Sailor Moon
Alternate Reality
*****************
Part 1: " Rei Of Sunshine"
By Strike Fiss
Prologue
A lonely figure lay on the top of his bed, wide awake. It was four in the
morning, Mountain Time, and the light of sunrise began to glow over the horizon.
The view out the window was quite beautiful and the figure got up and took a
deep breath.
Suddenly, a brush-like object moved past his foot, scaring the hell out of
him. He looked down to see his pet hedgehog looking back up at him. "Hi,
Beavis..." the boy said, reaching down and petting his companion's quills.
He had too much on his mind. Too much would be happening in only a few
hours. He sighed loudly and flopped back down on his bed. "I don't believe I'm
finally going to Japan..."
Chris Stover was part of the local Student Exchange program. His marks
were good, he was a nice person, and he didn't have much to leave behind, making
him a perfect candidate. He snorted at that fact. No one to leave behind. At
least his best friend was coming as well. Chris didn't know if being set up to
a whole new school of possible assholes was worth it unless Mo was coming.
Maury Sillery, his full name, was just as much of a fan of Japan as Chris was.
Both had been fascinated by the culture since they started sneaking into the
local university and watching the anime and manga clubs meet every weekend.
While Chris found the legends of the Samurai and old shogun times enticing,
Maury simply said liked oriental women, but didn't mind all the ancient history
stuff as well.
But right now, Chris was scared shitless. A giant step in his life was
about to be embarked...and he was still uncertain if it would be forward, or
backwards. He had no way to know what to expect. They'd be alone in a new
environment, away from the only people they cared about. Their families and one
or two more friends. Neither had girlfriends, nor masses of friends outside
their group of fellow weirdoes.
Still...there was nothing to lose. Geeky reputations were the cause.
Chris loved computers. Hated sports except for a few. Didn't hang with anyone
cool. The real reason was because he was different. Not really physically, or
mentally...but rather creatively. He loved being weird. Maury was practically
the same. They loved being 'complimented' as being weird, and were pretty much
the strangest people you'd ever meet. If they didn't know better, they could be
brothers.
And so, despite the ridicule from assholes at school, the two took the
assignment. A change of pace was mandatory, before, as Maury put it: had a
nervous breakdown and killed all the punks at school.
Chris shut the blinds to his window and eventually went to sleep, despite
the day ahead. Meanwhile, Beavis looked on silently, out into the night air.
The moonlight catching the little animal's gaze for a moment before it returned
to hunting around for food.
Chapter 1
Rei silently swept the hallway, following the same routine she followed
every weekend. Cleaning the temple. It was annoying and tedious to go over
every square inch of the two main buildings, but she was used to it. Her baggy
temple dress caught air as she finished the area and walked over to the kitchen
for a break.
Grandpa was there, talking with Chad. The two seemed to be making plans
and were discussing something on a booklet they were leafing through. "Hi,
Rei!" Chad beamed happily. "Did you want any help with the chores today?"
Rei shook her head and got a glass of water. "That's okay, Chad. It's
summer, and I'm just making sure I don't get lazy like last year." she flexed
her hand slightly. "Gotta keep motivated."
Grandpa nodded. "You wouldn't believe what I had to do, Chad! She would
barely get out of bed! It was like she was up all night fighting crime or
something."
Rei coughed as she took a sip of water.
Grandpa continued. "Eventually, I had to threaten to show all my friends
some of those cute baby pictures I have of her all naked in the..."
Rei gasped. "You told Chad about the PICTURES?"
Grandpa replied with a devilish grin. "No, I showed them to him."
Rei growled and almost crushed the glass in her hand. Her eyes darkened
and she had to take a long, deep breath before she killed one of them.
(Probably Chad) "I'm going to clean the spare rooms. If you two perverts don't
mind..." she stormed off.
Chad paused for a second. "What pictures?"
Grandpa still had his grin on his face. "She HATES people calling her a
cute-little-baby." he suddenly looked worried. "Did she say she was cleaning
the spare rooms?"
Chad went wide-eyed. "Oh NO!"
The two boys were half way out the door when Rei found out what they were
discussing earlier. "GRANDPA! Get OVER HERE!" she ordered.
Grandpa and Chad slunk over to her. Rei was pointing into the spare room.
"What the hell is this? What's going on?"
The spare room, normally used for storage, was now a guest bedroom,
complete with four cots, dressers and a coffee table in the centre. Grandpa
took a deep breath. "Oh, did I forget to tell you?" he started.
Chad nodded. "Didn't you hear about the exchange students that were coming
from Canada?"
Rei nodded. "Yes, I did, but why are they staying HERE?"
Grandpa sighed. "Don't give me that look. They're staying here because
the Temple will get a cash compensation and a donation from your school board."
"They're staying here because you're too CHEAP to hire new help! And you
want to drag volunteers into doing the chores!" Rei yelled.
Grandpa shrugged. "That's just a fortunate happenstance!" he said happily.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't call you a 'cute little cherry blossom' like
your grandma did."
Rei shuddered at that name. "Uhg. If I hear that ONE MORE TIME..." she
growled, then stormed off.
Chad was laughing his head off. "Cherry blossom?"
Grandpa nodded, shutting the spare-room's door. "Yes. And if you REALLY
want to piss her off, I have this friend who calls her 'Dumpling Cheeks.'"
"Uh, miss?" Chris asked with an evil grin. "Can I have some more peanuts?"
The stewardess glanced over to him and rolled back her eyes. "Fine..." she
said, literally tossing three bags of airline peanuts at him.
Chris and Maury had about fifty packs between them and were laughing
uncontrollably. The two had been hoarding peanuts for the entire eight hour
flight. "Sweet delicious! Honey roasted goodness!" Maury said, milling a ball
of peanut packs in his lap.
A few passengers nearby had asked to be seated somewhere else. The rest
watched in some amusement as they began to try and seduce the peanuts.
The captain came over the intercom suddenly, causing the speakers to beep.
Chris promptly tossed peanuts out of his arms, acting like he was startled.
"Good evening, passengers. We are making our final approach into the Tokyo
International Airport landing lane, and I'd like to personally thank you for
flying United Overseas. We should be on the ground in fifteen minutes, so I'll
wish you in advance a very pleasant day." The speaker beeped once more and was
silent.
Chris smashed his head on the window, making a thunk. "Cool! You can see
Tokyo!"
Maury dropped his peanuts and peered out the window of the 747, checking
out the view. "I wonder if we'll hit any birds on the decent."
"ARRRGH! THERE'S SOMETHING ON THE WING!" Chris yelled, grabbing and
vibrating in his seat.
Everyone gasped and looked at him in horror.
"Oh!" Chris said. "Silly me...it's the engine."
The plane banked once more and began descending into Tokyo. "Hey...nice
terminal..." Maury said, pointing to the approaching airport.
"Hehe. Pervert." Chris pointed out.
Suddenly, a jolt of turbulence hit the plane. The power went off and the
engines strained desperately as they tried to stay running. Luggage started
pouring from the overhead compartments. Slowly, the plane pulled up and
regained power. Maury and Chris remained calm, though and smiled as people
relaxed from the sudden disturbance. "This must be the place."
Maury shook his head. "You've been watching too many 'X-Files'."
"Oh, come on. Nothing's going to happen when I've got my lucky dashio with
me." Chris said proudly, pulling out two little good-luck sword charms from his
pocket.
"You brought your swords? What about the little finger-puppet of Jay Leno?
I thought you had enough good-luck charms."
Chris shrugged. "The Leno is for the house we stay in. Besides, this is
my first plane-ride in ten years. I was a bit nervous."
Maury sighed. "I would have brought my collection of knives if it wasn't
for the stupid security and x-ray machines getting all mental about them."
The plane landed and taxied up to the gate, letting it's passengers off.
Maury whistled at the stewardess and winked before taking off down the ramp,
earning a blush from one of the younger ladies. Chris followed, running down
the hallway, helping Maury carry his stuff. "Have to whistle at the chicks,
don't you?" Chris gasped, carrying Maury's suitcase.
Suddenly, they heard someone call out behind them. "Oh, shit...that's
right." Maury said, stopping suddenly.
"HEY! WAIT UP!" the voice behind them called out again. "Slow down!"
Chris and Maury turned to see the two other exchange students running after
them. Chris and Maury sighed and kept walking. "I can't believe it. Half a
year, cooped up with those two spuds." Maury said. "Why did they have to send
four students this semester??"
Chris nodded. "If you say it like 'six months' it doesn't sound as
long..."
"Hey dudes...wait up!" the one named Trevor said, huffing and puffing as he
stumbled towards them, trying to seem as cool as possible considering how
comical he looked.
Acting cool for him was no easy task. Chris and Maury shuddered. Even
they couldn't stand him. Or his little buddy, Damien, who was the last exchange
student.
In fact, Trevor had only been accepted into the program because his mother
had said his father had just been killed by a heart attack. The school board
felt sorry for him and let him go. Everyone knew this was a lie, except the
board, but knew it could be true. His entire family were greasy, overbearing
assholes. And not that being overweight was bad or anything, but saying 'Grace'
in their household was chanting: 'Deep Fat Fry!'
Damien had been accepted legally, but was just as bad as Trevor. He ran up
to Chris and Maury. "Hey! The school board said we should stick together! Why
were your plane tickets in fist class when we were in coach?"
Chris smiled evilly. "Maybe there was a computer error?"
Maury looked at him with a smile. "You hacked an airline computer?"
"Hey, Trevor...I saved you some peanuts." Chris said, tossing twenty or so
packs of complimentary nuts at him.
To their surprise, Trevor caught one and started eating. Damien returned
his attention to Chris. "Hey! I'm reporting you to the police!"
Chris sighed. "I didn't hack it. It was really an error. I was surprised
as you two were." he smiled. "Besides, you can't prove it. The airlines don't
get the RC5 32 bit code till next year.
The four high-school students continued down the terminal, dodging the
huge, milling crowd, common in most areas of Tokyo. Amidst all the hustle and
bustle, they eventually saw a group of people holding a sign that read: 'Calgary
Student Leave.' Maury body checked his way through the crowd and the four
students eventually reached the Japanese school board officials.
"Welcome to Japan." a woman speaking rather good English said warmly. "Get
ready for an unforgettable few months."
Chapter 2
Miss Chi, as she introduced herself, handed each of them some papers and
information booklets. "You'll be going to the 'T&A Private' school." she said,
highlighting some of the information.
"Tits and Ass?" Maury commented on cue. "Damn! I love this place
already!"
Chi raised an eyebrow at Maury, but shrugged off his comment. "School
starts on the third of next month, and I'll be mailing all the registration
forms to you as soon as they're available. The school hours are a bit longer
than what you may be used to, but you're not obligated to excel at your studies
or anything. Basically, we are aware you can't read or speak Japanese, and are
interested in more of a cultural exchange."
They were now in a limo, driving in to the heart of Tokyo.
The four nodded in understanding. Maury cleared his thought. "So where
will we be staying?"
Chi smiled. "I was saving the best for last. You'll all be staying at a
friend of mine's temple."
They all blinked.
"It's called Cherri Hill temple. It's a Shinto shrine on the outskirts of
town. Are any of you religious?"
Trevor nodded.
Chi nodded. "Well, don't worry. You'll be under no spiritual obligations
at the temple. The man who runs it is actually pretty goofy himself."
"Sounds cool." Chris said happily. He pulled out a small, black device
from his leather bag and started passing it over the papers she had given him.
"Uh, what's he doing?" Chi asked.
Chris looked up. "Scanning."
"He has a laptop." Maury explained. "Little computer freak here saves any
documents he gets on disk so he doesn't lose them."
"Oh." Chi continued. "You'll all be sharing a room. I trust that's
satisfactory."
Before Maury could complain about being in the same room as Trevor and
Damien, Chris interrupted. "So, Miss Chi. How do you know this temple man? A
friend?"
Chi nodded. "Well, his granddaughter and him helped put together the last
School Festival."
Maury and Chris smiled. "Granddaughter?" they asked simultaneously.
Chi smiled. "Yes. Actually, she's almost your age. I must warn you,
though. She has a bit of a temper. I don't think she was happy to know you
four were coming."
Their smiles faded. As Chi continued, Chris leaned over to Maury's ear.
"Great. We're bunking with a princess."
Maury nodded. "Probably one of those preppy bitches who thinks they're the
centre of attention."
"So far, this sucks..." Chris said, slumping in his seat. "Except the
limo." he added.
Grandpa nodded. "Okay, we'll be expecting them, say hi to your husband
from me!" he said into the phone. "Thanks again, Miss." he hung up.
Rei walked in, wearing casual attire. "Who was that?"
Grandpa sighed. "Miss Chi is bringing over the exchange students right
now. She called from a few blocks down."
Rei was about to walk away when a thought hit her. "Are any of them guys?"
Grandpa's squinty eyes narrowed further. "They're all guys...why?"
Rei gasped. "Ohmygod! I have nothing to wear!" she ran into her room,
almost slipping as she rounded the corner.
"Rei!" Grandpa called after her. "I told you! You're not allowed to
date!"
"Don't try that old routine again!" Rei called back. "You said I could
date when I was sixteen! That was three months ago!"
Grandpa thought for a second. "Damn, she's right..." he said under his
breath. "Well! You're NOT allowed to date any company! Is that clear, young
lady?"
Rei sat on her bed, shirt half-pulled over her head. "What?!?"
Grandpa nodded. "That's right. This is a Shinto Temple. Not a 'Motel
Six'!"
Rei growled. "I don't care what he says. I can date if I want to."
Grandpa was a nice guy, but he was stubborn. He constantly tried to shield
Rei from life, even though she could more than take care of herself. She looked
in the mirror she had on her wall. She knew that others noticed how beautiful
she was. Other girls envied or admired her. Boys couldn't close their mouths.
Maybe that was the reason Grandpa was overprotective. He didn't want her to end
up with the first dead-beat who asked her out.
She smiled to herself. "Grandpa?" she pulled a shirt on quickly.
Grandpa came in. "Listen, Rei. I'm sorry...it's just that..."
She gave him a hug. "I know, I know...You love me. Don't worry, I'm just
curious about who's going to be your new slaves."
Grandpa smiled. "Well, they're not here yet. Go give their room a
dusting, and make sure that lazy good-for-nothing Chad has found them some
clothes."
Rei sighed. "You never give up, do you?" she said, walking out the door.
Far from the beautiful early fall weather of Japan, fifty miles from the
North Pole, three teams of dog sleds flew over the terrain. They were going for
a world record, trying to reach the pole in the fastest time on dogsled from a
point near the Sea of Okhotsk. The leader, a British man by the name of Philip
Rimmer stopped the convoy with a whistle. "What the smeg is THAT?" he yelled
out over the howling wind.
The other two in his team brought their sleds beside his. "Holy shit! It
looks like some sort of icicle from hell!" his buddy, Dave, said, pointing to a
huge, spiky structure in the landscape only a few miles away.
It was huge. Even from that distance, it dwarfed nearby mountains. It was
the only thing left over from when the Sailor Scouts had destroyed the base that
Queen Beryl herself was using two years ago.
The last member of the team, Beatrice, smiled. "Well, the dogs are due for
a rest. You want to hike over to it on foot and check it out? I hate to say
it, but my curiosity has gotten the best of me."
The team pitched up some shelters for their dogs and set out for the
strange ice crystal. The top, where Princess Serena and the spirits of the
other Scouts had once stood, was now eroded away from the snow and wind. Also
nearby was the remains of a strange volcano, as well as two more icy structures
where Mars and Mercury were forced into their last, fatal battle.
Nobody on Earth really knew what had happened on the North Pole that day,
but there were always lots of rumours.
Rimmer and his team approached the tower of ice very cautiously. "What do
you suppose made this thing?"
"It looks like an explosion thrust all this ice into the air, then it froze
in it's current state." Beatrice said, finally touching the hard, glassy surface
of the ice.
"Maybe an earth quake did this. After all, that looks like a volcano over
there." Dave said.
"Hey! What's that over there?" Rimmer pointed over to a frozen-over pond.
A large ice crystal was sticking out of the ice...and a hand was visible inside
it.
The three ran over to the frozen form stuck in the ice. "Beatrice! Run
back to the sleds! We have to get the poor chap out of there!" Dave said as he
and Philip started clearing away snow and loose ice.
As the person inside the ice became more visible, they gasped. "That's the
strangest bloody uniform I've ever seen." Rimmer said. "It looks like it's off
of Star Trek or something."
The form seemed intact inside. One eye was even open slightly. They
recognized the person as a woman. Blonde hair. She was wearing a strange,
green-trimmed, grey uniform with leather boots that could have been from a Nazi
trooper. Also frozen in the ice were tiny pink petals from some sort of flower
that surrounded her in a cylindrical pattern.
"Do you think she's an alien?" Dave asked hopefully. "That uniform isn't
like any I've seen!"
Rimmer shrugged. "I don't know. She looks human to me...maybe she's from
the future or something?"
Beatrice came running back with some ice-picks. "Would you two stop
watching science-fiction? Get her out of there!"
"Do you think she's alive? Like one of those cavemen?" Dave asked.
"Cavewoman." Beatrice corrected.
"It doesn't matter, being left to die in an ice-cube is hardly a fitting
burial." Rimmer said solemnly. "We should dig her up, see if she can be
revived, and if not, put up some sort of tombstone."
The limo pulled up to a tall flight of stairs. They lead up a hill, and a
temple could be seen over the rise. "Looks like the Temple Of Doom." Chris
smiled.
The four students got out and started up the stairs with their luggage.
Chris happily flaunted the fact he only had his one bag as the others struggled
with their suitcases. "You're staying for six months! And you only brought one
bag?" Chi asked.
Chris shrugged. "I wasn't sure what to pack. Besides, I can always
transfer money over here from my parents. They said that way I could save the
headache of translating my money into yen."
Maury sighed. "You're going to hack a bank. Aren't you?"
Chris shook his head. "No. Remember, I never steal."
Maury smiled. "I still say you'll hack a bank."
"Not a bank." Chris said. "But Microsoft can spare a dime or two!"
"Oh. But aren't they people?" Maury paused then smiled. "Oh, I guess
not."
They finally reached the top of the stairs. An old man ran up to them.
"Hi there!" he beamed, shaking all their hands. "Welcome to Cherri Hill."
Trevor took a step forward. "When's dinner?"
Grandpa blinked. "Oh! Of course. You're probably hungry after your
flight. I imagine they only gave you peanuts."
Chris and Maury smiled evilly. "Would you like some?" they both said,
pulling out handfuls of peanut packs from their pockets. "Whahaaha!"
Grandpa smiled. "Ah. A sense of humour! I like that!"
Chris put away his nuts, pardon the expression, and picked up his attach'
case. "I'm Chris, but you may also call me Fiss. Or go by my Royal Canadian
Air-Force call sign: Strike Fiss. This is Maury, or Mo, if that's easier."
Maury waved. "And this is EggBert the Third, and SpudLicker." he pointed
to Trevor and Damien.
Grandpa walked over to Trevor. "Ahh, so THIS is EggBert." he said, looking
him over.
Trevor frowned. "I'm not EggBert! My name is..."
Grandpa walked off. "Come on. I'll show you your room."
Chris and Maury smiled as they were passed Trevor, who was desperately
trying to tell his correct name to Grandpa. "This guy might not be so bad after
all." Chris said.
Chris sat on his bed, unpacking his stuff. "So, Mo...whatcha think so
far?"
Maury was in the closet, hanging up his clothes. "I like it. You think
he'll teach us judo or something? I saw a dojo in the back."
"I don't know." Chris hung his good-luck Jay Leno on the wall above his
bed. He then whipped out his computer, checking on it's battery.
Trevor, hoping to provide a peace offering with his roommates who normally
avoided him, came up to Chris. "Wow. What's that?" he asked, motioning to his
computer.
Chris looked up from it's screen. "Maury...how simple should I explain it
to him?"
Maury laughed. "So he can understand it."
"Oh dear..." Chris frowned. "Well, it's a magical box with a pretty screen
on it that lets you do complex work really fast! It even runs on
electricity...just like your vibrator!"
Trevor sneered. "Oh, shut-up. I'm just trying to be nice."
Chris sighed. "Fine. It's a Micron P-133 Transport with four speed CD-ROM
and forty meg of RAM. Pipeline Burst cache and a two gigabyte EIDE enhanced
hard drive. It is complimented by a Canon BJ printer and a seven-twenty DPI
scanner. Got it?"
Trevor blinked.
Chris shrugged. "See?"
"It's a computer, Trevor, now sit down." Maury added.
Trevor sat back down. "What did he just say?" he asked Damien.
Damien smiled. "He's just a computer nerd."
Chris frowned at them. "That's right. And if either of you EVER touch my
computer, they'll never find your bodies."
Maury nodded in agreement. "And I'll help."
Trevor sighed. "I thought that old guy said he'd have supper ready soon."
A knock on the door filled the room. "Yes? Come in?" Maury asked.
Chad and Rei walked in. "Hi! I'm Chad." he introduced himself. "I just
dropped in to see if you needed anything."
Chris didn't hear a word he just said.
He was staring wide-eyed at Rei. A slow motion fly-by of her presence
flashed through his mind. She was amazing. Her long, slender legs were crossed
slightly in an almost model-pose. His eyes ventured further up. Her white
jeans were close fitting and left Chris with a rather pleasant feeling in his
chest as he forgot how to breathe. Her slender hips went up to her breasts,
hidden behind a fuzzy sweater. He lingered there for a bit, but was suddenly
drawn to her eyes. She was beautiful.
Rei, however, was staring at Trevor. 'What the hell is that?' she thought,
sneering slightly. 'Oy...'
Chad walked over to the closet. "I tried to find some temple clothes to
your sizes, but all we got is three types."
Rei finally noticed Chris and noticed his glare. Chris turned away
quickly, hoping he just didn't blush. She walked over and sat down next to him.
"Hi. I'm Rei." she extended her hand. He seemed nice, and had a familiar warm
smile. This might not be such a bad six months, she thought.
Chris blinked. Her beautiful, plumb-tinted hair was tied back slightly, and
he desperately tried not to let his eyes wander lower with her so close. "I'm
Chris. You work here too?"
Rei nodded. "I live here. Grandpa's MY grandpa."
"Cool." he squeaked. "Uh, that's Maury, Trevor and Damien."
"Well, supper's on the table if you all wanna eat." she said, standing back
up. "See you later, Chris. Nice meeting you." she smiled, then left.
Chris realized he'd been holding his breath. "Holy shit..."
Chad tossed Chris a set of clothes. "Here you go." he said happily. "We
usually dress up for dinner...otherwise, Grandpa gets kinda mental." he added,
leaving the room.
As Chad left, Maury finished putting on his outfit. "Cool. Check it
out..." he said, doing a spin.
Chris smiled. "Oooh, you look so pretty!"
"Oh, I'm so fat! Nobody loves me..." Maury said in a girly voice.
"So...whatcha think of Rei?" Chris asked quietly.
Maury shrugged. "I dunno. She's a ten on the babe-o-meter, but she's
probably going out with that Chad guy or something."
Chris sighed, flopping back on the bed. "You're right...shit."
Trevor snorted. "If she isn't, I got dibbs."
Maury laughed. "YOU? I thought Damien was your boyfriend."
"No way! I'm not gay!" Trevor yelled.
Chris smiled. "Oh-oh...hey Maury. This guy's a homophobic. You heard how
repulsed he was."
"I don't hate gay people!" Trevor insisted.
"So you love them." Chris added with a smile.
"Yes...I mean no!" Trevor corrected as Chris and Maury burst out laughing..
Before the insult could go on, Grandpa yelled from the dinning room.
"DINNER IS ON!"
Trevor was out the door before Grandpa said 'on'. Chris and Maury sighed.
"Here we go..." Maury said.
Chapter 3
Philip Rimmer sat in the tent with the other two members of his team. They
also had a guest. The block of ice around the mysterious ice-woman was being
melted by an emergency heater the team had handy. He stroked his beard. "Well,
even if she's good and dead, we get a break from the cold anyway."
Dave nodded. "I got the adrenalin needle ready." he said, tapping on a
cardiac hypodermic needle in his hands. The block was directly over the fan,
supported by rope. The entire thing hung from the tent's ceiling.
Beatrice sighed. "She's been frozen an awfully long time. Do you really
think it will work? I mean, it's just a simple cardiac jolt."
"Oh, Bee. We still have to try. It's what any decent folk would do for
us." Rimmer replied. "You never know, we could get sucked into an arctic lake
like this poor bird did."
Suddenly, the last centimetre of ice cracked under the pressure of the
woman inside. The form shattered free as it hit the ground.
The three gasped as she let out a long moan. "What the..." the woman
gasped, spitting out ice. She was covered in a strange, clear gel, that seemed
to be unfrozen.
"She's alive?!?" Rimmer gasped.
The woman looked around quickly. "What happened? Where am I?"
Dave brought over a blanket. "You're near the North Pole. We found you in
a frozen lake. Who are you? How did you get all the way up here?"
"Who am I?" she repeated.
"Yes, can you remember? What's your name?" Philip asked, crouching down to
her eye-level.
