The characters here are trademarks of their respective owners. I can't list off all the copyright holders because I'd probably miss out on some and get sued or something! :) I am not expecting any money from any story I write, and therefore am not taking any money away from the copyright holders. Thanks to Lady Jupiter (now at LadyJupiter@SailorJupiter.com) as I was inspired to write this series after misinterpreting her "Remember When?" prologue and reading her "Rainy Day Man Remix" story. Sure, my other fic "Let The Punishment Be The Crime" had similar inspiration, but once you read it you'll see why. Like Lady Jupiter, I'm a huge Jupiter fan. That will become obvious as you read this and other stories by me, they are all Lita-centric. I will be using the NA dubbed names, because that's the way I prefer it! Also, this fic features the Scouts and Ken in Lady Jupiter's "Jupiter Knight" World where Ken is Lita's protector, Jupiter Knight. I have been given permission to do so. Also, it takes place before her "Remember When?" series. My other/future fanfics can be found at my "Other Stuff" page at http://www.muskoka.net/~summerton/other.html and probably anywhere else you got this fic from. Just so you know, this story also borrows some parts from my "Punishment" fic just like part one did, as you may notice similarities sometimes. Don't worry about that: I'm allowed to steal from my own work. :) I do it here because the descriptions were perfect the first time and, well, read on! If you're reading this, Part Three, you had better know what happens in Parts One and Two since I'm going to spoil them right here. To avoid confusing myself I refer to Ken (in Lita) as 'Lita' and Lita (in Ken) as 'Ken' as well as 'she' and 'he' respectively. However, the Jupiter Knight is he and Sailor Jupiter is she, even though JK is still Ken in Lita and SJ is still Lita in Ken. Still, when dealing with specifics as to what the characters are thinking, I'll refer to them in their natural states. For example: Ken = he and Lita = she. With that said, no confusion should be here whatsoever (yeah right!), so bear with me and enjoy the story. Divided Destiny Part Three - Past Tense by Scott "Cyclops" Summerton Last Revised Wednesday September 23rd, 1998 --------------- "This is very VERY bad!" What Darien said was an glaring understatement because what was directly in front of his car, which contained himself, Serena, Sailor Jupiter and Jupiter Knight was a huge green creature, resembling a storybook dragon. Straddling Raye's temple, it looked down at the little red shiny thing that just arrived. Between Serena still screaming and Darien's yelling "Everybody out of the car!", Jupiter Knight and Sailor Jupiter, even with the predicament they were in, their instincts were able to prevail. You see, within the past 2 hours or so, the lives of Ken and Lita underwent a drastic change. The young couple somehow switched bodies leaving Ken trapped as his brunette girlfriend and Lita trapped as her male protector. After an initial period of disbelief including a tense moment where the Jupiters realized they now had each others powers as well, the Sailor Scouts decided to leave Lita's apartment and go to Raye's temple where they would have more freedom to investigate the matter. Regardless of all this and a near fatal car crash mere moments ago, the Jupiters were able to co-ordinate themselves enough to get the non-transformed Serena and Darien to safety so that they could have time to actually transform themselves. But until that happens... "Did you see if it damaged the temple at all?" shouted Jupiter Knight as they ran towards the huge dragon. "No, but I don't think it did, it's just standing over it. At least this tiny skirt isn't getting in the way, but how do you run in these heeled boots?" replied a less than graceful Sailor Jupiter. "Can't go into detail now, for now just remember heel toe, heel toe... There it is!" exclaimed Jupiter Knight as he pointed up towards the creature. "No damage to the temple, or anything else nearby. Let's hope it doesn't sit down though or else Raye will be really mad when she get's here!" Suddenly Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were at the sides of the Jupiters, pumped up and ready to go, but they too stopped dead in their tracks upon the sight of the huge creature. "It hasn't even moved from the temple since we got here!" shouted Sailor Moon. "Good!" replied Tuxedo Mask, "I thought it might step on my car!" "Should we attack it? We don't want to provoke it into doing anything since so far it hasn't actually threatened us." As if answering Jupiter Knight's question, the dragon slowly stepped away from the temple and into part of a wooded area surrounding it. It's movements were practically calculated with precision so that it would prevent