Sailor Moon and all related characters or concepts, et cetera, belong to Naoko Takeuchi and all sufficiently related parties, unless otherwise stated. However, in this version of things, at least, all the Senshi/Scouts, et cetera, who are from the main dimension of this story series are MINE, and only MINE, unless I say otherwise here. While the Senshi/Scouts in this story and its series may actually use the exact same combat identities as the canon Senshi/Scouts, they're not necessarily the same as them in their respective lives, for your information. Please do try to keep that in mind while you read this story and any others that might follow it in its series, people.
Now with no further ado, let's get on with the story here, if we may. And I really hope that you enjoy it quite a lot, of course, everyone. Please read and review often, then, in quite constructive manners, if and whenever possible and desired. This is The Universal Storyteller now saying, "Over and out!"
Moon Rising Over Tokyo
Chapter One
It was just after 5:30 in the late afternoon of Tuesday, September 4, 1990, in Tokyo, Japan, when a young blonde girl came upon four boys about eight or nine years old who were picking on a light-colored cat. She soon made them leave the cat alone, and scattered them, by picking up a loose stick of considerable size, and going after them a bit. They soon fled the scene after she began whacking them with it. After they did so, she attended to the cat, and found a bandage of some sort on the cat's head. She took that bandage off the cat's head, and then continued on her way to her original planned destination. Which, in fact, was a Tokyo-area Athletic Club, by the way.
The just-rescued cat's name was Mizuki, and they were female. The bandage of sorts had covered up a crescent moon birthmark, and this birthmark was gold in color. Mizuki watched Hikari run away from the area, and got a strange feeling about her. She thought, "Could this be the girl I've been looking for quite a while, or not? I think I'm going to have to try to find her again in the near future, for that matter."
Mizuki soon began to search for Hikari here. And she did this for some time, in fact. Not yet knowing if and when she might see her again often enough, if at all. She did this while Hikari was otherwise occupied now in her life.
Meanwhile, Hikari headed toward the Athletic Club she'd been heading to in the first place. By the time she got there, it was nearly 5:45 or so, local time. She soon changed her clothes into ones more appropriate for shooting basketball hoops in, as her friends Trinity Blake and Karen Sasaki did the same. By 5:55, then, the three girls were out on a basketball court elsewhere in the Athletic Club. When they got there, there were several other kids present on the court. Specifically, there were seven other kids there. None of which they actually knew well enough in their respective lives. And who they might often see in the future, for that matter. They didn't yet know that well enough in their lives, at least. But they might eventually do so in them, just the same.
Among those kids now present on the court were Arinori Soruno, Susumu Chiba, and Rumiko Aino. All of them were Caucasian, except for Rumiko, who was Black, having been born to a Ethiopian mother and a Japanese father many years before the present time.
Five of the boys there soon challenged the five girls who were now there to a game of pick-up basketball, to 20 points, with one point per basket. Hikari consulted with Trinity, Karen, Rumiko, and the other girl there briefly, before speaking for them all. "Sure thing, boys. We'll take you on. Prepare to be beaten, then."
Two minutes later, once the court was cleared as needed, the game began. The girls won the tip, and the ball came almost immediately off it to Hikari. She then controlled it for a few seconds, before passing it to the yet-unidentified girl here for the first time. Three seconds after that, Rumiko scored the first basket for the girls here.
It wasn't more than about ten minutes later before the girls had gained a 15-10 lead in the game. Hikari had swished six baskets, Rumiko three, Trinity three, the unidentified girl, who eventually introduced herself as Kagome Rikouno, two, and Karen one, by then, for the girls. The boys' baskets had been scored by Soruno, Chiba, and one other boy, who they later learned was Motoki Senkano. Two other boys hadn't yet scored here, if they would, in the game. Those boys' names were Takumi Higadeshi and Kenji Sakata, by the way.
About ten or so minutes later, after a fierce rally by the boys in the game, the score was then 18-17, in favor of the girls. The girls had the ball, and Chiba was just about to try to steal it from Tsukino. She teased him with the ball a bit, before doing a behind-the-back pass to Rumiko. As Chiba tried to follow her toward the basket, she blew past him, and past Rikouno, who was setting a screen for her against Soruno now. Before he could stop her from getting too close to the basket well enough, Rumiko flashed a quick pass to her here. Tsukino leapt for the ball, as he did the same, and she got to it first. A split second later, then, she went up, over, and around him, dunking the ball with a 720-degree spin as she did so. He couldn't stop her from doing that well enough, as the ball swished through the net, and even fouled her on the way up. The ball landed almost instantly under the basket after passing through it. Hikari and the other girls then with her called a foul almost immediately on Chiba.