Her brain seemed half-frozen, and it took her a second. "I remember!"
Beatrice smiled. "Good girl. So? What's your name?"
The woman smiled, flexing her arms. "Zoicite."
Luna and Artemis looked around the dark street. "It's clear..." Artemis
said, walking up to the closed arcade.
Luna nodded and snuck through the security mesh that was guarding the door.
"Does Central have a new update?"
"I don't know..." Artemis shrugged. "But if we don't check in, they might
get worried."
"Who the hell IS Central?" Luna asked. "All I know is I report back to a
certain frequency."
Artemis nodded his head. "All I know is that it must be some sort of moon-
based artificial intelligence computer or something. Didn't they tell you that
in the briefing?"
The two cats jumped up onto the Sailor V Video Challenge game. It's screen
flickered into life. "Welcome to Sailor V..."
Luna pressed the 'Fire' button. "This is Luna and Artemis, checking in."
"Enter passwords." the game replied.
"Kitty is high on cat-nip." Luna announced, pressing her paw on the screen
for identification.
Artemis did the same. "White cats kick Lassie's ass."
Luna frowned. "THAT's your password?"
"What?" Artemis smiled. "It was the best I could think of!"
The screen flickered again, showing pictures of Chris, Maury, Trevor and
Damien. "What do you know of the Canadian exchange students?"
Rei had mentioned them to the group earlier. "Not much." Luna said. "We
haven't even seen them yet."
Artemis nodded. "Yeah. Mars only knew about them a few hours ago. The
Scouts were going to go over and see them tomorrow."
"Good," Central replied "while you're there, be on the lookout for any
strange activity. One or more of them are expelling large amounts of energy."
"Are they from the Negaverse?" Luna asked.
"The energy could be good, OR evil. And we believe not all of them are
expelling it. This could mean another Sailor Scout."
"But, they're all male." Luna said.
Artemis shrugged. "Remember? Tuxedo Mask?"
Luna nodded. "So you think they could be on our side!"
Central interrupted. "We're just saying to be careful. The energy is just
as strong as a Sailor Scout and if they're from the Negaverse, it could mean
doom. Even more troubling is the strange signature. Nothing like it is on
record."
"Right." the cats agreed.
"One more thing." Central said. "There may be Negaverse activity in the
North Pole yet again."
"What? We destroyed the base that was there. Why would they return?"
Artemis said. "No way I'm going up there again to get my butt frozen."
"The negative energy we sense could only be some old reactors going
critical, but we decided you should be warned." the screen said.
Luna nodded. "By the way, Central...who are you?"
The screen paused. "A friend..." it said simply, then blipped off.
Artemis smiled. "Oooh, spooky."
Luna whopped him upside the head. "Come on...we better get back to the
Scouts."
"So, do you actually think we could be getting more help?" Artemis said
hopefully.
Luna thought for a second. "I doubt it. Especially if the Negaverse is
active at the pole again."
Artemis sighed. "Well, I hope not."
"We'll just have to keep an eye on them."
The two cats were quiet for a second. Luna smiled. "I wonder what else
will turn up from the other planets."
"I don't know. But all this talk about the Moon brings back a lot of
memories." Artemis said, jumping off the control board.
Luna jumped down too.
Artemis smiled. "What ever happened between us, anyway?"
"What do you mean, Artemis?" Luna said, blushing slightly.
"Lookin' good, kitty-cat." He said, quoting an old memory.
"Hey! I was drunk! Someone put wine in my water dish!" Luna said,
blushing even redder.
Artemis smiled. "I know."
Luna slapped him. "That's for getting me drunk!" She said, storming out
the door.
Artemis just smiled. "It was the only way you could loosen up."
They both padded home without saying another word.
The other three were asleep as Chris pulled out his laptop. On his watch,
it read four thirty, Japanese time. Right about now, he'd usually be up, over
in Canada. He lived in Calgary, home of rodeos and dinosaur parks, not Tokyo
where the time difference was eight hours behind.
He hooked his computer up to a cellular device and went surfing over the
World Wide Web, looking for a nice place to hack.
His mom and dad had given him about two thousand dollars for clothes and
spending money, but for what he wanted to get, he'd need ten times that. For
Chris was fascinated with Japanese swords. And today, he was going to go out
and get one. At least, once the sun rose.
He couldn't concentrate, though. His mind lay on his one-minute first
encounter with Rei. He knew he should have said something or done something,
but he didn't know what. It was almost like trying to justify an old memory he
hadn't been able to place as of yet. How could he say anything to her when he
had no idea what she was to him?
Sleep would not come easy tonight.
Rei lay on her bed, thinking. Chris seemed nice enough, and was even
fairly attractive to her tough expectations, but she wasn't sure what to do.
Grandpa could be right. Maybe she shouldn't date any guy she found cute and
waited for the infamous 'Mr. Right.'
There was something about him, though, that she just couldn't grasp.
Almost like she had seen him somewhere before. Some strange feeling in the back
of her mind. She also had the same deja-vu type experience when she saw his
friend, Maury, but it too was indescribable, and even more faint.
So, she lay in bed, wide-awake, puzzling over Chris.
Zoicite accepted the cup of coffee with an odd smile. "So, you three are
exploring? Why?"
Rimmer nodded. "Actually, we're trying to make it up to the North Pole in
record time." he said, taking a sip of his own mug.
The former Negaverse general seemed puzzled. "Why bother? Your satellite
system has already charted your entire planet? Why waste energy to see who can
move around it the fastest when you won't find anything new?"
Dave smiled. "Why not?"
Zoicite giggled her trademark way. "I like that trait in you humans.
Every once and a while, I'll meet one who can come up with a snappy quip like
that."
Beatrice frowned. "What do you mean by: 'you humans'?"
Rimmer nodded. "Yes, we've been meaning to ask you. Are you from the
future or something?"
Zoicite smiled. "You mean you don't know?"
"Well...no, actually."
Her smile faded. "Then I assume the Sailor Scouts won." she swore under
her breath.
"Sailor Scouts?" Dave blinked. "Aren't they those Japs who fight crime
like some sort of super-heroines?"
Zoicite nodded, the frown on her face getting deeper.
"Are you a Sailor Scout?" Rimmer asked.
Zoicite smiled evilly. "No. I'm not one of those giggly little bitches.
I am Zoicite. General, first rank of the Negaverse and former attach' for Queen
Beryl."
Dave gasped. "Bloody hell! We dug up one of the blokes trying to take
over Earth!"
Zoicite nodded happily. "And I must thank you. Even though I managed to
escape with what remained of my life when the Queen directed her wrath on me, I
was locked in that damn ice when the base was destroyed by the Sailor brats."
Rimmer looked over to Dave. "What do you mean? Is she evil?"
Zoicite continued. "It's all coming back to me now..." she dropped her
coffee. "I transported just before I died into the lake. We were storing
regenerative fluid there. It was my backup plan...Then, before I had healed,
the base...and the Scouts..."
Dave suddenly picked up one of the ice-picks. "We have to destroy her!
NOW!"
Before Dave could react, Zoicite leapt up and shoved her hand against his
face. "ZOI!" she yelled, blasting his head apart with her force-spell.
Beatrice and Rimmer gasped as they saw their college's brain hit the sides
of the tent in bloody clumps. "NO!" Rimmer gasped, picking up a pick of his
own. Zoicite, now free of her blanket, extended her arm and made her sword
appear.
"You really should have limited your questions to my name." she said,
snapping his weapon in two with a swift slice.
Rimmer and Beatrice huddled together as Zoicite advanced on them. "Now,
you two will never see another warm day. And all the days after this will
belong to the Negaverse." she said, then began carving them up, relishing in
their screams.
Outside of the tent, the only sound was her cackling laughter, and the dogs
growling at the evil they sensed.
Chapter 4
Chris awoke to the sound of Maury sharpening his knife. "Hey...I thought
you said you couldn't sneak any weapons through customs!"
Maury shrugged. "I didn't want to say anything at the airport. What time
did YOU get to sleep? It's almost noon!"
"Hey, it's summer. That's good time for me." Chris said, putting on his
housecoat. "I was up on the Web all night. I found the Tokyo yellow-pages and
I'm going shopping around a little later."
Maury nodded.
"I also found the personal checking account of Bill Gates." Chris smiled.
"He's a generous man. He donated fifty thousand to a known Mafia agent."
Maury blinked. "No! Really? He's part of the Mafia?"
Chris nodded. "In good conscious, however, I liberated twenty grand from
that sum to be used by the forces of good." He paused. "Namely me and you."
Maury high-fived him. "Right on! Did you get caught?"
Chris shrugged. "I don't see me wearing cement shoes yet."
"Cool." Maury agreed. "Can I have some?"
"No problem!" Chris said. "You get half."
Suddenly, Rei came in, holding a tray with cups on it. "Good afternoon,
boys..." she paused when she saw Chris in his housecoat. Her heart started
beating faster, and she felt her face start to blush. Tall, handsome, and half-
undressed. "I...should have knocked..." she stammered.
Chris looked down and gasped. He promptly slid into his covers. "Sorry.
Just woke up."
Rei looked kinda dazed. "Gomen! I...sorry." she quickly snapped out of it
and looked down at her tray.
Maury went up to her. "Tea?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I made some for you all. Hope you don't mind."
Chris was now under his covers, getting dressed, struggling around. They
all watched as various appendages made this weird, rolling shape with the
blankets. Eventually, Chris jumped out, fully clothed in his new temple attire.
"Sorry."
Rei couldn't help but smile. "Well, I'll let you wake up a little more."
she put the tea on the table. "I hope you don't mind, but a couple of my
friends are coming over and want to meet you."
Maury instantly saw the opportunity to meet more babes. "Oh, no problem.
When?"
"Half an hour." Rei said, walking out the door. "See you later!"
The door was shut. Chris gasped. "Damn! I probably looked like some
stupid lazy bum or something!"
Maury shrugged. "I dunno. She had that look in her eyes when she saw you
like that."
Chris frowned at him. "You're crazy. She'd never be interested in me."
Maury smiled. "I only tell what I saw. She was undressing you with her
eyes...scary thought..." he added "...but still."
"Sure. Right." Chris sighed. "Rei is too hot. She was probably dating
five years ago."
Trevor suddenly laughed. "You CAN'T be serious."
Damien nodded in agreement.
Maury went over to Chris. "Hey, I say, fuck what the 'Spud Twins' over
there think and go for her, dude!"
Chris shook his head. "You know I'm not like that. Any time I like a
chick, I usually just shut my mouth, try to not look like an idiot, and watch
from afar."
Maury patted him on the back, leading him to the tea. "Come on. If you're
so hung up over her, you gotta say something. We have six months, remember?"
Chris picked up a cup of tea. "I don't know." he sipped it. "Every time
she's near, I get all slack-jawed."
Maury replied with a dry smirk. "Yeah, I noticed."
Damien decided to try and get in the conversation. "You're right to be
worried, Chris. She's probably slept around so much by now, she could be a
lethal injection supplier."
Chris shrugged. "She makes one hell of a tea. And what do YOU care,
Damien."
Damien shrugged. "She's Japanese. Those inter-cultural relationships are
nothing but trouble."
Chris frowned. "Shut-up you racist asshole. Okay, name one?"
Damien was silent.
"See?" Chris said, sipping his tea. "If you're so much of a bigot, why the
hell did you come here?"
Maury smiled. "His boyfriend, Trevor was coming. He couldn't live without
him."
Trevor and Damien sneered.
Damien shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you." he said, then returned to
unpacking.
"Fucking assholes. They're worse than we thought." Maury mumbled. "See?
It's now your DUTY to get Rei! To prove the Spud Twins wrong!"
Chris nodded. "I don't believe it. You really think she'd be interested
in me?"
Maury rolled back his eyes. "You're mental for her, aren't you."
Outside the door, Rei got up from her crouch. "Bad Rei...you have GOT to
stop eavesdropping..." she smiled to herself, then went down the hallway.
She thought back to Damien's comments. "I'll have to ask Grandpa to give
him extra chores." she growled.
Serena happily rung the doorbell to the Temple. "Ooooh! I can't wait to
ask them if they have Sailor V comics in Canada!"
Lita sighed. "We're not here to dissect their way of life, Serena. Luna
and Artemis said they might be evil, remember that."
"Just one or two of them." Serena countered, then continued to hop up and
down.
Ami smiled. "I wonder how smart they are. I've always heard they have
crappy schools over in North America...compared to us, at least."
Mina patted her on the back. "Don't worry. I'm sure you can beat them all
at chess."
Ami frowned. "I didn't say I was competing..." she paused. "You think
they even KNOW how to play?"
Mina sighed. "Ami, you may be the genius, but not everyone else is stupid,
you know."
Grandpa opened the door. "Hi girls! Nice to see you again."
Lita smiled. "How's that recipe for stew I gave you?"
Grandpa let them in. "Good. Made Chad sick!"
Lita gasped.
"I love food that does that." he smiled evilly. "REI! YOU'RE FRIENDS ARE
HERE!" he yelled.
Rei came around the corner. "Hi, guys."
Serena leapt at her. "Where are you hiding them!?!"
"Uh, I guess I should take you to the exchange students, right?" Rei said,
peeling Serena off her kimono.
Chris and Maury were having a game of Mortal Kombat on his laptop when Rei
opened the door and let in her friends. "Hi, guys. Allow me to introduce..."
The two looked up and gasped as Ami spotted the laptop and literally dove
toward it. "WOW! A P-133!" she gasped, clawing at it as she landed on the bed,
knocking Chris and Maury out of the way. "I didn't know Intel released the 3.3
Volt versions yet!?!"
Chris finally managed to pull it away from her hands. "What the hell!?!"
Rei smiled. "I see you just met Ami."
Ami looked around. Everyone was gawking at her reaction. "Oh, sorry." she
returned to her normal self. "Nice to meet you." she shook Chris' hand.
Chris glanced over to Maury, who held up nine fingers. Chris nodded. He
was back to rating chicks on his babe-o-meter.
Lita was about to introduce herself when she saw Maury. Maury also saw
her. They were instantly entranced with each other. "Hi...I'm Lita." Lita
swooned over to Maury's position and shook his hand.
"Holy shit...I mean..." Maury shook his head. "I'm Maury...a pleasure to
meet you."
Chris smiled. 'Geeze...even I wasn't THAT bad...' he thought.
As Mina and Serena introduced themselves, Luna snuck past them and hopped
up onto the table. The readings she felt were too strong to be classified as
good or evil, and the Scouts always made interference when they were near, which
made it harder to say who was emitting the force she felt.
As various discussions developed, only Ami and Mina stood by and observed.
"What's wrong, Ami?" Mina asked. "You haven't gone over there and flaunted your
intellect yet."
Ami ignored her comment. "What do you think of the one with the computer?
Chris? I could swear I've seen him before..."
Mina shrugged. "Naw. He's okay, but I wouldn't go out with him or
anything..." she smiled. "Why?"
Ami shrugged. "Never mind. Maybe I will go talk to him. That kicking
computer is probably going to waste." she giggled to herself. Her intelligence
was one of the few things she could brag about. Her presence on the battle
field was basically only tactical, and she wasn't regarded as the hottest babe
at school.
"Hey, Chris. Mind if I see your computer?" she asked.
Chris raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sure, I guess."
He passed it over to her. She opened it up and pressed the power button.
It booted up happily, then asked for a BIOS password. "A password?"
Chris smiled. "You can't be too careful these days. Here..." he typed in
what looked like 'SID'.
"Sid? What's that?" she asked in amusement.
"Oh, it's just a low-level password I have. My computer's name is Sid six-
point-seven." Chris explained, letting Windows boot up.
Ami began typing. "Ask me a question."
Chris blinked. "What?"
"Go ahead. Any question." Ami smiled. "I'm just testing to see how good
your educational system is."
Chris swallowed. "Oh, I'm not really the one you should ask."
"Go on. Anything! I'm just curious. It's not a test." Ami said, enjoying
the situation.
Chris shrugged, scratching his head. "Okay, something I learned in school,
right?"
Ami shrugged. "No, I mean anything. This is a general culture question."
To her surprise, he smiled evilly. "Give the exact, non-scientific name of
a small, quill-bearing mammal who lives in various places of the middle east,
Europe and Africa, and is a household pet, that is made up of over thirty
distinct species. And is of the genus of Erinaceus."
Ami paused. "Well, that's easy. A porcupine."
Chris shook his head. "No. They live in North America as well. The
answer is hedgehogs."
Maury shook his head. "No fair. You have on as a pet. Ask her a
different question!"
Chris shrugged. "Okay, what's the atomic number of Einsteinium?"
Ami was silent again. "I don't know..."
Mina patted her friend on the back. "Ami? Don't you know?"
Ami regained her smile. "Ask me something about computers."
"Gladly." Chris said with an evil grin. "You know what an OS is, right?"
"Operating system." Ami replied confidently.
Chris smiled. "What computer company made Irix?"
Rei sighed. "We should place bets on this."
Maury started singing Jeopardy music.
Ami cringed. "Uh, I know! Microsoft!"
Chris shook his head. "Silicon Graphics."
Ami sighed. "Shit...I knew that." She looked up. "Ask me another."
Chris sighed. "Do I have to?"
"Yes." Ami replied coldly.
At the end of that evening, Chris had asked a hundred questions. Ami had
gotten twenty right. She had then forced him into a game of chess. Chris was
holding his own despite Ami's years of practicing. He wasn't as good, but was
giving her quite a challenge.
"Ami...maybe we should leave. It's coming up on seven." Mina sighed,
already knowing what her answer would be.
"Just a few minutes more..." Ami said, moving a pawn.
Chris countered. "Tell you what, Ami. I'll ask you ONE more question. If
you win, you get my computer. If I win, you kindly stop pitting your intellect
against mine, who I must say, is falling asleep."
Ami smiled. "Okay, but you have to make it hard, not like the last five."
Chris nodded. "I intend to."
Grandpa and Chad had even been curious why Rei or the others were still
visiting and had come in to watch the chess game. Chad smiled. "Come on, Ami!
You can do it!"
Grandpa shook his head. "I'll bet you five hours extra chores he'll stump
her again."
Chad and him shook hands.
Mina smiled. "Let's make this interesting. Everyone with Chris, walk over
to his side. Everyone with our genus Ami...over here."
Rei smiled. "What are the stakes?"
Mina shrugged. "The losers have to chip in five bucks each to the
winners."
The room shuffled around. Grandpa, Maury and Rei went onto Chris' side.
Chad, Mina, Serena, Lita, Damien and Trevor all went towards Ami.
Chris woke up slightly and realized he just bet his computer. His mind
searched for a fresh, insolvable question.
Ami seemed centred on book-smarts. Computers were another semi-literate
area. Chris wanted something she'd never get. But, in all fairness, he had to
pick something he knew as well. "Fuck it." he thought.
"Okay..." Chris said. "I got one."
Ami nodded eagerly.
"How many nuts are there in each pack of United Overseas airline
complimentary peanuts?" he said, glancing over to Maury. Maury grinned evilly.
Ami gasped. "Wait...that's too simple...ask a scientific question!"
Chris pulled out a pack of peanuts. "You said a hard question. I know the
answer and I'll prove it right now. Do you know?"
Maury smiled. "I love it."
Ami glanced over at the crinkled package. She couldn't see how many were
inside. "I don't believe this." she finally said.
Grandpa smiled. "HAHA! I knew it!"
"How many, then?" Mina retorted. "BEFORE you open the pack!"
Chris nodded. "Ten. All factory sealed." He ripped open the pack.
"One," he popped it in his mouth. "Two, three, four..." he continued munching
down on them. "Eight, nine...and...oh-oh!"
Everyone gasped.
The bag didn't produce anymore than nine. Ami smiled. "HAHA! I just got
a new computer!"
Chris looked on the floor. "Oh! Here's the last one!"
Inside the corner he tore away was the last peanut. He popped it in his
mouth. "Ten."
Ami couldn't help but smile. "I'll return for a second match." she got up
and left as part of the deal.
The loser side was forced to pay each of the winners five and a half
bucks. "There goes my allowance..." Serena wailed.
Chris sighed. "Here, Serena. I just wanted her to go home." he said,
paying her back.
Serena smiled. "Thanks. I better go home before anyone takes any more
money from me!"
Everyone but Rei left the room. Rei walked over to Chris. "Peanuts?"
Chris grinned. "I love my life."
Maury blinked. "No way! You risked a five grand laptop on the whereabouts
of a mystery tenth nut?"
Chris sighed. "She's gone, isn't she?"
Trevor flagged down Chris' attention. "Don't I get my five bucks back?"
Chris frowned. "No."
Rei sat down next to Chris. Chris started sweating. "Ami's not usually
like that. She just doesn't often get a chance to show off."
Chris was fully aware of the situation, despite Maury's odd smile. "Uh,
thanks, Rei. Say..." he thought for a second. "Could I ask you for a favour
tomorrow?"
Rei shrugged. "Unless it's helping you finish off your five-hundred or so
peanuts...sure."
Chris smiled. "I have no idea where to shop around here. Could you show
me?"
Rei looked at her watch. "Well, we could go out now. There's still two or
so hours left until stores start closing down."
Maury, who was behind Rei's back, nodded quickly, urging Chris on. Chris
smiled. "Sure."
Rei and Chris were soon out the door. Maury smiled. "Finally. I can quit
worrying about getting him a date, and can concentrate on that babe, Lita."
Trevor and Damien were still mad at loosing five bucks to him. "Oh, shut-
up." they both said.
Chapter 5
Rei pointed to the bus schedule. "The secret is, run to the next possible
stop. That way, you can catch any bus to anywhere, but not have to wait for
fifteen minutes."
Chris nodded. "I just can't read the text."
Rei blinked. "Oh, that's right. I'll have to write them down, I guess..."
"How'd you learn to speak English so well?" Chris asked. "I mean, you grew
up in a Japanese temple with your grandpa. Why didn't he just teach you your
own language?"
She smiled. "When I was really young, I saw this movie, called Ran. It
had subtitles on it for English viewers."
Chris blinked. "I saw Ran too! I loved it!"
Rei nodded. "Me too. So I asked my grandpa what all the weird squiggles
at the bottom were. He told me that they were for people who couldn't speak our
language, and that they read along to the words that were spoken. I got curious
to see how one word could look and sound so different in English. Grandpa was
in World War II and picked up English overseas. He taught me himself."
"Cool." Chris said. "The only Japanese I know is from Christopher Lambert
movies."
Rei smiled. "I'll teach you some. Come on, I've gotta show you the mall."
Chris followed happily, looking around. Rei, who was out in front, smiled
widely. Here was a guy who didn't see her as 'that physic girl at the weird
temple' or anything like that. A fresh start! A new face! Sure, Chris hadn't
even heard that yet, but it was still refreshing. "So, Chris. Tell me a bit
about yourself."
Chris blinked. "Me? I don't know. I'd like to think I'm pretty smart. I
love computers, as you probably guessed. I'm a self-proclaimed weirdo."
Rei nodded. "Yeah, I sort of guessed with the Jay Leno on the wall."
Chris smiled. "I'll never forget Ami's face when I asked her the peanut
question."
Rei nodded. "How about your family? Friends? You know, that sort of
thing."
"Normal family, but we're all kinda weird. Especially my sister. She's
cool. I'd say she'll be weirder than me one day. Standard upper-middle class,
I guess." Chris said happily. "As for friends? Maury's my best friend. And I
hang around with a couple of other kids at school, who are basically like us."
"Us?" Rei added with a smile.
Chris shrugged. "We band together so assholes won't touch us. We're not
too popular back home." he explained. "I've been threatened a couple hundred
times, yet have never been in an actual fight." he said proudly.
"Any girlfriend?" Rei asked. She was a bit surprised to hear that escape
her lips.
Chris blinked, also surprised. "Uh, none. Like I said. I'm not too
popular."
Rei nodded. "Well, here's the mall." she said. "Race you there!"
Chris gasped as he saw Rei shoot ahead of him. "Wait!" he said, trying to
catch up.
She smiled inwardly. It was going to be an interesting summer.
Zoicite fished around in her pocket for a crystal as she finished off
eating the food supplies the three trekkers had. If the Negaverse had lost, was
Malachite dead as well? Unbeknownst to her, but beknownst to us, he was. She
had a feeling, deep down that he was gone. After all, he'd fight the Sailor
Scouts to the finish. She finally found her Gateway Crystal.
A tiny shard of woven magic that facilitated transportation from the
Negaverse to the Universe.
"Gateway Crystal! I command you!" she yelled, holding it out in front of
her. "Open a portal to my home."
The crystal obeyed as usual and formed a black vortex in front of her. She
stepped forward, already knowing what awaited her.
To get away from the crowd, Rei suggested they sat down in one of the
restaurants. Chris agreed weakly, knowing this was turning into a full-fledged
date. Chris didn't know weather or not to be happy as they were seated in a
secluded booth.
Rei had ordered a plate of rice and vegetables, and Chris asked for some
egg-roles out of lack of knowing any Japanese dishes. He wasn't prepared when
he saw how fancy they were dressed up on his plate.
"Sorry, this is sort of a formal restaurant." Rei smiled.
Chris shrugged. "No problem."
