Title: Recognisable Fantasies Part 1 (Version 1.0)
Author: nIGHT rIDER
Email: ikari@wantree.net.au
Rating: PG
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The ceremony was well under way by the time the man who was
known as The Asian Hawk climbed through the small hole in the old
fortification's wall. Hundreds of natives, bedecked in skins,
feathers and masks, and little else, were chanting at the relatively
tall stone statue of their god, built long after the fort's builders
were history. Having managed to pull his backpack, containing all
of his tools of trade, through the hole, he sat back from his high
outpost, looking over the scene as a topless virgin, bound to a kind
of wooden frame, was slammed down in front of the High Priest.
Of all the natives, the High Priest had to be the most
ridiculous looking of the lot, almost half of his upper frame
covered by an elaborate mask that should have imposed fear in his
opponents, rather than the stifled hilarity the Asian Hawk was
feeling right at this moment. The Priest bent over the young woman,
much in the same way Asian Hawk had seen dirty old men lowering
themselves over naked young women in girlie bars across the globe,
and painted with what could have been blood, but was more likely
nothing more than some form of vegetable-based paint, from the base
of her neck, down towards her bellybutton. The virgin seemed more
bemused than frightened by it all.
Within moments, the virgin and her wooden frame were slammed
down in front of the statue as the natives and their Priest lowered
themselves, chanting and praying with a great intensity. Asian Hawk
took the opportunity to stand, lifting a crossbow, with grappling
hook bolt, from his backpack and firing it down towards the neck of
the statue, a wire cable extending along its path, so silently that
none of the prostrated natives noticed. He then attached a pulley
to the cable and slid rapidly over the heads of the natives down to
the statue, where what he had come for was to be found.... An
ancient, somewhat mystical knight's sword.
And there he made his first mistake. For the statue wasn't
anywhere near as solid as he thought it would be. As soon as he
latched onto the statue's neck with his feet, the head came apart
from its shoulders, rolling forward and landing beside the now
utterly pissed-off virgin. Her short cry of surprise caused the
Priest to raise his head, just in time to see the head roll in front
of him, coming to a stop, staring him in the face. Calling out to
his followers, he stood and looked up with horror at his newly
beheaded God. The natives became even more restless when another,
much smaller head popped up in its place, spouting babble.
Asian Hawk did his best to cover for his blunder as he hung
onto the back of the statue, trying his best to give a impression of
a slightly miffed god. And it worked, for the most part. The
natives got back to their knees, bowing and chanting to his eminent
presence, making him feel rather special. It had been a long time
since he'd had to impersonate a God or a deity. The last time was
in some lost valley, in the middle of south-east Asia, where the
shrine maidens had made him feel rather godlike, to be sure. The
memory put a smile on his face, just before the High Priest stepped
around the statue and noticed his new god's head was attached to a
smaller, rather more mortal body.
Realising he was suddenly in deep shit, he attempted to babble
his way out as the Priest pointed his staff at him, making
accusatory gestures. The Priest, con artist that he was, knew too
well what it was like to masquerade as someone of great divinity,
and wasn't fooled in the slightest, calling out to his followers
that their was an intruder in their midst. Seeing that his ruse was
no longer working, as the natives got to their feet, grabbing clubs
and spears from the edge of the temple area, he swung around the
statue and reached down to where the sword was embedded in the body
of the statue, trying to prise it from its holds. Before he was
able to release it, however, the Priest had followed him around, and
was about to strike him with his staff. Asian Hawk gripped onto his
cable, still attached to the statue, flung himself around and booted
the Priest, with both his feet, over about a half dozen meters, down
into a group of his own followers.
Within moments, he had unwrapped a belt from over his back and
whipped it over the sword, the latch catching it with enough force
to wrench it from the statue's grasp. Natives, climbing up the base
platform of the statue to stop him, were forced to jump back off as
he swung the belt, with sword, in a graceful arc shortly before he
attached both to the straps of his backpack. Looking down at the
natives, he spotted spears being hurled in his direction, and a
couple of clubs, making for his head from either side. He leapt
from the platform, in a series of rolls, onto the ground, where he
was set upon by the angry gaggle. A few well-executed punches,
jabs, kicks and leg sweeps cleared him a path towards a boiling pot,
sitting on one side of the temple area, which he made for with great
speed.
Executing a short leap, he collected the side of the pot with
one foot, landing face first as the pot's contents splashed over
him. Spears that had been cast in his direction struck the bottom
of the pot, harmlessly. He jumped to his feet, quickly brushing
away smoking embers and ash from the fire that had heated the pot,
before realising he was once more in range. He ducked down and
kicked the pot rolling, himself performing a series of end-on-end
rolls to keep behind its protective base as more spears turned it
into a veritable porcupine. The pot came to a stop at the edge of
what had once been a form of moat channel, running alongside the old
broken wall of the fort. He leapt over the moat onto the top of the
wall, momentarily glancing back as his pursuers charged forward,
spears and clubs at the ready. Turning, he looked over the other
side of the wall, which was a long drop, the ground hidden by bushes
and trees. He could see only one avenue of escape.
He leapt across the chasm, grasping for a tree he felt would
be strong enough to hold his weight. It would have been, had it not
been for his backpack and the sword. Combined, the branches
cracked, and he let out a short, strangled cry as he fell through
the thicket below, fully expecting to feel the ground meeting his
body at full, painful velocity. Only it didn't. He felt himself
land in the strongest, most capable pair of arms it had ever been
his fortune to land in. Opening his eyes, he looked into the face
of a young, brown-haired girl, some sixteen years of age, her hair
up in a ponytail, with a tiara around her forehead and rose earrings
in both ears. The girl seemed every bit as surprised as he was.
"Hey guys...." Jupiter said to her four Inner Senshi
companions as they skulked through the undergrowth, trying to find a
way out from the place they had suddenly, and inexplicably, arrived.
"Look what I just caught." Asian Hawk looked at the girls. Looked
at their short skirts. And he smiled. Damn, those shrine maidens
were pretty determined to find him!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON
RECOGNISABLE FANTASIES
by nIGHT rIDER (Assistance by DDFA)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. (I
think) Asian Hawk is the property of Jackie Chan. Everything else
(if there is anything else) was created by moi. :)
Chapter 1
Armor of Gawd....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIGHTLY EARLIER....
Eternal Sailormoon opened her eyes, to see a whole lot of
nothing. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She COULD see some
grass, a few branches and a lot of dirt, all in shadow, but that was
after blinking a couple of times, and realising that she was lying
face forward in the middle of somewhere she didn't recognise. With
the deliberate slowness of someone who was utterly confused and
somewhat bewildered, she picked herself up and sat, leaning on her
left hand, and she could see that Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter
were doing something similar, all within feet of her. "Umm..." She
said, startling Venus, who had been looking the other way at the time.
