Hello all. Sorry this one was delayed.
As an update before the fic, "the moron and the maiden" isto be
renamed "Ranma: Endless Complications" and part five is halfway
finished - expect it towards the end of the month <fingers crossed!>
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And on with the fic....
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Artemis was beyond furious. The trauma of re-incarnating female
and a different species had almost destroyed the elements of his soul
that had survived the Silver Millennium, forcing his psyche deep into
hiding, where it had nearly slumbered away eternity.
Luck had been with him. The wake up call that Moon's
transformation had provided had restored him to his old self... And yet
She was still a woman. A fully human teenaged woman with all of the
quirks and foibles of that species. It was driving hir NUTS! Normal
teens don't have to deal with the problems of remembering a lifetime of
being a small white *male* cat with magical powers. People had a hard
enough time accepting the transgendered... let alone the
interspescied...
And as soon as she finally assimilated her fractured soul
enough to summon any of the mageries he recalled from the silver
millenium, Pluto was going to find herself in more hot water than a
lobster in a restaurant full of starving gourmet's. Yes folks, Me'iou
Artemis, as destiny had whimsically named her, was NOT going to
take this one lying down....
Yes, luck had been with him... Yet she wasn't sure if it was
good or bad luck. Time would tell. it always did.
Time and a nice big, *heavy*, key shaped stick.
**********************************************************
Effexor entertainment presents
A Prozac production
Written and directed by
Someone who is having far to much fun
*Sailor Moon : Misincarnation!*
or : THE SWISS CHEESE EFFECT
Sailor Moon is copyrighted to Takauchi Naoko. Not me. Don't sue,
I'll starve. For real.
Episode secundus:
"That's not how Holst wanted Mercury played!"
**********************************************************
Makoto looked up from her geometry homework and glared at
her new pet. Sadly, Setsuna was asleep on the pillow, so couldn't
see the terror inspiring view. Makoto sighed, and dropped the face.
It seemed kind of pointless to waste such honest annoyance on
someone who couldn't see it.
Also, she was really starting to wonder about the magical
broach that the cat had given to her. Turning it about in the palm of
her hand she mused aloud, "I wonder what you're FOR... Why ME
of all people!"
"Because you are the leader." The not-as-asleep-as-she-looked
Setsuna supplied, not bothering to stop snoring. "You are the
chosen warrior, now you must go forth and seek the princess, lest
the world perish URK!" She dropped all pretence and got up,
shouldering the hurled math text off her body with a swift sinuous
motion.
"Chosen warrior right! I want to know EVERYTHING!"
Commanded Makoto.
"You can't handle everything. Even if I could remember it..."
Finished Setsuna in an embarrassed mutter. "All you need to know
right this minute, is that the enemy you fought yesterday was not
of this world, and intended harm to all life. You must gather the
other chosen warriors and defend this world, and most especially
your princess against this menace."
"Hah! That's Sailor V's job! ...And just who IS the princess -
can't defend her if I don't know who she is!"
"I... Don't know." whispered Setsuna softly. "My memory is
clouded by the passage of years and the death I once experienced.
Yet I know this - if the princess falls, and the Ginzuishu with her,
then the world will sink into a perpetual night which shall see no
dawn. Death forevermore."
"HMMPH! Figures that you don't know. Some aide you're
gonna be..." Makoto sighed. "Still it would be nice to have some
new friends...and I'd get to met a real life princess! Maybe she
could introduce me to some hunky princes!" Makoto was off,
inhabiting another plane where starry eyed maidens waited for
dashing princes to lead them into a romantic ever after.
Setsuna smiled a little at this. It would at least distract
attention from her memory lapses until she figured everything out.
Megami-sama, she'd not expected the loss of memory. She'd
known she would be reborn, but she hadn't known how limited her
knowledge in this new life would be.... She blinked a little as
Makoto started dancing with her dressing gown, softly humming
old show tunes. She had NEVER been that young. Really.
