Missing Crystals Part 5: Crystal Clear Reception Original Flavor SM fanfic by: M.H. Torringjan Okay, well, here's the next part of my Missing Crystals series. I'm not sure really where I'm going with this, but at least I'm doing it to get it out of my head. I hope that you're enjoying reading this fic series (well, if you've gotten this far, then either you're enjoying it or you're MSTing it). As soon as I've finished this one, then I can finish my Two Heads MSTing, and then, I'll get started on the counter series to ACS. Or not. I've got too much material stored up in my head anyway. Now, just to state it and not get in trouble for it, I do not own Sailor Moon. I am only using the characters thereof to write a series of stories for fun. There is no profit involved in this endeavor. There are two characters that I've made up for this and past series, although only one of them is of any importance at this point in the series. One is Michael Cross/Sailor Europa, and the other is Jennifer Hino. Any random products mentioned during the course of this fanfic are the property of their respective owners. Now, if there is nothing else, then... Sailors Moon, Mars, and Mercury emerged on the top of a tall building in the middle of Chicago. A radio tower stood beside them, indicating a radio station somewhere below. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon in the distance, slowly warming the air around them. "Well, at least it's warmer here," Moon said. "Can we get down from here and get on with this? I want to get back and get on the beach for a while." "This may take shorter than we had thought," Mercury said. "My computer says that it's right below us about ten floors." "What time is it here?" Mars asked. "It's about nine in the morning," Mercury replied. "Man, somebody's been coming in to work early," Mars said. On the street below, cars rolled slowly along towards their own works. Moon could hear a motorcycle revving its motor, as though it could go anywhere anytime soon. "Let's go through that door over there and see what's going on with this crystal," Moon said, reverting. Mars and Mercury did the same and followed her to the doorway. As soon as she pushed the door open, a loud bell began ringing. "Meatball-head! You must have set off a fire alarm!" Raye exclaimed. "Guys, the crystal is moving," Amy said. "It's going downstairs." "We should take the fire escape to get down," Amy said. "Fewer people will see us that way." The three ran to the fire escape and began the climb down it. At each level, Amy would peek through the windows to be sure that no one saw them. Getting arrested would be an incredibly bad thing, since their crystals would be taken and they'd have to explain to their parents why they had to be bailed out of a jail in Chicago. They'd also have to explain how they got there in the first place, which would be an even greater pain. When they reached the bottom, they jumped to the ground and walked around to the front of the building. "Amy, can you find where it is?" Raye asked. "Yeah, I can," Amy said, typing on her computer. After a few minutes, she pointed through the crowd to a tall woman with red hair. "Great, someone owns it," Serena said. "So, who's got the best English?" "Need you ask?" Raye asked. "Amy, you're going to have to talk to her about it." "Oh, come on, you two! I couldn't do that!" Amy exclaimed. "Amy, this isn't the time to be shy," Raye said. "All right, I'll give it a try," Amy replied wearily. She walked up to the woman and started talking in English. She was a bit shaky, but she seemed to be able to communicate her point well enough. "Excuse me, ma'am, this may sound odd, but do you have a crystals on you?" "You're right, that does sound weird. Unless, of course, you're a burglar. Then, it makes perfect sense, and I'll call the police," the woman said. "Oh, no, ma'am!" Amy replied. "I'm not a burglar! I'm sorry of bothering you!" She walked quickly back to Raye and Serena. "No luck, guys. She thought I was a burglar. Maybe it would work better if Sailor Mercury asked her." "Well, whatever happens, it better happen soon," Raye said. And, as though on cue, the people standing around began screaming. The Scouts peered around the corner and saw the crowd scattering as a Droid knocked the woman down and took the crystal. "Okay, guys, let's go!" Raye exclaimed. "Mars Power Transformation!" "Mercury Power Transformation!" "Moon Crystal Power!" The three Sailor Scouts emerged from the alleyway and ran to the Droid. Her head was shaped like a battery, with plug prongs for hands. She hit the woman again, knocking her out cold. "Stop right there!" Moon called. "That's my crystal, and we're going to get it from you, no matter what the cost! I'm Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I'll right wrongs and triumph over evil!" "Well, I'm Droid Zapper, and my prediction'll shock you! I'm getting out of here, and I'm taking the crystal with me!" Zapper said, turning to run. Mars jumped behind her to block her path. She drew her sword to emphasize her point. "You're not going anywhere, Volt-face," Mars said. Zapper turned to run down the closest alleyway, and Mercury jumped to obstruct her path. "Don't even think of running, Zapper!" Mercury