The were quiet for a while. Chris decided he should say something. "So?
What about you?"
Rei shrugged.
"You know. Family, friends?" Chris urged her on.
"Well, I actually don't know my mother." Rei said solemnly. "She died, I
think, when I was one or two."
Chris blinked. "You mean you're not sure?"
Rei nodded with a sigh. "Grandpa keeps telling me he'll explain when the
time is right...but I've been waiting for fourteen years now."
Chris looked down to his plate. "I'm sorry...it must be hard. What about
your dad?"
"He's a politician." she said coldly.
Chris realized she was now pissed off. Politicians weren't looked upon too
highly in the Shinto religion. "Oh." he changed the subject.
Rei sighed. "I try not to let it get me down. Basically, the gang you saw
today are my family." she smiled. "You see, I can kinda...see into the future,
and it scares most other people."
Chris looked up. "Cool!"
Rei blinked.
"No! That's cool! Really!" Chris said. "I wish I could do that."
She smiled. "Well, it's not like concentrating and 'poof', there it is. I
have to sit down and meditate for a while in front of fire."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "Well. I usually spook people when I get all
hyper on air and start yelling 'bleah!' and running after people."
Rei held her face in her hands. "Now why would anyone be spooked by that?"
Chris shrugged, stabbing the egg roll with a chopstick. "So, who's that
Chad guy?"
She sighed. "Chad? He's some unemployed singer. Says he's afraid of the
stage. We're friends, I guess...not really, though. He really gets me steamed.
And if he ever offers to sing, politely refuse if you want to avoid ear damage."
Chris smiled. "I think I killed it."
Rei glanced down to his food, which was now DOA. "Nice. You still going
to eat that?"
Chris glanced around to make sure nobody was watching. "Hell no. I'm
going to DRINK it."
Rei sat and watched, chopsticks hanging from her mouth, as Chris shovelled
the mashed egg roll and garnish into the glass of milk he ordered. He took the
straw and started mixing it. "You were saying..." Chris looked up and smiled.
Rei glanced over to the cup of mysterious colours. "Ugh. Well, Grandpa's
actually kind of neat." she said. "He's who-knows-how-old but he keeps kicking.
He runs the entire temple and still has time to torment me and Chad."
Chris sniffed the glass. "Maybe you're right. I won't eat this after
all." he said, shoving it aside. "Your grandpa seems like a cool guy. You two
get along?"
Rei sat back in her padded chair. "Well, most of the time. But he's so
stubborn. Won't follow his doctor's advice, even though he's not as far as he
thinks from a heart-attack, and he didn't let me date until a month ago, and
that was just taking Chad over to the mall so he could buy new shoes."
"Well, this is much better than buying shoes. Thanks, Rei." he said,
looking around.
Rei looked down. "It was my pleasure." she said happily.
Another awkward silence gripped the two. Chris looked over to his watch.
"Well, we have another half an hour."
Rei smiled. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to his chest.
Chris looked down to his good luck charm. His two little swords hung
around his neck.
"These?" he said, holding them out to her.
Rei leaned closer. "It's beautiful." she said, holding them and giving
Chris an excuse to edge closer across the table.
Chris shrugged. "I'm not dead, or broke, or sick...so they must be
working."
Rei looked up and smiled. Their faces were only two inches apart. "Must
be." she said softly, eventually sitting back down.
Chris shivered slightly and sat back down. "You..." he squeaked, then
coughed. "You want to go back now?"
Rei nodded. "Yeah, the stores are closing anyway." she got up and left
after paying the waiter.
Chris sat there a moment longer. "I can't believe it. She likes me." he
said, believing it for the first time.
Rei turned back and motioned for him to come. Chris smiled to himself and
followed. As the two walked home without another word, she couldn't believe
what was happening. She was falling for the weird young man from Canada, that
just happened to come to her temple thanks to a scheming grandpa. It was so
sudden...but she was already looking forward to tomorrow...and hopefully,
another evening with him.
Chris walked her to her room and bid her a good-night. She smiled.
"Thanks for the wonderful evening."
As the door closed, Chris smiled back. "My pleasure..."
Chapter 6
"Out late last night?" Serena giggled as Rei yawned again.
Rei sneered at Serena's comment. "I couldn't get to sleep. That's all."
she explained, yawning again.
Luna and Artemis coughed. "Are we ready?" Luna asked, annoyed.
"Sorry." Rei said.
"Why'd you drag us out of our warm, cozy beds THIS time, Luna?" Serena
complained. "I was having a wicked-cool dream where the world was made of..."
"Sailor Moon!" Luna yelled. "SHUT-UP!"
Serena gave her a mean look. "Fine."
Artemis nodded. "Luna's been investigating the problem a little more
closely. She managed to track down a specific energy signature."
Luna nodded. They had all gathered at Ami's house for a change of pace,
and also they weren't discovered by the new possible enemy. "It's that Chris
guy. He's the one." Luna said. "I followed him around all day after you girls
left the temple, and the strongest source of the energy was always around him."
Rei blinked. "Wait...what are you saying?"
Luna sighed. "I think he's from the Negaverse."
Artemis nodded. "We received information from Central a night ago about a
possible return of Negaverse activity in the North Pole. The two events of
this, and the strange energy from Chris are too closely related and appeared
about the same time, making it a pretty damn odd circumstance."
"No..." Rei shook her head. "He's not from the Negaverse. At least not a
warrior, even if he is."
Ami nodded. "She's right. There had to be civilians in that dimension.
This one could be like a refugee or something."
"And we can't just kill an innocent civilian. It would be murder, and even
our Sailor Scout DNA can be traced." Mina cautioned.
"Just because you girls have gotten to know him a bit doesn't make the
situation any less dangerous." Luna insisted.
Mina shrugged. "What about the possible second energy you said might be
there?"
Luna sighed. "I couldn't get a fix on anyone else. It's possible that
Chris is just one really powerful Negaverse general or something."
"You don't get it." Rei persisted. "The guy hates violence, has never
thrown a punch in his life, and he acts almost exactly opposite from any
Negaverse lackey we've encountered, even when they're undercover in our
society."
Artemis nodded. "You know, she's got a point, Luna. This could still be a
good-guy."
Luna frowned. "I don't like it. Like you said yourself, the North Pole
becoming active again coincided with the arrival of the exchange students."
Rei sighed. "Fine. I'll keep an eye on him."
"I'm coming over tomorrow." Luna said. "I'll search through his stuff
for clues."
Ami shrugged. "I'll come over and we can search through his computer."
Mina smiled. "I'm sure that's a task you're dreading. You were literally
drooling over it, yesterday."
"Do what you have to do." Rei said. "I'm going to do a fire reading before
I start accusing him of being from the Negaverse." she slammed Ami's door behind
and left.
"What's got her so pissy?" Serena asked.
Chris looked at the sheet of paper he had printed out. He was on the right
street. He walked past the early morning crowd on the sidewalk, exchanging
friendly nods with pedestrians. "This place might not be so bad after all."
Chris said to himself. "Ah, here we go."
On the side of a nearby shop, a sign, in both Japanese and English, said:
The Samurai Shop.
Chris opened the door and was greeted with a gust of warm, dusty air. As
his eyes adjusted from the sunny day outside to the evening-like atmosphere, he
saw the walls were lined with swords. "Cool..." he said with a wide grin.
Pounding could be heard from the back workshop room. "No way...hand made?"
he asked himself.
He dropped his leather pack and walked over to a sword set. He was just
about to pick it up, when something caught his eye. A blue sparkle. He looked
deeper into the store and saw another sword. This one was stunning. Chris
walked over to it, feeling like a little kid who found a hoard of Playboys under
his older brother's bed.
No...
This was much more. There was almost a pull towards it. His eyes focused
solely on the sparkling hand guard, then along it's scabbard. It seemed to say
'pick me!'.
He looked around, not really sure if he was allowed to touch it. He slowly
lifted it from it's wooden stand. It was lighter than he expected. The blue
that had caught his eye was reflected from the hand-guard. He looked closer at
it. It was decorated by a strange symbol, wrapping around the handle. The
guard was almost see-through, and appeared to be a crystal.
Not able to hold back any longer, he started to withdraw the blade.
"Hey! What are you doing!" a gruff voice asked.
Chris leapt back, almost dropping the sword. "I-I was just looking!"
From the back room, an old man, similar to Grandpa, only with black hair,
came out of the shadows. "I must warn you, that's the most expensive sword in
this shop. You break it, you buy it." he said, wiping his hands with a greasy
towel.
Chris nodded. "Can I look at the blade?"
The man smiled. "Sure. I see you have an eye for swords."
He blinked, taking out the blade. "How do you know that?"
The old man walked over to the sword Chris was going to pick up before he
saw the crystal-guarded one. "This sword's made of aluminium. Light. Its for
show. The one you have there is the real item."
Chris nodded and whistled as he saw the blade of the one he was holding.
It reflected better than a mirror. Not wanting to look like he was going to
wreck it, he put it back on the stand. "It's beautiful. Real?"
The man nodded. "I'd say you could make it through walls with that thing."
he extended his hand. "I'm Henry Yamato. You?"
Chris shook his hand happily. "Chris. Did you make all these swords?"
Yamato shook his head. "Most of them...but a few I've traded over the
years...and I actually found that one you just looked at."
Chris looked back to the sword. "You FOUND it?"
He grinned widely. "Yup. Personally, I estimate it's a good thousand
years old. That means it plays havoc with the history books, and it still could
slice a Kuniyoshi blade in half."
Chris looked at the innocent looking sword with respect. "How much? I'm
afraid to ask."
Yamato shrugged. "It's priceless."
Chris sighed. "Where did you find it?"
"Over in Canada, actually." Yamato said, walking over to the sword. "Place
near Calgary, Alberta."
Chris almost fell over. "You're kidding...right? That's where I'm from."
Yamato shook his head. "I bet you wish you found it before I did! Ha!"
"Well..." Chris said, walking over to his bag on the floor. "I can offer
you ten thousand, American...right now in cash. How bout it?" he asked
hopefully.
Yamato whistled. "That's a mighty fine offer, but priceless MEANS
priceless." he said. "Swords half of this quality can go for fifty thousand.
However..."
Chris blinked. "What?"
"You say you're from Calgary? I found this sword probably the same year
you were born...you're seventeen, right?"
Chris nodded.
"Well, that's very good luck." Yamato smiled. "Ancient samurai used to be
given a sword the day they were born."
"Yeah, I know." Chris said.
"If you can find this sword's wakizashi, you can keep it."
Chris went wide-eyed. "What?"
Yamato motioned to the store. "If you can find the sword to match this
katana, I'll give you it for free." He shrugged. "I wouldn't dare sell it,
anyway. If you have a samurai's spirit, you deserve it."
"You're serious about this, aren't you?" Chris asked.
Yamato smiled. "I have a feeling about you, Chris. Besides, I've grown
too used to my own sword to use it myself."
Chris smiled widely. "So, it's somewhere in this store?"
Yamato nodded. "One other thing...no touching anything, until you're sure
you found it." He giggled, obviously liking the game. "It is a test!"
The walls were covered with hundreds of swords. Chris realized this may be
a bit harder than he thought. "And what if I lose?"
"You have to buy one from me!" he smiled. "A nice one, too."
Chris nodded. "Is that all? I was going to do that anyway. You're on."
He began looking at the racks and racks of swords. A couple looked really
close, and he was about to grab one, when, he stopped. Out of instinct, he went
back over to the thousand year old sword and picked it up. He began feeling
it's scabbard. It was a dark, deep red colour, and had a curious end. It
almost looked like another handle was formed. Chris realized the other sword
was hidden inside the opposite end of the katana's sheath. He smiled and to Mr.
Yamato's disbelief, pulled out a second blade. Two hand guard spines sprung
into place, and it matched the katana.
"How did you know?" he gasped. "It took me three years to accidentally
find that!"
Chris smiled, putting it back in. "Here, I'll give you whatever I have.
It's the least I can do..." he reached into his wallet.
Yamato shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm working on a million-
dollar deal for a martial arts film. Keep your money."
Chris looked around. "Well, then...I'll buy a case and some books. I
gotta pay you back somehow!" he said happily.
Yamato sighed. "Okay..." he smiled brightly. "Come with me..."
Chris held his sword in his hand. It felt great. Suddenly, he realized
something. He flipped the sword around to look at the hand guard again. "You
know..." he called after Mr. Yamato. "This symbol looks like the one for
Saturn..."
The door opened quietly to the spare room. Ami poked her head through.
"Clear..." she whispered.
Inside tip-toed Luna, Artemis, Mina, Serena, Ami and Lita. Ami promptly
went over to Sid 6.7, Chris' laptop, and opened it.
Luna kept a lookout. "How long is this going to take?"
Ami popped her knuckles. "Not long." she bragged.
The first password screen came up. She remembered it's code from yesterday
and typed it in. A loud sound filled the room. "Welcome to the tunnel of
doom!" the computer said.
"Cute." Ami said. "A start-up sound."
Things were quiet as everyone looked around the room. Mina finally sighed.
"All his stuff is in his bag. He never leaves it alone, though."
Lita, who was getting even more convinced Chris was an enemy, nodded. "I
bet it has all his magical crystals and spells. Hell, he's probably carrying
around one of those Negabombs that almost toasted the temple."
Ami whistled. "I found his personal diary file...but..."
"But what?" Artemis asked.
"It's encrypted."
"Can you break it?" Mina asked.
Ami sighed. "It's a high-bit encryption. And, it's been compressed
eight different times. Each level could have a new password."
Artemis translated. "It's going to take a few days. You better save it to
disk, then we can use Ami's home computer."
Ami nodded, popping in a disk. "Copy to 'A' drive..." she narrated.
Suddenly, Chris' computer made a warning noise. "You have tried to copy a
protected file. High level encryption. Enter top-secret level one password."
it said in a digitized voice.
Ami blinked. "Shit! Quick! Gimme a password!"
The computer kicked in again. "Too late. This attempted hack has been
recorded." a pause "Have a nice day!" it added happily.
A blue skull animation came up on the screen and began laughing at them.
It then shut down.
Ami swallowed hard. "We're in shit."
Artemis sighed. "Well, so much for that. Anyone for pizza?"
"So you used your own steel?" Chris asked, accepting a cup of tea. "I
thought you would have used a block of that traditional stuff."
Yamato nodded. "Too expensive. Can you keep a secret?"
Chris nodded.
"I use elevator cable." he smiled.
Chris nodded. "I heard of that. Makes for some really cool temper lines."
A bell rang out. Chris realized it was a clock. "Oh, geeze! I'm sorry!
I didn't realize how long I was here. I better leave you to work..."
Yamato shrugged. "No problem. It was nice talking to you."
"You too." Chris smiled, picking up his bag and new sword, now in a rich,
hardwood case. "Thanks again."
Yamato lead him to the door. "The thing I don't get, is I keep thinking I
know you from somewhere." he smiled. "I'll talk to you later, maybe?"
Chris nodded. "You can count on it." he said, shaking his new friend's
hand.
"Oh." Yamato paused as Chris was about to leave. "One thing about that
sword."
"Yeah?"
He smiled. "Some swords have lives of their own, you know. That sword is
very special. Make sure you keep good care of it."
Chris smiled. "I will."
The door closed. Chris looked at the street. It was dark, but he didn't
really care. Across the street was park. "Perfect." He pulled out a pencil
from his case and waked over to a bench.
Rei sat in a pile of her own sweat, her clothes drenched from sitting
in front of her meditation fire all night. She had been concentrating
constantly for five hours now. The flames had still not given her an answer.
A hand on her shoulder almost gave her a heart-attack. "AHHH!" she
screamed, startled out of her meditation.
Mina was at her side, wide-eyed. "Rei? You okay?"
She looked around, wiping her forehead. "Why-what time is it?"
The blonde looked at her watch. "Uh, two in the morning. Ami tripped off
Chris' computer, and now he'll know someone was looking around."
Rei's mind put the pieces together. "Ohmygod..." she gasped. "I still
don't know if he's evil or not..."
Mina sighed. "We have to do something."
Rei was quiet. "What would he be hiding on his computer?"
"Rei, we have a plan." Mina said. "We'll need your help. It's too risky
to keep all of us around. You'll have to find out on your own." she looked at
Rei's clothes. "You better get changed first."
Chris walked up the steps to the temple at three in the morning, still
wide-awake. He had on a long-sleeved dress shirt, so the cool air didn't really
bother him.
Tomorrow, rather today, he had chores to do. They all did. Grandpa
promised to teach them some martial arts if they helped out. All four agreed,
even Trevor and Damien to his surprise.
The door slid open easily and Chris walked into the temple. Everyone
seemed to be asleep. He went to his room and slid his new sword under it while
getting undressed. His laptop sat on his dresser, open.
He turned it on and found that the security options had been tripped.
"That's odd..." he thought to himself. With Maury there, Trevor and Damien
wouldn't dare touch it, and Maury knew all the passwords anyway. "Ami." he said
quietly. "Damn."
He began resetting all the systems and passwords. "Something weird's going
on." he thought. "And it's not the kind of 'weird' I like."
Chapter 7
Chris was still on Calgary time and woke up at seven. Everyone else was
still asleep, so he went into the kitchen for some tea. Just as the water for
his tea started to boil, he heard someone coming. He took the kettle off the
burner and ducked under the counter to see who it was.
Rei walked in, yawning widely. She had on only a nightgown, to Chris'
delight. Rei had been at the fire all night again, with nothing to report. She
was starting to believe she could be wrong. But, she thought, I'm not going to
worry about that now. She went to the cupboard and grabbed the Japanese
equivalent to 'Fruit Loops' and poured herself a bowl.
Chris was stunned. He'd only seen her in sweaters and loose shirts so far.
She was beautiful, and looked better with nothing more than a silky nightgown
and her underwear on. Almost along his eye-level, her bottom produced a lovely
curve beneath the silk. She had her back turned to him, but would turn ever so
slightly to give him a view of her side. She sat down on a raised table, across
the room, and started munching on her cereal. Her back was turned toward him.
Sensing the opportunity to reveal his presence without making it LOOK like
he'd been hiding, Chris quietly stood up and snuck closer to the entrance,
making it look like he'd just come in. "Rei?" he asked sleepily.
Rei gasped, spitting colourful hoops everywhere. "Chris! Geeze! You
scared the hell out of me!" She looked him over. He was in his dark blue
housecoat again. "Uh, good morning."
Chris smiled happily and walked over to finish heating the water. "So,
what did I miss last night? Anything cool?"
Rei remembered he could be from the Negaverse and adopted a serious mood.
"Not much. Where were you? You were gone 'till midnight at least." she asked,
adjusting her own sleepwear so it was less revealing.
"I got myself a sword, actually." Chris stated proudly. "I promised myself
that's the first thing I'd do when I got here. Turns out, I made a friend too."
he paused. "Just curious, but was Ami here last night?"
Rei's mind went into a panic. If he was evil, he was very calm and
collective. He took his time and didn't reveal too much. He was the worst
possible kind. "Actually, she called from her house, asking me if I wanted her
old geometry set for when school started. That's all I heard from her." she
said, rather proud of herself for thinking up the answer. Two can play at this
little game of chess she thought.
Chris nodded. "Cool. Say, Rei?" he asked, getting nervous. "You wanna, I
don't know, go see a movie later?" He looked around. "I know it's kinda early,
but I just wanted to make sure you didn't have plans or..."
Rei, a bit surprised at the question was speechless. "Um, I don't know."
she said eventually. "I mean, most the stuff in Tokyo is in Japanese
anyway...and..."
Chris cursed himself for being so forward. "Oh, it's no problem." he said.
Rei sighed. "Listen, Chris. I'd like to, it's just that..."
Chris' face, still turned away from Rei, went blank. He'd heard this
before. "No, no need to apologize. I understand." he said forcefully, trying
to ignore the lump in his throat.
"Okay." Rei said, getting up. "Well, I've got chores to do." she left.
It took Chris a second to realize it was over. He'd ask too much, too
fast, and it happened again. Any normal person would be able to get away with
asking her out, but not me, he thought. He was the reject. The guy who was
happy and smart, but alone as usual. "Shit."
He turned off the stove and left the kitchen, maintaining his blank
expression.
Zoicite sat in her equivalent of a living room, watching a playback crystal
as it showed the last few recorded seconds of Queen Beryl. She'd been catching
up. Her house was still there, protected by her servant drones as the Negaverse
began crumbling from Beryl's death.
"I don't believe it." Zoicite shook her head as Tuxedo Mask threw his final
rose through an oncoming ice crystal, then Beryl's chest. "Cape-boy and his
little fan club finally won."
But, the other Sailor Scouts were killed. And the battle outside the base
looked as if Sailor Moon had used the crystal. Why would they still be alive?
Zoicite smiled to herself. "Maybe I'll get my revenge after all."
A drone named Opeea came up to her. "Master? I have new news from the
Neganet sensor readings."
Zoicite nodded. "Yes?"
"The Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask ARE alive, and it has been confirmed all
over the Earth by their own news and information sources."
Zoicite nodded. "Very good."
"Also," Opeea continued "a new energy has been detected. It doesn't
conform to any known pattern, but could be a Rainbow Crystal morph."
Zoicite raised her eyebrow. "Where?"
A Rainbow Crystal morph was basically an old Negaverse monster who got
reincarnated as a human as the side-effect of being blasted with the Silver
Crystal, but didn't necessarily have a crystal inside of it's body like a
Rainbow Crystal Carrier. Zoicite, as well as three other generals she knew were
like this. She was never reborn on Earth, but doctors told her it would have
been possible.
It was also possible, that this morph could be a new college.
Opeea checked her map. "Quadrant three of Tokyo. Cherri Hill temple."
Zoicite smiled. "If I remember, Jadeite used that place to collect energy.
He got Sailor Mars introducing herself instead."
Opeea nodded. "That's correct. Shall I go to confirm the new energy
reading?"
Zoicite nodded. "Yes, but this new reading might not be on our side. If
it isn't, kill it. The last thing I want is another Scout to deal with."
Opeea vanished out of the Negaverse promptly, using another Gateway
Crystal. She left...taking all her fangs, legs and weapons with her.
Maury woke to see Chris, sitting on his bed with a blank look on his face.
"Hey, Chris. What's up?
Chris sighed loudly. "Nothing. That's the problem."
Maury nodded. "Rei?"
Chris nodded back. Then, he thought for a bit. "Just asking, but did you
see anyone on my computer last night? All it's security stuff was tripped."
Maury shook his head. "I played some chess on it, but that was yesterday.
Trevor and Damien didn't go near it."
"Weird." Chris said, laying back on his bed.
Maury smiled evilly. "So, what happened with you and Rei?"
Chris shrugged. "I asked her out to a movie, she said no then walked off.
She looked like she was avoiding me."
Maury sighed. "Sorry, man. Anything I can do?"
Chris shook his head. "We got chores after dinner. Let's see if Grandpa
will give us that free lesson he promised."
Maury watched as Chris reached under his bed and pulled out his new sword.
"Wow!" he said simply. "You got that yesterday?"
Chris smiled weakly. "Best thing that happened to me in eighteen hours, at
least."
"Let's go." Maury said, getting dressed. "Don't wanna wake the spuds."
Trevor and Damien lay asleep as the two left the room.
A few minutes later, a small black cat peered in the window, conveniently
located above Chris' bed. His bag was unattended, but the two other students
were still in the room. She'd have to come back later.
Grandpa smiled as Chris and Maury came in the dojo. "Ah! I see you've
come to get thrashed after all!"
The two entered and bowed to the mats despite Grandpa's comment. "Good
morning." Chris said politely. "You any good with a sword?"
Grandpa nodded. "I see you got one of your own. Very well..." he went
over to a rack and selected his own sword. "I'll teach you."
Chris smiled. "Thanks."
Maury went over and picked up one of the other swords, unsheathing it
happily. "Cool."
Grandpa led them over to some bamboo targets. "Okay. The object of this
is to make a forty-five degree diagonal cut, slicing off the top of the bamboo
chute."
The old man promptly leapt up and swung his sword around, slicing the
bamboo perfectly. He landed and smiled happily. "It takes practice, but you
two look like you learn fast. Try it."
Maury smiled evilly. "He-ya!" he yelled out, bringing around his sword.
He hit the bamboo at an odd angle, making his sword rebound off the target and
into the far wall.
As everyone got back up to their feet, Grandpa started laughing. Maury
frowned. "It was my first try, okay?"
Maury went to retrieve his sword. Chris lined up with his target. In a
sudden, blinding swish, the blade was on the other side, and the top of the
chute was flying away from the cut. It took Chris a moment to realize he did
it. "Cool..."
Grandpa was bug-eyed. "Uh...not bad?" he returned to his normal self.
"Beginner's luck. Try again." he said confidently.
Chris smiled. "There can be only one..." he said, slicing the target in
two, then adjusting his grip and bringing the blade back to cut the chute off
it's support dowel.
As the pieces landed, Grandpa frowned. "You never told me you practiced."
Chris shrugged. "I don't. It's my first sword."
Grandpa whipped his sword around in a surprise attack. Chris instinctively
crouched and blocked with his own sword. "Then where did you learn that?"
