"Hey, Rei-chan!" Usagi yelled as she entered the Hikawa Temple.
Behind her, Minako and Makoto were arguing over the relative merits of
Steven (Minako's boyfriend) and Tuxedo Kamen. Artemis was hedonistically
curled around Minako's neck, obviously feeling that a cat shouldn't have to
walk any further than absolutely necessary. Ami trailed the group, reading
a book, as usual, and Luna padded along at her feet, pausing every so often
to sniff disdainfully at Artemis. For his part, Artemis just purred. The
girls were all dressed in windbreakers and warm clothes for while the day
was sunny, there was a chill in the air.
Rei looked up from where she was sweeping the temple walks and sighed.
Putting down her broom, she walked over to where her friends were waiting.
"We're going to go and get some training in," Usagi said. "Luna
thinks we're getting soft and--"
"Usagi! I didn't say that. I said that something seems to be going
on and we need to be at our best."
"Um... I don't think I can make it, guys. Grandpa gave me a lot of
chores and--"
"C'mon, Rei," Makoto broke in, cutting off her argument with Minako,
who looked miffed. "It'll be fun, and your Grandpa can surely spare you
for an hour or two."
"I said, I don't think I can make it, OK?" Rei's voice took on an
edge. "Unlike some people, I can't just do what I feel like doing!"
Everyone looked up at the outburst.
"Er... Rei, is everything OK?" Usagi asked. "I mean, Grandpa is
alright, right?"
"He's fine, not that it's any of your business, meatball head! Go on,
go and practice without me." Rei resumed sweeping the walk, concentrating
on it to the exclusion of all else.
"Well, fine!" Usagi sputtered. "We will! Come on, guys, we don't
need her anyway. Hmpf!" She stormed away.
"Well, take care, Rei," Minako added, cautiously, then ran off after
the rapidly departing Usagi. The others said goodbye as well.
Rei didn't watch them go. Once they were gone, however, she ran
around to the other side of the temple. When she felt sure she was safe
from prying eyes, she pulled her transformation pen out of her robe and
looked at it pleadingly. "Please..." she begged, then held it over her
head, as she had every other time she had used it. "MARS STAR POWER, MAKE
UP!"
Nothing happened.
*****
Naru: I'm tired of always running
I've grown tired of the night
I wish I had some cunning,
Had some power, had some might.
We see a collage of Naru running from monsters, grabbed by monsters,
trapped inside big moss balls by monsters, etc.
Sailors: You don't need to keep on running.
You don't need to fear the night.
We can save you with our cunning,
With our power, with our might.
We see a collage of images of Usagi and the other Sailors saving Naru
and many other people from monster attacks.
Naru: I don't want someone to save me;
I'd just like to save myself
I don't want to be a helpless doll
That must sit upon the shelf.
We see Naru sitting at her window, looking out on the starry night sky
of the city. One by one, lines trace the constellations.
Pluto: If you want to have the power
You must reach into your heart
Look inside to find your strength
For that's where power starts
We see Pluto holding out an eight-pointed star, which hovers just
above her hand.
*****
Sailor Moon Z:
Series Concept by Jeff Hosmer and John Biles
Primary Writer this Episode: Jeff Hosmer
Based on the Series Sailor Moon, copyrighted by a whole lot of people who
aren't us.
Episode 4
"Surprises at School!
Will Rei-chan Remain a Senshi?"
*****
Rei slumped to the ground, trying not to sob.
"Rei-chan?" came a voice from above her.
Rei whirled around and looked up. Luna was perched on the roof of the
temple, looking down at her.
"Luna! Don't scare me like that! What, did you forget something you
had to tell me? I said I'm busy today, you know," Rei blustered, trying
to hide her tears.
Luna ignored the barbed comment on her memory. "No, it's not that,
Rei. I was watching as you tried to transform."
Rei sagged. "I can't... Something's wrong with my transformation
pen, Luna... I can't become Sailor Mars."
"How long has it been since you could transform?" Luna asked gently,
jumping down to stand at Rei's feet.
"Since Aries took my power..." Rei shuddered. She could remember
Aries' ice-like touch sapping away her fire and leaving plain old Hino Rei
in its wake. She had felt so powerless, and now she wondered if he hadn't
permanently taken away that unique part of herself.
Luna nodded sadly, looking up at the young woman. "I can't do
anything for you, Rei-chan... I wish I could."
"But... you and Artemis..."
"We just gave you these items. We didn't make them. I can give you
some advice, though."
"What?"
Luna settled down on her haunches. "First, don't try to force the
transformation. Wait until you know the time is right. These repeated
failures aren't going to do any good."
"But how will I know--?"
"Second," Luna continued over Rei's question, "talk to the others
about this. They're worried about you, and they want to help."
"I-I can't, Luna... Usa--They'll laugh at me."
"I think Usagi will be more understanding than you think, Rei-chan.
Remember, she's had this sort of problem before, with her tiara. Even
though you can't change into Sailor Mars at the moment, you're still
friends." Luna stood back up. "Now, promise me you'll talk to them?"
"Alright, I will..."
*****
Aries stood in the Grand Hall of the Zodiac, the vast circular room
with the twelve symbols of the zodiac embossed on the black and white
marble floor. He stood on his glowing sigil, the symbol of his Ascendency
and right to lead, and listened to the others.
"It would seem that the Princess has fallen in with the Sailor
Senshi," Virgo stated, a trifle obviously. "This complicates all our
readings."
"Bah, they are but five little girls. What can they do to stop us?"
snorted Taurus, unmindful of the cool glares he received from the seven
women in the room.
"Not much to us," tittered Scorpio nastily, "but they probably could
turn your head fast enough. Shame you couldn't DO anything about it--"
"Enough, Scorpio, Taurus," Leo interjected smoothly. "It serves no
purpose to bicker."
"I agree," Libra said evenly. As the Nadir, directly opposite Aries,
Libra's sigil was the dimmest of the twelve. "I, for one, am interested in
what the Ascendent thinks we should do." All eyes turned to Aries.
"I have studied the stars, and I believe I have found an answer,"
Aries said. He gestured and an image appeared of a young girl with long
black hair. "This girl was Sailor Mars. Because she was born under my
sign, I could strip her of her power when we fought. Also, I have been
able to learn her identity and whereabouts."
A soft murmur ran through the room. Aries held his hand up for
silence.
"However, it would do us no good to eliminate this girl now. We need
to find the Princess and strip away her power. The Sailor Senshi, and this
girl, are irrelevant except as a means of finding her."
"Then, what do you suggest we do?" came Sagittarius's low, gravelly
voice.
"I have a plan. Gemini, come forth!" Aries commanded.
A pair of red-haired figures, male and female, stepped off their sigil
and into the center of the room. The male, tall and wiry with his hair
drawn back in a ponytail, was handsome, in an androgynous way. The female
looked exactly like him, beautiful in an almost gender-less way, except for
her waist-length hair, which hung free down her back. They were also both
young, possibly no more than sixteen.
"What do you wish, Ascendent?" the male asked.
"My readings have shown where this girl will be in the future, and
where her path will most likely cross with the Sailor Senshi and,
hopefully, the Princess. You will be going there to watch her and try to
learn the identity of the Princess." Aries gestured and Rei's image
changed to show a Japanese high school. "It will be here, at Tsunami
High."
There were nods all around from the Zodiac, interrupted only by the
female Gemini. "You're sending us back to school?!"
*****
Ami taped the last storage box shut with a strange feeling of
finality, then looked around. Her room looked so empty now. Sitting on
her stripped-down bed, she found it hard to believe her entire life to date
fit into a few cardboard boxes.
Usagi would need at least a dozen more boxes, she thought with a
giggle, and she'd never fit it all into a dorm. Her giggles died suddenly.
I hope I'm making the right decision, leaving home.
Ami's original choice for high school had been Shirokuro High, a
small, but respectable, girls' academy near her home. However, it had
suffered a horrible fire over break and she had to quickly choose another
school. In the end, she chose Tsunami High, where Usagi, Makoto, Naru, and
Umino were going, even though it was further away. Tsunami fortunately had
a dormitory for students.
It's not like Mother is ever really home, she thought to herself. And
this will be good for me. I'll get out of this house and socialize more.
She smiled sadly. The "brain" actually wanting to socialize. Usagi
has been an influence on me, but a good one. I don't know what I would do
without my friends. All the adventures we've shared, everything we've seen
and done... I've been able to help a lot of people. Mother would be proud
of me... if I could only tell her.
Ami's thoughts were interrupted then by the doorbell. She quickly
darted down the stairs and answered the door.
"Hi, Ami-chan!" Usagi crowed, waving her hand. Makoto smiled from
behind their friend. "Ready to go take a look at Tsunami?" Usagi was
wearing tan pants and a pink jacket, and her nose was a little red from the
chill day.
"I guess, Usagi-chan... I've packed my stuff up for the dorm and--"
"I thought we might want to go by the campus first," Makoto said.
"Find your room and all. I'm curious as to what it looks like, and we can
explore the place before moving all your stuff." Makoto was dressed more
practically than Usagi, with a dark green heavy coat and matching earmuffs.
The collar of an orange turtleneck covered her neck and she was wearing
light beige pants.
Ami nodded. "Sounds good. Let me get my coat..." She looked at
Usagi. "Would you like to borrow a scarf or something, Usagi?"
Usagi nodded quickly, shivering a little.
*****
Tsunami High certainly looked new, was Ami's first thought as they
entered the grounds. The school had just been built a year or so ago to
help with the crowding in the public school system. Its white buildings,
set amidst carefully maintained lawns, glistened in the sun. In the center
of the greenery was Tokugawa Hall, home of the Administrative Offices, most
of the classrooms, the cafeteria, and school store. The main building was
flanked on either side by Meiji Hall, home of the Science departments and
largest building of them all, and Edo Hall, home of the Liberal Arts
departments. Behind the main building were several dormitories, each about
three stories tall. The three main buildings were five stories tall and
covered more area.
"Wow..." Usagi said, looking around. "This place is really cool.
Much bigger than Juban."
