The Legendary Court of the Sun

An Original Fanfiction by Tuxedo Starr, Prince Nebula

Hiya, minna! Sailor Moon isn't mine *pout*. But we'll change that soon enough . . . *eyes gleam mischievously*. However, the characters in this story DO belong to me. If you would like to use them, ask me nicely and I will consider it.

Enjoy! And don't pay attention to the general belief that the review button is wicked. IT IS YOUR FRIEND!!!!!! (not to mention mine, but you know . . .) Come on, we ALL like to get reviews, ne?

On to the story!





Part One - The Leader and the Psychic

"Jessie! Jessie, wait up!"

Jessica Phillips turned, blond hair brushing her shoulders, and smiled as Vanessa Thornton ran up, waving a book.

"Guess what I have!"

"The third book in the Sailormoon SuperS manga."

"How'd you EVER guess?!" Vanessa cried, flipping back her long blond hair and striking the classic melodramatic pose. Jessica smiled.

"Maybe because you're waving it around in plain view."

"Of course, ma chere," Vanessa grinned, her enthusiasm clear. Suddenly, her smile seemed plastered on, and she hurriedly hid the book behind her back. "Uh-oh."

Jessica followed her gaze to see a tall girl with her long red hair in a ponytail walking down the hall towards them. She grimaced. "Kathryn O'Riley."

"Terrific. And I was having such a good day," Vanessa muttered.

"It's funny how you're friends with practically everyone in this high school . . ."

"And not her? She's nice enough, but no one gets away with making fun of my favorite manga and anime series."

"Yeah, you're a regular lion when it comes to Sailor Moon . . ."

"Sailor Moon? Did I hear right?" a smooth, silky voice drawled. Jessica bowed her head and blushed, clutching her books to her chest, and attempted to sink into the floor. Vanessa glared. "Don't most girls grow out of that at age four?" Kathryn continued, smiling brilliantly.

"Seems to me you haven't reached the mentality of a four-year-old yet," Vanessa said, smiling blindingly. "Do all cheerleaders go through this stage, or just you?"

Kathryn's grin faded, and she glared at Vanessa. Jessica tugged on her friend's sleeve. "Come on, let's go."

"Ta-ta, Katie," Vanessa said, beaming over her shoulder.

The pair burst through the front doors of the school as Kathryn shouted, "Don't call me that!"

***

"Ha ha! I love getting on her nerves!" Vanessa cried as the pair tromped through the ankle deep snow covering the school yard.

Jessica smiled. "I really think you should try to be friends with her . . ."

"Yeah, like that'll happen," Vanessa laughed, giving Jessica a push. The push caught her off balance, and Jessica plunged with a surprised squeal into the snowdrift next to the sidewalk.

"Good idea!" Vanessa cried, and dove in after her best friend. "I love winter . . ."

"I prefer summer myself," Jessica said, smacking Vanessa with a snowball. A friendly tussle in the snow ensued as the friends tried to gain the upper hand. Ultimately, Vanessa got a cold surprise down her back, and Jessica wound up with a face full of the white stuff. When they had run out of breath, they fell back into the snow, looking up into the slate-gray sky in contented silence.

Finally, Jessica glanced at her watch. "I gotta get going." "Go ahead, I'll call you later," Vanessa said as Jessica got up and brushed herself off. Vanessa waved as her friend walked away, then fell back, enjoying the peace and beauty of the last day of winter . . .

And a blob of yellow fur pounced from the tree above her, landing on her chest.

"AHH!" the blonde yelled, jumping up. The furball fell into the snow, and a protesting meow rose from the drift.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Poor kitty," Vanessa cried, picking it up out of the snow. The cat mewed and looked up at her, green eyes piercing. Its eyes looked too intelligent to belong to an animal, and Vanessa felt chills run up her spine as she gazed into the mysterious depths. Then she saw something that made her blood run cold.

On the cat's forehead was a strange golden symbol-a circle with a dot at its center, which she recognized as the symbol for the Sun. Her mouth dropped open in stunned horror, and she reached out tentatively with her right hand to touch the birthmark. "Oh my God . . ."

The cat rolled his eyes. "Come on, I won't bite."

Vanessa shrieked and flung up her arms. The unfortunate cat took his second plunge into the cold, wet drift, hissing in protest. The blonde collapsed to the ground as the cat crawled his way out of the snow, then began sobbing into her arms as he walked over to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll swear off Sailor Moon comics forever if . . . oh God, I'm going insane! Either that, or . . ." she looked up into the cat's intelligent eyes, " . . . you.

"Just.

"TALKED TO ME!"

The cat sighed. "Yes, I did."