Now to find the next Senshi..... She returned to her semi-
somnambulant state, her senses reaching out for traces of the
magic that stained the souls of those she sought... And once she'd
done that she could finish reading that nice Lord of the Rings
book...
****
Michiru didn't quite stride down hallways', nor did she simply
float, instead her stride seemed to encapsulate the best of the
cheetah's grace and the elephant's determination not to be stopped
by anything less than a medium sized mountain range. Normally
she'd be slightly more composed, but practice had gone poorly
again. The local peripatetic recently hired by Juuban high was
simply not at her level, and insisted on trying to reinforce her own
ego by denigrating all of Michiru's work. The instruments she
insisted that all her students used wasn't helping either, somehow
it felt wrong when she played, like trying to bath fully dressed.
Michiru walked through hallways and outbuildings alike with a
near physical aura of annoyance that intimidated anyone she
passed. Anyone actually pausing to look at the tightly controlled
irritation in her eyes looked away hastily and excused themselves.
Either to her, or swift restroom stops. Then there were the rumours.
She kept telling herself that the juvenile mutterings and gossiping
of silly teenagers didn't hurt, that she was above all the innuendo
and lies that were whispered in her trail.
She wasn't. It hurt walking past people who could have been
friends in another life, and seeing them turn away from her, words
floating up from over the huddled shoulders.
"Hey see the dyke walking past?"
"No fear, I don't want her anywhere near me..."
"I bet all she needs is a real man hurrhurr..."
"Stuck up bitch!"
"Hoity toity stuck up bint..."
"Frigid cow, I bet she only ever gets hot with her damn violin..."
"Don't look at her.. she's STRANGE..."
It hurt. Worst of all, it hurt because ... well, she didn't know if
they were wrong or right. She'd never found herself 'checking out'
anyone, she'd never felt the need, indeed was equally indifferent to
either gender. She lacked the necessary confidence in herself as a
Gay person to stand up to the taunts, and was unsure enough of
her sexuality that she couldn't laugh it off.
Setsuna watched from a nearby wall, staring after Michiru long
after she was out of sight. Eventually she lowed her gaze and
sighed sadly.
"I'm so sorry sister mine..."
Then she went to find Makoto.
*****
Ruebius blinked in utter confusion. Hadn't he been about to
finally capture that damned rabbit?! Just as he was about to seize
her a silver light had dropped him in a ... large grey ice palace-
stroke-cave? Who were the other people surrounding him? Could
he get the number of the cute one with the really powerful vibes?
Um, just why was he here anyway? Temporal trace/locator
implants showed him far earlier than he should have been, but with
no registered time jump. He was about to start getting terribly
annoyed when, with a ripple of attractive subspace effects, (or
rather, what Washuu thinks pretty subspace effects SHOULD look
like), he vanished again. As the light died back down...
Jadeite blinked in utter confusion. Who the hell was the brat
with the bad hair? Why wasn't he still in bed? What was that silver-
grey light? Why did it put him in a parade ground in his fluffy k'tarr
slippers? Why was Nephrite laughing at him? This one was easier
to deal with than the others.
"And just what the hell do you think YOU'RE laughing at
buddy?!"
"Jadeite," chuckled the astrologer, "calm down and think. A
portal like that is very rare... but mostly I'm laughing because of
that." He jerked a thumb through an obscure rotation, with a joint
that wasn't there before or after the motion seeming to move
through itself. With a small implosion a particle of pure with
properties couldn't possibly exist, collapsed out of non-space,
instantaneously expanding into a viewing globe. It showed a
Youma being rather handily reduced to it's constituent parts. A
moment later it reflected a swearing Jadeite stalking away leaving a
slightly baffled Nephrite nursing a black eye.
"Ite...," he sighed ruefully, alone now. "And I laugh cousin,
because I have seen Serenity's gift... we shall die cousin, alone
unmourned... But the punchline is the best - not even *She* can
do a damn thing about it." Nephrite collapsed the globe and
wandered off still laughing, a hysterical tone evident.