any possible damage to both the temple or trees. "Wait! Is it leaving? What should we do?" Sailor Moon was rightfully confused. "Well, I think we should at least keep it in sight and... What the heck? What's happening to it?" Tuxedo Mask was equally confused as the dragon started changing shape as it moved through the woodland. "It, it's scales are turning into bark!" "Well, we can't just stand here gawking at it!" shouted Sailor Jupiter, "Hurry! It's starting to shrink too! Let's keep track of it!" "Wow," Sailor Moon thought to herself, "Sailor Jupiter is really... headstrong? Yeah that's the word! But she was never THAT headstrong! What's gotten into... oh yeah, Ken's gotten into her! I keep forgetting about the switch since they look and, for the most part act so much like each other it's really easy to forget!" "Sailor Moon! You coming or not?" Tuxedo Mask was almost entirely into the forested area by the time Sailor Moon realized she had been standing there daydreaming while a huge monster is walking around. "If Luna finds out I did that again she'll be so upset!" she thought out loud, followed by "Coming!" and quickly ran into the forest behind the Jupiters and Tuxedo Mask. "I'm glad we decided to take a cab over here after all." stated Mina as she walked up the path from the now-leaving taxi towards Raye's temple. "I don't see why we had to," retorted Luna. "It wasn't that far of a walk and you girls could always use a good workout like that." "Relax Luna," began Raye, "it's not like Serena couldn't use a good workout now and then too but she got to drive over here with the other guys. Besides, we could also use a break now and-" "Did you guys hear something?" It was rare for Amy to interrupt a conversation, but when she did it was usually important. "It was probably just the wind," replied Artemis brushing off her statement. "Hey look, there's Darien's car, the others must be inside." "No, you guys, I'm pretty sure I heard something coming from the forest, over that way." "Amy, I'm sure that there's nothing..." Mina was abruptly interrupted by something somewhat resembling a tree jumping into the air. The tree-thing began to resemble a cloud then became transparent and blew away into the wind. "What the heck was that?!" shouted Raye. "AW CRAP!" Mina jumped. "Who said that?" "That would be Sailor Jupiter." answered Tuxedo Mask as he emerged from the wooded area, followed by Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter and Jupiter Knight. "What happened? What's going on? What was that thing?" Jupiter Knight was quick to answer. "Calm down Raye, we don't know what it was, but when we got here it looked like a big dragon and was standing over the temple." "WHAT?!" Raye quickly turned to the temple trying to assess the damage caused. "It, it didn't do anything!" She then looked to the ground. "It didn't even leave any footprints!" "If my calculations are correct," began a frantically scribbling Amy, "that creature was some sort of polymorphic being." "Polly morbic wha?" "Polymorphic being, Sailor Moon." replied Tuxedo Mask. "A shapechanger." Amy merely nodded her head in agreement as she continued. "You said it resembled a dragon when near the temple?" four simultaneous "Yep"s were the replies. Amy responded with "When we first saw it, it resembled some sort of tree creature." "It started to become tree-like when it entered walked from the temple and into the trees." stated Sailor Jupiter. "And when we first saw it it was up in the sky, then blew away like an airy cloud." Raye was getting impatient. "What are you saying Amy?" Amy practically ignored the question as she continued her own interrogation. "Did it damage any of the trees in there?" "No, none at all." replied an impatient Sailor Moon. "What ARE you getting at Amy?" "I think that this polymorph mimics the area in which it is located." "That makes sense! It looked like a tree in the forest, looked like a cloud in the sky and looked like a storybook dragon over the temple!" Sailor Moon was rather proud of the realization. "Yeah, but why was it here, what does it want, and what do we do now?" Artemis stepped forward. "Well Raye, we'll find out later, it's likely Scout related, and we go inside now." With that Artemis walked abruptly walked inside as everyone else looked at him as if in shock. The white cat turned around once he realized he wasn't being followed. "What? You asked!" he then continued to go inside the temple. