Sailor Moon P
The time-set of this story resembles that of the original Sailor Moon Series, in which the five soldiers, Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter are waging a tireless war against the Negaverse.
"I wonder what's going on with Luna and Artemis?" A turquoise cat wondered to herself. "I'm certainly not having much luck finding the Sailor Soldiers or the Moon Princess." The cat crossed the street, swishing her peculiar colored tail, and inspecting every young lady as they passed. 'No, not that one.... That one's good, but no symbol.'
Then, the light on the crosswalk changed again, and she was trapped in the middle of the road. A truck was coming straight for her, and she balled up in fear, covering her moon-shaped bald spot with her paws. Behind it, another car came, and another, and another. She lay there, shivering. She was so scared, that she didn't notice when they stopped.
"Oh, you poor thing."
The cat looked up and saw the blue eyes of a teenage girl looking down at her. The girl looked to be eleven years old, with long golden hair. The cat was in a state of shock, and allowed the girl to take her up in her arms and skip home with her. When they reached her door, the cat found, with surprise that the girl had two large dogs.
"Hi, Angel, hi Gabe!" She patted each of them on the head, and ignored their desperate attempts to get at the horrified feline. "Mom!" The girl yelled. "I found a cat in the street! Can I keep her?" At the call, a tall brunette woman appeared from the kitchen.
"No, Olivia! You know the dogs would devour that cat! Let me clean my hands, and then we'll take it to the Humane Society!"
"Ok, Mom, I guess you're right." She sighed, and slunked off to her room with Angel and Gabe close at hand. Once inside with the dogs shut out, the cat was laid on the bed and let to rest. "Oh, it's too bad Mom won't let me keep you." Olivia sighed, brushing aside her bushy blonde bangs. "We'd have so much fun together!"
"Meow?"
The girl plopped down on the bed next to the cat. "Well, what's wrong with pretending that you are my cat until we have to take you to the pound? Okay?" She stroked the cat behind the ears, and it purred in response. "What should I call you? Hmm?"
The cat continued to purr as Olivia ran a pale hand across her fur. "What's that spot on your forehead?" Olivia asked, stroking her again. "A Moon? I know! I'll call you Mooney! It's perfect!" She jumped up off the bed, her bangs falling around her face again.
That was when something caught the eye of the newly christened Mooney. As the girl brushed aside her bangs, again, a light blue eight-pointed star became faintly visible on her forehead. 'That symbol!' She thought, 'she must be one of the scouts!'
"Er... Olivia?" She started.
"Mooney!" Her blue eyes went wide. "You can talk!?!?"
"Yes, and I have something for you." Mooney said. She leapt into the air, preformed a double backflip, and landed again. From the sky fell a gold plated, light blue wand. Olivia caught it in both hands.
"Mooney! It's beautiful! Is it a pen?"
"You could call it that." Mooney said. "But it's no ordinary pen, it's special."
"You mean you can't write with it?" Olivia asked. The light of a lamp caught the planet-shaped decoration on the golden cap, making the light blue star in the center glitter.
"No, you transform with it." Mooney said. Olivia gave her a puzzled look. Mooney proceeded to explain. "I'm a special cat, Olivia. I'm here to turn you into a Sailor Scout."
"Y-Y-You mean like Sailor Moon!?!? And Sailor Venus, and Mars and Mercury, and Jupiter and, and, and..."
"Settle down, Olivia," Mooney said. "You will get to meet and fight with them soon enough."
"Well, who am I, then?" Olivia asked, excitedly. "Am I Sailor Saturn? Or Sailor Uranus, Or Sailor Neptune, Or Sailor Pluto, Or..."
"Why don't you just try it?" Mooney suggested. "Just hold it up, you'll know what to say."
She smiled and held the pen up in the air.
"Polaris Power!"
