Notes at the bottom, as usual.
The majority of characters in this story are owned and/or copyrighted by
Naoko Takeuchi, DiC, Disney, Bandai, Toei Animation, Seagull Entertainment,
Graz Entertainment, Sunrise, Mixxzine, Saban, Playmates, and probably a half
dozen other corporations which I've neglected to mention. I should add for
the benefit of their respective legal departments that I make no claim to
the characters which the previously listed or referred to companies have
copyrighted, and I am not making any money from the distribution of these
stories (if I were, do you think I'd still be working at McDonald's?)
The characters which do not appear in either the Sailor Moon or Ronin
Warriors shows are mine. Touch them and die.
Now that that's out of the way...
Crystal Scouts #9
"Here Comes the Cavalry"
Like most major cities, San Francisco has a number of parks; quiet
areas where one can rest 'far from the madding crowd', as one writer put it.
But unlike most major cities, where the parks are scattered across the city,
the majority of parks in San Francisco are on the west side of town. The
east side and harbor were quickly filled with people when the city was first
settled, leaving the urban planners only the west side of San Francisco to
beautify.
Because almost all the citizens of San Francisco were on the east
side of town during the day, either living there or working, the city's
parks were all but deserted while the sun was high.
Which was sometimes a good thing.
A strange cloud appeared low in the sky in one such park, just above
the trees. It had a pink tinge to it, and it slowly began to move in a
circle, stretching out into a ring as it did. The center of the ring began
to shimmer oddly, again with a pink tint.
A figure fell through in a burst of light--a girl, with short bluish
gray hair and an orange skirt. She landed on her feet, not even bending her
knees to break her fall.
Three similar flashes heralded the arrival of three others. One, in
a red skirt and raven-black hair, performed a graceful somersault before
landing. The second, with rust-colored hair and a blue skirt, went down on
one knee. The third, wearing a green skirt and a braid in her light brown
hair, rolled upon landing and came up facing the other three.
"Showoffs," the orange skirted girl muttered.
"Where's Sailor Moon?" the green one asked.
"Aieee!" The yell came from above them, as a girl with a pink skirt
fell, face first, twin ponytails flapping like streamers. She landed with a
giant splash in a fountain.
"Sailor Moon!" the one in red yelled worriedly. She rushed to the
fountain and pulled the spluttering Sailor Moon out as the pink cloud
swirled in upon itself above them.
"I like...Pluto's upright...portals better," Sailor Moon coughed as
the raven-haired girl helped her to sit up. "At least I had somebody to
break my fall last time."
"Are you going to be all right?" the red-skirted girl asked.
"I guess so, Sailor Mars," Sailor Moon said, wringing the water from
one of her long pink ponytails. "Still, I wish...I wish I didn't have to do
this--" she pointed at her pink skirt--"like this, I mean."
"If you don't think you can handle it, just say the word," Sailor
Mars said. "I'll take over the lead for you."
A generation ago, those words would have provoked at least a tongue
fight between Sailors Mars and Moon. With these two, they had no such
effect.
"No," Sailor Moon said. "We're in Scout form--"
"Not by choice," the orange-skirted one interrupted.
"--so I'm the leader," Sailor Moon finished. She dropped her voice
to a whisper. "Between you and me though, Mars, I'm not very powerful in
this form."
"Nobody expects you to be. You're without the source of the
majority of your powers."
"I haven't used this form in close to a thousand years," Sailor Moon
whispered. "Don't be surprised if I'm a little...rusty. Soon as I get that
crystal back, though..." She trailed off.
"Are you two done with your little talk?" the orange-skirted one
asked impatiently. "We _do_ have work to do, you know."
"Sure thing, Sailor Venus." Sailor Moon turned to one of the two
girls who hadn't spoken yet--the one in blue. "Sailor Mercury?"
Sailor Mercury had produced a small computer seemingly from nowhere
and had begun rapidly tapping away on its keys. "First, before any of you
ask, it's Wednesday, April 3, 1997; and we're in San Francisco, California,
United States of America. Second, Quicksilver's picking up Black Moon
energy east of here--in what looks to be Chinatown."
"How quickly can we get there?" Sailor Moon asked.
"At top running speed? Ten to fifteen minutes."
Sailor Venus shook her head. "Not good," she muttered. "Not good
at all."
Sailor Moon turned to the green-skirted girl. "Sailor Jupiter?
You ready?"
Sailor Jupiter stood alone, arms crossed, yet still managing to make
it seem as if she were leaning against something. It was a mildly annoying
habit that she had picked up from her father. "I always am," she replied
nonchalantly.
