Los Angeles
7/15/00
        “Screw the meatballs!” Serena yanked the bands out, loosening the extra foot of hair balled up on either side of her head. After tossing them to some unknown corner of the room, she began braiding her calf-length hair, tightly and angrily.

        “Is something wrong Serena?” Amy asked.

        “Aside from the obvious?” the blonde smirked. She had been this way since Lita and the cats had died. “I hate being female.”

        “Why?” Amy asked. Instead of answering, the taller girl gave her a certain glare. “Oh,” the Catholic realized sheepishly, “It’s that time isn’t it?”

        “Yes.” Serena groaned, “My ovaries feel like they’re on fire and every few minutes my uterus contracts and it gives me terrible cramps.” Letting herself collapse to her knees, Serena let out a long wail. “Oh, I feel awful. All I want is some aspirin. And some clean clothes would be nice.”

        “Maybe if you lay down...”

        “Laying down isn’t gonna do me any good.” Serena snapped, “Four days worth of drugs and a clean pair of undies every now and then would be great. But we don’t have any.” And with that she began to cry.

        “Well, are you hungry?”

        “No, just leave me alone for a little while.” Serena begged. After a hesitant moment, Amy obligingly left. Serena crawled over and curled up on the skanky bunch of blankets that served as her bed. After the Starlight Asylum had been destroyed, they had been forced to scavenge or trade for whatever they needed. They had gone from sleeping in the rowboat to a tent to finally finding a partially submerged building.

        The structure had once been a three-story office which had an enterance on the second floor from a sidewalk. The first floor was under water but not flooded. That’s where Serena was now.

        She looked out the window into the bluish water where fish swam and sometimes tapped into the glass. The light was refracted and splashed darkly over the ruined and mildewing carpet. It smelled like a backed up toilet in the room, and was usually dank, but it was always the perfect temperature and Serena liked it in spite of the sore throats and nosebleeds it often caused.

        Amy, on the other hand, had taken a corner office on the second floor. It was more comfortable for the shorter girl who (Serena had never noticed this before) seemed very allergic to mildew. The blue-haired girl chose to hide her emotions, but Serena knew that Amy cried more often than even Serena did, just not openly.

        The once meatball-headed teenager remembered the moments after they had watched the freighter explode, taking Sailor Jupiter and a Negamonster with it. The two survivors had embraced each other for a long time. Afterwards, they sat on the shore still in their soaking Sailor clothes and watched the hulk burn out and finally sink.

        “Are you okay?” a tear-choked Sailor Mercury had asked her princess after about an hour.

        “I guess I’ll be alright.” Sailor Moon had responded, “I just can’t believe that they’re all gone. Jupiter, Artemis...Luna.”

        “It’s just you and me.” the aquabelle nodded, “Just like it was when we started out.”

        They camped out there for a few days before Amy finally found them a new place to stay. It had no electricity and there was no running water or fresh food. However, they had a few hundred gallons of tap water in the pressure tanks in the building and vending machines were on each floor.

        Serena found her thoughts wandering to Rei. Where was she, and what was she up to?

        Taking a slurp from the spoon, Rei sat back and let her aching muscles talk to her. The last week had been a nightmare for she and Tom. They had been doing more heavy lifting and more work hunched over than was healthy for either of them, but the drive piston was almost replaced. They had taken one from another more damaged Consolidated model. It was very tedious doing all the work by hand with very few tools, but they were almost finished. They might even leave in a few days.

        When they finally reached Seattle, she could look for her uncle’s family and maybe live with them. She had not seen them much since they lived so far away. It had always been a drive from Los Angeles to Seattle that her grandfather couldn’t handle. Nor could they afford plane tickets every few weeks.

        There was a noise from outside that made Rei shoot up in attention. Shouts...and was that gunfire? She dug her power wand out of her backpack and jumped out of the boxcar, rolling on the gravel and pine needles. She kicked her legs and was soon standing, ready. Keen midnight eyes scanned the row of cars.

        Nothing.

        She heard the shouts again and ran toward the noise. Raiders must have hit them.

        Raiders were groups of men and women who roamed the cities and surrounding area looking to steal food and other supplies. They had hit often in San Francisco. Rei had been forced to shove a sai through the belly of one already. She didn’t look forward to doing that again, but if she must...

        Hey! Wait just a damn minute! She stopped herself with a skid. What was she doing? She was a Sailor Scout, wasn’t she? She was Sailor Mars. She raised the transformation wand.

        “Mars Star Pow...” she began, but then stopped. If Sailor Mars showed up people would be suspicious. But she wouldn’t be able to fight gun-armed raiders like this. She stood there, confused about what to do.

        One more gunshot an scream set her mind. She raised the star wand again and called out the magic words.

        The scout uniform felt strange yet oddly comfortable. She hadn’t worn it in months and it was forced to reconform to the new shape of her body. It was too large in some places and too tight in others. Still, she hoped it wouldn’t affect her performance.

        Sailor Mars raced along the row of boxcars to the center of the railyard community. As she ran along, a gunman popped up from behind a tanker car and pointed a pistol at her.

        Sailor Mars didn’t know all the different types of guns like Amy or Lita did, but that didn’t much matter. As the thug fired, she lept, flipped, and sent a fireball charging in return.