Not happen this way again. That was a joke. All the futures that
the gift had shown him ended up with him dead, or trapped forever
beyond the boundaries of the universe. He was free. Free of the
possession, free of choices, and trapped in a situation in which
even Cassandra herself would have kept her mouth shut in. A fitting
reward for betrayal, Nephrite mused, determined to get stinking
drunk as soon as possible...
***
Artemis looked up, a penetration of an object not describable in
purely three dimensional terms impacting on her mind. She
watched the dissipating remnants of a millennia old wish failing to
work, no longer unable to effect the mortal world. She also saw the
location of a certain object disguised as a biro.
"You have GOT to be kidding.... First a cat, then a kid, now I'm
Pluto?!"
Artemis held her head in her hands, ad promised that someone
was going to pay for this. Just as soon as she figured out how to
collect the Henshin wand from the Smithsonian.
***
Setsuna sneezed, looking over her shoulder in worry as her fur
toinged straight up, while a shiver of cold terror ran down her spine.
This was not good. She wished she had a grave from her first
death. At least then she could go and beat up the person holding
the rave over it. She shuddered again and composed herself as
best she could.
That had not been pleasant.
***
Makoto sat with Naru at lunch, while Naru excitedly babbled on
about the mysterious stranger who had saved her last night.
"But I'm telling you guys! Sailor V's partner really did show up
and save me last night! You gotta believe me please!" Makoto tried
very hard to become invisible. Kimiko and Kaori were less
restrained, breaking out into wild giggles.
"You saw Sailor V's partner?! oh come on, that is *so* not
gonna happen!"
"Yeah, perhaps you just had a dream or something."
"Perhaps you need to cut down on the late night choccies girl!"
Makoto left quietly. She felt bad for her friend, but there wasn't
a lot she could do without blowing her secret. She was so deep in
her feelings of guilt she didn't notice when she ran into a fellow
student. Normally she didn't take much heed, but there was
something odd about this girl, and not just the rumours. Juuban
high was a large school, and even the outcasts, who were more
widely known, were not recognised by all.
"Oops! Sorry there, are you okay?" Asked Makoto to the girl
sprawled inelegantly on the floor. She offered her inadvertent victim
a hand her feet. "I guess it's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was
going, um, sorry about that..."
"Watch where you're going in the future then," Michiru snapped
back a little more harshly than she'd intended. She was used to
being knocked and jostled in the hall, but the apology plus the
genuine remorse in the eyes of the tall girl in front of her were
something... new. She sighed a little.
"Look just don't do it again, allright?" She smiled.
"Um, okay, I didn't mean to, but... " Makoto looked around,
spotting a violin case a few feet away from the mysterious girl. "Um
is this yours?" She quickly bent and retrieved said object, passing
it along. "I hope it isn't broken or anything..."
"No, it's well shockproofed."
"Oh that's good... heheheh... Look, I'm Tsukino Makoto, and
I'm REALLY sorry about all of this..."
"Kaioh Michiru. You can stop apologising now."
"Was I...?"
Michiru became annoyed at the air headed ninny in front of her.
"Look, just stop apologising for gods sake, it was an accident,
you're sorry, I accept, so we're done...!" Michiru was in fine form,
her words withering, her manner aggressive.
"...oh...." Makoto frowned inwardly at the smaller girl. Although,
since to her most of the other girls were smaller this didn't mean a
lot. But something about her... something called to a deep part of
her, something she didn't want to end but didn't know how to start;
her mouth ran on autopilot while she desperately thought of
something else to say. "Look, I gotta get away from my friends for
a while, so do you want to chat for a bit?"