"That's not saying too much," Makoto joked. "Hope I don't have any
classes that will make me hoof it across campus between periods."
"Which dorm are you in, Ami-chan?" Usagi asked.
Ami looked carefully at the map her mother had gotten when she had
enrolled her. "Let's see... I'm going to be in... Perry Hall." She
blinked. True, all the buildings had been named after historical people
and places, but this was the only foreign name. Then she saw that the gym,
(stuck behind the dormitories) was named MacArthur Gymnasium. The other
dormitories were Hirohito and Hideoyoshi. "Room 345, to be exact."
Makoto groaned, thinking of all the boxes they had to move. "Figures
that it'd be on the third floor... Well, no sense dawdling."
The three made their way over to the dorms, pausing now and then to
look around. As it was still break, there weren't many people. It was
actually pretty quiet.
"ARF!" Suddenly, a large tan and black German Shepherd jumped at them
as they came around the building.
"Eeeeeeeek!" screamed Usagi, flailing backward in a panic. Makoto and
Ami each took a step back from the dog, which was leashed to a nearby
sapling. Then they took another step back when the man kneeling nearby
stood up.
He was tall, over six feet tall, towering over all of them, including
Makoto, and looked almost as wide. After one look at his stern, homely
face, partially covered by a green cap, Makoto and Ami turned and ran after
Usagi.
After they turned a corner, and the man was out of sight, Makoto
collared Usagi to stop her madcap flight and they waited. After a minute
of catching their breath while nothing happened, Makoto peeked back around.
The man was kneeling at the foot of the tree again, applying what looked
like fertilizer to the roots. His dog paced back and forth, looking
towards the girls.
"I think he's just the grounds keeper, guys," Makoto reported. Ami
nodded, but Usagi was still too busy hyperventilating to say anything.
"He sure did give me a scare," Ami said. "And that dog!"
"Yeah, let's go around the other way so Usagi-chan can get over her
panic attack."
"I... wasn't... panicking... was... gonna... transform..." Usagi
panted.
"Usagi, you're going to make yourself ill if you don't calm down.
Come on, we'll take it easy. And you didn't need to transform. He's not a
monster."
"Nope... he's... SCARIER."
Ami and Makoto just looked at each other and laughed, nervously.
*****
"Grandpa, lunch is ready!" Rei called out, taking the rice off the
stove and dishing it out into bowls. She made sure that Grandpa and
Yuuichiro each had half again as much as she. Girl's got to watch her
figure, after all.
"Gee, Rei, it all looks good!" Yuuichiro said from his place at the
table.
"You always say that, Kumada-san," she said with a frown. Yuuichiro
was always early for meals, it seemed. "Couldn't you at least wait until
you see it all?"
"Uh... oops?"
"Ah, thank the kamis I don't have to fast today!" Grandpa said loudly
as he entered the room. "It smells delicious, Rei-chan!"
"Thanks, Grandpa!" Rei said with a smile, bustling about in the
kitchen and setting out the last of the food. It was only when she had no
work to do that she remembered her power loss. She sighed.
Grandpa mistook her sigh for a sign of boredom and quickly spoke to
her, but his words barely registered until, "--you'll soon be going to
Tsunami, after all..."
Rei said, "No, I'm not, Grandpa. My friends are, remember? I'm going
to St. Ignatius High."
Both Grandpa and Yuuichiro looked at her like she had grown another
head. She blinked.
"But, Rei..." Yuuichiro said hesitantly, "you're going with them,
don't you remember?"
Rei snorted. "I think I'd remember something like that..." She
trailed off as she saw how they were looking at her. "Grandpa, don't you
remember the letter Dad sent? He told you what school to send me to."
"I remember the letter, Rei-chan," her grandfather said slowly,
putting down his food. "But it definitely said Tsunami. I remember being
surprised he wasn't insisting on you continuing to learn about that gaijin
religion..."
"Look, I'll go get the letter and show it to you!" Rei ran over to
her Grandfather's study and looked though the pile of old correspondence he
kept.
What's the matter with them? she thought to herself as she looked
through the irregular stack of letters, trying to keep them from
overflowing into the stack of papers on Temple finances. I KNOW what
school I'm going to... the paperwork is all filled out and everything!
Finally she found the letter. She carried it back to the kitchen in
triumph, reading it as she went... and stopped.
There it was, in her Dad's handwriting. Tsunami High. No mention of
St. Ignatius or that she should do well in her religious studies.
Everything else in this letter was as she remembered it, but the critical
part had changed. As if it had always been that way.
"This can't be right... I'm enrolled and the tuition is even paid!"
A quick search of the study, however, showed only paperwork from Tsunami
High... including a receipt signed by HER!
"What's going on?!"
*****
"341... 343... 345! Here we are!" Makoto said as she dragged Ami down
the third-floor hall of the Perry Dormitory. The dorm was very nicely
decorated, with a soft blue carpet and white walls lit by discreet
track-lighting by the ceiling. There were a few stains in the carpet, here
and there, and scuff marks on the wall from previous occupants, but they
made the place more comfortable, more lived-in, rather than less.
"Looks like my roommate is already here," Ami remarked, seeing a
computer-generated fractal design taped to the door with the words
"NORIKO'S ROOM" printed out in swirling calligraphy. Beside it, obviously
placed by the housing staff, was a small post-it note with the characters
for her name on it.
"Yeah, I wonder if she'll be cool..." Usagi said, rubbernecking
around. "I wish I was living in the dorm, so we could room together, Ami."
Makoto chuckled. "You'd drive her nutty, Usagi-chan... I can't think
of an odder couple." Except maybe you and Rei, but I won't even mention
that aloud.
Usagi was about to reply as Ami knocked on the door. It was
immediately opened by a very cute girl with long, electric blue hair,
intense green eyes, and a very wide grin on her face. She was wearing a
white "Intel Inside" T-shirt and a pair of shorts. She took one look at
Ami and squealed. "Hiiii! You're Mizuno Ami, right? My new roommate?
I'm Udaigaku Noriko! Pleased to meetcha!" The blue-haired teenager then
grabbed Ami's hands and pulled her inside, to be followed by a stunned
Makoto and Usagi.
"Then again, maybe I COULD think of an odder couple," Makoto muttered.
The room was small, but the high ceiling offset any claustrophobia. A
bright light in the ceiling provided most of the illumination in the room,
and there was a small window on the wall opposite the door. The wall to
Ami's left was taken up with two bunks built into the wall and two closets.
The only other pieces of furniture in the room were two desks and chairs.
One desk was bare and under the window. The other, on the right wall, had
a sophisticated computer setup, with a 18-inch monitor, tape backup, laser
printer, scanner and a few other gadgets not easily identified.
The wall by the computer and one closet door was also festooned with a
wide variety of posters. There were two or three Escher prints, a map of
the solar system, a fantasy poster showing a wizard and a befuddled dragon
playing chess, a movie poster for "Forbidden Planet" showing Robbie the
Robot (with a bumper sticker slapped on it saying "I *heart* Robots,") and
a poster detailing the deck plan of Space Battleship Yamato.
Noriko didn't seem to notice it all and just kept talking a mile a
minute. "--I took the top bunk, I hope you don't mind, 'Mi-chan... you
don't mind if I call you 'Mi-chan, do you? And that's my computer on the
desk there, but you can use my surge protector if you need any outlets and
where's your stuff, I left the closet closest to the bunks clear for you
and--"
"Um, excuse me, Udaigaku-san," Ami finally broke in. The other girl
ground to a halt and blushed embarrassedly.
"Oooooops," she said with a grin. "There I go, downloading from brain
to mouth without a processor in between. Sorry, I've never had a roommate
before..."
"Me neither," Ami said, with an answering smile. "These are my
friends, Tsukino Usagi and Kino Makoto, by the way," she added, pointing at
each girl. "They'll be helping me move in... We wanted to see the place
first. It's very nice to meet you."
Usagi was looking around. "What a cool room! Oh, pleased to meet you,
Noriko..."
Makoto shook Noriko's hand. "Likewise..." She looked at the girl's
clothing. "Aren't you cold in that, Udaigaku-san?"
"Cold?" Noriko blinked. Then she looked down at what she was
wearing. "Oh! Well, I was moving in all my stuff and postering, and
that's pretty hot work..." she said. "And you can just call me 'Ri-chan...
Everyone does."
Makoto smiled. "OK, 'Ri-chan..."
Ami took a look at Noriko's computer while the other girls chatted. A
complicated-looking fractal screen-saver was running on it. "What type of
computer is this, Noriko-san? It seems awfully advanced, but I don't see a
brand name..."
"Oh! Ojiisama made it for me out of some computer parts he had around
his lab. It's the equivalent of a 686 233 MHZ computer with a 1.5 gigabyte
hard drive and 128 megs of RAM. Pretty cool, huh?"
Everyone blinked. "Is that good?" Usagi asked, blankly.
Ami gave a low whistle. "It's VERY good, Usagi-chan... how did your
grandfather cobble something like this together, Noriko-san? It's
amazing."
"Oh, it had to do with some project he was working on. He had the
parts, so he thought it would be cheaper and better than buying me one. I
just wish Windows95 didn't keep crashing it..." Noriko made a face.
"Well, Ojiisama made a better OS, anyway!"
"Does it play Sailor V video games?" Usagi asked eagerly.
Noriko nodded. "I just downloaded the latest shareware version
from..."
"Um, I hate to interrupt, 'Ri-chan, Usagi-chan," Makoto said, "but we
really need to go and get Ami's stuff and bring it back here."
"Oh, let me help!" Noriko said. "It'll just take me a minute to get
something warmer on..."
"Thanks, Noriko-san," Ami said, "but you don't--"
"It's no problem!" The hyperactive girl was true to her word. In a
minute, she had pulled on a white sweatshirt with the "TOP TEN REASONS
BLONDES SHOULDN'T USE COMPUTERS" printed on the front and back and a pair
of white sweatpants. She then got out a black trenchcoat and topped the
ensemble off with a battered black fedora. "All set!" she said, ignoring
the looks her clothes got.
