(Steve Stachowicz)
gerrek@hotmail.com
(Matthew Frey)
mafrey@charter.net
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/shores/2307
Swords of Destiny
By
Eric Thorsen and Stacko
LEGAL STUFF:
**The characters and concepts used here are the property of those persons
and companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series,
and movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of
authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign
of respect that it is. Besides suing either of us would be a waste of time
since we don't have any money to begin with.
***************************************************
Chapter Thirteen: Return of the Wolf Pack Part II
***************************************************
Explosions could be heard coming from the city as Ivar ran into the
communications center. "Where are the Planetary Knights?" He demanded as
he climbed into his command chair.
"Tiger is with the guard detachment protecting the Mages." One of
the technicians shouted over the combat chatter, her voice tinged with fear.
"Dragon and Wolf reported assaults in progress on Mercury and Venus just before
the Negacreeps took the inner system repeaters. They also reported a large
explosion which we believe was the break up of Minerva. No communication has
been received since that time."
"I want a status report on Dragon and Wolf as soon as possible, as well
as the Wolf pack." Ivar replied after acknowledging the report. "Any reports
on the Royals?"
"All active Senshi are currently in the War Room." Another technician
said. "Princess Cassandra of Minerva is in her quarters. We've lost contact
with the outer worlds since the satellites went down. As you are aware,
Mercury and Venus are at opposition. Mars and Earth are under siege and
are only sending out telemetry signals."
"Sir, Mars' telemetry has been lost!" The first technician shouted.
"On screen!" The glowing surface of the planet came onto the main monitor.
The planets once green surface was a sickly orange color, and the planet
itself seemed to be surrounded by a glowing halo. "Oh gods, they blew the
atmosphere." The technician gasped in horror as she watched the halo
expand, then the transmission siren went off.
"Your Highness, we have a transmission coming from the landing
field North of the Capitol you might want to hear." The technician
shouted, and then brought the image up in place of the dying Mars.
"This is Beryl, Queen of the Negaverse and ..." After several
seconds, Ivar still couldn't believe what he was hearing. He watched
until the message ended. He had a copy made and was about to take it
to the War Room when a priority message came over the battle net.
"Palace, this is Dragon Knight, repeat, Palace, this is Dragon
Knight, are you there?" Dragon Knight sounded like he had been
repeating that message for a long time.
"Dragon, this is Gryphon, Palace is receiving." Ivar said
urgently. "What is your status?"
"We borrowed a Grendel tank from Dark Side." Siegmund replied.
"Dragon and Wolf are inbound on the Capitol Road. We need a gate
designator."
"Head for gate 28 South, I'll have the Wolf Pack meet you there."
Turning off his mike, he turned to his chief technician. "Get them in
position, we can't let the Youma breach our defenses." Ivar left for the
Tower at a dead run with the copy of the transmission.
* * * * *
" ... Unless Princess Serenity has been turned over to me, I will
destroy every world in this system!" The woman on the screen laughed
until the transmission cut off.
"Where did this transmission originate, Prince Ivar?" Queen
Serenity asked troubled.
"From the North landing field your Majesty." Ivar replied.
"From what we've seen, she is coming here now."
"Prince Siegmund, is there any hope of holding them off?" Queen
Serenity begged.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty, without Wolf Knight to lead them, even
the Wolf Pack has been forced to retreat to the Palace." Dragon Knight
said sadly. "We have ten minutes of breathing space, if that."
"Then we have no choice. All junior Senshi, Senshi in training,
and Planetary Knights are to evacuate to the emergency stronghold at
Earth's North Pole." Queen Serenity said sadly. "The Elder Senshi and
I will hold Beryl here as long as we can. Prince Ivar, please escort
Princess Cassandra to the gate chamber and wait for the others there."
Ivar nodded and ran out the door as Princess Serenity started protesting.
What she was saying was cut off by the closing doors.
Ivar was halfway to the guest wing when the emergency alarm from one
of the suites sounded. Putting on a burst of speed, he arrived just as three
Youma came out of the room assigned to the Minervan Royal Family, carrying a
small struggling form. Summoning his armor and the Gryphon's Talon, Ivar
charged them.
The two flanking Youma met his charge, but fell quickly against his
attacks. The third Youma had made it past him, but seemed to have ignored
him, as if it had something more important on its mind. Ivar made sure it
didn't live to regret its mistake. It fell, releasing its captive suddenly.
The young girl was wearing a dress similar to a Senshi uniform and had a
wristband that marked her as a Senshi in training.
"Are you all right, Cassy?" Ivar asked the young girl as he
shifted out of his armor. She ran to him sobbing, and he picked her
up and carried her toward the gate room.
"They killed Nanny and Duncan, Ivar." Princess Cassandra
sobbed. "I tried to help, but they took away my sword. What is
going on?"
"We're leaving, Peanut." Ivar said soothingly as they came
around the corner and went into the Hall of Gates. "Queen Serenity
has ordered all of us to go to Cerberus Base. All the juniors anyway."
"What about mommy?" Cassandra asked. "Isn't she coming?"
"No Honey, mommy has to stay to help Queen Serenity." Ivar
said as he finished entering the necessary coordinates into the gate.
"But Marcus and Ziggy are coming."
"Okay." Cassandra said grudgingly. "Can I have another sword
when we get there?"
"Sure you can." Ivar laughed. "I'll even have Ziggy teach you
how to use it, okay?"
"Goody." Cassandra said, clapping her hands.
Ivar laughed as she started playing among the gates. His only
warning of trouble was her scream. The permanent gate to Earth opened
and five men stepped through, followed by one woman. Ivar and Cassandra
backed out of the room then ran. They reached the other party of evacuee's
just ahead of the invaders. Ivar was about to yell a warning when he
felt a searing pain in his back. Confused by the pain, he turned to see
Jadeite pull his sword from Cassandra's tiny form. He only had a few
seconds to wonder why he had felt that when he saw Zoicite's sword coming
toward him, then saw black.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Wesley woke up with a start, wondering who was screaming. It
was only when it stopped that he realized it was him. As he lay
shivering in his bed, he thought about all the things he'd seen in
the dream. That was when he realized that none of it had faded like
his other dreams. Every thing was still very clear, as if they were
memories of actual events, not a dream. Shaking his head in confusion,
Wesley stripped his sweat soaked sheets from his bed and remade it, then
took a shower and dressed in fresh pajamas. As he was falling asleep,
he wondered why his dream-self had felt someone else's pain.
* * * * *
Kiersten's dreams were pleasant that night until the end.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Princess Cassandra Bontrager was playing peacefully with her toys,
blissfully unaware of the battle going on around her. As the daughter
and only natural child of the Royal family of Minerva, Cassy, as most of
her friends and adult attendants called her, had been a surprise in
every aspect of her life. Her parents had given up on having a child
of their own almost twenty years before, and had adopted the orphaned
boy they found at the end of the Civil War. When it had been discovered
that Queen Andromeda was pregnant, no one was more surprised than the
Queen herself. The long awaited birth had provided Minerva with an heir
and had freed Prince Gerrek to follow his heart.
The next surprise came when Princess Cassandra was three years old.
At one of the state functions she was allowed to attend, she had shown
signs of emerging Senshi abilities. After extensive testing, she had
been made a Senshi in Training, the youngest person to ever hold that
position. Her powers developed at an astonishing pace until many
thought she would surpass even Sailor Saturn in destructive potential,
this led to her being left alone a great deal out of fear. Finally,
Queen Andromeda decided to bring her along on her trip to the Moon
for the Betrothal Ceremonies.
Duncan, her personal bodyguard, moved from his chair to the
communications panel when it signaled, then spoke in a quiet voice,
nodding as Nanny came into the room. Just as Duncan finished speaking
and was about to turn around, the passage door burst open, and five
Youma stepped into the room. Duncan drew his sword with a curse as
Nanny grasped Cassandra's hand and fled into her bedroom, locking the
door. Not long after, as Nanny told Cassandra to hide in the bathroom,
the door shook as something heavy crashed into it over and over.
Cassandra didn't see what happened, but as she hid in the
shower stall, she drew her sword and prepared herself as her teacher
had told her. A terrible scream was cut short, and then the heavy
weight crashed against the bathroom door. Soon the door burst in,
and a large ugly creature entered the room. Exactly as she had been
taught, when the creature reached out for her, she let it lift her up,
and then quickly decapitated it.
