What if things happened at least a bit differently after Queen Serenity used the power of her Imperium Silver Crystal to place all those she sent forward in time in suspended animation of a sort? And what if Sailor Moon was not the first one to awaken as a fighter once the Negaverse began to stir again after its forces and its leaders were sealed away by Queen Serenity? Who then would be the first ones to awaken and fight, and what would their respective powers be, and would they each then be able to fight well enough until Sailor Moon was awakened to fight as a Sailor against the Negaverse, somehow, with or without enough good help from anyone else in their lives?
This story will explore at least a few, if not many, of a myriad number of possibilities that might arise in such a situation, everyone. There certainly will be some familiar faces, and some unfamiliar ones, but not all the people you may be more familiar with will be either Sailors or Knights later. At least not for a while, if ever, anyway, that is.
All characters in this story or its related series of stories are mine, or are the property of others, as the case might then be, for each of them. If they are not my characters, I claim no ownership of them, et cetera, of course, for the obvious reasons, everyone. While I may do some things similar to how they were done in various Sailor Moon-related canons, at least, there will certainly be at least some differences from such established canons in this story or its related series of stories, to be sure.
And certain people will not necessarily awaken as fighters in the order or orders you might normally expect them to, based on when they were awakened in the applicable canons, either, for that matter. Instead, some may awaken later or earlier than they did in those canons, if they did so, for sure, everyone.
I hope you all will eventually enjoy this story, and will ultimately read and review and follow it as often as possible, of course. Flames will not be accepted, but constructive reviews will be considered and greatly appreciated by me, for sure, by the way. If you have any questions, within reason, please ask them in a review or through a private message, then, if and whenever possible, then, if you like, and I will try to answer them as best as I can, whenever possible, and however possible.
With no further ado, then, this story will now begin. Happy reading, and God bless, Lord willing, then.
Earth Versus the Power-Hunters
By The Universal Storyteller
Earth Knight's First Fight
It was a bright late summer morning in Tokyo, Japan, when Darien Shields went to college for the first day of his college's school year. Darien was a pre-medical student beginning his junior year in college that day. On the way there, he met up with his friend Motoki Furuhata, who was also a pre-medical student. But Motoki was not studying to be the same kind of doctor that Darien was studying to be. Darien was studying to become a cardiologist, instead of an otolaryngologist as Motoki was then studying to be.
Darien and Motoki had known each other for about two years, ever since Darien had begun college as a freshman shortly after his 18th birthday as an American student coming overseas, at the behest of a long-time Japanese penpal of his. That penpal had written to Darien and received letters from him for many years, since their respective parents had been lost in tragic accidents around the same times in both their lives, after having been put in touch with each other through orphanages both had been placed in after those accidents.
Ever since, that penpal, who also knew Motoki personally, had often corresponded with Darien. Even as they both continued to cope with their respective parents' losses in their lives, they had. And both had eventually met each other about a year after Darien first came to Japan for college. Now they were beginning to spend a lot more time with each other as they continued attending college in their lives, and not just with Motoki, either, as close friends to each other.
"Darien, what are your plans for tonight, after classes end today, by the way?" asked Motoki, a blond with short chin-length hair that was slightly tousled at the current moment.
"Well, Motoki, I was thinking of riding my motorcycle for a while, and maybe going out to eat later, if at all possible. Why do you ask?"
"Well, Reika and I were hoping you and Mamoru would perhaps be willing to go on blind dates tonight with two girls studying as art majors, if that was all right with you both."
"And have you asked Mamoru yet if he'd be interested in such an idea?"
"No, but Reika was planning to when she and Mamoru were in their chemistry class later today, Darien."
"I see. And when were we supposed to perhaps meet these young women, then?"
"By 7:30, if I remember correctly, at the Crown Arcade."
"I'll think about it, then. In the meantime, we both need to get to our respective classes, Motoki."
"Of course, Darien. Call me if you decide to come along with us and meet the young ladies we've picked out for you and Mamoru to spend time with tonight. Have a good day."