*****
Behind MacArthur Gym, where a carefully arranged grove of trees hid it
from sight, space seemed to ripple, then bend inward on itself. Slowly it
parted, forming a circular portal which the Gemini twins stepped through.
Then the portal snapped shut with a burst of displaced air.
The girl looked down at her school uniform and grimaced at the green
and white colors of Tsunami. "Why couldn't it be blue, like most Japanese
school clothes, huh?"
The boy didn't look much more comfortable in his brown uniform.
"Don't blame me, Polly. I think whoever chose the school colors should be
shot."
"I always thought you looked good in drab earth tones, Chet," she
said, sticking her tongue out at her brother. She was starting to feel
better about this whole mission. The school looked decent enough, even
though the administrators had less taste than usual in clothing.
Chester just grimaced and stifled a sigh. He could tell what his
scatterbrained sibling was thinking already. If he didn't need her...
Well, it wasn't even that simple. Better to concentrate on getting this
mission over as soon as possible. He reached into his pocket and pulled
out a dull blue stone. It sat in his hand like a piece of glass,
lusterless even in the light of the sun.
"I guess this 'Hino Rei' isn't here yet," he said, pocketing the stone
again. A useful item, the locator. He wondered where Pisces got it.
"Well, we better go and 'convince' the school computers we belong here,
then see about a place to live."
"OK, you do that."
"What are you going to do?" Chester frowned, hoping she didn't say
what he thought she was going to say.
"I'm going to go shopping! We'll need new clothes and stuff for the
apartment, and..." Still chattering, Polly walked around the corner of the
building. Chester groaned and hoped the Zodiac had given them a large
expense account.
After they left, a slim figure stepped out of her hiding spot in the
trees and smiled enigmatically to herself. Then with a wave of the ornate
staff she held, she disappeared.
*****
"OK, last trip! Whew!" Usagi crowed, carrying a box of Ami's
belongings down one of Tsunami's well-maintained walks. Behind her,
Makoto, Ami, and Noriko followed, each of them lugging a similar box.
Noriko had been a huge help with the move, even though the blue-haired
girl modestly denied that she had done all that much. She had proven
stronger than anyone had thought, lugging around the heaviest of Ami's gear
without any problems. She and Makoto were now discussing sports earnestly,
especially when they found they both wanted to try out for the field hockey
team.
Ami had been a little quiet throughout the move, and was falling a bit
behind the group. Usagi looped around Makoto and Noriko and walked beside
her friend.
"Something wrong, Ami-chan?" she asked. "Your new roommate seems
pretty cool."
Ami smiled slightly. "She certainly is... different. I think it is
going to be an interesting year. I was just thinking about leaving home...
I guess it has me feeling a little depressed."
Usagi blinked and was about to reply when she saw a familiar figure
storming out of Tokugawa Hall. "Hey, isn't that Rei-chan?"
Ami looked. "It is... I wonder what's wrong?"
Usagi began waving her hands and shouting, "Rei-chan! Over here!
Yoohoo!" attracting both the raven-haired girl's attention and most of the
students walking the grounds.
*****
Rei was in a foul mood. Not only had she been unable to convince her
grandfather that she was supposed to go to St. Ignatius instead of Tsunami,
St. Ignatius claimed to have never heard of her. The bursar at Tsunami, on
the other hand, clearly remembered her visiting and paying her tuition,
something she almost certainly didn't do!
It was then that she heard an annoyingly familiar voice trying to
catch her attention. Looking up, she saw Usagi, Ami, Makoto, and some girl
she didn't know. Not knowing what else to do, the young priestess went
over to her friends.
"What brings you by here, Rei?" Usagi asked innocently. "I'd have
thought you'd be at your fancy catholic school..."
Rei could have kissed Usagi at that point. "You remember St.
Ignatius? I'm not going out of my mind?"
Ami looked concerned. "Are you OK, Rei-chan?" she asked, while at the
same time beckoning to Makoto and the strange, blue-haired girl they were
with. "Oh, this is my new roommate, Udaigaku Noriko."
"Pleased to meet you! You can call me 'Ri-chan!" the girl said,
bowing, then holding out her hand in a western fashion. She beamed a smile
that rivaled the sun for brightness. Makoto tried to stifle a giggle.
Rei put on her most polite face. "I'm Hino Rei. Pleased to meet you.
It seems I'll be going to school here as well."
Makoto whooped. "Wow! How'd you work that out with your parents,
Rei?"
"I didn't. I'll tell you about it later. What are you guys doing
here?"
"I'm moving in," Ami said quietly, catching Rei's understated request
that they not speak about her new schooling arrangement. "Noriko-san--"
"'Mi-chan, I told you, you can call me 'Ri-chan."
Ami continued as if Noriko hadn't spoken. "Noriko-san has been
helping us carry my stuff. My mom was on shift today, so she couldn't
help."
"Why didn't you get Mamoru and his car?"
Noriko's ears twitched slightly. "Who's Mamoru?"
"He's Usagi's boyfriend," Makoto volunteered. "He's going to college
and has this really cool car--"
"Wow! College? Really?" Noriko got an unusual gleam in her eyes.
One that made Usagi uncomfortable. She knew that look.
"Hold it!" Usagi darted in front of the blue-haired girl. "Mamo-chan
is MY boyfriend, so don't get any ideas! He's completely devoted to me,"
when he's not brainwashed, she thought, "and we are DESTINED to be
together," except when an annoying little brat who turns out to be our
daughter pops in from the future, "and... and... you just stay away from
him!" She took a few deep breaths.
"Whoa..." Noriko managed. "You done?"
Usagi nodded.
"I was just going to ask what kind of car he had." Noriko's eyes
gleamed again. "Is it a Honda or Isuzu, or maybe one of the gaijin brands
that looks really cool and gets really bad mileage? Huh?"
*****
Outside the Perry Dorm, a couple with a stroller watched the young
girls head inside, then emerge a few minutes later, minus Noriko. The
pale-haired one in the sportscoat seemed to take an especial interest until
the other held up a restraining hand.
"They'll find out we're here soon enough, Haruka-chan," the
green-haired girl said. "No need to frighten them away without cause."
"If you say so, Michiru-chan," Haruka replied, idly straightening the
sportscoat's sleeves.
"Goo!" interjected the black-haired baby in the crib.
Michiru knelt down and teasingly tickled the baby's chin. "Ok,
Hotaru-chan... we'll go see if your Daddy's done with Udaigaku-sensei yet."
Then she wrinkled her nose. "But first, I think a small pit stop is in
order..." she sighed.
"Again? Shit..."
"Haruka," Michiru said warningly, "your language..."
*****
"So, you say that no one remembers that you were going to go to St.
Ignatius except us?" Minako asked after Rei had recounted her story to
everyone back at the Temple. The Sailors were all there, along with Naru
and Steven. Usagi was eating some of Grandpa's muffins voraciously in a
corner, and Ami was working on her computer, but everyone else was
listening intently.
Luna's tail lashed back and forth agitatedly, whacking Artemis (who
was attempting to doze) across his face. With a look of annoyance, he eyed
the black-furred tail through slitted lids as Luna spoke.
"I don't like this. We get signs that there is some new menace afoot,
and all of the sudden all roads lead to Tsunami?" She sat on her haunches
and looked at her paws. There's something familiar about this, but I can't
quite remember it, she thought.
Naru shook her head in confusion. "Who could do something like this,
anyway?"
Everyone was silent as they thought about that.
Steven shifted uncomfortably, "Maybe we could ask one of the others
for their opinion? How come they aren't here, anyway?"
"Others?" Ami asked.
"Sailors Uranus and Neptune... Minako told me about them. How come
they're never here?"
Usagi stopped munching long enough to say, "It's because they're a
bunch of snobs, that's why. Just because they're a few months older than
us, they think they can look down on what we do, like we're little kids."
As she spoke, crumbs spewed forth from her mouth and landed on Rei's head.
Rei turned toward Usagi.
"Hey, watch where you're spitting, meatball head! I ought to make you
clean up the mess you're making. And are you planning on saving any of
those muffins for us?"
"You're just jealous 'cut you're on a diet and going nuts, Rei-chan.
Nyaaah!" Usagi retorted, sticking out her tongue. Rei responded in kind,
and soon the two were locked deep in a heated argument.
Steven watched the theatrics for a moment, then leaned over to Minako.
"Gee, I don't see why they would think that you guys act like children," he
whispered mock-seriously, drawing a giggle and a swat on the arm from the
blonde.
Ami finally broke up the argument. "Rei, Usagi! Please, this is not
the time for another silly fight."
The two broke away, still giving each other evil looks. Fortunately
for everyone's peace of mind, they stayed quiet.
"Now," Ami continued, "I've done a scan using my computer, and I'm
afraid things are a bit more serious than we thought. It seems that the
flow of time has been altered around Rei. That's why no one else remembers
about her going to St. Ignatius. It NEVER HAPPENED."
"But I REMEMBER it!" Rei protested.
"Maybe that's because we already remember one time that 'never
happened,'" Makoto offered, her face screwed up in thought. "If it's
related to Time, then we know at least one person who might be able to do
something about it."
Everyone nodded silently and looked glum except for Naru and Steven,
who just looked confused.
"Who?" Steven finally asked Minako.
"Sailor Pluto," she replied.
"You didn't tell me about her. Who is she?"
Luna spoke up, still apparently unaware of Artemis stalking her tail.
"Sailor Pluto is, well, a bit of a mystery to us, too... She claims that
she was not reincarnated with everyone else, but that she is the original
Senshi Pluto from the Moon Kingdom."
"That's right!" Naru said. "I remember meeting her a few times... she
always seemed the same age and never changed..." Her voice trailed off as
the memory became clearer and clearer until it overwhelmed everything
else...
*****
"Greetings, Lady Patience," the young, green-haired lady in the
uniform of a Senshi said. She had an ornate staff capped by a large red
gem that gleamed dully in the light.
Lady Patience and her page stopped in the nearly deserted hallway. It
was still early evening, but almost everyone else was back at the dining
hall, finishing dinner, or entertaining foreign guests. Princess Serenity
had expressed a desire to sneak away into the gardens for a bit. So
Patience and the other ladies in waiting were scattered around the palace,
each telling anyone who asked that the Princess was with one of the others.