The next creature to enter the room grabbed her sword arm and
forced her to drop her sword, then lifted her and carried her out
into the bedroom. Nanny lay on the floor; her throat turned out,
and in the sitting room, Duncan had been torn to pieces. Struggling
ferociously, she hadn't been able to accomplish anything. It was only
seconds later that she found herself free, staring at a man in black
armor. The armor disappeared revealing her friend Ivar, who comforted
her and took her to the Hall of Gates.
As Ivar did something to one of the gates, she played, pretending
to fight the monsters. She was out of sight of Ivar when one of the
gates became active. She watched in surprise, and then screamed in
fear when Queen Beryl came through. Running with Ivar, she saw the
Junior Senshi coming, then felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking
down, she saw a blade sticking out of her, dripping blood. As her
vision faded, she felt another sharp pain, the nothing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kiersten sat bolt upright in bed, fighting surges of terror,
and turned on the bedside lamp. The dream had been so vivid; she
could still feel sharp pains in her chest and neck. Getting out
of bed, she quickly drew the image she had seen in the mirror when
she had been in the bathroom. She also drew the man who had saved
her in his armor, then after it had disappeared. With a sigh, she
felt the terror flow out of her and slipping back into bed, fell
back to sleep.
The next morning, she took the drawings down with her and
stared at them while she absently ate her breakfast.
"What's that you're so fixated on?" Her brother, Dathan
asked. "Did you come up with some new pictures?" He looked over
her shoulder and whistled at the picture of 'Ivar' in armor. "Wow,
that armor looks cool, but what's with the hourglasses on the
shoulders?"
"I don't really know." Kiersten said with a sigh. "I
dreamed about it last night. It was a very strange dream."
"Really! What was it like?" Dathan said excitedly.
"It was like I was remembering something." Kiersten said
with a shiver. "I was a little girl, just playing in my room and
these monsters came in, killed my nanny and my bodyguard, and
captured me. They were carrying me away when the guy in this armor
saved me."
"What guy?" Her mother asked coming into the room and sitting
down to breakfast. Kiersten passed her mother the pictures she had
drawn the night before. "Very nice Kiersten, especially this one of
yourself. Did you use one of your first grade pictures?"
"What do you mean mom?" Kiersten asked in confusion. "These
are from a dream I had last night. I don't know who these people are."
Her mother looked at her for several seconds, and then chuckled
softly. "I guess you don't." She left the room and returned a short
time later with a photo album. "This is what I mean." She held the
drawing next to an 8 x 10 photo of a little girl. Kiersten saw the
resemblance immediately.
"Who is that?" She asked in excitement.
"It's you Kiersten." Natsuko replied with a smile. "This
is your first grade picture, and the one I thought you copied.
They're both of you at five, but I've never seen you in an outfit
like that. It looks cute though. I think Wesley looks handsome
in this uniform as well." She held up the drawing of Ivar in his
fatigues.
"Wesley?" Kiersten said in confusion. "That's a Prince named
Ivar Horst."
"A prince, eh?" Her mother said considering the drawing.
"There is a distinct resemblance to Wesley though. May be your
subconscious is telling you something."
"Maybe you're in looove." Dathan said, laughing when
Kiersten grumbled.
"Wesley and I are just friends." Kiersten told her mother.
"If you say so dear." Natsuko said with a smile. "I'll
be back from work late tonight, but your father is staying home
today to do some work. He said he would take you up to Drakkenheim
for today's tutoring session."
"Okay." Kiersten said waving as her mother left. She smacked
her brother on the head as she left, smiling at his squawk of surprise.
* * * * *
Wesley opened the door as Kiersten reached up to ring the doorbell
and dragged her to the castle library, after motioning her to silence.
Though she was confused about the secrecy, she followed him.
"Why are we sneaking around?" She whispered once they were
safely in the library.
"I thought this would be the best place to find out more about
those things from last night, and I wanted to be undisturbed for a
while." He whispered back.
"So why didn't you just ask Jervis not to disturb us?" Kiersten
asked, still whispering.
"Oh, that works." Wesley said sarcastically. "That's guaranteed
to make him suspicious that something was going on, though not of the
truth."
"Oh." Kiersten said, blushing hotly when she realized what he
meant. "That is something we definitely don't need."
"Tell me about it." Wesley said with a shiver. "I doubt your
parents or my guardian would approve of that any more than they would
of us hunting monsters."
"So why do you want to know more about those things?" Kiersten
asked, a little excited. "Does this mean you've decided to help the
Senshi?"
"Let's just say I thought about what you said last night and I
agree that whether we like it or not, we will probably end up fighting
those things." Wesley replied, sitting at one of the tables. "According
to the news this morning, Yesterday was the third day of a series of
monster attacks, but it seems that they happen pretty often around here."
"Just great." Kiersten said slumping into another chair at the
table and putting her portfolio on top of it, attracting Wesley's
attention. When he motioned for permission to open it, she nodded
and as he was flipping through it he stopped.
"Do you know who this is?" He asked, holding up the picture
of Cassandra.
"I might." Kiersten said nervously. "Why?"
"You'll probably think I'm crazy." Wesley sighed. "Last night
I had this nightmare and she was in it. I've been trying to figure
out where I know her from all morning."
"Did my mother show you any pictures last night?" Kiersten
asked, sitting up in her chair at the mention of a dream. When
Wesley shook his head, she got even more excited. "You say you
dreamed about this girl last night. What happened?"
"Well, I was some kind of prince or something, and I was in
charge of this communications room." Wesley began, and then
continued to go through his dream all the way to the end. "That's
why I wanted to know who this was. I've been trying to figure out
how she got into my dream, because I don't remember seeing her
before. It's weird."
"More than you realize." Kiersten said softly. "You'll
notice I drew this picture as an image in a mirror. That's because
that was the only time I really saw that person, when I was looking
in a mirror. From the point where you rescued the little girl to
the end, your dream matches mine, except I was the little girl in
mine."
"How much of the dream do you remember?" Wesley asked in
surprise. "I can almost remember all of it."
"Well, Prince Ivar, I remember you calling me 'Peanut'."
Kiersten said, giggling at his blush. "And that you told me my
mother was going to help the Queen, though my mother was also a
queen."
"Okay, you remember as much as I do." Wesley said, confusion
showing in his eyes. "But why did we have the same dream from
different points of view? And about something that never happened?
I could see us reliving our fight from last night, or having a similar
dream based on the play last night, but not something like this. Who
is the girl anyway?"
"Well, according to my mother, she looks exactly like me when
I was five." Wesley just stared at her, and she giggled at his
expression. "I felt exactly the same when she told me. That was
why I asked if mom had show you any pictures. She showed me my first
grade picture and I looked exactly like she does except for the uniform."
"Man, this is weird." Wesley said, and then shook himself.
"Well, regardless of weird dreams, you were right about the Senshi
being tired last night. According to the morning papers, there
have been twelve attacks like the one we broke up last night over
the past three days. Last night's seem to be the worst so far,
but it was also the third one that night, so they were having a
rough time. No one seems to have seen us, but if we're going to
help them, we need to figure out some kind of disguise, or some
one is going to recognize us."
"You're right, but what should it be?" Kiersten asked.
"We were lucky last night."
"Well, I thought about that this morning and went looking
for ideas." Wesley said with a laugh. "What I found was two
things. First was a program that designs costumes and even
produces computer patterns to make them. Then I found a website
for a company that manufactures clothing from high-tech protective
fabrics. I sent them an E-mail and got a huge file in return that
turned out to be their catalogue. They accept Internet orders and
can even use the patterns the program makes. So all we have to do
is come up with them."
"How do we know they won't tell the police of the newspapers
about us once they see the costumes in the news?" Kiersten asked.
The doorbell cut off Wesley's reply, and they looked at each
other wondering who it was. When they heard a soft tap at the door
to the library, they jumped, and then looked at each other in
confusion as Jervis showed James Rosenfeld into the room then silently
left.
"How ... never mind." Wesley said, shaking his head. "What's
up James?"
"Let me guess, you both forgot I called you yesterday?" James
said with a laugh. "There was something important I wanted to talk
about, remember?"
"Oh yeah, sorry Jim." Wesley said, remembering the hurried
conversation just before he'd left to pick Kiersten up. "So what
was it you wanted to talk about?"