Grandpa asked.
Chris blinked. "Shit...this sword's possessed!"
Grandpa exchanged swords with him. "Let's find out. Cut another target."
Chris obeyed and succeeded in slicing up the other two targets. Not as
impressively as with his own new sword, but he succeeded nonetheless.
Grandpa gave his sword back. "Defend yourself!"
Chris gasped as the small man leapt at him, brandishing his katana. Chris
leapt back to avoid his attack. "Wait! I keep telling you I don't know how to
fence!"
Grandpa charged. Chris dodged again, but Grandpa swung his sword around,
slicing Chris' baggy pants. Maury could do nothing but watch in amazement as
the fight went on. Chris finally started blocking with his sword. Grandpa was
clearly trying his best to cut through the defence, but was not succeeding.
"I told you!" Chris said. "I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT!" he yelled, swiping
around his katana.
Grandpa's sword connected, but didn't stop it. The strange, thousand-year-
old blade smashed through, causing the younger blade to explode into pieces.
Grandpa was thrown backwards from the hit, having only a broken handle in
his hand. Chris stood in the middle of the room, holding out his sword across
his eye line. He promptly put it back in it's scabbard. "Shit..."
Grandpa looked at the remains of his sword. "How did you do that?" he
asked, flicking a piece of ex-sword from his arm.
Maury looked over to Chris. "Highlander movies?"
Rei walked by the fire-reading room on her way outside. She stopped and
backtracked. I must find out...this situation's killing me! She said to
herself.
She locked the door and kneeled before the fire. "Okay, fire. This one's
for all the marbles. You got it? If you don't tell me, I'm going to go crazy.
I don't care what the outcome is, as long as there is one." she said out loud to
the flickering flames.
She concentrated. "Great fire of Mars. Tell me...is the new force around
this temple evil? Is it from the Negaverse? Tell me in three...two...one."
An electric shock went through her body and she looked up into the fire. A
simple text-character message floated in the flame. It was the Japanese
character for 'yes.'
Chapter 8
Rei walked into Chris' room with a mean look. Chris looked up from his
book about abstract science called: The Great Mambo Chicken, and looked at her.
"Hi Rei!"
Basically, Rei had planed to come in and thrash him until he admitted being
from the Negaverse, then call the others to vaporize his ass all over the island
of Japan. Unfortunately, she smiled to his greeting and lost her urge to kill.
"Uh, hi."
Chris put down his book. "Hey, if Grandpa says he's going to kill me,
please talk him out of it."
Rei blinked. "Why? What happened."
Maury, who she noticed for the first time, snickered. "Ninja-boy over here
shattered Grandpa's sword! He just loaded up and cut through it!"
"But...those swords are practically indestructible!" she gasped.
Chris shrugged. "Mine is, at least." he said, taking out his new sword and
showed off the fact it never received a scratch.
Rei, now convinced, but aware of Maury's presence, nodded weakly.
"Uh...I'm going to...to...do chores...sweep...yeah..." she left.
The two boys shrugged. Maury looked over to the sword. "You know, that
symbol on the guard looks like the one on that National Geographic book."
Chris nodded. "The one I have back home about the planets?"
"Yeah. Isn't that Uranus or something?"
Chris smiled. "Maybe YOUR anus."
"No," Maury smiled. "You know what I mean."
Chris nodded. "It's Saturn, I think. Weird, huh? And there are all these
little patterns behind it. I've never seen anything like it."
Maury motioned to the door. "You know, if you were SMART, you'd go after
her and try and make up for whatever you said."
"I know, I know..." he sighed. "Think it'll impress her if I do the
chores?"
Maury shrugged. "You're going to do that anyway."
"No..." Chris smiled. "I have something different in mind..."
Suddenly, a loud clang filled the room. Chris looked down in horror to see
his sword's hand-guard had fallen off. Maury was also wide-eyed. "Well, it IS
a thousand years old..."
Chris picked up the blue crystal disk. He slid it back on over the blade.
For some reason, it locked in place. Then, he pulled it off again like a
magnet. "It's magnetic! Holy shit...! Scare the shit out of me!"
Maury nodded. "Why didn't it come off during battle?"
Chris shrugged. "I was just thinking it would be nice to take off and look
at the symbol closer, and it popped off. It's like it read my mind or
something..."
Maury smiled goofily. "You're loosing it, man."
Chris pocketed the disk. "I better keep this with me until I can get it
fixed."
Maury nodded. "So, what was your plan about the chores again?"
His friend put away his sword and smiled. "You'll see."
As Chris explained his plan, the blue-tinted crystal in his pocket glowed
softly.
Rei growled as she swept the stairs leading up to the temple. "How could I
be such a blind fuck-head? I'm supposed to be the untrusting serious Sailor
Scout in the first place!" she said to herself, ignoring the worried looks of
pedestrians fearing she'd leap on them and eat them alive.
"I don't believe I actually LIKED him!" she mumbled rather loudly. "Well,
he's going to pay for trying to get me in the sack." She paused. "Wait...he
only asked me to a movie...but sex is what all those Negaverse assholes probably
want in the end." she continued fuming.
She smiled to herself as she imagined blasting a hole through his head with
a fireball. She had thought about calling the others, but she was really pissed
off. THIS one was personal...And it was getting dark. Chad and Grandpa would
be asleep soon, and then she could waste this Negaverse trash in secrecy.
She was almost surprised to see that she had finished sweeping the steps in
record time while being distracted. She walked over to the temple to get a rake
and start on the lawn, but she realized there were no leaves.
She looked down to her feet. Only grass. Yesterday, the entire field
around the temple was covered with orange and yellow. Now, it was a pleasant
green. "What the fuck?" she said bluntly.
Indeed, there were four gardening bags full of leaves lying against the far
wall. Rei shrugged. "Chad must have done it."
She didn't quite believe that, though. Unless Chad was trying to get
Grandpa to get off his back or something. She walked inside the temple and her
mouth dropped. The floors had been washed as well. She knocked on the spare
room. Maury answered. "Yeah?"
"Who's been doing all the floors?" she asked, peering around for Chris.
Maury shrugged with a grin on his face. "I dunno, but I haven't seen Chris
in a good seven hours."
Rei nodded and left. Maury smiled. "Right on, Chris."
Trevor snickered. "Hey, I don't give a shit as long as we don't have to do
anything!"
Maury scowled at him and promptly chucked his pillow into Trevor's face.
"Nobody said you could speak."
Chris, who was now exhausted from doing hard-labour for most of the day,
collapsed onto the bench in front of a small pond the temple grounds had.
"Shit...even if I don't win Rei back, I'll kick Martha Stewart's ass at
gardening and washing floors."
Rei stood behind him, far down the field. She lifted her watch to her
mouth. "Scouts? I need some help. I have Chris cornered, and he's from the
Negaverse." she paused, ignoring a tear rolling down her cheek. "Hurry before I
change my mind."
"We're five minutes away! Hold on!" Lita's voice answered.
Rei nodded and closed her communicator. "Okay, Negaverse lackey...time to
pay for messing with fire."
Chris was about to doze off to sleep when a giant spider appeared from
behind a nearby bush. He blinked. "Now THAT's a weird dream..." he finally
said, half asleep.
Opeea crawled up to Chris' location. "Opeea needs confirmation."
Chris blinked. "Uh..."
The weird spider with a woman's face came closer. "I've been watching you
for a day now. Why haven't you contacted Lord Zoicite? The Negaverse needs
you."
"Pardon me?" Chris asked, now fully awake. "What the fuck ARE you?"
Rei watched from a distance, undetected. "What's going on? A meeting?"
Chris stood up. "I don't know what you're talking about, spider-chick." he
said, almost amused. "Now, who's controlling you? Maury? Did you go to that
special effects shop I told you about?" he called out.
Maury wasn't hiding in the bushes with a remote control, however. Chris
looked back to the spider-chick. "Who are you?"
Opeea smiled. "I am Opeea. A Negaverse servant. Please come with me. We
need your help against the Sailor Scouts."
"Sailor Scouts?" Chris asked. He had heard rumours of the so-called
'Pretty Soldiers' even over in Canada. "What do they have to do with anything?"
Opeea paused. "I'm sure your memory will return once you get back to the
Negaverse."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right? What the fuck is a
'Negaverse'?"
Opeea realized something wasn't quite right. She looked at him closely,
scanning his life-signs. IF he was a morph, it wasn't showing up.
So, she did what her instincts and training told her. "You must DIE!" she
said suddenly, leaping at him.
Chris yelped and jumped out of the way. Rei gasped as she realized what
was happening. "I've got to save him! Mars Star POWER!" she yelled, whipping
out her power-stick.
The giant spider monster ran toward Chris, extending fangs from it's mouth.
Chris was still gasping after he hit the ground and couldn't move. "DIE SAILOR
SCOUT!" it yelled, jumping up in the air and rocketing, fang-first, towards
Chris.
Suddenly, a huge jet of flame smashed into the side of the monster,
blasting it back and into the pond. Sailor Mars stood proudly on the other side
of the hill, finger extended. "Eat that, Negatoad."
Chris glanced up. At first, he didn't recognize her in her Sailor Scout
uniform. Most people didn't. Suddenly, it hit. "Rei?" he coughed, getting up.
"Opeea MAD..." the spider growled, emerging from the pool with one side of
her face almost burnt off. "Revenge!"
Before Rei could react, Opeea launched herself at Chris, knocking him to
the ground and making him skid for a good three metres on his face. Rei no
longer had a clear shot. Opeea was directly behind him. A firebird or scroll
would take too long. "Chris! Fight back!" she yelled.
Chris lifted his face from the dirt, spitting out a rock. His forehead
sending out a bright blue copy of the symbol on his sword. The reflection of
Saturn's symbol was visible in the glassy part of his wristwatch, and he
realized the disk was some sort of key. He desperately reached into his pocket
as Opeea came closer. Rei gasped as the spider picked him up and chucked him
into the water. "Come on! You're ready to transform!"
"Opeea will finish this!" the monster growled, leaping into the water as
well.
Rei ran forward, but was again helpless to do anything.
In the water, Chris finally found his disk. Let's see what this does... he
thought, holding it up.
Before he could say anything, a set of powerful jaws grabbed his arm and
threw him into the pond's bank. Chris crawled out onto dry land desperately as
the spidery monster followed close behind. "Fuck this!" Chris yelled, again,
holding up his disk. "Get ready to RUMBLE!"
Chapter 9
Instead of the crystal disk spinning around, it grew into his new sword.
Matching blue scabbard this time. The weapon spun around him in a wide,
helicopter like motion, transforming him into new clothes. "FISSY POWER!" Chris
yelled out as a blue sphere of light enveloped him, then disappeared to reveal
his finished costume.
Dark dress pants, brown leather jacket, and, instead of a mask, a sharp
pair of sunglasses. Rei realized she was staring. He looked great. Better than
great. "I'm in love..." she sighed despite herself.
Chris looked down at his suit. "What the hell? When did I get chucked
through a 'Fashionable Male' store window?"
Suddenly, the reason why he just transformed came barrelling out of the
water at him. "DIE! DIE!" Opeea screamed, extending a series of nasty spines
from her back and pointing them at Chris.
"Nice blades, sucker..." Chris whipped out his sword and leapt at Opeea
like he had a jet-pack on.
His sword connected cleanly with all four of her right legs. Opeea landed
on her bloody stumps and flipped over sideways before rolling to a stop. Chris
stood up from his landing crouch. "I don't like giant killer crazy-spider
chicks." he said, lining up another strike.
"Opeea will return..." the monster said weakly, fizzling out of sight to
the Negaverse.
Chris took a deep breath, relaxing his grip on his sword. He turned to
Rei. "Excuse me, Rei...but what the hell just happened?"
Rei couldn't help but laugh. "I don't believe this."
Chris slumped, sword extended. "What? The fact that I'm a super-hero or
something? I could ask you the same thing."
"I was about to kill you an hour ago, you know." she said, sitting down on
the bench, relieved.
Chris looked her over. "Mars, right? Red suit, red planet?"
She nodded. To Chris' surprise, she started crying. "Hey..." he put away
his sword and walked a bit closer. "What's wrong?"
Rei wiped her eyes clear. "Sorry, it's just that I've been meditating on
the subject so long, and I haven't got much sleep. Plus the fact I never
thought the fire meant it was another creature that was evil. I almost killed
you for fuck sake!" she yelled.
Chris blinked behind his glasses. "Is that why you've been all pissy
towards me? You thought I was from this weird 'Negaverse'?"
Rei nodded. "Thank god it's over."
Chris looked around. "You mean, I did a weeks worth of chores in an
afternoon for nothing?"
Rei smiled widely.
"Why were you so intent on proving I was innocent anyway?" Chris asked with
a smile.
Before Rei could answer, a brilliant flash of lightning slammed into Chris,
knocking him against a tree. His sunglasses fell off and he hit the ground in a
smouldering heap. Rei gasped. "WAIT!"
Jupiter and the others came soaring down from their hiding places in nearby
trees. "That'll teach the Negaverse not to corrupt..."
Mars gave Jupiter a mean look. "I hate to interrupt your speech, but he's
on OUR SIDE!"
Jupiter blinked. "Oh, sorry..."
Venus walked over to him, checking for a pulse. "He's fine. Just knocked
out."
Chris groaned, regaining consciousness. "W-what the hell was THAT?!?"
Jupiter smiled guiltily.
Chris, a bit crispy from her attack, smiled. "Well, Maury's going to be
happy he's in love with a super heroine."
Artemis hoped down from another tree. "See, Luna? You owe me five bucks."
Luna sighed. "Yeah, yeah...I don't have my wallet with me."
Chris looked around. "And talking cats too? This keeps getting better and
better..."
Zoicite sat in her chair, watching the playback of the fight on a recorder
crystal. Opeea was now useless to her, and Zoicite killed her without haste.
"Worthless servants." she commented as she saw the fight through Opeea's eyes.
Chris walked into the room, dripping water from his wet clothes. Maury,
Trevor and Damien simultaneously bugged out their eyes.
"What the HELL happened to you?" Maury asked as Chris flopped down on his
bed.
Chris held up his hand. "No comment..." he gasped, exhausted. He went to
sleep a few seconds after.
Trevor blinked. "It looks like he fell in the pond."
Maury shrugged. "Maybe he was trimming seaweed."
Chapter 10
The room was cold. That's the first thing he noticed. The floor and walls
were actually made of ice. Chris looked around, but noticed his view was from a
shorter perspective. He was a child. About ten years old. He looked to one of
the walls. His sword was on it.
He walked up to it, but was suddenly transported outside. He was a bit
older now. Sword in hand. He was following movements an older man ahead was
teaching him.
The ground and landscape consisted of ice. Over the horizon, stars, even
though the sun was still visible in the distance. On the opposite horizon was
the looming beige ball of Saturn.
I'm on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons! Chris realized.
"Pay attention." Yamato smiled as he tapped his shoulder with a bokken.
"You still have a lot more to learn."
"WAKE UP!" came a sharp British accent.
Chris gasped and sat up, sending Luna across the room. Serena smiled.
"Good shot, Chris!"
Chris looked around to see all the Sailor Scouts crowded around him.
"Geeze!" he said, but then realized he wasn't undressed from last night.
The others weren't there, which was probably why Luna had talked. Chris
stood out of bed weakly. "How long was I out?"
Ami pretended not to notice his laptop on his dresser. "A good twelve
hours." she answered.
Luna crawled back up onto Chris' lap. "Sorry for the hasty introduction
last night, Chris." Luna said. "Artemis bet me five bucks you were good. I
thought you were evil. I'm Luna."
Chris smiled. "Yeah, I remember...so what's going on?"
A new face, Darien introduced himself. "I was the only male member of the
team until you arrived. Nice to have you aboard."
Artemis coughed. "Besides me. I am Artemis. Chief advisor of Sailor
Venus and the Sailor Scouts. Former advisor to Queen Serenity and the royal
Court." he said officially.
Darien rolled back his eyes. "Okay, Artemis. He gets the point."
Chris took out his disk. "So, I'm like, a Sailor Scout? Better than a
Care-Bear, at least." he took a deep breath. "This is all a little sudden. Am
I 'Sailor Saturn'?"
"Well," Darien said "I'm actually Tuxedo Mask. It sounds kinda fruity
being called Sailor Earth."
Serena, who was hanging all over him nodded. "He looks so CUTE in his
tux!"
Chris nodded. "I don't remember what the hell I'm called." a grin crossed
his face. "So, I can like, pick a name!"
The Scouts all exchanged worried glances. "I guess so..." Artemis finally
said.
Chris nodded. "Then, you may address me as Strike Fiss."
"Huh?" they all said.
Chris smiled happily. "I always dreamed of being a fighter pilot, and that
is my call sign I always wanted."
"I still don't get it." Mina said.
"Chris rhymes with Fiss. I dunno...I just always liked it. Also the
'Strike' part from a F-15 Strike Eagle. My gosh-darn favourite plane."
They were all quiet.
Rei smiled. "I like it. It will catch the enemies off guard, then we can
pound them."
Chris nodded.
Lita smiled. "Just make sure you introduce yourself last, otherwise the
attack is wasted as the rest of us transform."
"So, Lita, are we like, allowed to tell anyone we trust?" Chris asked. "I
mean, Maury kinda likes you, and my parents..."
Lita went wide-eyed. "He likes me?" she turned to the others. "Cool! He
looks JUST like my old boyfriend!"
Luna coughed. "We try not to tell ANYONE. Unfortunately, a few people
know, either by accident or by being involved."
Rei smiled. "Most people who find out who we are end up dying. It's like
Superman. The minute someone finds out and is about to tell the world, Lex
Luther comes up and kills them. Me and Mina have a little count going."
Mina nodded. "Yes, so far, we guess we've gotten rid of three Negaverse
generals, right after they found out Sailor Moon's identity."
"It's because they realize Sailor Moon is such a ditz, and laugh themselves
to death." Rei added.
Serena shot her an evil look. "Oh, shut-up, Rei."
Rei coughed suddenly, "Well, Chris is fine, and I'm sure you'll be seeing
lots of him later. So if you don't mind, we have chores to do."
Everyone shuffled out the door, leaving him and Rei alone. Chris was
looking out the window. "I'll have to ask Darien where he got his jacket. It
looks pretty cool." he said to himself. Are Serena and him a pair?"
Rei nodded and sat down on Maury's bed. "So, feel different?"
Chris shrugged. "I guess so."
She smiled. "I don't know if I should think that's a good thing or not."
"So. Ami was searching on my computer to see if I was from the Negaverse."
Chris said. "She actually got farther than I expected."
"Why do you have so much security on that thing, anyway?" Rei asked.
Chris smiled. "Well, I have a collection of twenty nasty viruses that
don't show up on any virus scanners, a program that can override the Hubble
Space Telescope and crash it into the White House if I wanted to, and the
passwords to almost every underground BBS server on Earth...not to mention how
to make plastic explosives out of Hubba-Bubba bubble-gum and some model rocket
engines. I like to make sure it doesn't fall into irresponsible hands. Like I
said, Ami was better than I expected."
"She'll be happy to know that." Rei said happily. They were quiet for a
moment. "Aren't you scared? I mean, I know you're not the type to go around
chopping up monsters..."
Chris sat down across from her on the table. "I'm completely freaked out."
he sighed. "But, it sounds like an exciting job."
"Well," Rei sighed, standing "I better go and..."
Chris intercepted her and their lips touched in a tender kiss. It was hard
not to dwell on it too long. Their first kiss...and yet it was so perfect.
Simple, familiar... "Thanks for not kicking my ass." he smiled after they
parted.
Rei closed her eyes and they embraced in another kiss. "Yeah, no
problem..." she said softly, touching her hand to her lips in disbelief.
"I...I'll see you later." she smiled, then walked off, out of the room.
Chris watched as she left. "Oh yeah!" he said, moon-walking and spinning
around.
As Rei closed the door on her way out, she noticed Chad, leaning on the
opposite wall. "Hi, Chad. Grandpa wanted to see you about the dojo. I think
you're supposed to pick up all the little bits of his sword."
Chad nodded. "On my way, Rei."
Rei smiled and left.
Chad just glared at the door. "Bastard..." he said, finally
leaving.
Chapter 11
The sun shined lazily through the fluffy clouds of the afternoon. It was a
perfect day. Not too much wind. Deimos and Phobos hung around Rei as she was
changing. "You crows better not like this." she commented as she put on her
bra. "Wait, you two are females...right?"
Her crows cawed. They were often hanging around like little escorts. When
she was attacked by Jadeite and transported into the Negaverse, they had
followed their master faithfully, helping out.
Just then, she realized that it was just over two years ago when she first
found out she was Sailor Mars. All the fuss over Chris's new identity made her
think back to what it was like. Rei had been thrilled. She felt like it was a
new job, with the best benefits in the world. She instantly gained two friends,
new powers, and an even greater sense of purpose. Before that, running the
temple had been her goal.
Of course, she had been all ready to kick ass, when a week later, Serena
was holding them all back because she was going on merry-go-rounds. She's
decided not to take it as seriously as she first did, but always to be ready.
A sudden 'caw' alerted her to the door knocking. She quickly finished
wrapping her top up around her body and tied up her pants, holding it closed.
"Yes?"
Chad opened the door with a smile on his face. "Hey, Rei. Sorry to bother
you, but I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping this afternoon? I'm
finished all my chores, and wanted to..."
Rei blinked. "But...I didn't win any bet, did I? Why? Do you WANT to
follow me around carrying my stuff?"
Chad shrugged. "Sure. I just wanted to treat you to a day of shopping."
That was too good for her to pass up. "Uh, sure. Let me get changed, I'll
meet you out front."
Chad nodded happily. "Cool!" he closed the door.
She had seen this before, when she was dating Darien. Chad always tried to
make his presence a bit more recognized. Probably jealousy. "How'd he know
about Chris? *I* barely knew..."
Chris stood at one end of the hallway with Maury. "I saw this on a cartoon
when I was a little kid." he said.
Maury watched as Chris strapped two brushes to his feet. "Cool...give me
some brushes!" he said.
Soon, thy both had scrubbing brushed on their shoes. They had decided to
do chores in their normal clothes today, and were wearing jeans to make sure it
wouldn't hurt if they wiped out.
As Maury finished tying his brush on with some rope they'd found, Chris
decided to have some fun. "So, how's Lita?"
Maury smiled. "I wish I knew. I haven't seen her since she came over and
you and Ami had that Jeopardy' game."
Chris nodded. "She likes you, you know."
Maury stood up. "You're kidding."
"She told me." Chris confirmed. "Rei's buddies came over today while you
were out."
Maury's jaw hit the floor. "She likes me?"
"It just slipped out that you liked her, and she said: 'He likes me?'"
Chris said happily. "I say you have a good chance with her!" he lied. Lita
wasn't just interested, she was ready to bear his children. Maury's chances
were 99%.
Maury's face turned to a grin. "Man, she's hot. Did you see that shirt
she had on before? Low-cut or what?"
Chris rolled back his eyes. "Yes, I saw. Remember? I'm concentrating on
Rei, though."
Maury nodded. "Good. Lita's mine."
Chris smiled. "No problem. Shall we?"
Maury looked at the floor. "Okay, what do we do."
Chris hopped over to a bucket of soapy water, dunking each brush in it. He
then started to 'skate' along the floor, cleaning it while gliding across.
Maury shook his head. "I don't believe it worked." he said, dunking his
own feet.
"Neither," Chris yelled from down the hall, bouncing off the walls.
Maury caught up on his new mode of transportation. "This is pretty cool!"
"Just don't try to stop." Chris said, slipping around as he turned and
headed back. "They're not that controllable! HAHA!" he laughed wildly, smashing
into another wall.
Suddenly, Chad was walking down an adjacent hallway, and stepped into
Chris' path as he slid around the hallway.
Maury saw the collision and leapt forward, tackling Chris to the ground
just before the two collided. Chad looked down at Chris in amusement. "What
the hell is this?"
Chris and Maury got up, grinning widely. "Washing the floor." they both
said.
Chad looked at their feet. Soapy brushes replaced their shoes. "Right..."
"Well, we should have warned you to look out when we're high on air." Chris
explained.
"Or pop, or chicks, or money..." Maury continued. "That's why we don't
need drugs. We're too mental already."
Chris nodded. "Huh-huh...Just say no..." he said in a Beavis and Butthead
voice.
They high-fived. "Yeah, we're a 'Don't Do Drugs' add from HELL, man!"
Maury said.
Chad sighed. "Just don't wreck the place while Rei and I are out."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "Oooh, you two got a date?" he said, then
started to snicker.
Maury nodded. "Don't worry, we'll do YOUR room next."
"I'll get the C-4." Chris said, taking off the brushes from his feet.
Chad growled. "In fact, we ARE going out, Chris. And don't even TOUCH my
room."
Chris looked at him. "Chad, I hate to rub it in, but she's not interested
in you. She told me a few days ago."
Maury smiled. "Cool, Chris is fighting over a chick."
Chris frowned. "Bite me."
"Bite me back." Maury confirmed.
Chad gave up and left. "See you later, loser."
The two stood for a bit. Maury frowned. "Well now. He's not very nice,
is he?"