"You too, and I will, Motoki, if I can and want to."
Then Darien and Motoki parted, once they were both on their college's campus as needed. And they mostly didn't see each other again for the rest of the school day, except during a brief early afternoon stop in their college's Student Union for some lunch. And only for a little while, when they did.
Darien left the campus by 3 pm, setting off for his apartment. He spent about an hour there before heading out again from it, and he was heading to the Crown Arcade for some coffee when he unexpectedly encountered a blonde girl who had a rather unusual hairstyle. As he was still heading there, a briefcase suddenly flew out from somewhere near him and unexpectedly smacked him in the head, knocking him down to the ground, face-first. His stomach and knees quickly followed behind his head and the rest of his body. And he was quite surprised when he finally realized what had just happened well enough. Even though he was still a bit out of it and still wondering a little about how it came to be just that way here, he was.
The girl who had thrown it carelessly and unknowingly in his direction was a shade under five feet tall and under 100 pounds in weight. But she had still somehow hurled it with quite a lot of force. When she realized what she'd just done, she hurried to where her briefcase had landed, after first locating it well enough. And she soon saw Darien sprawled out as he then was, not yet sufficiently sure of what hit him. For he was still a bit out of it, due to the sudden force of her briefcase's impact somewhat near the back of his head mere moments before.
"Sir, are you all right?" asked the girl, hoping she hadn't accidentally killed someone, seeing as her briefcase currently had quite a few things in it. She began to get concerned after he didn't answer for about five minutes. But eventually he began to stir, and wonder what happened just now.
"Umm, who are you, and why am I here?" asked Darien, after he finally realized that he was down on the ground sufficiently well.
"Umm, I'm sorry, but I unintentionally hit you with my briefcase a little while ago, after I threw it from somewhere near here. I threw it because I was really mad at myself for messing up on a number of my tests today, sir. I really didn't mean to hurt you, as it seems that I've now done."
"Who are you, then, Meatball Head?"
"I'm not a Meatball Head, my name is Serena Moon. Although I do admit I wasn't really smart to look where I was throwing things just a bit ago, sir. Do you know who you are?"
"Darien Shields, it seems, according to this driver's license I see in front of me now. Serena Moon, you said your name was?"
"Yes, I am Serena Moon. I hope you won't be mad at me for this, though, sir."
"Just don't throw anything else my way needlessly, Moon-san, if you can avoid it, and I think we can forget about this incident. Somehow, I have a feeling, though, that we may see much of each other in the future, although I can't really understand why. At least not yet, if I ever will, that is."
"I'll try, Muffin."
"Muffin?"
"Huh?"
"You just called me Muffin, for some reason. It seems familiar, somehow. Are you sure we've never met before?"
"Positive, Shields-san. Are you going to be okay?"
"I don't know. Do you have any plans to make up for this, perhaps, at some point?"
"How do you mean?"
"Think we could get a bite to eat somewhere every so often? I know just the place that might be up your alley, so to speak, if you're interested in video games, as it seems you are. Seeing as there's a video game now sticking out of one of your briefcase's side pockets just a little bit."
"I'll think about it, Shields-san. Sorry for hitting you with my briefcase like I did earlier. Are you going to be fine, though, if I leave you alone again?"
Darien slowly got to his feet, under Serena's watchful blue eyes, then looked around for a bit, still trying to get his current bearings sufficiently well, before eventually saying, "I think so. It seems I was heading to the Crown Arcade when your briefcase hit me like it did. Thankfully it wasn't a boulder you sent my way, though. Or I probably would still be down on the ground, at least, of course."
"I did throw it very fast and very carelessly, sir."
"I've dealt with worse circumstances before than this. Don't worry yourself about it, Moon-san."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I think so. Just try not to hit anyone else like this needlessly again, if you can possibly avoid it somehow, Meatball Head."
"I'm not a Meatball Head."
"But your hair looks like meatballs, come to think of it."
"No, it doesn't. Oh, forget it. I better get home before my mother blows a gasket and wonders why I'm home later than normal, I suppose. See you around, Muffin."