"Greetings, Senshi... I'm afraid I don't think we've met," Patience
said, with some confusion. She thought she knew all the Senshi, was best
friends with some of them. Who was this girl, then? She looked to
Turquoise for help, but her page had turned pale and was watching the
strange girl almost... fearfully?
"I am Senshi Pluto," she said with a small bow. "I had forgotten that
we had not yet met." The way she phrased it was odd, and she was smiling
slightly, as if at some private joke.
A half-remembered memory nagged at Lady Patience. She frowned. "Are
you sure we haven't...?" She remembered something now, about someone with
a staff like that, carrying her out of some dark place when she was a
little girl. "No, you're too young to..."
Senshi Pluto frowned, and her staff glowed. "Forget," she said. Lady
Patience opened her mouth to ask what was going on when--
*****
"Naru-chan? Are you OK?"
Naru blinked as Princess Serenity... no, Usagi's face came into focus.
Her perceptions seemed split in two, one half recognizing the temple and
Usagi, the other seeing an unknown location and Princess Serenity. She was
on the floor, apparently having fallen over when the vision came to her.
"Princess...U-usagi..." she muttered, trying to sort it all out. She
felt an uncomfortable urge to curtsey. Why would I kneel before my best
friend... I've been friends with the Princess ever since I arrived on the
Moon... wait, I'm on Earth, I've never been to the moon... Who am I...?
Lady Patience. Osaka Naru. A noble of the Moon Kingdom. A native of
Tokyo. A sorceress. A schoolgirl. The doubled answers, both true, washed
through her mind and she moaned. Slowly, her perceptions righted
themselves. "Whoa..." she muttered. "That felt like... I don't know.
Like I almost lost myself." She shook her head again.
"That was quite a scare you gave us! Don't do that again" Usagi
scolded, then hugged her friend. "I'm glad you're alright."
Artemis and Luna watched as everyone crowded around Naru to express
their relief for her recovery. Both cats uttered heartfelt sighs of
relief. Then Artemis turned to Luna. "Luna, maybe not having all your
memories is a good thing after all..."
"Hmpf!"
"What did you remember, Naru-chan?" Usagi asked anxiously.
"I THINK I remembered Senshi Pluto... It's hard to say, because she
used some sort of magic on me, to make me forget something..." Naru
concentrated, trying to bring back the fleeting images she had seen. "It's
no good... I can't remember what it was. I think it was something
important..."
"Well, it'll come back to you if it is really important, Naru-chan,"
Minako said. "In the meantime, we don't even have a way of contacting
Sailor Pluto, so we can't ask her for help."
"Well, it's all connected to Tsunami somehow," Makoto said. "I think
we should take a closer look at the place, see what's up. Maybe we can
find out what's so special."
"That might not be a good idea..." Luna said. "Anyone who can alter
time just so Rei goes to a certain school is a foe to be reckoned with.
Artemis and I will go and check it out. No one should take notice of a
pair of cats."
"Huh?" Artemis said, earning him a swipe from Luna's claws. "Ow! OK,
we'll go, we'll go!"
*****
Tsunami High's Vice-Principal Yamamoto settled back behind his desk,
his leather chair creaking comfortably as he regarded the ceiling. Another
school year, he thought, and so far everything is going well.
Yamamoto was a large man, with a firm, square jaw, perfectly combed
black hair and steel-blue eyes that could turn as cold as ice when he
chose. He clenched his jaw resolutely, not for any particular reason, but
just to stay in practice. Half of his job was to maintain the proper
image, and he liked to appear as strict as possible.
His office was impeccably neat and orderly, as part of that image.
The desk was made of oak, varnished to a high shine. His blotter was
centered perfectly and not even a white glove inspection would find any
dust. Behind his desk rose three imposing bookshelves filled with books on
education, psychology, and military history (he considered himself an
expert on the subject). One shelf held a katana, locked behind glass,
expertly polished and carefully set in place. The other walls were filled
with awards, his degree in education, photos of himself with three
different Ministers of Education, and a scroll with the kanji for
"discipline" rendered just so to strike fear in the heart of any juvenile
offender.
Smoothing out an imperceptible wrinkle on the sleeve of his suit,
Yamamoto reached out and picked up the phone in one white-gloved hand.
Briskly, he punched the button to ring the Principal's office.
"Principal's office, how may I help you?" came the voice of Yoriko,
the Principal's extremely efficient secretary.
"This is Vice-Principal Yamamoto. I would like to speak to the
Principal."
"I'm sorry, Yamamoto-san. The Principal cannot be disturbed at this
time. Would you like to leave a message?"
"When do you think he will be free?"
"I really couldn't say."
"Will he be free THIS year, do you think?" Yamamoto asked, a hint of
frustration entering his voice.
"That depends..."
"Depends on what??"
"On his schedule, of course. I'll be sure to leave a message for him
that you called, however."
Yamamoto sighed. "Thank you, Yoriko-san." He hung up the phone.
Once again, the Principal seemed to be missing. Yamamoto had been the Vice
Principal for over a year now, and he had never even seen the Principal, or
spoken to him on the phone. It was curious...
Then he became aware of the woman in his office.
She was tall, he noted, slender, and beautiful. Her dark green
(green? a portion of his brain wondered) hair hung freely down her back to
her waist. Her face had an exotic allure to it. She was beautiful, but
there was a indefinable quality about her, more than mere standoffishness,
that made her distant and almost unapproachable. She wore a simple,
dark-blue business suit that fit her well, modest yet showing that a woman
did indeed exist beneath it.
"Can I help you?" he asked, standing up.
"Yes. I think you can," she replied, with a bit of amusement in her
voice. "I am Meiou Setsuna. We had an appointment for this time, I
believe."
*****
"Mina-chan, what are we looking for again?" Steven asked as he looked
around the women's clothing store. He felt uncomfortable and out of place,
but he noticed the one or two other men in the store seemed to feel the
same as their girlfriends or wives pulled them around. Must be something
to do with Y chromosomes, he thought with a chuckle.
"I told you, Steven-kun. I need a new wardrobe for the school year."
Minako looked at a pretty, sky-blue dress, then sighed at the price tag.
"I need some new things to wear."
Steven looked at the dress, seeing more than just its appearance.
"It's overpriced and poorly sewn. Why bother? You'll be in uniform at
school, anyway."
His comment got him THAT look, the one that said, quite clearly, that
men never understand the simplest of concepts. "Why do you say it's poorly
sewn? It looks OK to me..."
He shrugged. "It just looks like it'll tear easily, that's all." He
looked away and glanced around the store. A girl with long red hair and an
awful-looking school uniform caught his eye for a second. There was
something familiar about her, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Looking at other women when I'm around, Steven-kun?" Minako whispered
in his ear. He started, not even realizing she had moved closer to him.
"Ah..." he mumbled, blushing. "I wasn't... that is..."
Minako smiled, that awful mischievous smile that meant she was up to
no good, and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I guess I'll
just have to work to focus your attention."
The kiss went on for a while, and Steven could sense others in the
store watching them. The older patrons seemed either shocked or amused,
while some of the younger ones were taking a voyeuristic thrill. The
redhead he had been looking at turned towards them, and once he saw her
face she seemed even more familiar to him. Then he turned his attention
toward Mina as she kissed him more deeply. Ah, the horrors of dating, he
thought wryly to himself, once they came up for air.
"Steven? Steven Grant?" came a voice. He looked up and saw the
redhead had come over. "It's me, Polly Amberson, from Dorset. Remember?"
Steven looked at the girl again, and started in recognition. "Polly?
Is that really you?"
It had been years ago that the two of them had met, in Britain. They
had been classmates and worked together on several projects. Slowly, over
time, their friendship had become closer and they had begun to date...
until her snooty twin brother had interfered. Then Steven had had to
follow his parents when their job moved to the Far East and he had lost
track of her.
"I KNEW it was you!" Polly swept up in a big hug. He didn't remember
her being so strong... or so soft. He was just beginning to enjoy the hug
when...
"Ahem." Minako had been eying the girl with some concern and worry.
She obviously knew Steven well, but HOW well? And why was she clinging to
him like that?
"Oh, er... Polly, this is a friend of mine, Aino Minako. Mina-chan,
this is an old friend of mine, Polly, from England."
Minako arched an eyebrow, then took Steven's hand in her own.
"Pleased to meet you," she said in her nearly flawless English to the
redhead.
"I'm glad to meet you too, Minako-chan. Have you and Steven known
each other long? I've known him since he was just a boy."
"Really? Has he changed much since then?" Bitch, thought Minako.
"Not too much." Slut, thought Polly.
"Um, Minako and I were just doing some shopping, Polly... would you
care to join us? Is that OK, Mina-chan?"
"Oh, that's fine, Steven-kun." Over my dead body.
"No, no... I've got too much to do. Chester and I just arrived
today." Spend time with that tramp? "We don't even have a phone yet...
but give me your number, Steven, and I'll be in touch. We really need to
get together. It's been so long."
Steven found a scrap of paper and scrawled out his phone number. "OK,
sounds good. Hope to hear from you soon." And I hope your brother doesn't
find out I'm here.
"Bye!" Maybe this assignment won't be so bad after all. Now I really
have to find something special to wear. That blonde hussy doesn't deserve
someone special like Steven.
After the redhead walked away, Minako turned on Steven. "Who was
that?" she asked in a flat tone.
"Just an old friend, Mina-chan. I'm as surprised as you to see her
here."
"She seemed very friendly. You better keep it at just the friend
level, Steven-kun." There was a dangerous tone to Minako's voice. Steven
swallowed, wondering if he, like so many others, had just gotten in trouble
for not doing anything.
*****
At the gates of Tsunami, Artemis tried to squeeze through the bars
with little luck. "Ugh! This is a tight fit!"
"That's it. I'm going to tell Minako to cut back on all the tuna
she's been feeding you," Luna said archly.