Chris shrugged. "Must be PMS." they started cackling.
Maury pointed in surprise as he saw Chad and Rei go outside together.
"Wait a second. You think he was telling the truth? They just went..."
Chris shrugged. "No way. Rei said she was a shop-o-holic. He's probably
just jealous of having two more males in the temple to compete with, and wanted
to take her shopping."
Maury blinked. "But, there's four of us."
"Trevor and Damien don't count." Chris said happily lifting the bucket.
"Come on, we'll put a piece of ham under Chad's bed."
"And cheese. You can't beat cheese for that smell." Maury added as they
walked down the hall.
"Or we can see if Japan has 'Spam'?" Chris said with a smile. "I love my
life..."
Darien walked down the street, hands in pockets, Serena hanging off one of
his arms. "You know, meatball-head, you don't HAVE to hang all over me whenever
we're together."
Serena smiled happily. "Oh, muffin. I know I don't HAVE to, but I don't
mind..."
"No, it's just my arm's getting kinda numb." Darien smiled.
"Oh," Serena said, unhooking herself off of him. "Sorry." Suddenly, her
watched beeped. "Oh no!" she looked at it.
Darien blinked. "What?"
"I gotta get home! It's already nine!" Serena said, leaping up and kissing
him on the cheek. "See you tomorrow!"
Darien smiled, waving 'bye' as she ran off. When he was finally alone, he
let loose a sigh of relief. "Ugh, my arms about to fall off. Thank GOD she's
gone..."
He WAS happy that they were back together again, but sometimes, it got a
little intense to have her around constantly. Also, another fact he never told
her, he was insanely hot for her, but was forced to hold back because of her
age.
It was a lot easier to ignore his urges when she was gone. "Well, she'll
be 'legal' age in a year or two...but the way everything keeps getting delayed
by the Negaverse is going to suck..." he said to himself.
The street was deserted, so he stretched out his arms to get blood flowing
again. Suddenly, he noticed another pair of footsteps. He quickly glanced
around, but saw no one. He shrugged it off as hearing things.
He walked for another few metres, then heard the same footsteps over his,
coming closer. Darien put down his arms and reached into his jacket, slowly
grabbing a rose.
Suddenly, a laugh filled the air.
THE laugh.
Darien gasped as Zoicite materialized in front of him. "You!" he shouted,
pulling out his rose.
Zoicite landed on the ground. "Aw, Darien...for me? You shouldn't have."
she said with a wicked smile.
Darien realized she was still in her joking stage. "I thought you're boss
fired you, Zoicite. How was your retirement?" he said with a smile of his own.
Zoicite shrugged. "I was half-dead for the first week, then I was caught
in an ice burg for a year and a half. Overall, I'd say it wasn't too pleasant."
Darien tossed the rose at her feet, making it stick in the ground. Zoicite
stepped back in surprise. "Too bad, Zoicite. I really hope your next
retirement's more permanent."
She stepped on the red flower in the pavement. "Haven't lost your sense of
humour, have you, Cape-Boy?"
Suddenly, voices of a group of pedestrians came from around a corner.
Zoicite floated up into the air. "I guess we'll have to finish this later. I
just thought I'd say 'hi'..." she disappeared in a whirl of pink blossoms.
Darien shuddered. "Don't EVER call me 'Cape-Boy'..."
To his surprise, Rei and Chad came around the corner. As usual, Chad was
carrying around stacks of boxes as Rei searched out her next target, which was
home since the stores were closing. Darien ran up to her.
"Darien?" Rei asked. "What's up?"
He pointed to the rose he threw. "We have a problem."
Chapter 12
As Chris and Maury would have said: Dawn broke the next day, coming in
through the window and smashing on the floor.
An annoying beam of sun finally got Chris to open his eyes. On his chest
sat a white cat with a crescent moon on it's forehead. "Uh?"
Artemis looked around to make sure the rest of the room was asleep. "Get
dressed. Darien called an emergency meeting."
Chris nodded. "Hey, Artemis...I gotta ask you..." he smiled. "do you look
up all their skirts?"
Artemis shrugged. "What can I say? If you're short, use it to your
advantage!"
The entire group was in the fire reading room as Chris hurried in with a
long shirt boasting the logo of Weird Al. "Sorry I'm late."
Artemis came in as well, nudging the door shut with his nose. "Okay, lets
start."
Darien explained the situation. "Zoicite is alive."
Everyone except Chris gasped. "Who's this 'Zoicite' I keep hearing?"
"You've heard of her before?" Rei asked. "How?"
"That weird Opeea monster said I was to come back to the Negaverse and help
'Lord Zoicite'." Chris explained. "Why? Who is she?"
Darien sighed. "A real bitch."
Serena nodded. "That dweezle, Zoicite, almost killed Darien, as well as
the Sailor Scouts. If it wasn't for Mina and Artemis, she and her little pal,
Malachite would have toasted us."
Artemis and Mina smiled. "We saved all your butts." Mina said happily.
Darien shook his head. "ANY-way..." Mina and Artemis stopped smiling.
"You said Opeea?"
Chris nodded.
"When I was brainwashed over in the Negaverse, the only Opeea I knew of was
one of Zoicite's household drones." Darien said.
Lita smiled. "So she's basically sending out whoever wasn't destroyed by
us, and is still under her command. Sounds like desperation."
"However," Artemis interrupted "she's still a match for most of you, and
she's not bound by Beryl's orders this time."
"Oh, Artemis," Serena pouted. "I'll just hit her with another 'Cosmic Moon
Power!'" she yelled, raising her arm dramatically.
Rei laughed at the rather comical way Serena started leaping about,
thrashing an imaginary Zoicite. "You really are a ditz."
Serena and Rei got into another 'tongue' contest.
Chris smiled. "So, basically, this Zoicite needs a toasting, right?"
Darien sighed. "She's the smartest of Beryl's old generals. She won't be
too simple to beat again. Especially now that she wants revenge. Hate seems to
drive her instead of blind her to options. Hate feeds her...In fact she
probably eats it for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs."
"What can I do to help?" Chris asked eagerly.
Mina coughed. "Well, she does use a sword. You could be the prefect
person to take that advantage away from her in close-combat."
Rei turned away from Serena's face-making. "He's good, too. He managed to
beat Grandpa easily, and he was decorated as a grand-master level eight by some
judges in the U.S."
Chris gasped. "He was a grand-master? He tried to kill me!"
Rei smiled. "Yup. You don't have much luck with my family, do you? We
all try to kick your ass at one point or another."
Artemis smiled as well. "Looks like you came at the perfect time."
"A week or so earlier would have been better." Luna scowled. "Then I
wouldn't have thought you were from the Negaverse and lost five dollars to lazy-
bones over here."
Artemis sighed. "Would you give it up? I won fair and square!"
Suddenly, Maury walked in through another door. He looked around. "Oh,
sorry...I should have knocked."
Lita smiled goofily. "No problem..." she said.
Maury grinned. "Uh, well, I better go..."
Darien smiled. "Oh, we were just about done here, anyway."
Lita smiled evilly and got up off the floor, walking over to Maury. "Uh,
so, you wanna go for breakfast?" Lita asked, leading him out.
Making sure they were gone, Rei turned to Chris. "So far, we don't have
any plans. She hasn't attacked or tried anything yet. Just be on the lookout."
"What does she look like?" Chris asked.
Darien frowned. "She has a grey suit with green trim. Blonde hair, it
looks like Lita's actually. No chest..."
Chris smirked.
"I'm serious." Darien said proudly, to the satisfaction of Serena. "And
really mean, green, shifty eyes that you wanna rip out and..."
"He gets the idea," Ami interrupted before he got carried away.
"Yes, I get the idea." Chris reassured Darien.
Darien nodded. "She can also float, and transports around using a weird
swirl of pink flowers. And watch out for her 'zoi' attack."
"What's that?" Chris asked.
"It's a mean shockwave she can direct from her hands. She usually will
warn you by saying 'Zoi' first. If she does, get down or you'll fly back into a
building or something." Darien said, getting up to leave.
The group stood up and went over to the door to leave. As Ami opened the
door, they saw Maury and Lita in the middle of a very passionate kiss. Ami
gasped, hiding her eyes. The rest just watched happily.
Mina nudged Serena with her elbow. "I guess Lita found the way to his
heart without food for once."
Lita looked up to see the others. She and Maury parted. "Oh, hi..."
Maury had a goofy grin on as Lita left. Chris walked up to him. "Man, if
you're not a chick-magnet, I don't know who is."
Maury nodded happily. "She invited me over to her place for dinner!"
"Do you think that's wise?" Chris asked.
"Why?"
"Well, you shouldn't be so serious about her." Chris said. "You haven't
even told her about your sex-change yet! It's too soon!"
Maury blinked. "HEY!" he began chasing him around the room to Rei's
amusement. "I'm ALL MAN, ass-wipe!"
Chris held up his had and they stopped. "Yeah-yeah." he smiled. "Except
for the fact you have a..."
Maury frowned.
"Just kidding." Chris said with a grin.
"Anyway, butt-munch, I was going to go and get some school supplies ordered
from back
home." Maury said. "All the textbooks and stuff are in Japanese. You wanna
come?"
Chris shrugged. "Sure, but we still have a week or so until school starts.
I can always order some stuff over the web."
Maury smiled. "Yes, but I have ten thousand dollars to burn. I wanna go
shopping for a bike."
"If you see one like mine at home, pick it up for me." Chris said.
Maury nodded and walked off.
Rei blinked. "How'd he get ten thousand dollars?"
Chris shrugged. "Bill Gates was doing some soul-searching and found it in
his heart to give us money instead of the mafia."
Rei sighed. "You're weird."
"Thank you." Chris grinned.
Suddenly, Chad walked by, virtually ignoring them. Rei blinked. "That's
strange...he wasn't there when Lita left, and I didn't hear any footsteps..."
Chris nodded. "Does he know about you?"
"No, we've managed to keep him out of the loop," she smiled "even though
he's been directly involved with four attacks, he still can't figure it out."
"Maybe that shaggy haircut gets in his way." Chris suggested.
Rei leaned over and kissed Chris. "I'll see you later. I'll let you have
a day to yourself."
Chris smiled as she got up and left. "Uh, you don't have to..."
"I have to get school supplies, anyway." Rei said, out of sight.
Chris sighed. "Oh well..."
Chapter 13
Maury walked up to the door, nervously straightening his coat in the
cooling afternoon air. "Here goes nothing..." he mumbled to himself, ringing
the doorbell.
He was expecting some huge, menacing father to answer, but Lita came to the
door. She was in a cleaning apron and blushed. "Oh! Maury! Uh, come in..."
Maury noticed her apron. "Oh, if you're busy..."
Lita pulled him in. "Oh, no! Not at all...I was just cooking a bit..."
she said, shutting the door behind him.
Maury looked around. Her apartment was spotless. "Whoa..." Lita smiled
happily. He turned to her. "Nice place..."
Lita took off her apron and hung it up in the kitchen. "Thanks!"
Maury was practically shaking. "Uh, soooo..."
"So, what brings you over here?" Lita asked. "How'd you find me in the
phone book? It's Japanese."
Maury smiled. "Uh, I asked Rei, actually."
"Well, all you had to do is ask me." she said, offering him a seat in by
her T.V..
Maury accepted her hospitality graciously. "Well, I kinda forgot to ask
while you were over at the temple."
Lita started to blush. "Well, Maury, what should we do?"
Maury froze up. "I dunno..." he said quickly.
"Well," Lita sighed. "So, where you from?"
"Same as Chris. Calgary, Alberta." Maury said. "How 'bout you?"
Lita looked around. "Tokyo. Been here all my life, actually. Ever since
my parents died I've lived in this apartment."
Maury blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry. What happened?"
Lita sighed. "They were in a plane crash when I was twelve. They left the
apartment for me in their will."
"Didn't they try to put you in a foster home?" Maury asked.
"I managed to convince the jerks I could take care of myself." Lita smiled
happily.
"Wow." Maury said, amazed. "Weren't you shook up over your parents,
though? How'd you deal with it?"
Lita lowered her head.
Maury swore under his breath. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lita...I didn't mean to
pry."
Lita shrugged. "It's not that, it's just that's when I got into my 'pissy
phase'."
Maury blinked.
"I took it out on kids at school." Lita sighed. "They just started pissing
me off, and I almost killed someone."
Maury smiled. "Cool..."
Lita blinked. "What, you're not scared of me?"
Maury shrugged. "Why?"
Lita took a deep breath. "I had such a bad temper at my old school, I had
to be transferred. Even then, my reputation preceded me, and on the first day,
only Serena was brave enough to talk to me." she smiled. "Even the teachers
were avoiding me."
"Sounds like fun." Maury grinned evilly. "I wish I had your reputation."
Lita smiled at his reaction. "You're nice, you know? You make me just
wanna hug something."
Maury frowned. "Hey, Barney the dinosaur makes people wanna hug people."
Lita got up and sat down next to him. "Okay, then I won't hug you."
Maury was caught off guard as Lita leaned over and kissed him. "This is
fine..." he said simply.
Darien walked down from Serena's street. Her dad had been home, so she
wasn't allowed out. Normally, if only her mom was there, she could go out, but
her dad seemed to have a grave dislike of Serena dating at her age.
It wasn't like he was going to take her out for a nice evening or anything,
he just wanted to say 'hi'. But now, he was returning home, out of lack of
anything better to do.
He couldn't help but notice the street was abandoned as Zoicite appeared in
front of his path. "Scared to be seen in public, Zoicite?" he asked with a
grin. "With a face like THAT, no wonder."
Zoicite smiled wryly at his comment. "Your mouth just bit off more than it
can chew, Cape-Boy."
Darien sighed. "Oh, go home, Zoicite. You're queen's dead, and the Silver
Crystal is nothing more than jewellery now." he lied about the last part. Ever
since his old buddy, Fiole had decided to pay him a visit, bringing with him a
nasty flower, they had discovered that Serena's Silver Crystal was still very
much active.
Zoicite laughed, making Darien cringe. "You think I'm after your crystal?"
"Aren't you?"
She frowned. "I'm on my own time now, Tux. I'm only after revenge." she
said, extending her arm and summoning her sword into existence.
"Shit..." Darien mumbled, reaching into his pocket.
"ZOI!" his opponent yelled, knocking him over with a shockwave from her
hand. Darien struggled to pull out a rose, but Zoicite was already airborne,
sword pointed toward his head.
Desperate, Darien rolled out of the way at the last second. Her sword hit
the ground and kept going another foot into the concrete. Darien leapt to his
feet, finally getting a rose free from his coat.
Zoicite managed to pull her sword out and slice the rose in half before it
connected with her face. "Still aiming for my face?" she mused. "How
predictable."
"I just keep thinking if I cut it up a bit, it would be an improvement." he
huffed and puffed, taking a defensive stance.
Darien had no time to transform. Zoicite was in close range, and it took a
good five seconds for him to be battle-ready again. Zoicite must have planned
this, and stayed close, sword extended.
Zoicite raised her sword. "Unfortunately, despite your comment...My face
will be the last thing you see."
"You-hooo!" came a third voice. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare
armadillo? Would you?"
They both turned to see Chris walking toward the scene, already transformed
as Strike Fiss. Darien smiled. "Hey! Strike Fiss! Glad to see ya!"
Zoicite sighed. "What IS this? A Cape-Boy jamboree?"
Chris looked behind him. "I don't have a cape." He shrugged, then smiled.
"But I do have this..." he said, withdrawing his sword.
Zoicite smiled despite herself. "You're kidding, right?"
Darien took this time to transform. Zoicite looked unimpressed. "What do
you say we waste this bitch." Tuxedo Mask said, extending his walking cane,
which could hold it's own against any sword.
Chris nodded. "She doesn't look so tough."
To both their surprise, Zoicite leapt in the air and formed an ice crystal
the size of a small Volkswagen. She promptly threw it to the ground, making it
shatter into hundreds of deadly pieces.
Darien managed to shield himself with his cape, but got a few nasty cuts
along his back in the process. He fell over, gasping for air as the pain
registered. Chris managed to jump to the ground, out of range of the flying
icicles, suffering only a mouthful of dust from the road.
Zoicite smiled, both her opponents on the ground, helpless. She shot over
to Fiss, sword out. Chris struggled to get out of the way as she missed by only
an inch of his head. "Zoi!"
Her force-spell pinned him to the ground as she dislodged her sword for a
second strike. Chris looked down to his sword and found it's crystal hand-guard
was glowing. He held out his sword and pointed it toward her.
To his surprise, her attack was cancelled by an unseen shield. Zoicite
looked down at her hand. "Hey!" she whined. "It stopped!"
Chris got to his feet. "Cool...it must be a shield too..."
Zoicite smiled evilly. "Then I'll just defeat you the FUN way..."
Their swords hit and a loud clang echoed out. Chris growled. "No way,
bitch."
To her surprise, he threw her back with a wedge-like push of his sword.
Fiss then exchanged his own offensive attack. Zoicite, used to fighting
Darien's cane, was caught off guard. She blocked at the last second and swung
her sword forward. Chris spun around, dodging her thrust and exchanged a full
blow with her sword's hilt. It flew from her hands and imbedded in a nearby
building.
She gasped, hand shaking. "What the fuck?"
Chris smiled. "You only get once chance with the Fiss." he brought back
his sword to strike.
Zoicite suddenly threw her arm forward, producing a stream of fire. Chris
shielded his face, making the fire splatter on his sleeve.
Zoicite was about to launch another when a rose hit her shoulder from
behind. She screamed in pain, ripping it out of her flesh. "You bastard!
You'll pay for that!" she yelled, turning to where Darien lay, arm extended from
the throw.
Just before she could fulfill her promise to kick Darien's ass, a sickening
slurp came from behind her.
Chris was there, sword down from a cut. A green splatter now decorated his
shiny blade. "The price is wrong...Bitch."
Zoicite reached behind her back, but she could already feel the cut. It
was deep. She staggered over to her sword. "I'll..." she gasped "be back for
both of..." she paused, dislodging her sword from the wall. "Both of you..."
she growled, then disappeared in a swirl of pink flowers.
Darien ran over to Chris. "You did it!"
Chris sighed. "I only sliced her ass. She'll live, unless she really DOES
have her brain in her ass."
Darien shook his head. "No! You actually beat her at a sword fight! She
used all her sneaky tricks, but you managed to survive!"
Chris smiled. "I guess so. But when could she spit fire?" he looked at
the arm of his jacket, which was burnt. "At least this thing comes with some
armour."
Making sure nobody was around, they returned to their normal outfits. "So,
how did you know she'd attack me?" Darien asked.
Chris shrugged. "You seemed to have a personal grudge against her. I had
the afternoon off. I heard you were over at Serena's house, so I came over to
say hi', and make sure she wouldn't try anything."
Darien smiled. "So, you were bored, and reasoned she'd attack me first
because we hated each other's guts?"
Chris raised a finger. "Right."
"Where did you get 'The price is wrong, bitch' from?" Darien asked.
"A movie. Happy Gilmore." Chris replied. "Uh...never mind."
Zoicite sat on her living room couch, nursing her shoulder and back wound.
Her eyes were narrowed into nasty looking slits. She had used every trick she
knew with no success. It was time to invent some new ones.
Chapter 14
Chris sat in Darien's apartment, looking around. "How did you afford this
place?" he said in amazement. "It's huge!"
Darien threw him a pop. "Oh, you'd be surprised what a generous doctor
would do. I forgot his name, but he took care after me when I was saved from
the car crash."
"Cool." Chris said, looking at the rather impressive projection T.V. that
was built into the wall.
"Yeah, he gave my a bunch of money. I wasn't allowed to spend it until
recently. I just chipped in the rest from my job. Got this cool apartment on a
lease."
"So, what's the deal with you and Serena?" Chris asked happily. "Why were
you coming back from her house? Why weren't you with her?"
Darien sighed, sitting own at an opposite chair. "Her dad."
"Oh?"
"Her dad hates me." Darien explained. "Doesn't think she's ready to date
anyone as old as me."
Chris took a sip from his can of pop. "Well, you love each other, right?"
Darien smiled. "Yeah. Very much."
"Well, why are you letting a simple thing like age bother you?"
Darien sat back in his chair. "Yeah, but she's sixteen. Hell, her father
would probably bring up under-age sex complaints to the police. She's underage,
and I'm twenty. It looks like one of those things on Jerry Springer or Ricky
Lake."
Chris shrugged. "But, it shouldn't matter if you really love her. How
many times have you kissed?"
Darien blinked. "Uh, a dozen or so...?"
Chris raised an eyebrow. "You SHOULD have lost count. After all, she's
hot for you, right?"
Darien blushed. "Yeah, I guess."
"Then go for it, dude!" Chris smiled.
"Every time we get intimate, though, I force myself out of the situation so
it doesn't get out of control." Darien sighed. "It's VERY frustrating."
Chris nodded. "Don't worry...Chicks love that. Playing hard to get makes
them hot." he lied. He had no idea. "She'll get so hot for you, on the morning
of her eighteenth birthday she'll leap through your window and strip naked right
there."
Darien got a mental picture and smiled goofily. "Yeah, I guess you're
right."
"So, it's her dad that's pissy?" Chris asked, taking another sip. "Maybe I
could come over and 'recommend' you."
Darien shrugged. "He'll probably just chew you out as well."
"Hey!" Chris smiled. "I can take it, and give it..." he said with an evil
grin. "In fact, if you wanna prank call him, me and Maury are MASTERS..."
Darien shook his head. "That's okay...I'll handle it the NORMAL way."
"Normal?" Chris asked. "'Normal' is a word used by people with no
imaginations."
Darien nodded. "Yes, but also by people with girlfriends." he smirked.
Chris sighed. "True...but I'm working on it...okay?"
It was five in the morning as Chris got back to the temple. Darien and him
had reasoned they'd been friends back in the Moon Kingdom or something. They
talked all night, but mostly informing Chris on the enemies and events so far.
Chris walked down the hallway, tired. The battle with Zoicite really took
it out of him. He wasn't used to split second jumps and blocks. "Tea." he
mumbled, heading for the kitchen.
He opened the door to see Lita and Maury, half naked, spread out on the
table. All three gasped at the same time. "Sorry, my fault..." Chris said
quickly, closing the door.
He could here rustling from inside as they got dressed. Right on Maury! He
thought with a smile.
Maury eventually opened the door with a red face. "Sorry, Chris...we were
just, uh..."
Chris shrugged. "Don't worry. Grandpa's getting up soon, so go somewhere
else." he advised.
Lita followed after him, waving to Chris as they went outside. Chris
peered in the kitchen, but he didn't feel like drinking out of cups that could
have been...'greased up' or something. He turned back to bed.
Chad was standing in front of him as he turned. "So, you're back."
Chris looked at his watch. "Oh, sorry. I was out, talking with..."
"Rei?" Chad asked with a sneer.
Chris blinked. Chad looked rather pissy. "Uh, no. I was talking with
Darien. Giving him some advice on Serena's dad."
Chad refused to quit Chris' path. "You're sleeping with her, aren't you?"
he demanded.
It took Chris a second to realize he meant Rei. "I wish." he joked.
Chad lashed out and pinned his shoulder to the wall. "Shut-up, you little
asshole. I want you to remember this next sentence, so don't interrupt."
Chris nodded, more curious to why the hell Chad was acting like a tough
guy than he was scared. "Shoot?"
"Rei is mine. Don't go NEAR her." Chad growled.
Chris smiled. "You're kidding, right?" he laughed. "A joke, right?"
Chad let him off the wall. "Not exactly. I haven't taken a year of abuse
from her, just so some punk like you can steal her away from me. I love her,
and I know she has mutual feelings for me."
Chris's eyes narrowed. "You're crazy. I'm going to bed now." he pushed
his way passed Chad and went to bed.
Chad just stood there a moment, puzzled.
Chapter 15
Chris had been up long past five. It worried him that he'd managed to
fight so easily and naturally with his sword. It worried him that killing would
be second nature. Doing it in the name of good and keenness was fine, but it
was still killing.
He decided to forget about it. It was already beyond his control. If he
couldn't forget how to fight after a thousand years, then it wasn't worth trying
now. He might as well put his new found talents to good use. Zoicite. She was
just like Darien had said. Their first encounter was an accident, and she
wasn't ready. Next time, she'd bee back to full attack.
That worried him. The only reason he lived was thanks to Darien's quick
rose to the shoulder.
Then, he began thinking of Rei. She was still keeping her distance from
him. Chris was doing the same. He honestly had no idea what to do. Rei was
such a beautiful, passionate woman, and Chris had no clue what she wanted him to
do.
Rei also lay awake. She hadn't learned of the latest Zoicite attack, so
that was the last thing on her mind. She was thinking about Chris. His ruffed-
up, dark brown hair; his silvery blue eyes; his incredibly warm smile. She
turned over in her bed with a sigh. She knew she was falling for him. She just
wasn't sure if the rational part of her really wanted to.
In half a year, he'd be gone. Sailor Scout or not, you can't give your
family up for that. And Chris had a REAL family. And it wasn't as simple as
visiting him every time she felt like it via a 'Sailor Teleport'.