A shriek, and the blonde scooted backward on her behind, leaving a deep rut in the snow. Unfortunately, she didn't get very far. She moaned in pain as her head hit the tree trunk which had housed the cat a moment before. Shaking her head, she trembled, clutching her arms to her chest and whimpering.

The cat rolled his eyes and cautiously made his way over to the girl. Vanessa attempted to blend with the tree.

_Oh, boy,_ the cat thought. _I thought this would be easier._

"Anyway, Vanessa, like I was saying, I won't hurt you. Now . . . would you SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME ALREADY!!!!!"

Vanessa shut up, cutting short her mantra of, "It's not there, it's not real, it's not THERE! . . ." and stared at the cat with wide blue eyes.

"That's better. Vanessa, my name is Apollo. I've been . . ."

"Looking . . . for . . . me?"

"Yes, I have." Vanessa's eyes widened. A small grin appeared on her face and grew as Apollo continued. "I am here to awaken you as a Sailor Soldier."

Vanessa, for once in her life, was speechless.

". . . . . . . . ."

"But I thought . . ."

"That Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon was a fiction story? Actually, the manga is quite accurate. Naoko is the only one who knows the Senshi actually exist. She published it as a fictional work in order to protect their identities. The books have a certain hypnotizing quality as well to make people assume it's fiction and not recognize the characters . . ."

"I'M A SAILOR SOLDIER!!!!" Vanessa cried, leaping to her feet and dancing around in the snow. Apollo watched in stupefied amazement as the blonde began her own conga line: "I am a sailor sol-DIER! I am a sailor sol-DIER!

"Come on, kitty! Dance with me!" she cried, scooping up the surprised cat and swinging him around wildly. She laughed, partly in joy and partly in amusement at the cat's dizzy expression. "So, who am I? Sailor Charon? Io? Aphrodite? Lunar?"

"Put . . . me down . . . and I'll . . . tell . . . you!"

"Oops. Sorry."

The blonde stopped her dizzying spin and lowered Apollo gently to the ground. The cat's eyes rolled around in his head for a moment before he composed himself. His charge waited patiently, yet eagerly.

Presently, the world came into focus for the feline, and he looked the teenager in the eye. "Well . . ."

"Spit it out, kitty! Who am I?"

"Actually . . ." Apollo sweatdropped. "Sailor Snow."

"WHAT?!?!?!? What kind of a name is THAT?" Apollo covered his ears in pain.

"It's not my fault!" he yelled. "You are the leader of the Court of the Princess of the Sun, Princess Eos. The Court of the Sun are blessed with the powers of weather."

"Really?" Vanessa grinned. "Cool! I'm a sailor sol-DIER! I'm a sailor sol-DIER! . . ." A sudden explosion rocked the ground, and the cat fell backwards into the snow. Vanessa stopped mid-conga and glanced over her shoulder to see smoke rising from the high school gym.

"Yoma?!" she cried (taking great delight in saying it).

Apollo sighed in relief, thankful that his charge had a sense of duty and knowledge of what was occurring, unlike his unfortunate associate. "Yes," he said. "Take this."

Vanessa turned expectantly.

The feline leaped into the air and performed a graceful back flip. The air sparkled and rippled, and with a pop, a blue pen with a silver top appeared. The planet shape on the top of the pen contained the engraving of a snowflake.

Vanessa grabbed the pen off the ground and raced back to the school, Apollo at her heels. As she neared the gym, she stopped and held her pen in the air. "Snow Elemental Power! Make-up!"

The snowflake glimmered white and spun off the pen, rotating around Vanessa and burning away her clothes, leaving her nude body infused with a soft white glow. Gray clouds swirled around her as she closed her eyes and spun around, clutching her pen. Snow flew out from the pen and encircled her torso, forming a light blue-tinted leotard. Dark blue stripes ran down the front, sides and back. Her collar and skirt were silver, and her bows purple. Her brooch was a white snowflake.

The pen vanished as she held her hands out to the sides. Snowflakes spiraled around her arms and feet, forming silver shoes with low heels and a clasp around the ankle and her gloves. Her gloves were silver and had only one ring at the elbow. A blue stripe ran down the middle of the back of the glove, continuing out to her middle finger. Where the stripe started, there was a white snowflake on the ring, and she wore rings with white snowflake ornaments on her middle finger.

Vanessa tilted her head back as a silver ribbon wove itself into her hair and a blue choker with a white snowflake appeared on her neck. Her blond hair turned pale blue with a thick purple stripe that started beneath her bow and continued to the end of her hair.

Finally, a glowing snowflake fluttered down from the sky and adhered itself to her forehead. The snowflake spread out into a silver tiara with a dark blue gem. She opened her eyes and tossed her hair, posing with her right hand on her hip, placing her weight on her right leg. A white snowflake gleamed behind her.

