A Little Violence
By Kevin McHorney

Sailor Moon created by Naoko Takeuchi.  No moon cats 
were harmed in the creation of this story.

	Ami froze as she heard Rei cry out, "I'm hit. 
I'm hit!"  The hairs on the back of her neck stood on 
end as she realized that she was now alone with Makoto.
	Almost as if Makoto was reading her mind, Ami 
heard her  voice drift down the narrow corridors.  
"Ami, it's just you and me now.  I hope you're ready."
	Ami crouched and slid her fingers under the 
elastic holding her mask in place.  The band digging 
into her head was starting to irritate her skin.  She 
adjusted her mask and clutched her rifle close to her 
chest, the unfamiliar weight giving her some comfort.  
Makoto's the best at this sort of thing, Ami thought.  
I better think of a plan.
	No plan came to mind as she looked down the 
dark, narrow corridor.  The walls were painted a with 
jagged lines of gray and black with frequent blotches 
of color.  Ami inched forward, her senses straining 
for any trace of her friend and opponent.
	She reached a T intersection and paused, 
trying to decide down which path Makoto was more 
likely to be waiting.  Then she heard a sound from the 
left corridor, the soft rustle of clothes and a rattle.  
Ami dropped to one knee and aimed her rifle down the 
corridor, her finger tensed on the trigger waiting to 
pull at the first sign of a target.
	No one appeared however, and Ami took a 
cautious step forward.  She remained in her crouch to 
present a smaller target.  She took one hesitant step 
after another until she reached a branching corridor.  
Ami was about to advance when she paused .  Something 
about the wall across from the corridor was bothering 
her.  Then her eyes went wide.
	She silently moved until she was next to the 
corner, brought up her rifle and pivoted around the 
edge.  As she swung around into the corridor she saw 
Makoto standing at the end of a short hallway, her 
rifle pointed to the side and a shocked look on her 
face.
	Ami took advantage of Makoto's surprise and 
pulled the trigger three times.  Three soft 'thups' 
sounded and Makoto yelled, "Ahhh!  You got me, you got 
me!"  Makoto sighed and started wiping the blue paint 
off of her chest.  "These things really sting," she 
said.  "How did you know I was there?  I thought it 
was a perfect ambush spot."
	Ami smiled and pointed to the multicolor paint 
splotches on the wall directly opposite the corridor.  
She said, "A lot of other people thought the same 
thing."
	Makoto sighed again and put her barrel plug in 
her rifle.  "Let's see how everyone else is doing."  
She smiled and said, "And next time, I'll get you."

******

	Rei pasted the fifth and final ward to the 
wall, said a small prayer and turned to where Mrs. 
Izuhara was hovering nearby.  "That should finish it," 
Rei said.
	"Oh thank you Rei-dear," Mrs. Izuhara said.  
"Those spirits just weren't letting me get any sleep 
at all.  But now I know that I'll be fine."
	Rei knew that there weren't any evil spirits 
nearby, she would have been able to sense if there 
were, but Mrs. Izuhara was old and set in her ways.  
Even though the wards weren't going to see any use 
against malevolent spirits, Rei knew that Mrs. Izuhara 
would sleep better because of them.  For Rei, that was 
enough.  She smiled at the older lady and said, 
"Please, let me know if there's anything else I can do 
for you."
	"No, no.  I'm sure you have a lot to do and I 
don't want to keep you.  Please give this to your 
grandfather for me."  She gave Rei an envelope 
containing a donation for the Hikawa shrine.  Mrs. 
Izuhara paused, then pulled another envelope out of 
her purse.  "I won these in a raffle," She said, 
offering the envelope to Rei.  "I'm too old to use 
them, but perhaps you and your friends could."
	Rei took the envelope and once again thanked 
Mrs. Izuhara and left the house.  Once outside she 
opened the second envelope and looked inside.  "Urban 
Warfare paintball park?" she said, then she smiled.  
"Yes, I think my friends and I could use these."  Rei 
walked down the street with visions of her shooting 
Usagi dancing through her head.