"What the heck..." Mars rubbed her head, then brushed a hand
through her hair. "Ah, I've got dirt all through my hair! This sucks."
"Oh my. I think I've landed on top of something." Mercury
lifted something from under her skirt, holding it up to the others.
"Hmm... It appears to be a kind of religious relic." She studied
the small, rough-cut idol, turning it in her hands as Jupiter rolled
her eyes.
"It's not the time for that. Where the hell are we?" Jupiter
was the first to her feet, banging her head on a lower branch.
After several moments of clutching her head and doing little dances
to the sound of agonised gasps, she was steadied by Eternal
Sailormoon, now having stood with the others, rather more
circumspect about what lay above them.
"Well... It's at the bottom of something." Venus pointed to
one side, where a stone wall could be seen. "Some kind of temple,
or something like that."
"More likely an old fortress." Mars brushed her fingers
through her hair, trying to get as much dirt out of it as possible.
"That still doesn't answer the question of how we got here, wherever
here might be." She turned to Mercury, who was still studying the
idol, intently. "Do you remember anything?"
Mercury looked up at her, surprised and distracted. "Hmm?
No. Nothing at all." She paused. "You really should have a look
at this. It's a true museum piece. Might fetch quite a bit on the market."
"Really?" Venus leapt forward, grabbing the idol from
Mercury's hands. Mercury looked at the idol with concern.
"Be careful with that..." She started. It was too late. As
soon as Venus flipped it over to have a better look at the face, she
lost her hold on it. Within seconds, it was in pieces all over the
ground. Mercury stared at the pieces for several moments, then
glared at Venus, who had several sweatdrops emerging like a crown
around her head.
"Umm.... Sorry?" Venus giggled, nervously, then did her best
to change the subject. "Hey, can you hear something?"
"Like what?" Mercury growled, ranging up on her. Venus put a
finger to her lips and everyone listened. They could hear the sound
of chanting in the near distance. "Hmm..." Mercury put her hands
on her hips. "Well, that would seem to confirm your theory about
this being a temple of some kind." She glanced down at the
shattered idol. "That too."
"Hey, I said I was sorry." Venus put on a painfully chastised
expression on her face, curling up her lower lip and pressing her
two forefingers together. Mercury ignored her and knelt down,
picking up some of the fragments as Jupiter started making her way
forward, through some of the brush.
"There seems to be something of a path, just through here.
It's not very clear, I have to say."
"Hmm. From the looks of things, this was a kind of moat.
Certainly an old form of defensive trench." Mercury pointed one
way, then another. "Running along this wall, here. This probably
was, once, a fortress, as Mars said. But I'm sure it has long lost
that usage." She shrugged. "Many fortresses, of ancient kingdoms,
became temples after the downfall of the kingdom. At least, several
were, before they were abandoned altogether."
"Well, whatever it is, I don't like the sound of that
chanting." Mars crossed her arms and closed her eyes, swallowing
nervously. "I mean, who KNOWS what kind of people they are."
"Sounds like cliched chanting by natives from an old Tarzan
movie." Eternal Sailormoon scratched her head, giggling inanely.
Mars shot her a look, sweatdropping. "Well, I was only trying to
make a joke...."
"Some joke. If they ARE your cliched natives, who knows WHAT
they might try to do to us. They could capture us and sacrifice us
to their God." Mars waggled a finger in Eternal Sailormoon's
direction. "They might even be cannibals, ready and willing to eat
the soft, supple flesh of young maidens such as we."
"S...s...stop that. You're making me nervous." Venus
shivered to illustrate the point. Eternal Sailormoon and Mars
looked at her, chuckling.
"You don't really believe that that kind of thing still
happens, do you?" Mars snorted.
"Well, yes, it does still happen in some parts of the world."
Mercury said, matter of factly, not really paying attention to the
looks she was getting. "There are tribes in Sulawesi and Irian Jaya
that still practice such things, albeit not as much as they used to.
These days its more ritualistic than actual, but it was only a few
years ago that it was stopped. That we know of."
"Thanks, Mercury.... We needed to know that." Venus rubbed
the top of her arms, nervously looking around. "Is it just me, or
has it suddenly gotten cold around here?"
Ignoring Venus, Mars stepped up alongside Jupiter and stared
through the thicket. "The chanting and stuff is getting louder. Is
there a trail that can take us out of this place?"
"Yeah, if you follow it through here, it looks like you can
get out. I can see the horizon through those bushes over there."
Jupiter pointed. "It's a bit... I dunno, it looks awfully clear to me."
"Clear?" Mars peered through the bushes. "What do you mean
by that?" Jupiter took a breath.
"Well, I can see sky through the bushes, but I can't see any
ground. It might be a cliff, or some kind of ledge." She looked up
at the wall. "Didn't they build these fortresses on natural vantage
points, like hills or mountains? We could be on top of a mountain."
"Not with this kind of growth." Mercury stood and ran a hand
along one of the thicket branches. "Unless this moat was especially
protected, the plant life would be a hell of a lot smaller. But I
take your point, it is logical that this fortress would be built on
some high ground, with a good all-round view." She waved some of
the pieces of the idol in Venus's face. "The only way we're going
to find out is if we look for ourselves. What do you say?"
Venus crossed her arms, looking miffed. "Whatever you say,
MERCURY-sama, oh great and wise one." Venus brushed past Mercury,
then past Jupiter and Mars, pushing her way into the thicket,
yelping as twigs and sharp points dug into her side. Jupiter and
Mars rolled their eyes at each other and tentatively followed her
in. Eternal Sailormoon held back, scratching her head.
"Doesn't anyone wonder just WHY we're here?" She frowned. "I
mean, how did we get here?"
"That doesn't really seem to matter, does it?" Mercury placed
a hand on her shoulder. "We're here, now. The only thing we can do
is find out where and why. Then maybe everything else will fall
into place. I hope." Mercury reached around to her side and
flipped open a small pouch connected to the middle of her senshi
uniform, where she kept her computer and other gadgetry, and placed
the fragments of the idol there. She closed the pouch and smiled at
Eternal Sailormoon. "For future reference."
"Like what?" Eternal Sailormoon raised an eyebrow.
"A thought came to me just then... It was almost as if I was
MEANT to find that idol. I'd like to run some tests on it to see
what it is made of." Eternal Sailormoon bit her lower lip, chewing
over what Mercury had said, but said nothing and followed Mercury
into the thicket.