"Yesterday I found out something I think you should know about,
especially Kiersten." James replied seriously.
"What is it?" Kiersten asked, then stopped. "Did you say
yesterday?"
"Yeah, what about it?" James asked, looking from Kiersten to
Wesley in confusion.
"Were you attacked by some kind of strange creature?" Wesley
asked in excitement.
"How did you know about them?" James asked in surprise, more
confused than before.
"The news shows are full of stories about them." Wesley laughed.
"That and the fact that we had to fight them last night, at least until
the Sailor Senshi showed up."
"You mean until Kiersten's cousin Usagi and our other friends
showed up." James said, smiling at their shocked expressions. "That
was the other reason I wanted to talk to you. I think the Senshi need
some help."
"We agree with you." Kiersten said nodding. "Though why you
think Usagi and the others are the Senshi escapes me."
"It does make sense though." Wesley said, considering it.
"Think about it Kiersten. Your cousin has a rather distinctive
hairstyle that only looks good on her and Sailor Moon. She also has
six friends and a boyfriend, which matches the Senshi who have been
showing up recently. Finally, it would explain why Sailor Moon asked
you why you were there. As your cousin, she was worried about you."
"You seriously expect me to believe that Usagi, the biggest klutz
in the world, is Sailor Moon?" Kiersten said in disbelief. "What about
the other two Senshi? And the two guys?"
"They are on vacation." James replied, smiling at her confused
expression. "Usagi and her friends said that two of their other friends
were on a trip with their boyfriends. But that isn't all I have, yesterday
I saw all of the Senshi transform, so I know for a fact who they are."
"All right, I get your point, but it's still hard to believe that
'Usagi' is Sailor Moon." Kiersten said, still not totally believing it.
"Yes, but she is." James said with a shrug. "My step-sister is
Sailor Mars, Minako is Sailor Venus, and the others are Neptune, Uranus,
and Saturn. Even Chibi-Usa is one of them."
"Princess too?" Kiersten said in shock. "Isn't she too young to
be a super hero?"
"Be that as it may though, that makes our next step much easier.
I was wondering how we were going to offer the Senshi our help." Wesley
said with a grin. "But seeing as it's your cousin Usagi, we can go pay
her a visit and offer her our help. From everything I've seen, she's the
leader, so she can make that decision. After she knows about our
information of course. I doubt she'll just admit that she's Sailor Moon."
"So when do you want to ask her?" Kiersten asked resignedly.
"I want to get this over with." James smiled and nodded.
"I agree, the sooner the better." He laughed. "In fact, why
not go see her now? She should be home, I think."
"I'll call Auntie just to make sure." Kiersten said, walking
to the phone on the desk. "Why don't you set up the transport Wesley.
See if Geoffrey can take us there." Wesley nodded and dialed the
number Geoffrey had given him in case he needed to go somewhere.
Ten minutes later, they were in the limousine and on their way.
* * * * *
"Hi Kiersten, guys, what's going on?" Usagi said, smiling at
her cousin and the two boys. "Mom said you wanted to talk to me."
"Could we go somewhere a little more private, Usagi?" Kiersten
said quietly, trying not to catch her aunt's attention. "It's kind
of personal."
"Okay, we can go up to my room." Usagi said a little confused.
Do you want the guys to wait down here?"
"No, they can come with us, it involves them too." Kiersten
said, and then blushed at the wicked gleam in Wesley's eye. Once
they were up in Usagi's room, she turned on him. "What was that
look for?" She demanded with a glare. His only response was
helpless laughter, which James joined in a little later.
"What's so funny?" Usagi asked in confusion.
"That's what I want to know." Kiersten said in exasperation.
"Care to share the joke?" Wesley nodded and forced his amusement
under control.
"It was just the way you worded your phrase, Kiersten."
Wesley said with a smile. "You were acting like you were pregnant
or had VD or something like that. I mean, what could Usagi have
thought?"
"Honestly, it was something like that." Usagi giggled.
"I'm glad it isn't though. So what did you want to tell me?"
"We know that you're Sailor Moon, Usagi." James said.
Usagi giggled nervously, acting like he had said something
hilarious. She stopped when she saw that no one else was laughing.
"You're kidding, right?" She asked hopefully, and then
sighed when he slowly shook his head. "Are you crazy? How can
you possibly think I'm Sailor Moon? I don't even look like her."
"Actually, you look a lot like her, Usagi." Kiersten said,
looking at her cousin closely. "Especially your hair. That along
with your question last night and some other things confirmed it
for me."
"That and the fact that I saw you and the others transformed
last night." James put in. "You really should be more careful
about eavesdroppers. It might not be one of your friends next
time."
"That darn Rei." Usagi complained. "Says she can sense
if anyone's around, and now two people saw us. Okay you've got
me, I'm Sailor Moon. What are you going to do now?"
"Would you believe, ask if you and the Senshi would like our
help?" Wesley laughed. When Usagi looked at the others for
confirmation, they both nodded, and she relaxed.
"That's all?" Usagi asked in surprise at their nods, Usagi
turned to James. "How much of our conversation did you hear yesterday?"
"Well, Chibi-Usa said something about having to show me who
you were to get me to help." James said, trying to remember more.
"Oh, and that my step-sister didn't want my help."
"Okay, you know almost everything then." Usagi sighed, and
then opened her closet door. Luna, who had been listening, tumbled
out. "This is the last thing. Say hello to the Senshi's new helpers,
Luna."
"What are you talking about Usagi?" Kiersten said in concern.
"Luna's just your cat." Luna mewed in agreement.
"Listen Fur ball, they already know I'm Sailor Moon, so cut out
the 'normal cat' routine already." Usagi said, ignoring Kiersten.
"If they're going to help us, they need disguises."
"Usagi..." Wesley said, then stopped, staring at Luna.
"How did they find out is what I'd like to know." Luna said
angrily. "Did you blab again, Meatball Head?"
"Hey look, a talking cat." James laughed. "I always thought
they could talk." Luna glared at him, then turned expectantly to Usagi.
"James saw us transform, Luna." Usagi said patiently. "So no,
I didn't blab and I'll thank you for not sounding like Rei, and start
coming up with ideas." Kiersten stared from the cat to her cousin,
still having difficulty with the concept of a talking cat that belonged
to her super hero cousin.
"I'm sorry, your Highness." Luna said contritely. "I will
try to come up with something. What do you need?"
"I really hadn't thought that far." James said sheepishly.
"Well, I did." Wesley laughed. "What we need are some ideas
for disguises. I can think of other things, but we'll start with
that I think."
"Please, just don't suggest uniforms like the Senshi wear."
James said a little panicked. "While Kiersten would look great,
Wesley and I would look pretty silly." Kiersten smiled as Usagi
giggled at the thought of that.
"Don't worry young man, I wouldn't do that to you." Luna
said tolerantly. "I think the uniforms of the 'Wolf Pack' would
be best for you young men. Kiersten as well if you don't want a
uniform similar to the Senshi."
"I don't mind the Senshi uniforms at all Luna." Kiersten
giggled. "I think they're pretty cool. But how are we going to
get these disguises?"
"That's why I brought my lap top." Wesley laughed. "All
we need now is a description of the uniforms you want, and we're
ready to go."
"Do you already have all the necessary measurements?" Luna
asked in surprise, looking at Kiersten speculatively. Kiersten
blushed and shook her head vigorously then glared at Wesley.
"No we didn't take any measurements yet Luna." Wesley said
with a grin. "Mainly because I doubted Kiersten would want my
help with that part. Now that Usagi is here though, she can tell
me the measurements, then I'll put them in the computer." Usagi
nodded, grabbed the tape measure Wesley handed her, and led Kiersten
to the bathroom and locked the door.
"So how does this program work?" Luna asked, looking at the
opening screen. Wesley spent the next ten minutes explaining how
he could use a verbal description to come up with production patterns
for a computer. "So all you need are a basic color description, the
person's measurements and then you can adjust the computer image to
get the desired disguise?"
"Yep, but it's easier with a scanned picture." Wesley replied.
"All you have to do then is load the picture in, and the program adjusts
the picture as necessary."
"That won't work this time though." Luna said sadly. "We don't
have any pictures of Planetary guards from Minerva to work from. It
won't even work for Kiersten because the Senshi's distortion fields
make it impossible to take a clear picture. But you said something
about other things you needed. We might as well work on that while
they finish those measurements."