"You're hardly the svelte young thing I remember from the
Moon--AAAAAAAIIIIYEEEEE!" Artemis finished as Luna sank her claws into his
rump, providing him the impetus he needed to squeeze through the bars.
"I put up with enough of that from Usagi, Artemis. I won't put up
with it from you."
Artemis merely mumbled something that Luna couldn't make out. She
decided to ignore it and looked around the moonlit grounds of Tsunami High
curiously.
"It seems peaceful enough."
"So did many of the traps the Senshi keep falling into," warned
Artemis.
"Keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Luna sighed, but chose not to chastise Artemis. It irked her
sometimes that the only other one of her kind on the entire planet had to
be Artemis. It wasn't that they hated each other, but still...
Be honest, Luna thought to herself. You don't even remember why you
don't like him. I'm not sure if he remembers either. It was a long time
ago on...
The thought was interrupted suddenly as something darted across the
grassy field ahead of them.
"What was that?" Luna hissed.
"Looked like some kind of animal to me..." Artemis sniffed the air
cautiously. "Damn, it's downwind of us. Can't get a whiff of it, but it
can probably smell us."
"Well, you're the mighty hunter, Artemis," Luna suggested
sarcastically.
"Har de har har, Luna."
"Just shut up and chase it!"
The two cats ran off after the shadow. It was hard to track, as it
kept vanishing into the darker areas of Tsunami. But Artemis, despite what
Luna might say, had not lost his touch and kept them on the shadow's trail.
At least until they reached a patch of shrubbery by Meiji Hall.
"What's the matter, Artemis?"
"The trail has gone fuzzy... I still can't get much of a scent... I
think he went into the bushes."
"Well, come on then!" Luna darted underneath the shrubs.
"Wait!" Artemis cried, leaping after her. "It could be a--!"
Suddenly, wire mesh, concealed in the dirt, sprang up around the two
cats and trapped them in a small cage.
"--trap," Artemis finished lamely.
"Oh, GOOD job, great white hunter."
"I TRIED to warn you, but you had to go leaping after the trail--"
Luna was about to make an extremely biting reply that would no doubt
have burned Artemis's fur off when something moved in the shadows of the
shrubbery.
"Shush!" she said to Artemis. He opened his mouth, then snapped it
closed with a click as their quarry came forward into the moonlight.
It was a cat. But not just any cat. A large, handsome male calico
with well groomed fur and a regal bearing. Despite herself, Luna felt her
body quiver as the cat looked at her. Then she gasped.
The calico had a CRESCENT MOON on his forehead!
She opened her mouth to speak, but the strange cat, after bowing his
head in regret, bounded away.
"Luna, WHO was that?"
"He was hand--I have no idea, Artemis."
"Gee, Luna, maybe you better get out more..."
It was a long night for the two of them.
*****
Elsewhere, a small light began blinking on a large model of Tsunami
High. The model, built to scale and covering a large table, took up a
small corner of the large, underground room. The walls, where bare, were
made of simple cinder block, and there were only a few small windows, up
near the ceiling.
The rest of the room was filled with strange machinery. Computer
screens sprouted sporadically from the mess at odd places, with random,
important-looking displays scrolling across them. One of them was losing a
fighting battle with its vertical hold. In another section of the room, a
mechanical arm played chess against a monkey in a cage (the monkey seemed
to be winning). A giant watermelon was firmly clamped beneath a giant
press for no apparent reason whatsoever while other pieces of machinery
glowed and sparked fitfully nearby. Cables snaked across the floor,
through the air, and over the walls, fighting the odd cockroach out of
space. What little area was left was taken up with tables loaded with
strange equipment and shelves full of papers and books. It was a mad
scientist's lab come to life.
"Trap Number Four, activated," droned a mechanical voice. "Trap
Number Four, activated."
A gravelly voice answered back. "Thank you, Horus. You can drop the
stupid AI voice now." The owner of the voice swooped into sight, riding a
chair attached to a mechanical crane. A tall, gangly old man, mostly bald
except for two tufts of hair by his ears and a long, snowy-white beard. He
was wearing a tweed suit, heavily patched around the elbows, with its
pockets full to bursting with incomprehensible gadgets, and thick
eyeglasses with something like a jeweler's loupe attached to the right
lens. With a little deft maneuvering, the chair he was sitting in swooped
down over the model.
A smooth, mellow baritone replaced the mechanical voice. "I had to
get your attention, didn't I?"
"I should have left you as a chess game... especially since your
replacement isn't doing so well." The man gestured towards the mechanical
arm playing chess. It had apparently lost to the monkey and was sweeping
the pieces off the board in a fit of pique. The monkey, for his part, kept
making raspberry sounds at his defeated opponent.
"If you wish, Sensei."
"Bah! It's not worth the trouble. Besides, you'd just beat me at it
like you used to. Now, what is T4 telling us?"
"Preliminary data suggests feline characteristics. There is also an
anomalous energy reading--"
"Yes! Maybe we've finally gotten old Tom!" The old man leapt off his
chair and ran to the door, pausing only to grab a coat off a decrepit
coatrack by it. A video monitor watched him go, dispassionately, but there
seemed to be a baritone sigh filling the air.
*****
"It's no good," Artemis said after testing the wire mesh for what
seemed to be the thousandth time. "This damn cage doesn't have any give in
it anywhere..."
"I could have told you that after the first try," Luna replied archly.
She was lying on the ground, making herself as comfortable as she could.
Artemis's constant pacing back and forth didn't help her peace of mind,
any. Of course, her peace of mind wasn't helped too much by being stuck in
a cage like a rat in the middle of the night. Luna's stomach growled and
she wished she had thought of a different analogy.
"Is Madam getting hungry?" Artemis asked in that lightly sarcastic
tone of his. She bristled, but Artemis was saved again from her scathing
reply, this time by the sudden appearance of a human face peering into the
mesh.
"Yoooowwwlll!" Luna screeched in surprise. The human in question
reminded her of one of the ridiculous animated shows Usagi watched all the
time. The man was not hideous, but he was definitely unique in his
appearance, with the tufts of wild white hair and ridiculously thick
glasses that distorted his eyes. The man's eyebrows (which had almost as
much hair as was left on his head, Luna suspected) twitched in surprise.
"Damn!" the man swore. "It's not Tom at all. Just two other cats."
He reached into one of his pockets, searching its contents. Not finding
what he wanted, he looked in another, then another. Finally, he pulled out
a small tape recorder and held it up to his mouth. "Trap Number Four's
alert has proven to be a false alarm, set off by two unknown felines. One
with blue black fur, possible Russian Blue, the other shorthair with white
fur, probably domestic shorthair or alley cat." Luna preened slightly and
Artemis bristled, but neither were able to say anything for or against the
classification. The teacher then looked at them a little more closely
before speaking into his recorder again. "Addendum, both cats bear a
strange, crescent-shaped marking, possibly artificial in origin. Will
check on this further after I get them back to the lab."
Luna and Artemis's eyes widened at this. They couldn't be examined at
any lab! It was bad enough that this human had seen their crescent moon
markings, but if he found out more about them, it could be disastrous.
They both began screeching and clawing at the mesh as the old man picked it
up, but the mesh resisted their best efforts.
"Now, now... stop kicking up such a fuss... I'll get you some milk and
fish once we get back to the lab. Would you like that?"
Artemis sat down and started purring.
"Traitor," Luna whispered, before resigning herself to whatever
happened next.
What happened next seemed to be worse than she imagined. First, they
were lugged almost all the way across campus in the cage, which had not
been that comfortable to begin with sitting still on the ground. At least
this human didn't swing it around, like that time Luna had trusted Usagi
with a cat-carrier. Never again, she swore, would she make that mistake.
Then they were brought into a damp and moldy-smelling basement full of
machines and other products of human "ingenuity." Even Artemis was a bit
put out by the mechanical arm that was smashing away on some flat surface.
Luna had great respect for what man had done with machines, but give her
good, old-fashioned, reliable magick any day of the week. That, at least,
she understood!
"Now then," the old man said. "Let's see what we have here..." He
pottered around for an endless time in front of a square, blocky device
with numerous blinking lights for several minutes. During that time, the
machine constantly vented large gouts of white vapor and shook itself
periodically. It was only when he finally opened the front panel that Luna
realized it was some sort of refrigerator. "I have to work on that
motor... still getting vibrations," the old man muttered as he pulled out
some milk and a can of tuna. The can was given over to a mechanical arm
which effortlessly began to slice open the lid with a small blade... until
the can bent slightly and the blade got caught. After grinding away for
several minutes, the arm apparently lost all patience and crushed the can.
The old man scrambled to put a bowl under it to catch the tuna.
"You," he addressed the arm, "need to be more patient." He then
scraped the tuna (minus what was left of the can) into a smaller bowl and
filled a saucer with milk. Placing them both before the wire cage, he
opened the cage door carefully.
The two cats moved slowly at first, then Luna darted out and began to
run for the exit. Artemis sat himself before the tuna and began to eat.
He WAS hungry after all.
Luna hissed in frustration, but still made a beeline for the door. IF
they both survived this, she would give Artemis a piece of her mind. She
hoped he would survive... if just so she could kill him.
"Good kitty," the old man said, petting Artemis gently and deftly
hooking his fingers underneath the cat's collar. "Horus, could you get the
other one before it hurts itself?"
"At once, sir," came a baritone voice. Luna didn't see or smell
anyone else, but didn't want to take any chances by sticking around.
Unfortunately, another mechanical arm swooped down and picked her up by the
scruff of her neck, like a kitten! The indignity of it! She yowled in
protest.
"Gently, now, Horus. Let's see... Aino Minako,'" the man in tweed
read off of Artemis's collar. "Lovely name... and she put her phone number
down as well. Smart girl." The man straightened and left Artemis to his
snack. Walking over to Luna, he said, "Now, let's see if we can't see who
you belong to..." Luna flailed around as much as she could, but the old
man walked behind her and used one hand to keep her from biting him as he
twisted the collar around. "Tsu... Tsukir... no, Tsukino Usagi... what
horrible penmanship. I couldn't even decipher the name without all these
rabbits on the collar." Artemis started chuckling and Luna threw him her
coldest glare. He missed it entirely, of course.
