Similitude
Chapter 4: "Familiar Attack"
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Jun was in the quarters she shared with her three adoptive sisters. On her computer station was a video stream of a Colombian music group that she had recently discovered. She had become a big fan of the group, because they were one of the new wave of anti-authoritarian artists rising among the youth of Colombia in the wake of the deposed dictator. She also liked them because they possessed a hard, driving sound that flaunted conventional music rules.
And the guitar player was just obscenely good looking.
Cere was at her station, absently paging through the latest in fashion. To Jun's mind, she didn't seem to be paying that much attention. She would have asked, but her attention was too preoccupied with the band, Oppression's Enemy. It barely registered when she heard the door to the quarters hiss open. A glance told her Ves had returned from working out.
"Palla-Palla around?" Ves asked.
"Haven't seen her," Jun replied distantly.
"You're going to go cross-eyed staring at that monitor that hard," Ves grunted.
"And if YOU don't stop beating on that heavy bag so much, you'll have arthritis in your fingers by the time you're thirty," Jun volleyed back. "So what's got you so worried about Palla-Palla?"
"I think she's hiding something," Ves scowled. "She's been acting funny. She say anything to either of you?"
"Not me," Jun replied. "But I've been working on my hoverbike a lot, so she hasn't had much chance." She glanced over at Cere. "She say anything to you, Cere?"
"Not since yesterday," Cere shrugged. "She asked me about boys."
"Boys? Palla-Palla?" Jun responded.
"Anybody in particular?" Ves asked suspiciously.
"No," Cere sighed. "Just wanted advice about boys in general."
"What did you tell her?" Jun asked.
"That they're pigs," Cere frowned, glancing back at her sister.
"Are you still mad at Hiroki?" Jun gaped.
"Did I tell you he was painting a NAKED woman?"
"About a dozen times. Cere, artists do use naked models."
"I've offered to pose nude for him!" Cere snapped. "He's always refused. And then I walk in and find him painting a strange naked woman, who is posing naked and in his studio! Just the two of them! And SHE'S NAKED!"
"Think he's cheating on you?" Jun supposed.
"I don't know," Cere replied, her head flopping back on the chair back.
"Did you ask him?"
"I don't want him to lie to me," Cere fumed.
"You know," Jun sighed, "maybe there's a reasonable explanation for it."
Cere folded her arms over her chest. "Then he can come over here and tell me. You notice he hasn't."
"Maybe he's afraid the wind will blow him away," grunted Ves.
"Don't you have a bin of grain to infest like a good little vermin?" Cere replied acidly.
"Any idea where Palla-Palla might be?" Ves asked Jun, ignoring Cere's retort.
"Not really. Why?" Jun said.
"I want to find out why she's suddenly so interested in boys," Ves murmured thoughtfully. "If some guy's pressuring her, I want to know about it."
"So you can handle it NON-LETHALLY, right?" Jun asked.
Ves scowled. "Yeah, I guess I gotta do it that way. But hey, I can deliver a message without breaking bones."
Just then, the senshi communicators on all three girls activated. Ves responded first.
"South wall of the palace, level four!" they heard Usa say. "We've got an intruder scaling the outer wall!"
"On our way!" Ves responded and shot out the door, Jun and Cere close on her heels.
As she ran down the corridor, Sailor Moon followed her handheld PDA that was linked to the intruder alert program on her father's computer. The program, coordinating surveillance cameras placed all through the palace, was tracking the movement of the woman in black. Sailor Moon could see the intruder was on one of the level four balconies. The intruder pressed her hand up against the door leading into the palace. The hand emitted a burst of electricity, shorting out the electronic lock on the door. Sliding it open, the intruder burst into the palace interior.
"Intruder is in the palace!" Sailor Moon said into both her PDA and into her senshi communicator. "Level four from the southeast balcony! Palace security, converge on level four!"
Skidding to a stop at a junction corridor, Sailor Moon saw the woman. She was all in black and to the senshi's eye the black was the woman's skin rather than some sort of costume or containment suit. That fact was filed, for Sailor Moon had something more important to worry about. The intruder was headed directly for the palace Shinto shrine and the Princess's first thought was that her Aunt Rei was the next target.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Sailor Moon shouted, holding the Moon Tier aloft.
Unfortunately her need to deliver her attack phrase revealed herself to the intruder, as her voice echoed down the corridor. The strange woman stopped and turned, even as waves of pink energy washed over her. Lifting her hand while she still could, the woman in black shot a bolt of electricity at the Princess. The bolt leaped to the metal Moon Tier and blasted it from Sailor Moon's hand. It clattered onto the floor while Sailor Moon grasped her stinging hand. The creature resumed her charge toward Rei's shrine.
Undaunted, Sailor Moon charged after her. She silently wished she still had her tiara attack in this new form, - - the wind resistance against the costume's wings was bad enough - -but she would attack the woman bodily if she needed to. That in itself wouldn't be an easy task. If this woman was capable of mimicking Sailor Jupiter's abilities, it would be a formidable opponent. Despite many attempts over the years, Usa had never been able to best her Aunt Makoto at martial arts. Few had. But she had to try. Even if she failed, she had to delay this woman enough to keep her from Rei until reinforcements arrived.