"All right, everybody," Sailor Moon said. "Let's go."
The dragon snorted again, with a chiming sound, releasing another
puff of smoke. Its green catlike eyes darted between the Sailors, as if
choosing a first target.
It decided on the unconscious and defenseless Indigo Sailor.
The Red Sailor, watching its eyes intently, noticed the dragon's
stare fixed upon her friend. She began to run...
The dragon snorted, a third time...
The Red Sailor landed beside the Indigo Sailor...
Another puff of smoke...
The Red Sailor tossed her friend's arm across her own neck...
The dragon opened its mouth...
The Red Sailor stood up, shouldering her friend's weight...
She leapt into the air as a ball of flame exploded where she and
the Indigo Sailor had been two seconds before.
The Red Sailor landed hard on one knee. She laid the Indigo Sailor
on the ground and tried to shake her awake. The only response she got was
a groan.
She turned to the Green Sailor, who had rushed over to check on
them. "She'll be all right. Hang on to her for a second. I'm going to
fight fire with fire."
The Red Sailor walked in front of the dragon as its eyes tracked her
lazily. "Fire--" she said, letting the power build up inside her before
releasing it. "Flame!"
Her deadly spurt of fire was three feet from the dragon before it
even moved. The monster belched a wall of fire which easily blocked the Red
Sailor's attack. She threw up her arms in front of her eyes as the
resulting explosion threw her back.
The Blue and Orange Sailors helped the now soot-blackened Red Sailor
to her feet. She coughed some of the black dust from her lungs and blinked
her red eyes, which (along with the top half of her face) were the only
parts of her body which hadn't been darkened by the dragon.
"Are you all right?" the Blue Sailor asked.
"I'll be fine," the Red Sailor replied, examining her singed hair.
"But we need a miracle."
A miracle was on its way--albeit very slowly.
"If you had let me hot-wire that car like I wanted to, we'd have
been there by now," Sailor Venus complained.
"I didn't have a problem with you 'borrowing' a car," Sailor Moon
replied. "What I did have a problem with is that you wanted to take a
two-seater Lamborghini."
"You've gotta go in style."
"Where would the rest of us have ridden?"
"In the trunk," Sailor Venus muttered.
"Wait!" Sailor Mercury exclaimed, grasping Sailor Moon's wrist. She
pointed at a sign that read "BART". "This way."
"Who's Bart?" Sailor Venus asked.
"BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit," Sailor Mercury replied as
they descended a flight of stairs.
"The subway?" Sailor Venus asked, showing her firm grasp of the
obvious.
Sailor Jupiter absently patted her skirt. "I seem to have forgotten
my tokens."
"Don't worry," Sailor Mercury said, jumping down onto the track and
running as the others followed her. "You won't need them."
"You're going west," Sailor Mars said. "Chinatown's east."
Sailor Mercury's response was drowned out in the blare of an air
horn. Seconds later, the subway train's headlights illuminated the five
Sailor Scouts.
"Three...two...one..." Sailor Jupiter counted softly.
The engineer blew one more frantic blast on the horn as the Scouts
jumped straight up and vanished. He blinked for a few seconds, then wiped
his glasses on his shirt and ran his hand through his thinning gray hair.
Definitely time to think about early retirement...
The Green Sailor had brought the Indigo Sailor back to
consciousness, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
"Don't go anywhere, all right?" the Green Sailor told her. "I'll be
right back."
The Indigo Sailor nodded dumbly.
"Wood--Sprout!" the Green Sailor called.
The dragon's limbs and body were wrapped by her reeds. It strained
against them for a few seconds before snapping them loose.
"Won't _anything_ work?" the Green Sailor said, frustrated.
The Orange Sailor answered her question, in two words. "Earth--
Shake!"
The pavement under the dragon cracked and buckled, leaving gaping
holes. The dragon, however, remained unfazed. It unfolded its giant wings
and hovered a few feet above the ground.
"We're in trouble," the Orange Sailor said quietly.
"Metal--Chain!" the Purple Sailor yelled, swinging the chain
sideways like a whip, intending to smash the dragon in the snout. Its
massive jaws clamped shut on her chain, grinding it in its fangs. The
chain refused to break.
The Purple Sailor changed her strategy slightly. She held onto one
end of the chain and jumped onto the dragon's neck, catching up the other
end. She pulled it tight in the dragon's mouth, using it as a makeshift bit
and bridle.
The dragon reacted like a rodeo bull, flapping its wings and
climbing into the sky, rocking and twisting, trying to dislodge the Purple
Sailor. She hung on tenaciously, hoping this would be more than an eight-
second ride.