"The other thing we needed is a reliable source of good quality
weapons." Wesley said with a sigh. "The ones Kiersten and I have won't
stand up to anything similar to last night for very long. I checked the
blade on my axe and it's already got a lot of nicks in it."
"I wish Kevin was here." Luna said. "But that can't be helped.
Do you think you could follow directions exactly enough to make these
weapons if someone who knew how to make them but couldn't do the actual
work was there?"
"Sure." Wesley said after thinking about it for a while. "Why,
are you a weapon smith in your spare time Luna?"
"Of course not, do I look crazy?" Luna said loftily. "Artemis
is."
"Speaking of Artemis, we need to talk to him and the others."
Usagi said as she and Kiersten came back into the room. "Now that
James, Wesley, and Kiersten are helping us, we're going to need to
practice with them to get used to fighting together."
"Wow Usagi, you're pretty good at this leadership stuff."
Kiersten said in surprise. "I would never have thought of that.
How did you get so smart all of the sudden. From the letters your
mother sent us, I got the impression you were barely passing your
classes." Usagi glared at Luna who looked surprised.
"It's not very easy to fight every night to save the world
and get good grades in school." Usagi said with a shrug. "As far
as I know the only person who did is Ami, and she's studying all
the time. I kept falling asleep in class."
"Good thing it's still summer vacation." James said with a
grin. "My mom would kill me if I let my grades drop any lower.
Anyway, shall we get to work on our disguises? The sooner the
patterns are done, the sooner we get them."
Usagi and the others nodded and got to work. While Wesley,
Luna, Kiersten and James worked on the disguises, Usagi called the
other Senshi and set up a meeting at the Hikawa Shrine. The designs
were done and sent off by the time Usagi finished and they called
Geoffrey for him to come take them to the shrine.
* * * * *
"What do you mean James left!" Rei shouted at her grandfather.
"What about his chores?"
"He finished all of the chores, including yours, earlier this
morning." Grandpa Hino replied. "I think he wanted to think about
something. Whatever it was, he finished all of the chores by eight
o'clock and decided to walk to someplace called Drakkenheim to talk
to some friends."
"But Drakkenheim is forty-five kilometers from here!" Rei
shouted in disbelief. "It'll take him all day to get there."
"Why are you so concerned about what James is doing anyway?"
Grandpa Hino asked in surprise. "The way you've been acting toward
him was more appropriate for an enemy you can't wait to get rid of,
then a stepbrother who has only tried to be nice to you since he got
here."
Rei glared at her grandfather and stormed out of the room
without another word. Her anger carried her out of the caretaker's
house and deep into the woods that covered most of the grounds.
Finally coming into a clearing, she walked to a bench and sat down.
"Just perfect, when I don't want him around, I can't get rid
of him, but the instant I want to talk to him, he's impossible to
find." Rei grumbled to herself. "'Tell him you're sorry Rei, you'll
feel better'. Sure Minako, that's if he let's me. It was nice of him
to do all of the chores this morning though." She sat peacefully on
the bench thinking through ways to get on James' good side until her
communicator demanded her attention.
"Rei here, what's up?" She said, bringing herself out of her
daydream.
"Hi Rei, it's Usagi, the Senshi need to have a meeting as soon
as possible." Usagi said without preamble. "Would it be okay to have
it there at the Shrine at noon?"
"Okay, but what's so important that we have to meet today?" Rei
replied. "Did Ami call you again?"
"Nothing like that, but I think our combat problems might be
over." Usagi said cryptically. Before Rei could ask what she meant,
she had disconnected, leaving her with a huge number of unanswered
questions.
"I wonder what that Meatball Head is talking about." Rei said to
herself as she came to her feet. "Oh well, maybe I can get some advice
from Minako and Michiru on how to get closer to James. But how do I get
rid of Grandpa? With back in the US, he spends a lot of time
around the shrine these days."
She spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out how
to get him out of the house, finally deciding on reminding him
that it had been three month since he had talked to his superiors.
When she mentioned that they might be looking for a replacement for
him, thinking that he'd died, he rushed out of the house to make the
two-hour trip to the main shrine.
* * * * *
"Do you know why Usagi wanted this meeting?" Minako asked Rei
as she arrived ten minutes early. Rei shook her head.
"What did she tell you?" Rei asked in return.
"She said something about having found some help." Minako
replied a little confused. "That was all she would say."
Before Rei could comment on that, Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru,
Chibi-Usa, and surprisingly, Setsuna arrived. When she questioned
them, they didn't have any idea what was going on either. They spent
the next few minutes trying to guess, but they hadn't figured it out
by the time Usagi and Luna arrived.
"What's the big secret, Luna." Artemis asked as Usagi followed
Rei into the house, in turn followed by everyone else. "Did she get
another message from Ami?"
"No, she didn't." Luna said, shaking her head, then following
the others. Artemis was so preoccupied, that he didn't notice the
three people coming toward the house as he followed Luna to Rei's
bedroom.
"I know you all are wondering why I called this meeting on such
short notice, so I'll get straight to the point." Usagi said standing
at the front of the room with her hands behinds her back. "Yesterday,
in the alleyway in Shinjuku, someone saw us transform." The others
in the room gasped in surprise, then started talking to each other.
This went on for about five minutes, until Michiru asked a question.
"Since they haven't gone to the newspapers or any other reporters,
and contacted you, they want something." Michiru said consideringly.
"What do they want?"
"To help us." Usagi said simply. "They want to help us fight
Youma, that's all."
"That's all?" Rei asked in disbelief. "What do you mean 'That's
all'? How do we know we can trust them? For all we know, these people
could be perverts or something."
"I believe you are overreacting a little Rei-chan." Setsuna said,
speaking for the first time. "These people might be just the help we
need to defeat this threat."
"Are you sure?" Haruka asked warily. "I don't know if we can
trust someone we don't know."
"That's just it." Usagi crowed happily. "We already know them.
You can come in guys." As the others looked at her strangely, the door
to Rei's room opened, and Wesley, James, and Kiersten stepped into the
room.
"You!" Haruka said in surprise and disbelief. "You want to help
us fight these things? You're the ones who saw us transform?" James
and the others nodded simply.
"Absolutely not." Rei shouted. "It's to dangerous for them to
fight Youma. They could get killed out there, and how do we explain
that." James glared at her angrily, but she was completely absorbed
by the panic her mind was in.
"I agree with Rei." Haruka said stiffly, looking at the three
apologetically. "Meaning no insult, but I just don't think we could
keep you safe in an emergency. It's just too risky."
"I disagree." Setsuna said calmly. "I believe they are the
help we need to hold the Youma off until the others return. However,
I do agree that it will be very dangerous for them, so I would not
suggest that they assist us with the patrols. They can help most
in those instances where our attacks are ineffective or too dangerous."
"How do we know they can even fight well enough to help?"
Rei snorted, then flinched under combined glares from all three
of them.
"You're right Rei." James said with a wicked grin, surprising
her and everyone in the room. "You don't know if we can help you or
not. That's why we would like to challenge you. The three of us
against any three of you. If we win, no more questions as to our
ability to help you. If you win, we leave you alone to fight the
Youma until, if ever, you want our help, agreed?"
"We can fight as Senshi?" Rei asked, suspiciously, then
blinked when he nodded. "How do we know you won't cheat?" Everyone
in the room gasped at the insult, except James, who shrugged.
"You don't." James said with a shrug. "But then, if you're
right, even if I cheat, you should be able to beat me, right? So
is it a deal?"
"You're on." Rei snarled angrily. Haruka and the others also
agreed, as Wesley sighed in relief.
"So when shall this test be?" Kiersten asked seriously, then
ruined the effect by giggling.
"Tomorrow morning at eleven?" Setsuna suggested, when everyone
agreed, she nodded. "Since they are the ones with doubts of your
abilities, Rei and Haruka should participate. I, myself, will be
the third. Is this agreeable to everyone?"
"Fine by me." Wesley said with a shrug. Kiersten nodded,
and James did so as well. Rei and Haruka also agreed.
"Then we'll see you tomorrow." Wesley said, turning to Usagi.
"Would you like a ride home? I think the meeting's over for now."
Usagi nodded speechlessly and they started out the door.
"Wait for me." Minako said, glaring at Rei, who blushed.
"Can I come along?"
"Fine by me." Wesley said with a shrug.
