Even though most of these give you about as much coverage as a g-string on a stripper, I'm going to play it safe and include it anyway...
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters contained within this work are the copyright of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, Kodansya and probably lots of other big people I'm forgetting. I am using them without permission, but suing me because of it would be futile as I have nothing. Any characters that are not copyrighted by other people are my own creation, and therefore copyrighted by myself... which means that if for some REALLY weird reason you decided you wanted to use them, (and why would you decide that?!?!?!?) you need to write me for permission.
Comments, Criticisms, and flames welcome... Starrngr@aol.com However, due to a large amount of spam I have received in the past, I have blocked off mail from some domains. Sorry if your one of them. And don't expect me to reply to mail that's nothing but Flames!
See the Character Bio for information on key people to this Fic....
The Wanderer: Wandering Moon: Episode Four: Secrets
Patricia Haruna leaned against the open door of the classroom. "Well??"
Micheal Thunders looked up from the papers spread over his desk. "Deep subject, that. Care to elaborate, or is this one of those things where I get hit over the head with a mallet cause I don't instantly know what your talking about??"
"Well, for someone who says that we need to have a life other than work you certainly are here early. Not at all like your first week here."
Micheal smiled at the comment. "One week does not a pattern make. But there are actually two reasons I'm here so early. First, I was hoping to catch Amy Mizuno before class starts and talk to her about what we mentioned Friday night. Second, Friday morning I caught one of the students trying to poke around in my desk before class."
"Short, bad complexion, and _really_ thick glasses?"
"That's the one. I take it this isn't that unusual?"
"Sadly, it's not. His name is Melvin Umino. He isn't just plugged into every gossip network in school, he uses his computer to trade information with other schools as well. He normally isn't quite so direct, though." Patricia seemed upset that this person would stoop to rifling a teacher's desk for gossip material. Then a large sweat-drop formed as Micheal started laughing.
"A new teacher he doesn't know anything about must drive him nuts," he explained. "But the real payoff is that I learned long ago not to keep a darn thing I didn't want a student to see in my desk. The only think I keep in it are a few school supplies for students who run out unexpectedly. I'll have to leave it unlocked for him, with a note that says 'Gotcha'."
"That should definitely take the wind out of the boy's sails. You certainly look busy with all those papers on your desk."
"I had a really weird thing happen over the weekend, and I wanted to do some research about it."
Patricia paled, correctly fearing she knew where this was going. "What sort of weird?" Micheal's response only confirmed those fears.
"Weird as in strange 'things' attacking people, only to be driven off by teenage girls wearing skirts short enough to be a perverts dream. Weird as in no one ever has gotten a good look at them. The sort of weird the look on your face says you know something that isn't in these two and three paragraph mentions in the paper."
"Its not the sort of thing you ever talk about around here, Micheal. Its the sort of thing that gets you a nice long stay in a room with padded walls..."
"Whatever it is sounds real serious, Patricia. Not knowing could be serious bad news. How about I promise secrecy, and I'll throw in dinner tomorrow night, you pick the place?"
"Deal. I'll explain it then."
"Good Morning Haruna-Sensei, Thunders-sensei." The two instructors looked over to the open door, where Amy Mizuno stood. "Your note said that you wanted to see me before school, Thunders-sensei. Am I in some sort of trouble?"
Patricia mouthed the word 'Later', at Micheal and smiled as she walked out of the classroom and past the school's best student. "No, your not in trouble Ms. Mizuno. I stopped in to drop of some papers Thunders-sensei left in the office."
Micheal waved the young girl into the classroom. "Your not in trouble at all, Ms. Mizuno. I asked to see you about something else entirely. Please, come in and have a seat."
Amy looked over the new instructor at Juuban Jr. High as she took a seat in front of the teachers desk. He was taking a moment to gather up the papers on his desk and shove them into his briefcase, but not before Amy was able to tell that they all appeared to be copies of the few times the newspapers had printed stories about the Sailor Scout's exploits. 'So, he is interested in the scouts. We know he was at the temple when it got attacked, but this still doesn't prove anything. Its not like there is anything in the papers that could lead him to us. Still, I had best be careful.' "What did you want to see me about Thunders-sensei?"
"I understand that you are friends with Serena Tsukino?"
'He must know! How could he possibly know??' "Yes, we have known each other for a while now."
Micheal noticed Amy's discomfort. It was well hidden, but over the years Micheal had learned subtle clues to look for. 'Why should she be nervous? I'd swear she thinks I'm about to attack her or something!' "Ever tried to help her study?" At that question, Amy relaxed, but again, it would have been unnoticed to an untrained eye.