Her hair and skin faded to a light sparkling blue against a background of pink, blue and white crystal. She put one hand to her hip, and held the pen up in the other. From the symbol swirled long currents of liquid. They stretched like sparkling tongues down around her and gathered at her feet, where they condensed into a tightly swirling whirlpool. She spun, her long hair the same color as her flesh, but her eyes still glowing their lively bright blue. She turned her back, and the whirlpool shot up from below, freezing her inside a concave column of ice. Her hair stood out about her hips, forming a solid veil that hid her body from view. Then a crack and a sudden explosion as the ice broke into fragments, revealing Sailor Polaris dressed in the familiar light blue. Her boots reached up to her knees and ended in a white lined-point. Her hair lifted off her back as she slowly spun majestically around. Her short blue skirt twirled out from a white leotard, and the matching collar ended with a pink bow on her chest. She did not have the familiar bow at her lower back; it was instead replaced by a blue one clipped in her hair. With tiara, and choker, she posed and surfaced back in her room.
"Wow!" She looked herself over. "That was such a rush! So, who am I? Am I Sailor Saturn?"
"No, You are Sailor Polaris, of the North Star." Mooney answered.
"Oh, cool!"
Mooney opened the bedroom window. "Come on, Olivia, lets go try it out."
"Alright." Polaris agreed. "Sailor Polaris to the rescue!"
* * *
Raye, Serena, and Amy were talking outside the GAP when little Sailor Polaris ran by. "Hey! What the...?" Raye turned and watched her go down the street, her long black hair streaming out and catching all over Serena's doughnut.
"It looked like Venus." Amy said.
"Nah, too short." Serena shrugged and shoved the rest of the doughnut in her mouth.
"I'm getting some weird vibrations, here." Raye said. "I'm going to go check this out! Come on, Amy." The two girls took off and left Serena there, licking her fingers. Luna, Serena's black cat stood at her feet impatiently.
"Well, aren't you going?"
"Sure, just let me get another doughnut."
"Serena!" Luna cried. "People might get hurt! Now Transform and check it out!"
"Fine. Fine."
* * *
Down the road, Polaris and Mooney were making good time. "Where are we going?" Polaris panted.
"See that smoke?" Mooney asked.
"Yeah, somebody's probably cooking something."
"It's probably a fire." Mooney said obviously.
"Oh, are you sure?" Polaris asked. "It could be a big something."
"Trust me, I'm sure." Mooney said, casting her big brown eyes up to look at the soldier. "You really must learn to be more observant."
"Sorry, I'm hungry!"
"Well, anyway," Mooney continued, "you can help the firemen, that will be good practice for you. You're ice powers will do well against a burning building." They reached the fire in no time. The flames were destroying a two story Victorian house. The firemen had yet to arrive, and they could hear children screaming from inside.
Mooney turned to the young soldier again. "Go! Polaris, there are people in there!"
"PEOPLE!?!?" Raye and Amy shot a serious look to each other.
"This is getting serious." Amy pointed out.
Raye nodded. "We've got to transform and go help."
Then Sailor Moon and Luna showed up. "It's being taken care of, citizens!" Sailor Moon announced, smartly. "Raye, go call the fire station! Amy, warn the surrounding homes, then get suited up and help me! I can't do this by myself!"
They all nodded and broke up, the two girls taking off together and Sailor Moon heading into the building after Polaris.
"Luna, stay here." She said. "This kid is gonna kill herself, and I've got to stop her."
"Don't forget the innocent people while you are in there." Luna called after her, but she was already inside. "What a ditz."
Polaris and Mooney ran through the flaming house. In the living room, they heard the cry again. Mooney cocked her ear to listen, then directed, "Upstairs!" They took off through an open archway and found a flight of flaming stairs, which was their only means of access.
"How are we supposed to get up those?" Polaris asked.
"Um," Mooney thought a second. "Why don't you try freezing the stairs?"
"Freezing them!?!" Polaris cried. "What do you mean freezing them!?! What do you think I am, Frosty the Snowman!? You can't just say 'Freeze the stairs' and expect it to happen like magic! Sheesh!"
"Polaris!" Mooney stopped her rambling. "You are a Sailor Soldier! Ice is your element of influence!"
"Huh?" She was startled for a second. "You mean all I have to do is snap my fingers and the whole house'll freeze over?"
"It's not quite that simple." Mooney said. "But if you would try raising your hands over your head, then maybe it will work."
"You're joking." Polaris said flatly. Then they heard the scream again. Polaris's face got a little more serious. "Alright, it's worth a shot."