"We'd be glad to have you with us." Kiersten laughed. Minako
nodded, picked up Artemis, and followed them down to the waiting limo.
"I'm sorry about what happened back there." Minako said as the
limo pulled away. "I don't know what's gotten into Rei."
"She's afraid of something." Wesley said calmly. "Something
about us fighting Youma has her scared to death."
"What do you mean?" Usagi asked in surprise. "Rei's not afraid
of anything. She just doesn't want you hurt."
"I'm not so sure Usagi." Minako said, thinking about what
Wesley had said. "Wesley may be right. Don't you remember how
irrational Rei was when I suggested James help us? She even said
non-Senshi couldn't fight Youma because it was 'Too Dangerous',
completely ignoring the fact that Scott and Kevin saved us in that
trap that was set for us."
"You're right, that was unlike her." Usagi said, remembering.
"But what could she be afraid of?"
"The only thing that makes sense is James getting hurt."
Kiersten said thoughtfully. "But why would ... no, it can't be ..."
Kiersten looked at the other girls in the car and started laughing
with them.
"What?" James asked in confusion, which only made the girls
laugh harder. Wesley thought about what Kiersten had said, then
thought of every possible reason that Rei would be in a panic over
James getting hurt. An idea struck him, and he looked over at Kiersten,
then started laughing himself. "Will somebody stop laughing and just
tell me what's going on?"
"Imagine your reaction if you knew that someone you cared about
was going to be in danger you didn't think they could handle." Minako
said. "Like say your mother was going to a besieged Embassy, and you
could stop her. What would you do?"
"Everything in my power to stop her from going." James said in
confusion.
"And how would you feel if people kept trying to send her?"
Minako said encouragingly.
"Panicked, helpless." James said, then froze. "Wait a minute
here, Rei hates my guts, in fact, she can hardly stand to be anywhere
near me."
"Or she likes you a lot and something is making her try to deny
it." Wesley said thoughtfully, smiling when Minako jumped. "And I'll
bet that what it is, is the fact that you're her step-brother. That's
the only thing I can think of that makes sense."
"But what's wrong with liking your step-brother?" Usagi asked in
confusion. "I think that Rei and James' family would be happy if they
were friends."
"I don't think that's the kind of liking Wesley is talking
about Usagi." Kiersten said, realizing where Wesley was going
with this. "What he's talking about is liking James as a boyfriend,
not as a brother. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but since Rei
has never had a brother, even a step-brother, before she might not
realize that wanting your step-brother for a boyfriend isn't the same
thing as wanting your brother for one."
"Oh yuck, who would want their brother for a boyfriend?"
Usagi said, apparently missing the entire point.
"No one normal would, Usagi." Minako said patiently.
"But that isn't the problem. Rei was just confused between
brothers and stepbrothers. Now she knows and that just makes
the thought of James fighting worse."
"So let me get this straight." James said, trying to
come to grips with this problem. "Rei is interested in me as
a boyfriend but, because I'm her step-brother, she thinks that
makes her sick and twisted, so she acts like she hates me. But
because she likes me, she is driven into a panic by the thought
of me fighting Youma. Are you sure you guys haven't been watching
too many soap opera's? This sounds like the plot from an episode
of 'Days of our Lives'."
"Truth is stranger than fiction." Wesley laughed. "Minako,
it sounds like you've talked to her about this. What happened?"
"Since you already figured it out for yourselves, it won't
hurt to tell you I guess." Minako sighed. "You're right about
part of Rei's reason for not wanting you to fight that night.
We talked then, and again this morning. She decided to try to
make up with you."
"She did?" James said in surprise. "Is that why she's been
trying to talk to me?" Minako nodded and James fell deep into
thought.
"So what's the idea of challenging the Senshi all about?"
Artemis asked. "All it looked like you accomplished was getting
Rei mad at you."
"Mmm." James said, then laughed. "Oh that. Rei is very
competitive as I'm sure you noticed. So I figured that would be
the best way to get her to consider the idea. She probably thinks
there's no way it will work."
"That's just it." Luna said disapprovingly. "She may be
right. Non-Senshi, even martial artist, are no match for a Sailor
Senshi in a fair fight."
"Exactly." Artemis said. "You may have just ensured that
you won't be fighting with the Senshi until they're really in
trouble. In fact, you may never do it."
"I'm not so sure." James replied, shaking his head. "I
fought that creature yesterday and held my own until the other
Senshi showed up. From what I saw, I don't think it'll be all
that tough."
"That thing yesterday was one of the weaker Youma." Minako
said dampeningly. "It doesn't take much power to take one of them
out. We are a lot more powerful than we look. Also, you'll
probably end up fighting Haruka tomorrow, not Rei. You already
beat Rei, but it has yet to be seen if you could even beat me in
Senshi form."
"Care to give me a test?" James challenged. Minako laughed
then agreed.
"Why don't you ask Artemis for his help with your other
problem?" Usagi asked, remembering the weapon problem.
"What other problem?" Artemis asked, interested.
"To fight Youma, we need weapons." Wesley replied with a
shrug. "The problem is that the weapons we need will have to be
high quality ones if they're going to last and they are rather
unusual to begin with. Luna said you knew enough about making
weapons to give us instructions."
"Sure I do." Artemis laughed. "I was one of the master
smiths at the Palace. What kind of weapons are we talking about?"
"A double edged rapier." Kiersten said, then smiled at
Wesley. "Katana's are too heavy."
"And I'd need a Lochaber axe." Wesley said, then threw
a questioning look at James.
"A Naginata." James said with a shrug. "Anything bigger
than ten feet is too unwieldy."
"None of those will be a problem." Artemis sighed in
relief. "Now where can we get the material and equipment to
make them?" They sat thinking for a few minutes, then Artemis
laughed as they pulled up in front of Drakkenheim. "Of course,
Kevin has his own forge and everything else we need. I doubt
he'd even mind if we used some of his failed experiments for
materials."
"Failed experiments?" Wesley asked uncertainly. "What
exactly are we talking about here?"
"Kevin's a master weapon smith." Artemis replied absently.
"He's been trying to develop an alloy for swords that he and Scott
can't break. In most cases, they break their swords after about
forty-five minutes of sparring, but Kevin wants them to last longer."
"Forty-five minutes isn't very durable." Wesley said
uncertainly. "Why do they break?"
"According to Kevin's tests after each trial run, catastrophic
failure due to metal fatigue." Artemis said, then laughed at Wesley's
shocked expression. "Kevin and his friend Scott are master swordsmen
as well. Some of their techniques are pretty rough on their swords
though. If they use normal swords, the blades last fifteen minutes
at most. The metal is actually very good." They walked up to Wesley's
wing after Jervis let them in.
"That's great, but how do we get into the foundry?" Kiersten
asked once the door to the study room was closed. "Mr. O'Connell
isn't home, and Jervis might ask questions if we don't want to wait."
"True." Artemis said smugly. "Unless he doesn't know about
it."
"And how are you proposing to do that?" Luna demanded harshly.
"You can't just sneak in, use the equipment and not expect anyone to
notice."
"Why not?" Artemis asked in surprise. "It will only take two
hours to pour and cast all three weapons. Forming and folding them
should only take another two, according to what Kevin told me about
his equipment. After that, we can put them in the furnace overnight,
and fit the poles and the swords grips tomorrow morning."
"Now that that's settled, how about Wesley and Artemis go play
village blacksmith while Mina-chan and I see if I should be worried
about tomorrow." James said, laughing as Minako glared at him.
"I guess." Wesley said with a shrug, picking Artemis up.
"Let me know how the fight goes, alright Kiersten." She nodded
and Wesley left with Artemis.
"Would you like to warm up?" Minako asked solicitously.
James just laughed and pulled a staff off of the rack, testing
it for balance, then placed it to one side.
"I'm ready, how about you?" He replied, smiling back at
her. She simply pulled her Henshin rod out of subspace and
transformed.
"Now I'm ready." Sailor Venus said, giggling at his shocked
expression. Taking advantage of his condition, she threw a punch,
which he instinctively ducked away from. Shaking himself awake,
James blocked several vicious strikes before he had fully recovered.
"What's the matter, too much for you already?" She laughed as she
drove him back.
James grinned, and as he blocked her next punch, launched a
kick into her stomach, sending her stumbling backward, finally
falling on her butt.
"Not at all." James said in amusement. "You just surprised
me a little. I'm ready for you now though, Mina."
