SAILOR MOON AMERICAN SENSHI: THE NEW GENERATION
by Eugol Dlareg
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sailor Moon, or any character names or concepts from the original manga or anime. Sailor Moon was originally created by Naoko Takeuchi, and all characters and concepts from the any previously produced versions are owned by someone in Japan, most likely either Ms. Takeuchi or Toei, except for Americanized names, which are owned by either DiC or Cloverway. This story is based on an alternate universe version of Sailor Moon I wrote between 2001 and 2005, and includes characters and concepts created by myself. In a nutshell: if it originated in the original manga and/or anime, it's owned by either Naoko Takeuchi and/or Toei(to the best of my knowledge). If it originated in the English dub, it's owned by either DiC and/or Cloverway. Everything created for this story, it was created by Eugol Dlareg. Dr Pepper is a registered trademark of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. iPod is a registered trademark of Apple. NOTE: for purposes of this story (read: artistic license), the chapter "Blackmange" from my Gilded Rose saga (posted on in 2000) is an episode of the Sailor Moon anime, set during the Sailor Moon Super season. In the internal mythology of my version, the Sailor Moon anime exists, but as a show loosely based on the team's exploits. There was a Gilded Rose series, too(the episode "Blackmange" was a crossover episode).
CHAPTER 1-THE NEW GENERATION'S CALL TO ARMS
WEDENSDAY, 21 JULY, 2010
Leffingwell Memorial Park, St. Gertrude City, California 12:00 p.m.
Jake Slater, Amy Forney, and Elizabeth Minako-Toste approached the grave of Jerry Mauser, Amy carrying a small paper shopping bag. "Hi," Elizabeth said, when she saw her friends. "Another year. Let's do this."
"After all these years," Amy said, placing the bag on Jerry's grave marker, and removing 3 bottles of Dublin Dr Pepper, "this place still kind of gives me the creeps. Both of you remember, I used to be buried here myself."
"At least people remember you coming back from the dead," Elizabeth said. "Remember, when Jake brought me back, it erased the memory of me being dead. Matthew doesn't even know that I died and came back."
"Enough talking about coming back from the dead," Jake said, as he used the bottle opener on his keychain to open the bottles, giving one to Amy, one to Elizabeth, and taking one for himself. "Heck, I wasn't even dead myself long enough to have a funeral. Speaking of which," he said, as the three of them raised their bottles. "To Jerry Mauser. The only one of us to die in battle and stay dead."
"To Jerry," Elizabeth and Amy said, as the three of them touched bottles, and drank. As they finished their sodas, they had a group hug, and went back to their cars.
As Jake started up his 2009 Mustang convertible, he didn't notice the black cat who jumped into the passenger seat through the open top. "You know, I always wondered why you, Amy, and Elizabeth do this every year," the cat said.
"Shit, Luna," Jake said. "You scared me there for a second."
"How did you know it was me?" Luna asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Jake said, "but I think it might have something to do with the fact that you and Artemis are the only talking cats I know. Anyways, Amy, Elizabeth, and I have this little thing we do every year at Jerry's grave on the anniversary of his death."
"Why just the three of you?" Luna asked. "Why not the whole team?"
"Well, it's like this," Jake explained. "Since Elizabeth, Amy, and I all died and came back, we do this every year to honor the only one of us that managed to stay dead. I know that might sound just a bit morbid, but it's just something we do."
"So what was in the bag Amy left on his grave?" Luna asked.
"A bottle of Dublin Dr Pepper and a meatball sub from Grascio's Deli," Jake said. "Same thing we leave on his grave every year. And before you ask, yes, there is something special about Dublin Dr Pepper. Unlike every other bottler, Dublin Texas makes Dr Pepper with Imperial cane sugar. But I have a feeling that you're not here just to ask about what we were just doing."
"Earth once again needs you," Luna said.
"There's a little problem with that," Jake said. "First off, I've kind of outgrown playing superhero. It might have been fun when I was in high school, but now I have a wife and daughter, as well as a career, to think about. This little ritual you saw is probably the only thing besides newspaper clippings I still have that links me to having been a hero in the first place. Second of all, even if I wanted to, I don't even have my powers anymore. Hodgkin's lymphoma took care of that. Radiation and chemotherapy got rid of the cancer, but at the cost of my powers."