"Nice touch," Sailor Jupiter commented dryly. "Our first solo
mission and our first monster is a hundred-foot dragon."
"So?" Sailor Moon replied. "Our mothers fought a dragon once--same
bunch of jerks sent it, too."
"Not the point," Sailor Jupiter replied. "They had a few more
powers--not to mention a certain magic gemstone."
"We're wasting our time talking about the weaponry we wish we had,"
Sailor Mars interrupted. "In case you hadn't noticed, there's a girl on
board that dragon."
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" Sailor Venus yelled, deliberately
moving her pointed index finger. A golden beam of light shot from her
finger and shredded the dragon's left wing.
Sailor and dragon spiraled to the ground like a well-thrown
football. The two, however, had considerably more impact than an ordinary
pigskin. The Purple Sailor was tossed like a rag doll from the dragon's
neck and landed like one. The dragon shook its head as if to clear it, then
snarled angrily and carefully tucked its injured wing in close to its body,
ready again for battle as soon as it found the strength to rise.
"That wasn't exactly the solution I had in mind," Sailor Mars said,
horrified. "I'm going to go help that girl." She dashed off.
"I should at least cover her," Sailor Mercury said. "Mercury
Bubbles Blast!" sent her fog following after Sailor Mars. She tapped her
earring to call her visor into place.
Sailor Moon turned on Sailor Venus. "What were you _thinking_?
Don't you care at all about that girl--"
The rest of her tirade was interrupted by a blue streak, as a
strange new Sailor clad entirely in dark blue knocked Sailor Moon to the
ground and wrapped her hands around Sailor Moon's throat.
"Ya--ya sent that dragon and now ya tried ta kill my friend--" the
dark blue one began in a thick Brooklyn accent. Her speech, too, was
abruptly cut off, this time by Sailor Venus, who had wrapped her right arm
across the dark blue one's forehead and her left across her jaw.
"Let her go, or I'll snap your neck," Sailor Venus said, emphasizing
her point by tightening the pressure. "Now."
The dark blue one released her chokehold on Sailor Moon, holding her
arms straight out away from her. Sailor Jupiter took her right arm, and
Sailor Mercury her left. Only when Sailor Venus saw that the other two had
a good grip did she release her own hold. She looked hard at Sailor Moon,
who was returning to her normal color and rubbing the red fingermarks from
her neck. Sailor Venus' ice blue eyes glinted coldly.
"My methods may seem ruthless, but they work."
Sailor Mars heard the last word of Sailor Mercury's chant and
noticed the familiar fog rolling in behind her. She was grateful for the
cover it would provide, but she wished Sailor Mercury had come with her.
Being the daughter of a doctor gave Sailor Mercury a little more experience
with this kind of thing.
As Sailor Mars came a little closer to the girl, who was lying face
down on the pavement, she finally noticed the girl's clothing. All purple;
purple knee-high boots with white trim, a short purple pleated skirt--with
a purple bow on the back...
No--it couldn't be...
Sailor Mars gently rolled the girl over. She had asphalt abrasions
on both knees, her right arm and the right side of her face. Sailor Mars
wasn't really worried about those; they could always be treated later. What
concerned her now was the rest of the girl's clothing.
She wore a purple bow and purple sailor collar, with a purple choker
and a gold tiara with a purple gemstone set in it.
Sailor Mars' mind reeled. This girl was a Sailor Scout--she had
become one by using one of the Rainbow Crystals. So Sailor Pluto's warning
had been right after all--which wasn't surprising; but Pluto's actions had
been too late to do anything about it--which _was_ surprising.
Sailor Mars was so lost in thought that she didn't notice she had
company. Two more girls, both in Sailor costumes, had joined her; one wore
red and the other wore green.
"Is she all right?" the green one asked.
"Yes. She's breathing, and her pulse is steady," Sailor Mars
answered.
"Who are you?" the red one asked as the fog closed in around them.
Sailor Mars knew who this was without asking; something indefinable
in her voice branded her as the leader. No sense in fighting one-on-two
against them--especially with her less-than-normal powers; she'd just answer
their questions and determine whether they were friends or foes. "I'm
Sailor Mars."
"Is she?" the red one asked the green.
"She's wearing the right colors," the green one said. "And Sailor
Mars is supposed to have black hair."
Sailor Mars tried to ask a few questions of her own. "Who are you
two--three, I guess?"
"I'm the Red Sailor," the red one answered, "this is the Green
Sailor, and our fallen friend is the Purple Sailor." Her voice had softened
slightly, but now the edge returned. "Did you send this fog?"
"No, my friend did--to cover me."
