(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
************************
Chapter 15- The Hunt Part I
************************
"What the hell is going on here?" Kevin demanded, glaring at the Senshi. "What
were these three doing fighting Youma?"
"Who are you to be asking?" James retorted, returning his glare. He would have
continued, but Rei touched his arm and shook her head.
"We needed their help while you were gone," Usagi said calmly. "After you left,
the Youma attacks started again, and we were having a hard time fighting them off."
"Why would you need help fighting the Youma?" Makoto asked, confused. "We
beat them by ourselves before we even got as strong as we are now. You even had
Uranus, Neptune and Saturn with you."
"They were those new Youma that can become immune to our attacks," Haruka
growled. "After a while we were forced to use physical tactics all of the time, which you
know don't work that well."
"Well you don't need their help anymore now that we're back," Kevin said,
ignoring the glares he was getting.
"Who the hell is this guy, and what right does he have to say that?" James
demanded, looking toward Usagi. "I thought you were the leader."
"I am," Usagi assured him. "And until I decide otherwise, you will continue to
help us."
"Not if I can do anything about it," Kevin growled.
"Well Kevin, you can't," Usagi replied flatly, smiling at her cousin. "While you
have the right, as his guardian, to stop Wesley from helping us, you don't have any right
to stop James and Kiersten."
"But I do," Scott said calmly, ignoring the Senshi's surprise. When the two
teenagers would have complained, he stopped then with a look. "Now I'm not saying I
will, but I have the right to decide who will and will not be in the Wolf Pack. I guess I'll
have to decide about you two."
"He's right," Artemis explained before anyone started complaining, and then
everyone looked at him questioningly. "As the First Prince of Minerva he has the right to
choose the members of his elite guard."
"Then we'll just change our uniforms," James decided, smiling when Kiersten
nodded in agreement.
"Not so fast," Scott said quickly. "I never said you couldn't keep helping, just that
I needed to decide, besides, me, more than anyone else, is very happy to see those
uniforms again."
"What do we need to do to convince you?" Kiersten asked eagerly, glad that he
wasn't just telling them not to fight.
"I'll have to test you..."Scott began.
"We already did," Minako told him. "They beat us in a fair fight."
"They beat Pluto and Uranus you mean," Rei interrupted, and then stopped
realizing how that sounded. "They didn't beat me."
"Doesn't matter," Scott replied. "They need to prove to me that they won't be a
liability in the coming fight. We'll have enough to worry about without having to protect
them as well."
"Man, haven't we been through this already?" James murmured to Kiersten
sullenly.
"I think its okay," She whispered back as Usagi and Minako argued quietly with
Scott. Finally, after a short debate, they nodded and got everyone’s attention.
“Okay, Usagi explained to me what was done so far and I have no problem with
that, but the tests I’m going to give you two is going to test your teamwork. Do you think
you two can handle that?” Scott asked.
“If we pass your test, will there be no more arguing about us joining you guys in
the fight?” James asked. He then saw Scott look at everyone else to see if they had
anything to say, but then he saw that Kevin and Rei still had some resentment towards the
idea, but they kept their mouths shut. He also noticed that Wesley was angry at Kevin for
pulling him off the team.
“Since there were no disagreements, then yes, there will be no arguments about
you two joining us.” Scott replied.
“So when will this test be?” Kiersten asked. Scott was about to answer her but
Jim interrupted him.
“Hey hold up there, before you go and set up any dates, I need to talk to you about
why I went and grabbed you guys from Hawaii.” Jim said to Scott.
“What is it?” Scott asked giving his attention to Jim.
“Sasami’s father is coming and wants to have a word with you about matter’s
concerning her.” Jim replied.
“Ah, I see. When will he be here?” Scott asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon is what we were told.” Jim replied.
“I’ll be there tomorrow mid-morning. I have some things I have to do tonight.”
Scott said.
“Okay, see you later Punk.” Jim said smiling.
“Sure thing, Kumquat.” Scott returned smiling also.
Jim then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a
number and waited for a moment for it to be picked up. After it was picked up, he said a
few words and suddenly a portal opened next to him and he then put his cell phone away.
He then walked through the portal and then the portal disappeared, leaving a few people
surprised at what had just happened.
“What was that all about?” Usagi asked, somewhat nervous.
“A personal matter dealing with a friend.” Scott replied.
“So what about your test then?” James asked.
“Ah yes, the Test. The test will be two days after I get back from the matter I
have to attend to, if that is all right with everyone. I will call if it takes longer than I hope
it will.” Scott said, as he saw everyone nod their head in agreement. “All right then, I’ll
see everyone when I get back.”