"I'm not asking you to fight," Luna said. "We need you to help assemble and train the next generation of Sailor Soldiers for their upcoming battle."
"What next generation?" Jake asked. "Are you telling me that there's more Sailor Soldiers than the ones I fought alongside back as a teenager?"
"Yes," Luna said. "The Sailor Soldiers traditionally pass their powers on to their oldest daughters."
"How can that happen?" Jake asked. "All these years, I thought everyone besides Serena lost their powers in the battle where Jerry and Elizabeth got killed."
"Their oldest daughters were born with the Sailor Soldier powers."
"Why do you need me to help assemble and train the new team?" Jake asked.
"Because that is what you were destined to do," Luna said. "Back on the Moon Kingdom, Jacara trained the Sailor Soldiers. Here in this time, you also trained Rini as a Sailor Soldier."
"I don't really know what to say," Jake said. "Except that I'm in. I just need to have a little talk with Rae about it."
Meanwhile, at Orangefaire Pointe Mall
Amanda Slater was at Towne Center Nails, getting a pedicure, when her cell phone rang, to the theme to the Gilded Rose cartoon. "Hi dad," Amanda said, answering the phone.
"Where are you right now?" Jake Slater asked her over the phone.
"Getting my nails done," Amanda said. "I just got a manicure, and right now, I'm in the middle of a pedicure. I should be done in about 45 minutes, and I'm going to need a ride home when I'm done."
"I'll be there in a bit," Jake said. "You hungry?"
"I was thinking about having lunch when I was done," Amanda said.
"Perfect," Jake said. "How about burgers?"
"Sounds good," Amanda said. "I'll see you when you get here. Love you, bye."
An hour later, Joe's Burger Shack
Jake and Amanda arrived at Joe's and walked in. "You want fries or rings?" Jake asked Amanda.
"Fries," Amanda said. "and a Dr Pepper."
"Three cheeseburgers," Jake said, to the person behind the counter, "two orders of fries, an order of onion rings, a large root beer with cherry, and two large Dr Peppers," the person gave Jake the total, Jake paid, and Jake and Amanda sat at a corner booth.
"There's only two of us," Amanda said.
"I told dad I'd meet the two of you here," Rae Slater said, sitting in the booth, next to Jake. "We have to talk to you."
"This isn't happening," Amanda said. "You two aren't getting a divorce, are you?"
"No," Jake said, "nothing like that. Something much bigger. And before you ask, let me assure you that my cancer didn't come back."
"Earth needs you," Rae said, taking her Sailor Mars transformation wand out of her purse. "This used to be mine," she said, handing it to Amanda. "And now, I'm giving it to you."
"What is it?" Amanda asked.
"It's my old transformation wand," Rae said. "From when I used to be Sailor Mars."
"You really were Sailor Mars?" Amanda asked. "You actually fought alongside Sailor Moon? Like in that cartoon I used to watch?"
"Sailor Moon was real," Jake said. "And not only was your mother one of her Sailor Soldiers, but I fought alongside them myself. I was Gilded Rose."
"Gilded Rose only fought alongside Sailor Moon once," Amanda said. "When they fought that Blackmange character. Gilded Rose had his own show."
"One of these days," Rae said, "your father and I are going to sit you down and go over the changes the producers of the cartoon made. But not now."
"We have more important things to talk about," Jake said. "Like how you're the new Sailor Mars, and how you're going to be fighting alongside the new Sailor Moon."
"I'm in," Amanda said. "So when do I get to meet the other Sailor Soldiers? Or are you going to tell me something like aunt Amy was Sailor Venus or something?"
"Actually," Jake said, "aunt Amy was Sailor Mercury. Speaking of her, I'm guessing she's having the same talk with Kim as we speak."
Meanwhile, at the Forney home
Kim Forney was in her bedroom, listening to the song In the City by the Cocktail Slippers, and playing along on an acoustic guitar, when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. "Come in," she said, turning off her iPod.
"We need to talk," Amy Forney said.
"What did I do this time?" Kim asked.
"Don't worry," Amy said. "You're not in trouble, and dad and I aren't splitting up. This is something much bigger."
"How big?" Kim asked.
"Big enough to threaten the entire Earth," Amy said.
"That's big," Kim said. "But what does this have to do with me?"