"!" This time it was Michiru's turn to have her line of thought cut
off at the knees. Somebody *wanting* to talk to her? This was way
out of left-field! Normally she'd have politely declined, knowing that
it would be better to be alone than tortured by the poisonous little
comments people made, but .. something stopped her. Perhaps
she just needed a friend, or perhaps it was just anyone to talk to,
at or with, possibly all three depending on how this Makoto person
acted.
"Yes.. I think I'd like that." Michiru smiled in a slightly unsure
manner, her eyes reflecting some unknown emotion, even as she
began to talk to Makoto. The time had come, came the thought, to
talk of many things. And right now, the karate maniac seemed to
be someone who COULD understand the loneliness.
Setsuna watched from a nearby tree smiling benevolently over
her charge. Not at all the way that she would have done it, but it
worked.
******
Makoto collapsed bonelessly onto her bed once she returned
home. Propping her head up against her bedhead she spotted a
small but impressive pile of books sitting on her desk. Somehow
they seemed stared reproachfully at the supine teen, who groaned
articulately and dropped her head to her pillow.
"Why math? I hate math!" she exclaimed in a muffled tone. "I
could deal with the English, I could even survive the history, but
why math?!"
"Because," replied Setsuna with malicious good humour. "Who
was the girl I saw you hanging around with at lunch...?"
"Oh, yeah, that was Michiru... She's nice girl... I almost felt I
knew her already. Weird huh? Could just be because we're both
wierdos as far as 'most everyone's concerned..."
"I wouldn't be so sure to dismiss that feeling... I felt it too.
Please be careful though, I sensed something evil around- it may
be a trap..." Not likely with THIS person, but it would be good to
get into habits of wariness around re-incarnated persons from the
silver millennium, and there WAS something off about her aura,
"...But... I think she's probably another Sailor..."
"Really? Cool! She's a cool person, and it would be great to
have someone else to fight with! Are you sure she is?! Please say
she is!" Setsuna tinysweated at the incipient case of hero worship,
the way Makoto's eyes glinted, but mostly because Makoto was
dancing around the room with her cat held in a firm grip across her
chest, legs dangling as she was swung around.
"help?" she offered weakly, wondering just what had possessed
her to take up THIS job of all others....
*****
Once more Michiru and Makoto gossiped at lunch. Being
isolated by circumstances beyond their control form the others at
their school had swiftly formed a camaraderie between the
twosome. This was their third day of meeting for lunch, and
Setsuna had prepared the area. Once more she sat in the
branches high above while her young charge gossiped away below.
Predictably enough, Makoto was holding forth on the subject of
food while Michiru nodded interestedly.
"...so then you drain the noodles really well, dump them into
the frypan, add the stirfried meat and vegetables, combine them
together, and serve them as either a main meal, or a filling for
bread pockets. It's quick, easy, and tastes good. It looks like hell
though so I only ever cook it for myself."
"Oh? so what does it look like?"
"Like somebody barfed." Michiru blanched as expected, while
Makoto broke out in a gusty laugh. "No it's just not terribly
attractive, it starts OUT looking like most meals end up... Do you
want the recipe?"
"Sure why not? Hang on while I..." Michiru dug around
frantically in her pencil case for a pen, looming sheepishly back at
Makoto. "Um, have you got a biro I can use?"
Makoto nodded, pulling out her own pencil case. She was
opening it up to reach inside, when a small black-green blur flew
past, meowing furiously, before shooting out of the school grounds.
Makoto of course over-reacted and accidentally tossed the case
over her shoulder with a little "What the!" Pencils and biro's flew
everywhere. Michiru just raised an elegantly sculpted eyebrow at
her startled friend.
"Not a word. Not a word! C'mon could you give me a hand
picking these all up?"
Lips sucked in and tightly held between front teeth, Michiru
nodded, holding back her merriment. The smirk conveyed
everything that she needed to. Makoto started to collect pens,
pencils, rulers, protractors, while roundly cursing Luna in the
privacy of her own head. After a few moments everything had been
collected, including a couple of pens that Makoto didn't recognise.