"No way, guys. I couldn't have fouled her! She was too fast for me here!"
"Sorry, Chiba-san, but you actually fouled her," said Rumiko. "She gets a chance to sink the game-winning foul shot, now." Rumiko said this as she helped Hikari rise from where she'd landed on her stomach under the basket.
"Fine. She can take the foul shot then. But I still don't think I fouled her just now."
Ten or so seconds later, then, the foul shot swished through the net, ending the game. After Hikari made that shot, Chiba asked, "How did you manage to do that, Tsukino-san?"
"I really don't know, Chiba."
A little while later, the boys and the girls then on the court parted from each other for at least a while, if not a long while. After they did so, Hikari and the girls eventually went to the appropriate locker rooms to shower and change into some more suitable clothes for them all. Especially Hikari, for that matter, who really felt the need to do that then.
Hikari eventually made her way back home, and to her room there. When she got there, it was about 8 in the evening. Mizuki hadn't yet come to Hikari's house. But that wasn't going to be the case for much longer, if Mizuki could find her soon enough. Hikari soon climbed in her bed, and started to nap in it.
Meanwhile, Mizuki had begun to get a rather strong feeling of potential danger arising somewhere in the local area. And a rather strong feeling of just where Hikari might be, for that matter. The feelings began to strengthen considerably after 7:45, in fact. Some time later, Mizuki found herself quite near the same Athletic Club that Hikari had left only a little while before. When she was able to get a strong enough idea of what might be happening in that area then, or in the very near future, she quite rapidly changed direction. And she set off for Hikari's house just as quickly as she possibly could do that now.
By 8:30, then, she had found Hikari's house well enough, and climbed a tree outside of Hikari's bedroom window. A few rather brief moments later, then, Mizuki leapt to the nearby windowsill for it. That done, Mizuki soon saw a thick stick on the sill. She took it in her mouth as needed and/or desired, and pried the window open a bit. At least long enough for her to get through it well enough, anyway. Mizuki was on a chair elsewhere in Hikari's room no more than about ten seconds later. She calmly and quietly waited for Hikari to awaken from her nap, before she'd speak to her as needed now.
Hikari woke up at about 8:45 in the evening, local time, and soon saw Mizuki sitting where she'd been for at least the last ten or so minutes. When she did, she asked, "What are you doing here in my room now, kitty? And who are you?"
"I am Mizuki. I have come here because your assistance is now required to fight evil elsewhere in the local area. There is a monster starting to wreak havoc elsewhere in Tokyo, and you seem to be the only one I know of who can fight them. At least at present, anyway."
"This can't be real. A cat can't talk to me, can they?"
"Your assistance is hereby needed, Sailor Moon, to fight this evil that is now arising here. And your assistance is needed for the Princess of the Moon to be found, as well, for that matter. So come along with me now, so that Tokyo and the world aren't destroyed by it, please!"
"How do I know that you're really talking to me, then, furball?"
"I'll prove it to you, by giving you something that should convince you to believe me." Mizuki then jumped a few feet from the chair she'd been on to Hikari's bed. After doing that here, she did a quick somersault and flip, opening a subspace pocket of some sort. While she was still doing the somersault and flip here, a brooch dropped straight down from that pocket above the foot of Hikari's bed. The brooch landed on the bed about two seconds later. On it was a golden crescent moon with the points pointing toward the top of the brooch.
Hikari soon picked up the brooch on her bed, and began to look it over. As soon as she picked it up, a wave of energy suddenly coursed through her rather unexpectedly. Mizuki saw her suddenly hop around, and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I suddenly feel refreshed. Why is that?"
"You just got your first taste of your destiny, Hikari. If you think that you like the first taste of it well enough, then say, 'Moon Prism Power,' and you'll get a good deal more of it, I guarantee you."
"What will that do?" Hikari didn't yet understand what Mizuki was talking about, of course, for the obvious reasons.