But when the strange woman entered the junction corridor that led into the shrine, she was jumped by a full grown female Bengal tiger and sent sprawling.
"Vesta!" Sailor Moon thought happily. "It has to be Vesta!"
She converged on the intersection simultaneously with Juno and Ceres. Vesta had the woman pinned to the floor, the woman's hands pressed to Vesta's neck and struggling to hold back Vesta's bared teeth.
"Get off of her, Vesta!" Sailor Moon shouted.
But what she feared would happen happened. Electricity flowed from the intruder's hands into Vesta's tiger form. She shivered for a few seconds in the grip of the current, then leaped back from the woman in black like repellant poles. Vesta landed with a thud and lay helpless.
Juno was about to bring her water powers to bear, but a pair of bolts from the intruder sent her and Ceres retreating down the corridor out of range. Sailor Moon moved in, launching a flying kick at the woman. The intruder easily deflected it. Sailor Moon landed and got into a fighting stance. So did the intruder. It was Makoto's fighting stance. This woman had every martial arts skill Makoto had, plus command over electricity. Sailor Moon was at a disadvantage and she knew it.
"Aqua Initiation!" Juno called out.
A pipe burst through the wall next to the intruder, drenching her with high volume water spray. Sailor Moon backtracked instantly, not wanting to be close in the event that Juno's trick worked and the creature shorted out. Though electricity popped and spat loudly with the introduction of the water, the intruder remained upright.
"What's going on out here?" Rei Hino demanded, emerging from the shrine. Apparently the priest hadn't left yet to investigate the site of the previous attack.
The creature and the senshi turned to her simultaneously. The ebony creature lunged for the priest. Sailor Moon lunged too, trying to cut her off. Rei backed up several paces, surprised by the woman's appearance. But the woman was too fast. She seized Rei by the upper arms and poured an electrical charge into the priest. A strangled cry emerged from Rei. It was short, though, as Sailor Moon barreled into the ebony creature, driving her shoulder into the woman's hip. She broke the grip it had on Rei and sent it flailing to the floor before rolling off to elude a shock. Rei sank to the floor in a heap.
The creature started to roll to her feet to either renew its attack or escape. But a gleaming metal blade poised at its throat stopped the creature in its tracks.
"Move and I'm not responsible for your safety," Sailor Saturn hissed. Her glaive held steady at the creature's throat, the glaive's wooden handle protecting Saturn from the creature's electricity. Sailor Moon scrambled to her feet next to Saturn. Glancing down the corridor, she noticed Sailor Pallas running up.
"Pallas, can you knock her out?" Sailor Moon asked.
Pallas stopped and put her index fingers to her temples. "You need to go beddy-bye time now!" The creature's head lolled back and she slumped to the floor unconscious.
Instantly Saturn and Sailor Moon were at the side of Rei. Saturn quickly checked her vital signs.
"Infirmary, this is Sailor Saturn," Saturn said decisively into a nearby intercom. "We need an emergency medical unit to level four by the shrine!"
At that moment palace security arrived. Sailor Moon pointed at the squad leader.
"We need this subject placed in a magnetic restraint board and secured for transport and holding in the Infirmary!" she commanded.
"Yes, Princess!" nodded the guard. He turned to his squadron and began barking orders. Vesta, now awake, ambled up to Sailor Moon and Saturn, and was joined by the other Asteroids.
"What is that thing?" Vesta asked, rubbing her neck.
"I don't know - - yet," Sailor Moon scowled. "But I sure wish Aunt Ami was awake to take some scans of it."
The senshi converged on the infirmary, where Rei was taken for treatment and the intruder for analysis. Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn went inside. They were quickly joined by the King and Queen, the cats, and the remaining elder senshi. Since no one invited them, the Asteroids stayed outside. Noticing Pallas was preoccupied, Vesta eased over and sat down next to her.
"You OK?" Vesta asked.
Pallas didn't answer at first.
"Look, Pallas, is some guy pressuring you?" Vesta asked, trying to control her anger. "You can tell me. You know I gotta look out for you."
"No, Vesta," Pallas looked down. "Pallas isn't being - - um, that word."
"So where you been all afternoon?"
"PKE class." Pallas seemed weighed down by something. "Vesta. Please don't be mad. Pallas did a bad thing."
"What did you do?" Vesta asked, more curious than anything.
"Pallas used her brain to peek into somebody else's brain," Pallas confessed, shame twisting her features, "because she was nosy."
"Well it's not like you never done that before," Vesta assured her.
"But Sensei says it's wrong," Pallas argued. "And Pallas was trying not to do it." Her lip quivered. "But she couldn't resist."
"Find out anything good?" joked Vesta, trying to ease her guilt. But it had the opposite effect. Vesta grew concerned.
