ROAD TRIP
Chapter 10: "The Heights"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Jun's Diary: 13 August, 2997, Kobe
I am not going to bother the Princess again, no matter what comes up. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.
"Why am I doing this again?"
Jun ascended the winding stairs that led up the side of Mount Rokko, amid dozens of other tourists. Though she kept her backpack slung over her shoulder, her hover bike was parked in the garage at the inn in Kobe proper where she had spent the night. She was still dressed in hiking shorts and boots, with a beige blouse tied at the midriff. A tram had taken her and the other tourists up the primary length, but only an ancient staircase led up to the observation platform built onto the mountain. The peak, 931 meters above the city, watched them from above as it had for generations.
"Oh yeah," Jun told herself as a pair of children ran ahead of her up the stairs. "I have to get pictures for Kino-Sensei." She felt obsessively at her pocket to make sure her PDA was still there. "At least it's cooler at this elevation."
The trip from Koshu had been uneventful, for which Jun had been grateful. Not running into con artists or forest guardians allowed her to enjoy the sights. The southeastern coast of Japan was very nice, despite the humidity. She enjoyed the sea air and she enjoyed the sights, even if Osaka had been a little bit of a jolt to someone who had only experienced Crystal Tokyo. Rather than regret it, though, Jun took it for what it was: a new experience and a new memory to file and draw upon.
"Fumiko! Hoji! Don't run!" she heard a woman call. Probably the mother of the two children racing up the stairs. Jun grew a melancholy smile. She wondered if the two kids knew how lucky they were that they had a mother who worried about them.
Probably not.
"Just a few more steps, Ladies and Gentlemen," the tour guide called back to them over her voice augmentation hardware. "We're almost there!"
Reaching the top step, the first thing Jun encountered was the two children waiting impatiently next to an automatic gate. Installed in the gate was an electronic admissions cashier. Sighing, Jun pulled out her transaction card and slid it into the slot.
"Thank you," the terminal responded with a soothing, perfectly modulated artificial voice. "Please enjoy the garden."
She passed through the gate. Once inside the Rokko Alpine Botanical Garden, Jun's breath caught. Before her was a lush garden of exotic plants and flowers, all planted on the side of Mount Rokko. It was a splendor of color and fragrance that rivaled the Queen's garden in the Crystal Palace.
"Oh, Kino-Sensei will love this!" Jun whispered with excitement as she brought her PDA up and began taking pictures. "This is so beautiful!"
As she snapped pictures, Jun passed through the rows between the plants. The deeper she got into the botanical garden, the more she became aware of a sensation growing in her mind. It was almost deja vu.
"The plants are different," Jun mused. "But the sensation kind of reminds me of when I was in the Amazon with Mi Padre. And it's not quite as humid. Boy, I'd forgotten what this felt like!"
The two kids raced past her, headed for the railing in the distance. Jun knelt down and immersed herself in the green.
"Cere would be in heaven here," Jun thought. "I bet she could name every plant. Hell, she'd probably be chatting them up!" The thought made her giggle. "I think I'll send her the pictures after I send them to Kino-Sensei."
After drifting through the botanical garden, Jun wandered over to the edge of the mount. An observation platform had been built near the garden. It was already crowded with tourists. Squeezing through, Jun got to the railing and looked out.
"Wow!" she gasped, absently giving voice to her thoughts. "You can see the entire port from here. Look at the ocean just stretch out to the horizon." She closed her eyes and just let her affinity with the water allow her mind to almost encompass the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It was intimidating and at the same time exhilarating.
"It's really something," another tourist, an older man, about sixty, in a loud print shirt and khaki shorts, said. "This is my fourth time here. I always see something new."
"Has the city changed much?" Jun asked him.
"Kobe? Yes. It's not the place I remember. Maybe that's good for this generation, but I miss some of the old places."
"I guess," Jun nodded. "But there's one thing that's still the same: The Ocean. That horizon hasn't changed in a few million years. And hopefully it'll look the same a few million years from now."
"That's true," the old man nodded. "Fortunately, Rokko and its garden are still here. Thanks to Queen Serenity and her preserving places like this." He turned and looked at Jun. "If you don't mind my asking, what country are you from?"
"Colombia, originally," Jun replied. "But I'm living in Crystal Tokyo now."
"Have you seen the Queen?" he asked breathlessly.
"I work in the palace," Jun grinned.
"Lucky," he sighed. "I keep meaning to take the shuttle up to Crystal Tokyo, just to meet the Queen. But something always comes up."
"You need to do it," Jun told him. "Something's always going to come up. You need to decide that you're going to do it and do it. If you let life hold you back, you're never going to meet her."
"It's not that easy," he replied. "I have obligations - - responsibilities."
"So do I," Jun answered. "I let it hold me back for the longest time. Then I decided to do what I always wanted to do. And I'm glad I did. This trip has really renewed my zest for life."
"Maybe you're right," the old man mumbled. "I'm not getting any younger. Maybe I should take some time and do it."
Returning to the vista before her, Jun began snapping more pictures with her PDA. When the memory was full, she eased through the crowd and found a secluded spot, then sent a message to Makoto with the pictures included.