"I'm not a Muffin."
"If you're going to call me a Meatball Head, then maybe I should call you a Muffin, or maybe even a Mophead, for some reason."
"Mophead? I don't get it."
"I don't either. But maybe your head still looks like a mop head, at least in some way. Though I don't exactly know why that might be the case, for some yet-unknown reason."
Darien gathered up his things, as she then left, before eventually continuing on his way to the Crown Arcade as originally planned. When he got there, Motoki asked, "What happened to you, Darien? Your face looks a little beat up, at least. Did you get in a fight or something?"
"A strange girl hit me with her briefcase by accident. And I got knocked to the ground by it, it seems. Not only that, I fell on my face, and stuff, at that."
"I see. And is she cute?"
"Motoki, I'm not looking for another girl to date. So you can forget about trying to set me up with someone, like you often do, from what I've heard about you in the past, other than the one that you might want me to blind-date later."
"Come on, Darien, lighten up. You can't always be solitary, you know."
"Why not?"
"Too many cute and intelligent young women out there to see, of course."
"I'd rather be dark and mysterious to them, and not give my heart away needlessly, Motoki. I don't want to hurt again a lot. And you may know why."
Motoki thought for a moment, then said, "What would your parents want for you, most likely, in your life, Darien?"
"For me to be happy, I suppose."
"And don't you think that having a good young lady at your side might help you be happy with your life, at least to some degree?"
"What does that have to do with anything at all here?"
"She can help you heal from your loss, I'm sure, somehow, Darien."
"Well, I prefer my privacy as much as possible."
"Your life will get boring rather quickly if you shut yourself into a prison of your own making, Darien. And you don't really need that to happen at all in your life, I'm quite sure."
"Please save me the psychiatric or psychological flimflam, Motoki, and give me a coffee, straight black. For class was really tough for me today, and I just got smashed by what seemed like a fifty-pound weight, but which was actually about ten or so pounds, if I remember correctly enough somehow."
"Fine. You're lucky, then, quite lucky, that I'm not going into the fields of psychiatry or psychology, I think, but into the field of otolaryngology, Darien."
"I suppose so." Motoki poured Darien a cup of coffee, as requested. Then Darien sat down and began to sip it quietly for a while. As he sipped his coffee, Darien also did a little studying for one of his classes, most specifically a chemistry class, here and there, for a while. Eventually, Darien finished his cup, then paid Motoki for it as needed, before leaving the Crown Arcade behind here for the rest of the night. Or at least that was his plan, anyway, whether or not that somehow would prove to actually be the case for him during it, anyway.
He soon went back to his apartment somewhere nearby, and did more studying. Even while preparing himself some food for his supper or watching television for a bit, he did so. At least he did so, anyway, until he was quite unexpectedly joined in his apartment by a peacock and a hedgehog. For they had quite suddenly indeed then entered it through his television. When they both did so, it then seemed to him that his television had somehow been turned into a portal of some yet-unknown sort without his prior knowledge by someone or something not yet known to him sufficiently well.
As soon as the peacock and hedgehog both realized what had just happened and had both gotten their bearings well enough in his apartment, they both looked at each other briefly, before telepathically agreeing that the peacock should speak first vocally here to Darien somehow. That then agreed, the peacock soon said, "Arise, Earth Knight, and prepare for battle against a great and returning evil seeking to take over your world again!"
As soon as Darien heard those words, he quickly turned around, after setting down the spatula he was using to make an omelette with, and went to try to find the source of the yet-unfamiliar voice elsewhere in his apartment. He saw two animals in his apartment in front of his television. One on his sofa, and one on the floor near the sofa, with the peacock standing on the floor, and the hedgehog on the sofa, that hadn't been in his apartment even five minutes earlier, for sure. When he found them, he wondered where they had come from, and why they were in his apartment, of course. He tried to find out if they were alive or not, or if they were just stuffed animals or something.
As he began to examine them, starting with the peacock, he suddenly heard, "Hey, watch the feathers, Tuxedo Mask, I don't want to lose any."