Ice crystals danced about, tinted blue and pink. Polaris was surrounded by them, she turned and brushed her long blonde hair out of her way. "North Star! Power!-" She began. Bent down, her arms straightened behind her, she slowly brought them up and straightened her posture as well. A gentle tinkling could be heard as all the crystals gathered above her head. Her hands reached for the sky, and the crystals turned into a liquid ball between them. "Now!" She thrust the orb forward, and the wind shaped it into a spinning icicle as it flew.
When it hit the stairs, they exploded in dust, and when it settled, they were incased in ice. Polaris stared at her gloved hands. "Wow! I actually did that!?!"
"Let's go!" Mooney said, leading. The two of them struggled up the solid block of ice, and found the top floor filled with smoke from the fires below.
"{Cough, Cough} I'll check the master bedroom!" Mooney directed between choking breaths. "You go check the children's rooms!"
"{Cough, Cough} Right! {Cough}"
* * *
Meanwhile, Raye had just transformed. She ran back to the house from the pay phone she'd used to call the fire department. She found Luna sitting on the corner. "Sailor Moon is already in there!" Luna called.
"I'm going in!" Sailor Mars said.
"I'll tell Mercury to follow when she gets here!" The cat agreed. Mars dashed into the building. She met Moon in the foyer.
"Sailor Moon, what are you doing!?!"
"I- I was confused." Moon admitted, pointing. "Look! See that?" She was pointing at the stairwell, where the frozen case was melting next to the flames. "The whole building's up in flames, and the stairs are solid ice!"
"It must be that other Scout!" Mars reasoned. "You better go check it out! I'll go outside and set up a fire break so that the woods in back don't catch on fire."
"Good idea." Sailor Moon agreed. Mars ran out into the living room and jumped through one of the windows. She landed without a scratch on the lawn, and began to start small fires around the building. At the same time, Sailor Moon was slipping and sliding her way up the stairs. The going was difficult.
"How'd that little kid get up these!?!" She asked herself. There were pools of water on the steps from the melting ice, and when she attempted to ascend the top step, she slipped and fell all the way back down. Landing with a crash, the soldier shoved herself back up. "Just wait until I get my hands on that kid! That really hurt!"
* * *
"Olivia! {Cough, Cough} There is a mother and a {Cough} infant in here!" Mooney cried from the bedroom doorway.
"I don't' {Cough} see anyone in here!" Polaris called back from the children's rooms. Mooney couldn't see the soldier through the smoke. "{Cough} Wait! {Cough} There's two kids and a dog in the bathtub!"
Mooney's ears shot up. That sound...was it sirens? "Olivia!" The cat ran across the hall, but couldn't seem to find the bathroom. "{Cough} The firemen are here! Get the kids and take them to the front of the house! That way the firemen can get to them easier!"
"{Cough} Sure! {Cough} Mooney!? Where are you!?!"
Sailor Moon surfaced in the sea of smoke, and stumbled blindly down the hallway. She passed Mooney, who was trying to find the bathroom still, and ran into Polaris with one of the kids in her arms. "Hey!" Moon cried. "{Cough} Hey! You kid!" She reached Polaris and grabbed her collar with both fists, screaming as she shook her back and forth by the chest. "What do you think you are doing!?! 'You nuts? You drinking underaged!? You are going to kill yourself!"
"I-I-I'm just trying to help!" Polaris argued, struggling. "There are still people in here! Would you please let me go!?" Sailor Moon obeyed and loosened her grip on the girl's uniform. Polaris boosted the unconscious child up on her hip. "I'll take care of the ones in the bathroom. You go help Mooney with the mother in the master bedroom."
Moon nodded and took off, shooing away smoke. She ran through the doorway and found the woman with the child both unconscious on the floor. "Now where's this Mooney person?" She asked herself. "She can carry the baby."
"{Cough, Cough}" Mooney crawled out of a corner, coughing and covered in soot. "Ohhhh...."
Sailor Moon noticed her while she was boosting the mother up over her shoulder. "{Cough, Cough} Who's there? A cat?" Mooney stumbled around, trying to shake the ashes out of her eyes. "Poor kitty." Moon said. "I wish I could grab you, but I've got my hands full." She took the infant in her only free arm. "Follow me, kitty, we have to get out of here."
