----- Original Message -----
From: "C. Jones" <guilty@furinkan.net>
To: <ffml@anifics.com>
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 4:30 PM
Subject: [FFML] [SM] Hidden in Darkness - Chapter 1
----------
"What is this?" Cobalt asked curiously.
> "This is meat," Ytterbium explained, carefully choosing her
words so that Cobalt would understand them. "It's the flesh of a
animal, heated until the juices come out. It also has salt, water,
and dried herbs in it."
"What are herbs?" one of the young children asked.
"You know, I'm not sure," she admitted in embarrassment. She
chuckled and placed a hand behind her head. "I think it may be
certain kinds of plants."
This section blew my mind. It makes perfect sense, why youma know
anything about food? Its obvious Ail and Ann didn't.
"And I'm supposed to put this in my mouth?" Cobalt queried
dubiously.
Ytterbium nodded. "You should try. It might make you feel
sick, but it shouldn't hurt you.
Is this because some them are allergic to food, or because their
digestive system is near atrophy?
Cobalt awoke from her dream, her eyes blinking in the
darkness. Warily, she reached behind her, pulling a human-made
flashlight out of her pocket. She shined it at her wrist. The watch
told her that it was almost four P.M. on earth.
Here's something to note. Don't most watches come with a nightlight
feature? I can't imagine a youma wanting or being able to find one with out
one.
Ami Mizuno stared at her watch in horror. The alarm had just
gone off.
"I'm very sorry. I've just been paged. It's a very serious
emergency."
"Ah, I understand entirely," the man noted sagely. "We
doctors are ruled by our beepers, after all. I can reschedule our
appointment for a later date."
This could be the idea for a story in and of itself. With all the
gadgets Luna and Artemis produce, why haven't any of the senshi thought up
the idea of disguising as normal technology?
Usagi Tsukino, clad in bunny-ears, a tuxedo-top, tap pants,
and lots of face paint, beamed before her audience.
Oh. My. God. :-)
The three puppeteers who manned the 'Rabbit Room' set
sighed, realizing that once again, they were going to be responsible
for carrying the show. Usagi and Minako ran off stage as fast they
could.
Have you ever seen a cartoon called M.A.S.K.? This bit sounds
incredibly derivitive.
"Should we tell the Outers before we go?" Rei suggested.
The four other girls developed looks of serious
exasperation.
"And pick another fight?" Makoto asked sarcastically. "We
can try to get hold of Hotaru-chan, and maybe Setsuuna. If we try to
get Haruka or Michiru involved in this..."
I get the impression that Uranus and Neptune STILL haven't learned
little things like "teamwork."
Cobalt nodded. "I know. It will be over soon, though. Any
sign of... *them*."
"No. Will they really be in disguise?"
"It's probable. Go relieve Baricite at the front door and
send her to me."
I've noticed from the TV series that the senshis' biggest threats come
from the ones that can actually understand that the senshi don't stay
transformed 24/7 and have normal lives.
* * *
"A health club?" Minako asked curiously. "Didn't we already
do this one?"
"A few times," Ami noted dubiously. She closed her computer
and placed it in her coat pocket.
Obviously this enemy isn't any smarter than the previous ones.
"She could be wearing contacts," Makoto offered, "But she's
also a little on the pale and scrawny side for someone who works at
a health-club. There's no fat on her, but there's also no muscle.
She looks like she'd blow away if you waved at her. Not exactly the
exactly the person you'd choose to advertise your gym, huh?"
This is puzzling. The Monster-of-the-Week is almost always a perfect
physical specimen.
"She's acting a little oddly," Makoto said suspiciously,
looking the entire room over for anything out of place. "What'd you
want to bet that there's something... strange... behind that wall,"
she said, pointing to the mirrored surface behind the instructor's
platform."
Actually, they way you've written her, she's the one of most
well-disguised enemies the senshi ever met. She's dressed appropriately for
the setting and know how to small-talk.
Usagi's eyes widened at Ami's choice of words. "You should
come check out the treadmills and stuff, then. It's not real
obvious, but Mina and I both think they're draining people very
slowly."
This is very disturbing. From what's written so far, the senshi
wouldn't even suspect a thing if it weren't for Ami's alarm. Could they be
concentrating on NEVER drawing attention to themselves? It would be slow,
but youma presumably don't age.
"Well, that would be you, since I never heard of your club
before today. What's you're name, miss? Something-ite, wasn't it?"
"Achorite," the youma responded autmatically.
O-kay. This one is OBVIOUSLY not the brains of the operation.
"They tricked me into telling them my name-- my real name!
What're we gonna do?"
Cobalt shook her head and threw her towel down on the floor.
"We're going to follow our plans. Start the evacuation. Youngest
first, just like we discussed."
YOUNGEST????
Crying, Achorite nodded an ran back out of the room.
Cobalt stared at the ceiling of the tiny break room and
swore loudly. "One day. One fucking day before it all goes to hell.
No wonder Jadeite got his ass kicked so easily."
Don't worry, you're fairing better than most enemies. Most of them
don't last more than an hour. :-)
She stormed out of the kitchenette and into the main workout
area just in time to see five bright flashes of light. Shielding her
eyes, she could just barely make out the form of five sailor-suited
women.
"Scramble!" she shouted. "Evacuate, now!"
Along the way, Cobalt ejected the VHS tape from the secuirty feed. They
may lose this operation, but NOW they knew what the senshi looked like! :-)
Seriously, this is something that never seems to get addressed in
fanfiction and only rarely in the series. Why don't any of the villains
ever set up an operation for the sole purpose of watching which girls turn
into senshi?
"Waah!" the towel youma bawled. "I don't wanna be punished."
"Run!" Achorite said, leaping in front of her.
What the...??????
"Metaspike!" There was no accompanying crystal, nor
detonation. "Metaspike! Metaspike! Metaspike!" the general screamed
futilely. Her powers seemed to have left her. "Another day then,
Sailor Moon!" she called out defiantly, her voice wavering. The
colored specks of confetti began to swirl around her, but died off
after just a few seconds.
Her teleport failed, the youma general simply ran for the
front door of the club.
The Sailors watched in confusion as she fled.
The waranty ran out. :-)
"The Sailor Senshi know what you look like now," Cobalt
replied. "That's not worth your life. Now go, and forget you know
anything at all about the Dark Kingdom!"
"Understood, General!"
Oh crap. How do you find a youma that's had days of practice in acting
human and is actively trying to hide?
ANSWER: You DON'T. They find YOU.
This fic is taking a disturbing turn. It almost as if a group of
not-to-bright youma are being led by an absolute genius. They only thing
Cobalt forgot was to setup video surveillance.
"But, everything went according to plan," Callie continued.
"Everyone is safe, and the police believed me when I told them that
a monster had trashed the club."
"I'll have a garden salad," Achorite ordered.
"And you, Miss?" the waiter asked Callie.
"I'll have the prime rib steak," General Cobalt replied.
"Medium rare. I've *earned* it today."
Good Lord. They know enough to not only order at a restaurant, but also
negotiate their way out of police investigations.
1) They can interact with normal Juuban society. They eat food,
demonstrate knowledge of everyday human tech, etc...
2) They have enough sense to NOT fight the senshi. At the health club,
they cut their losses and fled after destroying the "paper trail." Even
Cobalt only stuck around long enough to fight a delaying action.
3) They apparently were the legitimate owners of the health club, which
indicates they can manipulate the bureaucracy and have cash flow.
Congratulations. You've created a truly TERRIFYING enemy for the senshi
WITHOUT making them uber-powerful.
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