"Yes, Sensei. I'm not sure how much good it has done, though."
"I have an idea of why she is doing so poorly in school. I'd like to have her take a couple of tests to see if I am right about it, and I was hoping you would put in a good word for me with her."
"I'll mention it to her, but Serena makes her own decisions," was Amy's reply.
"That's really all I could hope for. Regardless, there is a project I would like you to help me with."
Amy tensed up all over again. "And what sort of project is that, Sensei?"
"Have you ever heard of something the Americans call mentoring?"
* * * * * * * * *
"Hey Guys," Lita Kino waved as she joined Serena and Amy in their favorite good weather lunch spot. "You aren't going to believe what I just saw in the cafeteria."
"Do they have something totally yummy for dessert?" asked Serena hopefully.
"Nope. Melvin is siting there eating wearing a sign that says 'I will not snoop'. The word is Thunders-sensei is making him wear it for lunch today after having caught Melvin snooping in his desk." Lita paused for a moment while the other girls giggled at the mental picture. "He must really have been steamed about it. I mean, he does have Serena in his classes but he's never lost his temper with her, even when she dumped that sodium down the sink."
"I think he was very understanding about that," interjected Serena, as she eyed the contents of Lita's bento box. "I mean, how was I supposed to know that sodium and water don't mix." Lita just shrugged while Amy sweat-dropped over the image of Serena mixing water and sodium as Serena continued. "I mean, sodium is a component of salt, right? And there's all that salt in the oceans and the sodium doesn't blow up!" That last bit of logic caused Lita to face-fault as well.
"The reason salt doesn't blow up is because salt is actually sodium chloride. The chloride binds to the sodium so it doesn't blow up," Amy explained, as Lita motioned to Serena that she could help herself. "Still, I think that incident has him a little worried. He asked me to see him this morning, to ask if I would agree to help you with your studies."
Lita seemed lost in thought as she considered that fact. "I would think that's a vote against him being from the Negaverse then. If I was a nega-creep I wouldn't care about my students performance except to drain energy from them. I also wouldn't pass up the chance to make a quick energy grab by trying to drain a lone student, as well."
"I tend to agree," nodded Amy, "especially since he wouldn't know I was a Sailor scout. The problem is that I was able to get a quick scan of him during class time and he isn't really human."
"Are you sure??" exclaimed Serena, spraying a small bit of rice. "But the two of you just got done saying he isn't acting like a youma!"
"He isn't a youma," confirmed Amy, "he doesn't radiate Nega-energy. But there is something about him that isn't human either."
"Which leaves us back where we were when we started this conversation," sighed Lita. "We suspect that he is related to that attack on the temple Saturday, but we still don't know how."
"We also know now that he is interested in us," added Amy. Noticing the shocked look on her friends faces, she continued, blushing slightly. "When I showed up this morning to talk to him his desk was covered with newspaper clippings about the scouts. However, for all we know he just wants to know enough to run the other way when a youma does show up."
"I wish I could do that."
"SERENA!!!"
* * * * * * * * *
Cabelite looked over at the Tinkerer, disguising his worries with contempt for Tinkerer's technology. "I still don't see what you hope to gain with this plan," he sneered, knowing such a statement would provoke an explanation.
"All right, I'll explain it again, in words small enough even _your_ mind can comprehend them." The Tinkerer didn't look particularly happy at being distracted. "With your youma controlling the principal of Juuban Jr. High, we gather all the students for an assembly. That will put them all in one place, and we can suck out their energy. Star Ranger seems to love children, so, as soon as he hears about it he is bound to try and stop it. When he does, your youma turn him into scrap metal."
"But what if he doesn't find out about it?"
"Then we have gained a major horde of energy we can use to supercharge your youma to stand against Sailor Moon when the time comes. We then repeat the attacks, at one school or another, until he does show up. Sooner or later we will catch him."
"But what if the Sailor scouts show up instead?"
"They've never fought more than one youma at a time. Three should be more than enough to overpower them. And if they _do_ show up, we can assume that they attend that school and we will have something even more valuable than energy... Information. If we know where they go to school we will be able to attack them when they aren't ready for us. No matter what happens, we win."
"Easy for you to say, cripple. Its not your forces who face destruction."
* * * * * * * * * *
Micheal looked in the door of Patricia's classroom, and noted the fact that she was looking at the PA speaker like it was about to attack her. Given the strange things that had happened over the weekend, he really didn't blame her either. He knocked on the open door to get her attention.