"No, Vesta," Pallas said. By now Juno and Ceres were listening, too. "Please don't be mad."
"I'm not going to be mad," Vesta huffed. "What did you read?"
Pallas grimaced. "Mister Valeri-Sir - - he's a boy in Pallas's PKE class. Pallas likes him. Pallas wants him to be her boyfriend. Pallas thinks he's very pretty." Tears formed at her eyes. "But Pallas peeked into his head - - and found out he likes Miss Hotaru-Ma'am."
Everyone looked down.
"Why doesn't he like Pallas, Vesta?" Pallas asked with child-like heartache.
"What did I tell you? Pigs," Ceres said softly.
"Give it a rest, Your Majesty," grumbled Vesta. "Pallas, you're asking the wrong person. I don't know anything about all that stuff."
"Maybe he just doesn't know you well enough," Juno offered.
"He doesn't know Miss Hotaru-Ma'am any better than he knows Pallas," she sniffed. "Why does he like her? It must be because she's smarter than Pallas, and prettier and . . ."
"Hey, none of that stuff," Vesta cut her off quietly. "Look, Pallas - - I don't know why two people fall in love. But I do know that sometimes it's just a one-way street."
"But Mister Valeri-Sir wasn't in the street," Pallas said glumly.
"No," Vesta began, then stopped. She grunted in frustration. "Pallas, it's not your fault. It's not because you're not good enough, or pretty enough or smart enough or whatever. It's just that - - sometimes you can love somebody, but they don't love you back. It happens. Nothing you can do about it."
"Did it ever happen to you, Vesta?" Pallas asked tearfully.
"Me? Nah," Vesta replied. "But I remember this guy in the old neighborhood. Had the hots for this one girl bad. But she didn't love him. Wasn't nothing about him that triggered those feelings. And he couldn't do nothing to change her. So you see, it happens."
Pallas sniffed. "Like how Pallas loves her mommy," Pallas squeaked out, "but her mommy doesn't love Pallas?"
All three girls winced.
"Maybe not that bad," Juno quickly told her. "But like Vesta said, it's nothing you did wrong."
"Pallas," Ceres ventured, "if it's going to be too hard being in class with him, maybe we can get a special tutoring session set up for you. So you don't have to see him."
Pallas gave them a non-committal nod.
"You're," Juno began, "not mad at Hotaru, are you?"
"No," Pallas shook her head. "It isn't Miss Hotaru-Ma'am's fault. She can't help it if she's smarter and prettier than Pallas." The senshi sighed. "Pallas wishes she was smart and pretty."
"That's supposed to be me?" Makoto exclaimed.
She, Minako, Endymion and Sailor Saturn were looking at the restrained woman in black. The prisoner was held to a sensory bed by a magnetic restraint field in the infirmary. Endymion and Saturn were studying the bio-sensor readouts.
"Well, she's got your rack," Minako offered. Makoto rolled her eyes.
"She also could transmit electricity through her body," Saturn added. "And Sailor Moon said her hand-to-hand combat style was just like yours."
"But how?" Makoto demanded.
"How about we peel off that suit and find out?" Minako suggested.
"It's not a suit," Endymion replied, still studying the bio-sensor telemetry. "That's her natural skin. The coloring and texture is due to its particular genetic makeup. It may occur naturally in - - well, in whatever race and species she is."
"And characteristic mimicry might be natural to whatever she is, too," Sailor Moon said. She entered the room from where the emergency crews had taken Rei.
"How's Rei doing?" Minako asked with concern.
"She's stable," Sailor Moon related. "Still out, though. Dr. Tsuburaya says she may be out for a while. She got a pretty nasty shock. Mom's staying with her."
"So our next step is to find out what our intruder is and why she and her partner are attacking the Elder Senshi," Endymion stated.
"Wait! This isn't the one who attacked Ami and Makoto?" Minako asked.
"No, she's different from the one I fought," Makoto said. Then she snapped her fingers. "I thought that fighting style looked familiar!"
"Yeah," Sailor Moon nodded. "Uncle Haruka."
"So somebody is definitely copying senshi," Minako summarized. Just then a new virtual screen appeared amid the bio-sensor readouts. It was Ami's face on a virtual monitor screen.
"You're closer than you think, Minako," Ami said.
"Hey, you're awake!" Makoto smiled joyously.
"Yes. I apologize for worrying you, Makoto," Ami offered.
"Don't worry about it. Just get well."
"I've been looking over the sensor scans of the subject you have," Ami began.
"Hey, don't push yourself!" Makoto admonished.
"Makoto, I'm quite capable of thinking," Ami fussed. "I just can't do anything exerting for a few days. Back to the matter at hand. This subject isn't just mimicking your abilities as Sailor Jupiter, Makoto. They're her abilities, too."
"But the fighting style? I learned that," Makoto countered.
"I'm still puzzling that out. But there is one other explanation for her ability to channel electricity. The genetic scans confirm it, Makoto," Ami persisted. "This being is a genetic clone of Sailor Jupiter."
Continued in Chapter 5