"Did you drop this?" frowned Makoto as she looked at the
baffling blue coloured biro with the interesting lid - a sphere almost
invisibly connected to an outer oval shaped guard that then merged
into the body of the lid. It was really rather pretty, if not terribly 'her'.
The other item she didn't recognise was a near transparent pen
with a faux crystal lid. Tacky but attractive nonetheless.
"Um, no, never seen it before," replied Michiru in bafflement. It
was almost as if she should recognise it somehow... "Does it
work?" she heard herself asking, her fingers reaching towards it
almost of their own volition.
"Dunno. Tell you what - let's try it out, and if you want it, you
keep it, okay?" She paused for her friend to get a sheet of paper
then cheerfully began dictating ingredients and preparations.
Out of earshot, but in clear view, Luna smiled at the distraction
she'd provided. It had all gone SPLENDIDLY. Hopping down she
was horrified to find herself face to face with a young blonde girl
with a ridiculous odango hairstyle.
"You're so KAWAII!" the girl called delightedly, scooping
Setsuna up and hugging her tightly. Setsuna would have disagreed,
had she had the breath to do so. And the willingness to be shown
up this badly in front of Makoto. Glumly she endured the 'tender'
ministrations of the over-enthused airhead.
Setsuna just wished she'd go away. She'd just felt an spike of
Silver Millennium magical energy, and she wanted to investigate.
Small chance of that now however. Sighing, she endured the over-
affectionate brutilisation as best she could. With any luck, Makoto
would rescue her, dignity be damned!, or the bell would ring, or the
vac skull would let her into a position to use her claws... Spotting
Makoto passing on her way back for the afternoon session she
mewled as loudly and as plaintively as she could, dignity be
damned, she was dying!
"Oh! Setsuna," called Makoto jogging over, "What were you
doing here you silly cat... " She turned to the girl with the
distinctive hair. "I'm sorry if my cat caused you any trouble," she
apologised.
"No, it's fine, she's really cute... I was hoping he was a stray so
I could adopt him." The girl sighed, then brightened a bit. "Anyway,
I'm glad he's got such a caring owner. I'm Usagi by the way, it's
nice to meet you...?" Setsuna gave Makoto a look that said a lot
about her estimate of Usagi's intelligence.
"Oh! I'm Makoto, and that's Setsuna, she's a girl by the way,
and thank you for the compliment..?"
"Oh it was nothing," she replied sheepishly, embarrassed at
her mistake. "I'm new here, so I don't know my much around here
yet." Setsuna let rip with a yowl filled with heartrending self pity,
startling Usagi, who dropped her in her surprise. Spinning on a
dime, she fluffed at Usagi before hopping sedately into Makoto's
arms.
"I guess she didn't like being called a boy then," decided
Usagi. Makoto fought hard to keep from collapsing under the force
of her giggles.
"She won't hear the end of it from me," Makoto promised evilly,
as Setsuna hung her head in embarrassment. Fortunately she was
spared further humiliation as the bell rang.
"We're Late!" chorused the girls, before they grabbed their bags
and ran for the school.
"Why? Why me?!" Asked Setsuna to the heavens, feeling a
kitty migraine coming on. "Just what did I do so wrong in my last
life?"
****
Michiru waved her friend good-bye, and started off to class.
More torture to live through, but at least at the end of it there was
Violin practise. It was one of the few things that she took any
comfort in. She walked into her classroom, and took her assigned
seat near the back, placing her violin case down. The decorations
she had spent years building up in the smooth plastic of the case
stared back comfortingly at her as she prepared to endure another
lecture of Saharan dryness.
She was right, the teacher, a sixty year old history teacher
mumbled and droned through a text that defied the senses to stay
alert. Usually the students would slump low in their seats, with
only the sycophantic and the interested paying any due to the
recitation from the blackboard. The usual practise for everyone else
was to doze, taking notes off the board whenever it couldn't be
avoided, and only reading the texts at home.