"Tsukino... I've heard that name before." Raising his voice, the man
said, "Horus, any matches for Tsukino?"
"One, O wise and beneficent master."
"What is it? And spare me the false humility, please."
"Tsukino Usagi is assigned to your Freshman Earth Science class this
year."
"Ah, well, she has good taste in cats... now, let me get a good look
at these crescents..." The man leaned a little closer to Luna, then
grunted. "Looks like a natural coloration, but I've never seen one so
regular. Well, I'll get to the bottom of this, one way or the other..."
Luna cringed a little at that, but there wasn't much she could do
about it.
*****
Chester looked around the room with an air of satisfaction. It was no
small feat to find an available, two-bedroom, furnished apartment in Tokyo.
But then again, it had not taken any magical powers to arrange either.
Humans were so much more susceptible to simple greed than magic. He had
been adept at using money to get whatever he wanted long before he and
Polly had learned about their powers.
Where is that sister of mine, anyway? he thought irritably, while
transferring the contents of his small duffel bag to the dresser in his
bedroom. It's awfully late to still be shopping, and I told her where the
apartment was hours ago. Faugh, she's probably lost track of time.
Frowning now, Chester sat down on the bed and made himself
comfortable, exactly as Sagittarius had taught him. Clearing his thoughts,
he thought of his twin, trying to picture her in his mind.
"You art linked, now and forever," Sagittarius had told them, in his
rumbling, archaic speech. "That is the nature of Gemini's power. The sum
is greater than the parts, as Zeus's thunderbolts are greater than
Poseidon's trident. Apart, you can do but little. Together, thou art
powerful."
One of the things they COULD do apart, however, was to search out the
other's general location and state of health with their minds. Old
Sagittarius had harped on them to learn the skill over and over again. If
they were separated, they were weaker, he pointed out. Knowing how to find
each other in a hurry could be a great aid.
But it wasn't Chester's specialty. Polly had found such mental tricks
easy, while he had to struggle with them. But he was better at combat than
her, so there was a balance. And when they were joined....
He tried to clear his mind again. All this woolgathering was not
going to help him. He thought of Polly again, trying to bludgeon his mind
into working. Then he steadied himself. That was not the way. It had to
be done gently, carefully. There, now there was a sense of her presence,
it was close and--
"Tadaima!" Polly called out from the hallway. Her cheery voice--what
was SHE so happy about?--was followed by a sound he knew all to well.
Shopping bags being dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Frowning, he
walked out into the main room and saw several multi-colored bags full of
clothes lined up like tenpins by the door.
"I like this place, Chet! We have such a nice doorman. He helped me
carry all this stuff up here. Did you know that he's a college student
studying Literature at the local college? We were discussing--"
"No, I didn't know and I don't CARE." Chester said. "We're on a
mission here, remember? We don't have time for shopping trips and flirting
with the help."
Polly pouted. "There you go again, being mean. We're supposed to be
high school students, remember? High school students--the girls,
anyway--shop!" She smiled at her brother and began lugging her purchases
into her room. How she knew it was her room was one of those mysteries of
twins that not even the Zodiac could explain. Even Sagittarius would only
say, "Magic, I can teach thee. Leave the mysteries of the gods to them."
"I just simply CANNOT fathom how you can be so insufferably cheerful
about this," Chester groused. "We are stuck here for who knows HOW long
and forced to act like teenagers--"
Polly popped her head out. "We ARE teenagers, Chet, old boy."
"WE are Gemini of the Zodiac."
Polly ignored him and came out to sit in front of the TV. "I hope you
got satellite TV. I've missed the good old BBC." Turning on the TV and
flipping through the channels, she did indeed find the British fare. Soon
she lost herself in a comedy programme, shutting her brother out entirely.
*****
"Where do you think they are, Usagi-chan?" Mina asked over the phone.
Usagi had heard her friend's voice in hundreds of tight situations and it
had never wavered. But it always developed a hint of fear--not the fear of
something but the fear FOR something--whenever Artemis might be in danger.
Usagi hoped she didn't sound like that when Luna might be in trouble. That
cat would never let her live it down.
She WAS worried. Luna and Artemis had gone out the night before to
look around Tsunami quietly. Now, waking up without Luna already back at
the foot of the bed had been worrisome, but not exactly new. Luna was
still a cat, and cats kept to their own hours. But now it was midmorning
and Luna still hadn't come home to eat.
"Don't worry, Minako-chan!" Usagi said in what she hoped was a strong
and reassuring voice. "Luna and Artemis are good at taking care of
themselves. I'll call the others and we can search Tsunami until we find
them!"
"Meet at the Shrine?"
"Yup. You call Ami and Makoto. I'll talk to Naru and Rei."
"OK." With a tiny blip, Minako's face disappeared from the screen of
Usagi's communicator. Usagi rushed down to the kitchen to get a bit to eat
before calling everyone. Being a superhero was such hungry work.
*****
"I still say you're a traitor."
"Hey, I was hungry, he was offering me food, what do you expect?"
Artemis whispered to Luna while cleaning his fur and attempting to ignore
the looks she was giving him. "Besides, your mad dash didn't exactly
accomplish much."
"Shhhh! Keep your voice down. He might hear us!"
Oh, sure, if I complain, it's "keep your voice down", but you can rag
on me all day, Artemis thought sourly. He knew his situation was dangerous
enough not to say it aloud, though.
As the cats bickered, neither of them noticed the small video camera
that was trained on their cage, its power light shining a steady red color.
Dutifully, Horus relayed what his camera saw to the Sensei.
"It's exactly what I thought, Horus! Call up my notes again, please!"
the old man said excitedly.
The picture of the two cats immediately switched to a depiction of an
ancient urn. The urn was, however, decorated in astonishing detail.
Though faded with unimaginable age, it showed a man, dressed in some sort
of armor, standing by a strange, crystalline, building. A full moon hung
low in the sky over the him. The man reached across some sort of gulf to
hold the hands of a beautiful woman in a silvery dress, her hair arranged
in two long ponytails. Behind her was another, different castle. But what
made the scene truly remarkable was the expertly depicted full EARTH
hanging over the second castle, showing the continents of North and South
America. By the second castle's gate, a cat lounged. The cat had a
crescent moon on its forehead.
"Now, this, this is the proof I need to show those doubters the truth
behind my theories!"
"Yes, Sensei." The computer's voice was very noncommittal.
The old man glared up at the video camera mounted over his
workstation. "You have doubts now, Horus?"
"Just this, Sensei: Your opponents are not likely to take any proof
you offer seriously. After they claimed you faked the first set of
evidence, they are not likely to view anything you put forward favorably."
"Bakas! What do they know, anyway, with their narrow views of science
and closed minds." The old man was now striding back and forth agitatedly,
gesturing wildly. "My theories have proven themselves time and time again,
but they refuse to accept the evidence of their senses if it goes against
the party-line!" He slammed a bony fist down on table. "Well, this
time... owowowowow!" He rubbed his hand, trying to soothe the pain.
A new voice suddenly entered the room, coming from the direction of
the door. "Udaigaku-sensei, can I come in?" It was a woman's voice,
speaking loudly but clearly over the noise of Sensei's equipment.
"What? Who's there?" he said querulously. He moved to where he could
get a good look at the door. The woman standing there stepped carefully
forward to meet him, her feet avoiding the snakes-nest of cables and
components strewn across the floor. She was young, with long green
hair--youngsters these days, the old man thought--and dressed modestly in a
dark business suit. He couldn't tell the exact color in the dimness of his
basement lab. "Can I help you?"
Luna and Artemis did not take the new arrival well. They had leaped
in shock upon getting a clear look at the newcomer, banging their heads
against the mesh ceiling of their cages. Now they pressed themselves close
to the wire, trying to see what was going on.
"I'm Meiou Setsuna. Vice Principal Yamamoto suggested I speak to
you," the woman said with a small, enigmatic smile. She looked over at the
caged felines and the smile twisted a shade toward a smirk. "Small pet
problem?"
"It's no concern of yours!" the Sensei said irritably, moving to block
the strange woman's view of the cats. "Horus, put the cats away--SAFELY--
until I can get back to them."
"As you wish, Sensei," came the smooth baritone. A mechanical arm
swooped down to pick up the cage. This time, however, the timing of its
mechanism was a shade off. The claw on the end of the arm did not open in
time to grasp the cage wire. Instead, it batted the cage off its stand and
onto the floor, where it sprung open.
"Now, Artemis! Run!" Luna hissed, leaping for the door. Artemis was
quick to follow this time. They ran past the strange woman and out the
door before the old scientist could raise an alarm. A flight of concrete
steps led up from the lab. Bolting up the steps, they felt fresh dismay
when they saw a heavy fire door blocking their exit. Then they noticed
something peculiar. Peculiar, but most welcome.
The door had a small, swinging panel on the bottom, just the right
size for cats to use.
The two cats took advantage of it, bolting out into the fresh air.
Sensei followed them soon after, but it was the official "Moving In" day at
Tsunami, and the crowds were filled with students and their luggage. The
cats soon lost sight of their captor.
"Whew, close one," Artemis said when they stopped for a breather
behind the Gymnasium.
"Too close. You know who that was, don't you?" Luna replied, panting
slightly.
"Setsuna? Yeah. The only thing is, what is SHE doing here?"
"There must be a connection between her and Rei's problem. Now, if
we--"
Luna was cut short suddenly by a shadow looming over the two cats.
Looking over their shoulders, they both froze on seeing a giant German
Shepard looking down at them. On being seen, the dog began to bark, one of
the loudest and most horrible barks Luna or Artemis had ever heard. They
bolted again, this time followed by the dog, who bayed like a wolf while
chasing them.
*****
"Rei, wait up!" Usagi cried, trying to get past a knot of students--
freshmen, probably, from the way they were poring over a map--to catch up
with her friend.