Scott then turns and leaves the place and Ami noticed a look in Scott’s eyes that
she didn’t like. She was about to go after him, but Usagi had grabbed her arm and
wanted to know how the trip went. Ami looked around and saw that Wesley and Kevin
was in a heated argument and saw that Makoto was being harassed by some of the others.
Ami sighed and figured she could catch up with Scott later and proceeded to tell Usagi
and those around what had happened on their trip to Hawaii that took them all the way to
France, by leaving out anything that could deal with Immortals, but the ones that knew
about the Immortal could tell when Ami was leaving them out.
Kevin had stormed out of the room after he and Wesley were done talking;
Wesley then joined the group that was talking about the trip to calm himself down a little.
After Ami was done talking about the trip, she excused herself so she could go find Scott,
secretly hoping nothing bad happened while she was talking to her friends. When Ami
was gone, the others couldn’t believe that the Negaverse attacked them during their trip,
and did something to Scott that made them chase him across the world. They were glad
that they were able to find a cure for Scott’s condition.
Kiersten then brought up the question of the lightning they saw at the mall. Most
of the Senshi had a sudden worried look as if they didn’t know how to answer them.
Finally Makoto came up with an idea and told them that Jim must have hit an energy
crystal that caused the effect they had seen. Kiersten, James, and Wesley knew that they
were holding something back, but they didn’t know what it was, so they decided to let the
others have their secret for now, but they knew they were going to get the real answer
soon.
After that, everyone decided it was the end of the night and most of the Senshi
decided it was time to head home. After the hard few battles they had recently, they
needed any rest they could get. While the others were leaving or going to bed, Minako
pulled James and Wesley over to have a talk with them. Kiersten not really having
anything to do, followed them to hear what Minako had to say to them.
“So Minako, what do you need to talk to us about?” Wesley asked.
“Well, I really don’t know how to put this, but I’ve been having dreams with the
two of you in them.” Minako said.
“Nothing erotic I hope.” James said smiling. He then winced in pain as she
punched him in the arm.
“I’m trying to be serious here.” Minako said angrily.
“Sorry.” James said rubbing the spot where Minako punched him.
“In those dreams, James, you’re my twin brother, and you Wesley, were by
boyfriend.” Minako said.
“Hey, that doesn’t matter to me if you keep dreaming that were twins, we
practically are twins. So what brought this all on all of a sudden?” James asked.
“The dreams I’ve been having have been during the time of the Silver
Millennium.” Minako said.
“I’m confused, what does this have to do with me?” Wesley asked.
“Noting really, just that you looked like an old boyfriend I had during the time of
the Silver Millennium.” Minako replied sighing.
“Well, I guess I should be flattered the.” Wesley said.
“You should.” Minako said smugly, but smiled later.
“Well, I hate to cut this short, but Jervis is waiting for me, and I think the rest of
us are tried, so I think we should head home now.” Wesley said when he saw Jervis by
the doorway.
Minako, James, and Kiersten said their goodnights to Wesley and they all left for
home for a decent nights sleep.
* * * * *
Scott had left early in the morning and Ami had persuaded him to let her come
along with him. They got back three days later in the early afternoon and Hotaru, who
was collecting the mail for them while they were in Hawaii, decided to drop of what she
had collected for him. Since Chibi-Usa was with her, the both of them went over to
Scott’s to drop off the mail and to find out how his business that he had to take care of
went.
When they got there, they saw that Scott and Ami had another person with them.
The person was a girl with long light bluish hair done up in two ponytails, and appeared
to be about their age. When the girl saw the both of them, she went and hid behind Scott
until he pulled her out from behind him and started introductions. After Scott had told
Hotaru and Chibi-Usa how Sasami came under his care, Hotaru handed him his mail. As
Scott was going through the mail, he came across a letter that surprised him. When the
others noticed his surprised look, they took a look at who sent the letter and saw it was
from a ‘M. Nashimoto’.
That then started the question of everyone wanting to know who that was, but it
was the comment that Sasami had made that surprised everyone. Sasami had asked Scott
if that was his daughter of which Scott replied it was. That then caused the others to start
asking how he came to get a daughter and who she is. After several questions later, Scott
had given them a brief story on how he came to have a daughter. Once he was done
talking to them, he read the letter and realized that she was going to be coming home the
day after Scott had planned for the test.
Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, with a little Ami, bugged Scott until he let them go along
with him to pick her up at the airport. Once that was settled, Scott had Hotaru and Chibi-
Usa take Sasami out and about to get her familiar with the area, while he finished the
final details of the test. He told the three girls to save their appetite for dinner at Kevin’s
to talk about the test and for everyone to meet Sasami. The three girls agreed and left to
leave Scott and Ami along to figure out the rest of the test.
* * * * *
Everyone gathered at Kevin’s castle to have dinner, talk about the test, and to
meet Sasami. Sasami suddenly became shy again and hid behind Scott when she was
confronted with the large group of people. Hotaru and Chibi-Usa saw what was going on
and came over to pull Sasami out from behind Scott and started introducing her to
everyone. When Scott was asked why she was staying with him, he replied that she was
placed under his care for a while. After that, everyone started welcoming her and she
started feeling more comfortable with everyone that she started opening up more to them.
When that was done, everyone left to go eat dinner. During the dinner, Makoto
was having a nagging feeling that she had seen Sasami from somewhere when it finally
came to her.
“I remember now where I’ve seen you before.” Makoto exclaimed all of a sudden
that several people jumped.
“Uh, where?” Sasami asked nervously when she saw Makoto pointing at her.
“You were on a cooking show a couple of years ago.” Makoto replied.
“Yes I was.” Sasami said as she was surprised that Makoto remembered that
show.
“I remember watching that show, it was great, and you did very well in it.”
Makoto said.
“Thank you.” Sasami smiled at Makoto.
“What was the show called?” James asked.
“The Furious Chef. Sasami won it by beating the current champion.” Makoto
replied.
“Wow, we have a real life TV star here.” Wesley said smiling at Sasami, which
caused her to blush.
“Why don’t we have another cooking contest between Kevin, Makoto, and now
Sasami? We now have a few more people to be judges.” Chibi-Usa asked.
“Maybe after we deal with the crisis we are going through right now, Chibi-Usa,
then we can try another contest.” Scott commented.
“Oh, okay.” Chibi-Usa said realizing that he was saying the truth.
After that, they all finished eating their dinner and then they all gathered in the
study. They were going to start talking about the Test when Kevin started bringing up
another detail.
“So Scott, I hear you plan on moving to a new place?” Kevin asked.
“Yes, with Sasami now living with me, the place above my shop is a little small
for our needs, especially now that Ami is insisting about living with me and Sasami.”
Scott replied and everyone noticed a small blush to Ami’s cheeks.
“So where do you plan on moving?” Kevin asked.
“Somewhere between here and Tokyo.”
“When do you plan on moving?”
“As soon as possible.”
“As much as I would like to hear about that, what about the so called test we were
going to be talking about?” James asked getting tired of the delay.
“Sorry, you are right we need to get going about the test.” Scott said.
“So what are we going to have to do for your test?” Kiersten asked.
“The test will be done in two parts.” Scott replied.
“Okay.” Kiersten said waiting for the rest to be said.
“The first one is part race part confidence course. In what that mean’s is, you two
are going to have a timed event in which both of you must reach the finish point any way
you can.” Scott said.
“That’s it, that’s easy.” James said.
“Figured you’d say that, so, to give you a challenge, the other Senshi is going to
try and stop you. The finish point is for you two to reach where Sasami will be waiting.”
Scott said.
“So how long do we have to do it in?” Kiersten asked.
“How ever long it takes you for both of you to reach the finish point. The time is
for me really and really has nothing to do for the test.” Scott replied.
“How come this sounds familiar?” Wesley asked.
“The idea came to me from an episode of ‘American Gladiators’.” Scott replied.
“Okay, we can handle that part, what is the other part?” Kiersten asked.
“Both of you must fight me as a team.” Scott said.
“That’s it? A two on one fight?” James asked surprised.
“Yes that’s it.” Scott said smiling. “But I am not an easy person to fight.”
“So when are we going to start this test?” Kiersten asked.
“Early, I say around six in the morning.” Scott replied.
“Why so early?” Kiersten asked surprised at the time.
“The test has to get done early; I have someone to pick up at the airport at seven.”
Scott replied.
“Who is it?” One of the Senshi asked.
“His daughter.” Chibi-Usa blurted out.
“Daughter!” Everyone exclaimed except the ones who knew about her.
“You have a daughter Scott?” Usagi asked.
“Yes.” Scott replied.
“It’s Stripe, isn’t it?” Kevin asked.
“Yes, it’s her.” Scott replied.
“It’s that time already?” Kevin asked.
“Yep.” Scott replied.