Moments later, they were standing on the edge of a sharp
decline, covered in grass and bushes. The landscape appeared to be
middle Europe, which didn't sit well with the sounds coming from
above, now louder than before. Venus looked up at the bushes and
trees only just masking the top of the wall. "Sounds like there is
fighting going on up there." She swallowed. "Someone must have
upset them."
Jupiter smiled nervously. "I think we better get out of here,
pretty fast. I mean, you never know when the sky is going to fall
on our heads." And to illustrate the point, she put out her arms,
just in time for the figure of a man, carrying a backpack and a
sword, to fall through the trees and into them. The man stared at
her as she stared at him, then, when she finally found voice, she
looked over at the others and said.... "Hey guys.... Look what I
just caught."
"Ah, thankyou very much." The man smiled at her, then
wriggled out of her arms as she lowered him to the ground. "I
needed a little bit of assistance there." He paused, then pointed
at Jupiter. "Didn't we meet at a shrine in Laos?" Jupiter shook
her head, voicelessly. He sighed and shrugged. "Ah well. It was
just a thought. I don't often bump into young women in short skirts
in the middle of the boonies like this."
"We have a tendency not to bump into strange men carrying
swords in the middle of the boonies, either." Eternal Sailormoon
stepped up to him, trying to rise to some expectation of authority.
In the sheer absurdity of the situation, however, she appeared just
a little lost.
"You can call me the Asian Hawk." The man smiled, giving her
a short wave. "And if you all stand there for much longer, it is
likely you will end up as shishkebabs for a pack of angry natives."
He pointed upwards, then took a flying leap off the edge of the
decline, sliding down the slope on his backpack. Jupiter turned to him.
"Wait.... What do you mean by...." Without thinking, she
followed him, and soon found herself on her rump, following him down
at the same speed. Before the other four could react, spears slid
through the canopy, striking the ground only inches from each of
them. Venus did a small dance across the ground, chased by spear
after spear, making little yelps and odd poses as she did so, before
knocking herself, Mars and Mercury over the edge. Eternal
Sailormoon didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned as Venus and
Mercury used Mars as a toboggan, the unfortunate fire senshi flat on
her face, shouting at the other two between cries of pain and
distress to get the hell off of her. Within seconds, dozens of
figures were flying from the top of the canopy, landing on small
straw and grass mats, sliding after them.
She heard a sound behind her, and spun to find six or seven of
the natives climbing through the canopy, armed with rather vicious,
heavy stone clubs, wide-eyed with surprise at the sight of a woman
in a costume such as hers. As they ranged on her, she gave them a
nervous smile and held up a hand. "Greetings." They looked at each
other, nonplused. She continued on.... "Please don't be
frightened or angry. I'm a friend. You know, friend." She tried
to smile sweetly as the natives rolled the word off their tongues."
"Fur....rend." The word was not said with as much
friendliness as she'd hoped. Desperately trying to search for
something with which to distract them, one of the natives managed to
step up beside her, taking hold of part of her costume. She jerked
aside shaking her finger at him, just as her costume's wings sprang
out, almost as if on signal. She looked back at the wings,
wondering how they had managed to fold back and hide earlier, then
realised how quiet the natives were.
They were on the ground, bowing to her, looking suitably
impressed. Sweatdropping, she started to giggle nervously, putting
a hand behind her head. "Well... uh.... Thanks guys. I know
they're pretty impressive. But...." She swallowed. "I've got to
get going now. I have some people to catch up with." And with
that, she leapt into the air, taking off like an angel, sparkles of
energy glittering around her. The natives watched her go, their
mouths open with awe.
Eternal Sailormoon rose over the top of the decline, a hand
over her brow, searching desperately for any sight of Asian Hawk and
the Senshi. Near the base of the decline, where there was a small
outcrop of bushes, there was a huge rolling ball of arms and legs in
the distinct colours of red, blue and yellow, trailing dust, which
could only have been Mars, Mercury and Venus arriving at their
destination. With a flourish of the wings, she shot off in their
direction.
Jupiter stood, rubbing her sore rear as she watched Asian
Hawk, having leapt from his backpack and throwing it over his
shoulder, run over to one of the nearby small bushes, reaching to
grab one of them, for whatever reason he had in his mind. He
struggled, but was clearly moving the bush, having some trouble as
something was catching on the ground, making it difficult for him.
Ignoring her three friends, who had crashed into a dazed heap at the
base of the slope, she ran to him. "What in hell are you doing?"
He glanced up at her, then at the angry natives who were rapidly
approaching.
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Gardening?" She shrugged her shoulders. He facefaulted.
"My dear, we have several hundred angry natives bearing down
upon us because I dared to take a holy relic from them." He
gestured to the sword, still clinging to the strap of his backpack.
She looked at the sword with a deadpan expression.
"Well, that was extremely silly of you, wasn't it?" She
crossed her arms. "So what about the natives?"
"So WHAT about the NATIVES?" He looked at her, incredulously.
"Girlie, unless you want a spear through your sternum, or be
sacrificed to their God, I'd start running like heck." He started
to yank the branches of the bush again, managing to move it a few
more inches. "What the hell is this thing caught on?"
"What is it?" Jupiter reached down and picked up the bush
with the minimum of effort. "Hey, waitaminute.... This isn't a bush."
"No." Asian Hawk gave her an odd look. "You don't say."
She pulled away the brush to reveal what could only have been the
wing of an ultralight aircraft. Looking at the two nearby bushes, it
dawned on her what he was doing.
"You're going to fly yourself out of here?"
"Well duh." He ran over to the other side of what was the
middle bush, grabbing the one next to it. With a great deal of
ease, he managed to lock it into its assigned place with the middle
one. "Would you mind attaching that wing? Then I suggest you and
your four friends get the hell outta here." He looked around,
noticing that the natives had reached the base of the slope, and
were surrounding the still-dazed figures of Mars, Mercury and Venus.
"Well, at the very least, save yourself."
"What do you think I am?" Jupiter slammed the wing into the
side of the middle bush, feeling it click into its slot. She stood,
putting her hands on her hips. "I'm not just going to run off and
leave them."
Asian Hawk looked at her, then back at the girls, gritting his
teeth. "Oh damn. Why did you have to be here, now.... Everything
was going so well.... Well, as good as could be expected." Coming
to a decision, he whipped off the strap from his backpack, allowing
the pack to fall to the ground, and started to spin the sword
around. "I'll try and take some of them out, but you're going to
have to get the gun in the canopy of my plane."
"Why would I want to use a gun?" Jupiter blinked at him. He
gave her a pained expression.
"WHY WOULDN'T YOU WANT TO USE A GUN?" He shouted. "If you
want to save your friends."