Jun was recording a message for Cere to go with the pictures when the air was pierced by a shrill scream. Looking up immediately, Jun saw the crowd begin to surge to the railing on the right. Excited cries emanated from the crowd, frantic and fearful. Sensing something was wrong, Jun tried to push through to the front. But the crowd was too dense and with her small stature, she couldn't make it.
"Well, you were an acrobat," Jun thought, noticing the railing on the left of the observation platform was deserted. Scurrying over, she ascended onto the railing and balanced herself on it, oblivious to the slope of the mountain that was an eight hundred meter drop. From that vantage point, she could see.
What she saw horrified her. The boy, one of the two children who had been running through the botanical garden, had fallen from the railing and was dangling five meters below the platform, clinging to a shrub which had grown out of the side of the mountain. The boy was terrified, and with justification. If his grip failed, he faced a very rough fall down the rugged side of the mountain.
In the shopping district of Crystal Tokyo, Makoto Kino and Minako Aino browsed the wares of a store. As they went, citizens would stop them and say "hello" or thank them for being who they were. While both were recognizable as elder Senshi, even in their civilian identities, Minako was more famous and, because of that, got more attention than Makoto did. The pair were in a store that sold toys for young children.
"What are we doing here again?" Minako asked after conversing with a fan.
"I don't know what you're doing," jabbed Makoto. "I'm shopping for a birthday present for my little Kimmie-Chan."
"Oh, yeah," Minako nodded absently, waving at another fan. "Which one is she again?"
"Ken and Yumi's daughter," Makoto sighed.
"And which one are Ken and Yumi?"
"Blondie. . ." Makoto sighed again, this time in annoyance.
"I'm sorry! I can't keep track!" howled Minako. "After all, about a third of Crystal Tokyo is related to you in some way!"
"And yet you can remember every one of your films down to the most insignificant detail," Makoto shot back.
"Well?" Minako asked incredulously.
"What would a six year old girl like?" Makoto mused.
"A six year old boy?"
"Blondie, if you're not going to help . . ."
"I am helping! That's what I'd want if I was six!"
"Well, you're addled," Makoto muttered. Further conversation was cut off by a signal from her PDA. Makoto pulled it out and engaged it. "Oh, it's a message from Jun!"
"She tired of the road yet and is going to come home?" Minako asked, peering over Makoto's right arm because Makoto was too tall to peer over her shoulder.
"No, it's pictures of a botanical garden!" Makoto gasped. "Her message says they're from Mt. Rokko in Kobe."
"I filmed there once," Minako replied. She looked at the pictures as Makoto scrolled through them. "Doesn't look like it's changed much."
"Oh, these are GORGEOUS!" exclaimed Makoto. "Oh, I wish I was there! She must be having the time of her life!"
"Good thing, too," Minako mused. "She needed a break from being 'perfect'."
"You noticed that?"
"Sure," Minako nodded. "Jun thought that if she was the perfect girl and the perfect student and the perfect citizen, people wouldn't remember what she'd done. Sort of like when you were her age and were afraid to be anything except the model of femininity." Minako put her arms out and screwed up her face in mimicry. "Me monster! No boy will ever love me!"
"I was a kid. What did I know," scowled Makoto.
"And given that I was the model of feminine beauty for a generation, you didn't have a chance anyway," Minako added with a grin.
"She said modestly," Makoto added wryly.
"She did nothing of the sort," Minako jabbed with a smirk. "I have been accused of many things, some of them even true. But I have never been accused of modesty."
"Somehow I can believe that," Makoto chuckled.
"Does it say where she's headed after Kobe?"
"No, but I remember Cere saying something about her wanting to visit Minami-Satsuma," Makoto related.
"Minami-Satsuma," Minako sighed. "I saw one of the most heavenly things there once."
"What was that?"
"His name was Kotaro and . . ."
"Sorry I asked."
"And he had the biggest . . ."
"Not interested."
"Motherhood took all the adventure out of you," grumbled Minako. Suddenly she pointed to a toy. "Hey, how about that for your great-twenty-times-granddaughter?"
Makoto looked. "Hey, that's nice! You do have good taste occasionally."
"I have good taste ALL the time."
"You forget," smirked Makoto. "I saw 'Bloodbath On Bikini Beach'."
"I will be haunted by that film forever," Minako sighed dramatically.
Ignoring the eight hundred meter drop below her, Jun raced along the railing with uncanny balance. When she spotted a rope used to tie down a canvas canopy, the teen stopped. Pushing off of the railing, Jun executed a double somersault over the anxious crowd and landed near the canopy. The gawking onlookers turned to her in time to see her pull the rope from its mooring and hastily fashion a crude harness around her shoulders.
"Out of the way!" she barked and then charged the crowd.
They parted in fear and confusion, giving Jun a clear path to the railing. Jun raced for it, leaped up onto the railing and then thrust herself out into space. Executing another double somersault, Jun nimbly landed on a jutting bush above and to the left of where the boy had been dangling. She took a moment to steady her balance on the bush, then looked down to where the boy was.
He wasn't there anymore. Fearing the worst, Jun readjusted her sight line to see if she could spot where he'd fallen.