******

	Five girls were sitting around a table in the 
Crown Fruit Parlor, talking about their various days.  
" And then I had to stand in the hallway again.  This 
time it wasn't even my fault.  I just threw the shoe 
back," Minako exclaimed.  Usagi nodded in sympathy 
while Makoto just shook her head.  Ami was half 
paying attention to the conversation and half studying 
vocabulary words.
	"Hey, what is everyone doing this Sunday?" 
Rei asked.  When everyone looked at her quizzically 
she produced the paintball tickets and said, "I got 
these tickets to that new paintball place and I think 
it would be fun to go together."
	"Ooh, I've been there," Makoto gushed.  "It's 
a blast.  You all have to go."
	"I don't know," Ami said hesitantly.  
"Paintball seems pretty violent."
	"Come on Ami, "Minako said.  "Since we keep 
fighting monsters we should be used to violence."  
Everyone else looked around the room to see if anyone 
had heard,  then stared at Minako in horror.  She 
looked from face to face and said, "What, why are all 
so worried?"
	"You shouldn't joke about that.  Especially 
not in public," Makoto hissed at Minako.
	"Oh come on, I wouldn't say anything if anyone 
was listening.  After all, people who live in glass 
houses sink ships."
	Everyone groaned at Minako.  Makoto shook her 
head and said, "I'm going to enjoy shooting you for 
that one."

******

	Sunday morning the girls met at the Hikawa 
shrine so they could ride the bus together.  Since Rei 
had six tickets and Mamoru was out of town, Usagi had 
grudgingly invited Chibi-Usa to go along with them.  
They arrived at the Urban Warfare paintball center.  
Urban Warfare was a collection of buildings and fields 
set up as paintball arenas.  Besides a shooting range 
and a small shop there were two indoor mazes and three 
outdoor arenas.  However none of the fields seemed to 
be in use.
	They walked inside the shop.  The walls were 
covered with paintball rifles, masks, camouflage 
jackets.  All appeared well used.  One wall had 
sparkling new weapons and equipment with price tags 
hanging from them.  In the center were barrels filled 
with bags of paintballs in various colors.  A desk sat 
in front of the wall with the new equipment.  Behind 
the desk sat a young, well muscled man in his mid 
twenties.  Ichiro Sagusa, owner and sole proprietor 
stood and greeted the girls as they entered.  
"Welcome, are you all here to play?"
	Rei stepped up to the counter and gave him the 
six tickets, "Yes, we have these."  
	Ichiro looked over the tickets and said, "OK, 
these are good for rental of a rifle, mask, a bag of 
balls and use of the field.  Also we have some jackets 
you can use if you want."  He looked at the girls and 
said, "It looks like you'll need them."  Makoto and 
Ami were the only ones dressed in work clothes.  
Makoto was wearing sturdy cotton pants and a old 
flannel and Ami was wearing an outfit that had seen 
other kinds of paint in the past.  The others were 
dressed as they normally would for an afternoon spent 
with friends.  "Have any of you played paintball 
before?"  When only Makoto raised her hand he said, 
"OK, go choose a rifle and a mask from the walls and a 
bag of paintballs from one of the barrels.  Then we'll 
go over the rules."  He looked at Makoto and said, 
"It's a slow day today so you have your choice of 
fields."
	Makoto thought for a moment then said, "I 
think the indoor one was the most fun."  Ichiro nodded 
and Makoto went to gather her equipment.  
	Ami adjusted the straps on the mask she had 
chosen, then walked over to Ichiro with her equipment.
"Is this everything I need?"
	Ichiro looked at her mask, rifle and the bag 
of blue paintballs she had chosen and said, 
"Everything looks good to me."  He paused for a moment,
looking at Ami.  "Are you all right?  You seem pretty 
nervous."
	"It's just that paintball seems so violent," 
Ami said.
	"Well, sometimes a little violence can be good 
for you."  Ami looked at him with a puzzled expression.  
"Think of it this way, if you pour all your aggression 
into something harmless and structured like paintball 
the rest of your life will be more peaceful.  I think 
everyone should do this once in a while, it'd make the 
world a happier place."
	Understanding filled Ami's eyes as she 
nodded.  "That's an interesting dream you have."
	Soon the rest of the girls had fitted their 
masks and were ready to go.  Ichiro went over the 
rules and let them into one of the indoor arenas.