Not yet knowing what was going on, he stopped poking around on the peacock, and began to examine the hedgehog, while also thinking someone was perhaps trying to play a trick on him somehow. As he did with the peacock, he also tried to do with the hedgehog, still thinking someone had somehow silently sneaked into and out of his apartment while his back was turned away from the door and beginning to prepare himself some supper.
The hedgehog remained silent for a little while, at least, but eventually spoke vocally as well, after Darien started poking around his hindquarters and private area. They said, "That's more than enough poking, Darien. And, by the way, you might want to turn off your stove. Simply because you're not going to be here much longer, for now."
"Where are your off-switches, you toys?"
"We are not toys," said the peacock. "We are here to awaken you to the danger that even now is arising to try and take over your world again."
"Who are you, and who sent you, and what are you doing here?"
"We are Wanderer," said the peacock.
"And Seeker," added the hedgehog.
"We were sent here by an ally you will eventually come to meet, if you survive long enough," said Wanderer, a mostly blue and green peacock.
"And we are here because we were sent here through your television by that same ally using a device that you will eventually learn about as well." added Seeker, a mostly black hedgehog.
"Not to mention the fact that we also will have to also initiate you as a protector of your own world, it seems," said Wanderer.
"And to also train you as such at least until such time as others you meet then ultimately come to assist you in that sort of thing," commented Seeker.
"And to give you certain things that may help you do so well enough," added Wanderer.
"While the struggle or struggles that you are going to have to go through still continue, whether or not others are helping you during it or them, for that matter, Darien," finished Seeker.
"I don't want to fight. Get out of here," said Darien, as he quickly turned off his stove, and did whatever else he'd then have to do in his kitchen area.
"Sorry, you have to fight, Darien, or your world could very well be destroyed or conquered," said Wanderer.
"We will not get out of here until we have made you what you need to be, either, for that matter," said Seeker.
"And how do you two plan to do that, seeing as you're most likely just mere stuffed animals?" asked Darien.
"We are not mere stuffed animals or toys, we are sentient animals," said Wanderer.
"And we'll prove it by having you say, 'Jeweled Rose Power!'" said Seeker.
"What good will that do?"
"You'll see, Darien," said Wanderer.
"But just do it!" said Seeker.
"Fine, if it will get you to go away, then I will!" shouted Darien. "Jeweled Rose Power!" As soon as he shouted those words, he suddenly found himself transforming, and donning a fighting uniform that was some sort of fusion of a formal outfit and a suit of armor. While it primarily looked like a formal outfit, some hints of it being a fusion of a formal outfit and a suit of armor were still visible. It mainly had a blue and green color scheme for the more armor-like parts of it, and black and white for the more formal outfit-looking parts of it. A white half-mask covered his face, while the suit's tuxedo-style jacket, trousers, and shoes were black, his shirt white, his bowtie and cummerbund mostly blue and green, and his cape mostly black with occasional Earth-related symbols primarily in blue and green on one side and red with such symbols on the other. Blue and green Earth symbols were present as well as cufflinks for his outfit, and jeweled mostly red roses were in both his suit jacket's lapels, On his left hip, under part of his tuxedo-style jacket, there was a quite intricately decorated scabbard with a long sword in it, and a holder for an expandable cane/walking stick just outside that scabbard and sword.
After he was fully transformed, he soon noticed that both Wanderer and Seeker had found the doors to his balcony, and were at them, as if they wanted him to open said doors. "Now what do you two want?"
"Open the doors to your destiny," began Wanderer.
"And you will eventually find what your heart most seeks, if you somehow survive long enough in your life. People are in great danger, and only you can currently help them, it seems," said Seeker.
Earth Knight then moved to his balcony's doors, and opened them. As soon as he did, both animals moved onto his balcony, and then looked out over the city, trying to pinpoint where they'd all have to go in order to first battle evil on the current evening or night. He obviously followed them, of course, and then Wanderer suddenly hopped over a railing on his balcony, and called out, "Wanderer Power, Engage!" He quite unexpectedly transformed into some sort of flying mechanized transport, and then faced towards the balcony closely enough for him to touch it and open his mouth.