Sailor Snow looked over her shoulder. "My hair is blue."

"Yes, well . . ."

"And purple."

"That's the color it was in your past life . . ."

"Cool," Snow grinned. "My hair's a freaky color!"

With that, she turned and raced to the smoking wall and leapt through. Apollo sighed and followed after.

Crouching on the far side of the gym was a yoma that looked like an incredibly muscled living rock. (AN: Think of The Thing from The Fantastic Four.) An unconscious Kathryn O'Riley in cheerleading clothes lay slumped in its arms. Screams and cries for help could be heard from the girls dressing room. The thing turned its head as a cry of "Hold it!" resonated through the room.

The yoma's eyes registered the silhouette of a young girl in the smoke, posing angrily with her hands on her hips. Next to her right foot was a small animal.

"I won't let you harm innocent cheerleaders, even if they ARE snobs!" the girl cried, making several arm gestures. She turned to her companion. "Am I doing it right?"

Cat and yoma sweatdropped.

The smoke cleared to reveal Sailor Snow. "I am Sailor Snow, and in the name of the wintry elements of the sky, I shall punish you!"

With a cry, the girl soldier leapt into the air and delivered several well- placed punches and kicks to the yoma's face, knocking it away and forcing it to drop his unfortunate bundle. Snow pumped her fist in victory, then turned to the comatose cheerleader. "Kathryn? Kathryn, wake up. C'mon, get UP!" she cried, slapping her across the face.

"Vanessa?" Kathryn said, opening her eyes. The clear pools of green widened. "What are you WEARING?!? What did you do to your HAIR?!?!?!"

Snow's eyes widened and she looked at Apollo. "She recognized me! Does that mean . . ."

A blast of black energy hit her in the back, and she flew to the opposite wall. Snow groaned and tried to get up, then collapsed.

"VANESSA!" Kathryn cried, leaping to her feet. She started towards the fallen Senshi, then stopped as the hair on the back of her neck rose. She turned quickly, then leaped up and out of the way of the yoma's blast of energy, aimed for her former position.

"Premonitional abilities," Apollo whispered. "And she recognized Vanessa. That could only mean . . ."

The cat flipped, and a green and silver pen appeared, bearing a symbol shaped like a cloud. "Kathryn!" he called, throwing the pen at the cheerleader. Kathryn caught it without looking and raised it to the sky.

"Wind Elemental Power! Make UP!"

Shimmering green ribbons erupted from the top of the pen and Kathryn spun them around her body as her clothes vanished. They tightened to her torso, forming a fuku identical to Snow's with green stripes and bows and a white skirt and collar. Her brooch was a green oval. Silver and green gloves with oval green ornaments appeared on her arms and ankle-length boots appeared on her feet. The choker on her neck was white with a green stone, and the tiara that shimmered onto her forehead was gold with a green gem. She tossed her hair as the red became green with a white stripe down the middle. She posed right hand on hip with her right knee bent and left hand out as white clouds swirled behind her. The newly awakened Sailor Soldier glared at her opponent.

"I am Sailor Wind of the Court of the Sun! In the name of atmospheric changes and high fashion, I will punish you!"

The yoma laughed. "Foolish humans. You can't stop the Dark Empire! Lady Minera will have all of your Soul Gems!"

"Is that so?" Snow said, raising an eyebrow and placing her hand on her hip. Wind turned to see her teammate standing again and looking quite chipper. They made eye contact and nodded.

Snow flung her right hand down and out, ice trailing from her fingertips. "Cold Front!"

The ice formed a glittering arc with pointed spikes on its surface and spun towards the yoma, gaining momentum and speed as it flew.

Wind held out her right hand. A gust of air whipped around her, tugging at her ponytail. "Sky Wind!"

A vortex of wind surrounded the yoma, paralyzing it. It screamed as the deadly buzzsaw of ice sliced through its midsection, then crumpled into dust.

"Yes!" Snow cried, pumping her fist. "I beat a yoma, I beat a yoma . . ." she sang, beginning to dance in a circle.

"Please," Wind said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "You couldn't have done it without me . . ."

The blue-clad soldier paused and raised a light blue eyebrow. "Uh huh."

"Do you doubt me?"

"Frankly . . . yes."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Apollo sighed as the two continued to bicker. What a team, he thought, rolling his eyes.

But our mission is far from over . . .

_End Chapter One_

Isn't this fun, minna? I started this one a while ago, but you know how it is with new ideas. Sooner or later, they take control and your other stories lay hidden in your hard drive for months at a time. I plead guilty . . .

Stay tuned for chapter two! This will be the last story I post for a while, seeing as I already have four or five out there . . .:p

"Tsk tsk. I've never heard such language." --Ed

Tux Starr