"I take it from the look on your face that this sort of thing is _NOT_ normal for this school? I mean, your looking at the speaker like its a harbinger of doom."
Patricia turned to look at him. "No, its not. Normally we know about any assemblies a few days in advance. I have a very bad feeling about this."
"Is it related to the things you aren't going to talk about until dinner tomorrow night?" Micheal inquired with a very intent look.
"I don't know. I really hope I am just being silly."
"Nope, being silly is ignoring the shortest distance between two puns." deadpanned Micheal.
"And what is that?"
"A great straight line."
As the brick bounced of his head, Micheal's only thought was that Patricia Haruna could really move when she wanted to.
* * * * * * * * *
Given the large amounts of co-incidence that seemed to occur in Juuban district, it shouldn't have surprised Micheal that both his class and Patricia's wound up walking to the auditorium together. And being one not to pass up a chance, he dropped into step beside Patricia and tried to make a peace offering.
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to forgive me." he whispered.
"Only if you promise not to use another stinker like the last one," was Patricia's whispered reply.
"Done Deal. Still on for tomorrow night then?"
Patricia answered with a nod, and both teachers turned to the task at hand of getting their students to the auditorium and seated. However, given the Japanese passion for order, it wasn't to hard. With everyone seated, Micheal realized that he had the perfect opportunity to talk with Serena about his suspicions. Getting her attention, he indicated to her that he wished to speak to her outside. Again, he thanked the Japanese love of obeying authority as he was able to get her to agree with a minimum of fuss.
"What is it you wanted to talk to me about Sensei?" One thing was for certain, Serena Tsukino knew how to get to the point if she wanted to.
"Its about your performance in school, Ms. Tsukino. As I'm sure you are aware, its not up to school standards."
Serena eyes began to water as she responded. Micheal rather hoped that he wasn't about to be on the receiving end of one of her famous crying attacks. "I know how the other sensei feel about my performance. I really try, but its all just so hard! No matter what I try, I just do not seem to understand the material!"
Micheal quickly moved to stop a full on wailing. He even produced a handkerchief and gave it to her as he answered her worries. "I have heard that you have problems Serena. I've also been observing you in class since I got here and I have a theory. I think there is a reason why you do so poorly in class, and I would like to help."
"Really??" The thought that one of her teachers thought she was something more than she appeared seemed to do a lot to stopping her sniffling.
"Really, Ms. Tsukino. I'd like you to take a few tests for me after school sometime and see if I am right. You'll still have to work hard, but if I'm right I can get you help that will make it pay off. Are you willing to try?"
"If it means that I'll actually understand what your trying to teach, I'll give it a try. Maybe I could catch up to Amy, now that would be wicked cool. But I still get detention a lot. And I'm supposed to be home not long after that. I don't know if my mom would go for it." Serena looked much less confidant at that point than when she had started.
"If necessary, I'll talk with Haruna-sensei and arrange to monitor your detentions. That way we can kill two birds with one stone, and I'm sure she would love to get out of here early once in a while."
"OK, I'll do it then. When do we start?"
"How about tomorrow afternoon? I won't be able to arrange for the tests until next week, but I can arrange for some study help as soon as tomorrow."
Behind them, from the auditorium, began to issue the raucous sounds of a rock band. Serena looked at the auditorium doors with some surprise then noticed that Thunders-sensei had a very pained look on his face.
"Is something wrong, Sensei? You don't look very happy."
"I'm just not very fond of this particular style of music. I'm glad we were out here when it started. It gives me a good excuse to hide out here. I had hoped that this style of music wouldn't catch on over here, because it rather gives me a headache."
Whatever Serena was going to say, she stopped when Micheal's jacket began beeping. "I think your jacket is trying to tell you that you have a call, Sensei," she said with a giggle.
Micheal gave her a sour look for a response, then walked a few steps away for some nominal privacy for the conversation. Serena thought for a moment, and then decided that while she couldn't just go back to her seat because Thunders-sensei hadn't said she could, there was no reason why she couldn't peek in on the concert while she waited for him to finish his phone call. The special effects seemed very cool, at least. It looked like the drum set was shooting out beams of light that were washing over everyone in the audience. She looked, and noticed that Amy and Lita were not enjoying the show, though. They looked like they were... Struggling to reach their transformation wands? Serena began to have a very bad feeling about this. Suddenly she realized that she was not alone, that Thunders-sensei was looking at the same thing she was. She blinked a couple of times after he pulled her away from the door and let it close. Suddenly her mind kicked back up to speed and she knew that something was draining energy from the students at the assembly.