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask reverted back to the civilian clothes and followed Luna, Raye, Mina and Amy into the temple leaving the Jupiters alone. Sailor Jupiter began walking tentatively towards the temple. "Great, stairs," she began, "I'm having a hard enough time walking on flat ground with these heels and now I've gotta go up stairs?!" She looked to Jupiter Knight who merely answered with an innocent smile as he began to enter the temple. Sailor Jupiter sighed. "OK, heel toe, heel toe..." The Scouts gathered inside a large room often used for sparring within the temple. Both Jupiters has reverted back to their regular clothes, as regular as those could be anyway... "Comfy?" asked 'Ken', who was constantly changing positions on the floor trying to find a comfortable one. "About as comfy as you are." replied 'Lita' who was doing the exact same thing. "Try just sitting on your butt and sticking your feet straight out." "OK." 'He' tried it. "Hey that is better! My turn then, try crossing your legs." "You know I can't cross my legs!" 'Ken' smiled and blushed. "You can with those legs." 'Lita' tried it. "You're right, I can! Thanks! I think I'll just copy what you're doing though, and cross my legs over my knees, since I am wearing a skirt after all." 'Ken' quickly responded. "Good idea, I should have thought of that." Luna was doing her best to not seem impatient. "OK, now that that's all settled, can we discuss what just happened out there and then try and figure out how we can help Lita and Ken?" "Sounds like a good idea to me, I want to know what that thing was doing here!" answered Raye. "Did you guys attack it at all?" asked Mina. "Well, it never did actually attack us, so we didn't have to attack it back." answered Serena. "I guess it's just another minor monster sighting like all the rest have been then." added Artemis. "Well, that's a good thing," began Luna, "but it's also bad, because we don't know why these minor occurrences have been happening for the past few weeks." "The locations the monsters have been arriving in has appeared to be random, do you think that has anything to do with it?" asked Darien. "Possibly, and with this monster not attacking, that proves one of my theories about the past few weeks." "Uh, Amy," began 'Ken', "Could you fill us in on that theory?" Mina was quick to agree. "Yeah Ames, this is the first I've heard you mention it!" "Oh really? Well I've been doing some calculations and I've been able to determine that with each monster appearance, the amount of challenge it issues to us has decreased slightly, and with today's it has disappeared altogether." Sweatdrops formed on every head in the room but Amy's. Upon noticing this she continued. "What I'm saying is that I've analyzed the amount of damage, number of attacks and overall threat potential of every creature from the past," Amy looks at her notes, "three weeks, five days. They've progressively become less and less dangerous to us. Now, that doesn't mean they are actually LESS dangerous, it is likely the opposite and these monsters are becoming more and more threatening. It's just that they aren't actually doing anything to us when they appear." Everyone nodded in understanding this time. Amy continued. "The appearances have been somewhat random, but always within a close radius to where some of us are located at the time." "Then perhaps the Negaverse isn't as desperate as we first thought." stated Luna. "Maybe they're testing these creatures." added 'Lita'. Raye followed quickly with "Either those creatures, or us." Everyone in the room was silent after that, each of them pondering the possibilities. Amy again spoke. "If the Negaverse is testing these creatures, then this is the first one to actually pass, since we didn't defeat it." "It's not like we weren't able to!" added Serena. "We didn't have to attack it because we didn't have any reason to." "Still, it was able to get away, and it did so just as the others arrived." said Darien. "Maybe it realized it was outnumbered and took off." "Perhaps," began Luna, "I still don't like it though. Are they testing us, testing those creatures, or both? And if they are testing those creatures and the latest one passed as Amy said, what happens now?" Artemis answered with a question of his own. "Do you think it has anything to do with the Jupiter situation?" "I don't know." began 'Ken', "We'll probably find out really soon though, because we should be due for a major battle now anyway. Don't you think so Ken?" 'He' caught 'himself', "I mean, 'Lita'?" 'Lita' turned to face 'him', and although 'she' was somewhat prepared for the awkward feeling of the swishing ponytail, 'she' was far from prepared to suddenly have 'her' entire vision become a brilliant white. Immediately after that, 'Lita' was suddenly standing on a balcony at dusk, overlooking a field full of wild purple flowers. "I recognize this," thought 'Lita'. "I'm on Jupiter!" 