"Oh no...." She smiled at him. "If I want to save my
friends, I'd do something like.... SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" To
his amazement, crackles of lightning surrounded her as she let off
a large ball of energy from one of her hands, tossing it like a
discus into the gathering group of natives. As if hit by a high
tension lead, those directly hit flew back about fifty feet, those
surrounding them dancing around like puppets and falling to the
ground. Unfortunately, part of the energy also struck the three
Senshi, who jumped to their feet immediately and started hopping
across the ground to where Asian Hawk was standing. Mars, her face
caked in dirt and grass, leaped around, screaming at the top of her
voice.
"CAN'T YOU, JUST FOR ONCE, LEARN TO TARGET YOUR BLOODY ATTACKS
WITH A BIT MORE ACCURACY?!?!?!?" She ranged up on Jupiter, dirt
falling from the front of her fuku. Jupiter crossed her arms,
giving Mars an imperious look.
"After the number of times you've scorched poor Sailormoon
with your attacks? Don't make me laugh."
"Sailormoon?" Asian Hawk scratched his head. "Isn't
Sailormoon a tv cartoon, or something?" The Senshi looked at him.
Shrugging, he looked back at the decline, where more natives were
approaching, some stopping to examine their unfortunate colleagues.
"We don't have time for that. Gotta be going. See you girls
later.... Wait a minute.... Didn't you have another friend?"
Venus, banging dirt from out of her ears, paused. "Eternal
Sailormoon.... Oh bugger, we left her up at the fortress."
With a screaming sound, the remaining natives leapt from their
toboggans and started charging the party with weapons drawn.
Jupiter punched a fist in her palm. "Doesn't look like we're going
to have the opportunity to worry about that right now."
"But I'm not ready for a fight." Mars whined. "I can't look
cool, doing my attacks, when I look like this." She held out her
hands, looking down at her front."
"Well, at least you have that 'rugged' look about you."
Mercury chuckled darkly, opening out one of her hands as gentle
droplets of Shabon Spray started to rise from her fingers. Asian
Hawk looked from one to the other, dumbfounded.
"How can you girls talk like that at a time like this?" He
scratched his head, remembering the ball of energy that Jupiter had
thrown. "Maybe you can. I dunno."
At the front of the group of natives, one particularly large
warrior had raised his club and was charging with a piercing battle
cry, making for Asian Hawk whom he could see holding the sword.
After about a dozen running steps, he found himself rising off the
ground, and looked at his feet with stunned surprise. He then
looked up at the raised club to see an angel with a smiling face.
"I'm sorry." The angel said. "I can't allow you to do that."
Suffice to say, he let go of the club and allowed himself to fall to
his knees, bowing and praying loudly.
"Eternal Sailormoon." The Senshi shouted as she landed in
front of the now-submissive native. "You're a little late."
Jupiter smiled, crossing her arms.
"I was distracted." She chuckled, holding the club aloft and
trying to make her wings as wide as possible. The other natives
came to a dead stop, their eyes white with fear and terror before
falling in with their colleague. Eternal Sailormoon allowed some of
her energy to enter the club, making it glow like a holy relic. The
natives oohed and ahhed with sufficient awe to satisfy her. "Well."
She looked aside. "Are you going to take your leave, Mister 'Asian
Hawk'?" She rolled her eyes as she saw him bowing and scraping like
the natives. "Oh, for God's sake.... Will you just get in that
plane of yours and go."
"Umm...." Asian Hawk looked at the girls, then stood, picking
up his backpack as he slung the sword over his shoulder. Jupiter
threw the branches away from the canopy of the plane, opening up the
cockpit and gesturing to the seat with a cute smile. Asian Hawk
growled and grumbled as he placed everything into the back of the
cockpit and jumped in, putting on a set of goggles before closing
the canopy and starting the engines. The Senshi stepped back as he
glided the plane into a reasonable take-off area. Everyone watched
as he glided the plane from the ground, flying up over the nearby
forest.
Eternal Sailormoon then turned back to the natives and shouted
at them, waving the club about. The natives turned from staring at
the plane and started bowing and scraping at her feet.
"Well...." Mars huffed. "How does it feel to be a Goddess?"
She nudged Eternal Sailormoon in the side.
"At least I can present myself as one." Eternal Sailormoon
smirked at her. Mars growled and stomped away, sulking.
At that point, the High Priest came charging down the decline,
shouting out at the natives, trying to rouse his followers to
continue their attack. Everyone stared at him as he strode up to
Eternal Sailormoon, stopping within metres, babbling on in an
accusatory manner, pointing a spear at her. Jupiter and Venus made
to move either side of her, but she stopped them with a look as the
High Priest started to dance on the ground in anger. "Will you
please be quiet. I can't hear myself think." She said to the
Priest, softly, and pitched the club at him, knocking him one in the
forehead.
The Priest toppled backwards like a felled tree, Eternal
Sailormoon only just resisting the temptation to shout out 'TIMBER'
as he did so. Within seconds of hitting the ground, the natives
started up their chanting once more. "I could get used to this."
Eternal Sailormoon put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.
Asian Hawk surveyed the scene from his plane as he turned and
flew back over the girls and their now-submissive followers. The
girls gave him a friendly wave, and he waved back, a little sadly.
It wasn't often his adventures involved girls with the ability to
belt the living buggery out of his opponents.
Continuing on his way, he looked down at the small ignition
key, and stared at the keyring attached to it. It was a SD figure
of a young girl, dressed in a sailorfuku, like the leader of the
group of girls. In fact, her hair was in the same bun-like
ponytails. He glanced back, then at the keyring. "It can't be..."
He muttered to himself. "They're just cartoon characters...."
Swallowing, he resigned himself to the fact that there was a warm
hotel bed and lots of alcohol waiting for him at his destination....
As the Senshi gathered together to discuss their situation,
Mercury remarked.... "I've seen that guy before, somewhere....
Wasn't he once an action movie star?"
"Dunno." Jupiter shrugged. "I thought he was kinda cute, in
an odd kinda way. He reminded me of my old sempai." Everyone
facefaulted. Within seconds, they vanished from the scene into thin
air, leaving the natives bowing and chanting with awe.
END OF PART 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter....
It is interesting, I think, how quickly a story idea can come to
fruition. It was whilst eating lunch at a local restaurant (Hungry
Jacks, to be precise), and talking over a certain tv show that is
currently playing on the Australian ABC network with Mark (DDFA)
that the idea popped into my head. Within an hour of arriving back
at his house, the entire opening stanza of this chapter was written.
And I still haven't finished chapter 12 of "Not a God". Are the
rights to glacial-speed writing taken yet? That story will probably
be finished this time next century. ^_^;;
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Shall be fun putting them
together.