******

	Ami and Makoto stepped from the maze arena to 
where the rest of the girls where the rest of the 
girls were waiting.  Ami looked at the other girls and 
their newly repainted clothes.  Usagi had four red 
blotches, courtesy of Rei, running up and down the 
left side of her body.  Minako was rubbing her right 
leg where she had two red splotches and grumbling 
about how much the paintballs hurt.  Chibi-Usa looked 
fine from the front, but as she turned around Ami saw 
one of Usagi's bright yellow balls had hit her in the 
back.  Rei had flecks of green around her face and in 
her hair, and when Ami looked at her mask she saw that 
Rei had been hit square in the face.  Looking around 
she didn't see any traces of pink or orange so 
Chibi-Usa and Minako must not have even gotten a 
chance to fire.
	Usagi looked up and her eyes popped open in 
surprise at the blue spots on Makoto's chest.  "Way to 
go Ami!" she called.  The rest of the girls crowded 
around, and began congratulating Ami and exchanging 
sympathies with Makoto when they heard a scream from 
the direction of he shooting range.  

******

	"Why do I have to go after a target like 
this?" Tigers-eye moaned.  "They took advantage of me 
because I always choose rock."  He pulled out a photo 
of Ichiro and looked it over again.  He sighed, put 
the picture away and walked up to the shop.  The door 
was locked and there was a handwritten sign hanging 
from the handle that said, 'In the target range.'  
Tigers-eye sighed in disgust and walked to the target 
range.  
	As he approached the shooting range,  Ichiro 
put down the rifle he was working on and said, "Hi.  
You here to play too?"
	Tigers-eye plastered a fake smile on his face 
and said, "Yes of course I..." he trailed off and his 
smile disappeared.  He said, "Oh forget it," and a 
sheet dropped in front of him, obscuring him from 
Ichiro's view.  When the sheet disappeared Tiger's eye 
clothes, ears and eyes changed, giving him an other 
than human appearance.  He snapped his fingers and 
said, "One."  A magic board lifted out of the ground 
directly behind Ichiro.  "Two."  Metal clamps appeared 
out of the board and closed themselves over his wrists 
and ankles.  "Three."  Ichiro screamed in agony as the 
mirror of his dreams was wrenched from his chest.  The 
mirror was rough edged but had a brilliant shine.  
Tigers-eye took one look at the mirror and sighed in 
disgust.   "Let's just get this over with," he said.  
Ichiro screamed anew as he felt Tigers-eye's head 
thrust into his mirror of dreams.  He pulled his head 
out and said, "What a violent dream, no wonder Pegasus 
isn't living in there.  At least there were no Sailor 
Senshi here this..."  His voice cut off as a orange 
paintball hit him in the face.  He turned to yell at 
Minako when he was hit by several orange, green, blue 
and red balls.  He held up his hand in a vain attempt 
to block the stinging, splatting projectiles and 
said, "How dare you ugly girls shoot at me and get 
paint all over my beautiful face.  I'll..."
	"Hold it right there." A voice interrupted 
Tigers-eye.  Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon stood 
on top of a nearby barricade.  The girls stopped 
shooting to give Sailor Moon time for her speech.  
Minako did, however, take one last shot at 
Tigers-eye's forehead for the 'ugly girls' comment.  
"Villains like you who disturb peoples play deserve to 
get shot repeatedly, like you have.  I'm Sailor Moon."
	"And I'm Sailor Chibi-Moon," Sailor Chibi-Moon 
said on cue.  Then both said, "And in the name of the 
moon we'll punish you."
	Tigers-eye took advantage of the break in 
firing and dove behind another barricade.  His whip 
shot out and he said, "Come forth my reemless, 
Shashuko, the sharpshooter girl."  Out of his shadow 
came a shapely, purple skinned girl with bright green 
hair.  She was wearing short, cut-off jeans, a fringed 
leather vest that magically stayed closed over her 
bosom and a white Stetson style hat.  She also wore 
two pistol belts slung low over her hips.  She pulled 
two pistols from the belts and fired at Sailor Moon 
and Sailor Chibi-Moon.  The two magical girls dove 