Then she heard a sound. Looking up, Jun saw the boy being lifted up into the air by a CDP security drone. A harness was around his shoulders and the drone was carrying him over the railing. The moment the boy's feet touched the floor, his mother was on top of him, alternately hugging him and scolding him. The drone detached from him to the sound of cheers and applause from the onlookers.
Sighing with frustration, Jun used the rope attached to her to climb up the side of the mountain to the observation platform. She was five feet along when the CDP drone came up next to her.
"Remain stationary, please," the drone said as it hovered next to her. "This unit will assist you."
"Don't bother. I've got it," Jun muttered.
"It is a violation of Section 22. . ." the drone persisted.
"I've got it! Piss off!" snapped Jun.
Despite her protests, the drone followed her the entire climb. It only broke off when she was safely on the platform. As Jun freed herself from the canopy rope, she glanced over at the crowd. They were still buzzing about the dramatic rescue that the drone had accomplished.
"Well, at least he's OK," Jun mumbled.
Feeling a little tired from the spent adrenaline, Jun walked over and sat on a bench. After a few moments, someone sat down next to her. She glanced and saw it was the old man from earlier.
"That was a brave thing you did," he told her.
"And unnecessary, as it turned out," Jun sighed. "I should have figured the CDP had observer drones here, too. But I didn't think. I acted on impulse."
"Your first thought was to help. That says a lot about who you are," he maintained. "And the way you moved! I've never seen such skill!"
"I've had acrobat training," Jun shrugged. "I - - spent some time in a circus - - when I was younger."
"Someone your age? You've led an interesting life."
"It's," Jun mumbled, "not a very pleasant memory."
"And yet, something good ultimately came from it," he suggested. "We're all the summary of our experiences. Some of them are good, some are bad. How we use those experiences says what kind of person we are. Queen Serenity must be very proud to have you in her employ."
"Yeah," Jun said. "But that's her. She sees the best in everybody."
"I think she's right in your case," he told her. "And I'm going to tell her that when I go to see her next week."
"You're taking the shuttle to Crystal Tokyo?" Jun asked.
"Yes. I decided that I've put it off long enough. Perhaps I need to follow my impulses a little more - - like you." Jun looked down, embarrassed. "So what name should I mention when I tell her how brave you were?"
"You don't . . ."
"Someone else should know about what you did besides the two of us," he persisted.
She sighed. "Just say it was Jun. She'll know who it is."
Jun's Diary: 15 August, 2997, one kilometer northeast of Kumamoto
Finally got to Kumamoto and the week's almost up. At this rate, I am never getting to Minami-Satsuma. But I've seen so many interesting things along the way that I guess it's OK I'm taking so long. Been thinking about what the old man in Kobe said. Wondering if it really applies to me. Considering what I almost did in Koshu, maybe it does.
Entering the outskirts of Kumamoto, the first thing Jun looked for was an inn. One of the things she hadn't considered when she started on her trip was the weather. Kumamoto in August was a lot hotter than Crystal Tokyo in August, and she'd always thought of Crystal Tokyo as uncomfortable in August. This was worse. Between the heat and the humidity, this reminded her of the Amazon rain forest, and not in a good way. And the Amazon rain forest had the benefit of trees for shade.
"Thirty-eight degrees*!"(*one hundred and one Fahrenheit) Jun thought, glancing at a LED display giving the temperature in Celsius, weather forecast and hover car traffic instructions. One of the down sides to riding a hover bike in this heat was the necessity of wearing a protective helmet and jacket in case the rider fell off. In heat such as this, the rider broiled inside the jacket. "I have to find an inn. I am cooking! Even my water deflection trick isn't enough!"
Pulling up at the LED sign, Jun leaned over, typed "directions to inn" into her PDA and then touched it to the sign. The sign instantly downloaded directions to it and Jun was off.
"Welcome to the Lotus Blossom Inn," the automated check-in terminal said when it sensed Jun's presence. Jun had her backpack over her shoulder, her helmet and jacket stuck under one arm and was soaking in the climate controlled interior wearing only boots, shorts and a tank top she'd borrowed from Ves. "How may I assist you?"
"Room for one, please," Jun sighed, adoring the way the cool air felt against her exposed skin. Her limp green hair dangled in her eyes, mussed by the helmet, and she felt as feminine as a latrine.
"Economy or luxury?"
"Economy," Jun said. "I'm just looking for a place to clean up and flop."
"Room 36 has an excellent view of . . ."
"Yeah, great," Jun nodded. "That'll work."
"Name?"
"Junelle Batista."
"Please insert your transaction card in the flashing slot," the terminal said. "You will not be billed for your room until you check out." Jun complied. "Thank you. Your transaction is complete." A key card popped out of a different slot. "Please enjoy your stay. Notify the desk if you have specific needs."
Jun took her key card and headed for the room. Once the door hissed shut behind her, she headed for the bathroom. Turning the water on, Jun sat on the toilet and pulled her boots off. She was about to strip when a wave of exhaustion swept over her. Laying her head against the wall, she told herself it was just for a moment to catch her breath.
Jun closed her eyes - - and fell asleep.
Continued in Chapter 11