exclaimed. "You're not getting away," Moon said. "Oh, I'm not, am I?" Zapper said. The Droid flipped a switch on her forehead, producing sparks between the prongs on her hands. "Try this!" She shot a beam of electricity from each of her hands towards Moon and Mars. The two assaulted Scouts jumped out of the way, as they would any time. "Gotcha!" Zapper exclaimed as she followed the Scouts midair and hit them with her electric beams. "Mercury Blizzard, Freeze!" Mercury exclaimed, letting a blast of icy-cold wind flow over the monster. The hands of the creature froze, stopping the flow of electricity through Moon and Mars. The two stood where they were, stunned by the shock they had received. Mars' metallic armor didn't help in the least. "Freeze my hands, will you?!" Zapper exclaimed. She pointed her hands to the top of her battery-shaped head. Energy began to focus at the positive end in a large, electric ball. "Oh, is that *really* necessary?" Mercury asked. "Mercury Icicle Jab!" A giant icicle appeared at the tip of her hands. The two threw their attacks at the same time, causing them to meet in the center and explode in a fantastic light show. "Guys, are you okay?" "Just fine," Mars said. She staggered to her feet to let loose with an attack of her own. "Mars Explosion Blast!" The resulting explosion threw Zapper into the wall of the radio building. When she was able to pull herself together and out of the side of the wall, an impression was left behind that would require some major work to repair. "I'm surprised that the building isn't falling on top of us," Mercury said. "Watch it with that attack, Mars!" "Sorry, she's just really getting on my nerves!" Mars yelled back. The fiery attack had reheated Zapper's frozen prongs to the point of melting. She was only able to retain their shape through sheer will-power. As the Scouts began to regroup, she waved her arms around lightly to free up the extension cords. "So, you want to play rough, do you?" Zapper said, flinging her extended arms towards the Scouts. They were barely able to dodge the red-hot prongs with their bodies intact. Mars jumped straight up in the air, returning to the ground with her sword out and in position to cut one of the hands off altogether. Her sword sliced cleanly through the thinner extension cord. Almost instantly, a liquid began to spray out of the wound. Mars and Moon had no idea what it was, but they didn't want to take a chance. They jumped out of the way of the unknown substance, and where it hit began to fizzle. "Watch out, you two! Batteries leak battery acid!" Mercury exclaimed, dodging out of the way of a spray of the lethal battery acid. "Mercury Blizzard Freeze!" A larger blast of cold air focused on Zapper, freezing her in place. "Sailor Moon, hit her now!" Moon pulled her Moon scepter out and prepared her attack. "Moon Scepter Elimination!" she called out, releasing all of her energy into the blast, which hit the paralyzed monster head on. When the smoke cleared, however, the monster still stood in place, frozen stiff. "Sorry, guys, guess it's not strong enough!" Moon exclaimed. "Mars sword, give me the power to destroy this evil," Mars chanted to the sword. "Mars Holy Sword Slash!" The sword flew at the monster, slashing it down the middle and leaving only a pile of moon-dust. Moon ran over to the pile of dust and began to sift through it, looking for her crystal. She pulled it out and looked at it closer. It was smaller than she had expected, mounted on a ring, but a very large one at that. "No, please, don't take it away!" the woman who "owned" it said weakly. "Ma'am, we need this crystal!" Mercury said in English to her. "But you can't! It's my engagement ring!" the woman exclaimed. "Oh, crap," Mercury said flatly. She relayed the information to the other Scouts, as well. "Please, return it right now!" the woman said. Serena looked longingly at the crystal for a moment. "Mercury, Mars, help her up. We need to take her somewhere that we can talk freely." The three Scouts led the woman to the top of the building, where they had been only a little while earlier. "Ma'am, we're very sorry about this," Mercury began. "What's your name?" "I'm Becky Linnings," the woman replied. "There has been some sort of mix-up involving your engagement ring. You see..." Mercury went on to explain to her the situation with the Silver Millennium and the Crystals, leaving out parts that she didn't think the woman should know or weren't important. "Wait, I have to give this ring up because it could help to save the world?" Becky said. "Yes, that's about it," Mercury said. "Moon, show her." Moon held the crystal high in true showy fashion. "Moon Power Transformation!" A few moments later, Moon stood in the same place with her new suit of armor on. "You see, ma'am, this item can make us stronger and allow us to defeat evil," Mercury said, working hard to make sense in a real conversation. "You saw that Moon's attack didn't kill the monster then. It would have now." "Well, I can understand the importance of it. Can we just go and talk to my fianc to make sure that he understands the situation?" Becky asked. "Yes, Becky," Mercury said. "And could you three come with me so that I've got some credibility?" Becky asked. "I