A shame, Michiru found the history of the world to be an
intriguing subject... normally. As it was, she placed her elbows
neatly on the desk, propped her head on her hands, and
daydreamed of getting away from this school, to a place where her
skills were acknowledged. A place where people would sit and
listen to her playing her violin, the conductor addressing himself to
her, the roar from the audience at the end of evening, taking her
bows...
An hour passed almost without her noticing it. As the harsh
ringing of the bell snapped her from her somnambulistic state, she
jerked upright in time to appear to be alert as the teachers eyes
finally turned to the class, where he saw only alert, attentive
students. Nodding to himself he dismissed the class for gym
period. He never knew how little they cared about his teaching, and
would have been deeply mortified to learn that they didn't share his
passion for the deep dusty intricacies of scholarly disputation that
were his passion. Nor would they know that he had written the dry
texts that they had to read to pass.
They just wanted to get out of the class.
Michiru packed her texts, pocketing her new pen so she didn't
lose it, then picked up her violin and leaving the dull lesson.
Walking in to the changing room, she was just in time to pass
Makoto as her class finished re-dressing themselves in preparation
for their last class of the afternoon. Gesturing slightly, Michiru
called the tall brunette over.
"Could you please do me a favour, Makoto-san?" she asked
once Makoto was close enough for her quietly spoken words to
carry. Makoto nodded cheerfully, causing Michiru to smile slightly.
"I'd like you to come to my violin practise... " her she broke off
nervously, unwilling to seem like she was trying to show off for her
friend. "We're going to get the entire orchestral group together so...
You don't have to but I'd like to hear your opinion of my playing...."
"Sure! I'd love to!" replied Makoto warmly. "Where and when is
it?"
"After school in the main hall... thank you, it's great to have
someone come to listen to me play," replied the relieved Michiru.
"You're a real friend, she smiled to conclude.
"Not a problem," grinned Makoto, "I'll be there! And... Lighten
up... All my friends call me Mako-chan, so if you could too?"
"Of course, thank you very much." blushed Michiru.
Makoto looked at the clock on the wall, then back at her friend.
"I'll catch you later, but right now I'm going to be late for History..."
"Good luck!" laughed Michiru. "He's on good form today - I
almost went into a coma!"
"Blech!" Makoto stuck her tongue out good-naturedly. "Thanks
for the warning, Catch you later!"
"You too!" As Makoto left, Michiru began to change, feeling a
lot more cheerful about life than she had in a long time.
******
Students poured out of the gates of Juuban high, in great good
spirits, none moreso than Makoto's history class. Makato normally
would have been one of those to revel in their freedom from the
stuffy classroom, but turned and moved across the grounds to the
main building. As she walked, Setsuna appeared with the almost
mystical good timing she seemed to possess, dropping down in
front of her, then bounded up onto her shoulders.
"Makoto," she whispered into the girls ear, "There's something
wrong here... I can sense the enemy around here..."
"You've been saying that there's probably a trap here for days,"
protested Makoto quietly, "why is now different?"
"Because I can feel the enemy taking action, it's coming from
that direction," she replied, twitching her tail at the main building.
"You'd better get ready to change into Sailor Moon..."
"Again?" Makoto protested half-heartedly, finding herself
looking forwards to the chance to pound something and not get told
off. Then something clicked. "Over there? Michiru's playing in there!
Come on!" she called over her shoulder to Setsuna, who was
sprawled on the floor, having been left behind when Makoto began
sprinting.
"If I could, I'd get Serenity for this," grumbled the green tinged
cat, picking herself up, and looking hopefully around for her dignity.
"WAIT!" she yelled after her fleeing charge, and was rather
surprised when Makoto DID come back. "It could be dangerous
going in there without checking it out first... "
"So what do I do?" Asked Makoto impatiently, cracking her
knuckles into her fist with alarming popping noises.