"Just wait and see, and you'll know soon enough. Say the designated phrase, and you will begin to know that well enough, Hikari."
"Very well. But if this is a trick you're trying to play on me right now, I certainly will be most upset with you, of course, furball."
"I'm not playing a trick on you." Just then, Hikari quite unexpectedly heard sounds of screaming, et cetera, from a considerable distance away for her.
"What's going on now?"
"I already told you. Do what you need to do, and come with me, Hikari!"
Seeing that she then had no other choice at the current time, Hikari said the necessary transformation phrase. Her clothes began changing immediately, of course. A pillar of gold, silver, and copper light then shrouded her briefly. When it stopped doing so, she was in her entirely brand-new Senshi uniform as Sailor Moon.
From the top of her two-bunned blonde head to the very soles of her feet, then, she was in it. Her Sailor tiara was gold in color. There was a dark blue stone at the base of her tiara. Her choker was dark blue. And so was her Sailor collar, which had two white stripes of piping on it. Her shoulders were also white, as were her bodysuit and elbow-length gloves. A rather simple copper bow was tied just above her collar, and her new brooch was just above the knot in it. Her armbands were both dark blue, and they were at her elbows, where necessary. She wore no belt, for that matter. Her back bow was actually copper, as well, which matched the one under her brooch exactly. Her mid-thigh-length skirt's three main colors were silver, copper, and gold, from waist to hem, with one white stripe between the silver and copper layers of it, and one between the copper and gold layers of it. Her just-shy-of-knee-length boots were silver with gold trim, as well. The top of the boots were each cut in a -style manner, and the trim for each of them was cut in a v-style manner. The base of the v-style trim was at the front of each boot, while the rest of it continued around each leg as necessary.
Hikari, or rather Sailor Moon, soon looked at herself very briefly in her nearest mirror. But not for long, for Mizuki wouldn't let her. Mizuki then went to the window, and began pawing at it, in very short order. Sailor Moon tried to get her to stop that. But Mizuki wouldn't until Sailor Moon opened her window enough for them both to exit out of it.
Five minutes later, at most, they were both running as quickly as they could to the necessary Athletic Club in the area. Mizuki couldn't quite stay caught up with her new charge very easily, of course. But she still did as best as she could here and now, just the same.
A little while later, Sailor Moon arrived at the Athletic Club, and entered it as quietly as she could, when she found its main entrance still unlocked. By the time that she found where the monster was causing trouble, Mizuki had caught up with her again well enough.
A battle ensued, in very short order. The monster, which soon revealed themselves to be female, was now in the process of draining assorted people on and near the court that Hikari had played on earlier. Several basketballs, volleyballs, and assorted other sports-related equipment soon began flying toward Sailor Moon here, after a rather brief speech from Sailor Moon to the monster. Those things came toward Sailor Moon, in short order, no thanks to the monster now causing trouble on that court. Sailor Moon then dodged or caught as many of the things that the monster, who soon identified herself as Guroma, was currently sending her way as she now could. And she sent some of those things back toward it. Of course, she couldn't dodge or catch them all, for the obvious reasons. So she unavoidably found herself taking hits in the battle, periodically, because of Guroma. Just as Guroma was about to try to finish her off, then, a mostly blue rose with some small bits of green and brown on several tips of its petals flashed through the air before landing about halfway between Sailor Moon and Guroma.
When Sailor Moon, Guroma, and Mizuki looked for the person who'd thrown the rose in question, they soon found a young man wearing a simple, yet mysterious, outfit sitting on one of the nearby basketball backboards, with his feet on top of its hoop. This young man wore an outfit that was essentially a gardener's outfit fused with a suit of armor, and this outfit also had him wearing a cape and a half-mask. His outfit was mostly medium blue with green and brown trim, et cetera, on it. And his half-mask was mostly green and brown, with the barest bit of medium blue on it. While his cape mostly matched the rest of his outfit, for that matter.
"This place is a place meant for exercise and fun, and you have sought to ruin people's enjoyment of those kinds of things. For that, Sailor Moon shall destroy you, just as soon as she can. Sailor Moon, banish this evil monster now, and heal these people, so that they can go about what they were doing, please, when this evil showed up here. This evil deserves not to live any longer, in fact. This I, as the Knight of the Earth, so declare. Please do your duty now, Sailor Moon."