"You're needed to help fight this threat," Amy said.
"How can I help?" Kim asked.
"With this," Amy said, giving Kim her Sailor Mercury transformation wand. "This is my old transformation wand. When I was your age, I used to be Sailor Mercury."
"This is heavy," Kim said, "but I'm in. I'm not going to be fighting alone, am I?"
"No," Amy said, as her phone rang. "Hello," she said, answering it. "I'm talking with Kim right now, and she's in," a pause, "Amanda's in, too? Good. Have you talked to Liz or Serena yet?" Another pause. "Okay, call me later when you find out what's going on. Talk to you later, bye."
"Who was that?" Kim asked.
"Uncle Jake," Amy said. "I was just telling him that you've agreed to help fight this enemy, and he told me that Amanda's taking the mantle of Sailor Mars from aunt Rae."
"I don't believe this," Kim said. "You and aunt Rae fought alongside Sailor Moon. It wasn't just a cartoon, it was real."
"Don't forget uncle Jake," Amy said. "He used to be Gilded Rose."
"Gilded Rose fought alongside Sailor Moon?" Kim asked. "I thought that was a separate show."
"The people who produced that cartoon decided they could make more money by splitting Gilded Rose off into his own show," Amy said. "Remind me one of these days to explain everything to you."
"So," Kim said, "besides Amanda and myself, who's in?"
"Rini Darrien," Amy said.
"Tom and Serena's daughter?" Kim asked. "Who's she going to be?"
"She's the new Sailor Moon," Amy said. "And I'm pretty sure that Debbie Toste will be on board as the new Sailor Venus. I just hope that the four of you will be enough."
"Four of us?" Kim asked. "What about Sailor Jupiter or Tuxedo Mask? And Gilded Rose?"
"Well," Amy said, "We don't know if there is another Tuxedo Mask, and uncle Jake already has an idea on who will be the new Gilded Rose, if we even need Gilded Rose. As for Sailor Jupiter, it's a little more complicated than I really want to get into right now."
The Darrien home
"It's time," Serena Darrien said, handing her daughter Rini a heart-shaped brooch, with a crescent moon shaped crystal on it."
"To fulfill my destiny," Rini said, accepting the brooch.
The Toste home
Debbie Toste got out of the swimming pool, and wiped herself off with a towel. She took a sip from a sports bottle sitting on the patio table, as her mom came out back. "I need to ask you something," Elizabeth Minako-Toste said.
"Sure," Debbie said. "What do you want?"
"I want you to take this," Elizabeth said, handing Debbie her Sailor Venus transformation wand. "It's what I used back when I was your age to turn into Sailor Venus."
"No way," Debbie said. "You were Sailor Venus? For real?"
"For real," Elizabeth said. "Now you're needed to be Sailor Venus."
"Count me in," Debbie said.
Back at Joe's
Jake, Rae, and Amanda had just finished eating lunch, when Jake's phone rang. "Hello," he said as he answered it, and listened to what the person on the other line said. "That's great," he said. "I'll go have a talk with Lita. I'm not sure she'll come on board, though. Hopefully, if she doesn't, we can still do this with four. I'll see you tomorrow, bye."
"Who was that?" Rae asked.
"Serena," Jake said. "She just got off the phone with Elizabeth, and it turns out that both Rini and Debbie are on board. I need you to take Amanda home, I'm going to have a talk with Lita, see if I can convince her to do this. Hopefully, her issues with her mother won't keep her from helping us, but I'm not exactly holding my breath."
"I just hope she doesn't blame you for what happened to Susan," Rae said.
"I think she'd be more likely to blame herself," Jake said.
The home of John and Francine Warner
Lita Simmons lay on her bed, thinking about the last eighteen months she had been living with her foster parents. Mostly, she thought about the last time she saw her mother alive.
-FLASHBACK-
Eighteen months earlier, the home of Wayne and Susan Simmons
"Lita," Susan Makoto-Simmons said, while holding a diary in her hand, "Who is Todd Malarchuck?"
Lita didn't say anything, just lay on the couch and turned on the TV.
"I asked you a question," Susan said, turning off the TV. "Who is Todd Malarchuck?"
"I don't appreciate you reading my diary," Lita said, snatching the diary out of Susan's hand, and storming off towards the bathroom.