She lashed out with a rapid series of punches and kicks, but
James blocked them easily and sent her stumbling into a wall. With
a growl, she turned and fired a 'Crescent Beam Smash' at him, but
he dodged that as well. Usagi also had to dive to the side as the
attack bounced off the mirror behind James and ricocheted toward her.
"Hey, watch it!" Usagi shouted. "I'm not part of this fight!"
"Sorry Usagi." Venus said absently as she and James circled
each other.
"So you want to play rough do you?" James challenged, rolling
away from another attack and retrieving his staff. "I can handle
that, just don't complain if you get a few bruises."
"As if." Venus said, insulted. With a growl, she threw a
'Love Chain' at his head, but by the time it got there, he was gone.
"So you are faster. Maybe you can survive after all."
"I never had any doubts." Usagi complained as she had to dodge
the next chain strike.
"Owiee." She yelped as it caught her around the ankle and
tripped her.
"Stay out of the way, Usagi." Venus growled in annoyance,
dissolving the chain. Kiersten came out of the viewing room and
led her cousin to it.
"Wow, James can really fight." Kiersten told Usagi as he
dodged another attack and knocked Venus down again, but was unable
to follow it up as she rolled away again. The fight went on for
another ten minutes, until Sailor Venus finally hit James with a
'Love and Beauty Shock'. He was blasted into the wall and laid
still for several seconds.
"James, are you okay?" Minako screamed, transforming into
her normal self. "Speak to me James."
She ran over to James and knelt next to him. Kiersten and
Usagi ran over to him from the viewing area. Kiersten checked his
breathing, and sighed in relief when she found his pulse normal.
"Will he be okay?" Minako asked, worried. "I knew this was
a bad idea. Rei was right." As she said this, James pretended to
snore loudly and opened his eyes, smiling widely.
"What, no mouth to mouth?" He said, groaning when Minako
punched him in the stomach.
"You jerk, I thought I hurt you badly." Minako said,
glaring at him. "Maybe I should correct my mistake."
"Oh it hurt alright." James said sitting up with a groan.
"I'm sorry if I scared you Mina-chan. That last attack stunned me
for a few seconds, but you were making such a fuss, I couldn't
resist seeing how far you would go."
"I really should hate you." Minako said with a grin, helping
him to his feet. "Don't do that again okay?"
"Fine by me." James said with a laugh. "So what do you think
of my chances?"
"Oh, you could take Rei easily." Minako said, smiling when
Usagi nodded vigorously in agreement. "Haruka though could be a
bit rough. How is your staff versus sword techniques?"
"Depends on the sword technique." James said, shrugging.
"Rei used some pretty normal tactics until the end of our fight
on Friday. That combination she used at the end was pure genius
though. If I had been using a sword, I would have only been able
to refuse to engage to avoid a very bad end."
"That was one of the techniques Artemis was talking about."
Minako replied. "It's designed for life or death fights, not
sparring unless you're at a pretty high level of ability with
swords."
"So when do I get my turn to practice." Kiersten asked with
a smile at her cousin, who backed away fearfully. "Oh come on Usagi,
I won't hurt you. You fight monsters just like the others, so I
doubt you have anything to be afraid of from me."
"Okay, but if it starts getting dangerous, we stop, okay?"
Usagi said sounding unsure of herself.
"Okay." Kiersten said, pulling a bokken out of the weapons
rack.
Usagi transformed and they began circling each other after
Kiersten put the practice sword on the floor. The first few
flurries of blows were tentative, but soon the two girls were
exchanging attacks at full force and speed. After a while though,
Kiersten knocked her cousin backward and forgetting that it was
just practice, Sailor Moon fired a 'Tiara Action' at her cousin.
Diving to the side, Kiersten recovered her bokken and went on the
attack. From then on the battle was bokken against scepter with
Kiersten having to dodge Sailor Moon's tiara every soon often.
The fight finally ended when Sailor Moon called a halt saying
she was too tired. Kiersten agreed and they decided to play some
video games. Kiersten introduced them to 'Scorched Earth 2000'
and they were soon embroiled in a war between Kiersten and Usagi's
Raider's and James and Minako's Marauders.
* * * * *
Wesley looked around the corner, then smiled when he saw that
there weren't any cameras in that part of the basement level. He
continued to follow Artemis directions until they came to a door
with an electronic lock.
"Now what?" Wesley asked the cat in defeat. "I hope you
know the code or we might as well go back and watch James fight
Minako."
"Sure I know it." Artemis said, sounding insulted. "It's
zero, eight, one, zero, one, two, seven, nine. Kevin doesn't
like to have to recode his locks very often, so he uses numbers
he can't forget." Wesley punched the code in and the door
unlocked instantly. Wesley opened it and stepped through, then
set Artemis on the worktop.
"Okay, so now what?" Wesley asked, looking around the
foundry in bewilderment. "You're the master smith here. All
I am is a pair of hands with a brain attached."
"Okay, first go over to the 'Reject' bin over there against
the wall and bring back about ten swords." Artemis instructed,
sitting down and watching as Wesley followed his instructions.
After Wesley had brought the broken swords and put them into the
smelter, after removing the practice grips, Artemis told him what
temperature to set the furnace at, then continued. "Now we need
to make the casting forms for the pole arm blades and the high
alloy parts of the sword blade." He directed Wesley through the
process, then, after finishing the forms, directed him in the
casting operation.
As the forming machine rapidly cooled the blades, Artemis
got Wesley to work on the wrought iron part of the sword. They
barely finished that part when the cooling bell sounded, and
Artemis had Wesley take the two pole arm blades and welded the
rings they had also cast onto them, then place them into the
tempering furnace. Wesley was amazed to realize that two hours
had already gone by when he glanced up at the digital clock on
the wall. Artemis called him back to work and instructed him
in how to weld the wrought iron blades to the alloy blades, and
beat them out with the hydraulic hammers, then use the hydraulic
press to fold the blade. Then the process started again. It
took another two hours to complete the sword, even with the
hydraulic equipment, and after coating the sword with a thermal
protection gel everywhere except the edges, put it in the tempering
furnace as well. It was as they were walking back to Wesley's
wing that Artemis thought of a problem.
"We'll have the blades by tomorrow, but where are we going to
get the poles for you and James and the grips for Kiersten?" He
asked as they walked toward the study room where they could hear
the others shouting. "Kevin only uses plain grips for his test
swords and he doesn't keep a supply of poles just lying around."
"We can use my shop for that." Wesley replied, then opened
the door smiling as he watched the others play their game.
Just as Usagi and Kiersten launched their barrage of nuclear
missiles at James and Minako's main base, the other pair's Doomsday
weapon was completed, and everyone watched in shock as the computer
zoomed out to show an image of the planet exploding. The game was
declared a draw and everyone looked questioningly at Wesley.
"Everything is done except for the poles and Kiersten's sword
grips." Wesley said with a smile. "Before we get to that though,
how would you like some dinner? I don't know about the rest of you,
but I'm starving. You can tell me what happened in the fight while
we eat." Everyone agreed readily, and after calling down to Ms.
Meeps, who had already prepared the food, they all went to the dining
room for a meal of BBQ ribs and baked beans, with other picnic foods.
"So who won?" Wesley asked after a while, wiping his mouth
with his napkin.
"Minako did." Kiersten laughed, smiling at James' sour
expression. "She almost knocked James out by slamming him into
the wall."
"Ouch." Wesley said in sympathy. "I thought it was only
going to be a practice fight."
"We got a little carried away." James sighed with a shrug,
taking more ribs. "It was a good fight though. Much harder than
fighting that Youma."
"I was trying to make it realistic." Minako said with a
blush. "But I doubt it will be that hard to fight real Youma.
You did very well, Jim."
"Thanks, Mina." James laughed. "Kiersten was pretty good
too. She gave Usagi an even fight, though I think it could have
lasted longer."
"I didn't want either of us to get hurt." Usagi explained,
grabbing some more potato salad. "That's why I stopped the fight
when I did."
"I thought as much." Kiersten said with a smile for her
cousin. "I could tell you weren't as tired as you were acting.
It was fun though. Based on that fight I had, and my practice
with Wesley yesterday, I'd say we have a pretty even chance of
winning, but we need some rules to keep everyone from getting
any more than their pride hurt."
"We could limit Rei, Haruka, and Setsuna to low powered
attacks since you won't be using live blades." Minako suggested.