guess we can do that," Mercury said. The four descended the fire escape to go to her car. "You know, it might be a good idea if you three changed clothes," Becky said to Mercury. "It's not the best idea to be going around in such outlandish outfits in this city." Mercury passed this suggestion on to Mars and Moon. "What do you think?" Mercury asked. "I don't think that it's a good idea," Mars said. "We barely know this woman, how do we know that we can trust her with our secret?" "Oh, come on, Raye! She seems nice enough. I doubt that she'd do anything that'd hurt us," Moon said. "Rena, I'm with Raye on this one," Mercury said. "We just met her, and we have no idea what she's really like. We only know that she wants her engagement ring back, and she has no reason to believe us other than that we say so. I think that the best way to work this one would be to keep her ring and go with her still in Sailor form. I'd think that any leverage she gets on us would be a bad thing for us." Mercury turned back to Becky. "We'll stay this way, thanks." "Suit yourself," Becky replied, leading the way to her car in a nearby parking deck. A few minutes later, they were on their way to Becky's apartment in her small, crowded, green car. When Becky stopped at a stop light, the silence became too monotonous for her liking. She tried starting a conversation. "So, where is home for you guys?" "We're from Tokyo," Mercury replied. "In Japan?!" Becky exclaimed. "Yes, in Japan," Mercury said patiently. She hated when people reacted like that with an obvious statement. Becky leaned over to Mercury. "Hey, why don't your friends talk?" Becky asked Mercury quietly. "They haven't done good in English at home," Mercury said. "They don't know how to study, even though I've tried teaching them. They talk a lot when we're home." Becky decided to let it drop and nervously drive on. This was an extremely dangerous situation to be in. Then again, these people had just saved her life, and probably a fair many other people's, as well. She'd play along with them until she was completely sure of what to think, and until Tom knew what was going on, as well. Rubeus stood, watching through a mirror as the Sailor Scouts got into a car with the woman who had held the Moon brat's crystal. "These Scouts are getting stronger by the minute," Rubeus said. "But it's not like they're going to win. I've still got a few trump cards up my sleeves. I've gotten one crystal, and that will give my new droids the power to take back the rest of them!" "It was a very good job, taking the Venus crystal, Rubeus," said Emerald from behind him. "So, why not the other ones?" "It was the Sailor-" Rubeus objected, "That's the story of your life, isn't it?" Emerald asked Rubeus. "And if it doesn't change soon, it'll be the story of the end of your life. Prince Diamond is getting very impatient with what you haven't achieved, and he won't wait for much longer." "And he won't have to wait for much longer!" Rubeus returned. "I'll be destroying those Sailor Scouts with the crystal that I've gotten! As soon as I've finished my newest and most powerful droid, they'll wish that they had never crossed me!" "Well, have fun with your personal vendetta," Emerald said. "If I see you again, then most probably it will be to kill you." She teleported away with a strident laugh that almost made Rubeus shiver. "Gods, I hate her," Rubeus muttered to himself as he returned to the Droid chamber. His creation was almost complete; it was practicing in the combat range at that very moment. It had killed three of the powered-up Scouts and was toying with the other three. He enjoyed watching his creations work against the simulations. It was his only refuge from reality and the scoffs of the Sailor Scouts. He had worked out a schedule and taped the matches to watch for his own enjoyment. He grinned as he walked to the range to retrieve his secret weapon for a tune-up. Becky parked the car as closely as she could to her apartment building. The rest of the car ride had been quiet for the most part. A few times, the two in the back seat, Moon and Mars had gotten into fights, which had promptly been broken up by Mercury. She still had to figure out the names of the three so that she could at least try to communicate with them. Plus, it might in some way help Tom to work through it. She thought that she remembered having skimmed over something about teenage super-heroines in Japan on the covers of the tabloids while she was standing in the supermarket checkout line. She had just laughed at the time, but it seemed a bit more than tabloid trash at the moment. What would be next, Tom bringing home the Bat-boy? "Becky? Why are you stopped?" Mercury asked. "Well, this is where I live," Becky said. "Come upstairs with me, and you can meet my fianc, Tom. We'll run this whole thing by him before we go through with it. I want him to know that I have a good reason to give away the engagement ring that he gave me." "Thank you so much," Mercury said. "You have no idea how much better it makes us feel to have your permission about this." "Well, I guess it's nice to know that I'm doing something to better the world," Becky said. She led the three Sailor Scouts up to the fifth floor of the