He walked
up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She rested her head against his
chest, "Oh, Darien. I'm sorry...I'm not trying to put you in an awkward
position."
"Actually, Andrea, it doesn't feel all that awkward." Darien said softly.
"What do you mean?"
He smiled gently. Then lifted her chin with his finger, and kissed her.
His kiss flooded Andrea with warmth. He brushed her soft, brown hair back then
snickered a bit, looking a confused, "I don't know what's going on, but there's
something about you..." He waved to her, and casually walked away.
Andrea blinked, then said, "Cool."
Finally out of sight, Darien sighed. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he
groaned. "I gotta grow out of this..."
Rei looked around. The field was bare. No more leaves. No people...
either. She grinned evilly to herself and looked at her rake. "Duh-duh-du-du-
duh..." She sang out a 'tango' beat and started dancing with her rake.
She couldn't dance with Chris, because they'd probably step on each other's
feet and fall over, killing everyone in their path and causing massive
destruction. So, instead, she just danced with various rakes and brooms when
nobody was around.
"Bal lump-bump, bada-da!" she dipped the rake. She then looked up and saw
Ami, staring at her. "Ahh!" she fell over, backwards, landing on the rake and
rolling to a stop five metres away. "Uh..."
Suddenly, a shoe filled her vision. Before Rei could react, she was kicked
in the head and toppled over into the pond. She broke the surface coughing
spastically. "What the..." she said, hair in her eyes.
"Well, well. If it isn't Misses Dances with Rakes." Ami called out. Rei
brushed back her hair and frowned.
"Oh! Ami! Hi, sorry...I must have tripped on my sandals." Rei blushed.
"Did I hit your foot?"
Ami 'humphed'. "Don't insult me. I kicked your ass. That's what
happened."
Rei blinked. "Uhm?"
"Let me spell it out for you." Ami sounded annoyed. "I took my foot and
kicked you up side the head. You've been taking everything else...I thought you
could take a few beats."
Rei growled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she stormed out of
the water, rolling up her sleeves. If there was one thing she hated most it was
being surprise attacked.
"Apparently, without any warning to me, you swiped Chris away from me!" Ami
glowered.
Rei was motionless for a second. Ami kept frowning. Suddenly, Rei got a
strange look on her face. Ami didn't believe it. She's SMIRKING??
Rei broke out in a short laughing spell. "Oh...sorry, Ami. I thought you
were serious for a second. HA!!" she paused then laughed some more.
Ami blinked.
Rei opened her eyes still to see Ami with a pissed-off expression.
"Wait...you're not serious...are you?..."
Ami wound up and nearly knocked Rei over again except of a lucky dodge.
Rei dropped and kicked her legs into Ami's, causing her to fall hard on her
face. Rei jumped up. "What's this all about!?!" she yelled.
Ami looked up at her, spitting out a leaf. "Come on, Rei. A nice guy
comes into to town. He's a computer expert, you know. You don't go for people
like that. You think...Mmm let's see. Ami likes computers, and she's
available. I think I'll tell her about Chris."
Rei rolled back her eyes. "He's not just a computer expert, you know..."
"You didn't see it that way. Some how, you just snapped him up without
consideration for me." Ami growled.
Rei looked shocked. "You gotta be kidding. This isn't 'Days Of Our
Lives.' for god's sake. Why the fuck are you so pissed off at me?" she asked,
rubbing her cheek. "I hate to say it, but this was a joint venture by both of
us. I didn't 'steal' him, dammit."
Before Ami could say another word, Rei walked off. Rei finally turned
around. "Go home Ami."
Ami blinked as Rei walked off into the distance.
Chapter 13
Chris lie in his fighting uniform on the bed that Grandpa had assigned him.
His laptop lay beside him. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" filled the room with
haunting, familiar music. He couldn't help thinking that the Sailor Scouts were
in major trouble. His watch beeped. Nine forty.
A knock. Chris considered if he should change back into normal attire, but
Rei opened the door. She smiled briefly.
Without a word, she sat next to him. Chris sat up and they sat there for a
good minute, just trying to think of something, anything to say. Chris started
to mumble something, but then stopped.
They gave each other a warm hug. Rei smiled again. "Well?"
"Any minute. Who knows, they could be another few hours away."
"They might be early."
"We still don't even know they exist."
"We both know there's something out there."
"Rei, if one of us gets nuked..." Chris sighed "you must look after Andrea
if I go."
Rei and Chris embraced in a squeeze. "I will..." she sniffed.
The two gazed into each others eyes for at least a minute, then embraced in
a soft kiss.
Suddenly, a flash filled the sky outside. Rei and Chris turned to watch
the light dissipate. A vortex of green light extended downwards from the sky,
hitting the earth only five kilometres away, in the heart of Tokyo.
The Sailor Scouts gathered outside of the temple. All who weren't already,
transformed.
A huge dust cloud was visible from where the beam hit.
Andrea glared at the looming cloud. "If I ever figure out what I'm doing,
these guys are in big trouble! Pluto POWER!"
Maury frowned. "Dido. Sol POWER!"
Lita smiled in anticipation. "And in the name of Jupiter also, I'm goinna
rock em! Jupiter Star...POWER!"
Ami looked determined, yet scared. "Mercury Star... POWER!"
"'V' is for VICTORY (and also Venus)... I will protect Earth!" Mina yelled,
"Venus Star...POWER!"
"Sounds good to me!" Darien grinned, transforming with a throw of his hat.
Rei took a deep breath "Now I'll have to get steamed! We're missing some
good shopping hours because of this vortex thing! Mars Star... POWER!"
"Alright, Cubby..." Chris glared at the cloud as well "Looks like we're
going to war! Saturn POW-ERRR!"
"I am Sailor Moon! Champion of justice and, Princess of the Moon and
defender of the Silver Millennium!" Serena said proudly. Moon...Crystal...
POWER!!!!"
Chris and Maury couldn't resist. "You said 'Moon'," the both stated
chuckling.
The group nodded at each other, and ran towards the billowing cloud of grey
dust.
"Odds?" the lab coated-man asked.
"Still calculating. No data yet."
The man frowned. "Then get ready. I'm going out there."
Chapter 14
Police surrounded the crater as more news vans came tearing into view.
Three news copters circled overhead, spewing off headline news into the
television. Other than the helicopters circling around in the air, everyone was
silent. Everyone from within twenty blocks was now there, and the sight could
have been visible from a low orbit.
Only minutes ago, the ground rocked with a thundering crash as a metallic
silver pod hit the street, after ploughing through a supermarket. However, the
pod seemed intact. Police and military forces surrounded the small crater,
keeping the civilians and news out. The last thing they wanted was the
situation of aliens landing to get out of control.
That was the official rumour going about the crowd. Aliens. The pod was
definitely big enough to carry several humanoids, and it looked more like a
spaceship than anything else. The metallic skin made it look like something out
of Star Trek, and it was shaped almost like a sunflower seed. White flakes were
sliding off of the hull; the ice of space melting from the heat of re-entry and
the atmosphere around it.
News coverage was unbelievable. And even more was on the way. In the now
half-an-hour it had been sitting there, every newspaper and television
station...even a few people who ran web-pages...were gathered around, all taking
notes.
Suddenly, someone "Oooo"ed. Everyone turned full attention on the pod. It
was opening up.
Standing up in a type of cockpit were ten humanoids.
Everyone gasped. They looked basically human, but had metallic-looking
skin.
One of the police captains held up his hand for everyone to be quiet. One
of the humanoids stepped out of the pod as it's top completely opened up and
slid into it's bottom, making a half-seed shape.
The alien was a tall male. Silvery skin. He was dressed in an elaborately
coloured jumpsuit. He walked up to the police captain.
The captain smiled. When he spoke, it was in Japanese, "Welcome to the
planet Earth. We mean you no harm, and I greet you on behalf of..."
The alien cleared his throat. Also in Japanese, he spoke. "Excuse me.
But are you part of Serenity's court?"
The captain blinked. "Pardon me?"
The alien sighed in a gruff voice. "Are you a 'Sailor Scout'?"
"Uh...no..."
The alien gestured to the huge crowd of people around them. "Are ANY of
these people Sailor Scouts?"
The police officer looked around. There were no brightly coloured
schoolgirls with talking cats. Not even a tuxedo. "Uh...no. I don't see
them..."
The alien put his hand to the captain's forehead and shot out a laser-like
beam through it, and the people standing behind. "Then get out of our way."
The police captain's body fell to the ground, gushing blood from the hole
in his head. The crowd started screaming. Before the military and police
forces could attempt to defend themselves, the other nine aliens all leapt out
of the pod and started cutting down people with their hand-laser weapons.
Rei got to the top of the hill first. "Oh shit..."
They all looked down, a couple hundred metres away, down a hill, a huge
crowd of people were being slaughtered. "It's the Lords! They're in the
middle!" Lita said.
Andrea and Maury both were shocked. Even from this distance, a visible
pool of blood was forming. "Ohmygod..." Andrea gasped.
Maury was simply shocked into silence.
Artemis started coughing. "My GOD! They're being cut into bite-sized
chunks!"
Luna promptly threw up. Lita was beginning to regret having such a big
dinner.
Chris looked up. "Mercury! Scan over there!"
She complied. "It's the air force! They're coming in!"
Darien shook his head. "I don't like this..."
Chris smiled. "Aw, come on. They're F-15's! Best planes in the world for
fighting against aliens!"
Rei blinked. "Didn't they use F-18's in 'Independence Day'?"
"Close enough."
As the F-15J's came into view, they broke formation, and began dropping
five-hundred pound laser-guided bombs at the centre of the massacre. The Scouts
got hopeful that it would do the trick and they could all go home for a good
night's sleep.
However, what kind of story would THAT make??!!
As the resulting explosion of bombs and auto-cannon hitting the ground
dissipated, twenty red lasers pierced the cloud upwards and began to hit the
fighter jets. In less than three seconds, all five planes had exploded in mid-
air, not even giving the pilots enough time to eject.
"Didn't we see this on Outlanders?" Andrea shivered.
"Wh-what happened next on Outlanders?" Serena asked.
Chris growled. "This..." he leapt down the hill.
Rei gasped. "Wait!"
Darien grabbed her from running after him. "Just wait. He has a plan.
We'll only screw it up."
As Chris ran down the hit towards the massacre, he tried to think of a
plan. He knew he should have thought of one first. Oh well. Only one thought
went through his mind. "Man, I gotta take a whiz..."
The closest of the ten was on Chris' side of the crater, and had it's back
turned at the moment. Chris ducked behind a slab of concrete as the 'Lord'
turned and walked his way. He heard footsteps at it walked toward him.
Chris jumped up, whipped out his sword, swung it round, and sliced through
the alien's shoulder, all the way through to it's side before either of them
knew what was happening.
The other aliens turned, wide-eyed as they saw their surprised comrade's
body slice in two, falling away to reveal Chris, holding his sword.
"Well, that was pretty gruesome." Chris said simply, then looked up to see
the others. "Oh-oh..."
The aliens looked shocked. Finally, their leader said "Whoever you are,
you're going to pay for that..."
Chris put on his best act...ignoring the smell of blood around him. "I
don't think so, assholes. If you don't get off my fucking planet NOW...you'll
join your little buddy here."
The other Scouts ran up from behind. Serena walked in front of Chris. "I
am Sailor Moon!"
"And we are the Sailor Scouts!" the female Scouts all said.