When Earth Knight saw that, he said, "You can't be serious. I'm not entering his mouth."
"You have to, Earth Knight," said Seeker. "We need to get to a jewelry store as soon as possible, or lives will be lost, most likely, or at least greatly endangered. Wanderer will take us there."
"How?"
"We'll explain on the way as best as we can, or soon after, if at all possible," said Wanderer, with a more computerized sound then to his voice compared to how it sounded just minutes before. "Now get inside my head before people see us. I can't keep most other people around here from seeing me like this much longer, while we're dilly-dallying, Earth Knight."
"This is nuts," said Earth Knight as he then picked up Seeker and reluctantly entered the now-transformed Wanderer through his mouth as then needed.
"Maybe so, but you'll get used to it," said Seeker. Seeker then quickly escorted Earth Knight to a command center of sorts in Wanderer's head, so that he could see better where Wanderer would be taking them, of course. As he did so, Wanderer then quickly began flying invisibly towards the necessary jewelry store elsewhere in Azabu Juuban, and soon landed on its roof as needed. Once he did so, he opened his mouth to let both Earth Knight and Seeker out. Then Seeker suddenly transformed himself into a watch of some sort, before telling Earth Knight to put him on. While Seeker was doing that, Wanderer temporarily took the form of a decoration of some sort on Earth Knight's cummerbund.
"How are you two able to do that?"
"Sorry, have to tell you later. Now you have to get to the Osaka/Baker Jewelry Shoppe to save those in danger. And you must hurry! Quick, quick, Earth Knight," said Seeker. Earth Knight spotted a covered stairway leading to the roof he was then on, and opened the first door he then saw, before passing through it. Quickly being guided to the ground floor of the building by both his guardians, he found a monster of some yet-unfamiliar sort then apparently in the process of trying to strangle a young girl somehow, once he'd ultimately found the proper room or place to go to in the building.
What he then saw was a rather large serpentine and female-looking monster with often-scaled skin, many eyes, and several visible bone spurs, not to mention some humanoid-like arms and hands, at least, as well. And many other people were currently lying on the floor, as if they were at least unconscious, if not actually dead, from what Earth Knight could then tell well enough.
He shouted, "Let that girl go, you big ugly thing!"
The monster turned her head almost all the way around, and looked for the source of the voice, before she spotted him. By then, Wanderer and Seeker had left his cummerbund and wrist respectively, and re-transformed into forms more naturally-appearing here, but still considerably larger than they each had earlier been in Darien's apartment. The monster, which Darien would come to know as a frequently Negaverse-affiliated kind of being called an Anidoa, asked him, "Who are you, and why are you interrupting me as I feast on the energy of all these people?"
Earth Knight thought very briefly indeed, and then said, in a very loud voice, "I am Earth Knight, you big ugly thing! I don't care what you are, and who you are, the Earth cries out for your destruction as soon as possible! Let that girl go, and prepare to die, you vile monster!"
"You can't talk to me, Gomirau, servant of the High Queens, like that! Arise, my fellow servants, and eliminate this fool from his planet, for the glory of the Negaverse!" As soon as the monster said that, all the people who'd been on the floor apparently unconscious or worse rose and began mindlessly moving towards him. Earth Knight found himself drawing both his sword and cane to try and fend them off from their eventual pursuing of him. Of course, he tried not to hurt them, even while taking at least a few hits apiece from many of them. As he was doing so, he suddenly switched his sword temporarily to his left hand, stowed away his cane, and reached into an interior pocket for his tuxedo's suit jacket with his right hand for some roses in what he'd come to know as a subspace pocket. That done, he quickly withdrew those roses and began throwing them at the people attacking him, while also saying, "Earth Power, Release!"