"That way it would be fair too. It wasn't until I used a powerful
attack that James was stunned."
"Okay, but how will we decide who wins?" James said with a
smile. "We could use tournament scoring, but that wouldn't be
very realistic as a test of our fighting ability."
"We could use the scoring method Wesley and I used for our
sparring session yesterday." Kiersten suggested. "What we would
do is mark the chest area as a kill zone and if anyone gets hit
there, they lose."
"That will work." Minako said with a mod. "But how do we
know if one of the others score a hit there? They won't have any
weapons."
"Well, for hand to hand attacks, it would have to be more
than a hit to that area, since I doubt even a Senshi could kill
a Youma by punching it." James said, considering possibilities.
"I think the best thing would be to limit the chest hits to weapons,
or someone might get hurt. For hand-to-hand and other attacks, it
would probably be better to use a three-fall rule. If an attack
knocks the person down, that counts as one fall. Tripping and
falling down on your own don't count. It's only knock downs
that count."
"Sounds good to me." Wesley said, liking the idea. Kiersten
nodded in agreement and after they finished dinner, they went up to
the study room and typed up the rules. Then Minako and Usagi had
to leave for patrols, so Artemis gave Wesley instructions for the
poles and Wesley asked Geoffrey to take them home.
"So what should we do now?" James asked, once Usagi, Minako,
and Artemis had left.
"Once we've made the forms for Kiersten's sword grip, we
could watch some movies." Wesley said, looking for suggestions.
"Or we could play some games on the computer. So which will it
be?"
"I think the movies." Kiersten said with a grin. "But I
get to chose the first one."
James and Wesley agreed, and they all went to work shop.
Following Artemis' instructions, Wesley made a clay cylinder
around a wooden dowel shaped like the tang of the word he'd made
and took an impression of Kiersten's sword hand. Then after
watching the first movie, 'The Craft', it was dry enough to make
the impression in a set of reverse molds Wesley had prepared.
After the next movie, 'The Mask of Zorro', which James chose,
the forms had finished baking and they poured purple neoprene
into the forms and left them to cool while they watched 'Robin
Hood, Prince of Thieves'. Geoffrey then took Kiersten and
James home.
That night, three more Youma attacks occurred and the Senshi
found themselves facing more Youma that were immune to their attacks.
One of the attacks seemed a rather pointless raid on a girl's school
dorm, but it was only one Youma, so the Senshi didn't pay any attention
to the fact that it produced a lot more dust than normal.
Kiersten, James, and Wesley all had nightmares of getting killed
by Youma or the Senshi being defeated. Kiersten also had another
strange dream.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The bars of her crib glowed a soothing blue and she snuggled
into her blanket babbling to herself. She heard a door open then shut,
but the light that usually accompanied the sound wasn't there which
made her curious. After a struggle to sit up, she looked around, but
she couldn't see anyone so she stood up. Holding onto the bars to
balance herself, she looked around again and noticed some movement
of to one side. Suddenly a large shape loomed over her, but she
smiled happily when she recognized her big brother. He smiled down
at her and picked her up carrying her over to the rocking chair nearby.
"I see you couldn't sleep either, Peanut." He laughed and she
shook her head. "Can you tell me why not?"
"The rocks keep moving around." She complained, annoyed. "I
keep putting them in pretty shapes, but someone else keeps moving
them back again."
"Which rocks, Cassy?" He asked with a smile. "The ones in
the garden?" She shook her head, struggling to understand it herself.
"The ones out in the black place." Cassandra said finally.
"They are all floating around, disorganized." Gerrek smiled down
at her again, then stood up and put her back in her crib.
"Don't worry about it Peanut." He chuckled, tucking her in
again. "The rocks don't mind going everywhere, it's just too scary
for them to be going a new way, so Mommy puts them back. She didn't
know you were trying to make pretty shapes." Cassy accepted that and
snuggled down into her blanket again.
* * * * *
The next morning, Cassy woke up and unlocked her crib, climbing
out of it. She had gone to the bathroom and brushed her teeth before
her Nanny caught her trying to get dressed. Once her clothes were
straight and her hair brushed, her Nanny took her to her mother's room.
Her mother was sitting at a table eating with Cassy's brother. After
she was in her high chair, her mother turned and smiled at her.
"And how is my little princess this morning." She said, putting
Cassandra's breakfast within her reach.
"Fine, Mommy." Cassy giggled as her brother made faces at her.
"Mommy, why do you move the rocks around?" She asked, surprising her
mother.
"What do you mean dear?" Queen Andromeda asked. "Which rocks?"
"The ones floating in the black place." Cassandra said, trying
to explain. "Ger said they get scared being in new places. I didn't
mean to scare them." Queen Andromeda stared at her daughter for several
seconds then looked at her son questioningly.
"It seems Peanut has been trying to put the Asteroids into pretty
shapes at night." Gerrek said, laughing when his mother just stared at
him. "I think we've found our rouge gravitational anomaly Mother. And
she's a very cute anomaly too."
"But ... but her powers aren't supposed to develop until she
is at least ten." Queen Andromeda said, still in shock.
"She's always been advanced for her age, mother." Gerrek
responded equally. "This is just a little more powerful than
learning to talk and read. You might want to move her to the
shielded quarter though. I don't think anyone will enjoy gravity
transients when she throws a tantrum over her bed time."
"What's Ger talking about Mommy?" Cassy asked, not
understanding. "What's a tran ... trans ... transient?"
"A transient is when something changes dear." Queen
Andromeda said, smiling at her daughter. "Would you like a
new room Cassy, with a big girl bed and more room for stuffed
animals?"
"Will Nanny and Duncan still be there?" Cassy asked
nervously, though she was excited about the new room.
"Of course." Her mother laughed. "Would you like that?"
Cassy nodded vigorously and her mother hugged her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kiersten smiled in her sleep and slept peacefully the rest
of the night.
* * * * *
Wesley got up early the next morning and went to check the
weapons. He smiled when he saw that the tempering furnace had shut
down, then he carefully removed each weapon one at a time to his
workshop and checked the neoprene grips to make sure they fit the
actual sword and smiled when they fit perfectly. He put the
weapons on the main worktop and covered them, then locked the
workshop door and went about his morning routine.
Kiersten arrived at Drakkenheim about eight that morning and
Minako, Usagi, and James arrived an hour later with Artemis in tow.
"So let's see them." James said, echoed by the girls. "We
want to see what you and Artemis spent so long creating yesterday."
"Okay, okay. But just as a warning, they aren't done yet."
Wesley said leading the way to his workshop. "They haven't been
sharpened and the poles haven't arrived yet." After everyone was
in the room, he uncovered them and they gleamed in the overhead
light. Artemis jumped up to the tabletop and examined each carefully.
"Very nice, even if I say so myself." Artemis said in
satisfaction. "Are the grips done?" Wesley put them on the sword,
and gave the sword to Kiersten who tested it for balance.
"It's a little blade heavy." Kiersten said, handing it back
to Wesley.
"Okay, that's easy to fix." Artemis said with a laugh.
"Come with me." He jumped off of the table and left the room
with Kiersten right behind him. James picked up the four-foot
blade for his weapon and looked at it then at Wesley.
"This is good work, Wes." James said in admiration. "I
can't even see any casting marks. I can't wait 'til it's finished,
those Youma won't stand a chance."
"You need to beat the others first." Minako reminded him.
"Has anyone thought of who will be fighting whom today?"
"I think James should fight Haruka." Usagi said, thinking
about it carefully. "Kiersten should be able to give Rei a run for
her money, but that leaves Wesley fighting Setsuna, and she's very
dangerous in a fight."
"What makes her so dangerous?" Wesley asked curiously. "Is
she some kind of martial arts master?"
"No, she's the Senshi of Time." Minako replied. "All of
her attacks are time based, and I think she uses time in her hand
to hand skills, though I don't really know how."
"Well there is nothing we can do about it." He said with a
shrug. "I'll just have to get her out really fast. That reminds
me, is this going to be an all or nothing proposition or two out
of three?"
"I think two out of three would be fair." Usagi said with a
grin. "That way Rei can't complain that we stacked the deck in your
favor by choosing who you would fight. When do you think the weapons
will be ready for you to use?"
"Well, Kiersten's sword is almost done except for the balancing."