"I-{Cough, Cough} I" She tried to speak, but every time she tried, the smoke filled her lungs. 'She can't see the moon on my forehead. She thinks I'm an ordinary housecat, and I can't say anything to prove that I'm not!' "I-{Cough}...am{Cough}"
Sailor Moon heaved another cough, then bent forward to counter-balance the weight of the woman on her back. "Come on, follow me." Mooney proceeded at Sailor Moon's heels, still blinded by the smoke and soot. They reached a window at the front of the house, where they met Polaris depositing the last of the children and the dog.
"Hey! Kid! Here's the last of them from the bedroom!" Moon announced. "We have to get out of here!"
"{Cough, Cough} I know.." Polaris said, "but we can't leave without Mooney!"
"I didn't see anyone back there." Sailor Moon shook her head. "She must have found her way out! All I know is that it's getting harder and harder to breathe! {Cough} We can't stay in here!"
The turquoise cat, gray with ashes tried to let Olivia know who she was. "{Cough Cough} !!! {Cough, Cough!}" The soot in her eyes made her practically blind. They watered and stung bitterly. Mooney lost Sailor Moon's feet in the smoke. She couldn't see Polaris either.
"We've got to go help Mars with the firebreaks!" Moon insisted. "The firemen know that they're up here, right?"
"Yeah." Polaris coughed back. "I opened the window."
"Then we'd better get going!"
"Wait! Not without Mooney!" Sailor Polaris insisted.
"I didn't see anyone!" Moon repeated. "She must have found her own way out! Now lets get going!"
"I hope so.." Polaris said. "Okay, lets go."
Mooney heard the trample of feet leave the room. "wait...{Cough Cough Cough}...wait...{Cough Cough} ...please..."
Sailors Moon and Polaris made it carefully down the stairs. The ice had melted and put out the fires around the foyer. They had to be careful not to break through the planks. When they reached the bottom, however, Polaris thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was a shape, it had dashed out the back door. "Sailor Moon! Wait! I thought I saw something!"
"Saw something...what?"
Polaris dashed down the hall and followed the shadow through the back door and into the woods, shouting, "this way!"
"Hold on!" Sailor Moon cried. "What are you insane?"
* * *
Just outside, Mercury had arrived with the firemen. She was helping Mars put out the flames around the yard, when Polaris dashed out after a cloaked figure. Mercury's head shot up, her blue-black hair bouncing with the sharp motion. "Mars! Look!"
"It's that other Soldier!" Sailor Mars cried, she caught sight Sailor Moon's long blonde locks chasing the two into the woods. "Moon's after her! Let's go."
"Wait!" Luna interrupted, turning the two scouts' attention back to the ground. "If this is a full-blown Sailor Soldier, then you'll need backup! I'll call Artemis and he'll get the other two scouts on their way! Be expecting them to show up!"
"Right!" The three took off in different directions, two soldiers into the trees, and one black cat toward the road.
Polaris was gaining on the man now. She could see his pale gray mop of hair flying out behind him along with his long navy-blue cape. The man kept tripping as he ran into roots and branches. He weaved irregularly through the pines and cedars until he'd led her to a small clearing. Here he stopped and waited for her to come. 'What's he think he's doing?' She asked to herself. 'Oh well, he'll be an easy fight if he stands there the whole time.' The young soldier broke through the trees and was instantly scooped up off the ground.
"Ahhh!" The next thing she knew, she was hanging from a tree branch high off the ground. When she stepped onto the grass, she'd sprung a trap, and now hung, immobile a net. She struggled, but it was to no avail, and could do nothing but watch the man, laughing from below.
"Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha!" He howled. "My trap worked! Her majesty will be very pleased!"
"That's what you think, slimeball!"
His eyes shot to one side. "Who said that?"
"Me, you creep!" The blonde cried. "I stand for love and justice! Pretty Soldier in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon!" Emerging from the foliage, the heroine finished. "And in the name of the Moon, consider yourself punished!"
Mars and Mercury appeared beside her. "And that goes for us too!"