James T Woolford "nIGHT rIDER" ikari@chariot.net.au
Member of the AJAS Fanfic Circle
Author: nIGHT rIDER
Email: ikari@wantree.net.au
Rating: PG
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The ceremony was well under way by the time the man who was
known as The Asian Hawk climbed through the small hole in the old
fortification's wall. Hundreds of natives, bedecked in skins,
feathers and masks, and little else, were chanting at the relatively
tall stone statue of their god, built long after the fort's builders
were history. Having managed to pull his backpack, containing all
of his tools of trade, through the hole, he sat back from his high
outpost, looking over the scene as a topless virgin, bound to a kind
of wooden frame, was slammed down in front of the High Priest.
Of all the natives, the High Priest had to be the most
ridiculous looking of the lot, almost half of his upper frame
covered by an elaborate mask that should have imposed fear in his
opponents, rather than the stifled hilarity the Asian Hawk was
feeling right at this moment. The Priest bent over the young woman,
much in the same way Asian Hawk had seen dirty old men lowering
themselves over naked young women in girlie bars across the globe,
and painted with what could have been blood, but was more likely
nothing more than some form of vegetable-based paint, from the base
of her neck, down towards her bellybutton. The virgin seemed more
bemused than frightened by it all.
Within moments, the virgin and her wooden frame were slammed
down in front of the statue as the natives and their Priest lowered
themselves, chanting and praying with a great intensity. Asian Hawk
took the opportunity to stand, lifting a crossbow, with grappling
hook bolt, from his backpack and firing it down towards the neck of
the statue, a wire cable extending along its path, so silently that
none of the prostrated natives noticed. He then attached a pulley
to the cable and slid rapidly over the heads of the natives down to
the statue, where what he had come for was to be found.... An
ancient, somewhat mystical knight's sword.
And there he made his first mistake. For the statue wasn't
anywhere near as solid as he thought it would be. As soon as he
latched onto the statue's neck with his feet, the head came apart
from its shoulders, rolling forward and landing beside the now
utterly pissed-off virgin. Her short cry of surprise caused the
Priest to raise his head, just in time to see the head roll in front
of him, coming to a stop, staring him in the face. Calling out to
his followers, he stood and looked up with horror at his newly
beheaded God. The natives became even more restless when another,
much smaller head popped up in its place, spouting babble.
Asian Hawk did his best to cover for his blunder as he hung
onto the back of the statue, trying his best to give a impression of
a slightly miffed god. And it worked, for the most part. The
natives got back to their knees, bowing and chanting to his eminent
presence, making him feel rather special. It had been a long time
since he'd had to impersonate a God or a deity. The last time was
in some lost valley, in the middle of south-east Asia, where the
shrine maidens had made him feel rather godlike, to be sure. The
memory put a smile on his face, just before the High Priest stepped
around the statue and noticed his new god's head was attached to a
smaller, rather more mortal body.
Realising he was suddenly in deep shit, he attempted to babble
his way out as the Priest pointed his staff at him, making
accusatory gestures. The Priest, con artist that he was, knew too
well what it was like to masquerade as someone of great divinity,
and wasn't fooled in the slightest, calling out to his followers
that their was an intruder in their midst. Seeing that his ruse was
no longer working, as the natives got to their feet, grabbing clubs
and spears from the edge of the temple area, he swung around the
statue and reached down to where the sword was embedded in the body
of the statue, trying to prise it from its holds. Before he was
able to release it, however, the Priest had followed him around, and
was about to strike him with his staff. Asian Hawk gripped onto his
cable, still attached to the statue, flung himself around and booted
the Priest, with both his feet, over about a half dozen meters, down
into a group of his own followers.
Within moments, he had unwrapped a belt from over his back and
whipped it over the sword, the latch catching it with enough force
to wrench it from the statue's grasp. Natives, climbing up the base
platform of the statue to stop him, were forced to jump back off as
he swung the belt, with sword, in a graceful arc shortly before he
attached both to the straps of his backpack. Looking down at the
natives, he spotted spears being hurled in his direction, and a
couple of clubs, making for his head from either side. He leapt
from the platform, in a series of rolls, onto the ground, where he
was set upon by the angry gaggle. A few well-executed punches,
jabs, kicks and leg sweeps cleared him a path towards a boiling pot,
sitting on one side of the temple area, which he made for with great
speed.
Executing a short leap, he collected the side of the pot with
one foot, landing face first as the pot's contents splashed over
him. Spears that had been cast in his direction struck the bottom
of the pot, harmlessly. He jumped to his feet, quickly brushing
away smoking embers and ash from the fire that had heated the pot,
before realising he was once more in range. He ducked down and
kicked the pot rolling, himself performing a series of end-on-end
rolls to keep behind its protective base as more spears turned it
into a veritable porcupine. The pot came to a stop at the edge of
what had once been a form of moat channel, running alongside the old
broken wall of the fort. He leapt over the moat onto the top of the
wall, momentarily glancing back as his pursuers charged forward,
spears and clubs at the ready. Turning, he looked over the other
side of the wall, which was a long drop, the ground hidden by bushes
and trees. He could see only one avenue of escape.
He leapt across the chasm, grasping for a tree he felt would
be strong enough to hold his weight. It would have been, had it not
been for his backpack and the sword. Combined, the branches
cracked, and he let out a short, strangled cry as he fell through
the thicket below, fully expecting to feel the ground meeting his
body at full, painful velocity. Only it didn't. He felt himself
land in the strongest, most capable pair of arms it had ever been
his fortune to land in. Opening his eyes, he looked into the face
of a young, brown-haired girl, some sixteen years of age, her hair
up in a ponytail, with a tiara around her forehead and rose earrings
in both ears. The girl seemed every bit as surprised as he was.
"Hey guys...." Jupiter said to her four Inner Senshi
companions as they skulked through the undergrowth, trying to find a
way out from the place they had suddenly, and inexplicably, arrived.
"Look what I just caught." Asian Hawk looked at the girls. Looked
at their short skirts. And he smiled. Damn, those shrine maidens
were pretty determined to find him!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON
RECOGNISABLE FANTASIES
by nIGHT rIDER (Assistance by DDFA)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai and Kodansya. (I
think) Asian Hawk is the property of Jackie Chan. Everything else
(if there is anything else) was created by moi. :)
Chapter 1
Armor of Gawd....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SLIGHTLY EARLIER....
Eternal Sailormoon opened her eyes, to see a whole lot of
nothing. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She COULD see some
grass, a few branches and a lot of dirt, all in shadow, but that was
after blinking a couple of times, and realising that she was lying
face forward in the middle of somewhere she didn't recognise. With
the deliberate slowness of someone who was utterly confused and
somewhat bewildered, she picked herself up and sat, leaning on her
left hand, and she could see that Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter
were doing something similar, all within feet of her. "Umm..." She
said, startling Venus, who had been looking the other way at the time.