Serena nodded. "And in the name of the moon, we'll punish you!"
The silver-skinned leader smiled. "THIS is the ONLY group of Sailor
Soldiers in this system?"
Jupiter extended her antenna with a menacing hum. "The one and only."
"In other parts of the galaxy, you'd be considered a comedy act!" the
leader laughed.
Darien extended his staff. "Ha ha."
"Tuxedo Mask!" an unfamiliar voice pierced the dust from behind.
Everyone turned to see three new figures advancing on them. "Get the
Sailor Scouts out of here. This isn't your fight."
Sailor Pluto, Neptune and Uranus came into view.
The Lords looked concerned. "Well well! I see we are a bit outnumbered."
their leader smiled. "We will meet again..."
The nine remaining Lords jumped back into their pod, stunning the Senshi,
who the next thing they knew, were watching the pod rocketing out of the crater
and onto the streets.
"Come back!" Pluto yelled, running after.
The three outer Scouts all ran off in pursuit.
Rei sighed. "I just KNOW this is going to be a bad week."
Chapter 15
"Aliens Involved In 2000 Dead; Sailor Scouts Arrive Too Late"
Lita picked up the newspaper and shredded it angrily. "Dammit!" she
shouted, throwing down the mess. "It's not our fault!"
The newspaper vender decided not to mention to her that she didn't pay, and
ignored the strange, weird, tall girl.
Maury frowned. "They know that, Lita, but we didn't stop them..."
"Oooh! If I get a hold of Sailor Uranus, I'll use her for my next Sharmi
Kabob! We could a taken on the Lords if they didn't interrupt!" she fumed,
attracting attention from others on the street.
Chris was walking on air. Under the headline it read:
"The only victory against the merciless aliens was by one of the new
members: Strike Fiss. No quotes are available."
Rei groaned. "You're awfully chipper today."
Chris shrugged. "Hey, the Scouts can use a little good media coverage."
"And it doesn't hurt YOUR image either..." Rei frowned.
Chris smiled.
Lita kept mumbling. "Rackin-frackin retching, barfing, egg-a-ramma,
cheese!"
Maury smiled. "Is she great or what?"
"I am not impressed, Serebe. We had a deal." The silver-skinned Lord said,
swirling a wine glass full of some weird orange liquid. "Our cloning for your
information of the Sailor Scouts. Yet you did not say anything about the team
now doubling in size."
Serebe was nervous. "I'm sorry. These new scouts and the ones from
overseas appeared only this last week. That one Strike Fiss only three months
ago. There wasn't enough time to study their identities."
"I lost one of my team." the Lord frowned.
Serebe said nothing.
"I do not like not knowing who my enemy is."
"All I can say is that we will endeavour to make up for this horrible
loss."
The Lord smiled. "Thank you, but we are more than staffed to rid you of
this annoyance. Now, tell me. Have any of your society reached the Uranok-
redemption?"
Serebe blinked, then looked to her advisors. They too shrugged. Serebe
turned back to the Lord. "I'm afraid I don't know what that is..."
"Then I assume the answer is no. Anyone passing the Uranok will obviously
try to take over the world, making themselves very public by default." he
smirked "this should be a simple planet to concur. We may not even have to call
in the Death Busters."
"Death Busters?"
"Yes, our 'dirty-work' faction. They do all the stuff we don't want to be
troubled with. However, while we're here, we might as well have some fun."
"I see." Serebe bowed. "You may have access to all our records...and
anything else you may need can be gathered by my troops."
"Very good, Serebe. I like that trait in a person."
Serebe raised a curious eyebrow. "What trait?"
The Lord drank the rest of his cup. "You know when to bow in the presence
of gods."
The eight other Lords behind him nodded in order.
Andrea fiddled with her mask-pin. Somehow, it didn't seem like an
extraordinary object when like this. Then, she held it up dramatically and it
regained it's 'coolness'. Chris put down his book. "You still playing with
that?"
"Yup." Andrea replied happily.
Damien and Trevor's beds had been moved to the smaller building to make
room for Andrea's accommodations, so she, Chris and Maury were together again.
Maury stopped reading a Far-Side book. "I still can't believe we saw five F-
15's shot down."
"Well, they were aliens. So the F-15's had an excuse." Chris added. "I'm
just glad you guys backed me up so I wasn't vaporized or something by those
freaks."
Andrea grinned, "THAT would be a shame!"
Chris stuck out his tongue.
Andrea looked at the other two curiously, "Hey. I just thought of
something..."
"I thought I smelled something funny." Maury snickered.
"Anyway, how is it that there was a Sailor Pluto, when I'm from Pluto? We
just go by different names, that's all."
Chris rose an eyebrow, "Well, your symbol has a moon too, so...maybe you're
from Pluto's moon?"
Andrea held her head confusingly, "I wish I could remember something about
my past..." Actually, she remembered *one* thing; she always had loved Darien
and always would. Something inside of her told her that. The strange thing was
that Darien seemed to share some feelings with her, even though he was destined
to be with Serena. "Damn Serena."
The two boys sighed and grew large sweat drops on their heads.
"It might be like me and Sailor Saturn. Maybe they could only have one
member of the family going into the royal court." Chris said.
The other two blinked. "Uh?"
"What? Uranus said there was a Saturn..."
"Anyway," Maury finally said "what about me? I'm like, the Sun. Why not a
planet?"
Chris smiled. "Because they were all taken. It would get too confusing if
more Sailor Scouts appeared."
Maury blinked. "Ahh! You're all wussy little planets! I'm a STAR!!"
Before any of them could say another thing, Trevor came in. "Have you guys
seen my Game Boy? I can't find it."
Andrea smiled. "Hey! Trevor! I have a present for you!"
Trevor beamed. "OOOOOO! For me? What is it?"
Andrea tossed him a quarter (quite amazing, since they were in Japan).
"Here's a quarter. Call someone who cares."
Trevor sneered and left...after pocketing the coin.
Suddenly, Luna burst through the door. "Hurry! GET UP! We tracked the
Lords into the Watcher building!"
Andrea leapt up. "Come on! So much for annoying Trevor tonight..."
"Let's rock!" Maury leapt up as well.
"I must taste blood!" Chris pulled out his disk and transformed. "Oh, that
reminds me...this time," he looked at the other two, "don't freeze at the sight
of blood."
Maury nodded. "I'm sure we'll get used to it."
"Probably by the end of the night..." Hooze swallowed hard.
Chapter 16
The Sailor Scouts all smashed through the door, ambush-style. Ami scanned.
"There's...no-one here!"
Venus raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we noticed."
The expanse of the huge room in front of them only showed a bunch of
tables, no aliens or Watchers. Mars frowned. "They were here, not long ago,
either. My fire-reading was right."
Chris put away his sword. "Hey, Mo. You good enough tracker to follow
aliens and a gang of ninjas?"
Maury raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. Let's look around."
Each of the hundreds of desks turned out to be some sort of human-sized
pod. "This looks like a cloning factory off of Star Trek or something!" Chris
exclaimed as they opened one pod to reveal some weird slime.
Andrea coughed. "Beam me up, Scotty."
Jupiter smiled. "Ami, don't you wasn't to be a doctor? IS this a cloning
factory?"
"Uh, I'm not sure..." Mercury replied, trying to get readings on the slime.
Darien smiled, then pointed to a label on one of the desks. "Well, it does
say Cloning Machine 27'..." Ami blushed, embarrassed.
Serena stuck out her tongue. "EEEEWW! You mean those ninjas are a bunch
of freaky, slimy clones?"
Rei frowned. "What I want to know is where all those ninjas WENT."
Chris nodded. "Okay. We know the Lords and Watchers are working together.
But why would super-powered aliens need a bunch of butt-munch clones?"
Darien shrugged. "Maybe they wanted to know us better. The most
successful killers always research their prey's habits. Maybe the Watchers just
are the advanced scouting party?"
They all looked around for a moment. Bored, Maury decided he'd check out
the window where they had entered the other night. "Uh...guys?"
Ami frowned. "Not now, Maury! We have to see if there are any clues to
the new destination of the killers."
"Speaking of killers..." Maury pointed out the door they smashed through.
The Lord's transport-pod was lifting off nearby.
The Scouts all deadpanned. Rei shrugged. "I told ya we were on time."
"Get them!" Serena yelled, leaping out the building, followed by the other
scouts.
"Jupiter Thunder...CRASH!"
"Venus Crescent Beam...SMASH!"
The two attacks compounded into a concentrated beam, lashing out at the
escaping ship. At first, they missed, flying just overhead. Then, Venus aimed
lower, dragging the beam into the craft's rear. "Yes!" Andrea yelled.
The craft's back exploded, causing it to spiral to the ground. A second
after disappearing below the buildings, a satisfying 'thunk-crack!' sounded it's
landing. "Can we get there in time?" Darien asked.
Chris spotted another park bench. "Yeah! Everyone get on!"
Rei looked queasy. "This time, try to land better."
The group all sat on the bench, Chris in the middle. Ami faced in front.
"Mercury Ice Storm, BLAST!" She yelled, laying a smooth path to downtown.
"Saturn Disk, REFLECT!" Chris positioned the glowing disk behind them and
the bench launched forward, skidding along the ice to the middle of the city as
pedestrians struggled to leap out of the way.
"Get outta the way, people!!" Lita yelled in her loudest voice.
Maury and Darien grabbed Chris' shoulders so he wouldn't fly off and
forward. "Hey Chris!" Darien yelled above the roar of skidding ice. "How much
do you charge for rides? We could get rich off of this!"
Chris smiled. "Just make sure I'm not propelling us into a building or
anything..."
The Lords opened up the cockpit. The leader was not very happy indeed.
"I'm getting mad." he said simply as the remaining pedestrians ran off or found
hiding places. "This planet should be dog kibble by now..."
Suddenly, three figures appeared on the street. "You got past us once, but
not a second time, alien-scum." a female voice sounded.
One of the other Lords smiled. "Sounds like Sailor Pluto."
The leader nodded as Uranus, Neptune and Pluto walked out of the shadow of
a building dramatically. "That's right." Sailor Pluto answered. "Time to die."
"You didn't defeat us five millennia ago; what thinks you can do it now?"
The leader Lord asked, nose high in the air.
Uranus snorted. "This! World...SHAKING!!!" she bellowed, causing the
ground to erupt around the Lords, throwing them and their pod in the air, one
hundred feet.
"Nice shot, honey." Neptune smiled.
Pluto raised a disgusted eyebrow. "Hey, not when we're fighting."
Suddenly, a skidding bark bench filled with Sailor Scouts came roaring down
the street. Maury looked in the air. The Lords were falling back down. "Sol
Stars!" he yelled quickly, tossing nine balls of glowing energy at them.
Chris put on the breaks by reversing the direction of the disk. "Good
shot, Sun!"
"Hey, I'm not your son!" Maury joked as they got off the bench.
The Lords landed. They seemed to be singed, but not hurt. Neptune
screeched at the Senshi as they all gathered in the front, ready to do battle.
"Get out of our way!"
Sailor Moon frowned. "We're trying to help!"
During the moment of indecision, the lead Lord raised his hand. "Bubble!"
A huge energy bubble formed around the Lords and shot the Sailor Scouts
back at amazing speed. The Lords then leapt onto the top of a building and ran
off. The Scouts lay on their butts, stunned.
"Follow them!" Pluto said as she leapt to her feet, unwilling to give up so
soon.
