Sailor Photon and the Evil of West Spring
Chapter 1: Called to Arms
Cynthia was a sweet girl who always did the right thing. She was a straight A student, captain of the volleyball team, and a major track star. She lived in a perfect white house in a perfect neighborhood. In her world everything was perfect, or so it would have seemed. You see she was prone to having very odd things happen around her. One time at a sleep over, she woke to her friends little sister screaming madly, the little girl swore Cynthia was a demon or a alien because according to the girl she was glowing while she slept. Cynthia tried to ignore this, but inside she knew it was true. Something was very odd about her indeed, and she was not sure what it was, but people had somehow noticed.
Several years had passed since then. Certain something was wrong, Cynthia begged her parents to put her in martial arts. Her Sensei said she had natural talent for use of her inner energy called Chi, and he had begun teaching her to use it. This is her story, and this is when she finds out, just how unusual she really is.
The bus slowed to s stop a few doors down from her house. She had a paper to write, so the invite to the movies by her best friend Carrie had to be turned down. At this point Carrie had come to understand, that Cynthia was not going to let anything stand in the way of her studies. This did not make her entirely popular with the boys, but there was one boy she wished would notice her. His name was Daniel. He also was not very popular. He was really skinny and tall, and like things like looking at bugs through microscopes. Cynthia found him really cute and sweet, but never had much nerve to say anything to him. Her world, or so she thought, was far to normal, except for her chi powers. In the six months she had been practicing, she had learned to make her hands glow with enough light to see by in the dark, and had even managed to make a penny hot enough to burn the skin. On this day there was a new boy in school. She was quiet as usual, so at lunch when he walked right up to her and sat down across from her, she was more than a little surprised.
"Is this seat taken?"
"Uh... no."
She stared deeply into his eyes wondering why she suddenly felt so warm. In fact she was sweating a little bit. This was not a common event for her, and she had no idea why he was sitting in front of her.
"So I here you are a super nerd. Is that true?"
The nerve of this guy! Who did he think he was!?
"Uh um."
"Thats cool with me, I dig chicks with brains, so there is this party, maybe you would like to go with me?"
"You come over here and call me a super nerd and a chick, and you want to go to a party with me because you dig chicks with brains. I think you need to work on your brain a little bit, I certainly am not going to a party with you."
She pushed her tray into his lap spilling all sorts of nasty school food into his nice tight jeans. His face was no longer the face of a sweet young man. Humiliated by the super nerd of her new school, he was furiously pissed. He stood and went charging for her. To her and everyone else's shock, little scrawny Daniel stepped between them.
"Is there a problem?"
"Yes, that bitch just dumper her tray in my lap."
"I am sure if she did, she had a very good reason, and I also assure you, she is not a bitch."
"What's it to you anyways twerp?"
"Now listen, you are going to go clean up, and you are going to stay away from me and my friend here, understand?"
"Excuse me? You are talking to me like that? You are going to die punk!"
It was faster than she could have ever imagined. The new boys fist flew forward, and with expert speed Daniel caught it, span the boy around, and placed his face on the table with enough force to break his nose. Cynthia gasped.
"You fucker, you broke my nose! Oh god, get him off me!"
"Now you are going to apologize to me and to this fine lady, and you are never going to act that way again, understand?"
"Screw you!"
His pressed hard into the small of his back, moving his fist higher and causing more pain. The young man named Brad Long yelped in pain.
"I cannot hear your apology."
Brad mumbled something.
"What?"
"I'm sorry!"
"Good, now get out of here."
Brad ran off totally humiliated, and totally trashed by the two least likely people in the school. Daniel turned to Cynthia.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes thank you."
Daniel turned to walk away. She grabbed his hand.
"Wait. I want to... will you go to pizza with me tonight?"
Daniel's eyes widened, she was asking him out? That had never happened before.
"Yeah sure."
"Okay, meet me at Arthur's Pizza Palace at 6:30PM."
"Okay, see you there."
They both parted ways dazed and confused. He had never been asked out by a girl before. Much less one of the ones he really respected for her values. She had never dared talk to a boy, let alone dump her food in ones lap, and then ask another one out. Sitting in class lost in thought, she did not hear it when the intercom called her to the office. She could only imagine that she was in trouble for the littler altercation during lunch.