building. She lived in apartment 510, a fairly large apartment (or, at least, larger than Lita's apartment). As the four walked in, it was around about noon time. "Can we have some food? I'm getting hungry!" Moon asked. "Serena, this is someone else's house! You don't just ask for someone else's food when you don't know them!" Mars scolded. "Becky? Is that you?" a man called from the other room. "I'm in here, Tom!" Becky called back. "I need to talk to you about something really quick, dear!" Tom walked into the room and caught the eyes of Moon and Mars. He was tall, with black hair and perfect skin. The two could only describe him as extremely hunky. Mercury, sensing this, felt glad that she was doing all the talking. They filled him in on the situation and posed the question to him. "Tom, they saved my life," Becky said. "Shouldn't we give them the crystal to save the world?" "Well, it does seem reasonable to me," Tom replied. "You say you saw them transform?" "Yes, I saw Ms. Moon over there transform," Becky replied. "Although I was knocked out for a fair amount of the battle, I saw the last few minutes of it. They seem to be real, as far as I can tell. I doubt they'd have gone this far without hurting me or you if it wasn't real. This isn't the sort of thing that you could stage." "I suppose that it's okay with me, then," Tom said. "Now, we'll just have to worry about what to tell everybody else." "Thank you so much," Mercury said. "You have no idea what this means to us! I have no way of thanking you!" "Yes, well, good luck in saving the world, I suppose," Tom replied. The three Sailor Scouts walked out of the apartment building after thanking the two a few more times. They walked out to the alleyway and teleported back to meet the others in Nassau. They reappeared in the warmer weather of Nassau, and Sailor Moon instantly reverted and was gone. "We need to find the others! Serena, get back here!" Mars exclaimed, reverting. "Raye, let her have some fun," Amy said. "She's got her communicator, so we can call her when we get ready to go. In the meantime, we should call them and find out where they are. Even I want a rest." Raye took out her communicator and pressed the button to contact Mina, Lita, and Michael. "Hey, guys! Are you there?" Raye asked into the communicator. A few moments later, Michael called back, "Yeah, we're here." "Where are you guys?" Raye asked. "We're on the beach, and we're ready to go," Michael replied. "What do you mean?" Raye asked. "You don't want to stay and have some fun?" "We had a bit of a tough fight," Michael replied. "I'll explain when we get there." A short walk later, everyone sat on the sidewalk near where they had originally shown up. "You were turned into a fish?" Amy asked Mina. "Yeah, it was pretty bad," Mina said. "I still feel kind of thirsty. But at least we got Lita's crystal." "And we saved you, too," Lita said. "So, I'm the only one without my crystal," Mina said. "Don't feel bad, Mina!" Raye said. "We'll figure out a way to get it back from them." "Yeah, we're not leaving you behind for any reason," Michael said. "We need all the power we can get, and we aren't leaving any of our own power in the hands of Rubeus." "Thanks, guys," Mina said, smiling. "Okay, so what time is it back at home?" Lita asked. "It's around about two A.M. in Tokyo," Amy said after working some short computations in her head. "We really should be heading back home." "Serena's not back yet. We can't leave without her," Mina said. "I can solve that," Amy said, taking out her communicator. She gave Serena a call and told her to meet them where they had teleported in. "And don't take all day, or we'll leave you here," Raye said before Amy closed the channel. "Maybe we can all come back some other time, when we're not fighting monsters and not taking tests," Lita said. "Well, maybe," Michael replied. "If Luna ever loosens her hold on us. We'll come back and spend some time on the beach. Maybe we can go snorkeling or something." "Hey, guys, why can't we stay longer?" Serena asked. "I could have been doing some shopping while I was waiting for you!" "With what? You don't have any American money," Raye said. "No, but it's nice to window-shop," Serena said. "This jewelry is so beautiful around here!" "And worth only a quarter of what they charge," Michael pointed out. "And so shoddily made that they break the fifth time that you wear them." "But that's beside the point," Serena said. "They're beautiful! Almost as beautiful as the jewelry that Molly's mom sells!" "Trust me, Serena, it's not worth your time or money," Michael replied. "And besides, look at me and Mina. Do we look like anyone who should be staying away from Tokyo for any longer than we have to?" "I guess not," Serena replied disconsolately. "What happened to you guys, anyway?" "I was turned into a fish, and he had an unpleasant meeting with a shark's tooth," Mina replied. Serena looked at them, confused. "I just don't want to know, do I?" Serena asked. Lita nodded in agreement. "Look, let's just get out of here quickly," Michael insisted. The Scouts walked over to the alleyway, transformed and teleported back to Tokyo, aiming for the top of Lita's apartment building. They appeared on the top of the building in