Darien also stood up, swinging his fist behind him and forward, chucking
roses at the three outer planet-Scouts.
The roses stapled their skirts to the ground, and Pluto to a wall. "Are
you crazy?!" she yelled in a 'parent-knows-best' voice.
Serena walked up to them. "First of all, tell us who you are, and what do
you think you're doing."
Pluto sighed. "Okay, Strike Fiss and Sailor Hooze. If you want to join,
hurry up, otherwise, STAY OUT OF OUR WAY!!"
Andrea and Chris blinked. "What are you talkn'? We're the Sailor Scouts,"
"And us princes..." Chris added.
"Yeah, and we're all one team!" Andrea continued.
Uranus cracked up. "You guys don't seem to realize the enemy that Earth's
up against. You so-called inner planets don't even have a CHANCE!"
Darien coughed. "Since when were we the 'inner-planets?'"
Chris raised an eyebrow. "They think you guys aren't as powerful." he put
a hand on Rei's shoulder. "They think that we can't be of any help."
Rei growled. Lita crossed her arms. "Well...I guess that Queen Beryl,
a crazy tree, and an elite Negaverse team from the future don't count."
Darien and Chris smiled. "Yeah, and TWO Zoicites..." they both said.
The outer planets looked unimpressed.
Chris glanced over to Rei. "I'll go with them, try to find out who they
are, and what they're about."
Rei nodded. "Okay, just be careful."
Chris walked over to the three outer scouts. "Sorry about these..." he
pried out the roses with his sword. "I'll come with you." he looked back at
the others. "Of course, prejudice due to the distance you orbit the sun at is a
little childish, don't you think?"
Uranus raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, trust me...this isn't a game.
There's nothing childish about it."
Chapter 17
Chris accepted the cup of tea handed to him. "Thanks."
The three outer planets were back at Pluto's apartment, trying to make
small talk in front of their guest."
"So, anyway, I guess you're wondering who we are." Uranus finally said.
Chris snickered.
"What?" Uranus asked.
Chris got a really evil grin. Chris...don't do it! Ah, what the hell!
"WHAT???"
Chris smiled. "Huh huh huh. Maybe YOUR anus...! Huh."
Sailor Uranus frowned and slumped to her chair. "Please don't do that..."
Chris stopped 'huh-huh'ing and sat there grinning. Then he remembered why
he was there. "Okay, first of all, why aren't you helping the other scouts? You
seem to be avoiding them."
"They simply aren't any help." Pluto said calmly. "Our destinies are not
meant to cross until much later."
Chris was still in his Strike Fiss gear and lowered his sunglasses. "Are
you crazy?"
Neptune crossed her arms. "Listen, they're much too weak to deal with the
Lords. ALL the inner planets are. Even Sailor Moon."
Chris took a deep breath. "And what do you base this on?"
"This isn't just a question of power, Strike Fiss." Pluto said. "They also
have no experience with this kind of enemy. There's no way they could know what
to expect."
Uranus snickered. "Not even your little girlfriend, Sailor Mercury."
Chris spit out his tea. "What?" he paused. "Oh, you misunderstand..."
Pluto frowned. "Is this why you're allied with the Inner Scouts?"
Chris sighed. "No. She's not my girlfriend. I allied with them because
of you could say they found me first." He said, making sure not to say anything
about him and Rei. "Not only that, I don't like power-hungry ego-maniacs."
The outer planets all glared at him.
"Listen. You can't destroy the Lords, neither can we. So the obvious
solution is to work together."
Pluto turned her head stubbornly. "The inner planets offer no advantage by
joining us. They would get in the way, and I'd feel responsible for any deaths
in their group."
Chris smiled evilly. "Well, then. I've already accepted responsibility
for the entire group. Me and Tuxedo Mask are overprotective little freaks, and
we're proud of it. Don't worry. They've saved us more times they we've saved
them anyway."
Neptune giggled. "So I guess you can stay with the losers while the REAL
Saturn comes with us."
Suddenly, a sword slammed into the wall, millimetres away from her face.
Chris was on the other end of the room, arm extended. "And a chicky-chicky-
bang-bang too you too."
The other two were suddenly around him. "That wasn't nice...and now you're
unarmed. Not very smart." Uranus growled.
Chris grabbed the other end of his scabbard. It glowed impressively.
"Really, foo?"
He sat up, parted the rest of them out of his way, retrieved his sword,
then smiled at Neptune. "You're lucky I suck...I was aiming for your nose."
Pluto opened the door. "I think you better leave now."
Chris frowned when he realized he may have over done it. "Listen, just let
us help. Don't try to push us away. Our greatest strength is teamwork, and it
can only get better with you guys helping...And if you need help, just call the
Cherri Hill temple. Ask for the weird freak with the laptop."
Pluto simply turned her head away, "Seriously, I doubt very much we could
use any of your help." she turned to Neptune, who was doing her best to sit
still. "You've proven that quite effectively."
Chris went for a nerve, "What about your little sister, Andrea?"
Sharon went pale, then turned to face him again, "Look, just keep to your
own business. I'm quite aware who she is, and I'm also aware that she's not a
true Sailor Scout."
Chris was about to say something but stopped.
Pluto held a hand to him, motioning for him to shut up. Her face expressed
anger. "Serenity never allowed her to be part of the Silver Millennium, the..."
she lowered her head angrily, "for reasons I'd rather not get into. Leave.
Perhaps we'll consider your help, but for now, I think we should keep this
between us."
Chris decided he'd done enough damage for today and quietly walked down the
hall. Sharon watched him leave with tears forming in her eyes, which then
quickly disappeared.
Uranus stood up, "What about your sister? Why wasn't she let into the
Millennium?"
Pluto walked past her, "Keep out of my personal life, okay? You can all go
home. I'm bushed." All the other outer scouts quickly made their way out of
the apartment while Sharon lied down on her bed and thought.
Chris walked down the street back to the temple. He didn't bother to
change back yet because he was in a pissy-dirt mood and the sunglasses made him
feel more pissy-dirt, and he liked it.
A couple of people ran when they saw him carrying a sword, but he didn't
care too much. This sucks. How am I going to unite two groups who think they
are better off alone?
He didn't know how long he was walking, but he should have known his sword
would attract attention. A news van suddenly roared up in front of him,
blocking his path. "Oh, shit."
A crew leapt out of the van, cameras already rolling. Chris thought about
leaping onto the rooftops but remembered he wasn't a cartoon character. "Strike
Fiss?" the anchorwoman asked, running toward him. "Can we have an interview?"
Chris froze. He had no idea what to do. "Uh..." he said as a microphone
was shoved into his face. "I don't speak Japanese."
The woman blinked. "But I asked you in English?"
He cringed. So much for that idea.
"Is it true you're not one of the original Sailor Scouts? Where are you
from? What planet?" the woman rattled off a bunch of questions. She seemed to
be American, and Chris got even more nervous when he read CNN on the van's side.
Suddenly, Sailor Pluto leapt down besides him. "Come on, let's go...NO
COMMENT!" she added, pulling Chris along behind her as she leapt off down the
street.
After they lost the van, Chris thanked her. "Sorry about that. I just
didn't know what the media policies of the Scouts were. Thanks a lot."
She nodded. "Listen, I've been thinking. Tell Sailor Hooze I said 'hi'."
Chris blinked. "Is that all?"
"And that I don't hate her or anything."
Chris shook her hand. "No problem. But what about the teams helping each
other?"
"Don't push your luck, Fiss." she smiled, then bounded off.
Chris sighed. "Close enough."
Chapter 18
Rei was still in her temple garb when it rolled around to three in the
morning. She sat by the pond on the bench. Demos and Phobos fluttered down
beside her. She smiled and pet them. "Hi, guys. How's life?"
Phobos cawed contently. Demos spotted a worm on the ground and leapt down
to eat it.
She frowned. "Oooh. Where's Chris? He still hasn't been back yet,
Phobos. Those freaks better not be roughing up my boyfriend..."
Suddenly, maracas and a Spanish guitar hit filled the air. Rei
looked around. "What the...?"
Chris appeared from the shadows, holding a guitar and a clacker. "I always
wanted to do that." he walked out of under a nearby tree. "I talked to Darien
and he said he always liked the Spanish band music. It made a good entrance,
don't you think?"
Rei stood up and spun around. "Funny."
He set down the instruments and walked over to the bench. "What's wrong?"
"So? Did you find anything out about the Outer Sailor Scouts?"
Chris blinked. "Oh, uh, well; they're older than we are...you know,
they've been around longer. Also, they say they're more powerful than the Inner
Scouts. They might be able to help us, but they're reluctant." He paused.
"Pluto seems to be the leader. She's much more open-minded than the others.
Rei walked over to him "Oh, this Pluto sounds nice."
Chris blinked.
Rei looked down at her feet. "So, what were you doing with them all
night?"
Chris frowned. "Is this about Ami?"
Rei frowned. "I guess. It's just that..."
Chris tangoed over to her, griped her side, and dipped her over in a kiss.
"I just realized, we never did dance, did we?"
Rei looked surprised. "Well, we never could dance without killing people."
she snickered.
"Yes, but there's nobody else is here!" Chris twirled her around, flinging
off his sunglasses.
Rei kissed him back. "I feel sorry for Ami. I got to you first."
"Really?"
"Nah, you're mine and I like it." She glanced over to the pond. "Care
for a swim?"
They tangoed, tripped, then rolled into the pond laughing.
That day was enchanting. The sky was bright and blue. The grass and trees
were nice and green. Birds sang sweet songs of summer (I LOVE alliteration!).
A nearby shopping mall lit up in a dark-purple light. A horrible sound,
like hundreds of screams of people dying, filled the air. The mall exploded,
sending shockwaves throughout the block. When it was finished, only a crater
remained.
The Lords were having some fun.
"That should get the Sailor Scouts attention." The leader snickered. "I
love these things."
"What things?" another asked.
He pointed at the burning building. "Shopping malls."
"We'll be ready for them this time..." one of the other Lords said.
"A Radio Shack was in that mall. You'll pay for that, freaks!" Chris leapt
down from the top of a building.
The Lord spun around, then shot out a huge ice-crystal from his hand,
catching Chris in the arm, knocking him down.
Tuxedo Mask shot out five roses, but they were all disintegrated by hand-
lasers from the others.
Fiss got back up to his feet, nursing a huge gash in his left forearm. It
was just him and Tux until the others arrived. (They were out looking for cool
cars and just happened to be in the area.)
Tux jumped down to make sure Strike Fiss was okay. He nodded. "Let's just
get these punks."
Tuxedo pulled out his staff. "My turn to show off!" He swung it around,
extending it's reach.
"Right on!" Chris whipped out both his swords...carefully, due to his
wound...but mobile enough to look fancy. "Let's show these punks what we can
do."
The Lords stood there, arms crossed. "Well?"
Darien leapt into the air, smacking his staff into the head of one of the
secondary Lords. Another grabbed the end and swung Darien into the ground.
Chris blinked. "Shit."
The lead Lord smiled. "Backing down? So soon?"
Chris gritted his teeth. "Not bloody likely."
The Lord launched a laser from his hand. Chris intercepted it with his
sword's disk, reflecting the beam back at the alien. The Lords dodged, but it
allowed Darien to get up and regroup.
The Lords lined up and ALL fired their lasers. Darien intercepted three
beams with the roses and the rest he deflected with his staff.
Chris deflected his beams with his sword, sending them into the ground.