Cynthia sat down next to Daniel in the principals office. The short balding man looked at them both sternly. He seemed rather angry, and did not like the idea of having to punish his finer students, but having assaulted his grandson, he was not thinking with the clarity he would normally use. Brad sat behind him and off to the side a bit. His smug expression let them know they were probably in for it.
"Would someone like to tell me why you roughed up my grandson?"
Cynthia spoke first.
"With all do respect Mr. Boseman, your grandson was very rude to me during lunch, so I over reacted a bit and dumped my tray on him, he then tried to grab me and make a scene. Daniel stepped in and stopped him, so he took a swing at Daniel and Daniel defended himself."
"To hear him tell it, you were the rude one Miss. Frasier."
"Excuse me! You know me well enough to know that I would not do something like that unless I was provoked. You are only siding with him because he is your grandchild!"
Mr. Boseman looked annoyed at being accused of favoritism.
"Calm down Miss Frasier."
"No I will not calm down! I don't care if he was the superintendents kid, they do not get the special privilege of being rude to girls, and taking swings at people because they are related to people, and if you are about to defend him in that fashion, you better believe I am not going to be quiet."
At this point Brad was not looking quite as comfortable. They had not been intimidated by who his grandfather was. They did not even care. His protection did not seem to be working.
"I am sorry you feel that way Miss. Frasier. The fact is that you still dumped your tray into his lap without telling him to leave you alone first, you yourself admit to over reacting."
She sat silently, he had over reacted, that was true, and she indeed had done that.
"And you Mr. Gin. You struck him in the nose did you not?"
"No sire. When he swung at me, I took his fist, bent it around behind him, and slammed his face into the table. When you practice martial arts they become instinctual. If your grandson had not swung at me first, he would feel fine right about now."
Mr. Boseman did not look very pleased by the way this was turning out. The two most direct people involved were highly decorated students who had never been in trouble. More than that, his grandson had been in trouble. It was why he was living with his grandparents now, and why he was in his grandfather's school. On his first day of all things.
"Very well. Miss Frasier. I am giving you 3 days suspension because you did not respond accurately to the situation. I admit that upon finding out who was involved I was shocked, and highly disappointed. Since the injury to my grandson's arm matches the stories you two have given me, I am going to let you go for now Mr. Gin, but you two will be watched, if this becomes a pattern you will both be dealt with."
"But grandpa!"
"Be silent. I will deal with you in a moment."
Cynthia was about to cry as the secretary dialed her number. After explaining things, she hung up the phone.
"Your father will be here shortly Miss Frasier."
Daniel sat next to her to wait. He took her hand gently as they waited.
"I am sorry you got in trouble and I didn't."
"It's okay, I did over react. I was just so angry that he acted that way on first meeting me. No one ever called me a chick before, let alone a super nerd."
"He called you a super nerd... that's silly."
"What do you mean?"
"Sure you are smart, but you play sports, you are pretty popular and have lots of friends in lots of groups, you are not really a nerd."
She had never been told that before. No one had ever really looked at the whole picture and based their responses on that alone.
"Thanks Daniel, no one has ever said I was not a nerd before."
"Uh sure no problem."
Her father arrived and would not even speak to her. As she walked out she looked back and caught a glimpse of Daniel's behind. It was rather nice for being so small. Blushing she sat in the car.
"Want to tell me what happened here young lady."
"He was a male chauvinist, and I decided to be Joan of Arc. I dumped my tray into his lap."
Her father sat for a moment, then laughing.
"I was not sure what they secretary said was true. Since this is the only time you have ever been in trouble, I say take the next three days to consider how to handle things better, and in the future, save dumping food for when you are in a food fight that has been sanctioned."
"Thank you for understanding."
"I am a dad, I have to think like a teen, and find out everything that happened. You are a good kid, so I was sure you could not have done anything that wrong."
"You're great!"
"Who was that boy you were sitting with?"
"Oh he is Daniel, the one who defended me when Mr. Macho tried to get rough."
"Really
now... invite him over for supper. He helped out my little girl, I
like him already."