Tokyo a few moments later. The scenery around them was that of peace. There was little noise coming from the sparse traffic of the extremely early morning. The lights of distant buildings and closer ones shone brightly, making it seem like twilight around them. Michael yawned. "Let's go downstairs and get some sleep," he said. "I'm really tired." "We should get something for that cut before we do anything else," Lita said. "I've got a first-aid kit in my apartment. It should have something to help us. And some clean cloth for dressing can be arranged. Anything else we'll need, Amy?" "Well, we'll see when we get down there," Amy replied as they walked down the stairs to the floor with Lita's apartment. They unlocked the door and walked in to find Jennifer reading on the couch. "Welcome back, everyone!" she said. "What took you so long? I was starting to get worried." "We've had a rough night," Lita said, leading Michael into the bathroom, where she kept the first-aid kit. Amy followed closely behind to supervise and offer assistance. "I can tell from the blood stains on Michael," Jennifer replied. "So, tell me all about it! It gets boring around here without anyone around." Mina went on to relate the problems that they had experienced with droid Chondrichthes, followed by Raye relating the quest for Moon's crystal. "A woman's wedding ring? That must have been tough." "Well, the droid wasn't that fun for us, either," Raye said. "I can imagine," Jennifer said. "Was anyone hurt in that one, either?" "Only a few minor shocks to the system," Raye replied. "A few bruises, but nothing worse than that." "Good. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, Raye," Jennifer said. Raye blushed slightly at her mother's coddling. She was glad that Serena had already gone to sleep, otherwise she might have had to kill her. In the bathroom, Lita was dressing Michael's wound. "Thanks, Lita," he said. "And you, too, Amy." "Any time," Lita said. "I just hope I don't have to do it again." "You're not the only one," Michael said. "That alcohol stings." "Which would you rather have, a minor, stinging sensation or a painful infection?" Amy asked. "Good point," Michael replied. "We were lucky that I had any around," Lita said. "And then, we were lucky that I had enough for your wound." "Now, how do I explain this to my parents if they notice it?" Michael wondered. "Maybe I killed a wild boar with my bare hands." "Right, the same way that I'm the Princess of the Moon Kingdom," Lita replied, laughing. "Well, I'm going to go to bed now," Amy said, yawning. She walked out to go to the room that had been set up for everyone. "Thanks for the help, Amy!" Lita said through the doorway. "And thank you again, Lita," Michael replied. "I had a good time today." "So did I," Lita replied. "Maybe next time, we'll have enough time to have some fun. And the others will be there, which'll be even more fun!" "Yeah," Michael replied. "You did a great job in the fight tonight. I love those new powers of yours." "Yeah, but I think I've got more than that," Lita replied. "You know how everyone's had a big attack and a small attack? Well, those were only my small attacks today. I was holding back because you were in the way, and I couldn't have used the big attacks without hurting you." "Thanks again, I suppose," Michael said. He wasn't sure of what to do then. Earlier, she had hugged him. Should he return the favor? Should he try kissing her? He decided to let it be and see what she did. She stood up and walked to the door. "Let's get some sleep," Lita said. "Yeah, that's a good idea," Michael said. "I'm aching all over. So, where's my blanket? I'm calling dibs on the couch!" "Well, if you insist, but the others are sleeping in my room on the couch cushions," Lita said. "Hmph," Michael said. The others were still talking in the living room, so he had a good chance of getting a comfortable cushion. When he walked into the bedroom, Serena had already taken all of the cushions and piled them under herself. She dozed happily, clutching the pillow that she had taken and calling quietly to Darien. Michael tried pulling a cushion out from under her and received a slap across the face from Serena, still asleep. Lita laughed quietly at this. "Come on, drop it!" he hissed, trying not to awaken her. He grabbed for the cushion again and pulled harder, only to realize that in her tossing and turning, she had latched on harder to it. He abandoned his quest for that cushion and began to focus his attention on one that was closer to her feet. He was rewarded in this with the cushion and a clumsy kick to the face. He grabbed one of the blankets that Lita had laid out and covered himself. He wished that he could be up on the comfortable bed with Lita, but he figured that not many of them would consider it kosher at all. He fell asleep, hoping that he didn't talk in his sleep like he had been told about by his parents and friends. End Part 5 Well, not much longer to go in this series. In one more part, I will finish this one and move on to different projects. It should be really fun doing some of the projects I've got cooking up right now, I think. As usual, contact me at: jmh6187@uncwil.edu
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