"What the heck..." Mars rubbed her head, then brushed a hand
through her hair. "Ah, I've got dirt all through my hair! This sucks."
"Oh my. I think I've landed on top of something." Mercury
lifted something from under her skirt, holding it up to the others.
"Hmm... It appears to be a kind of religious relic." She studied
the small, rough-cut idol, turning it in her hands as Jupiter rolled
her eyes.
"It's not the time for that. Where the hell are we?" Jupiter
was the first to her feet, banging her head on a lower branch.
After several moments of clutching her head and doing little dances
to the sound of agonised gasps, she was steadied by Eternal
Sailormoon, now having stood with the others, rather more
circumspect about what lay above them.
"Well... It's at the bottom of something." Venus pointed to
one side, where a stone wall could be seen. "Some kind of temple,
or something like that."
"More likely an old fortress." Mars brushed her fingers
through her hair, trying to get as much dirt out of it as possible.
"That still doesn't answer the question of how we got here, wherever
here might be." She turned to Mercury, who was still studying the
idol, intently. "Do you remember anything?"
Mercury looked up at her, surprised and distracted. "Hmm?
No. Nothing at all." She paused. "You really should have a look
at this. It's a true museum piece. Might fetch quite a bit on the market."
"Really?" Venus leapt forward, grabbing the idol from
Mercury's hands. Mercury looked at the idol with concern.
"Be careful with that..." She started. It was too late. As
soon as Venus flipped it over to have a better look at the face, she
lost her hold on it. Within seconds, it was in pieces all over the
ground. Mercury stared at the pieces for several moments, then
glared at Venus, who had several sweatdrops emerging like a crown
around her head.
"Umm.... Sorry?" Venus giggled, nervously, then did her best
to change the subject. "Hey, can you hear something?"
"Like what?" Mercury growled, ranging up on her. Venus put a
finger to her lips and everyone listened. They could hear the sound
of chanting in the near distance. "Hmm..." Mercury put her hands
on her hips. "Well, that would seem to confirm your theory about
this being a temple of some kind." She glanced down at the
shattered idol. "That too."
"Hey, I said I was sorry." Venus put on a painfully chastised
expression on her face, curling up her lower lip and pressing her
two forefingers together. Mercury ignored her and knelt down,
picking up some of the fragments as Jupiter started making her way
forward, through some of the brush.
"There seems to be something of a path, just through here.
It's not very clear, I have to say."
"Hmm. From the looks of things, this was a kind of moat.
Certainly an old form of defensive trench." Mercury pointed one
way, then another. "Running along this wall, here. This probably
was, once, a fortress, as Mars said. But I'm sure it has long lost
that usage." She shrugged. "Many fortresses, of ancient kingdoms,
became temples after the downfall of the kingdom. At least, several
were, before they were abandoned altogether."
"Well, whatever it is, I don't like the sound of that
chanting." Mars crossed her arms and closed her eyes, swallowing
nervously. "I mean, who KNOWS what kind of people they are."
"Sounds like cliched chanting by natives from an old Tarzan
movie." Eternal Sailormoon scratched her head, giggling inanely.
Mars shot her a look, sweatdropping. "Well, I was only trying to
make a joke...."
"Some joke. If they ARE your cliched natives, who knows WHAT
they might try to do to us. They could capture us and sacrifice us
to their God." Mars waggled a finger in Eternal Sailormoon's
direction. "They might even be cannibals, ready and willing to eat
the soft, supple flesh of young maidens such as we."
"S...s...stop that. You're making me nervous." Venus
shivered to illustrate the point. Eternal Sailormoon and Mars
looked at her, chuckling.
"You don't really believe that that kind of thing still
happens, do you?" Mars snorted.
"Well, yes, it does still happen in some parts of the world."
Mercury said, matter of factly, not really paying attention to the
looks she was getting. "There are tribes in Sulawesi and Irian Jaya
that still practice such things, albeit not as much as they used to.
These days its more ritualistic than actual, but it was only a few
years ago that it was stopped. That we know of."
"Thanks, Mercury.... We needed to know that." Venus rubbed
the top of her arms, nervously looking around. "Is it just me, or
has it suddenly gotten cold around here?"
Ignoring Venus, Mars stepped up alongside Jupiter and stared
through the thicket. "The chanting and stuff is getting louder. Is
there a trail that can take us out of this place?"
"Yeah, if you follow it through here, it looks like you can
get out. I can see the horizon through those bushes over there."
Jupiter pointed. "It's a bit... I dunno, it looks awfully clear to me."
"Clear?" Mars peered through the bushes. "What do you mean
by that?" Jupiter took a breath.
"Well, I can see sky through the bushes, but I can't see any
ground. It might be a cliff, or some kind of ledge." She looked up
at the wall. "Didn't they build these fortresses on natural vantage
points, like hills or mountains? We could be on top of a mountain."
"Not with this kind of growth." Mercury stood and ran a hand
along one of the thicket branches. "Unless this moat was especially
protected, the plant life would be a hell of a lot smaller. But I
take your point, it is logical that this fortress would be built on
some high ground, with a good all-round view." She waved some of
the pieces of the idol in Venus's face. "The only way we're going
to find out is if we look for ourselves. What do you say?"
Venus crossed her arms, looking miffed. "Whatever you say,
MERCURY-sama, oh great and wise one." Venus brushed past Mercury,
then past Jupiter and Mars, pushing her way into the thicket,
yelping as twigs and sharp points dug into her side. Jupiter and
Mars rolled their eyes at each other and tentatively followed her
in. Eternal Sailormoon held back, scratching her head.
"Doesn't anyone wonder just WHY we're here?" She frowned. "I
mean, how did we get here?"
"That doesn't really seem to matter, does it?" Mercury placed
a hand on her shoulder. "We're here, now. The only thing we can do
is find out where and why. Then maybe everything else will fall
into place. I hope." Mercury reached around to her side and
flipped open a small pouch connected to the middle of her senshi
uniform, where she kept her computer and other gadgetry, and placed
the fragments of the idol there. She closed the pouch and smiled at
Eternal Sailormoon. "For future reference."
"Like what?" Eternal Sailormoon raised an eyebrow.
"A thought came to me just then... It was almost as if I was
MEANT to find that idol. I'd like to run some tests on it to see
what it is made of." Eternal Sailormoon bit her lower lip, chewing
over what Mercury had said, but said nothing and followed Mercury
into the thicket.