'Lita' quickly realized that, although that was true, it wasn't the usual Jupiter flashback 'she' was accustomed to. In his mind, Ken realized that he was in Lita's body, or rather Makoto's body, here as well. He realized he was wearing a strapless green velvet dress with a turtleneck-style front, which hugged every curve of the body he now possesses. It gave off frightening feelings that doubled as ones of erotic comfort. The dress felt as good against the soft skin, as the pantyhose on those long legs. He knew the silky brown hair was tied in a ponytail, but most likely tied with a ribbon matching the slinky dress' colour and material. The half inch heeled boots of the Sailor Jupiter uniform are one thing, but the two inch green high heels which he now wore made him feel like he was standing on stilts, yet not in danger of falling over. It was with that realization that he was not in control of this body, but was instead only along for the ride... The real Lita had a similar experience, first being blinded by pure white then suddenly standing in a small hallway. Lita recognized the distinct architecture almost immediately. She was back on Jupiter, however... "I'm on Jupiter," thought 'Ken', "but what am I wearing?!" Lita realized that she was still in Ken's body, actually Shinozaki's, and was wearing an outfit nearly identical to that of the Jupiter Knight uniform. A green dress shirt, dark green tuxedo jacket and pants, dress shoes such a dark shade of green that they're nearly black, and that ever-constricting silk tie. "Shinozaki!" yelled an all-too familiar voice. Lita's mind quickly registered the voice as her own and wondered if Ken was in Makoto's body, since she was in Shinozaki's. She saw herself, more accurately Makoto, running down the hallway towards her. "I wonder if Ken's in there." she thought. Without notice, Lita suddenly found herself opening her arms to embrace herself. "This is really weird, I'm stuck in here and have no control!" was all she could think. She, like Ken, was merely along for the ride. "Oh Shinozaki, do you really have to go tonight?" "I'm sorry Princess, but it is essential that I am at the Red Circle for an advanced combat training course early in the morning, so by leaving tonight I am able to ensure I am not absent." "But Shino," Makoto started to pout, "You promised that we'd celebrate the 500th anniversary of my father's kingdom. Besides, everyone is down in the ballroom right now practically waiting for us, couldn't you spare a little time?" Shinozaki again took her into his arms. "Of course I can, it is early yet after all. You didn't think I would really miss out on the Jupiter Kingdom Bimillennium?" Shinozaki smirked coyly. "Or one last dance with my beautiful Mako before I go?" Makoto's vibrant green eyes lit up. "Oh Shino!" Was all she managed to say before Shinozaki raised her lips to his in what seemed a magical embrace. The duration of their kiss was unimportant, even to the passengers Ken and Lita. Once the finally ceased after what seemed like an eternity of pure bliss, Shinozaki and Makoto walked towards the doorway which leads into the ballroom. Linking arms, Shinozaki opened the door and the silently slipped into the joyous celebration. Nobody actually noticed their entrance as they began dancing closely to the soft music, but when the tempo changed, it was nearly impossible not to notice them. The music had changed, but their graceful dance had not. It didn't take long for the entire ballroom to part for the young lovers as they danced completely out of sync with the music, apparently unaware of what had occurred. After nearly five minutes, the music had stopped, and the couple began to realize that they were being watched by the thousands of eyes in the room. The two of them blushed upon the realization, and they acknowledged the attendees with a bow by Shinozaki and a curtsy from Makoto. The entire ballroom erupted with applause and laughter as the music finally resumed, allowing Makoto and Shinozaki to again blend into the crowd and disappear through one of the rear entrances. Once outside of the ballroom, then embraced each other once more. "Well, that once quite a dance wasn't it my princess?" Makoto blushed yet again. "Shino, I knew you were a romantic, but I didn't know you were a hapless romantic!" "You deserve no better." "Oh..." once again their kiss cut off Makoto's sentence. "KEN! LITA! You-whoo! Whoever's in there wakey wakey!" "Wha? Mina!" Ken suddenly found himself staring into Mina's inquiring face. "Why do I always wake up from strange out of body type things with you right in front of me?" "Beats me Lita... Oh wait, that question means that you're Ken. You are Ken in there right?" Ken looked down at himself. He nodded affirmatively to Mina as a response. He was still trapped in Lita's body, but at least he was in control. "That must've been some daydream you guys were having," began Serena. "You should have seen the smiles on your faces!" She turned to 'Ken'. "And you're really Lita right?" 