The roses suddenly began creating a rather strong telepathy-related disruption field of some sort, which soon overcame the quite substantial amount of mental control that Gomirau had been exerting over those then under her control, Especially after Wanderer and Seeker had begun to attack her while Earth Knight was trying to fend off all his current attackers. Once her unknowing servants were no longer under her control, for sure, Wanderer and Seeker then backed away from her, and called out to Earth Knight as soon as they could, "Destroy this evil monster now, Tuxedo Mask!"
"How, you two?" asked Earth Knight/Tuxedo Mask.
"Just say whatever comes to mind!" shouted Wanderer. "For there's at least one other similar being in this building who you will have to destroy as well, because they typically work in pairs whenever they show up anywhere."
Tuxedo Mask then continued to throw roses to block potential ranged attacks from Gomirau, while charging her and trying to avoid being hit by visible bone spurs of hers. When he felt he was close enough to her, he then leaped up, avoiding an attempted grabbing move from her, and raised his sword above his head in mid-leap. Dodging her arms and hands, he then aimed for the center of her head's crown, and hit it on the way down with his sword. His sword pierced her skull, and as he descended, the sword cut even more of her starting from the middle of her head's crown all the way down to the base of her back. It cut deep, and even sent out projections to do more damage to her as it moved through her body until Tuxedo Mask found a heretofore-unfound button of some sort accidentally somewhere on his sword's handle. That same button quite suddenly and quite unexpectedly then made all those projections quite quickly withdraw back into the blade from the areas of it which they had each come from, and also allowed him to ultimately withdraw his sword from her body, in fact.
When Gomirau realized how badly he had cut her, she shouted, "You may have killed me, but I will return, and the Negaverse shall prevail over you, I'm sure!" Ten seconds after that, at most, Gomirau was merely dust on the ground of the room everyone now present was in, before that dust suddenly vanished, as if into non-existence or thin air, so to speak, somehow. About two more minutes after that, Wanderer and Seeker were both hurrying Tuxedo Mask along so that he could deal with Gomirau's partner/mate in this particular matter that they were somehow now aware of sufficiently well.
It took about another twenty or so minutes for them to both find and then defeat that other Anidoa. Ultimately, Tamuboga was also dispatched as Gomirau had been not long before, with the same exact result and vanishing of the dust that Tuxedo Mask had left behind after destroying him as well. For Tamuboga was not only Gomirau's partner in this mission, but also her male companion of a sort, in fact.
After both Anidoas had definitely been destroyed, Earth Knight asked, "Are we done here, you two?"
"Yes, we are done here. But there will be other monsters of various kinds you and/or others will often have to fight, for sure, Earth Knight, whether you want to or not," said Wanderer.
"Now I suggest we get out of here before any possible media people or law enforcement people, for instance, show up and see us and want to ask us any questions," said Seeker.
"Where do I need to go, then, and what do I need to do, in order to get out of this get-up, you two?"
"Remember what you said that made you transform?" asked Wanderer.
"Yes, I think so."
"Say that phrase again, except with the word Stop instead of the word Power. That should allow you to power down, if we're not too mistaken. Of course, we could be wrong about that sort of thing, but it's worth a try," said Seeker. Even as the three of them quickly then found an empty nearby alley to hide in for a few moments, more or less.
Moments later, once it was safe enough for him to do so, Earth Knight powered down and became just Darien Shields again. But before he did, Wanderer and Seeker again hid themselves on his person, just as they'd done earlier. As before, Seeker apparently turned into a watch, but this time, Wanderer turned into a belt and belt buckle, somehow.
After that happened, it wasn't too much longer before Darien was back in his apartment, getting back to preparing himself some supper. And also listening to various phone calls that had come in while he'd been out and about. Especially from Motoki, due to the fact that Darien had not shown up at the Arcade by 7:30 pm as Motoki had hoped he would.
After Darien had his supper, he told Wanderer and Seeker to stay in his apartment, and do nothing else until he returned home for the night. That was a good while after Wanderer and Seeker had both returned to their most common physical enough appearances.
Darien soon went to the Crown Arcade. Motoki was quite upset with him, not yet knowing why Darien had not shown up earlier. When Darien got there, the Arcade was mostly emptied out. And it was almost 9:30 at night. Only Motoki, Darien, Reika, one waitress, and a few patrons were still left in it after Darien finally showed back up at the Crown Arcade again.