The raven-haired priestess scowled back. "Why should I? First, you
don't even bother to call me to let me know everyone is going to descend on
the shrine. Second, you don't let me know that Artemis and Luna have been
missing all day. And THIRD, you show up late for the same meeting!"
"I said I was sorry," Usagi said petulantly, standing next to her
friend. After speaking with Minako this morning, she had spoken to Naru
about the meeting (she had to use the phone to reach her instead of a
communicator) and then she was about to call Rei when she remembered that
she still had some manga she had borrowed. Figuring she could return them
at the meeting, she sat down to finish them. One of them, about some guy
who turned into a girl and had four fiancees, had kept her in stitches
until she suddenly realized she was late.
Rei, for her part, had been roused unexpectedly from a deep sleep by
Ami and Minako. Then Grandpa had come around and bugged her friends about
becoming acolytes while she rushed through her morning bath. To make
things worse, she had been running from the bath to her room and dropped
the towel right in front of Yuuichiro by accident. Her mood was not
exactly pleasant.
"Well, sorry' isn't good enough, meatball head!" Rei snarled. "Am I
still a part of this team or aren't I?"
"Of course you are, Rei-chan." Taken a bit aback, Usagi looked
carefully at her friend. "You're still a Sailor Senshi, after all."
Rei reacted like she had been slapped. Usagi saw fear and despair
cross Rei's face like storm clouds, then replaced by the anger she was more
familiar with.
"So, it's only because of being a Senshi that you hang around me, is
that it?!"
"No, no!" Usagi shook her head desperately. They were starting to
draw a crowd. She grabbed Rei's arm and pulled her off to one side, behind
some trees that gave them a little privacy. "Rei-chan, what's wrong?
You're acting weird.... well, not weird, but not like yourself. Come on,
cheer up. Luna and Artemis will be ok. We Senshi can handle anything."
Rei flinched again. "Nothing's wrong," she said bitterly, "for YOU."
Reaching a decision, she pulled her transformation pen out of a pocket of
her pink coveralls, one of her favorite outfits.
"Rei, what are you doing?!"
"MARS STAR POWER, MAKE UP!" Rei called out, desperately, even though
it would attract the attention of most of the school and blow her secret if
it did work. Part of her would welcome that, if she could just regain her
fire.
There was not even a fizzle.
Usagi's eyes grew wide. "Oh... Rei-chan..." she said, standing their
frozen.
Rei closed her eyes and steeled herself for the coming taunts, the
jokes, the silly attempts to make her feel better while at the same time
ostracizing her, like when you visit a sick person and wish him well, then
move away before you catch what he has.
Instead, she felt two arms surround her in a crushing hug. Usagi?
She opened her eyes. Usagi, tears streaming down her face, was hugging Rei
for all she was worth. "I'm so sorry, Rei-chan..." she stammered. "It's
all my fault. Aries wanted the Princess, not you..."
No taunts, no insensitive remarks, just an empathic sharing of pain.
Rei felt a wetness gathering in her own eyes and she did something she
never thought she'd do.
She hugged Usagi back and began to cry herself.
*****
Makoto and Naru were down on Tsunami's Athletic Field, calling out
Artemis and Luna's names. Already they had spent much of the morning
searching the back fields of the high school without much luck. When they
came up to a field hockey goal, Makoto plopped down on the ground.
"Let's take break, ok, Naru-chan?"
Naru sighed. "I guess it'd be ok. I didn't realize how difficult it
can be to find a cat..."
"Don't worry. Luna and Artemis can take care of themselves until we
can get to them. Remember, they're a lot older than we are."
Naru laughed slightly, but it faltered. "I get the feeling I now
remember far more than is good for me." Scrunched her legs up to sit in a
fetal position. "I mean, none of you have been... overwhelmed... by your
old memories like that, have you?"
Makoto considered it. "No... but we didn't get the exact same
treatment you did."
"What happened to you?"
"Well, Luna was just interested in returning to us the memories of
being Senshi and fighting the Dark Kingdom. The older memories, of the
Moon Kingdom... well, we know we lived another life there, but we only
remember bits and pieces. Or in dreams. I think Usagi remembers more than
the rest of us, because of Mamoru and the Silver Crystal..."
"When it happened... when my memories overcame me... I didn't know who
I was, really..." A desperate look crossed her face. "I could have become
Lady Patience and forgotten being me..."
"But, you're the same person, aren't you?" Makoto asked. The finer
details of reincarnation was a mystery to her. She knew, intellectually,
that her soul dated back to the Silver Millennium, but it was hard to grasp
in her heart. Except when she dreamed.
Naru snorted. "You think so? Patience is... was a noblewoman, a
lady-in-waiting in the Court of the Moon and a powerful sorceress. She was
24 years old when the Moon Kingdom was overrun. I have her looks, but not
her background. In some ways we're the same, I think, but in others...?"
Her tone had become pedantic, like a teacher, and Makoto wondered for a
moment who was really speaking.
"Naru-chan?" she asked, causing the other to blink and come back to
herself. "I'm sure it'll get easier with time to keep you and Patience
separate." She hesitated, then tentatively asked, "Do you think... could
you tell me what I... Jupiter, that is, was like?"
Naru smiled. "You and Jupiter are a lot alike, actually."
Makoto was unconvinced. She had seen "herself" in a dream once. The
beautiful, regal lady of the moon kingdom could not have had anything in
common with her.
Noticing the look on her friend's face, Naru laughed. "I... Patience
remembers when Jupiter first came to the Court. She had just been
discovered as the heir to the powers of Jupiter and brought in for
training. I think... yes, all of the other Senshi had already been found
by then. You were the last."
Makoto tried to remember something of what Naru told her. An image
flashed before her eyes, a memory of working in a field, her hands digging
gently around a strange plant. It seemed to be singing to her, a melody
that joined somehow with the songs of the other plants into the most
beautiful music. The music was her secret. No one else could hear it.
She paused to wipe her brow, looking up at the multi-colored gas giant
taking up so much of the sky...
"You were from... well, I don't know which one it is now, but one of
the moons of Jupiter. I think it was the second big one. Umino-kun would
know its name. Anyway, that was the real frontier then. Elder Senshi
Jupiter found you there while helping with a blight on the crops. The moon
was covered in water then, with lots of islands, I hear. You were the
daughter of farmers, and you looked it when you were escorted into the
Palace."
The glittering, silvery fountains and white marble, the lords and
ladies of the realm all staring at the urchin presented before them.
Makoto could feel the weight of those stares even through the years. She
trembled. Naru was evoking memories of her past self, but she had not
counted on feeling the emotions that had gone with them.
She had been weeding her father's field, happy to be out among the
plants and away from the problems of home. The blight had stolen much of
the food off their table. Their crops had been spared the worst of it, but
Poppa and Momma had insisted on sharing the food with their neighbors.
When asked how come their fields had been spared, Poppa had always boasted
that his little girl had a "magic touch with the plants." She certainly
didn't see it that way. She liked plants and they seemed to like her.
Momma hadn't liked Poppa bragging about it, saying it would bring bad luck,
but Poppa had kept on doing it. Until the Lady had come.
The Lady had come from the Kingdom of the Moon to help, and the blight
disappeared in her wake. Poppa and Momma had dressed her in her best
clothes to welcome the Lady, Her first thoughts on seeing this strange
visitor was how tired she looked. And then how puzzled as she viewed their
blight-spared crops. Poppa--why did he have to be so proud?--had brought
her forward as the reason.
"How did you stop the blight, little one?" the Lady had asked.
"The plants were sick. I helped them get better," she replied.
"They're my friends." Looking around apprehensively, afraid of being
laughed at, she added, "They sing to me."
The Lady had smiled then, nodding. "They do, don't they." Suddenly,
the Lady was kneeling in the muddy soil, hugging her. "You're a very
special girl, Juno. I've been looking for you for a very long time." Her
parents then spoke to the noblewoman alone for a long time. When the Lady
left, she had been told to go with her.
She had never seen her parents again.
"Makoto? What's wrong?" Naru's voice, soft and hesitant, interrupted
the memories. Makoto looked up, focusing on the field around her and for a
second, only a second, she thought she heard the music of each blade of
grass. Then it was gone. She was crying. Why was she crying?
"I'm sorry, Naru-chan... I was remembering... something painful that I
think happened to my past self." She shuddered. The pain was too like
another pain, one too horrible to deal with. It lurked in the back of her
mind, stirring now as she thought about it.
Flight 103 crashed with no survivors--
Momma. Poppa.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. Not now." Not ever. The dark memory got pushed away, buried
and forgotten.
Almost.
*****
"Luna! Artemis!" Minako called, cupping her hands around her mouth.
"Where is that cat," she muttered to herself. "When I find him, I'm going
to wring his little neck for making me worry!"
"Calm down, Minako-chan," Ami said, fiddling with her computer.
"We'll find them, don't worry. My program is almost done. Fortunately,
Luna and Artemis are pretty much unique among the cats of the area, and I
have a lot of data on them..."
"Then why didn't we just do that instead of wandering around searching
for them?"
"Because," Ami replied, "my computer isn't perfect."
"I never thought you'd admit that."
"Oh, don't get me wrong," Ami replied, still typing away. "I like it
a lot, but it often is a little too sensitive when I try to use it to find
things." She looked up at her friend. "It gets so much data, it can't
sort through it."
"Oh..." Minako said, not really seeing it.
Ami's computer chose that moment to begin beeping. "I think it may
have found them this time, Minako-chan," she said excitedly. "Over here,
by Edo Hall."
Minako followed along as her friend led the way, engrossed in the
computer. She looked around the crowd, spotting a few cute guys and wished
Steven was here. Then she smiled in surprised. One sandy-haired student--
American, by his looks--with gold-rimmed glasses was staring at Ami as if
he were in love. And the girl never looked up from her computer to see.
She chuckled.
"We have to get you a boyfriend, Ami-chan."
Ami's head whipped around. "What... why do you say that, Minako-chan?"
she stammered, forgetting about her computer for a moment.
Minako smiled and nodded her head toward Ami's admirer. "You've had
your nose in your books too long if you don't even notice when a guy is
attracted to you." Ami's blush was even deeper than Minako had thought it
would be, drawing a chuckle from the blonde teenager.