'Ken' replied. "Yep, I'm still in here, and those weren't exactly daydreams Serena." "You had a vision from the past didn't you?" asked Luna, using a very matter-of-fact kind of tone. "OHHH! You guys had more of those visions?" asked Mina, somewhat upset. "I never have any dreams about Venus! You keep getting your Jupiter ones again and again!" 'Lita' responded. "Again? I think the word you're looking for is 'still' when you consider the rate that we get them." "So what happened in it?" asked Darien bluntly. "Well, we were still each other in it." answered 'Lita'. "I mean, I was Princess Makoto and Lita was Shinozaki, and we were at the bimillennium celebration for the Jupiter Kingdom." Serena leaned over and whispered a question in Darien's ear. "Bimillennium?" Darien responded in similar fashion by whispering back "500 years." 'Ken' continued. "All that really happened was our dancing. I started off in a hallway, then all of a sudden Ken, I mean Makoto, well you know who I mean, came running at me, we hugged, kissed, went to the party, danced with each other, left the party then BOOMF we're back here." "That's it?" Raye wasn't very impressed. "Not very eventful if you ask me." "Well, it was kind of silly," began 'Lita', "Because when we entered the ballroom we started dancing to the slow music. Then the music seemed to stop and everybody was staring at us. I guess the we continued dancing together while we were completely oblivious what the music actually was!" 'Lita' smiled. "I hate to admit it, but I thought it was kinda fun dancing and kissing just then." 'Ken' smiled as well. "Now that you mention it, I did kind of enjoy that experience. It's almost like I'm getting used to being you Kennie." "I don't like it one bit." stated Luna. "Those visions were meant for you two, yes, but you weren't supposed to experience them from the other perspective! We have to do something about this quickly!" "Wait a minute." Serena began pointing at 'Ken' and 'Lita'. "You're starting to think like her and she's starting to think like you?" asked Serena. "No way!" answered 'Lita'. "It was only because we didn't actually have control during the dream, that's all." 'She' didn't seem concerned at all. "Actually, I think Serena's right." said Amy, breaking her silence. 'Lita' and 'Ken' replied simultaneously. "WHAT!?" "I think Serena has the right idea, and so does Luna." Amy continued scribbling on her notepad. "Your experiencing each other's visions and your gradual climatization to your current situations is only the beginning." Mina was completely lost. "Sorry Ames, but at 'Serena has the right idea' you lost me." Amy finally stopped scribbling and looked up at everyone. "Simply put, you will eventually adapt completely to your current bodies." 'Lita' was practically in shock. "You're saying that we may become each other mentally as well as physically?" Solemnly, Amy replied, her timid voice now but a whisper. "When I factor in what you said about those flashbacks you just had, I calculate that it has already begun to happen." 'Lita' began to turn a pale shade of green as 'she' collapsed to 'her' knees gasping for air as 'her' stomach churned threatening to incorrectly empty itself, while 'Ken' simply struggled to remain standing. Somehow 'he' was able to do and 'he' just stood there like a statue. Finally, in a desperate attempt to regain 'his' composure and to possibly accept the finality of the situation, 'Ken' attempted to utter the following words, and barely succeeded. "If we're stuck in each other's body, then we might be better off with each other's mind as well..." With that, 'Lita's' eyes grew wide with horror, followed by 'her' stomach following through on it's threat... TO BE CONTINUED... END PART THREE --------------- Don't you just hate cliffhangers? Especially ones like THAT?! Anyway, that's part three done, I'M HALFWAY THROUGH! I apologize for the delay of this part, but once I saw that Lady Jupiter had completed her "Remember When?" series I knew I had to get my act in gear to continue this series, especially since I'm forming ideas for another series already! All six parts of "Divided Destiny" WILL be completed before 1998 ends, GUARANTEED! Oh, and in case you're wondering what the "Red Circle" is, it's the swirling storms, aka - Red Spot, on Jupiter. NOTE: This series' original name was "Soulmates" but I was told that title has been used previously. I reluctantly altered the title to it's current one, "Divided Destiny." Well, I'm expecting all kinds of mail concerning this. Here's all the info you'll need: Scott "Cyclops" Summerton http://www.muskoka.net/~summerton thrawn27@hotmail.com, sjs3@hotmail.com and summerton@muskoka.net ICQ - 7383852, AOL IM - Dark Canuck Began Monday September 7th, 1998. Completed Wednesday September 23rd, 1998 Last Revised Wednesday September 23rd, 1998.