"That does it!" He gathered up all his will-power, almost igniting his swords
with pure energy. "No more lasers!" He swiped the swords around in a huge arc;
forming a cyan oval of light behind him. "Fire all phasers!!"
Darien smiled, pulling out at least a dozen roses and made them glow a deep
crimson. "Lights out, suckers..."
Chris and Darien let loose their attacks in a blinding display of special
effects that would make even Pink Floyd and Steven Spielberg turn slack-jawed.
The Lord held out his hand. "Negative POWER!"
The entire block suddenly went dark...in mid-day. Chris' attack
disintegrated into air. Darien's roses went dim, then snapped down to the
ground, loosing all forward momentum.
The Lord smiled. "Looks like you'll have to do better than that." The
other Lords stepped forward. "Allow us to introduce ourselves."
"I am called Shikawa." one said, stepping forward.
Another bowed, "Ginus; a pleasure, I'm sure."
They continued naming themselves.
"Minous."
"Rijoler."
"Plakta."
"Yoinok."
"Umeh."
"Laotin."
Fiss turned to Tuxedo Mask. "Latin? I didn't know they were so learned."
"I think the o is silent." Darien smirked.
"Oh." they turned back for further introductions.
"To pronounce my name, I would have to pull out your tongue."
Chris and Darien winced.
The leader grinned, "Just kidding. I'm Zoichin."
"I am Strike Fiss." Chris stepped forward "Prince of the planet Saturn;
Master of Beavis: the African Pigmy Hedgehog; Defender of Spam and Amoebas; and
the weirdest Sailor Scout the world will ever see!" he pointed his katana at
Zoichin's head. "And how dare you blow up a mall full of chicks!"
Darien blinked. "Oh, I'm Tuxedo Mask...Prince of planet Earth, future king
of the Universe...uh, Master of Rose Gardens, Wearer of Snazzy Suits, Babe-
Magnet and Keeper of really cool automotive vehicles!"
Chris smiled. "And he's weird too. Right on."
"I am Sailor Mars!"
Chris turned around to Rei behind him. They hugged. "I was just kidding
about the 'mall full of chicks', honey." Chris smiled.
"I'm sure you were." Rei raised an eyebrow.
"I am Sailor Mercury!"
"Sailor Jupiter!"
"Sailor Venus!"
Serena swung around her arms. "I am Sailor Moon! Defender of the Moon! I
will punish you!"
"Sailor Hooze!" Andrea yelled.
"Prince Destiny!" Maury joined.
The Lords looked slightly surprised. "Mmm, this should be interesting."
Zoichin said. "It's a circus!"
"Hey!" a voice yelled out "Mercury, honey! Did you miss me?"
"Dear lord..." Mercury shuddered.
"I am Sailor Uranus!"
"Sailor Neptune!"
"Sailor Pluto! Let's rumble!"
Lita smiled. "Is this a cool team or what?"
Andrea beamed with delight, "Yea! We're all one, big, happy family now!"
Pluto sighed, then smiled at her, "Hey, it's OUR universe. We gotta
protect it!" She leapt over beside her.
Jupiter and Venus high-fived, "All right. Looks like it's action time!"
Lita shouted.
"Let's rock..." Chris smiled, spinning around his sword then dropping it on
is foot. "Ooops."
They all looked at him. "Thanks for the confidence, Fiss..." Tuxedo
snickered.
The Outer Scouts took action first.
"World Shaking!!"
"Deep Submerge!"
The ground the Lords were standing on erupted in an earthquake, then jets
of water. All but three dodged the attacks, and leapt out of the way. Maury
and Chris leapt in to try and finish the three off.
"Yoinok! Look out!" Shikawa yelled, as Maury shot a ball of light at the
injured Lord.
Yoinok got hit bad and was knocked unconscious. Maury in turn got grazed
by a laser from Plakta. Chris wielded around and sliced off his hand before he
could fire another laser at Maury. A rose came out of nowhere and finished the
job by slamming into the Lord's head. The entire exchange took less than five
seconds, and everyone on both sides seemed to be surprised at the result.
"Thanks, guys." Maury coughed, holding his shoulder. "I can still fight,
don't worry."
Chris and Darien nodded. Darien smiled. "Ha! I got the second one!"
Jupiter attempted to land a punch on Laotin, but ended up being grabbed by
the fist and swung across fifteen feet of asphalt. She immediately gained
footing and regrouped with Mars and Mercury.
"You okay?" Rei asked, "That was quite a hit."
Lita rubbed her skinned thigh, "Fine, just a little shaken. Sheet, if
we're supposed to be warriors, how are we expected not to get hurt in these tiny
outfits?"
Chris skidded by on his back, thrown by Plakta. "Hey!" he joked. "I
don't mind your uniforms!"
Rei shot him a icy look. "Just get up an fight."
"Yeah, yeah..." Chris got up and regrouped.
Mercury decided to help Jupiter by double teaming. "Mercury Ice
Storm...BLAST!"
"JUPITER THUNDER DRAGON!!!" The two attacks combined, creating what
appeared to be a dragon made completely of frozen lightning. Laotin blocked as
the ice shattered upon his flesh and the electricity jolted through his body.
Although wounded, he was still on his feet and capable of fighting.
Venus and Sailor Moon decided to do their part. Venus leapt into the air
at Rijoler chanting, "Venus Love Chain ENCIRCLE!" The result was the chain
wrapping around the Lord's torso and being pulled painfully to the ground as
Mina jerked it upon landing. She touched the chain with her finger. "Venus
Crescent Beam SMASH!" The chain lit up in a huge pulse of energy and proceeded
to fry the struggling alien.
"I don't think so!" he shouted between gasps, "Dark energy...ELECTRIFY!" A
black beam cancelled out her own, going against her power and through her body.
Her eyes widened as the pain began to register and she fell against the cold
sidewalk nearly unconscious. He walked up to her, smiling triumphantly, "So,
human. I suppose we now know who's more powerful, hmm? You are stupid..." he
made a little kiss at her, "...but beautiful."
"Thanks, appreciate it." she said, propping herself up with her elbow
painfully, "But the blond myth doesn't count for ALL of us."
He stood over her, "Why? What do you mean?"
"This." she smiled, grabbing his balls, "VENUS, METEOR...SHOWER!!" The
wide-spread of concentrated light blew his reproductive (as well many other)
organs apart. His shocked and totally helpless expression amused Mina so much
that she forgot about her pain and began laughing hysterically.
Chris, Maury and Darien all blinked and swallowed hard, thinking about how
much that would sting.
Lita and Rei looked at each other and smiled, then looked at Mina, "Nice
'touch'."
Serena decided to take on Umeh without thinking twice. She leapt at
the opponent at full speed with her arm pulled back ready for a punch. Umeh
simply side-stepped out of the way and watched happily as Sailor Moon ploughed
herself into a lamp post. She adjusted her face after standing up, "That really
hurt."
"You are pathetic. Now face my wrath... Doom BUSTER!!" The alien widened
her eyes, opened her mouth to an unnatural-looking proportion, and out came an
ear-piercing shockwave. Because of lots of dodging experience, the discharge
hardly hit Serena, but was enough to knock her off her feet. As Serena kneeled,
Umeh kicked her in the stomach with a four-inch pump. Sailor Moon fell flat on
her stomach and coughed up a bit of saliva mixed with a hint of blood. The Lord
began charging toward her with a wicked smile on her face.
Oh great...Serena thought quickly, how do I nail Miss bitch while I can
hardly sit up? Unless...
Just as Doom was in range, Serena spun around, her pigtails wrapping round
Umeh's legs and knocked her down. On her way down, Sailor Moon managed to do a
side-kick to the alien's chest. Winded and flat on her back, Umeh attempted to
catch her breath. Sailor Moon dragged herself over to her enemy and loomed over
her face.
Serena was gasping, "You want my damn crystal?" she removed her brooch and
grasped it firmly in her hand, then jammed it down the Lord's throat, still
hanging on. "Cosmic Moon POWER!" The crystal lodged inside her chest cavity
lit up Umeh's body inside out and then caused her to explode in a brilliant
display of light, vaporizing anything before it could hit Serena. She placed
the magical item back in the centre of her bow and spit on the burnt grass
where her opponent once lay. "That will teach ya!"
Pluto was in the midst of a staring contest with Ginus in the semi-
destroyed parking lot of the mall. She was determined to win this battle and
send all the Lords back to wherever they came from. "Now, tell me, Ginus...
think you'll be setting any old scores today?"
"Yes..." he smiled, pulling out a twisted, wire-like sword. "You in
particular, have been on my mind for the last few hundred years." He charged
her and swung at Sharon with the blade. She caught it with her hands in
such a way that it didn't even nick her glove.
"You could use some training from Strike Fiss." she grinned, "You fight too
much with the sword, not enough with your soul."
"Not if I do THIS!" Ginus shouted as he threw a knife at her. It struck
deeply into her right shoulder and caused her to stumble backwards over top a
garbage can. "Oooh, you're goinna pay for that!" She ripped the knife out of
her flesh and hurled it back at him, but he blocked it with his sword. Her
anger increased with every syllable of his laughter. Ginus smiled and raised
his sword.
Suddenly, a silverfish-blue slash passed through Ginus' sword, snapping it
in two. Chris was there, sword down. He nodded at Pluto. "Thanks for helping.
Just returning the favour."
Chris leapt off to let Pluto finish her fight.
"My sword!" Ginus screamed, "My beautiful sword!"
Pluto smiled, "A screaming contest now, is it?" She abruptly cleared her
throat, "Pluto Dead Scream!" She whispered, then brought her staff around to
discharge her attack. The pressure caused a large hole to form in his torso,
and he dropped to his knees struggling to stay alive. She casually walked over
to him and, with one forceful kick, knocked his head clear off his shoulders and
against a nearby car. "Music to my ears..."
Andrea ran over and hugged her, "Way ta' go!"
Pluto hugged Hooze back, "Thanks, kiddo."
"Ahh, but the battle has just begun..." Zoichin laughed from his vantage
point on the mall-crater.
The Scouts all turned. This was going to be one hell of a week.
"I hate when they say that." Maury grumbled.
Chapter 19
"Mars Fire IGNITE!" Rei launched a stream of fire at Zoichin. He dodged,
then drop-kicked her backwards.
Chris thrust his sword in to protect Rei, but Shikawa grabbed his coat and
swung him around twice before introducing him to a wall. He fell down, winded.
Ami and Mina ran over to help their friends only to be swiped off their feet by
an energy blast from Laotin. Zoichin proceeded to pummel Tuxedo Mask and Pluto
against a wall with a tornado-like shockwave.
Lita, needless to say, got really pissed off. "Jupiter Thunder CRASH!" the
electricity she sent out buffeted against Zoichin's back.
He merely turned around like nothing had happened and landed a punch to
Lita's jaw, almost breaking it. Tuxedo Mask struggled to drag Venus to shelter
before the Lord could resume his attack.
"Pluto Ground ZERO!" Andrea yelled, causing a ball of light to expand from
her hands outwards.
Minous simply shot a hand-laser at the sphere, causing it to collapse.
Andrea got a kick to the stomach and was knocked out cold. Maury managed to get
some Sun-Stars off but they missed. Sailor Pluto helped drag Andrea off to
cover.
Chris grabbed Rei's hand, then leapt down into the mall's crater, slowing
their decent by his disk. Zoichin leapt down after them.