"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" Susan asked.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Lita said.
"I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately," Susan said. "I'm thinking maybe there's something wrong, like maybe you need to see a doctor."
"There's nothing wrong with me," Lita said. "Believe me, if I did need to see a doctor, I would let you or dad know."
"Then why have you been spending so much time in the bathroom lately?" Susan asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Lita said. "Since you removed my bedroom door, the bathroom is the only place in the house where I can get any fucking privacy!"
"Your father and I removed your bedroom door because we got tired of hearing it being slammed all the time," Susan said. "Besides, we don't want you to shut yourself off from the world. It's not healthy."
"I don't shut myself off from the world," Lita said. "In case you've forgotten, I'm fourteen years old. I don't need my mother hovering over me watching me like a goddamned hawk 24/7. I need some privacy every once in a while or else I'm going to go crazy."
"I don't like you keeping secrets from your father and I," Susan said.
"GO TO HELL!" Lita screamed, storming into the bathroom, and slamming the door shut, locking it behind her. "GO TO HELL AND DIE!"
Three hours later.
Lita only came out of the bathroom when she heard the doorbell ring. She answered the door to see a policeman standing there. "Miss Simmons," the officer said. "My name is Officer Grant of the Sunny Hills Police Department. There was an automobile accident about ninety minutes ago at the corner of Amerige Road and Malvern Drive, and I regret to inform you that your parents were among the deceased."
Lita stood there for an entire minute, not saying a word, until Officer Grant told her he needed her to go with him to identify the bodies. Susan didn't say a word, she just went with the officer to the morgue, where an attendant uncovered the bodies of Wayne and Susan Simmons, and asked Lita if they were indeed Wayne and Susan Simmons. When asked, Lita didn't say anything, she just nodded her head.
The next thing Lita remembered was when John Warner, Susan's cousin and best friend, came to pick her up. When she saw him it hit her that her parents were dead, and she wrapped her arms around him and began crying.
After about twenty minutes, Lita was composed enough to go home with John. When they arrived home, they were greeted by John's daughter Hannah, who was Lita's age. "Listen," Hannah said, putting her arm around Lita's shoulders, "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here." Lita responded by patting Hannah's hand.
Lita had become emotionally numb after her parents' deaths. At the funeral, people noticed that she had merely "gone through the motions". John and his wife Francine had gone through the proper channels in order to become Lita's legal guardians, and had taken her to grief counseling at the suggestion of the police. Lita sat and listened to the counselors, not saying a word. She also attended group counseling, but still didn't say a word, just listened to others. In fact, Lita hadn't said a single word in three months.
Three months after the deaths of Wayne and Susan Simmons, 7:45 a.m.
Lita's hunger overrode her instinct to sleep until noon. She went downstairs to make herself breakfast, and in the kitchen, noticed the polish on Hannah's fingernails. "That's a pretty color," Lita said.
"Thanks," Hannah said. "It's been so long since you've said anything, I was beginning to think that you forgot how to speak."
"I just got scared," Lita said. "I was afraid that if I said the wrong thing to someone, they'd die, like what happened to my mom."
"So what did you say to your mom?" Francine said, coming into the kitchen.
"I told her to go to hell and die," Lita said.
"You were mad at your mother," Francine said.
"Of course I was," Lita said. "She was reading my diary."
"How did you know she was reading it?" Francine asked.
"She had it in her hand," Lita said, "and she was asking me about a boy that I had wrote that I thought was cute."
"That was it?" Francine asked. "You didn't say anything else about him?"
"No," Lita said. "Believe me, my diary is mostly G-rated. There might be a few things in there that barely push the PG barrier, but everything's clean. It was just the whole principle of my mom reading it."
"You were upset that she violated your privacy," Francine said.
"When it comes to my mom," Lita said, "ever since I became a teenager, "my privacy"(Lita making quotation marks with her fingers for emphasis) has become an oxymoron. You know what she did when I was thirteen? She took away my bedroom door. I had to lock myself in the bathroom because it was the only room in the house where I could get any privacy."
"Didn't you ever ask her to give you a little space?" Hannah asked.
"At first I did," Lita said. "Until I realized that to my mom, "can you please give me a little space?" meant "watch Lita even closer.". She was driving me completely insane, and she refused to see it."