"Aha! I'm flattered!" The man cackled. "All you Pretty Sailor Soldiers turn up right in the nick of time. Well, I have a surprise for you." He took out a short sword from the scabbard at his side and sliced off a low branch on the tree behind him. A large metal cage fell on top of the three heroines.
"Hey!" Moon ran up and took hold of the bars. "That's not fair! We're the good guys!"
"Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Oh, no." Sailor Polaris whined softly to herself. "Now we're all trapped!" As she spoke, something snapped the ropes overhead. The net came loose underneath the girl, and she fell back to the earth. She pushed the lines of the net off of her and looked up to see a bright red rose quivering in the ground.
"That's enough from you, Malachite."
All of the Soldiers' heads snapped up. "Tuxedo Mask!"
The caped man stood on one of the higher branches of a nearby tree. He jumped off and landed next to Polaris on the ground. She stared up in awe. He said nothing, but instead tipped his hat to her. Her cheeks reddened.
"So, you want some, too, eh?" Malachite challenged. "Well bring it on!" Without warning, the man charged with his weapon upraised. Tuxedo Mask whipped out his cane and braced it against the blade. Malachite scowled at him, and threw the cane off his sword. With a swipe to the side, he ran the weapon near Tuxedo Mask's left flank. He dodged, and rebounded by throwing a rose into the back of Malachite's neck.
"Gaaa!" The pale haired man fell face first onto the ground, twitching with pain.
"We're here!" Sailors Jupiter and Venus appeared running toward them through the trees.
Malachite reached back and tore the flower from his flesh, crushing the petals as he did. "Ugg! You were lucky this time, Scouts, but you haven't heard the last of me!" Getting to his feet, he threw out his hand, and vanished in an instant.
Jupiter looked around, her long brown ponytail waving back and forth behind her. "That was it? Fight's over?"
"Aww." Venus moaned and put Artemis down. "I guess now I have to go back to doing homework."
"Um...guys?" Sailor Moon said, through the bars. "Feel free to help us out of here!"
"Oh," Jupiter laughed, "right."
Polaris stood to the side, quietly. She looked around. 'Where? Where did Tuxedo Mask go?' She turned around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. 'I wanted to thank him!' She saw the edge of a familiar red cape disappear behind a tree. 'There!'
She found him heading out of the forest, holding his left arm just below the shoulder.
"Wait! Tuxedo Mask!"
He turned back to look at her, dropping his hand from the cut he'd received in the fight.
She dashed up beside him. "He did hurt you! How dare he!" She took his arm. "Here, let me." Undoing her bow, she bandaged the wound as best she could. "I, I wanted to thank you for helping me out. And.." She stopped a second, then continued. "I wanted to ask you. How did you now that I was a Sailor Soldier, when all the others treated me like some kid in a costume?" She looked up. She could see his blue eyes looking back through the lenses of his mask, and turned away, blushing again. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."
"No." His voice was soft, and somehow familiar. "I'll answer, it's simple." He had to bend down to look her in the face, he used one hand to raise her chin so that their eyes met before he continued. "The others may not see it, but there is something special about you. Something genuine. You glow with it, Polaris, and you always will." Her eyes wavered, and he straightened up again. "Thanks." With a smile, and a swirl of his cape, he left, and she stood watching him until he vanished completely.
She put a hand to where his had been touching her chin before. What was this feeling? "Tuxedo Mask, who are you?"
"Hey!" She turned and saw Sailor Moon and the others running up. "Kid! Wait!" The others stood around her and Sailor Moon smiled. "It's Sailor Polaris, right?" Olivia nodded. "Well, I guess there is nothing to say but 'welcome to the club'."
The eleven-year-old smiled widely.
"I think you've earned you place."
The other scouts circled in to congratulate her, and she accepted their invitation with open arms. The Soldiers led her out of the woods and back towards town. "How about heading to the fruit parlor for a good long chat?" They asked.
"That'd be the best!"
* * *
As the sun set, a single creature walked alone down the road. Turning around to look back one last time over the city, she whispered.
"Goodbye, Olivia, gook luck."
Then, the dusty turquoise cat disappeared over the horizon.
~Fin~