"Mars Celestial Fire SURROUND!"
"Looks like it's party...TIME!"
Their two most powerful attacks combined to produce a dazzling ring of blue
fire, slamming into the alien's torso. Zoichin slammed back against the
crater's wall, winded.
"That blast could have nuked the air force...and he took it!" Rei gasped
in horror.
"Again!" Chris yelled "Hit him with ANYTHING!!"
Rei pulled out a scroll. "Mars Fireballs CHARGE!"
"Saturn Disk...REFLECT!" Chris yelled.
Zoichin was blasted out of the crater at terrific speeds, but was still
smiling as he left.
Chris and Rei looked at each other. "Man, what are we going to do?"
Rei blinked. "I have no idea."
Back up above, Venus fired another meteor shower at Yoinok, who was already
wounded. Despite the injuries, he dodged and spun around to nail Venus with a
crushing punch. Tuxedo Mask quickly slammed his staff into Yoinok's back with a
satisfying crack. He then realized his staff had snapped in two. "Fuck!"
Yoinok fired an ice type energy ball at Darien, freezing his arm and
exploding him back onto the ground. As he urged his arm to warm up, the Lord
body-checked into his kidney. "You Sailor Scouts are all washed up!"
Andrea suddenly came out of nowhere. She picked up a rock, and chucked it
squarely into Yoinok's eye, dropping him in a second. She grabbed Darien,
helped him to his feet, and ran off. "Oops!!" she giggled.
Darien frowned. "You should have stayed under that car! You could get
hurt!"
Andrea just winked. "You owe me one...I'll collect later."
Plakta suddenly dropped down in between them, swinging around a mace.
"Break it up, kiddies..."
Darien dove into Plakta's stomach arms-first, knocking him over before he
could hit Andrea. "Now, we're even." he smiled, then wrestled the Lord away.
Andrea frowned. "Oh well."
Back in the crater, Chris pulled out two canisters of powder he had been
saving. "Can you get the others in here?"
Rei kissed him. "Well, I can try, can't I?"
"Please be careful, Rei...I don't think they liked me killing that first
guy." Chris sighed. "I'm going to see how they like half-a-pound of Composition
B in their shorts. And tell Maury to get here at all costs."
Rei leapt out of the crater. Chris mixed the two powders together in a
coffee can he found in the debris and stuck in a three-second fuse of magnesium.
He prayed he was able to get the right mixes back at the temple...and brought
enough in his coat...for it to work. Pyrotechnics weren't exactly as fun when
they were being done under pressure.
Mercury got another dropkick to her back and fell down winded. "I won't
let you kill me!" she said weakly.
Laotin smiled. "Really? Who says 'I' was going to kill you? Say hello to
Mr. Twenty five thousand pounds of concrete! GRAVITY CAPTURE!"
A nearby STREET uprooted itself thanks to a mental beam of energy from the
evil alien. Ami gasped as it lined up directly above her. "No!"
"Duh-duh-duh-DUH! Uranus to the rescue!" Sailor Uranus slid under the
road-slab, nabbing the terrified Mercury before the concrete hit the ground and
exploded into a shower of rocks and pebbles. "Miss me honey?"
Ami got up off the ground. "Do you mind not looking up my skirt?"
Uranus stopped and stood up too. "That's okay; me and Neptune are an item
anyway. Just checking out alternatives." the blond leaned over to whisper in
Mercury's ear. "She can't cook worth shit anyway, but I still love her."
Ami laughed, but was interrupted as Uranus shoved her out of the way to
face Laotin. "World...Shaking!"
All the rocks from the crushed road-segment lifted up off the ground and
smashed into the Lord, burring him in a mountain of debris. Rei suddenly ran
out from behind the hill. "Everyone get to the crater! We gotta make a last-
ditch attempt!"
Mercury and Uranus ran toward the crater as Rei went off to warn others.
Suddenly, Laotin surfaced and landed a kick to Rei's back. Rei spun around but
was belted again before she could shout a power. "Fuck you!" she grabbed Laotin
and kicked him away with a flip. That gave her enough time. "Mars Firestorm
FLASH!!"
Laotin was completely caught off guard. His arm was instantly vaporized.
"Ahh! My arm! You fucking bitch! GRAVITY LASSO!!"
Rei suddenly felt like she was smacked with a giant whip. She flew back
twenty feet before landing again. She growled. "You're not worth it, alien
scum..." she ran off towards the crater.
"Fuck you!" Laotin gasped, holding his cooked stump.
With Rei stumbling back into the fifty-foot deep 'Ex-Mall' the team was
complete. The Sailor Scouts were not in good shape. Mercury and Venus could
barely walk. The rest all had bleeding injuries of one kind or another, and
Darien's staff was a useless stick.
Chris and Maury struggled to complete the explosive before the Lords found
out where they had all grouped. "Why don't we use Thermite?" Maury asked.
"Because Rei can easily match it." Chris bragged.
Rei smiled proudly, "Damn right." she paused. "Where did you learn how to
make explosives?"
Maury and Chris smiled. "Internet." they both said. "God help us all if
we ever get a hold of some Plutonium."
Suddenly, all six remaining Lords were on the edge of the crater. "Time to
die, Sailor Scouts!" Zoichin yelled.
Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter gathered around the others in the middle.
"We gotta protect the princess!" Jupiter announced. "Jupiter Star Power!"
"Mars Star Power!"
"Venus Star Power!"
"Mercury Star Power!"
Each Scout produced a vertical shaft of light, spanning upwards and
connection with the
other four beams. A force field encircled the group as Maury put the top of the
lid on the bomb.
"Now what?" he asked.
Chris blinked. "Does anyone have a lighter? Mars is busy."
The shield was hit by the eleven laser-beams from the Lords. The four
girls gasped in pain but kept the shield up.
Suddenly, a stray laser hit the fuse.
Chris gasped as it lit. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled, yanking Maury and
Rei off from their feet and diving.
Tuxedo managed to get Ami, Mina, Lita, Andrea and Serena in his cape and
slammed into the ground as well. The Outer Scouts all ducked.
Sure enough, the only non-military Composition B-H.M.X. explosive in
current existence detonated, sending the Sailor Scouts everywhere.
Chapter 20
Mina opened her eyes first. "Oh my..." in front of her was a bloody leg.
Luckily, Rei was still attached to it.
Rei woke up and screamed when she saw her leg. "Shit-shit-shit!"
Chris immediately woke up and was relived to see his jacket only punctured
in one place, and not breaching his skin. He dragged himself over to Rei to
help.
Andrea and Maury were shielded by Darien's cape, and Darien had been hit by
a flying stop sign, producing a gash in his side.
"Man, I wish I could take a coffee break right about now..." Darien winced.
Chris nodded. "Unfortunately, there's no time to..."
The Lords were on the crater's rim, apparently also stunned from the
explosion. Andrea smiled. "The explosion must have been focused upwards
because of the crater!"
Rei smiled. "That'll teach them!" then winced as Chris bandaged up her leg
with his shirt's sleeve.
Mercury gasped weakly. "Yeah, but now what do we do?"
Lita grinned. "We show these mother fuckers what our team can do!"
Serena stood up. "Let's do it!"
"Mercury Bubbles BLAST!"
"Mars Celestial Fire...IGNITE!"
"Jupiter Supreme Thunder...CRASH!"
"Venus Meteor SHOWER!"
The Outer Scouts joined in "Neptune Deep Submerge!"
"Uranus World Shaking!"
"Pluto Dead Scream!"
The North American Sailor Scouts all went next. "Looks like it's PARTY
TIME!!"
"SOL STARS!!"
"Pluto Ground ZERO!"
Darien and Serena grabbed hold of her sceptre. Serena raised it high,
pointing it towards the Lords. "Cosmic...Moon...POWER!!!!"
More power than had ever been released by the group before launched and
melded together into a sphere of pure mental thought. It reached the edge of
the crater and enveloped the Lords.
Suddenly... "Ultra Dark Field! CRACK!" all the Lords said simultaneously.
The energy ball was cancelled out by a huge black vortex forming above the
crater. Spectators of the sight were awed by the shear clash of powers.
Literally good and evil nullifying each other.
The Sailor Scouts all collapsed into a heap...exhausted. Serena looked up.
"No..."
The Lords were still standing. Zoichin raised a fist. "Let's finish this
little game."
Laotin used his gravity power once more. The crater started rumbling. All
the Scouts were tossed about as the floor of the hole raised and became level
with the rest of the street above.
Chris curled up with Rei, Andrea and Maury. "Well, mom's goinna be
pissed. First I didn't clean the basement...and now we're all going to die and
the world is doomed."
The Lords all came closer. "You should've quit while you were alive,
Sailor Moon." Shikawa smiled.
"Pardon me..."
The Lords and Scouts all looked around. Ami blinked. "Who was that?"
A man in a flowing white lab coat was standing a fifty metres away. On the
left breast pocket was the mysterious OW symbol. Zoichin blinked. "Who the
fuck are you?"
"Now, now..." the man said, walking closer "no need for swearing, Zoichin."
Zoichin pointed to the man. "Please kill him. He's interrupting us."
Minous walked over happily and placed his had to the man's head. "Good
bye...sucker."
The man looked unconcerned, and kept walking.
Minous was unable to use his hand-laser. "Hey! How'd you..." he growled.
"Never mind..." he pulled out a knife.
The man moved his hand in a sweeping arc. Suddenly, Minous flew up into
the air, three miles, and landed so hard he made yet another crater. With the
Lord out of the way, the man in the lab-coat continued walking over to the
Sailor Scouts.
"Sailor Scouts." he finally spoke. "You'll have a friend as long as you
fight for Earth's safety."
Zoichin frowned. "I don't know who you are, but get lost." He fired a
ball of dark energy at the man.
It simply stopped five metres from the man, then exploded harmlessly like
it bounced off an invisible shield. "Oh for the love of..." he sighed. "You
keep interrupting me! I'm trying to make a good impression here!" he yelled at
Zoichin, then turned back to the Scouts, who were all blinking in confusion.
"Our directives prevent us from directly interfering...but Earth's safety his
number one priority."
"You're from the Omega Web?" Chris asked.
The man smiled. "Yes. Glad to see you found our little computer bug. You
Scouts aren't as stupid as some people think!"
The Scouts all frowned.
"Excuse me, but WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?!" Zoichin bellowed.
The man smiled. "We're what you call the Uranok-redemption."
Zoichin gasped. "Everyone! GET BACK TO BASE!"
To the surprise of the Sailor Scouts, the most powerful enemy they'd ever
been up against just ran off because of a man in a lab coat.
The man smiled again. "Damn that was funny. Of course, I'm just humouring
him. We're actually something much more than their silly little Uranok-
redemption thing." he chuckled.
The Scouts all blinked.
"Oh, where was I? Oh yes...All you need to know is to brace yourselves."
The Omega Web leader held out his hand. Serena's crystal suddenly launched
from her broach and into his hand. Serena changed back into her normal clothes.
"Hey! What are you doing?!?"
"Don't worry, I'm just giving you a recharge" he concentrated. Beams of
energy started coming from the air around them, focused into the crystal in his
hand. "Maximum Capacitor Output...Recharge System 36..." he seemed to rattle
off a computer program...then a huge energy ball enveloped the man and the
Silver Crystal.
"One, two, three...done." he smiled as the energy dissipated. "Here you
are." He tossed it back to Serena, who almost fumbled the rock as it was thrown
to her.