"I couldn't... I mean... I did have a boyfriend... once," Ami
protested once.
"That's right. So why don't you hunt Urawa down, anyway?"
"He doesn't even remember me," Ami said glumly, turning back to her
computer. "I'd seem like a fool..."
"I bet he'd still like you--" Minako was interrupted suddenly by a
loud bark. She looked over in annoyance at a German shepherd someone had
let loose. It was barking like mad at something up a tree, its claws
scrambling like mad at the bark.
"Geez, don't people ever obey leash laws?" Minako groused. Not that
she wanted to go neat the large dog. Nosiree. Thank you very much.
"They're in the tree," Ami said quietly.
"What?"
"Luna and Artemis. Look, on the branch just above the dog."
Minako looked. Through the budding leaves, she saw a flash of white,
then a very familiar-looking cat-face. "Artemis!" She ran toward the
tree, suddenly no longer mindful of the giant dog or its big white teeth
or... better not to think about it. "Shoo! Get away!" she yelled at it,
and it actually backed away from the tree.
"Minako-chan!" Artemis yelled.
"Luna, Artemis, leap onto my shoulders!" Minako kept a close eye on
the dog. It seemed to be paying attention to her now and was getting over
its initial fright. Joy.
The two cats didn't have to be told twice. As one, they leaped down
onto Minako, who wasted no time in running from the dog. The dog however,
seemed puzzled by the sudden disappearance of the cats from the tree branch
and was barking up at it, as if trying to make them reappear.
"Fierce, but dumb," Minako panted. Ami came over to her and took Luna
into her arms. "I like 'em that way."
*****
"--and then that horrid dog chased us up a tree for the entire
morning--IT ISN'T FUNNY, USAGI!"
Usagi had broken up in giggles again on hearing that Luna and Artemis,
perhaps the most intelligent cats on the face of the Earth, had gotten
themselves chased up a tree by a dog. The cats, for their part, were
taking the situation in extremely poor grace.
Rei, still a little red around the eyes from crying, tried to deflect
the argument. "So you saw Setsuna there, in that mad scientist's lab?"
The Sailor Senshi (plus auxiliaries, Steven and Naru) were once again
gathered at the Shrine, sitting in the Ceremonial Fire room. Rei had
finally told everyone, with support from Usagi, of all people, of her
problem. For a minute, all any of the Senshi could do was gather around
and hug the dark-haired girl, crying. Even Naru had gotten in on it.
Steven had looked uncomfortable throughout the episode, but had offered his
own sympathies, and even tried to cheer her up, saying she still "looked
like Sailor Mars" to him. No one had laughed at her or acted differently
around her and Rei felt guilty for ever doubting them.
Then Luna and Artemis had told their story. Usagi had burst out
laughing at the cage and the tree incidents, and the group's mood had
lightened somewhat. Trust Usagi, however, to take it too far.
Artemis spoke up while Luna exchanged some curt words with Usagi. "It
was her alright: Sailor Pluto. Without her interruption, I don't know if
Luna and I could have escaped from that man's lab. Now, at least, we have
a pretty good idea who made you change schools, Rei-chan."
"But what is she doing there? And why Tsunami?" Ami asked. "Do you
think she had anything to do with my decision to go there as well?"
"Burning down Shirokuro seems a bit much, even for her," Minako said.
"...but I guess she could do it if she felt she had a good enough reason."
"Do we have to go to this school?" Usagi whined, once Luna stopped
lecturing her. "It sounds really scary now."
"Opening ceremonies are tomorrow," Makoto answered. "I don't see how
we can avoid it. What we can do is keep a close eye out for her. Maybe it
is a trap, but if you go into a trap with your eyes open, you can turn it
on its maker." Sometimes, she added to herself.
Everyone else nodded. What else could they do?
*****
"Usagi! Get up! You'll be late for school!"
Naru and Umino smiled at each other as they came up to the door of the
Tsukino household. Some things never changed. Then Naru sighed as Umino
pulled out a fancy stopwatch and began to time how long it took Usagi to
make the door.
"Umino-kun, stop that!" she hissed, just before Usagi barreled out the
door into them. Bam, down they all went.
"Oh, gomen, gomen, Naru-chan, Umino!" Usagi apologized. I was in a
hurry and," she paused to finish swallowing her toast, which she had held
in her mouth, "and I wasn't watching where I was going--"
"It's ok, Usagi-chan," Naru said. "C'mon, or we'll be late for our
first day of classes. The Principal will probably get mad if we show up
late."
"Tsunami's Principal doesn't get mad at anything," Umino said, trying
to act mysterious.
"What do you mean, Umino-kun?"
"I mean, no one ever sees him! If you try, you just see his
secretary. It seems he's always out, never answers the phone. Some think
he died, right there in his office, and no one has ever bothered to
check..."
"Come on, that's silly, right Usagi?" Naru looked over at her friend,
who was listening to Umino with large, frightened eyes. "I cannot believe
you're buying that!"
"But what if it's true, Naru-chan?" Usagi stammered. "It's so scary!"
I cannot believe this, Naru thought.
*****
"--and in conclusion--"
A ragged cheer and scattered applause went up from the assembled
students of Tsunami High. They were all seated in the school auditorium of
Tokugawa Hall. It was opening ceremonies, an event long dreaded, where the
Principal (or, in this case, the Vice-Principal) gave a long, boring speech
about the merits of their fine school, the vision they had for the year
ahead, and exhortations for today's youth to apply all their energy and
vigor to the tasks ahead.
Vice Principal Yamamoto went beyond all that. He pranced around the
stage, he orated, he shouted. He used a pie charts and organizational
charts and efficiency studies, pointing out each and every step in his
great plan of student unity. His point whipped through the air like a
swagger-stick as he strove to infuse his energy into the crowd.
It put most students asleep. Those who were still awake were looking
rather bleary-eyed, with the exception of a few, like Ami, who seemed to be
listening intently, or Noriko, who always seemed full of energy, no matter
what. Usagi, Naru, Rei, and Makoto had definitely nodded off, however, and
were roused by the cheer.
"Izzit over yet?" Usagi moaned sleepily.
"Almost, Sa-chan," Noriko said in a chipper voice, shortening Usagi's
name as she did almost anyone else's.
"Ahem! In conclusion," Yamamoto said, attempting to ignore the
profound apathy in the student body. He was at a loss to explain why
Tsunami always seemed to attract such poorly motivated classes. Well, if
speeches didn't set their feet firmly on the path, he thought, clenching
and unclenching his jaw in frustration, a good dose of discipline should do
it! "I would like to welcome a new teacher to Tsunami this year," he
continued. "As you may,"unlikely, he thought, "or may not know, the
Ministry of Education has increased the budget for School Counseling
Services. As a result, we now have a School Counselor at Tsunami High to
help you get through life. Feel free to speak to her about anything, at
any time, for she is here to help you. So let me introduce," a startled
gasp went up from the crowd as the new Counselor hit the stage, "Meiou
Setsuna-san."
Setsuna walked up to the podium and smiled slightly at the crowd.
"Thank you," she said into the microphone, which Yamamoto grudgingly handed
over to her. "Somehow, I know our time together is going to be VERY
interesting."
Yamamoto recovered his microphone and was about to speak again when
some sort of commotion broke out in the rows. It seemed several students
had just collapsed in a faint. I never will understand these kids, he
thought.
The End
REI SAYS:
Rei: Hey, that's it? It wasn't much of a story. It just introduced
everything...
[Makoto sticks her head on screen.]
Makoto: Rei, you're on!
Rei: [blushing] Um, oh, hi! [waves] Today on Sailor Moon Z, we all started
going to a new school--even though it wasn't the school I expected to go
to.
Minako: [coming on screen] Well, I'm not going there. Biles-sama is
writing a whole episode starring ME about my new school. [walks off]
Rei: [pausing to stick her tongue out in Minako's direction] The theme of
today's story is about changes--speaking of which, why do we even have this
"Sailor Says" crap? That's an invention of the English dub, right?
Ami: [from off screen] Because Biles-sama and Hosmer-san thought it would
be funny.
[A superdeformed character of the author walks across the bottom of the
screen waving a sign which reads: "How come he gets to be Biles-sama and
take all the girls??" He is promptly chased away by a pack of superdeformed
flaming wombats.]
Rei: Stupid dub. First of all, the English voice is NOTHING like me.
Usagi: [Sticking her head on screen] I dunno, Rei... they got your whine
down right!
Rei: Urusai, odango-atama!* That's another thing. What the heck is a
"meatball" anyway. Don't Americans have odangos like civilized people?
The dub also butchered my singing and, most of all, they cut out all the
scenes where I got to slap Usagi!
*Shut up, meatball head!
Usagi: [coming on screen] Hey! You said you felt bad about slapping me!
Rei: Well, I lied! You deserved to be slapped each and every time!
Usagi: Oh, yeah!? [sticks her tongue out at Rei]
Rei: Yeah! [sticks HER tongue out at Usagi]
[The two stay like this for several minutes, then the screen goes black.
The SD author (a little crisped around the edges) comes out holding a sign:
"Due to technical difficulties beyond our control, we have had to cut short
this edition of "Rei Says." We apologize for any inconvenience."]
Author's Note:
Ahem. Well, here's part 4. I was a little worried about this ep,
because it doesn't do much more than introduce the new school John and I
have created for our Sailor Senshi to attend. As such, it just begins a
whole slew of plot lines that we will be dealing with in later episodes of
Sailor Moon Z. I introduced a lot of new characters here, but not so many
as to make it confusing, I hope. We'll see more of Noriko, Vice Principal
Yamamoto, the groundskeeper and his dog, the Gemini twins, Sensei, and the
calico cat. :) I hope you enjoyed the story and keep reading our series!
Jeff Hosmer
June 10, 1996
P.S. I know, I forgot the end credits... I'll splice them in before the
final... I just want to get feedback on the rest...
Jeffrey Paul Hosmer rogue1@netcom.com
4001 Old Quarry Terrace
Alexandria, VA 22306