"Darien, you were supposed to make it here in order to go on a blind date with someone tonight."
"I never said for sure that I would come on this blind date to you. I said I'd think about it, nothing more, Motoki. You and Reika want me to date. But I only date when I want to date. And besides, other things came upon me tonight, quite unexpectedly."
"Oh? Do tell!"
"Nope. Not telling you anything!"
"You've told me almost everything about you that you can recall well enough, I believe, before."
"Well, you can hereby file this particular sort of thing under the specific category of CLASSIFIED TOP-SECRET INFORMATION, at least for now, if not permanently, for sure. I won't tell you, or at least not yet. For you'd never likely believe me, at least as of this time, Motoki. So don't even bother asking about it, until such time as I choose to tell you about it, if ever."
"Tell Furuhata-san about what?" said a very-unexpected female voice, suddenly, from the Crown Arcade's main doors.
"Nothing that you need to know about, Usagi-chan. Seems Shields-san doesn't want to share his secrets about where he was tonight when he was supposed to be coming with Reika, me, and a few others tonight on a triple date," said Motoki, with a bit of a smile on his face. Even as Darien then began to turn around to see who had just spoken here to him well enough.
"That's right, and I don't believe we've met before, but you still seem somewhat familiar to me somehow. Could you have beaned me with a briefcase earlier today?" asked Darien, once he got a good enough look at her at the current time.
"As if! I don't think I've ever seen you before. Who are you anyway?" asked the aforementioned Usagi-chan, a girl of about fourteen years old. Although Darien didn't yet know that about her at all.
"My name is Darien Shields, and a girl with a similar hairstyle to yours seems to have beaned me this afternoon, Miss Who?"
"Well, that girl certainly wasn't me, for sure. Anyway, my name is Usagi Tsukino, by the way."
"I see. Anyway, I just came here to visit for a little while longer with Motoki before I went back home for the rest of the night. Besides, I'm out of ice cream back in my apartment. So I was going to also make a shopping run before the stores closed tonight, anyway."
"What flavor?" asked another girl, who had just entered the arcade as well.
"Chocolate chip ice cream with Gummi Bears in it, if I could find it well enough, somehow, Miss. Oh, it's you, Meatball Head. Shouldn't you be home by now?" asked Darien, once he quickly spotted who'd just spoken here well enough.
"I should be, that's true. But it seems that I left some of my stuff here after one of my friends dragged me here earlier, for some relaxation therapy of a sort, once we were somehow saved from some big monsters at her mother's jewelry store by a masked hero and a pair of strange animals," said Serena. "I told Mom, when I finally got home after that happened and realized that I'd actually done so, that I needed to come back here for my stuff. Even though she prefers that I not be out and about this late at night, she still let me come here for my stuff. Especially because a lot of my school stuff is among the stuff I forgot here, Mophead."
Usagi and Serena soon spotted each other, before Usagi suddenly said, "Strange. It seems like we both have the exact same hairstyle, somehow. Though I don't yet know just why, if I ever will. Not only that, we look almost exactly alike, for that matter, more or less. Have we perhaps ever met before, somehow?"
"I don't think so, Miss Who?" asked Serena.
"Miss Usagi Tsukino, that's who. And you?"
"Serena Moon, to be honest."
"And you two seem to recognize each other. Interesting."
"How so?" asked Darien.
"Well, you just said a girl with a strange hairstyle beaned you with a briefcase this afternoon. Could it be that you ticked her off?"
"No, of course not, Tsukino-san."
"Then perhaps you can tell these young ladies why you were beaned on the head earlier by such a girl, Darien-san," said a dark-haired man who'd just entered the Arcade as well. He was an almost dead-ringer in appearance to Darien here. Except where Darien was wearing a mostly black motorcycle jacket, the other man was wearing a mostly green blazer-style jacket.
"She wasn't watching very well where she was throwing things earlier, Mamoru-san," said Darien.