“What are you two talking about?” Makoto asked angrily. “And what is her
name?”
“Her name is Miyuki Nashimoto and she’s coming back home from Sweden to
become heir to the Nashimoto Clan.” Scott replied.
“So how did you meet her?” Makoto asked.
Scott sighed when he realized that he wasn’t going to get out of explaining about
Miyuki again. So he proceeded to tell them a brief history of how he came to be the
father of her. Most of the Senshi were shocked at what Scott revealed about Miyuki.
Once he was done telling the story, they saw it was getting late, so everyone decided to
sleep at Kevin’s castle, since they had a big day tomorrow. Before they all left for bed,
they all told Scott that they were going to join him in picking Miyuki up. Scott didn’t
want everyone going but he knew it was pointless to try and stop them.
* * * * *
The next day had everyone outside of the castle ready to participate in Scott’s test.
When everyone was ready, Scott told them the rules one last time so they understood
what had to be done. James and Kiersten were dressed in workout clothes, of t-shirts and
shorts, while Wesley was standing off to the side, still angry because Kevin is still not
letting him join in the fights.
He explained that they had to get from point A to point B as a team, as fast as they
could. Along the way, the Senshi will be there to slow them down or stop them. The
second part will deal with a two on one fight. After he explained the rules, and James
and Kiersten had no questions, Scott had the others take their place. After waiting a
couple of minutes, he signaled the beginning of the test.
“Begin.” Scott called out and James and Kiersten ran into the forest to begin their
test. “Come along Wesley, we can watch from the finish point.”
“All right.” Wesley said quietly.
“If it means anything to you, I think Kevin is wrong for what he did.” Scott said
when he saw how sullen Wesley looked.
“Thanks.”
* * * * *
<>
* * * * *
“You’re good, how did you get so good?” James asked as he was trying to
breathe normally.
“Years of practice.” Scott replied as he then helped both of them to stand back
up. He then noticed the glum looks both of them had. “What’s with the glum looks you
two?”
“We lost, we failed the test.” Kiersten said.
“Is that all?” Scott asked surprised that is what was bothering them.
“Is that all? What do you mean by that?” Kiersten suddenly asked angrily.
“Did I say you failed?” Scott asked.
“No, but we didn’t defeat you.” James replied.
“I didn’t expect you the two of you to defeat me, that wasn’t the point of the
fight.” Scott said.
“What was the point?” Kiersten asked.
“It was to see how well the two of you fought as a team.” Scott said.
“So how did we do?” Kiersten said suddenly getting what Scott was saying and
what he was really doing.
“I say the two of you did very well and I would be honored if the two of you
continued fighting with us.” Scott said smiling.
“Yes!” James and Kiersten shouted while they congratulated each other.
“But…” Scott said and they suddenly became nervous at what he was going to
say. I would like the both of you to work with me in training some more. What we are
fighting is dangerous and I think you two need more training. Also if Kevin will permit,
Wesley can join you two in the training.”
After that, the celebrating started with most of the Senshi joining in and
congratulating them. There were still a very few that didn’t want them to fight, but they
knew that with Scott training them, they would have a fighting chance. Wesley then
walked over to Scott and asked him why he was offering to train him along with James
and Kiersten. Scott told him that he could see the fighting spirit in him and he told him
that he was training him for whenever Kevin decided to let him fight; he would be ready
to fight along side his friends. Wesley saw what Scott was doing and thanked him for his
faith in him and went over to congratulate his friends.
As the celebrating was dying down, Scott informed them that if they wanted to
join him in meeting Miyuki, then they better get cleaned up and ready to go. Everyone
then headed into the castle and got ready to leave.
* * * * *
When everyone was at the airport, they were met by another person. Scott had
introduced the person as Nodoka Saotome, Miyuki’s biological mother. The others
started questioning on how Scott was able to adopt Miyuki if her mother is still around.
Scott reminded them of what he told them of how he was able to adopt her. Most of them
understood what was going on and those who didn’t had the others explain it to them,
since Scott stopped explaining to them about things in his life that he already told them.
While the others were talking, Scott went over to talk to Nodoka.
“How are you doing Nodoka-chan?” Scott asked.
“Not bad, Scott-san. I didn’t expect this big of a crowd to join you.” Nodoka
replied.
“Neither did I, but when this group found out about me picking up Miyuki, they
wouldn’t let no be an answer for them joining me in welcoming Miyuki home.” Scott
replied.
“I see many new faces here.” Nodoka said looking at the group that had
accompanied Scott.