        Landing behind the now dead man, Mars felt a twinge of regret for having to kill him. But this had been her home for over a month now. This community had worked to become what it was. They were trying to steal from the hard work. That was intolerable.

        The other part of it was tradition. She came from a warrior culture that had violently defended its home islands for centuries. She had been brought up with the same values and codes of Shinto, Bushido, and Zen. Her grandfather had filled her head with stories of the Divine Wind, Diamyos, and warriors flinging arrows with their diakyu and cutting down enemies with the katana. Tales of fearless banner-bearing O-bakemono and the monsteruous Naginata.
 Defending this place was her destiny. Her honor.

        She walked the rest of the way to the center of camp, were a fire stil burned. Five men held up the remaining residents with an assortment of weapons. The leader, a man with a skin head and dirty patch over his eye, was yelling instructions to the captured.

        “We want at least a third of your food stores, water, and any tools you might have.” he shouted. “I also want any fire making supplies you have.”

        Sailor Mars smirked. Could he have set up her entrance any better? “So it’s fire you want?” she said, embarking from the shadows and into the haunting orange light of the fire. “Then it’s fire you’ll get.”

        “Who the hell are you?” the skinhead turned his shotgun on her.

        Sarcastically, she bowed to him, “Sumimasen. I should have introduced myself earlier.” Readying a fireball behind her back, she continued talking, “I am Sailor Mars.”

        “A Sailor Scout?” one of the others raised an eyebrow. Mars decided he’d be victim number two.

        “Good call, bishonen!” she brought her hand up, “Mars Fireball charge!” the sphere of heat streaked right at him, burning through his ribs. Even as he fell, the fire scout was in action. Leaping right through the large campfire to pounce on another man. She slammed him down so hard on the gravel that the breath was knocked from him. After righting herself, she let rip some Mars Fire at another raider, who went down with no problem.

        By this time, the leader had retrained his shotgun on her and fired. With no time to dodge, Sailor Mars was hit in the stomach by the twelve gauge slug.

        There is no sensation in the world like being shot. It is something like being hit with a spiked sledgehammer, but not many people have been hit with a spiked sledgehammer. However, it is less painful than forceful and shocking. The Sailor Scout uniform was bullet-proof, but that did not prevent the force of impact from throwing Sailor Mars back into the metal side of a boxcar, leaving a shallow dent.

        There were multiple gasps from the group of residents, who were somehow perversely entertained by the struggle. Sailor Mars breathed a prayer that they would take a clue and run. As the remaining pair of theives approached her, the Scout took a deep breath, flicked the deformed projectile away, and stood up.

        “Still got some fight in you, eh?” the lead robber smiled. “I think Hobson can teach you a few things.”

        The one named Hobson chuckled in agreement. Sailor Mars was only now taking notice that he was a big guy. Barrel-chested, iron-armed, and tough as railroad spikes, Hobson drew a katana from its scabbard on his back. As if to impress her, he whirled it around in a display of his skill.

        The katana was unexpected bad news. The Sailor suit could deal with the bullet-blows, but a good chop from the steel blade could slice right through to the tender flesh. And hand-to-hand meant no time to call on her tricks.

        “Okay, Mars,” she thought to herself, “Improvize.” She acted afraid, backing off a few steps, letting the muscular raider come closer. When he charged, she was ready. The katana whistled through the air aimed at her throat. Mars split her legs, dropping to the gravel and punched Habson in the gut. His stomach was solid as titanium, and Rei could have sworn her knuckles broke. Pain lashed up her arm.

        There was no time to concentrate on the pain. As her opponenet stabbed downward, Mars rolled away and shot up. A roundhouse connected with his jaw, but did little to affect him. Just then, Sailor Mars got an idea. She dodged the next few chops and swings, awaiting a stab.

        Sure enough, he made the thrust. Dodging sidways, Mars grabbed his wrist and brought the elbow down on her knee. There was a crunch and liquid rip as the elbow flipped backwards. The hand’s grip on the katana loosened and the Scout was weilding it in no time. One thrust and the blade was firmly lodged below the man’s ribs.

        Sailor Mars stood up, letting him slump to the ground. The leader was stunned. He had expected Hobson to win. Since he couldn’t shoot her and couldn’t fight her, he was helpless.

        “Get out.” the fire scout snapped at him, pointing away from camp. He stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do, then he took her advice and ran.

        Mars watched him go. When he dissapeared, she relaxed.

        “S-sailor Mars?” she heard from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to the gathering group of shocked people. Most of them had never seen a human being killed, much less three of them.

        She considered leaving, but they all knew that Reiko Hino was not with them. And Rei was from L.A. just like Sailor Mars. They could figure it out easily.

        “Yeah,” she said, “It’s me. Rei.”

        “Rei was just a normal girl.” Maggie stepped forward. “You couldn’t be the same.”

        “No, I am.” Mars insisted. She had to prove it. She had to turn back into her normal self. “Watch, I’ll prove it to you.” To their amazement, her body was bathed in a red-orange light. The Sailor Scout uniform was burned away and replaced with the torn jeans and dirty tee shirt Rei had worn earlier.

        “Rei?” they all breathed in disbelief.

        Somewhat embarassed, the raven-haired temple maid smiled. “Yes, it’s me.” For a moment, the crowd seemed confused as to what to do. But a moment later everyone was cheering.

Chapter 5: Jouirneys