"Tell you what," Hannah said, "after breakfast, you want me to do your nails for you?"
"That would be nice," Lita said.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
The Warner home, present day
Lita heard the knock on her bedroom door. "Come in," she said.
"There's someone here to see you," John said, as he opened the door.
"Okay," Lita said. "Come in."
"I don't know if you remember me," Jake said. "I was a friend of your mother's."
"I think I remember you from the funeral," Lita said. "Jack?"
"Close," Jake said. "My name's actually Jake. I used to fight evil alongside your mother."
"My mom fought evil?" Lita asked.
"Yes," Jake said. "She was Sailor Jupiter. She and I fought alongside Sailor Moon. I used to be Gilded Rose"
"Sailor Moon," Lita said. "You mean that cartoon I had to watch in private because my mom wouldn't let me watch it? I don't remember Gilded Rose, though."
"That's because the producers thought Gilded Rose didn't go over well enough with young girls who were the show's target audience," Jake said. "That's why I ended up getting my own show. That, as well as the accountants crunching numbers and figuring that giving me a separate show would triple profits for everyone. But I'm not here to talk about a merchandising juggernaut that's going to be putting my daughter's grandkids through college."
"Why are you here?" Lita asked.
"To give you this," Jake said, taking Sailor Jupiter's transformation wand out of his jacket pocket. "It used to be your mother's. "Now, I give it to you. "There's a battle coming, and Earth will need you."
"I don't think I'm ready to help you right now," Lita said. "Maybe some other time."
"I can understand," Jake said, placing the transformation wand on Lita's dresser. "Whenever you're ready, just let John know, and he'll help you get in touch with me."
"Before you go," Lita said, "I have one thing to ask you."
"Why your mother's name on the show was Lita?" Jake said, "I don't know if you knew this, but your mother's first name wasn't Susan. Her first name was Lisa. When we were in negotiations, your mother wanted the producers to use her first name. Due to a typo, Lisa became Lita. We thought she'd be upset, or have them change it, but she actually liked it better. In fact, that's why she named you Lita in the first place."
"I never knew that," Lita said, as Jake left.
Later that evening, the Slater house
Rae was in the kitchen, doing dishes, when she saw Luna outside on the window sill. She opened the window to let her in. "Hi Luna," Rae said. "It's been a while since I've seen you."
"Too long, Rae," Luna said. "But I'm here to talk to Jake."
"I'm right here," Jake said, carrying a messenger bag containing a laptop computer, along with proper accessories. "You brought the intelligence I asked for?"
"Yes I have," Luna said.
"Come with me," Jake said, as he and Luna went to his den/home office. Jake set the bag down, and removed the computer and accessories, and set them up on the desk. Luna took a seat on the cabinet next to Jake's chair, as Jake booted up the computer. Jake removed an SD memory card from the collar around Luna's neck, and placed it in the proper slot in his computer, as soon as it booted up. The computer prompted Jake to open a file, and he opened it. When the file opened up, it showed a woman with knee length blonde hair and blue eyes, and she was wearing a strapless black leather dress, black elbow length gloves, and stiletto heeled thigh high black leather boots. She looked like a model, except for the fact that she had 2 heads on a slightly widened pair of shoulders. "Is this our enemy?" Jake asked.
"Yes," Luna said. "Her name is Nehelenia. She is the most vicious space pirate in the known universe, and by my intelligence gathering, I have learned that Earth is her next target. It will take the combined efforts of your entire team of Sailor Soldiers to defeat her and her forces. Have you assembled your team yet?"
"Sort of," Jake said. "I have a team of four already. Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars."
"What about Sailor Jupiter?" Luna said. "I'm not sure four Soldiers will be enough to defeat an enemy as formidable as Nehelenia."
"I talked to Lita Simmons this afternoon," Jake said. "But I don't think she's ready yet. I think she still has some issues about her mom's death. If I tried to force her onto the team, I think it would have been worse if she hadn't even joined up in the first place. But I did leave her Jupiter's transformation wand, for when she is ready."
"I understand," Luna said. "You did all you could, and that's all I could ask of you. Besides, I have someone in mind to talk to her. . . "
Who is the person Luna has in mind to talk to Lita? Find out in our next chapter:
NEW GENERATION SAILOR SOLDIERS, ASSEMBLE!