"The pen you found earlier - it's magical - you can use it to
disguise yourself while you check the scene out! Just waive it high
and call out 'Disguise Power'"
"Whatever you say," replied Makoto doubtfully, but dutifully
pulling the tacky pen out and raising it high. "DISGUISE POWER!
make me into... um... a Schools inspector!"
*******
In the main hall forty young musicians began to sprawl across
the floor in various ungraceful positions, drained of their energy.
"Ah such a splendid plan!" cackled the Youma holding a
conductors baton, drawing almost visible streams of energy from
the students, using the baton to create rather pretty visual
arrangements of pure life energy. "Take the energy students to
music through their instruments, pure genius! Bwahahahaha!"
She stopped cackling as she realised that there was one
student still upright, staring over her sheet music at the peripatetic
teacher in horror. "You! Why aren't you being drained! Your violin
should have taken all your energy by now!"
"The violin you gave me didn't sound right!" Protested Michiru,
who was beginning to get very worried. "I brought my violin because
I've been using it for years, and I wanted to sound good for my
friend!"
"You poor fool," hissed the conducting Youma, shapeshifting to
her fully powered form, a hideous blend of human and demon, long
sharp fangs, heavy brow ridges over huge poached egg eyes, long,
sharp claws bursting free. Standing up tall the Youma began to
laugh evilly. "You should have stuck to the instrument I gave you...
you'd just have been drained then... Is your friend going to be able
to save you now, little girl..." it mocked, advancing, long bony
fingers outstretched, claws extended.
Behind the Youma, the doors of the hall were kicked open,
revealing a smartly dressed young woman with a clipboard.
"Yes, I am, Attacking your students is a no-no, so I'm afraid I'm
going to have to fail your review." The Youma boggled at the
unlikely sight, and grimaced at the poor joke. Then she stopped
smiling as the woman removed a broach from her lapel and help it
above her.
"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!"
A blast of magic grabbed the disguised Makoto, tearing her
clothing away, entering her, remaking her, large streamers of light
playing around her, spiralling in around her forming a uniform, white
body suit, blue skirt and boots, stripes of magic becoming her tiara
and choker, small sparkles of moondust raining down to become
her earrings, more settling down to become feathers on top of the
tiara.
Sailor Moon had arrived.
"You!" Shrieked the Youma, recognising the foe who had slain
her ... sister perhaps being the best word.... With a casual
backhand Michiru was sent spinning across the music pit, fetching
up with a painful crack against a stand, her violin miraculously
unbroken still clutched to her chest.
"DIE!" came the hate filled yell, as a barrage of sheet music
flew at Sailor Moon. Makoto tensed up, leaping nimbly aside from
the thickest part of the attack, hurling her tiara feather darts back
to thin the numbers further, leaving only a few to catch her. It
wasn't enough, the few remaining sheets leaving thin razor wounds
across her legs and arms, none however hit her face.
"I am a defender of justice," grated Moon, "I stand for all that is
right, and that means you're going back to hell for what you did to
me... In the name of the moon, I'll punish you," she finished,
almost purring the word punish.
Setsuna watched this from her place of concealment, and
shook her head sadly. Sloppy reconnaissance, and overconfidence
were all to obvious in Moons showing. Still, she rationalised, the
situation *WAS* salvageable. Slipping around the edge of the hall
she made her way towards the dazed Michiru, almost purring with
relief to see the pen WAS with her.
"Michiru!" She urgently whispered to the dazed girl, "You have
to help Sailor Moon!"
Michiru's response was predictable. Her eyes tracked around
to see Setsuna then grew to the size of dinner plates. "I so out of
it... Concussion...."
"NO," hissed Setsuna, "this is quite real, all you have to do is
wave the pen you found earlier over your head and say Mercury
Power," she frowned inwardly at the look of blank incomprehension
on Michiru's face, then shouted. "DO IT!"