behind the barricade they were standing on.  Then 
Shashuko fired at Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako.  The 
girls squawked and scattered in different directions, 
looking for cover.  While everyone else was occupied, 
Tigers-eye dove backwards through a fiery circle in 
the sky.
	The fight quickly became a game of duck and 
shoot with the girls popping out from behind cover to 
fire a couple of paintballs at Shashuko then dive 
behind cover before she could return fire.  Shashuko 
seemed to have a sixth sense about Sailor Moon and 
whenever Sailor Moon would pop up Shashuko would fire 
several magical bullets in her direction.
	Soon Shashuko was covered in various colors of 
paint, but the only thing that would slow her down was 
when a lucky shot got paint in her eyes, forcing her 
to wipe the paint off before she could fire again.  
Minako hopped out from behind a tree stump and ran to 
where Makoto was crouching, firing the entire way.  
Shashuko nicked the top edge of Minako's hair ribbon 
as Minako dove for cover.  "I'm getting low, how are 
you doing?"
	Makoto looked at the hole in Minako's ribbon, 
then shook her head and said, "I'm almost out too.  We 
don't seem to be getting anywhere."
	Minako thought for a second then said, "Lean 
out to your left and get her attention.  I'll go out 
to the right and see if I can knock one of the pistols 
from her hand."
	Makoto looked at Minako's hair ribbon again 
and said, "Um, are you sure about this?"  Minako 
didn't respond but crouched at the edge of the 
barricade, waiting.  Makoto sighed and leaned out to 
the left of the barricade and fired.  After three 
shots her rifle went dead.  Shashuko whipped around 
and fired at Makoto.  Makoto barley got back behind 
the barricade in time.  Fortunately the wood and metal 
barricade was strong enough to stop the magical bullets.
	Minako leapt out and fired five quick shots at 
Shashuko's pistols.  Three shots missed completely, 
one hit Shashuko's chest and the fifth shot went right 
down the barrel of the pistol.  Shashuko aimed that 
pistol at the exposed Minako and pulled the trigger.  
Minako heard a loud bang and winced in anticipation, 
but nothing hit her.  The paint blocked the end of the 
pistol, causing it to explode in Shashuko's face.  
Shashuko's other pistol went flying as she landed hard 
on her backside.  Simultaneously all four girls 
yelled, "Now Sailor Moon."
	Sailor Chibi-Moon dropped to one knee, bowed 
her head and prayed, "Please Pegasus.  Protect 
everyone's dreams."  She held up the Clarion Call and 
called, "Twinkle Yell!"
	From out of the blue sky Pegasus appeared.  He 
swooped overhead and whinnied.  The golden horn on his 
head bathed Sailor Moon in a warm glow.   Sailor Moon 
held up her Kaleid Moon Scope and small wings grew 
from the middle.  She twirled around and yelled, "Moon 
gorgeous meditation!"  A multicolor wall of energy 
formed in front of then, then shattered, sending 
shards of brilliant white energy at Shashuko.  As the 
shards hit her, Shashuko felt the energy holding her 
on this plane of existence sever.  She had time to 
exclaim, "Stage Out!" before she disappeared in a puff 
of smoke.

******

	Sailor Moon and Chibi-Sailor Moon disappeared 
to change back into Usagi and Chibi-Usa as the other 
four girls went to check on Ichiro.  The found him 
struggling to sit up.  Ami and Minako bent down and 
helped him to his feet.  Ami kept a hand on his arm to 
steady him and asked, "Are you all right?"
	"That was really weird.  But thank you for 
trying to defend me.  How would you all like some more 
paintballs, on me," he said.  The girls looked at each 
other and smiled before nodding.  For the rest of the 
day soft thuds mingled with cries of triumph and 
defeat rang through the various arenas.

******

	Thanks to Andrew Norris for giving this a look 
over.  This is my first completed fic in over a year 
and my first attempt to write Sailor Moon seriously.  
Please let me know what you think and what can be made 
better.  I can be contacted at stormwalker628@usa.net.
Thank you for reading.


             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'