Serena gazed into the crystal. "Wow! It's...recharged!"
While Serena started into a 'wicked-cool-fit', the man walked over to the
other scouts. "Sorry, Pluto, Uranus and Neptune...you can't be upgraded."
"Why not?" Uranus demanded.
"Because you each are powerful enough as it is, and you aren't compatible
with my power systems yet." he smiled, then turned to the rest of the Sailor
Scouts and Princes. "However, you guys are."
Chris smiled. "Say hello to Strike Fiss, version 2!"
Maury grinned. "Yeah, that would be cool."
The Omega Web man held his hands in the air. "Let's get ready to save the
Earth...shall we?"
Each of the primary scouts was enveloped in a yellow light, lifting them
off the ground. They snapped back into their civilian clothes, then their power
items floated out of their pockets and into the light.
Mina smiled. "This feels...well, neat!"
Lita nodded "Yeah, like a bunch of soda pop bubbles all over you."
Chris and Maury grinned. "Huh, you said bubbles." they both said.
The man in the lab coat concentrated, drawing more energy from the space
around them, and delivering it into their items and bodies. "A one, a two, a
one two three four!" he shouted, as the Sailor Scouts were enveloped in a
blinding red light, visible from space.
Then, just as suddenly as it started...it stopped. All eight dropped from
the sky, landing on their butts. The man smiled. "There you go. Now, I'm
afraid I have to go now. It will take your powers a few hours to set in, but
the Lords shouldn't bother you too much..."
Darien walked up and shook his hand. "Thanks. But what's so important
about this Omega Point?"
The man blinked. "Only that it MUST be reached. If humanity has any hope
of surviving this galaxy, more like us will have to appear. Then, we can secure
the Solar System against intruders and live in truly civilized society. And if
we can reach the Point? Then life's going to be a lot more fun."
Chris walked forward, holding his disk in his hand. "What's it like? At
the Omega Point?"
The man smiled. "Oh, we actually haven't reached that yet...were just the
humans closest to it." he paused. "But so far...it feels pretty keen."
Suddenly, he turned around, walked back here he came from for a few metres,
then flashed out of view as he turned into a ball of light. "I'll be keeping in
touch. Don't worry." his voice echoed.
"Well, that was awfully nice of him." Ami shrugged as she digested the
sights they all just witnessed.
Chapter 21
"So, Serebe...is that what it's called on your planet? The 'Omega Point'?"
Zoichin asked the cringing woman.
"I-I-I have no idea, my Lord..." she stammered. She was obviously going to
get punished weather it was her fault or not.
Zoichin paced around as the other Lords nursed various wounds. "Now, the
man said he couldn't interfere. But what did he mean by helping?"
Minous shrugged. "Maybe he told them our weaknesses or where this base is
located."
"What about boosting their power?" Plakta frowned.
Zoichin shook his head. "That's impossible. We scanned Pluto and found
that their power systems aren't compatible with any sort of recharge! 'Omega
Point' or otherwise!"
"That's right. Of course. He must have just scared us away as part of
helping...that's still interfering, but that's probably it." Plakta assured
himself.
Zoichin nodded, then looked angrily at Serebe. "But we still lost three of
our warriors. That upsets me greatly. The others were valuable alias." He
slapped Serebe hard across the face, "Lets not let it happen again. I want no
more information gaps. Is that clear?"
Serebe nodded. "Yes, Zoichin."
Darien answered the doorbell only to see Andrea standing there, a wide grin
on her face. "Hey, big guy."
"Hi there, Hooze. Whassup?" he motioned for her to come in.
Andrea just about walked past him, then stopped, "Oh...right...slippers."
She put them on, not wanting to be rude or anything.
She walked in, then turned to him, "You know, Darien...I never really
thought about the fact that I could have, well, died out there the other day."
He led her to the couch, "Hey, don't worry. If you survived that, it can
only get easier. In fact, ALL of us had to kind of realize that we are fighting
for our lives, and that it may be our last day living." He thought a moment,
"Andrea...what exactly does 'Hooze' mean? Chris gave us an explanation for the
'Strike Fiss' thing...I think its only fair."
Andrea sat down, letting out a deep breath, "Well, when I was really
little, my older cousin could NEVER remember my name. He started to call me Any
who, which later became Anyhoozem, Hoozem, and finally 'Hooze'."
He sat down beside her, "Weird family."
Andrea blushed, "I know. Its cool." She was quiet a moment, then smiled,
"Darien...about that incident by the pond?"
Darien blinked, remembering the kiss he'd given her. "Um, yeah?"
"Do you REALLY like me? I mean, you didn't just give me that kiss out of
sympathy, did you?"
Darien looked surprised, "Of COURSE not! I don't just hand them out like
candy mints or anything!"
Andrea looked up at his face, noticing the height difference, "So...is
that it? Are we just going to leave it at that?" She sighed, "Great...I'm
doomed to be in love with a man whose practically already engaged."
Darien's eyes shot open, "Love? Did you just say you LOVED me?"
A large sweat blob appeared on the back of her head, "Well...um... I've
had these dreams...oh, never-mind. You're right. Its probably just a crush."
she frowned. "Yeah, right. I'm sorry, Darien. You probably wouldn't
understand."
He leaned close to her, "But I understand that there is something between
us." he said before kissing her tenderly. He then pulled away and hid his face
in his bangs, "...But, I love Serena too. This is tearing me apart. At first,
I thought this was just some...crush too...but..."
Andrea, still admiring the after effects of his kiss, said hesitantly, "Can
we just forget about her for just a while? Pleeeeeaaaase?"
Darien's tense face turned to a smile and he wrapped his arms around her
waist, "You win...this time." They kissed for a long time, and then he began
unbuttoning her dress shirt. She pulled off his green coat and tossed it on the
floor. That was as far as they got, then both suddenly stopped, both feeling
guilty for betraying Serena.
Andrea buttoned her shirt up, "I, uh, better go. Bye, Darien." She
slipped on her shoes and headed for the door. Darien got up and saw her out.
They both seemed unsure about what just happened as he closed the door behind
her. She ran down the hallway, a bit confused of everything. WAS it a crush?
Andrea knew it was deeper than that, but had no desire to screw up Darien's
love-life with Serena. "Man, I can't BELIEVE he likes me!" she said to herself,
nearing the elevator.
Darien held his head with his hand, leaning against the door, trying to
figure out what was going on. It was another love triangle, only a decision
between a princess and an outcast.
He couldn't decide.
"I can't decide..." Maury smiled. "Cheese or eggs?"
Chris thought for a moment. "Oh, cheese is much funnier."
"Yeah, I had a feeling," Maury reclined on his bed with Lita.
Fiss smiled evilly. "You know, I could leave if you REALLY want me to..."
Lita raised an eyebrow. "Okay."
"Eh, maybe I can find Demos and train him to be an attack-crow." Chris
smiled, walking down the hall. "Here crowy-crowy-crowy..."
Lita snuggled against Maury's arm, "So... now that crow-boy's out of the
picture, care to 'cuddle'?"
Maury held her in his arms, "How could I refuse, my strong and aggressive
one?" He kissed her thoroughly and fulfillingly, then began to remove her
pantyhose. She lay back, allowing him to do as he pleased. Maury then rolled
over on top of her and their body's rubbed against one another.
"I've got this feeling that ALL of my capabilities have been upgraded...if
you know what I'm saying." Lita teased.
Maury kissed her neck, "Ditto." He pulled her shirt off over her head and
kissed between her breasts. Lita arched forward to him, put her arms around to
his back, and ripped his shirt completely in half, tossing it aside. They
continued stripping down to bare skin, kissing and touching along the way.
Chris held out his finger. "Come to Butthead..." he said to the crow,
looking at him like 'what?'
Chad came up behind him, watching.
"Here, Demos...soon you will learn to kill at the ring of a bell." Chris
grinned evilly as Demos fluttered down to perch on his arm. "Now, Demos. The
first thing I'll have to teach you is to recognize a target."
"Stop bugging the birds, dork." Chad grumbled.
Chris turned around slowly "See, Chad is a target. He's wussy and
annoying. That's right...focus before attacking..."
Demos indeed seemed to be staring at Chad in a semi-homicidal way. "Have
you been drinking or something?" Chad asked, keeping an eye on the crow.
Chris frowned. "No, why would you say that?"
Demos cawed, sending Chad back a step. "You're talking to a bird, idiot."
Chris tossed him the empty can of Pepsi in his baggy pants. "Yes. Me and
Demos here have been having a keg-party. Now, go away before I tell him to
attack."
"No! You listen to me..."
Demos cawed angrily and Chris pretended to grab her. "Hurry, man! Get
away! I can't hold her back much longer! She's gone CRAZY!!" he yelled,
'struggling' with Demos.
Chad just stood there, arms crossed.
Chris and Demos relaxed. "That's okay, buddy...you're a good actor, but
Chad's just a freak." Chris let Demos fly back to his perch on the roof with the
puzzled Phobos.
Chad smiled. "By the way, Rei's gone shopping with Serena and Ami...she
can't save you now."
Chris blinked. "What's with you? I thought we settled this a long time
ago! And here you are, trying to ruff me up, almost three months later!"
Chad kept his arms crossed. "True love can withstand the test of time."
"Ooh..." Chris walked over. "So you think she loves you, eh?"
"Yes. And the feeling's mutual."
"Oooh, Chad's been looking in the dictionary again!" Chris snickered. "She
doesn't love you. You probably don't even love her, and you're ruining a great
friendship with her because you got too greedy with competition around."
He laughed. "You? Compete against me? Don't make me kick your ass!"
Chris shrugged. "I was as surprised as you were. Now, if you don't leave
me alone...I'll be forced to dance."
Chad frowned. "Uh?"
"Exactly." Chris walked away.
Chad pushed him from behind. "Hey, we're not through here!"
Chris swung around and head butted him. "Oww! Man, you have a bony head!"
Chad was stunned, and stumbled back a few steps. "Bastard!"
"Yeah, bastard like a FOX!" Chris laughed, then walked away as Chad began
to feel dizzy.
Rei leaned back against the wall. "Uhhg, I never thought six hours of
shopping would tire me out so bad..."
"O really fool!?"
"Yeah!"
Rei blinked. "That's Chris and Chad! Dammit! There fighting again!
OOOO!"
She ran down the hall and out onto the lawn. Then, she dropped her bags of
clothes and stared at the sight. Chris was sending Demos after Chad.
"Hey, Rei!" Chris beamed. "Wanna help?"
Before Rei could say anything, a nearby wall busted open, spilling Maury
and Lita wrapped in a blanket onto the lawn. Maury looked around. "Oh...Hi
everyone..."
Rei smiled. "I always miss the cool stuff."
Chapter 22
Zoichin inputted the last code. "There. It's armed. We'll do the job
even if the planet is destroyed."
In front of the Lord was a huge cube. Zoichin closed the arming pad and
locked it. Plakta smiled. "More like the entire Solar System. This thing as a
radius of one light year. The entire system will be uninhabitable for twenty
millennium."
Yoinok smiled. "How long until detonation?"
"Ten hours. Serebe, I suggest you gather your highest ranking troops and
come with us." He frowned. "You may be a bitch, but you're still valuable to
us."
Chris opened the phone booth and stepped inside. He picked up the receiver
and dialled a familiar number, then punched in about ten dollars worth of Yen
into the coin slot. He had to talk to his parents.