"It didn't do much good shielding you from us."
"It's shielding me from the dragon."
"What about that laser beam that chopped up the dragon's wing and
injured my friend?" the Red Sailor asked. "Was _that_ you?"
"No, that was another friend. She must have thought the Purple
Sailor was riding--controlling the dragon, giving it orders."
"Just how many friends did you bring with you?"
Sailor Mars saw no reason to lie. "Four."
"There are seven of us."
Sailor Mars' head began to spin again. She'd hoped that at least
one of the crystals hadn't been tapped for Sailor powers yet. This was bad,
very bad...oops, the Red Sailor was talking again. "...know to attack the
dragon?"
"I can sense evil." Sailor Mars didn't think it was necessary to
tell her that she was only a novice Shinto priestess, with only a twentieth
of her mother's psychic abilities.
The Red Sailor seemed to accept that answer. A short silence, then:
"And what do you sense in me?"
Sailor Mars hesitated slightly. How much should she let on that she
knew? As little as possible; this _was_ a Scout mission after all, so she'd
just let Sailor Moon decide how much to tell them. "Goodness," was all she
said.
"Which side are you on, Sailor Mars? Good or evil?"
Sailor Mars sighed inwardly with relief. At least she hadn't asked
"with us or against us". She wasn't quite sure how she'd answer that
question. "The Green Sailor seems to know all about me. She should know I
fight against evil."
The Green Sailor blushed slightly as the Red Sailor spoke. "Please
come with us, Sailor Mars."
The two Crystal Scouts picked up the Purple Sailor carefully, as
Sailor Mars turned and waved her upraised arm. I hope you can see me,
Mercury, she thought...
Sailor Mercury's visor was the only thing that could penetrate her
dense fog. "Sailor Mars has reached the girl and...oh, boy. You're not
going to believe this."
"What?" Sailor Moon asked, a trifle impatiently.
"I'm picking up Rainbow Crystal _and_ Sailor energy. That girl that
Sailor Venus blasted from the sky is a Sailor."
"That makes two," Sailor Jupiter said in her typical laconic way.
"Two what?" asked Sailor Venus.
"If you hadn't been so busy trying to snap our captive's beck, you'd
have noticed she's wearing a Sailor costume too," Sailor Mercury answered.
"Which means that's two Rainbow Crystals accounted for--wait a minute, who
are _those_ two?"
"What two?" Sailor Moon demanded, tensing slightly.
"The two who just joined Sailor Mars who also have similar energy
signatures to our captive."
"What do you mean--"
"That's four," Sailor Jupiter said calmly.
"Those are my friends," their captive said. "They're gonna finish
off your friend for hurtin' the Purple Sailor, then they're gonna rescue
me--"
Sailor Venus went nose-to-nose with the captive. "Shut up."
The captive's dark blue eyes shone with fury. "If your pals weren't
holdin' me, I'd have kicked your butt by now."
"You had your chance already," Sailor Venus replied, eyes glinting
again.
"Enough, both of you!" Sailor Moon commanded. Even Sailor Venus
knew better than to argue with her when she used that tone of voice.
"Mercury, what is happening to Sailor Mars?"
"Nothing," Sailor Mercury replied. "They're just talking. Okay,
they've picked up the fallen Sailor...Mars is going with them...She's giving
us the all-clear signal!"
"Is she being coerced?" Sailor Moon asked.
"No, she's standing alone--all by herself," Sailor Mercury replied.
"Okay then, let's go," Sailor Moon decided. "Bring our--friend--
with us."
Sailor Mercury led the way, still holding onto their captive.
Sailor Venus sidled over to Sailor Moon.
"Pluto really screwed us over this time," she said. "As if giving
us the weakest power sticks she could find wasn't bad enough, she sent us
here too late to prevent the crystals from being used. I'll bet you we're
going to be meeting three more Crystal Sailor Scouts."
Sailor Moon could have defended Sailor Pluto, but she didn't. Deep
down, she was thinking the same thing Sailor Venus was.
"Sailor Mars," the Red Sailor announced, "meet the Orange, Yellow,
and Blue Sailors."
Sailor Mars smiled and shook their hands, but like a robot. No
Indigo Rainbow Crystal yet, she noticed. Kami-sama, she prayed with all her
soul, don't let there be an Indigo Sailor too...
Behind her, the fog shimmered as five more figures appeared. Both
groups saw each other at the same time.
Sailor Mars' heart sank as she saw the four Sailor Scouts' captive.
The four Sailor Scouts' hearts sank as they saw Sailor Mars'
companions.
The Red Sailor looked puzzled. "Why are you holding the Indigo
Sailor prisoner?"