She smiled and they went home. She
explained they were meeting, so the whole family decided to go.
Daniel was a bit surprised when the whole family showed up for dinner. After it was all explained, they all sat down for a wonderful pizza. Dinner was very quiet and awkward for everyone. They were not sure what exactly to say or how to say it. So sitting in silence Daniel finally broke the ice.
"So I see you with Sensei Wu a lot."
"Are you a student of his as well?"
"I am his great grandson."
Her jaw dropped. He did not look old enough to have a great grandson the age of Daniel. Everyone was interested now. So he grinned.
"My mother is his grand daughter. My grandfather married an Italian woman during world war two. They all moved to this area around then. So my mother was only half Chinese. My mother married a total American, so here I am looking very little like my heritage. As a result, Sensei Wu began teaching me from a very early age to focus my Ki or Chi, and to use combat for peace. When I saw that oaf trying to rough you up, I was not sure how up the challenge you would have been, so I stepped in to keep him from hurting you."
"I appreciated it very much. I have been wanting to talk to you for some time, but I never had the courage. Then today after dumping a tray of food in someone's lap over a silly comment, I guess I am just done being so quiet and letting people walk all over me."
"That is good. Discipline does not mean you never use what you have learned, you simply choose when to use it. People are going to always try to walk over someone to get to where they think they want to be. It is up to us to make sure we stand our ground without doing the same thing."
"So I went a bit too far huh?"
"Well. I think your inner self knew he would not leave things alone as they were, the instinct inside of you kicked in, and you acted quickly. Someone would say you had been hasty, I just think you knew what needed to be done, and did it without thinking. Like it was programed inside of you. Expecting people to show you respect is not a bad thing. It is all about how you try to get the respect you have earned. Was it due to you, or did you take it from someone else. He tries to take respect from others by lowering them compared to him, when you defied him, you broke that cycle."
"Wow, you know a lot don't you?"
"Living with Sensei my whole life makes that part of who I am."
The family spent the rest of the night laughing and having a good time. They all came to Cynthia's house where they watched movies. The issues began around midnight. A sudden sense in the air told both Cynthia and Daniel something was out of place. The others did not sense it, but the training they had been receiving told them otherwise. At the stroke of midnight, the car alarm outside went off. Walking into the front yard, they found none other than Brad and some of his goons lurking on the property.
"You really disrespected me today little girl. Turning me down is one thing, but totally humiliating me, that was not called for, and you stick boy with your fancy karate or whatever. You should have minded your own business. Lucky for me I find you both in the same place, and I have a few more tricks up my sleeve than you are probably aware of. Come on out girls."
Two of the girls Gothic witch people stepped out of the shadows. Rachel Murry, and Lisa Grell. They were some of the meanest kids in school, always jealous of Cynthia and the life she lived. Now they both held in their hands weird looking wands. They crossed the wands and began to chant. As they did, Brad transformed from being just brad. He bulked up to an unnatural size, and his voice deepened.
"So little stick, show me your power now."
Cynthia yelled for her parents to go back inside, but her father being a proud man did no such thing. He grabbed a baseball bat and swung it with all his might at brad. It snapped over his chest, and super ugly brad did not even flinch.
"What the hell!"
"Okay old man, your time is up."
The punch flung Mr. Frasier like a rag doll through the air. He landed hard against the wall of the house. Goon's grabbed Mrs. Frasier.
"Let them go Brad, they have nothing to do with this!"
"Oh what's the matter, afraid for your mommy. Lets humiliate her, and see how you like it."
Buckets were pulled from his car, and a slosh of what smelled like sewage was poured on Cynthia's mother. She was then punched out and flung onto the ground. Cynthia was not tearful, inside of her was building something. Not rage exactly, but something to say the least. Daniel stepped forward.
"You have gone too far now Brad!"
"What are you going to do about it?"
"This."
Daniel went into a series of moves which were lightning fast, and each hit landed on their mark, but sadly this magically enhanced freak of nature did not even get dazed from the onslaught. A kick sent Daniel crashing through the front room window. Cynthia gasped as now the two hags, four goon, and super Brad began to close in on her position. Brad's power was being augmented by the two witches, if she could make him normal again, she could make them all learn their lesson. While they approached, Cynthia began focusing her chi into her hands. A faint glow formed over them. The two witches exchanged looks as they felt the wave of energy from the girl wash over them.