Who knows what kind of upgrade they got? There were still no guarantees...
even if the Omega Web was on their side. No guarantees...not even a guarantee
that they would live another day.
He leaned up against the booth's wall, adjusting his coat as the phone
finally started to ring.
"Hello?" came his Mom's voice.
Chris smiled uncontrollably. "Hey! Mom!"
"Chris! Are you okay? We heard about the aliens in Tokyo! Are you hurt?
What's happening over there??"
Chris took a deep breath. "Mom. Me and Andrea are fine. Maury's good too
if you want to tell his family. But, there's something more important we have
to discuss."
A pause. "More important than aliens landing and killing thousands?"
Chris took an even deeper breath. "You're right. Never mind."
"Is everything okay?"
Chris smiled. "Yeah, I guess we just miss you."
"Is Andrea there?"
"No, I'm out in a pay phone. I just wanted to call and say hi..."
Mom seemed a bit choked up. "Well, thanks for calling. You've only called
a few times since last year...it's hard not being around you, you know. We'll
be happy when you're all back home."
Chris was silent. For a long time. It was so easy to pretend he could
stay as long as he wanted...with the Sailor Scouts, defending the entire Sol
System against evil...but he couldn't bear give the reasons to his own mother.
He was a different person now...what would it feel to be back in a place where
none of this crazy Sailor Scouting had ever happened? Chris only said
"Mom? Say hi to dad. And...I love you. I can't wait to see you again."
His mom said goodbye after making sure they were okay. Chris hung up the
phone, then slid along the wall until seated.
Chris stood up again. "I won't let these freaks kill my parents...or
anyone else. That's a promise..." he commanded himself.
Luna and Artemis ran down the street. Ami had done a scan of the city and
detected a strange power source. The two cats decided to do their share and
check it out.
They dashed around the corner of a deserted building. Luna gasped.
"What's that?"
A green glow was coming out of the earth just ahead of them. As they
approached, it turned out to be a crater...with a large, alien-looking cube
inside, emitting a low-pitched whine along with the glow.
"Could that be a bomb set up by the Lords?" Luna asked.
Artemis frowned. "You think?" he replied sarcastically. "Of course it
is!"
Luna glared at him. "Well? Come on...we have to alert the Sailor
Scouts..."
They were again, in the field beside the Watcher's warehouse. The place of
the final battle.
Chapter 23
The sun had nearly set. All of the Scouts, including the Outer, were
standing lone in downtown Tokyo. Luckily, it had been abandon due to evacuation
regarding the alien invasion. Serena looked at Sharon and nodded. They all
held up power items.
"Sol, Light...POWER!"
"Mercury, Star...POWER!"
"Venus, Star...POWER!"
"Mars, Star...POWER!"
"Jupiter, Star...POWER!"
"Saturn, Disc...POWER!"
"Uranus, Planet...POWER!"
"Neptune, Planet...POWER!"
"Pluto, Planet...POWER!"
"Pluto, Mask...POWER!"
"MOON, CRYSTAL...POWER!!"
Darien sighed, and held up a rose to transform. "You guys get to say all
the really cool lines."
Mercury scanned the building. Only the green glow of the strange cube was
in sight. "They're hiding."
Lita growled. "Freaking cowards...Grr, come out here and fight!"
Maury looked around, then concentrated. Everyone looked at him. "What's
wrong?" Chris asked.
"They're here...behind us!" he spun around, throwing six stars at an
invisible target behind them.
Each star hit something, revealing all six Lords, using some sort of
'Predator' camouflage. They all growled in pain and leapt to a rooftop, now
completely visible. "So much for our surprise attack." Laotin whispered to
Zoichin.
Zoichin just frowned.
Chris smiled to Rei. "Did the news say the block was evacuated?"
Rei smiled evilly. "Yes, they did."
"Saturn FOCUS!" Chris whipped out his swords and spread them in a
horizontal disk.
"Mars War-Laser!...FIRE!" Rei gathered a ball of fire around her in a huge
pillar, then focused it along her finger toward the Lords.
Chris produced a blinding blue ring and shot it as well. The two attacks
joined. The red laser split and went through the middle of the disk like a
lens, turning the beam into a focused blue death-ray. Then, it hit Laotin's
chest.
Chris and Rei watched in amazement as Laotin was ripped inside out by the
laser, then vaporized.
The entire building started to crumble into a pile of dust as the other
Lords leapt off for their lives.
"Neptune Deep Submerge!" Neptune yelled, causing Plakta to be encased in a
crushing ball of water.
Chris went over to help, but suddenly, was hit by...another blade. "What
the fff..." he made sure it only nicked his arm.
Serebe was standing in front of him. Holding a sword. "That's for killing
Laotin, bastard!"
"Jupiter Lightning Storm! SWEEP!" Jupiter sent out a huge shaft of
electrically charged wind that came down from a nearby cloud, throwing back
Serebe before she could strike again. "There you go, Fiss. We'll finish off the
Lords, you get that bitch!"
Chris nodded. "Thanks Jupiter!"
Suddenly, there was a rumbling. The Scouts all blinked and turned to the
warehouse, watching as ninjas came around the corner. Chris blinked. "Uh."
And kept coming.
And kept coming.
And...well...then they doubled.
And again.
Andrea, Maury, Ami and Darien all joined him. "Come on!" Andrea yelled.
"Let's waste these freaking' clones!"
Darien whipped out his new staff, then flung it at a nearby group of one
hundred. It started spinning, and literally mowed them down as it boomeranged
back to his hand.
Serebe stood up. "Come on, Sailor brats, I challenge you all!"
All the scouts besides the outer scouts ran after her as she ran back into
the crowd of ninjas. Pluto smiled. "You guys go ahead and waist the ninja's!
We'll take care of these Lords!"
Zoichin called after them. "Ha! It's no use, Sailor Scouts! The entire
Solar System's toast in twenty minutes anyway!"
Luna and Artemis gasped. "The cube!" they said at once, running after the
Sailor Scouts.
"You coward!" Chris yelled, fending off a ninja as Serebe smiled cockily
behind her army. "I thought you challenged me!"
Serebe just smiled, casually wiping her sword off with a cloth.
"Mercury Ice-Daggers, SPRAY!" she fired at the crowd of ninjas, freezing a
line of them, leading directly to Serebe.
Chris pulled out his disk, shattering them out of his way in one blast.
Before Serebe could order reinforcements, Strike Fiss and Sailor Mercury were
past the ninjas, and standing in front of her.
Chris smiled. "Well-well-well, bitch. Let's..." suddenly, Artemis leaped
to Chris' shoulder.
"Fiss! There's a bomb going off in nineteen minutes! It's over there!"
He pointed with his paw to the green glowing cube in the distance.
"I'm kinda busy...Mercury, go disarm it!" Chris yelled, whipping out his
sword as Serebe growled and stood up from her little lawn-chair.
Luna grabbed Mercury's foot and dragged her off. "Wait! I'm not good at
hacking into systems!"
Chris and Serebe jumped down to level ground. Serebe smiled. "I've
practiced all my life, you don't have a chance, child."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and Sailor Mars is ugly."
Their swords clashed.
Maury and Darien stood back to back, whipping out roses and throwing stars
like they were going out of style. Maury looked concerned. "Hey, Tuxedo Mask!"
"What?" Darien asked as he lopped off a ninja's head with his staff.
"You know how I predicted the invisible attack thingy?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, I just got another vision. It's not very good."
Darien frowned. "Oh? Why?"
"All I see is nothing...like the Earth exploded or something."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Andrea and Mina leaped over their heads. "Don't worry, guys!" Mina smiled,
pointing to Andrea.
Andrea took a stand in front of all the others and held out her arms at her
sides, "I call upon, uh...the Forces of Hooze!!" Energy began crackling around
her. "Cool! I mean...Pluto, Soul Skeleton...STRIKE!!" A green almost mist-
like replica of her skeleton seeped out of her body in the same position as her
own, made a horrible screech, and then spread out in a wave of pure death. It
hit every ninja in its path, causing the two thousand or so to slowly vaporize.
All was quiet, Darien blinked. "BITCHN'!!!"
Mina grinned and stood beside the shocked Sailor Hooze, "Now then...that
was cool."
Andrea laughed, "These upgrades worked wonders!"
Sailor Venus faced the ninjas again, "Now its my turn. Venus, Strobe...
FLASH!!!" She held a ball of light in her hands above her head. It then began
flashing faster and brighter, until it lit up an area so large it could easily
be seen from space. The frequency of the pulse began to disrupt the atmosphere,
and soon another five hundred had exploded into piles of meat from the force of
the energy. She then finished the job by throwing the ball on the ground, which
seemed to spill over the cement and vaporize what was left of them.
Venus and everyone around her blinked. "That kicked ass!"
Rei decided to try out her new attack with out a focus, just to see how
powerful it really was. "Mars War Laser...FIRE!" she focused all her energy
into a continuous beam of flaming light, sweeping it across the field of ninjas,
turning them into vapour as it went along. "Right on! Come on Sailor Scouts!
We gotta help the others!"
Sailor Moon smiled, holding up her sceptre. "Moon Sceptre...Elimination!"
but before anything happened, three ninja jumped on her, knocking it out of her
hands.
Darien growled. "That DOES IT!!! I call upon the power of Earth! TERRA
SLIDE!!"
The ground around Serena erupted in a crystalline jet of molten rock. It
shot back the three ninjas, covering them in flames, then vaporizing them...
producing a pile of rose petals.
Maury grinned. "Flowers? You wussy."
Darien stuck out his tongue. "Bite me."
"This thing's a bomb?" Ami gasped at the huge cube looming in front of her.
Luna nodded. "Now, hurry up! We only have ten minutes left!"
They found the panel. "Mercury Ice Storm...BLAST!" she froze the panel's
locked cover and it shattered away, leaving a complex-looking keypad and a
screen. On the screen was what looked like a little egg timer graphic with only
ten minutes left. She activated her VR visor and pulled out her little
computer.
Artemis frowned. "Great. Now the fate of the solar system is up to a
little computer that looks like you can buy it at Radio-Shack for thirty bucks.
We're all doomed!"
Luna smacked Artemis across the face. "Shut up! She's trying to
concentrate!"
"Thanks, did I need that?" Artemis collapsed unconscious.
Luna frowned.
"Fiss!" Chris yelled, repelling Serebe back, then charged at her.
She blocked, then kicked him back. Chris brought back his sword and
slammed it into hers with no luck.
"I told you...I'm a top level certifiable Kendo master!" She laughed.
Chris wiped his brow and tried again. He leapt at her, swinging his sword
around. Serebe dodged, then swung her sword around, blade first.
Chris smashed into the ground, feeling a hit along his back. Shit! She
cut my spine!
Serebe began laughing...then stopped. "What the fuck?"
Chris realized he wasn't sliced in two. He felt his back. No blood. "My
jacket! It's upgraded!" he got to his feet slowly.
Serebe growled. "No matter, I'll just slice off your head!"
Chris smiled. "Huh huh huh...you said 'head'." he grabbed his sword in
both hands.
Serebe spun around her blade, but Chris blocked it easily. "I'm going to
eat your heart in front of your little pals!" she growled.
"Go ahead, bitch."
"If you say so..." she charged.
Chris frowned. "You have already lost."
Chris lunged, grabbed Serebe's sword, and rolled off her back all in one
motion. Serebe fell to the ground, a gash in her side from her own sword.