"Right, Earth Knight." Mizuki whispered briefly to her, as she began to rise from the floor that she was now on, and Sailor Moon took off her tiara here. Two seconds after she was standing again here, Sailor Moon shouted, "Moon Diadem Strike!" Her tiara struck Guroma about three seconds later, and Guroma couldn't avoid it well enough. The tiara turned Guroma into mere dust no more than a second or two later. That dust briefly remained, and the energy that she'd tried to gain for the Negaverse began returning to its proper owners as needed, while it still did so. Once all that energy was unquestionably back where it should be for all the people that had been drained on and near that basketball court, that dust vanished from the area, never to be seen again. At least not for that monster from the Negaverse, anyway.
After that happened, the young man said, "Well done, Sailor Moon. I must congratulate you on your first victory against evil here. I look forward to our next meeting."
"What do you mean, Earth Knight?" The Earth Knight then leapt to the floor below the basketball backboard he'd just been sitting on, doing a full somersault while doing so, by the way. He landed near where his rose had earlier landed, and soon picked it up. After he did so, all the battle-related damage that had been done while Sailor Moon and Guroma were still fighting repaired itself. And everything that wasn't where it had been before Guroma had first attacked Sailor Moon was back where it should be on and near the court, for that matter.
"I shall aid you in battle whenever I possibly can in the future, Sailor Moon. For this monster, I feel, is only the start of what we and others may have to face together in it. Until next time, then, I suppose we should part from each other now."
"Who are you, really?"
"You will learn, in time, no doubt. But just not yet. For we've only just met here. You don't expect me to give up all my secrets that easily, do you? Or to tell me all of yours, for that matter?" He neared one of the doors by the end of the court with the backboard he'd sat on, even while briefly smiling at her here.
"No, I suppose not."
"Then, Sailor Moon, I'll be on my way, and I'll look forward to our next meeting, if you don't mind too much here."
"Fine, if you feel you must, then go. But I'll find out just who you are, Earth Knight. You can be sure of that." She didn't want him to go yet, of course. But she realized he still would do so, just the same.
"Sure you will, Sailor Moon. But just not yet." Without another word, then, the Earth Knight left the scene just as soon as he could, through whatever door he could do so now. Sailor Moon and Mizuki watched him leave briefly before noticing that the other people now near them both were starting to stir considerably here.
So they left almost immediately, for all the obvious reasons, of course. And they did that now with not another word being exchanged from them both here, for that matter. At least not while they were still inside the Athletic Club, anyway. After they were safely enough away from it, and where nobody else could see, hear, or detect them well enough, Sailor Moon eventually became just Hikari again. Then she said, "Let's go home, kitty with a bald spot on her head."
Mizuki said, only when she was sure it was safe enough for her to do so, on the way back to Hikari's, "I'm going to tell you this once, and only once, if I possibly can, Hikari. I don't have a bald spot. It is a birthmark, showing that I am a special cat. And that I've promised to serve the Moon Princess, whoever she may be. Get it through your head, if you can, just as soon as possible. It will probably save you quite a bit of trouble in the future when you're dealing with me, if you can do that well enough in your life."
Not too much later, then, the two of them arrived under Hikari's window. They both soon returned to Hikari's bedroom just as they'd earlier left it. Hikari soon hid Mizuki under her bed, for lack of a better place to hide her at present, for the obvious reasons. And then she went in search of food and drink for herself, seeing as the events of the just-ended battle had obviously kept her from having supper with the rest of her family. A little while after doing that, then, Hikari went right to bed, once she was tired enough to do so well enough, in fact. She was quite soundly asleep after doing so. And lost in any number of dreams in her bed, when that happened well enough for her here, for that matter.
She wasn't yet sufficiently aware of just how much her own mortal life had now changed, of course. But in due time, she would come to learn that in her life. And realize that her life as she'd once known it to be was over once and for all, for that matter. Never again, in fact, would it be as uneventful as it had generally been for her and others close to her, which was quite uneventful indeed.
The next chapter of this particular story will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, as long as they are male-female in nature, I'm quite willing to hear them, in fact. I really hope that you all might come to enjoy this story and its related series quite a bit, of course. Please read and review quite constructively, if at all possible, quite often, if and whenever you might so choose, people. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!"