Moments later, they were standing on the edge of a sharp
decline, covered in grass and bushes. The landscape appeared to be
middle Europe, which didn't sit well with the sounds coming from
above, now louder than before. Venus looked up at the bushes and
trees only just masking the top of the wall. "Sounds like there is
fighting going on up there." She swallowed. "Someone must have
upset them."
Jupiter smiled nervously. "I think we better get out of here,
pretty fast. I mean, you never know when the sky is going to fall
on our heads." And to illustrate the point, she put out her arms,
just in time for the figure of a man, carrying a backpack and a
sword, to fall through the trees and into them. The man stared at
her as she stared at him, then, when she finally found voice, she
looked over at the others and said.... "Hey guys.... Look what I
just caught."
"Ah, thankyou very much." The man smiled at her, then
wriggled out of her arms as she lowered him to the ground. "I
needed a little bit of assistance there." He paused, then pointed
at Jupiter. "Didn't we meet at a shrine in Laos?" Jupiter shook
her head, voicelessly. He sighed and shrugged. "Ah well. It was
just a thought. I don't often bump into young women in short skirts
in the middle of the boonies like this."
"We have a tendency not to bump into strange men carrying
swords in the middle of the boonies, either." Eternal Sailormoon
stepped up to him, trying to rise to some expectation of authority.
In the sheer absurdity of the situation, however, she appeared just
a little lost.
"You can call me the Asian Hawk." The man smiled, giving her
a short wave. "And if you all stand there for much longer, it is
likely you will end up as shishkebabs for a pack of angry natives."
He pointed upwards, then took a flying leap off the edge of the
decline, sliding down the slope on his backpack. Jupiter turned to him.
"Wait.... What do you mean by...." Without thinking, she
followed him, and soon found herself on her rump, following him down
at the same speed. Before the other four could react, spears slid
through the canopy, striking the ground only inches from each of
them. Venus did a small dance across the ground, chased by spear
after spear, making little yelps and odd poses as she did so, before
knocking herself, Mars and Mercury over the edge. Eternal
Sailormoon didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned as Venus and
Mercury used Mars as a toboggan, the unfortunate fire senshi flat on
her face, shouting at the other two between cries of pain and
distress to get the hell off of her. Within seconds, dozens of
figures were flying from the top of the canopy, landing on small
straw and grass mats, sliding after them.
She heard a sound behind her, and spun to find six or seven of
the natives climbing through the canopy, armed with rather vicious,
heavy stone clubs, wide-eyed with surprise at the sight of a woman
in a costume such as hers. As they ranged on her, she gave them a
nervous smile and held up a hand. "Greetings." They looked at each
other, nonplused. She continued on.... "Please don't be
frightened or angry. I'm a friend. You know, friend." She tried
to smile sweetly as the natives rolled the word off their tongues."
"Fur....rend." The word was not said with as much
friendliness as she'd hoped. Desperately trying to search for
something with which to distract them, one of the natives managed to
step up beside her, taking hold of part of her costume. She jerked
aside shaking her finger at him, just as her costume's wings sprang
out, almost as if on signal. She looked back at the wings,
wondering how they had managed to fold back and hide earlier, then
realised how quiet the natives were.
They were on the ground, bowing to her, looking suitably
impressed. Sweatdropping, she started to giggle nervously, putting
a hand behind her head. "Well... uh.... Thanks guys. I know
they're pretty impressive. But...." She swallowed. "I've got to
get going now. I have some people to catch up with." And with
that, she leapt into the air, taking off like an angel, sparkles of
energy glittering around her. The natives watched her go, their
mouths open with awe.
Eternal Sailormoon rose over the top of the decline, a hand
over her brow, searching desperately for any sight of Asian Hawk and
the Senshi. Near the base of the decline, where there was a small
outcrop of bushes, there was a huge rolling ball of arms and legs in
the distinct colours of red, blue and yellow, trailing dust, which
could only have been Mars, Mercury and Venus arriving at their
destination. With a flourish of the wings, she shot off in their
direction.
Jupiter stood, rubbing her sore rear as she watched Asian
Hawk, having leapt from his backpack and throwing it over his
shoulder, run over to one of the nearby small bushes, reaching to
grab one of them, for whatever reason he had in his mind. He
struggled, but was clearly moving the bush, having some trouble as
something was catching on the ground, making it difficult for him.
Ignoring her three friends, who had crashed into a dazed heap at the
base of the slope, she ran to him. "What in hell are you doing?"
He glanced up at her, then at the angry natives who were rapidly
approaching.
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Gardening?" She shrugged her shoulders. He facefaulted.
"My dear, we have several hundred angry natives bearing down
upon us because I dared to take a holy relic from them." He
gestured to the sword, still clinging to the strap of his backpack.
She looked at the sword with a deadpan expression.
"Well, that was extremely silly of you, wasn't it?" She
crossed her arms. "So what about the natives?"
"So WHAT about the NATIVES?" He looked at her, incredulously.
"Girlie, unless you want a spear through your sternum, or be
sacrificed to their God, I'd start running like heck." He started
to yank the branches of the bush again, managing to move it a few
more inches. "What the hell is this thing caught on?"
"What is it?" Jupiter reached down and picked up the bush
with the minimum of effort. "Hey, waitaminute.... This isn't a bush."
"No." Asian Hawk gave her an odd look. "You don't say."
She pulled away the brush to reveal what could only have been the
wing of an ultralight aircraft. Looking at the two nearby bushes, it
dawned on her what he was doing.
"You're going to fly yourself out of here?"
"Well duh." He ran over to the other side of what was the
middle bush, grabbing the one next to it. With a great deal of
ease, he managed to lock it into its assigned place with the middle
one. "Would you mind attaching that wing? Then I suggest you and
your four friends get the hell outta here." He looked around,
noticing that the natives had reached the base of the slope, and
were surrounding the still-dazed figures of Mars, Mercury and Venus.
"Well, at the very least, save yourself."
"What do you think I am?" Jupiter slammed the wing into the
side of the middle bush, feeling it click into its slot. She stood,
putting her hands on her hips. "I'm not just going to run off and
leave them."
Asian Hawk looked at her, then back at the girls, gritting his
teeth. "Oh damn. Why did you have to be here, now.... Everything
was going so well.... Well, as good as could be expected." Coming
to a decision, he whipped off the strap from his backpack, allowing
the pack to fall to the ground, and started to spin the sword
around. "I'll try and take some of them out, but you're going to
have to get the gun in the canopy of my plane."
"Why would I want to use a gun?" Jupiter blinked at him. He
gave her a pained expression.
"WHY WOULDN'T YOU WANT TO USE A GUN?" He shouted. "If you
want to save your friends."