Chris threw down her sword in disgust. "That's what you get, bitch."
"For what?" she gasped in pain.
Chris smiled. "For bugging me." he walked over and picked up his katana.
"And what was this about beheading me?"
Serebe gasped, holding her side. "No! You can't! You'll need my help to
disarm the bomb!"
"No way. I've earned this..." he smiled. "See ya..."
Uranus was thrown back by Minous. Minous jumped out of the way of Pluto,
but was caught by Neptune's tidal wave. "Neptune Planet POWER!" she yelled,
causing the Lord to be crushed in a sphere of water. As the liquid dissipated,
he was dead.
Uranus was helped to her feet by Pluto. "Man, we still got to get the
other two!"
Yoinok and Plakta were also finished off, but Zoichin and Shikawa were
fighting as strong as ever. Plakta fired a laser at Uranus and Pluto,
separating them in a huge explosion. Pluto was hurt bad all along her left
side, and Uranus was unconscious.
Zoichin laughed at the Outer Scouts. "Give it up, losers. You may as well
die while you can still breath properly!"
Suddenly, a stream of super charged energy came out of nowhere, hitting and
knocking down Shikawa, and blasting Zoichin to his butt as well. Serena and the
others were standing in the distance. Serena lowered her sceptre with a smile.
"Gottcha!"
The outer scouts got the hell out of the way before they were killed. Rei
glanced over to Chris. "Get Mercury! We'll need her for the final showdown."
Chris nodded, then ran off with Andrea and Maury. "Just like old times,
right guys?"
Maury raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly...."
The three rounded the corner where Mercury and the Cats were desperately
trying to figure out the bomb's systems. "How's it going, Ami?" Chris asked.
Ami looked desperate. "I can't figure it out!"
Maury concentrated. "I still can't get a vision for the near
future...bomb's going off soon."
"Go and help the others. We can handle it." Andrea said.
Mercury shut her data computer and ran off to fight with the others.
Chris looked at the screen. "Shit! Three minutes!" he sat down in front
of the control panel and started punching keys.
Chapter 24
Zoichin had just kicked Rei and Mina away from his feet. They rolled back
painfully, but quickly got up to regroup with the others.
Lita clenched her teeth, "This isn't working...our new powers hardly even
effect this weirdo."
"We need to use something stronger!" Serena shouted, jumping up and down.
Suddenly Darien and Ami came running up to them. Darien stopped and kissed
Serena, "Let's do it. We can kill this butt-munch ass off if we harness our
powers together!"
Serena grinned, "Okay! Time for another transformation!"
Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon joined hands and were enveloped in a bluish
glow. When it died down, their outfits had changed yet again, being properly
pronounced as Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity.
"Eggs are good for you and me...Chicky chicky bang bang." Chris joked,
trying to keep calm.
Andrea paced back and forth. "Would you two hurry??"
Chris and Maury examined the wires behind the popped off control pad.
"Okay, Maury...I am going to cut this green wire...did your vision change yet?"
Maury concentrated. "OOOOOO! No...NOT the green wire! Oh no..." he said
quickly.
Chris blinked. "Right."
Maury and Andrea looked. "Two wires left. Both blue." Andrea frowned.
"I can't get any more visions on either one." Maury frowned. "You gotta
guess."
Chris blinked. "Shit. I've always sucked at lottery games."
Andrea and Maury gulped. Chris took out his sword. "Do you know which
one?" Andrea asked hopefully.
"Four dead-ends, three safety guards, two booby traps...and a partridge in
a pear tree." Chris grinned. They all held their breath as Chris swung his sword
into the two wires, severing them both simultaneously.
They were quiet. The control panel was now running FASTER. "Twenty
Seconds." Chris sighed.
Andrea ran over to the other end of the cube. "Do the planet-power force
field thing! It's our only chance!"
Maury and Chris stepped back, until they made a triangle around the huge
bomb.
"Strike Fiss!
"Sailor Hooze!"
"Prince Destiny!"
"POWER!" they all yelled, producing a vertical beam of light around the
bomb.
In the last few seconds, they were all quiet. Maury finally spoke. "I'm
still not getting any visions..."
Chris nodded, concentrating on the force field. "Well, then. Let me just
say that you guys have been the best friends I could ever ask for, and it's been
an honour."
Andrea and Maury both nodded. "In case it's too late for later, dido for
me," Maury smiled.
The timer clicked down it's last second. All three held their breath, and
concentrated on the force field.
A rumble shook the ground. Zoichin stopped in his tracks. All the Sailor
Scouts looked behind them. A huge shaft of light was emanating upwards from the
bomb's position. Suddenly, a huge flash of light lit up all of Tokyo. The
blast of untold power was channelled upwards, harmlessly into the sky...but the
beams were no longer there.
Serena and Darien blinked. "Uh?" Serena finally asked.
Mina raised an eyebrow. "The bomb! The others must have..."
Zoichin blinked in surprise. "I-I don't believe it!"
Lita and Rei suddenly looked panicked. "Are they...alright? There's no
beams..." Rei gasped.
Lita turned to Zoichin. "THAT DOES IT, MOTHER FUCKER!!!"
Zoichin used the moment of frustration. "NEGATIVE POWER!"
All the Sailor Scouts were thrown back onto their butts in a huge ball of
energy. "I got those three! It's only a matter of time until you ALL die!" he
cackled.
Serena stood up, holding her crystal. "I am Princess Serenity of the
Silver Millennium! You will pay dearly for what you have done!"
All the scouts stood up as Zoichin prepared another blast. "I'm going to
take you out once and for all!!!" he gathered up his power and started forming
an incredibly huge energy ball.
The Sailor Scouts and Darien all put there hands on the Silver Crystal.
"Mercury Power!"
"Venus Power!"
"Earth Power!"
"Mars Power!"
"Jupiter Power!"
As all their energy focused into the Crystal, Serena raised it over her
head. "Cosmic Moon POWER!!!!"
At the same instant, Zoichin launched his energy ball.
The Imperial Silver Crystal emitted a pulse of light...then another...then
another, like a revving engine until it produced a strobe light. Then, a wave
of light shot out from it, ploughing through the evil energy ball, then
continuing into Zoichin's head.
He crackled with energy as the strobe light died down again. "Noooooo!
You haven't seen the last of me!!" He exploded...littering the sky in white
sparks.
Endymion smiled, "I doubt that..." he said as the blinding light faded.
Serena and the other Sailor Scouts collapsed to the ground, completely
spent.
Slowly, a pile of debris in front of them started moving. "What the hell?"
Darien gasped.
Shikawa slowly emerged, holding a wicked-looking twist of metal. He limped
toward Serena. "You're going to die now...an there's nothing you can do about
it!" he wheezed painfully, but kept inching forward.
All the Sailor Scouts could do was lay on the ground at watch as the last
remaining Lord came closer to their leader, brandishing his makeshift knife.
Rei forced herself to pull out a scroll. "Mars Fireballs...CHARGE!"
It flew toward the Lord, but he easily batted it down.
"Nice...try...Mars...but no goal..." he gasped, spiting out a weird coloured
blood.
Rei collapsed, and the others all were helpless. Darien tried to shield
Serena, but he was too far away.
Shikawa grinned. "You should never use your ultimate weapon, unless you're
sure it will finish ALL your enemies off!" he raised his weapon over his head to
crush Serena's skull.
"HOO HAW!!" A blue flash whipped through the sky over Serena's head,
smashing into Shikawa, slicing him in two neatly separated halves and depositing
them on the ground.
The scouts all blinked. Serena stopped wailing and turned to look behind
her.
Chris, Maury and Andrea came over the hill, slightly singed. "That will
teach aliens to invade OUR planet...right guys?"
The three did a pose and all hummed "Ta-Da!!!!"
Then, they collapsed on the ground, sleeping soundly.
Epilogue
One by one, the Sailor Scouts limped off the scene. The Outer Scouts left
to be in their own little funk after getting humiliated by the Lords, but still
grateful enough to nod their thanks.
Maury was beaming. "Tell them how I saved your guys butts!"
Chris and Andrea both glared at him. "Yeah, yeah...what he did was after
the shield broke, he fired some of his explode-o stars in front of us to repel
the shock wave with their own explosions." Chris said.
"Yeah, and we were only slightly toasted by them, because they're so
wussy." Andrea snickered.
They all lay out on the Temple lawn. Rei smiled. "If you ask me, Chris,
you cut it just a bit close."
Chris smiled. "Sorrreeee!"
Darien nodded. "Thanks for saving Serena...she'd thank you too but..."
Serena was packing away a bunch of cookies like there was no tomorrow. She
looked up from her plate just long enough to mumble "Marub-ooo", apparently
saying 'thank you'.
Andrea looked over to Serena to make sure she was stuffed full of cookies.
"Oh, I just wanted to thank you again, Darien..." she leapt on him and started
kissing him wildly.
Serena gasped, hocking up cookies. "Hey!" she whined.
Andrea leaned over to his ear, "Let me warn you...I plan to finish what we
started in your apartment." She got up and ran when Serena came after her,
leaving Darien humming 'I'm too sexy.'
Rei and Chris sat on their favourite park bench overlooking the pond. "So.
All the ninjas are toasted, the Watchers no longer exist, and the Lords are
fish-food." Chris smiled. "So whatcha you going to do next!"
Rei smiled. "I'm going to Disneyland."
"Well, before we do that..." Chris started before reaching into his coat
pocket. He handed her a small, felt box. "Open this."
Rei opened the box and gasped at the ring inside, "Its beautiful! And it
has my birthstone; crystal!"
"I wanted to get you something."
"Why?" she asked happily, placing the ring on her right index finger.
Chris shrugged, "For putting up with me." he paused. "And also cause I
found it in the debris of that mall."
She kissed him delicately on the nose. "Well, I won't tell if you don't."
He grinned evilly, "Yes, ma'am!" They embraced in a kiss.
Far away behind them, Ami sat with the others, watching. "I'm not giving
up now."
Mina sat down besides her. "What was that?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just thinking."
Back at the Omega Web, the man in the lab coat leaned back in his chair and
smiled. "See? I told you they'd do it. Now who owes me fifty bucks?"
Some lowly assistant handed him the money. "I guess you were right, sir."
He raised his eyebrow. "But of course."
THE END!
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Good evening, my wonderful readers! I hope you all enjoyed Sailor Moon
Alternate Reality Second Edition! Slightly more spooky and special than the
last version, or so, I hope. Also, less spelling and grammatical errors (god I
hope), and also, for old-school fans, a few added scenes and goodies!
I won't bore you too much with sentimental crap this time around, but I will say
it was great to go through this story again. Actually, some of the battles in
this story were the first to give me critical 'action' acclaim from the early SM
fic community. Also, the ninjas are fun to slaughter, so everyone had a good
time.
Again, to all my readers, critics, and semi-sentient life forms that may read
this, I say thank you. ^_^ It's been great, and will continue to be greater!
Domo, arigato!
e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com
homepage1: www.studioshinnyo.com
homepage2: www.oocities.com/Tokyo/9110
And so, until next time! Stay tuned to Sailor Moon AR, the only fanfic series
that needs the disclaimer: WARNING! WARNING! DO NOT CUT THE GREEN WIRE! OH
HOLY LORD! DO NOT CUT THE GREEN WIRE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!
Strike Fiss, Studio Shinnyo 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF. (
geocities.com/Tokyo/9110) (
geocities.com/Tokyo)