Gravitation: A Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon Fanfiction
Chapter One: The Rage Beat
Disclaimer: BSSM doesn't belong to me and neither does the song The Rage Beat. The former belongs to Takeuchi Naoko and co. and the latter belongs to Kotani Kinya, Murakami Maki and co.
Being the Crown Princess of one of the Silver Milleniums most prominent planets and planet second closest to the Moon in rank, Rei had seen a number of things go terribly, terribly wrong in her time.
Whether it be something simple like functions being inturrpted by mauraders who had no idea that members of the royal families would be in attendence to entire planets wiped out by the wiggle of someones little toe. (She consistantly reminded herself not to piss off Saturn)
The current situation ranged somewhere in the middle of that.
Rei's father, the King of Mars, was absolutly livid that his daughter had been named Second Chair in the Solar System's protection squad.
That wasn't the heart of the problem, however. What was was the fact that over all of the other senshi, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto (not Mercury 'cause they were a bunch of eggheaded bookworms who've only ever read of battles...) to be chosen as the General of the Solar Senshi, it was Venus to be chosen as the leader of the group.
If not for that choice, Rei figured that her father probably wouldn't be as upset as he considered the daughters of every other planet in the solar system to be worthy warriors except Venus (and Mercury).
Selenity, however, refused to change her mind.
As this had been the first generation in at least 12 where everyone of the eligable planets had birthed females (as males were viewed too corrupted to handle the responsiblility of protecting the universe.) That being said, Selenity had the sole duty of moderating the training of and then ranking the new senshi as they matured.
She had chosen to rank Venus's party girl princess as the leader of the inner court and the emotionally blank slate that was the Princess of Saturn as the leader of the Outer Court,.
If she was to be honest, Rei really couldn't have cared less which rank she gained so long as she could do her job right. She didn't dare express her feelings to her father, however, lest she be disowned or something.
She suspected though that it was also her father's personal feelings towards the Queen of Venus, Aphrodite and the rumors that there were once intimatly involved and that the relationship had ended in tears and oceans of blood.
Rei just plain refused to ask.
So she sat there and pretended to glare at the room in general while sitting next to her father who was seething with rage so much so that it looked like (and probably actually was) little wisps of flame comming from his mouth every time he spoke.
She'd never met any of the other senshi outside of uniform and thus had never seen their true appearence, but she figured that the sunny blod sitting next to the white blond Aphrodite, must be Minako and therefore technically her superior (though not if her father could help it)
For some reason Rei couldn't help but notice the cerulean colored eyes the girl possessed, framed by that hair which matched the odd venusian flowers Minako was presently working into a garland.
"Selenity! You can't just sit there all nonchalant and ice-queen like just because you and Aphrodite happen to be friends. Besides the fact that Rei is much more qualified and that alone should guarantee her the position, I'm your brother!!"
Selenity narrowed her eyes as Ares banged her fists on the meeting table to punctuate each relationship.
"Yes, you are. Which is why my decision does not revolve around my relationships with your two. It never has but has always revolved around whom I believe to be the most capable girl for the job, which I believe to be Minako"
"Freya," Ares began, being sure to punctuate Minako's sovereign name through his teeth. He found it extreamly impertinent for person's outside of each royal family to refer to each others princesses by their given names. "Is no warrior. She's a party girl with a drinking proble, and obviously a drug problem as well." He added as an after fact, noticing Minako's garland with a sneer.
Aphrodite didn't take the bait,however, and responded by pretended to check her nails.
"And what exactly do you think Bellona will be able to do? The fact that her powers are more material doesn't lend anything to her actual abilities. Its been proven time and time again that Minako is able to profprm exceptionally well under pressure while your child truly takes after you in the way that she's more often rather whack things until they give in or die. Typical Martian behaviour. Exactly what about that says leader of the most powerful army in existence to you?!"