"Oh no...." She smiled at him. "If I want to save my
friends, I'd do something like.... SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" To
his amazement, crackles of lightning surrounded her as she let off
a large ball of energy from one of her hands, tossing it like a
discus into the gathering group of natives. As if hit by a high
tension lead, those directly hit flew back about fifty feet, those
surrounding them dancing around like puppets and falling to the
ground. Unfortunately, part of the energy also struck the three
Senshi, who jumped to their feet immediately and started hopping
across the ground to where Asian Hawk was standing. Mars, her face
caked in dirt and grass, leaped around, screaming at the top of her
voice.
"CAN'T YOU, JUST FOR ONCE, LEARN TO TARGET YOUR BLOODY ATTACKS
WITH A BIT MORE ACCURACY?!?!?!?" She ranged up on Jupiter, dirt
falling from the front of her fuku. Jupiter crossed her arms,
giving Mars an imperious look.
"After the number of times you've scorched poor Sailormoon
with your attacks? Don't make me laugh."
"Sailormoon?" Asian Hawk scratched his head. "Isn't
Sailormoon a tv cartoon, or something?" The Senshi looked at him.
Shrugging, he looked back at the decline, where more natives were
approaching, some stopping to examine their unfortunate colleagues.
"We don't have time for that. Gotta be going. See you girls
later.... Wait a minute.... Didn't you have another friend?"
Venus, banging dirt from out of her ears, paused. "Eternal
Sailormoon.... Oh bugger, we left her up at the fortress."
With a screaming sound, the remaining natives leapt from their
toboggans and started charging the party with weapons drawn.
Jupiter punched a fist in her palm. "Doesn't look like we're going
to have the opportunity to worry about that right now."
"But I'm not ready for a fight." Mars whined. "I can't look
cool, doing my attacks, when I look like this." She held out her
hands, looking down at her front."
"Well, at least you have that 'rugged' look about you."
Mercury chuckled darkly, opening out one of her hands as gentle
droplets of Shabon Spray started to rise from her fingers. Asian
Hawk looked from one to the other, dumbfounded.
"How can you girls talk like that at a time like this?" He
scratched his head, remembering the ball of energy that Jupiter had
thrown. "Maybe you can. I dunno."
At the front of the group of natives, one particularly large
warrior had raised his club and was charging with a piercing battle
cry, making for Asian Hawk whom he could see holding the sword.
After about a dozen running steps, he found himself rising off the
ground, and looked at his feet with stunned surprise. He then
looked up at the raised club to see an angel with a smiling face.
"I'm sorry." The angel said. "I can't allow you to do that."
Suffice to say, he let go of the club and allowed himself to fall to
his knees, bowing and praying loudly.
"Eternal Sailormoon." The Senshi shouted as she landed in
front of the now-submissive native. "You're a little late."
Jupiter smiled, crossing her arms.
"I was distracted." She chuckled, holding the club aloft and
trying to make her wings as wide as possible. The other natives
came to a dead stop, their eyes white with fear and terror before
falling in with their colleague. Eternal Sailormoon allowed some of
her energy to enter the club, making it glow like a holy relic. The
natives oohed and ahhed with sufficient awe to satisfy her. "Well."
She looked aside. "Are you going to take your leave, Mister 'Asian
Hawk'?" She rolled her eyes as she saw him bowing and scraping like
the natives. "Oh, for God's sake.... Will you just get in that
plane of yours and go."
"Umm...." Asian Hawk looked at the girls, then stood, picking
up his backpack as he slung the sword over his shoulder. Jupiter
threw the branches away from the canopy of the plane, opening up the
cockpit and gesturing to the seat with a cute smile. Asian Hawk
growled and grumbled as he placed everything into the back of the
cockpit and jumped in, putting on a set of goggles before closing
the canopy and starting the engines. The Senshi stepped back as he
glided the plane into a reasonable take-off area. Everyone watched
as he glided the plane from the ground, flying up over the nearby
forest.
Eternal Sailormoon then turned back to the natives and shouted
at them, waving the club about. The natives turned from staring at
the plane and started bowing and scraping at her feet.
"Well...." Mars huffed. "How does it feel to be a Goddess?"
She nudged Eternal Sailormoon in the side.
"At least I can present myself as one." Eternal Sailormoon
smirked at her. Mars growled and stomped away, sulking.
At that point, the High Priest came charging down the decline,
shouting out at the natives, trying to rouse his followers to
continue their attack. Everyone stared at him as he strode up to
Eternal Sailormoon, stopping within metres, babbling on in an
accusatory manner, pointing a spear at her. Jupiter and Venus made
to move either side of her, but she stopped them with a look as the
High Priest started to dance on the ground in anger. "Will you
please be quiet. I can't hear myself think." She said to the
Priest, softly, and pitched the club at him, knocking him one in the
forehead.
The Priest toppled backwards like a felled tree, Eternal
Sailormoon only just resisting the temptation to shout out 'TIMBER'
as he did so. Within seconds of hitting the ground, the natives
started up their chanting once more. "I could get used to this."
Eternal Sailormoon put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.
Asian Hawk surveyed the scene from his plane as he turned and
flew back over the girls and their now-submissive followers. The
girls gave him a friendly wave, and he waved back, a little sadly.
It wasn't often his adventures involved girls with the ability to
belt the living buggery out of his opponents.
Continuing on his way, he looked down at the small ignition
key, and stared at the keyring attached to it. It was a SD figure
of a young girl, dressed in a sailorfuku, like the leader of the
group of girls. In fact, her hair was in the same bun-like
ponytails. He glanced back, then at the keyring. "It can't be..."
He muttered to himself. "They're just cartoon characters...."
Swallowing, he resigned himself to the fact that there was a warm
hotel bed and lots of alcohol waiting for him at his destination....
As the Senshi gathered together to discuss their situation,
Mercury remarked.... "I've seen that guy before, somewhere....
Wasn't he once an action movie star?"
"Dunno." Jupiter shrugged. "I thought he was kinda cute, in
an odd kinda way. He reminded me of my old sempai." Everyone
facefaulted. Within seconds, they vanished from the scene into thin
air, leaving the natives bowing and chanting with awe.
END OF PART 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter....
It is interesting, I think, how quickly a story idea can come to
fruition. It was whilst eating lunch at a local restaurant (Hungry
Jacks, to be precise), and talking over a certain tv show that is
currently playing on the Australian ABC network with Mark (DDFA)
that the idea popped into my head. Within an hour of arriving back
at his house, the entire opening stanza of this chapter was written.
And I still haven't finished chapter 12 of "Not a God". Are the
rights to glacial-speed writing taken yet? That story will probably
be finished this time next century. ^_^;;
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Shall be fun putting them
together.
James T Woolford "nIGHT rIDER" ikari@chariot.net.au
Member of the AJAS Fanfic Circle