"eeep," offered Michiru meekly, obediently taking the wand out
of her pocket and holding over her head. "m'cury p'wer." The
temperature began to plummet, forming a thick mist that his
everyone from sight. The protests of Moon were audible as were
the thankfully unintelligible curses of the Youma... Who began
saturating the area with her razor edged scores.
"Help!" Called Makoto, as she found herself n the receiving end
of an attack she could not see, and hence could not dodge.
Tripping on a hidden chair she fell, even as a fresh barrage of
scores, flew through the area her head had been. She didn't hit the
floor, instead she found herself caught and help upright by the
same mysterious... rescuer not being the precise word we're
aiming for, but will suffice... from the jewellery shop.
"Who are you?" she asked the masked blonde in the leotard.
"Your friend is over there," came the reply, "You can call me...
" She looked blank, then worried. "Um, I don't know, what's your
name then?"
"I am Sailor Moon," Makoto replied, flushing a little at the
absurdity of the name, and the fact that the blonde still hadn't let
go of her breast.
"It's a great name," smiled the blonde, "really, goes well with
your looks. you really are quite pretty. We'll have to share makeup
tips sometime!"
Moon tinysweated slightly.
"I'd better go kill the monster," she replied to the inanely
smiling tuxedoed girl. Hey! Tuxedo and a mask - Tuxedo Mask!
"I know you can do it, go for it!" Cheered Tuxedo Mask,
mysteriously snagging a pair of pom-poms and beginning a victory
dance. Makoto simply gave up.
*****
Michiru had not been quiescent during the by-play, able to see
through the mysterious fog that had sprung up, she had begun to
beat the Youma over the head with the energy sapping instruments
that it had supplied. She was having a great deal of success with a
metal flute, applying it hard to the tuba she had wedged over the
Youma's head.
"That'll teach you to belittle my playing!" She raged in time with
her strikes. "This'll teach you to tell me to stop showing off, and
this huh!"
Setsuna boggled.
"Serenity's liver! What *have* I unleashed", she worried, as
Michiru finally succumbed to the drain of the instrument she held,
and had to back away to catch her breath. With the loss of some
of her power the fog began to dissipate, revealing Moon in a wind
up pose.
"Moon, Tiara ACTIVATION!" The glowing disc of pure light
struck the poor suffering Youma, ending it's pain, and reducing it to
ashes on the wind. Around the room, the cursed instruments
began to crumble into dust with the same swiftness that had
overtaken their mistress.
"Sailor Moon," began Setsuna, already wondering at the
wisdom of all this, "Meet Sailor Mercury, the Ice Warrior." Michiru
looked down at herself, noticing for the first time the change in her
costume, a fuku almost identical to Moon's, but with a blue bow, a
skirt in a lighter shade of blue, and lacking the slight padding
around the arms that Moon's possessed.
"Who are you," Mercury asked Moon intently.
"Oh, I'm Makoto," smiled Moon, poking her tongue out in a
rather cute, 'whoops, haven't *I* made a no-brainer' fashion. She
swiftly reverted to her normal clothes.
"It's good to know that you're going to be a sailor warrior too,"
She smiled to the dumbfounded Michiru. For her own Part, Michiru
simply stared at Setsuna, realising that yes, cats can talk.
"It's going to be a long day," groused Setsuna quietly,
nervously eyeing the slowly reviving musicians. "Why don't you
come with us, and I'll tell you about how it all began, back in the
Moon Kingdom, during the silver millennium"
**************
End part 2
Like? Hate? Setsuna to lose to Luna for somebodies taste? My
jokes too appalling for anyones taste? People wanting to know
what was up with the Nephrite sequence?
Ask! I might even figure out a way to turn reply to you into a
usable plot point!
Or are people going to lynch me for this? ^_^
Email to the usual place,
Kathy@linuxgrrls.org
20-10-00 --- > 12-10-00
Ryoko
I need a hero!
Mail Eternal Power, MAKE UP!