"And who was that girl, then, if I might ask?" asked Mamoru.
Serena quickly snapped her gaze away from Usagi and towards where she thought the voice came from, before then seeing Mamoru. "Another one? Oh, boy! Yikes, two Mopheads?"
"Mopheads, Moon-san?"
"Yes, Tsukino-san, Mopheads."
"More like muffins to me, perhaps, Moon-san."
"You'd know about them, wouldn't you, Odango Atama?" asked Mamoru. "I saw you pigging out on a bag of fifty of them earlier today, it seems, in the park around here, if memory serves?"
"I'm a growing girl, and I need to eat, Mugwump-Baka!" said Usagi.
"You can't be more than ten years or so old, now can you?" asked Mamoru.
"I'll have you know I'm fourteen years old, Mugwumpish Muffin-Baka! And my name isn't Odango Atama, Odango, or anything but Usagi Tsukino, for your information! Can't you get that through your thick head, Baka?"
"Why should I?"
"Because I said so, that's why, you Mugwump!"
Reika secretly whispered in Motoki's ear, "I think those two are really going to hit it off with each other in the future."
Just as secretly, as everyone else in the Arcade besides Reika, Motoki, Usagi, Mamoru, Serena, and Darien left it, Motoki asked, "What makes you say that?"
"Can't explain this feeling just yet, but I still seem to get that impression somehow. Not only that, I think that Serena and Darien may themselves do the same, in time. Oh, boy, there they all go, shooting ketchup and mustard at each other," said Reika, a few moments of silent observation later.
"Oh, dear! We should stop them, then."
"Give them a few minutes to blow off some steam at each other. They've all apparently had a very difficult day for each of them, I think, from what I can currently tell."
"My parents are going to be very upset if this place gets too messy before we open tomorrow, you know."
"Let's give them about five more minutes, then move in."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Reika-chan."
"Trust me, they all will be very closely linked together. I can't understand why, just yet. But I still have this very strange feeling that they all will be somehow, in time, Motoki-kun."
So Motoki, even though he was at least a little bit skeptical of what she was telling him, waited about five more minutes before doing or saying anything at all to them all, just as Reika had recommended he do. After it did, he said, "Everyone out, if you don't want to stay after, and help us clean up this mess that you four just caused."
Right after Motoki said that, the four battlers almost immediately fled from the arcade, and left Motoki all alone with Reika in it. After they were all gone, Motoki asked, "Do you think you could stay at least long enough to help me clean up their mess before you go?"
"I think that can be arranged. I don't have anything else planned for a while longer tonight. So why not, Motoki-kun? I'd be glad to help you clean up after the lovebirds."
"Lovebirds? More like scrapping dogs and cats, I'd probably say, I think, Reika-chan."
Much to their great surprise, it then took no more than about another 35 minutes or so after the battlers left the Arcade behind for the rest of the night for Reika and Motoki to put the whole place in order. Even in parts of it that the battlers hadn't been having a food fight with each other in at all. Once the whole Arcade and the whole attached Restaurant were both completely cleaned, Reika soon left. Then Motoki went quite happily right on up to his family's residence situated above the arcade for the rest of the night.
As for the battlers, each soon went to sleep in their own respective homes in various parts of Azabu Juuban, quite naturally enough. And so they each remained. Or at least until such time as they'd then need to wake up again in them the following day, whenever that might be for each and every single one of them, anyway, for sure, in their own respective mortal lives.
End of Chapter One
This concludes the first chapter of this story. Hope you all enjoyed it, folks. Please stay tuned for Chapter Two, which will be called The Raging Eramcelers, in fact. At least a few more characters should appear for the first time in the next chapter, for sure. Will Darien be finding himself fighting again, or not, even if he really doesn't like the idea of doing so at all? How will he deal with his new and quite-unexpected animal companions and the others he's not yet all that familiar with in his life? Will the Negaverse do better with its next attempt to gain a foothold of sorts on Earth, somehow, or not? Please read on to find out. TUS out.