Plus, school was coming up, and she promised herself she'd concentrate on
her studies this year. Not hanging out, or shopping all the time. Plus, she
had a bad feeling.
HER bad feelings were always right.
About a week before Chris came, she had been meditating at her usual post
in front of the fire, when a strange dream had come to her.
Rei sat up, looking around frantically. She realized in horror that she
was dead. She was a spirit, sitting in her old body. She gasped and got to her
feet. Another body lay near by. It's skull horribly smashed in, and it's torso
ripped apart. For some reason, it also wore a red Sailor Scout uniform. Right
away, she could tell it was a dream, but this was different.
She turned to see City Hall in front of her. The Sailor Scouts in various
places in the vast courtyard, rimmed by massive gardens. The sky was dark with
thunderclouds.
She heard voices behind her and turned to see Strike Fiss arguing with
another figure.
"I'm going to rip you apart!" he yelled with a passion she never heard
before.
The other figure answered. "You won't have time. Enjoy the last...two
seconds of your life."
Strike Fiss turned to the centre of the court. Rei also turned. Suddenly,
a flash of light shot her spirit-body backwards. A huge pulse of force
followed, ripping apart the Sailor Scouts, her dead body, and Strike Fiss.
They were all dead.
Rei, still in her spirit form, cried out for someone to answer, but there
was nobody left. Not for half of Tokyo.
She woke up, in front of her fire. She had ran to Grandpa, asking what
such a type of horrible, realistic dream had meant.
Grandpa turned pale. "Rei, are you certain you had this waking dream?"
"Yes!" she pleaded. "Tell me!"
Her grandfather sat and put his chin in his hand. "I have had one of these
dreams before. Not like yours, in front of City Hall..."
Rei had kept the details vague, but Grandpa guessed at it's seriousness.
"I had one, one year before my father died."
Rei was silent.
"It is a warning of a possible future." Grandpa said. "My father died in
the second Atom Bomb. I had foreseen it."
Rei swallowed hard.
For the first time she remembered, her grandfather was shaken. He shook
his head, not wanting to remember. A tear came to his eye. "I watched,
standing beside him as..." he gasped for air "the man just...disintegrated
before my eyes..."
Rei brought herself to the present. She pushed the dream to the back of
her mind. It was horrible, and she never dared to tell anyone about it after
that night.
She had pretty good reason to have a bad feeling.
Morning came and Chris got up rather early, despite the late night.
Donning his coat and shoes, he made tracks over to a pay phone that was a block
away from Cherri Hill. He picked up the phone.
He punched in a long number, connecting him with a satellite for better
reception. After three rings, Chris' sister answered.
"Hello?" she asked.
Chris smiled. "Yo! Andrea! Whatsup?"
"Chris! Hi!" Andrea replied. "Nice to hear from you...finally."
Chris sighed. "I've been busy."
"Oh yeah? You and Maury in jail yet? For harassing girls?"
"Ha-ha...no." Chris said, then sighed. "Have you heard of the Sailor
Scouts?"
Andrea paused. "Oh! They're those chicks who fight crime in Tokyo, right?
Find any cool Anime of them?"
Chris smiled. He had to tell his sister. They were best friends. "Well,
no. I found out a few days ago that I'm one of the team."
It took his sister a few seconds to get that registered. "What?"
Chris nodded. "I am Strike Fiss', Prince of Saturn! And I swear this is
true upon all the mighty alligators and armadillos!"
That was a stupid little thing they had made up to make sure the other was
telling the truth. It was only to be used for such an occasion. "No WAY!"
Andrea replied. "COOL!"
Chris frowned. "Don't tell the parents...unless I go missing."
Andrea nodded into the phone. "Okay. So! Tell me more!"
Chris sighed. "I can't. I gotta go. Just tell everyone I'm keen, and say
'hi' for me to Beavis."
"I will." she replied happily. "You know, I think he misses you. He
keeps..."
As the conversation continued, a swirl of pink petals a metre above the
booth was the only indication the call had been monitored. "A sister..."
Zoicite said to herself as she materialized in her home. "That is just what I
needed..." she smiled. "Bait."
Chapter 16
"A one, a two...A one two three four!" Chris yelled, pushing the CD-ROM of
his computer shut.
Maury and Chris promptly began mashing around to polka music, and received
strange looks from Trevor and Damien. "Could you PLEASE turn that down?" Trevor
asked. "I thought you hated polka!"
Chris stuck his tongue out. "Don't mess with me, man...I'm crazy."
Maury nodded. "We only like polka when it's bothering you. So too bad."
he said, leaping off his bed into the closet for no particular reason.
Damien blinked. "We're bunking with Jim Carey and Weird Al."
Chris and Maury smiled. "A compliment? Why, spank you very much." Chris
said politely.
Maury grinned as Lita entered the room. "Oh, hi Maury." she smiled
sweetly.
Maury stopped jumping around to 'the Hot Rocks Polka' and went over to her.
They kissed passionately. "Ready to go?" he asked.
Chris coughed. "Where ya going?"
Lita giggled. "We're going to rent one of those boats and go out on the
lake for a picnic."
Maury hugged her. "She cooks better than...uh...Martha Stewart!" he said
proudly. "I promised to show her how to make fish n' chips one of these days."
Maury had actually spent a good many years of his life on the coast. He
was a pretty good fisher. Chris smiled. "You two kids have fun."
They left.
Trevor snickered over the polka in the background. "I bet he'll get AIDS
from her or something."
Chris sighed. "Trevor, unless you can do better, I'd advise you to shut
the FUCK up."
Trevor sneered at him.
"Lita is a very nice person, and I know they'll be great friends, even if
they break up later on." Chris said, avoiding the fact he also saw them doing
the horizontal mambo on the kitchen table last night.
Damien smiled evilly. "Yeah, he's at least getting better luck than you
are."
Chris ignored him, raised his hand, and gave them the finger casually as he
opened up his book to continue reading.
Andrea sat in her room, bored to hell. All her friends were on vacation
that summer, and with Chris gone, there was not much more to do than watch T.V.
and doodle. She had already gotten sick of both.
She put on her jacket and walked downstairs to the living room. "Hey, mom.
I'm going outside."
Her mother, Sandra, smiled. "Okay, just be back before eight. I'll take
you down to the mall. They got a sale on..."
Andrea was already out the door. Her mom sighed. "Poor kid."
She did up her coat in the cold fall air. It was already morning, the
next day, compared to Chris' location. The only good thing that had come out of
him going over to Japan was she was able to take care of his hedgehog. That,
and the news that she was related to a super hero. "What the hell is going on?"
She whispered to herself. "Fissy wouldn't lie about that...unless he was really
bored out of his mind...but he's in Japan!" her thoughts rambled on. "I'm going
to have to ask him when I see him..."
Maybe she could convince her dad to spring for an airline ticket over.
Suddenly, a pink, fluttering object set down on her shoulder. She looked
up. To her surprise, a woman was hovering above her, cackling wildly. "What
the...?"
Zoicite smiled. "Hello, Andrea. I'm going to have to ask you to come with
me..." she shot her down to the ground with a blast of 'Zoi' energy.
Andrea hit the pavement hard, spraining her ankle. "Shit! HELP!" she
yelled, but Zoicite quickly grabbed her and was off again before anyone noticed.
Chris typed away at his computer. The screen had his full attention.
Suddenly, a pudgy hand reached behind him and pulled his bag over. Chris turned
to see Damien, holding his book. "HEY!" Chris yelled.
Damien grinned. "I'm just going to look."
Chris tossed his computer aside and leapt for the book. Apparently, Trevor
and Damien had planed this, and he tossed it over to his friend. Chris gasped
as they huddled in their corner and began to open it.
Chris, on the floor from the jump, reached under his bed. "Give it
BACK..." he ordered, reaching for his sword.
They ignored him. "Oh, we won't wreck it..." Trevor giggled, turning to
the first page. "A sketch book?"
Damien laughed. "What a goofy looking alligator..." referring to a cartoon
Chris had drawn.
Chris took out his sword and cut into Trevor's bed, an inch away from his
leg. The two stopped laughing and looked up. Chris held his sword down, having
sliced straight through the mattress. "I SAID...give it BACK!"
Damien closed the sketchbook and passed it over to him, shaking. "Uh...s-
s-sorry..."
Chris grabbed his book and slid his sword back into his scabbard. "You are
NEVER to touch my stuff." he demanded. "You will no longer go within one metre
of my bed or dresser. You will NEVER look over to see what I am doing on either
my laptop, or in this book. You will NEVER cause me to draw my sword on you
again, unless you intend to try and challenge these rules. If you challenge
them, I will use this to the full extent of beheading your fat, ugly skulls!"
They nodded quickly without breathing.
Chris walked over to his bed and put away his sword. "In return, I will do
the same. We may have to live together, but I don't have to be your buddy."
That ended the conversation for the rest of the evening.
A few minutes later, Chris realized he almost killed them. He started to
sweat. What if he became homicidal from all this power? Even Trevor and Damien
deserved to live...barely...but still...
Chris suddenly got up, with his book-bag and shot out the door.
"Shit...what the hell am I doing?"
Darien walked around his kitchen, trying to remember how to cook curry. He
had it on the stove, but he watched it nervously. It was bubbling. "Is curry
SUPPOSED to bubble?" he called out into his apartment.
Serena was there and walked over to him. "No!" she saw the pot and gasped,
turning down the heat.
Darien watched in amazement as Serena fixed the dish. "Out of all your
talents, making curry is the most surprising."
Serena smiled. "I can teach you, you know..."
Darien noticed her sly look and met her lips in a kiss soon after. "Maybe
we can wait until I teach you a few other things..." he picked her up in his
arms.
Serena giggled, hugging his neck as he brought her over to his couch.
Suddenly, one of her pigtails got caught up in Darien's stride, and he fell
over, sending her into a plant.
He looked up. "Oh! Shit! Serena?"
Serena got up slowly, holding her nose. "That huuuuurt!!" she whined.
Darien picked her up from the mess. "I'm sorry...I'll make it up to
you..." he smiled, kissing her nose tenderly.
Serena smiled. "Ooh, that feels better already, muffin..."
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Darien looked over to Serena, who was puckering up for a kiss. "Shit...I
better get it."
Serena sighed as he answered the door.
Chris stood on the other side, shaking. "Can I come in?"
Darien nodded, letting him in. "You okay, Chris?"
Chris shook his head. "I almost lost it and killed Trevor today." he sat
down, holding his head.
Serena blinked. "What happened?"
Chris swallowed hard. "They just pissed me off, and wouldn't listen to me.
I got fed up and took out my sword. I almost sliced off their heads."
Darien sat down. "Whoa...that's not too good."
Chris nodded. "I'm just not the killing type...but I got all this power
all of a sudden, and it seems like instinct to use it."
Darien smiled. "You'll get used to it."
Chris frowned. "How do you know? Did you do the same?"
Serena laughed. "We all were like that!" she said. "I almost gave away
the fact I was the Moon Princess to my teacher because I wanted her to obey ME
for once."
Chris smiled.
Darien nodded. "Hell yes! You wouldn't believe how many times I thought
to chucking a rose through someone's head because they looked at me funny...AND
my physics paper was about the aerodynamic properties of roses."
Chris ran his hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. "So it's
natural?"
They both nodded. "Ask Lita. She LOVES being a Scout because it's 'more
exciting' than normal, everyday life." Serena said.
Darien patted him on the back. "Don't worry. It's good that you're a bit
more ready to fight. We're in charge with the world's safety, you know." Darien
said, standing up and getting the curry off the stove. "You wanna stay for
dinner?"
Chris looked around. "Are you sure I'm not interrupting?" he said with a
embarrassed smile.
Darien smiled evilly behind Serena's back. "Oh! Don't worry...I hope you
like curry!"
Chris smiled and turned to Serena. "So, what's it like being Sailor Moon?
I mean, you saved the world on a number of occasions!"
Serena blushed and giggled. "It's wicked cool."
Darien handed him a plate and a glass of milk. "What did they do to get
you so pissed off, anyway?"
Chris accepted the food happily. "Well, I might as well show you..." he
pulled out his sketchbook. "Just, please don't tell Rei..."
He opened it up to a series of drawings. Serena and Darien were
speechless. They were of Rei. Darien was bug-eyed. "Wow...they're great..."
Chris smiled happily. "What can I say? I'm in love."
Serena looked at the next few pages. "Hey! She looks pretty when she
isn't such a snob!"
Darien was sill wide-eyed. "I had no idea you felt so passionately about
her. Those drawings have feeling."
Chris sighed. "She's been avoiding me, lately, though. Even after we got
the Negaverse thing out of the way, and it looked like we were going to hit it
off, she backed away a bit."
Serena shrugged, handing the book back to him. "She's been acting weird
all last week."
Darien nodded. "She seems a bit shaken, actually."
Chris took a bite of curry. "Hey...this is pretty good."
They both smiled.
Chris finished chewing and looked up. "Darien? I heard you dated her. Is
this normal?"
"Well, unfortunately, no..." Darien sighed. "She was basically all over me
from the start. She may have gotten more sedate about dating, though."
Chris sighed. "I hope so."
They all finished eating, talking a bit about dealing with their powers.
Chris thanked them for a great evening and left. Darien sighed. "He's a good
kid." He said. "I hope he'll be okay."
Serena hung off his arm affectionately, watching the door, long after it
closed. "He will. He's got you as a friend, after all." she said sweetly.
Darien smiled. "Now, where were we, my sweet meatball-head?"
Chapter 17
Rei sat up in her bed, gasping. It took her a second to realize what had
just happened. "Oh my god...the dream..."
The same, eerie, death of the Sailor Scouts dream had started. She had
been so terrified, she woke up before it got to the part where she looked down
at her mangled body. Her breathing became regular again and she lay back down.
"I can't watch that again." she said out loud.
Moonlight fell in through the window. She glanced at her watch. It read
midnight. She got up and put on a sweater.
Rei walked outside to clear her head. The dream was so horrible, and she
knew sleep was impossible for another few hours. She decided to help out the
process.
She had sat down on the bench before she noticed Chris was there also. He
smiled. "Hi, Rei. Bad dream?"
Rei nodded. "Why are you here?"
Chris shrugged. "Just thinking, actually." He said, hiding his
sketchbook.
They watched the moon reflect off the pond for a moment. Rei smiled.
"Hey, there's Mars."
Chris looked up. "Yeah. Saturn's right next to it."
Rei strained her eyes. "I don't see it..."
"Oh, it's not visible tonight." Chris explained. "But I try to know where
it is now...it gives me a sense of home."
Rei nodded. "Me too. It's nice to look back to the moon kingdom. They
were happy times until the last month or so."
Chris was desperately thinking of something to say. Rei looked over,
behind his back. "Oh! You draw?"
Chris was about to say 'no' when she grabbed the book. "Uh..."
She flipped through the pictures. Then, she got to the sketches of her.
Her face changed. Chris couldn't tell if it was for the better. She looked
almost shocked.
They were quiet for a long time. Rei eventually handed him the book. "I-
I'm flattered..."
Chris smiled weakly, but her reaction wasn't exactly what he expected. Was
she mad? Was she embarrassed?
To his surprise, she stood up and took off her sweater. Rei smiled at his
reaction as she exposed her chest-tight bra. "Chris? You okay?"
Chris was shivering at the sight of her rather inviting breasts and firm
stomach. "Holy shit..."
Rei slid out of her baggy temple pants. "Sorry if I've been avoiding you,
lately." she said softly. "I just wasn't sure what to do with my feeling for
you..."
Chris swallowed hard. "You're gorgeous..."
Rei smiled and sat on his lap. "You're not bad yourself." She said,
kissing him on the forehead.
Chris couldn't believe this goddess of a woman was half naked on his knee,
and was now undressing him as well. Undressing him as well??!!??
Rei couldn't help but giggle as she saw Chris' reaction. She finished
unbuttoning his shirt and took it off. "Well, now." She said, kissing him
softly. "How would you like me to take off your pants?" she asked, brushing her
hand against the bulge in the front of his jeans.
"Eep...!" he nodded weakly as he felt the clasp of her bra unhook and begin
to give way in his hands.
"HEY!" a voice broke the sweet sound of kissing and clothes being undone.
Rei looked up past Chris' head to see Chad, standing over the hill with a
flashlight. "Fuck!" she yelled, grabbing her sweater. Chris turned quickly to
see Chad coming up fast. He helped her get her pants on and zipped up his fly,
pulling his coat over his unbuttoned shirt.
Chad looked at the two. "What the hell is going on!"
"Chad..." Rei growled. "You really pick the worst times, don't you?"
Chris nodded with the same frown. "Geeze, man...get that flashlight outta
my face!"
Chad kept the light in his eye. "I hear rape offences go into the ten year
range, asshole."
Rei gasped. "Rape? Who said anything about that?"
Chris nodded, finally smacking the light away. "You're really..."
Chad wound up and flattened him with a punch to the jaw. Chris looked up
from the grass, shocked. Chad smiled. "There, Rei. That'll teach him not to
try anything."
Rei ran over to Chris. "Chris! Are you okay?"
Chad was definitely a bit stronger and better at martial arts than Chris
was, and a huge bruise was on the side of his mouth. Chris got to his feet,
dazed slightly. That didn't stop him from winding up and connecting his right
fist with Chad's eye.
Chad fell to his knees and rolled once. "You fucking bastard!" Chad swung
around his foot, kicking Chris in the leg and knocking him over again. Chris
hit hard, still feeling the first punch. "You wanna piece of me?" Chad mocked,
getting to his feet.
Chris looked over to Rei. She was growling at Chad. He had been worried
she'd be pissed if Chris tried to kick Chad's ass...but now, he had her
blessing.
He got to his feet as Chad was leaving. "I don't want a piece of you...I
want the whole THING!!" he yelled, running up to him.
Chad was about to block a possible punch when Chris fell to his knees and
slid along the grass, ending up in front of Chad. He kicked upwards into Chad's
crotch, connecting with a rather mean force.
It took him a second to realize what had happened. Slowly, the pain
emanating from his balls reached his brain. "AAAAHK!" he screamed, in a
slightly higher pitch than usual.
He fell onto his back, gasping for air. Chris got up off the ground with a
smile. "Merry Christmas, mother fucker."
Rei ran over to him. "He'll live. You kicked him in an organ he'll never
use anyway."
Chris and Rei hobbled off as Chad left, holding his crotch.
It was too risky to continue what they had started that night, thanks to
Chad, but Rei came back to his room with him.
"I really liked your sketches." Rei whispered as they lay together on his
bed.
Chris looked around to the others. "Are you sure you wanna sleep here? I
mean, it's kinda crowded..."
Rei looked concerned. "Why? Are you afraid of what the others might
think?"
Chris smiled. "Hell no. I can brag now."
"Oh, sure..." Rei smiled. "How I stunned you into submission just by
taking off my pants?"
Chris sighed happily. "Fine by me..."
He watched her fall asleep on his shoulder. Her warm body pressed against
his. Chris was in heaven, despite a bleeding lip. He was just about to go to
sleep with his new love, when a phone rang.
He looked around to find no phone. "My computer?" he asked himself,
reaching behind his bed slowly, not to disturb Rei's sleep.
His computer had it's own phone line. Connected to a cell phone. However,
it was only for hacking. His parents were the only people who knew it's number.
He got worried. He popped open his computer and put on a headset. "Hello?"
His mom was on the other line. "Chris?"
"Mom! What's up?" he asked, hoping it was just a friendly call. "It's
three in the morning here!"
"Chris...Andrea's missing!"
Chris blinked. "Oh my god..." he thought back to what Serena had said.
Everyone they told was either accidentally involved, or dead. He had told
Andrea.
"Chris. We're going to send you a plane ticket so you can come back..."
his mom started.
"Mom..." Chris interrupted. "I'll get her back. Don't do anything."
"Chris? Why?" Sandra asked desperately. "Do you know where she is?"
"I can find out...give me two days." Chris said. In his mind, he had one
thought. Zoicite was going to die.
Chapter 18
"You did WHAT?" Lita growled.
Chris sighed. "I know, I know...I shouldn't have told Andrea...but why
would Zoicite capture her anyway?"
Rei nodded. "It's not like Andrea's a threat to her evil schemes just
because she knows Chris is Strike Fiss."
Lita paced around. "I don't get it. I've been dying to tell our secret to
Maury, just because we've gotten so close, but I never. YOU go out a day after
you find out you're a Scout, and you blab to your family!"
"She won't tell anyone." Chris defended. "She's my best friend. We used
to draw together all the time. While most siblings fight over nothing, we're
actually nice to each other."
Mina sighed. "Well, if she won't tell anyone, that's just fine...but she's
STILL kidnapped. What's the plan?"
Chris and Darien smiled. "Well, we really pissed her off, so she'll
probably try to bait a trap with his sister." Darien explained. "Basically, we
wait for a signal from her, and then group together and kick her ass."
Rei nodded. "I suggest we go on alert and hang out at the temple until it
blows over."
Serena sighed. "Why do we ALWAYS have to meet at the temple? It's so far
out of town!"
"Because it has the most room." Ami said. "Plus, Zoicite hates crows, and
Rei's pets seem to dislike her even more. They'll act like a warning system, and
keep her away from spying."
Rei smiled proudly. "Deimos and Phobos are awesome."
Lita coughed. "Okay, so what should we do in the meantime?"
Darien shrugged. "Well, Chris really isn't used to all of our fighting
tactics. Maybe we should have a practice session."
Serena sighed. "Noooo! Every time you guys practice fight, I always get
hurt for REAL!"
Rei smiled evilly. "We know."
The two began to stick out their tongues at each other...yet again
Artemis sighed. "Okay, Luna and I will get an update from Central in the
mean time."
Chris blinked. "Who's 'central'?"
"A computer we talk to back on the moon or something. We're not too sure,
actually." Luna said. "Queen Serenity told us it would help on the mission.
For a while, Artemis was directing it."
Artemis nodded. "I just tried to help them while Venus and I came over
from Europe."
Chris shrugged. "Okay. Sounds cool."
Rei stopped fighting with Serena for a moment. "Don't worry, Chris. We'll
get your sister back."
Chris smiled. "On second thought, we COULD just leave her with Zoicite.
Andrea would annoy her to death within a week."
Zoicite sat in her living room, examining her sword. "So, Andrea, is it?"
she said. "I hope you're comfortable."
Andrea looked out the window, arms crossed. "Bite me."
The ex-Negaverse general smiled. "I must say, you're not like my usual
kidnap victim."
"Bite me." Andrea replied. "And while you're at it, let me go."
"Now-now..." Zoicite said, standing up. "You we're doing fine until you
asked to be let go. Now, you're just as bad as the rest."
Andrea glanced over to their captor, eyeing her mean-looking sword. "Let
me guess. You're from the Negaverse, aren't you?"
Zoicite smiled with a nod. "Well, now. How did a little girl like you
know all about the Negaverse?"
"Duh? I watch the news, bitch. They wasted your ass at the North Pole."
Andrea said happily.
Zoicite's grin disappeared. "You seem very confident for a lost little
girl who'll be dead in a day."
"Bite me." Andrea retorted.
Zoicite sighed. "I'm afraid I have another thing in mind than biting
you'. Let's get started, shall we?" she snapped her fingers.
Behind Andrea, another of Zoicite's servants grabbed her and took her into
an adjacent room. Andrea yelled out for help, but it was no use.
Zoicite put on a hat. "Time to get to work..." she giggled. "Make sure
you're done before I finish phase one of the plan." she told a servant.
The servant nodded. "Yes, Lord Zoicite. The process is already half
done."
In the adjacent room, Andrea lay unconscious on a strange operating-type-
bed, with a glowing red orb suspended above her, bombarding her with a beam of
light.
'Help' strolled out of a supermarket with a small tub of lemon-pie-filler.
Rei met up with him from shopping down the street. "Ugh, what's THAT?" she
asked.
Chris smiled, eating a spoonful. "Well, it's..."
"Never mind, I don't wanna know." Rei smiled. "Besides, it looks good.
Mind if I have some?"
Chris shook his head. "Go ahead..."
He was cut off as Rei grabbed and kissed him. "Mmm," she smiled sweetly.
"Tastes good."
"It sure does..." he went in for another kiss. Rei responded gladly and
they embraced in the middle of the street. A few pedestrians whistled.
They finally had to break apart as a bus rolled to a stop nearby. "Shit,
the bus..." Chris grabbed Rei, who was still kinda dazed from the kiss and leapt
aboard just before the driver closed the doors.
The two lovers barely noticed the driver was wearing a strange grey suit.
Zoicite smiled, putting the bus in gear and driving off.
Chapter 19
Lita stood against the bus stop, growling angrily. "Freaking late bus
driver asshole..." she exclaimed, causing the other pedestrians around her to
step away to a safe distance. "What the hell's keeping the bus?"
Before anyone could complain along with her, a bus came over the hill.
"Finally," a couple of people said.
However, instead of stopping, the bus kept going. Lita gasped. In the
driver's seat, she saw Zoicite. She dropped her bag of groceries and began
running after the bus. "COME BACK HERE, BITCH!"