Sailor Mercury answered her. "She tried to attack--"
Her blue visor flashed red. "Dragon's back!" she yelled, dropping
the Indigo Sailor's arm and spinning around.
A dull reddish glow appeared directly in front of the twelve Sailors.
The Indigo Sailor easily slipped out of Sailor Jupiter's grip and prepared
her attack.
"Air--Wind!" she yelled as the dragon's fireball came flaming into
view. The vortex easily bounced the dragon's attack back at it, but it also
had the unintended effect of clearing a wide space through Sailor Mercury's
fog.
The Sailors quickly regrouped. The dragon snorted smoke and blasted
another fireball in their direction.
The Blue Sailor stepped forward. "Water--Wave!" she called. The
fireball was extinguished by her attack, replacing some of the fog with
smoke.
Sailor Moon looked frantically around her. "Where's Sailor Venus?"
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" the other Scouts heard a split-second
before the dragon roared in agony.'
Sailor Venus had used the opportunity provided by the Blue Sailor's
smokescreen to slip unnoticed beside the dragon's head. A well-placed
Crescent Beam across its eyes had blinded the beast. Sailor Venus quickly
returned to the others.
"Attack it now, while it's weakened!" she directed.
The Orange Sailor accepted her challenge. "Earth--Shake!"
Her attack bounced the dragon into the air as the pavement beneath
it collapsed. The dragon fell back into the pit, rolling over as it did,
exposing its soft underbelly.
Sailor Jupiter no longer seemed to be leaning against anything; in
fact, she seemed to be at least three inches taller. "Jupiter Thunder
Crash!" she yelled, throwing her arms open wide.
The dragon convulsed under the electric barrage. By the time the
smoke cleared, the now-helpless dragon was missing quite a few chest scales,
revealing raw skin underneath.
From the moment she had met the other five new Sailor Scouts, the
Red Sailor had felt a new power growing inside her. She didn't know why it
was there or where it was coming from, but she decided to use it now.
"Fire--" she began, searching for the proper trigger word. "Blaze!"
The Red Sailor's body seemed to glow red as she released her attack.
The blaze engulfed the dragon's body and reduced it to a large pile of ashes
and a red gemstone, which flickered to a dull gray.
"All right!" Sailor Moon crowed. "We did it!"
"We've got to get out of here," the Red Sailor said, turning to
Sailor Moon. "Those jerks who sent the dragon are going to be back any
second."
Sailor Moon nodded. "No problem," she said. "Everybody join hands."
Sailor Mars second-guessed what she was planning to do. "Do you
really think this will work?"
Sailor Mercury jumped in. "Why not? They _are_ Sailors."
"Where do you want to go?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Our house," the Red Sailor replied.
"Okay, everyone. Visualize going to their house," Sailor Moon said.
"Sailor Teleport!"
The twelve Scouts vanished.
Three seconds later, a figure in a brown hooded robe appeared on the
scene the Sailors had just left. Disbelievingly, it plucked the gray
gemstone from the ash pile. "They killed Drakaina..." it whispered.
The voice suddenly grew stronger, turned to cold steel. "Coral!"
Coral appeared beside the hooded figure. "Yes, Commander?"
"Those Sailor Scouts showed up to help, did they not?"
Coral nodded. "The temporal scanner picked up their entrance into
Golden Gate Park ten minutes ago."
"Use it to find them now."
Coral shook her head. "If that strategy worked, Rubeus would have
captured the Rabbit with absolutely no fuss all those years ago. It didn't
work then and it won't work now."
"Then send Pearl after them. Either she defeats the Sailor Scouts
and gets those crystals or she dies trying."
Coral nodded.
"Don't get too relaxed, Coral. If she fails, you're next."
Coral nodded again. "Yes, Commander."
They both vanished, leaving only the remains of the dragon. The
ashes began to fly away on the wind, far out over the sea.
Hi, it's me again. Here are the notes:
* The bit about the parks in San Francisco is true. All told, there
are about four major parks on the east side of the city. Golden Gate Park,
however, which is on the west side, is _huge_.
* Something should be obvious by now: these aren't the Scouts you
know and love; they're the daughters of the originals. Their fathers are
the color-correspoding Ronin Warriors (what can I say, I like that series
too...)
* Quicksilver is what I named Sailor Mercury's data computer.
* Kami-sama means the pantheon of Japanese gods, more or less like the
Greek gods on Mt. Olympus. The way Rei (or Raye) uses it in the Japanese
series, it's like "Oh my god!"
* Drakaina, in case you didn't know, is Latin for "she-dragon".
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