"It's leads better than hugging the enemy to death! Rei is far more capable at stratigy and battle tactics that Freya, as we've seen time and time again by the fact that your child would much rather just-"
"Enough!" Selenity yelled, causing everyone at the table to stare at her in awe, as the soft-spoken Queen rarely ever raised her voice. "Both princess have strengths and weaknesses which is why they are my top picks. I refuse to consider changing my mind of who is the best choice. If Pele wants to dispute the rankings then I shall decide what to do from there." Rei jumped as all eyes in the room suddenly focused on her.
She could feel her father's eyes burning into her in her periphrial vision, like the fire that their family could control and knew exactly what she had to do.
"...I want to dispute the ranking."
Ares turned a triumpant smirk towards Aphrodity who growled somewhere in the back of her throat and then to Selenity who sighed in resignation.
"Very Well. I propose that we hold a four-week trial, testing all of the skill necessary of the General of the Inner Court to be held between their Royal Highnesses the Princesses of Mars and Venus. There shall be an impartial proctor in the form of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Saturn and the trial shall be held in the neutral territory of Earth. There shall be no interferrence from the allies or relatives of either princess. At the end of the four-week term, the winner shall be decided by a panel consisting of Princess Saturn, Her Royal Highness, the High Princess Selena and myself. In the event that one of the princesses forfeits the trial or is deemed unable to compete, the remaining princess shall take the title and rank of General of the Inner Court Senshi and as such overall leader of the entire Senshi Corps. Are we all agreed on those terms and any that I decree in the even of question?"
There was a resounding "yes" throughout the room.
"Good. The Princesses shall report to the city-state of Rome to being the trial exactly one week from today. Until that thime they are to be sequestered in their respective villas on the Moon and will be subject to 24-7 elite guards to avoid any foul play. Please ensure that any and all affairs in the event of death are put in order and that your secondary heir is chosen in such an event. That is all and you are all dismissed."
Author's Note: Obviously this takes place in the Silver Millenium and I obviously took lots of liberties with the structure of the society and the operation of the senshi but I don't think anyone can't fault me on it unless they want to be really picky as there ain't much cannon explaination for me to go on.
Notes on Titles and Names for chapter one:
Her Royal Majesty the High Queen of the Solar System, Selenity I- Obviously Selenities title. I felt that I had to make a distinction in the titles between the Lunar Monarchy and the rest of the planets monarchies so royals of the Moon kingdom are "High" so and so. Her reign name is Selenity while her given name is Mizuki which can mean Beautiful Moon
Her Royal Highness the Crowned High Princess of the Solar System, Selena- Obviously her given name is Usagi. I wasn't writing her as the leader of the senshi because I'm not entirely sure that Sailor Moon existed before the present era based on the fact that Selenity possed the Ginzuishisou.
His Royal Majesty the King of Mars, Ares- King of Mars and Rei's father. Given name is Ryuu which aside from being a kick ass street fighter character means dragon, aluding to the flames and smoke from his mouth.
Her Royal Majesty the Queen of Venus, Aphrodite- Queen of Venus and Minako's mother. Given name is Kirei which can mean Beautiful.
Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Mars, Bellona- Bellona is a roman goddess of war that accompanies Mars into battle and is his right-hand-woman and just as vicious.I thought it was appropo given Rei's attitude sometimes and given the fact that I think Ares would want his daughter or son right by his side in battle. Obvioult her given name is Rei
Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Venus, Freya- Freya is the Norse goddess of Love and Beauty and is Aphrodity;s contrmporary, which I also felt to be appropriate. Aphrodite is sorta vain like her namesake so it fit that she would name her daughter so closely after herself as Aphrodite and Freya are very often the same goddess in mythology. Given name is obviously Minako.
Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Saturn, Kali- Kali is the hindu goddess of Destruction. I couldn't find any goddess that exactly fits Sailor Saturns epithets so I just focused on her main attribute that's focused on in the series which is her destructive power. If anyone knows any other diety that fits please let me know! Given name is obviously Hotaru.