Zoicite glanced in the rear-view mirror. A girl was chasing after her at
an all-out sprint. 'Isn't that Sailor Jupiter?' she thought. 'It looks a bit
like her...'
Zoicite had managed to do in the last week what it took Jadeite a good two
months to do. Figure out a Sailor Scout's identity. Rei's, actually. Thanks
to the play backs of her servants and the fact any attack at Cherri Hill was
answered by Sailor Mars first, Zoicite realized she was Rei Hino. Now, she
began seeing patterns in the way the Sailor Scouts always showed up. The
girl now chasing her was around when Jupiter first came onto the scene. The
first person who ever landed a punch on her.
Despite the fact she would have loved to get even, Zoicite decided to
concentrate on her captives. Mars and the new Strike Fiss. She sped up
slightly, just to make sure Lita wouldn't be able to interfere.
Lita gasped as the bus roared off around a corner, out of sight. She
stumbled to a halt and opened her communicator. "I spotted Zoicite. Get ready
to move." she gasped, short of breath. She closed her wrist communicator and
took out her star wand. Nobody was looking and the street was deserted.
"Jupiter Star POWER!"
Rei looked over Chris' shoulder as he drew a loose sketch of her as Sailor
Mars. "Wow, that's great..."
Chris smiled happily. "I only started getting good thanks to my sister,
actually. She taught me how to draw. Plus you're a great model."
Rei blushed. "Well, I try..." she paused. "Wait a second, this isn't the
regular route..."
Chris put away his drawing stuff. "Oh man, did I drag you onto the wrong
bus again?"
Rei looked up at the front. "No, we're on the right number..." she thought
for a second. "We must be going around some construction or something."
Chris yawned. "Well, I'm looking forward to having a nice long sleep
tonight. My schedule is all weird thanks to all this midnight romping around."
he said.
Rei looked around. "That's weird...this bus is usually packed."
Only two other people were on the bus. One from their stop, and another
sitting near the driver. Chris nodded. "Wait a second...what the hell is
THAT?"
In front of the bus, a weird black vortex was opening up. Rei stood up.
"Bus driver! Stop! This is an emergency!"
Zoicite turned around from the driver's seat. "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed
to stop until the next Certified Tokyo Mass Transit bus stop." she grinned,
flooring it.
Rei and Chris were thrown back in their seat as the bus launched forward.
The other passengers started screaming. Rei's arms were pinned to the seat an
she couldn't reach an ofuda. "Damn it! You better not slow down, unless you
want shots, Zoicite!"
Chris couldn't reach his disk either. "At least she drives better than my
old school bus driver..."
The bus roared into the vortex, disappearing into the void just as Jupiter
rounded the corner. "Damn!" she cursed, watching the hole in space slowly start
to close.
Remembering what Mercury did the last time a vortex almost trapped Sailor
Moon and Mars, Lita whipped out her wand and pointed it to the vortex.
"Jupiter...POWER! Keep my friend's exit open!"
She kneeled down and concentrated. A beam of green light shot out from the
symbol of Jupiter on her wand. The vortex lit up briefly, then stopped closing.
Jupiter cringed as the drain on her power started. "Hurry up, guys...I can't
keep this open much longer..."
The bus hit the ground in a harsh bump after the fall from the vortex to
the ground. Rei and Chris looked up from the seat. They were in the Negaverse.
And, they were parked In front of a strange-looking house.
Zoicite stood up from her driver's seat and turned to her passengers.
"Won't you come in for a cup of tea?" she sad simply, disappearing in her swirl
of petals.
Chris looked behind them. "Hey, the portal's still open!"
Rei smiled. "It has to be Jupiter. We better hurry up and find your
sister before she can't hold it open any longer."
Chris nodded. "Why didn't she just crash the bus or something? She could
have gotten away, right?"
Rei shrugged. "I think she has a personal grudge against you. She was
going to kill Darien, and you interrupted her. She probably wants you out of
the way, first."
"Aren't I the popular one..." Chris said, walking out of the bus.
Rei smiled to the other two cowering passengers. "Don't worry. We'll get
you home in a second." she followed Chris out of the bus and to the front door
of the strange mansion they were parked before.
"This her house?" Chris asked, pulling out his disk.
"It looks like it." Rei sighed. "And how'd she know I was a Scout?"
Chris pressed his hand on the huge door. "It's solid bronze or something.
We'd better change."
Rei nodded. "Time to get rid of this bitch, once and for all...MARS STAR
POWER!"
"STRIKE FISS!" Chris copied. The two transformed in the usual array of
special effects. Chris took out his sword. "Knock-knock..."
Zoicite glanced over to the door with a hint of anger as a white flash cut
it up into five pieces, shattering it to the ground. "It was unlocked, you
know..."
Chris smiled behind his sunglasses. "I know."
Rei grinned. "We just love making an entrance." she got serious and raised
her arms in her usual intro. "I am Sailor Mars! Defender of the innocent and
defenceless! In the name of Mars, I'm going to kick your ass!"
"By the weirdness infested as me...I am Strike Fiss." Chris announced.
"Defender of African Pygmy Hedgehogs and anything with 'bob' in it! As well as
anything else keen! Let my sister go, and I'll leave."
Zoicite blinked. "Well, you certainly are a colourful pair, aren't you!"
she took a sip from the tea-cup she was holding. "You want your sister back?
Fine. She's served her purpose." she snapped her fingers and Andrea came from
the shadows.
"Chris!" Andrea exclaimed, running up and hugging her brother. "Thank
god!"
Chris smiled. "Glad to see ya." he hugged back. "You okay, Hooze?"
Andrea looked at him, perplexed. "What? Hooze?'"
Chris blinked. "You're not Andrea..." he threw her off and withdrew his
sword.
"What?" Rei asked.
"I always call her Hooze. She's not Andrea if she doesn't know what
'Hooze' means." Chris sneered at Zoicite. "Where's my sister?"
Zoicite sighed. "So much for that." she snapped her fingers. The Andrea
clone started mutating into a weird turtle-like creature. "You're sister's
fine. But you're going to have to find her."
"Easy." Chris said.
Zoicite smiled. "Oh, I don't know about that." she pointed outside to the
vortex, still open thanks to Jupiter. "That vortex is open for now, because my
gateway crystal is still here." she pointed to a small crystal shard on the
wall, connected to a glowing orb.
Rei gasped. "A Negabomb?"
Zoicite smiled. "It's set on a small yield, so the only thing it will
destroy is the gateway crystal. However, once the crystal is gone, the gateway
out of here is gone as well...with or without your Sailor buddies trying to keep
it open."
Chris and Rei blinked.
Zoicite smiled. "You have ten minutes. When that time is up, you'll be
trapped here in the Negaverse, and you'll have your hands full with all the
people you DIDN'T kill last time around."
Rei growled. "I'm going to shove that Negabomb up your ass and watch you
explode into little greasy chunks of puke, you cunt."
Chris blinked. "Whoa."
Zoicite threw her cup of tea at the crystal and bomb. It ricocheted off
from a force-field. "I'm afraid not even I can stop the count down. You have
about nine minutes now." she disappeared, leaving the two with the turtle-
monster.
"I am Rockgar." the monster said proudly. "You're about to die."
Chris snickered. "He looks like a bad rip-off of a Ninja Turtle."
Rei nodded. "Cowabunga, dude." she pointed her finger at the monster's
face, then shot out a stream of fire.
To their surprise, the fire just splattered and dissipated off Rockgar's
thick, armoured skin. Rei gasped. "It-it...didn't work!"
Chris smiled. "Allow me!" he swung his sword around at the creature's
head. Rockgar raised his arm and the blade bounced off it's bony plates. Chris
gasped as his sword stuck into a nearby wall, out of his hands. "Hey!"
"My turn!" Rockgar bellowed happily, smacking his heavy club-like arm into
them. Chris and Rei were tossed aside like sacks of potatoes and fell into an
un-glorified heap on the floor a few metres away.
Rei coughed, trying to regain her breath. "Damn it!" she got to her feet
weakly.
Chris got up and ran over to his sword, pulling it out of the wall. "Okay,
that's it. Let's waste this asshole."
"I don't suppose you know any of your special attacks yet, do you?" Rei
asked hopefully.
Chris sighed. "Nope..."
"Then we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way..." Rei said.
"Let's rumble."
Rockgar smiled hideously. "Any time you're ready."
Chris tightened his grip. "Well, if Zoicite can do it, I don't see why I
can't." he aimed his sword at Rockgar. "FISS!" he yelled.
A blue shockwave shot out along his blade and hit Rockgar. He flew back
five metres before hitting the ground again and falling on his back. Rei was a
bit stunned. "That's a start!" she leapt up in the air before Rockgar got up
and pulled out a scroll. "Mars..." she tossed it out before her. "Firebird..."
she began her fire spell. "STRIKE!"
The paper ignited and turned into a flaming bird of fire. It impacted on
Rockgar's arm and exploded. Rei landed a metre away from the monster, who now
had a huge chunk missing out of the side of it's body.
Chris jumped up, sword extended. He came down with the blade straight
down. Despite the many inches of thick bone and armour, the blade pushed
through and punctured Rockgar's heart. Chris leapt back with his sword as a
gush of blood ripped Rockgar's chest open. "Now THAT is really nasty..." Chris
said, putting away his sword.
Rei nodded. "Come on. We only have eight or so minutes left, and Zoicite
probably has more buddies she can use against us."
They ran off down the hallway and up a flight of stairs, keeping an eye out
for whatever else Zoicite had planned. Chris glanced at his watch. They had
seven minutes and forty seconds before they, Andrea and two commuters spent the
rest of their lives in the Negaverse.
Mercury was the first to arrive at the scene. "Jupiter!" she yelled.
Jupiter was almost passed out from the strain of keeping the tiny black
hole open. "Help! Mars and Strike Fiss are in there!"
Mercury took out her own wand and began helping with her own beam. Jupiter
regained some strength as the workload was halved and glanced over to Mercury.
"We have to keep this open as long as possible. There's two civilians with
them, and if they manage to get his sister free, we'll have to keep it open for
her as well."
Mercury nodded. "I'm all the help you're going to get."
Jupiter gasped. "What?"
"Zoicite sent three of her lackeys downtown to distract the rest of the
Scouts. They're not doing as well as they hoped." Mercury explained over the
roar of the vortex straining against the two energy beams.
"Great..." Lita sighed.
Mercury took out her data computer with a free hand and opened it. "We'll
be able to hold it open for a good half an hour. But I'm getting some strange
readings from inside. I'm not too sure what's going on."
"Venus Crescent Beam...SMASH!" In a blinding flash, Venus' attack hit one
of the monsters and vaporized it, just before it bit down on Sailor Moon's leg.
Serena nodded her thanks and returned her attention to the two Negaverse
monsters who were now working as a team against her and Darien. In a surprise
attack, Artemis jumped up onto the face of the one attacking Darien. It was
just a Negaverse version of a rhinoceros, but it was fast enough to avoid most
of their attacks. It growled as Artemis began clawing at it's insect-like
compound eyes.
"Whattcha matter? Losing to a cat?" Artemis said happily gouging it's
eye.
It's reply was to throw back his head, tossing him twenty feet in the air
and into a pile of garbage bags. Despite it's injuries, the rhino kept charging
at Darien.
He used the time Artemis gave him to take out a good dozen of roses and he
began throwing them at the monster's feet. "Eat this!"
A rose finally punctured through the rhino's toe and firmly attached it to
the pavement. With it's foot stuck, and at it's speed, the servant hit the
ground, face first and tore off it's leg. Venus finished the job with another
Crescent Beam severing it's head.
The last monster was a nasty-looking baboon creature. It swung it's arm
and knocked Venus to the ground before she could relish her victory over the
rhino.
Sailor Moon threw her tiara at the monster before it could start pummelling
Sailor Venus. It hit the baboon in the head, knocking him away as the tiara
returned. Luna, who was standing by urged them on. "Hurry, Sailor Moon! Use
your sceptre!"
She nodded at the feline and pulled out her sceptre. "Moon Sceptre
ELIMINATION!"
Beams of light and sparkles shot out from her staff and hit the monster.
It promptly exploded in a shower of dust. Venus, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and
the two cats sighed. "Come on, Lita said she needed help over by the North
residential block." Serena said as they ran off.
Venus sighed. "This job was SOOO much easier when I was Sailor V."
A blade ripped through the other side of the servant, who was already half
dead thanks to a toasty Mars Fire Ignite'. As the two pieces fell, Mars and
Strike Fiss stood on the other side. Zoicite glanced over the burning and
sliced up remains of her kitchen staff. "Impressive." she said simply.
The two Scouts, who were almost out of breath, regained their composure.
"You finished, Zoicite?" Mars asked angrily. "I hardly thing killing your
gardener is necessary."
Zoicite was sitting on another couch, in what appeared to be the living
room. Andrea was sitting across, tied up and gagged. "I agree." Zoicite
smiled. "However, I still have one other friend...not the gardener...but rather
my home security system."
They sighed. Chris flicked up his sunglasses and wiped his forehead.
"For a Negaverse general, you're sure a pussy."
Zoicite scowled at the remark. "Well, now. I'm afraid you only have two
minutes left. I don't suggest you anger me, or I may just notify the neighbours
that a Sailor Scout is here. They really hate you bitches."
Rei smiled. "Not as much as we hate you."
Suddenly, a rose streaked In front of Rei's face and hit the ground. Rei
and Chris turned to see Darien. Zoicite smiled. "Allow me to introduce my home
security guard. I call him Cape-Boy."
"Shit, that's another copy!" Chris said, taking out his sword again.
The Darien-copy nodded and stepped forward. "You're going to die now."
"While Queen Beryl was brainwashing Tuxedo Mask, I managed to get a scan of
him with my little machine that produced that copy of your dear sister." Zoicite
explained. "Unfortunately," she smiled evilly "the machine can't copy a person
more than one per day. I set it on two...silly me...and it's going to overload
in a few hours anyway. So, even if you decide to stay here once the portal
closes, and not face the outdoors, you'll be dead either way."
The two gasped.
Zoicite nodded. "Now, Cape Boy. I want you to make sure these two will
stay for the next minute or so. I'm afraid I must be off." she disappeared in a
swirl.
"A minute?" Chris gasped.
Rei nodded. "Mars Fire Ignite!" she snapped her fingers at the Darien-rip-
off, shooting a jet of fire at him.
Cape-Boy leapt out of the way and tossed a few roses at the two. Chris
reflected them away with his disk-reflect. "Get Andrea out of here!" Chris
yelled at Rei.
Rei shook her head. "We can't get close enough!"
Cape-Boy smiled evilly and extended his staff. "Shall we?"
The REAL Darien stood outside the portal. "I don't like this. They're all
alone in there. We should go in and help."
Mercury shook her head. "I'm getting strange readings from inside the
portal. I don't think it's safe to go through."
Venus nodded. "We can't risk loosing everyone. We have no idea what
Zoicite has planned."
Darien growled. "Then I volunteer." he jumped through before any of them
could react.
He landed a metre below on Negaverse soil. A house was a short walking
distance away, and it had the transit bus parked In front, so he hauled over to
it.
Chris had just enough time to see the forty-five second mark on his watch.
"Mars! We gotta hurry up!"
Rei nodded. "I call upon the power of Mars! Fireballs...CHARGE!" she
threw a scroll at Cape-Boy.
It hit and he was frozen in mid-jump. "Right on!" Chris cheered.
Suddenly, Cape-Boy's skin began melting away. Rei slumped. "Oh SHIT!
That's like with the Andrea copy! There's another monster underneath!"
Darien suddenly entered the room. "Hello?"
Chris smiled. "Darien! Get my sister outta here! We only have half a
minute until the portal closes!"
Darien looked around. "What?"
"NOW" Mars and Fiss both yelled.
Darien nodded and picked up Andrea. "Don't worry, I'll get you outta
here."
Andrea smiled. "Wow..."
The new monster emerged from the pile of melted Tuxedo Mask bits. It
looked like something off of the Twilight Zone. It had smooth armour and
forearm spines. It head was a smooth ball-like object with four eyes. Rei
looked over to Darien. "We'll cover you. Just get her out of here!"
Darien nodded and ran off out the door.
The monster nodded. "I won't let anymore of you escape." it said in a
raspy, metallic voice.
Darien burst out the front door with Andrea on his back. He motioned to
the two people in the bus. "COME ON! HURRY!"
They gasped and leapt out the door to follow. The four of them all ran at
top speed to the vortex. Darien dove through and Venus and Moon helped drag the
other two civilians into the universe.
"Where are they?" Venus asked quickly.
Darien gasped for air. "The vortex is about to close. Everyone get away!"
"Where are they!?!" Lita repeated.
"They're in there fighting a monster. This thing's going to close no
matter what and they'll be trapped if they don't win in time." Darien explained.
"They only have a minute or so."
Rei yelled out as Cape-Boy's forearm-blade connected with her side. She
fell over, spurting blood from the wound.
Chris sneered and stepped up his efforts to kill the new monster. "Dammit!
You'll pay for that!"
The monster just laughed as Chris sliced off one of it's blades. "You're
dead either way. And I am just a humble servant."
Rei gasped out for air, but the pain in her side was too much. She curled
up in a ball. "Chris! Waste him! NOW!"
"FISS!" he yelled, throwing back the monster with his reflect-pulse.
"Dammit! I don't remember my attack!"
"Think! HURRY!" Rei said, struggling to remain awake.
Chris nodded. He looked at his sword. Why wouldn't it DO anything? Was
there something else it needed? Like Rei's Firebird? It needed the help of her
ofuda scrolls. Another thing...like...his second sword... "I GOT IT!" he
yelled. It didn't feel right, but hell, he had no time to think of anything
else.
He reached for the end of his scabbard and pulled out his second sword.
Chris brought them together, forming an 'X'. He then brought them around from
the ground to his head, forming a sweeping arc of energy around him. "Saturn
Ring Razor...Looks like it's party time!" He yelled, bringing the swords down,
sending the energy ring around him focusing through the blades and flying
towards the home-security-monster in a glowing arc.
The arc hit, and for a moment, nothing happened. Suddenly, the monster
crackled with energy, then exploded in a grey powdery cloud.
Chris collapsed on the ground from the effort. Rei looked over to him.
"Hurry, get the hell out of here."
Chris looked at her. "You're bleeding too much." he took of his jacket and
ripped the arm off his black undershirt. He then wrapped it around her waist
where she was cut. "I'm not leaving you."
Rei was about to complain when he kissed her. "But..." she started.
Chris sighed. "There's no time left anyway. I'm not going to be stuck
here without you."
Sure enough, the Negabomb detonated, only half a second off cue.
"Chris..." Rei smiled weakly. "Thanks for staying..."
Chris nodded and sat next to her as they watched out the nearby window.
The tiny speck of light that was their way home flickered out of existence, and
the two beams keeping it open were cut.
Chapter 20
The Sailor Scouts all were silent as the last bit of the vortex flickered
out of existence. Andrea blinked. "No...it's not possible."
Darien turned away, hiding his face. "Zoicite is dead." he said quietly.
"That is my life's vow now."
Lita gasped. "Rei? She's gone?"
They were quiet for a long five minutes. Luna smiled weakly. "Well, maybe
the portal at the North Pole is still open." she said hopefully. "We might be
able to..."
Artemis shook his head. "Luna...it's over. If the Pole's portal is still
open, it's frozen under hundreds of metres of ice."
Venus stood up. "Rei and Chris are still alive. We have to remember
that."
"We don't even know that." Darien said. "That monster they were fighting
was a nasty one."
Serena was in tears. "Rei? She's gone, isn't she!?! She was my best
friend in the world!"
They all nodded. Andrea raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry. Anyone who can
eat a litre of concentrated lemon-pie filler and live to tell about it can
survive an alternate universe."
Rei slowly got to her feet. Chris looked over. "Hey! You're too weak to
stand!"
Rei nodded. "Yeah, but that copy-machine of Zoicite's will go any minute,
and I'm not going to die in her ugly, fucked-up dream house."
Chris ran over and helped her to the couch. "I don't think we should leave
just yet."
Rei sat down. "What do you mean?" she smiled. "This is hardly the place
to get it on in."
Chris smiled. "Well, I know that, but I think she wants us to leave."
Rei blinked.
"She was saying the other people of the Negaverse would be outside, waiting
to kill you and me." Chris said. "But nobody's been near this house. We seem to
be in the 'country' version of the Negaverse. I wouldn't doubt if we're the
only people for miles."
"What POSSIBLE reason does she have to care where we die?" Rei yelled.
Chris sighed. "Okay, I know it's weird, but you gotta give me a chance to
think here."
Rei sighed loudly. "We only have a few minutes."
"Then give me those minutes." Chris said firmly.
Rei looked at him. "Shit. I'm in love. That's the only explanation why I
don't smack you upside the head."
Chris smiled. "Thank you. Thank you very much."
Darien walked down the street, cursing to himself for not bringing Rei and
Chris along. "Now, they're lost in the Negaverse, thanks to me." he said out
loud as he stopped and leaned on a lamp post.
Now familiar footsteps alerted him to Zoicite's presence. "Yes. It was a
pity." she said with a hint of amusement. "You left two very dear friends to
their death. That must feel terrible."
Darien's glare was as cold as ice. "I'm going to rip out your heart and
show you how small and black it is."
Zoicite smiled. "You know, in the Negaverse, that's considered love
poetry?"
Darien growled.
"If only you weren't such a goodie-two-shoes, I might be attracted to you."
Zoicite said, smile fading. "But now, all I hold for you is the desire to kick
your ass."
Darien laughed out loud, surprising her. "You really are full of yourself,
aren't you?" he smiled as he saw her reaction. "You think you're the centre of
the universe, and you'll rule everything after you kill me. But we've faced
worse than you, Zoicite, and we've won."
Zoicite was quiet. No snappy come back, no flash of whit.
"You're trash, Zoicite. And you're dead already as far as I'm concerned."
Darien said, pulling out a rose.
Zoicite frowned. "You forget one thing, Cape-Boy...There is no 'we', for
you're little Sailor buddies are not around."
Darien smiled. "I don't care. This is personal anyway."
Zoicite extended her arm, causing her sword to appear. "Then let's finish
this, once and for all. No tricks, no help, no hope." she grinned.
Darien nodded, changing into Prince Darien with a sudden flash of light.
He pulled out his heavy bastard-sword. "The REALLY pathetic part about you,
Zoicite, is that your lover-boy died so much easier that you did. Tell me, who
had the balls in your relationship?"
Zoicite's eyes narrowed into slits. "Don't you EVER talk about Malachite!"
she swung around her sword in anger.
Darien blocked. "One way or another, Zoicite, you're dead. The Sailor
Scouts will get you, even if I die."
Zoicite swung around again. "Die, and then we'll find out..."
Chris paced around the room for the hundredth time. Rei watched him,
getting annoyed. "Do you HAVE to do that?"
Chris nodded. "Yes."
Rei sighed.
"I got it!" Chris yelled.
Rei blinked. "What! What!"
"How did she leave the Negaverse?" Chris asked. "If she didn't need that
crystal, why did she have one?"
Rei thought for a second. "Well, she might be able to use that spell to
transport, but you're right, she wouldn't even have one if she didn't need it."
Chris nodded. "So, she sets up the crystal she used to transport to the
Negaverse with the bus to explode, so the vortex is gone no matter what.
Right?"
Rei nodded.
"Okay, so how does she plan to get back?"
Rei blinked. "You're right! She'd be trapped in the universe as well!"
Chris nodded. "She has to have more of those crystals somewhere!"
"Brilliant." Rei smiled. "Come on, we have to find them before this house
explodes." Chris was about to start searching when Rei grabbed his arm and
pulled him on top of her. "Well, we have a few minutes..."
Chris smiled and kissed her. "Wait until we get home. Trust me, it will
take more than a few minutes with what I have in mind."
Rei smiled. "Why Chris...here I thought you were all shy and polite."
They kissed. "For you, I'd bite the president of the UN in the butt on
international T.V."
Rei blinked. "Uh, that won't be necessary."
Chris looked around. "I'll start looking."
Chapter 21
Darien grabbed his shoulder in pain. "Fucking bitch. You always gotta hit
my shoulder, don't you!?!"
Zoicite smiled. "I stick with what works, Cape-Boy." she said, barely
getting tired. "Tell me, how does it feel to be fucking an underage little
brat?"
Darien growled. "I haven't 'fucked' her. And if you insult Sailor Moon
once more, I'll..."
"Oh, please." Zoicite sighed. "I'm perfectly aware of Serena's identity.
In fact, I plan to kill her parents to get to her, but only after I take out Ami
and Mina." she smiled. "I'm saving Lita for last, because she'll be easiest to
beat when she's angry over the loss of her friends."
"I won't let you!" Darien yelled, swinging around his sword and slicing the
lamp post in two.
She dodged the falling lamp easily. "I've been planning this with a two
year smile frozen on my face, Darien. You have no chance in defeating me.
You're just a human, and you can be killed despite your fancy powers and magic."
Darien gasped, out of breath. His sword, functional, yet large, was too
heavy to compete with Zoicite's light, deadly blade. If he changed back into
Tuxedo Mask, he'd only have his staff and roses. In such close combat, it
wasn't the better choice. She'd nearly won the last time he was in this
situation, and he was lucky Venus showed up at the last second. "Then I'm going
to make sure you die now, even if I have to take you with me."