Wesley said, considering it. "The poles should arrive within the next
hour or two. Once they're here, all it will take about half an hour
to balance them and mount the blades. They should be ready by the
time the fights are over."
"Speaking of Kiersten, where is she?" Usagi asked. "She and
Artemis have been gone for almost ten minutes. I mean, how long can
it take to balance one sword?"
"Two days sometimes." Wesley said, laughing at her shocked
expression. "Of course, based on what I saw of Mr. O'Connell's
foundry, it should take only half an hour at most."
"Fifteen minutes." Kiersten said, looking at her watch with
a smile as she came back into the room. "The balance weight Artemis
and I cast is cooling. When's the fight?"
"In about two hours." Minako replied, glancing at her own
watch. "It'll take us about half an hour to get there, so what
should we do to pass the time?"
"Usagi tells me that you're pretty good at video games."
Kiersten said smiling mischievely. "How about another tournament
before the real one? The game is 'Golden Eye', team shooting,
grenade launchers."
"You're on." Minako agreed excitedly. "James and I will
take on all comers."
"Fine with me." Wesley said with a laugh. "Though I think
three against two might be a little unfair."
"For you maybe." Minako jeered as they walked into the home
theater.
After Wesley called Geoffrey to let him know when they needed
to leave, he watched while Usagi and Kiersten came very close to
beating James and Minako, only to be beaten in a flurry of crossfire.
Then it was his turn. He chose the Labyrinth, then chose his ambush
site. The game lasted for forty-five minutes as he and the others
ducked and dodged, recharged with first aid packs and reloaded their
weapons. It finally ended with Wesley cornering Minako, and Kiersten
surprising James from one of his own ambush sites. After that Wesley
partnered with Usagi and they only lost by one kill. About ten minutes
before they were suppose to leave, the poles arrived and Artemis said
to just leave them in the workshop. Geoffrey arrived on time and they
made it to the shrine with five minutes to spare. While Kiersten,
Wesley, and James changed into the clothes they had brought along,
Minako read the tournament rules to the others. After she finished,
she asked if there were any questions.
"So basically the rules are no live blades, low power attacks
only, weapon strikes to the chest and knock downs are the only attacks
that count?" Haruka asked, considering the rules. "How many strikes
are required to end the fight?"
"Three I think." James said as the three challengers came back
into the room. He wore a black gi with gold and red embroidery on it,
with a black belt tied at his waist. Kiersten wore a leotard and
leggings, also in black, while Wesley wore a dark gray gi tied off
with a black belt. "It's only fair since you have to get three falls
to eliminate us."
"Agreed." Haruka said with a nod, then turned to Rei. "Is your
grandfather gone for the rest of the day?"
"He went to a shrine in Hokkaido." Rei replied. "I doubt he'll
be back for a week."
"Okay, shall we begin?" Usagi said, looking nervously at the
three challengers who nodded, then at Rei, Haruka, and Setsuna who
also nodded. "The first match will be between Rei and Kiersten.
If you will take your places." Rei and Kiersten came to the center
of the dojo and bowed to each other then Rei transformed.
"Good Luck." Kiersten said with a smile, which Rei only nodded
to acknowledge. Usagi looked between the two opponents then sighed
and raised her hand.
"Begin!" She shouted and both girls exploded into action.
Rei charged in hoping to get a fast knock down, but had to dive
to the side to avoid Kiersten's sword. The two opponents circled each
other for several seconds and watched to see if there were any signs
of weakness. Kiersten launched her own attack and barely escaped Rei's
counter attack, tripping over her feet as she sidestepped Rei's kick.
Rei took advantage of her imbalance and knocked her down with a foot
sweep.
"Hold." Usagi shouted, and Rei backed away.
"Way to go Rei!" Haruka shouted. "Two more to go!"
"You can do it, Kiersten." Chibi-Usa shouted, sticking
her tongue out at Haruka.
"One fall, point to Rei." Artemis announced.
"Begin!" Usagi shouted.
Kiersten exploded out of her guard in a flying lunge scoring
a chest hit. The points were tallied and they began again. Both
girls exploded into action and in a surprise to everyone, scored a
double knock down. After discussion, it was decided to allow both
and they squared off against each other. This round lasted for five
minutes and ended when Rei blocked Kiersten's sword slash and knocked
her down with a sidekick to the stomach.
"Hold." Usagi sighed, disappointed. "Match to Rei, three
knock downs."
"No hard feelings?" Rei asked, detransforming.
"None." Kiersten said with a smile. "You're very good."
"Thanks, so are you." Rei said, returning the smile.
"The next match will be between James and Haruka." Minako
announced.
"Begin." Usagi said, dropping her hand after Haruka and
James bowed to each other and Haruka transformed.
At first, Haruka concentrated on knocking James down but
after James scored two knockdowns with his staff to her one, she
changed tactics. In the middle of an exchange, she launched a
'World Shaking' at his staff, splintering it, but in a blinding
reaction, James knocked her flying with a spinning roundhouse kick.
"Hold." Usagi said, shocked. "Match to James, three knock
downs."
"Good fight." James said, helping Haruka to her feet. "I
thought I'd had it."
"So did I." Haruka laughed. "That last kick was wicked
though. How did you get so fast?"
"Fifteen years of practice everyday." James laughed, walking
over to the side of the dojo with her, where they were met by Michiru.
"That and pure adrenalin rush from seeing what that attack did to my
staff." In the mean time, Chibi-Usa and Hotaru had been sweeping
the pieces of James' staff off the floor.
"The final match will be between Wesley and ... and Setsuna."
Usagi said after letting Minako take her spot as judge. Wesley
and Setsuna bowed to each other and Setsuna transformed and summoned
the Time Key Staff.
"Begin." Minako shouted and they began circling each other.
Suddenly Setsuna lashed out with her staff and knocked Wesley's
from his hand and Kiersten groaned as he didn't escape her follow up
chest strike. After he retrieved his staff, they began again. This
time Wesley ducked under an attack that never came and had his feet
swept out from under him. James called for a rest break and the
others agreed. Wesley, James, and Kiersten went outside to talk
about what they were going to do.
"You've only got one fall left, Wes." James said urgently.
"Do you think you can take her, or should we give up? If she is
too much for you, that's nothing to be ashamed of, but do you think?"
"I don't know." Wesley sighed. "It feels like the staff is
slowing me down."
"Do you want to try the last round without it?" Kiersten
asked, worried. "You'll be at more of a disadvantage than before."
"I know that." Wesley said trying to explain what he meant.
"How is the staff slowing you down?" James asked, getting
an idea from the axe he'd seen in Wesley's dojo. "Could it be
that it's to long?"
"That's it exactly." Wesley said, realizing his problem as
James spoke. "The staff should be shorter. That way I can use it
faster."
"Okay, we'll shorten it." James replied with a smile. He
went to the Shrine's tool shed and came back with a hacksaw. "How
short should it be?" He asked Wesley, and measured off a length of
about five feet and James cut the staff to that length. Once it was
cut, Wesley tested it and smiled.
"This is perfect." He said with a smile and they went back
into the Dojo.
After Setsuna and Wesley were back in the center, Minako
inspected the staff, approved it and had them begin again. With
a grim set to his mouth, Wesley came at Setsuna, and in a blur of
motion, blocked her first strike and swept her feet out from under
her. After another point tally, they began again, and early in
the round, Setsuna knocked Wesley's staff away from him. He spent
several minutes dodging her attack until she was a little late
recovering from one, and he knocked her down with a jump kick.
After he retrieved his staff, they began the final round.
He opened with a spin kick and followed up with several staff
strikes, dodging her attacks and trying for an opening. She
attempted several times to end the fight, but he either blocked
or dodged all of Setsuna's attacks. This continued for several
minutes with neither opponent getting a point.
Things changed rapidly when, as Wesley was blocking one of
Setsuna's attacks, his staff broke and in desperation, he grabbed
the Time Key Staff to prevent the follow up he knew was coming.
Setsuna froze when she saw Pluto's sigil appear on his forehead.
Wesley used her hesitation and swept her legs out from under her.
"Game and match to Wesley." Usagi said excitedly, running
up to Kiersten and hugging her.
"Good fight." Wesley said to Setsuna with a smile, helping
her to her feet.
"Yes it was." She replied with a slight smile of her own.
"If you'll excuse me, I must be going." He nodded, confused and
raising the Time Key Staff, Setsuna vanished.
* * * * *
To Be Continued ...