"Brad that is enough, lets go."
"What's the matter ladies, not strong enough to hang with the big boys?"
"No, its just, something feels weird about her."
"Oh come on."
Cynthia raised her eyes to meet Brad's.
"You should have listened to your cronies."
Raising her hand a orb of light flew from each and slammed into the two girls chests. The two wands snapped in two, and the girls went flying. Daniel and Mr. Frasier had gotten up by this point as had Mrs. Frasier. Mrs. Frasier grabbed a broom and began smacking one of the goons around, Mr. Frasier cold cocked another, and Daniel downed the last two. Brad who by this point had returned to normal was backing up slowly.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"I have learned some very nice discipline from my Sensei, and you have dishonored my family, now I must right your wrong."
As if that had been the magic word. A small white bunny stepped out of the shadows into the light. No one noticed it at first, that was until it started talking.
"At last I have found you Princess!"
Cynthia gasped, and Brad who by this point was well beyond the state of shock tripped over a buddy and landed on his behind. Daniel did not seem to be phased at all.
"How can you talk?"
"I am an animal guardian. Sent here by the Order of Sailor Soldiers to awaken you to your true destiny, but it seems you have already been training."
"True destiny, order of Sailor Soldiers, what?"
"I will show you. Take this wand in your hand and say, Power of Light, Transform."
"That sounds like something from a cheesy anime."
"Just do it."
By this point things had gone from odd to worse. Never before had she heard of teen witches being able to do things like augment peoples strength. Nor had she heard of talking bunnies. She did recall some news about some super heroines in Japan, but she had always dismissed them as silly and foolish. Now she was being confronted with fantastical things which seemed to have no meaning, and to be so fake seeming she could hardly decide what to do. Reluctantly, she picked up the wand, and felt a surge of power rush up her arm. Moments later a set of words formed in her mind.
"Powers of Light, Transform!"
Rays of light shot out of the wand and wrapped around her like glowing ribbons. They shrunk down to be form fitting, and in a bright flash they were gone. Where her clothes had been was an odd outfit. She had a silver tiara with a star in the center on her head. She wore a silver bikini top, and a silver pleated skirt. She had boots that went up to her calves, and a lapel like on a sailor's uniform on her neck. In the middle of the bikini top was a golden bow, and on the back of her skirt was another golden bow. Her wand had lengthened to about the length of a foot, and the star had grown in size. In the center of the star was a glowing crystal. She gasped as did everyone else.
"What the hell just happened?"
"You became Sailor Photon, the princess of light. Now you can defeat evil doers every where."
More words began to form on her lips. She looked at the goons and witches sternly. They had all gotten back up and were as shocked as she was. The witches by now were holding black crystals, and an odd barrier had formed around Brad and the goons. Cynthia twirled the wand like she had been doing it her whole life, and pointing it in their direction spoke the words on her lips.
"Radiant barrage!"
Six beams flew from the wand. One for each point, and a larger one from the crystal in the middle. They slammed into the barrier which shattered like glass, the pieces of which vanished upon hitting the ground. She spoke another series of words.
"Light Missile!"
A huge orb of white light flew from the wand, and slammed into Brad's chest exploding. The bright rays lit up the night like fire works. All seven of the baddies were thrown backwards. Getting up they all scrambled into Brad's car and took off running. Finally another set of words formed on her lips as trickles of memory flowed into her mind. Leaning in she kissed Daniel on the cheek.
"Please forgive me."
"Streams of Light Memory Erase!"
She pulsed the car first, sending the bright light into the people as they fled down the road. Then she turned to the others, and zapped them. When the police arrived, they really did not know anything about the bright flashes, because Cynthia had erased the memory right up to the point when the car alarm went off. They explained who and what they saw as Brad's car fleeing the scene. The family called it a night, and Cynthia went to bed with bits of ancient memories coming to her, and a knowledge of a destiny which until that moment she could never have anticipated.