Zoicite smiled. "Gosh, Darien...that sword looks mighty heavy. Care to
put it down and try your luck with fists?"
Suddenly, a red glow appeared off over the horizon. They both looked.
"What the hell is that?" Zoicite asked.
The red glow came closer and began defining itself as a series of rings.
Zoicite realized too late that it was Sailor Mars' ultimate attack. "Mars
Celestial Fire...SURROUND!" Rei yelled, leaping over the horizon, pumping off a
second wave of deadly fire rings.
The rings impacted at Zoicite's feet, causing a huge explosion to throw her
un in the air. She regained her senses and hovered in the air instead of
falling. "How the hell did they get back!?!"
Chris smiled, walking closer. "We found your extra set of keys." he pulled
out his swords. "Get ready to RUMBLE!" he yelled, clashing the two blades
together, then bringing them over his head and down in a sweeping arc.
The deadly blue energy slash ripped upwards at Zoicite, who barely
teleported out of the way. The arc hit the sidewalk and produced a large
crater. Zoicite was wide-eyed. "I'm not letting YOU ruin my plans!" she
yelled, pointing her sword at Darien. "This is between me and HIM!"
Darien shook his head. "I'm not about to pass up a little help for the
sake of your fucking revenge, Zoicite."
The three Scouts surrounded Zoicite. She growled fiercely. "This isn't
over, Sailor Scouts...don't bet that it is." she disappeared in a swirl.
Darien fell on the ground, exhausted. "Thank you."
Rei smiled. "Hey, you always showed up at the last second for us...I was
just returning the favour."
Maury looked up from his book as Lita came in. "Hi! Hey Lita, I booked us
dinner reservations at the...what's wrong?"
Lita had a strange look on her face. "Are we alone?"
Maury nodded. "Yes, why?"
Lita swallowed hard. "I have some bad news."
Maury blinked.
Suddenly, Chris walked in behind Lita. "Hi, Lita. What's up?"
Lita blinked. "Chris?"
Chris winked. "Rei's in the kitchen and said you should come see the new
comic she got. It sounded urgent."
"What's the bad news?" Maury insisted.
Lita was wide-eyed. "Uh, I dropped my groceries today at the store, so I
won't be able to make us dinner." she improvised. "But since you booked us the
reservations, it's no problem!"
Chris lead her out the door. Chris shut it behind her. Maury blinked.
"What's going on. Is anything wrong?"
Chris smiled. "I found Andrea. She was just lonely and came over on the
last flight from Vancouver."
Maury's grin widened. "Great! Did you call your mom?"
Chris nodded. "I'm just about to. Andrea's just talking to Darien."
Andrea threw another rock into the pond, yet it merely sank with a pathetic
'splosh'. "Damn."
Darien took a throw, the rock skipping across the water seven times.
Andrea glared at him. He shrugged, "Sorry..."
"So..." she began, "You're supposed to rule the entire universe some day?"
"'Fraid so." he said, rubbing his shoulder.
"Isn't that scary?"
He sighed, "Yeah, actually it is. I mean, making payments on my apartment
is hard enough."
She laughed, "I can see where the 'scary part' comes in."
Silence.
"Andrea...?" Darien said simply.
"Yeah?"
"You don't seem very disturbed...after being kidnapped and nearly killed
and all."
She sat down on a bench and crossed her legs, "Well, I guess if my brother
turned out to be COOL, anything is possible. I felt confident that I'd be
rescued."
He smiled gently, "You and your brother are pretty close, aren't you?"
"Yup. He's my best friend."
Darien cocked an eyebrow, "Funny...he said the exact same thing about you."
Andrea smiled evilly, "Good...I've taught him well." Darien looked at her
strangely, "I'm just kidding. But anyway, my family is like, the most important
part of my life. What about you?"
Darien's calmness blew over and he went pale, "I lost my family in a car
crash. I was the only survivor."
Andrea gasped.
"I had to stay in an orphanage for a few good years, until I was old enough
to get a job. I didn't make many friends there, so I've been pretty independent
most of my life."
"I-" she looked down, "I'm sorry...if I would have known, I would have kept
my mouth shut."
He shrugged as another smile crossed his lips, "No problem. I've got all
the family I need." he motioned to the moon.
Andrea sighed, "You think an awful lot of Serena...don't you?"
"Of course I do. I don't think I could love anyone else as much as I love
her."
'Damn.' Andrea thought, but instead responded with, "Oh."
"Anyway," he stretched before sitting down next to her, "What kind of stuff
do you do back in Calgary? I don't imagine you hang around Shinto temples,
expecting to be taken away by some giggling whore."
She grinned, "I draw."
He blinked. "That's it?"
Andrea blushed, "That, AND I play saxophone. I, well...don't have many
friends back where I live. I guess that's why Chris and I get along so well."
"That kinda reminds me of me at that age." he frowned, "Except MY only
friend was a weird alien that I later thought to be a hallucination."
Andrea's eyes widened, "How come none of MY friends are aliens?!"
He pushed a finger to her lips, "Ah, but you're wrong... I don't think the
names 'Sailor Mars' and 'Moon' are just for show."
"Oh, right." she said softly, admiring his closeness.
"In fact, I would say that-"
She hardly heard a single word he said. If there was one person who was
ever a 'Chick-Magnet', Darien was it. Females of many different universes,
species and cultures just couldn't stay away. Andrea was now doing the exact
same thing. This was a guy who was willing to devote his entire life to one
woman. He would very well kill for her, steal for her, even die for her.
Andrea just wished she was 'Her'. She wished she could grab hold of Darien's
arm, kick Serena in the head and say...
"Bite me."
Darien blinked, "Pardon me?!"
Andrea blushed, realizing what she had just said, "Oh, uh...just thinking
of Trevor."
Darien rolled his eyes back, "Ugh. The Twinkie. You know, something about
that spud and his boyfriend really ticks me off."
"That's what most people say..."
Darien unexpectedly found himself staring at Andrea, "I wouldn't doubt it."
Andrea snuggled up next to him, "I'm cold." she said rather bluntly, mainly
to use as cover.
He lifted up part of his coat, putting his arm around her. She smiled,
wrapping an arm around his chest. They both sighed simultaneously, as the sun
completed its decent in the horizon.
"I hope you get to nail Zoicite." she said supportively.
Darien's eyes narrowed slightly, "That makes two of us."
Andrea closed her eyes, "Thanks for saving me. You're really great."
He rubbed her back slightly, almost the way you'd comfort a child, "You're
not so bad yourself, kid." He smiled as she fell asleep curled around him, "And
I'll be sure to watch out for you..."
Lita walked into the kitchen. "Rei! How'd you get out..."
"Long story." Rei shrugged. They hugged happily, but Rei winced. "Not so
hard. I just got this stitched up."
Lita looked at the wound. "Well, the others are waiting out side if you
wanna go out and say you're still alive." she said. "We thought you were dead!"
Rei smiled. "Well, I can't let you guys take it easy on that slacker,
Serena, can I?"
Lita sighed. "I was just about to tell Maury his best friend was dead, for
fuck's sake! Come on, I need a drink."
"You don't drink." Rei said.
Lita nodded. "I know. But his seems like a perfect time to start."
"She's with YOU?" Sandra gasped over the phone.
Chris sighed. "She said she mentioned her brother was in Japan, and the
kidnappers decided it was a good idea. Turns out they got nailed by the Tokyo
police as soon as they landed." Chris lied. "They're wanted in eight countries,
and we'll never see them again."
Andrea smiled. "How do you come up with that shit?"
Chris covered the receiver with his hand. "Haven't I made it abundantly
clear in the fourteen years we've known each other that half the time I'm just
talking out of my ass?" he grinned. "I'm a good liar."
Andrea nodded as Chris and their mom continued their conversation. Maury
smiled. "So, whatcha think of Tokyo so far?"
Andrea looked around. "I like it. Really peaceful." she said, carefully
avoiding the fact Chris was now a super hero and she had been kidnapped by a
freak who could disappear in a swirl of pink weeds.
Maury knew something was up, but he was being a good sport about it.
"Cool. At least with you here, Trevor and Damien will be out numbered...despite
how large they are."
Andrea nodded. "So, I hear you've been busy chasing Lita around." she said
with a smile.
Maury stretched out on his bed proudly. "What can I say? I'm a babe-
magnet."
"Yeah, mom. It's no problem with our hosts. They invited her to stay,
anyway." Chris said. "Andrea's more than welcome to stay, and it's better than
being bored over in Calgary."
"I don't know. School's starting in a month, and I'd like her back."
Sandra said.
"Well, Andrea always wanted to visit Japan, and it saves you the plane
ticket! I'll be back in six months anyway! She can study here and count it as
extra credit!" Chris pleaded. "I'll even talk to Mrs Chi and see what the
options are."
"Well..." Sandra smiled on the other end. "Okay. You take care of her,
though."
Chris put down the phone after talking another few minutes. Andrea looked
over to him. "Well? Can I stay?"
Chris extended his hand. "Welcome to Japan, Hooze."
Chapter 22
That night, Chris and Rei were out for a walk. "So, how's your side?"
Chris asked.
Rei nodded. "Fine. It just stings a little. Doctors say it should heal
without any scars. It was really clean." she smiled. "That's the third time
you asked me how I was doing tonight."
"I'm just making sure." Chris defended.
Rei looked over to him. "You know, I just realized how cute you are." she
said with a smile.
Chris swallowed hard.
Rei held onto his arm. "Seriously. You look really sharp, especially in
your jacket and pants." she giggled.
"Well, you look sharp in your mini-skirt and body-suit." Chris smiled. "I
bet you get that a lot."
Rei shrugged. "A bit, I guess. But not from anyone as sweet as you." she
kissed him on the cheek.
Chris took a deep breath. "So, what do you think of my attack?"
"Pretty impressive." Rei smiled. "But you keep saying different things to
start it."
Chris shrugged. "It's almost like the one off of Pizza Cats. I think I'll
call it the 'Saturn Ring Rumble'. It's catchy, don't ya' think?"
Rei blinked. "Err..."
"Oh, a cartoon called Samurai Pizza Cats. I think they have it in Japan
under a different name." Chris explained. "The leader, Speedy, has two swords
like mine and does a similar attack." he smiled. "Mine's cooler, though."
"I'll take your word for it." Rei said as they walked up the street.
They walked quietly for a few blocks.
Rei suddenly grabbed him and hugged him tight. "Chris, I was so scared. I
thought I was going to die in that goddamned Negaverse all alone."
Chris nodded. "Me too. But it's okay now." He smiled. "Here..."
Rei dried her eyes. "What?"
Chris reached into his coat and pulled out his little lucky swords. "I
wasn't you to have these."
Rei shook her head. "No, I can't accept this..."
Chris pushed the necklace into her hand. "I'm already lucky enough. I
don't need anymore."
Rei sighed, "I know I was kinda joking the last time I said it, but I..."
He leaned down and pressed her lips closed. "I love you too..." they
kissed.
Rei nodded. "Come on." she grabbed his hand and lead him across the
street.
"Uh? Why are we going to the park?" Chris asked, wide-eyed.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I'm not going to lose my virginity in the
middle of a public street." she smiled coyly.
"What?!?!" Chris asked nervously.
Lita watched Maury from across the table. He had been quiet all evening.
"Are you okay?" she asked finally.
Maury looked up from his plate. "I don't know...it's just..."
"What?" Lita asked with a smile.
Maury sighed. "What's going on? I mean, everyone's been acting strange.
I'd say it's because I'm not used to Japan, but even Chris has been a little
strange since he got his sword."
Lita wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sure it's nothing." she said finally.
"I haven't noticed anything...maybe Chris is just getting into his relationship
with Rei."
Maury stared at her for a long time. "Well...maybe you're right..." he
went back to his dinner.
Lita smiled.
Maury took a bite of sushi. "Hey, this isn't bad." he said to Lita's
delight. "You going to cook this at your restaurant you said you were going to
open?"
"If you like it, I will." she replied. "But sushi isn't cooked."
"Whatever." Maury shrugged.
Maury and Lita gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, enjoying the
romantic atmosphere of the classy restaurant. "I still think you're up to
something." Maury smiled.
Lita shrugged. "You have no idea." she fed him another piece with her own
chopsticks.
Darien stared out his apartment's windows at the bright Tokyo skyline. A
lot was on his mind. How many more little things had they missed when they
destroyed Queen Beryl? It was true Zoicite was crafty and smart, but there had
to be more like her.
Serena had fallen asleep on his couch a long time ago, complaining he was
too quiet, even compared to his usual, calm demeanour. He had phoned her mom to
let her know she was okay. With his conscious cleared, his thoughts returned to
Zoicite.
Was she really his nemesis? The ultimate person that would be his ultimate
match? Would she best him? After all, if battling the Negaverse taught him one
thing, it was that Good didn't always win. "Why can't this all be over?" he
sighed.
Chapter 23
Sunrise saw Rei and Chris, sitting under a park bench umbrella in the rain.
Rei adjusted the umbrella above the picnic table. "What's Grandpa going to
say?"
Chris smiled. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU TWO..."
Rei shook her head. "It was a rhetorical question. It doesn't matter, it
was worth missing breakfast over."
Chris suddenly turned his back to her. "You do realize, you could do much
better than me."
Rei frowned. "Chris, you're too modest. I'm surprised we're so...close!
I thought you'd think me too...out of reach."
Chris leaned back. "You were. LOOK at you! You're smart, stunning, have
a cool grandpa and job, absolutely sexy," he leaned forward. "Have a wonderful
smile, sense of weirdness, your kind, passionate, you're a super-hero..."
Rei laughed quietly, sniffing in the light drizzle all around them. "No,
I'm just some ordinary girl who happens to speak to magical cats, and is from
another planet."
Chris stood up. "You're also modest. One thing, though..."
Rei raised her eyebrow. "Wait, if you're saying I'm not an experienced
lover, well..."
Chris laughed. "Hell no! That's what I was about to ask you!"
Rei smiled, one of her killer smiles. "You sure about that?"
"I'd prove it to you right now, but we'd probably get arrested." Chris
said, kissing her hand tenderly.
The rain beyond the shelter of the umbrella started to stop. "Another
beautiful day." Rei sighed happily.
Chris stretched out and took a deep breath of cool morning air. "Ahh!
Makes me wanna migrate or something."
Rei walked over to him and held his face in her hand. "Feel free to
migrate over to my room tonight...or the next..." she flashed a sexy smile. "Or
the next...or the..."
Chris kissed her hand. "I get the idea."
Rei was just about to pull him in closer when a stray pink blossom hit her
face. She turned to see Zoicite standing a few metres away, walking closer. "I
applaud the way you two got out of my little trap, but I'm sick of you
interfering in my plans."
"Don't you evil villains ALWAYS say that?" Chris sniffed. "STRIKE FISS!"
he yelled, pulling out his disk.
"Mars Star POWER!" Rei followed.
Zoicite kept her glare. "I have a showdown with Tuxedo Mask, and I WILL
have it, no matter how many of you I have to kill!" she produced her sword from
thin air.
Rei sighed. "Another beautiful morning with a man I love completely ruined
by a Negaverse slut."
"Not completely ruined, Miss Mars...after all, we get some target
practice!" Chris said, pulling out his sword.
Zoicite pointed her sword at Fiss. "Who the hell are you anyway? You're
just some fucking exchange student. Why do you think you're so special because
you're a Sailor Scout?"
Chris smiled. "I'm special. Huh-huh...like mental...'special'." He spun
around and made a loud chop in the air with his sword. "I just hate bitches
like you. That's all. Nothing personal."
Zoicite raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, waiiit!" Chris said, stepping forward. "I almost forgot. You
kidnapped my sister! NOW it IS personal!"
Rei pulled a scroll out of her skirt. "I don't like it when my friend's
family are used as bait."
Zoicite just kept her hideously evil smile plastered on her lips. "Bait.
That's a good word for your little band of merry-men. Or shall I call you the
Failure Scouts?"
Chris sneered. "That did it. You psychopathic Care-Bare. You wanna rock,
or what?"
Zoicite laughed. "After I kill you and the rest of you Sailors, I'll pick
up the Silver Crystal and turn this city into a parking lot for Negaverse war-
machines."
"The crystal?" Rei smiled. "It's been changed. It no longer exists in
that form, and it's powers have been depleted. It's nothing more then Sailor
Moon's broach now."
"Rei, I'm disappointed." Zoicite said, rubbing in the fact she now knew
Mars' name. "First you settle for this...chimp, as a boyfriend, and now you
expect me to believe your little story?"
"CHIMP!?!" Fiss growled. "I'll stick a banana up your ass, monkey-bitch!"
Rei sneered. "Actually, Saturn here could waist Malachite easily, in any
area you choose." She kissed Chris to his surprise. "ANY area."
That got Zoicite. "You better watch what you say about Malachite." she
said coldly.
Rei gave Zoicite the finger. "You wanna know how we killed him? I can
assure you it was a nice, undignified death. He vaporized while holding his
shoulder, blubbering like a baby. We even turned his own weapons against him,
and he never got a welt raised on us. It was quite ironic, don't you think?"
A tear came to Zoicite's eye. She said nothing for a moment, trying to
hold back her sadness.
Chris lowered his weapon. "Come on. You know it's useless to do anything
about it. You're already dead. Just go back to the Negaverse and join a club,
or something. Find something to do, other than fight until you die again."
Rei sighed. "We'll just let you go. No questions asked. Find another
man, settle down, and have a great family. Have a good life. For excitement,
you can come to Earth again and go in a shooting range or something. We'll even
let you cheat, using that 'Zoi' thing of yours."
Zoicite actually seemed to consider it. Finally, she returned to an evil
smile. "You humans don't get it, do you? You're right. I'm already dead.
Because of you. Now, I'll get my revenge on you little pukes, then the rest of
this fucked up planet!"
She launched forward before they could react and Chris had no time to
reflect her back. Their blades clanged in a shower of sparks. Chris regained
his footing and threw her back by pushing his left hand along the dull edge of
his own sword. "Oooh! Nice try, but no cigar!"
Zoicite growled. Rei put her hands together to use her fire, but before
she could finish, Zoicite made a quick gesture with her hand. "ZOI!" Rei was
launched back into the bushes.
Chris growled. "Oh, NOW it's on, biatch!!" he yelled, catching Zoicite off
guard with a sudden attack.
She recovered and began blocking as Chris struck her sword three times in
rapid succession. "You'll have to do better than that!" she laughed.
Chris looked over to Rei, who was getting up slowly, holding her side
again. She had landed on her wound, she was struggling not to yell from the
pain. Rei Hino, the beautiful young woman he had fallen for the second he saw
her. And she loved him too. It was like one of those overpriced romance novels
involving people named 'Kiki' and 'Fabio'. Only this was better. Chris wasn't
about to let it end. "I'm getting just a bit sick of you, bitch!" he yelled,
concentrating into his attack.
Zoicite got ready to block. "I'm ready, freak..."
"Mars Celestial Fire Surround!" Rei pumped off a dozen deadly rings of fire
at Zoicite before she even knew what hit her. They hit her arm, causing her to
spin about, holding it with her good, sword arm.
The smell of burning flesh reeked out from Zoicite as she put out her own
arm. To their surprise, she kept coming.
Chris brought his sword down in a blinding flash. Zoicite was thrown back
as her sword exploded from the hit.
Everything was silent as the smoke cleared.
She lay on the grass, stunned. Finally, she got up and looked at her
stubby blade. "You BASTARD!"
Chris blinked, then smiled, putting away his sword. "I'm done here."
Zoicite got up to her feet. "Oh, just because you destroyed my sword,
doesn't mean I'm letting you give up now!"
Chris shrugged. "I'm giving up. I'm done fighting you."
Rei nodded. "Yup," she smiled. "We're just going to stand here."
Zoicite growled. "What?" she shook her head. "Fine! If you want to be
slaughtered like lambs, be my guest!" she started forming a nasty ice-crystal in
her hand.
"Oh, we won't." Rei said. "You forgot one thing."
Zoicite grinned evilly. "Oh yeah? What's that?"
Chris raised his hand. "Oh! Can I tell her, Rei?"
Rei nodded. "Be my guest."
"WHAT?!?" Zoicite demanded, sick of their sudden calmness.
Chris cleared his throat. "You don't have eyes on the back of your head."
A rose struck her back as the thought registered in her brain that someone
was behind her. She gasped as the rose embedded itself in her spine and
shattering two of her vertebrae. "Nooooo!" she yelled, falling over.
Darien stood behind her, arm extended from the throw. "I've been saving
that rose for you, bitch."
Zoicite reached behind her back and pulled out the deadly flower. "Damn
you, Cape Boy...I'll see you in hell if I die!"
Darien looked up to Chris and Rei. "Thank you for letting me the final
blow." he bowed his head.
They smiled. "You deserved it." Rei said.
"Do me proud!" Chris cheered.
Darien took out his staff and extended it to about a metre's length. "For
the last time, Zoicite..." he raised it above her head. She struggled to move,
but she was paralysed from the rose. Darien continued. "My name isn't Cape-
Boy...!"
He brought the walking staff down as hard as he could. It smashed into
Zoicite's skull, killing her...this time...for good.
Prologue
Darien and Serena happily cuddled together in front of the fire. "Oh
muffin..." Serena giggled. "You'll always be my hero."
He shrugged. "True, but I must admit, Chris is pretty mean with a sword.
And Rei managed to distract her until I got close enough too...It was a team
effort."
Mina and Ami nodded happily. "Teamwork is always our secret weapon." Mina
said.
Artemis lay on her lap, basking in the fire's warmth. They were outside of
the temple, having a midnight picnic. "Yes, and now, we're bigger than ever."
he said sleepily.
Luna smiled. "I'm just glad for once I was wrong."
"You're almost ALWAYS wrong." Artemis retorted.
Luna frowned. "Oh YEAH? Who found only ONE Sailor Scout? YOU!"
Artemis growled. "You wanna make something of it?"
Mina sighed happily. "That's teamwork for you!"
Rei looked over to the picnic basket. "HEY! Who ate all the cookies!
There were twenty of them!"
Serena burped.
Rei shot her an icy look. "You better buy the next picnic's food, cause
I'm not chipping in ever again!"
Serena and Rei began another argument.
Meanwhile, over the other hill, Chris, Andrea, Lita and Maury walked by the
pond. Maury sighed. "Okay? What did you want to talk to me about?"
Chris smiled. "Well, you know how some people have split personalities?"
Andrea nodded. "Yeah, and are all psycho and stuff?"
Lita frowned at them. "What we're trying to say is...here, you better sit
down first."
Maury sat on the bench. "What? You all super heroes or something?"
Andrea frowned. "Well...not ALL of us..."
THE END...
OR IS IT?
A small, metallic pod flew past the surface of Pluto. It looked like a
strange sunflower seed, only with a shiny, glassy surface. A small jet fired on
it's starboard side, adjusting it's course to a tiny blue speck called Earth.
And it was being watched.
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Hi everyone! I hope
you enjoyed the slightly more spiffy AR Part 1! For those reading this for the
first time, you are fortunate to be seeing Version 2. Better spelling (still,
not perfect, but hey, I'm trying...), a few scenes and situations fixed up and
fine-tuned. Also, re-formatted so smaller screens don't choke on the old 100-
ish character lines. ^_^
Coming back to this story 6 years after it was originally written is a special
time for me. Quite literally, this has been my life's work. Not in the context
that you may think...after all, I plan to write much greater things in my
lifetime...even past SK and the rest of the Strike Fiss saga. I mean 'life's
work' as in this has been my chance to work on who I am. What I am and how I
see my life. These stories have helped me evolve past the little boy back when
I first started, to the crazy weirdo I am today. ^_^ I might be the only one
who notices anything different, but I can tell you, I'm glad. AR has helped me
become a little more like my hero, Strike Fiss. And in turn, Strike Fiss
becomes more human. I dare say that, one day...we'll meet in the middle
somewhere...
Thanks to the THOUSANDS of fans! I am not kidding. Literally thousands of
readers, world-wide, from every age, sex, race, creed, fandom, religion and walk
of life have all pooled their attention onto this silly little story...forcing
me to realize just how many awesome people there are out there. I am doing this
update for you all, in hopes that you can all turn back to the beginnings of
this story and not cringe in horror. ^_^ Also, to encourage new readers to sit
down and enjoy. It's one of the facts that keeps me writing, even after all
these years. Domo, arigato!
And so, I shall say farewell for now, and invite you to keep reading. If you
can take some kind of enjoyment, inspiration, or even just insomnia from my
work, I will be doubly pleased. ^_^
Finally, a special thanks to Andrea, who continues to be my best friend even
after all these years, and I hope many many more. To Maury, who's friendship I
treasure even today after life's ways tossing us gradually away from each other.
And to all my friends and family, who have been there for me in any reality.
e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com
homepage1: www.studioshinnyo.com
homepage2: www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110
Strike Fiss, Studio Shinnyo 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF. (
geocities.com/tokyo/9110) (
geocities.com/tokyo)