Evidently, Thunders-sensei felt the same way. He looked at her closely, and asked "Are you all right, Ms. Tsukino?"
"Yes, Thunders-Sensei"
"Good. Whatever is going on here doesn't feel right. I want you to go to the office and have them call emergency services. I have a feeling they are going to be needed."
"But Sensei, what about you?"
"Don't worry about me. I have something to take care of."
As teacher and student split up, one thought filled both their minds. 'I have to save those people!!'
* * * * * * * * *
Star Ranger fired an Electro Magnetic pulse into the stage lighting controls and smiled as everything went dark. 'Lets just see if these things can fight in the dark, shall we?' Unfortunately, not all went as planned. While the music stopped, after a moment the emergency lights in the auditorium came on, giving enough light for everyone to see by.
>>>Active scan, target Mode<<<
<<
>>> Understood. Shockwave launcher to 100% and fire<<<
The Telekinetic blast, at least, worked normally. The trio on the stage were knocked off into the wings on the opposite side of the stage. But, like at the amusement park, whatever these creatures were, they were down, but not out. Star could see them getting up from the shock, using his enhanced sensors.
"There you are," snarled the lead of the trio, as he stood up. "My master was expecting you. He has had enough of your meddling." With that, the three people from the stage began to change, their bodies shimmered and grew, and even with his enhanced senses Star Ranger thought he saw them become one with their instruments.
As they charged back at him into the light, he realized that his sensors had not been playing tricks on him. These things were part human, part musical instrument. Never one to let the enemy have an advantage, Star charged them right back. Remembering how the creatures at the amusement park hadn't been affected by his laser, he changed his grip and used it as a club, instead.
It didn't take too long for Star Ranger to realize he had made a major tactical mistake. While they were susceptible to physical damage, they were every bit as fast and tough as he was. And while he knew how to fight, there were still three of them and only one of him. It turned out to be only a matter of time before they managed to tackle him. Pinned to the ground by two of them, the third made a strange gesture and a ball of energy began to form in its cupped hands.
"Time to die, Hero," sneered the third as it prepared to release its attack. Just then, one of the spotlights lit off from the light booth at the back of the auditorium, startling everyone on stage, including Star Ranger who was certain that all the power had been knocked out. With its concentration broken, the energy ball generated by the creature quickly vanished.
"As if using a school's assembly to drain innocent students wasn't bad enough, you three show no sense of honor, attacking three on one like that. I am Sailor Moon, and for your dis-honorable acts, I will punish you!!"
During this distraction, Star Ranger was able to wiggle free of the two attackers holding him down. Internally, he wished for less speech and more action. In his experience, the best introduction was a good swift attack on the bad-guy. However, since the bad guys just sat there and did nothing, Star figured that this was the way things were done in this universe. The three attackers continued to do nothing even while the new arrival made a long, graceful, physics deifying jump from the light booth to the stage. Once she landed, the expressions on the creatures faces turned from fear to amusement.
"A child is going to punish us?" sneered the apparent leader. "I say you've fought your last battle..." Any further comments that were to be made were cut off by one of the overhead draperies suddenly plunging down from its overhead storage and tangling the three creatures like a net.
"OOPS," deadpanned Star Ranger, "Did I do that?" He looked over at the young girl in a very short skirted costume. "If you were planning to attack them, _NOW_ would be a _VERY_ good time."
"Oh, Right!" agreed Sailor Moon, producing the Moon Scepter. One "Moon Scepter Elimination" later, all that was left of the attacking creatures were some piles of dust hidden under the curtain. Star Ranger looked at Sailor Moon and noted that her scepter was now pointed at him.
"I have a few questions for you, mister. Like who are you and why are you here," demanded Sailor Moon. Star Ranger carefully considered that, but the sound of approaching sirens changed his mind.
"Maybe another time. Gotta go," replied the Star Ranger, who suddenly ducked and grabbed his gun. Firing a shot into the wings, he cut the emergency cord and brought the 5000 pound fire-curtain down between them. Sailor Moon just stood there and looked at the heavy curtain between them, realizing that by the time she could force her way through it, Star Ranger would be long gone.
* * * * * * * * *
Amy, Lita, and Serena gathered by the front steps of the school. With the damage to the school and the principal drained of energy, the Vice Principal had declared the school closed for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Amy and Lita were still a little weak from having been caught in the draining attack, but were recovering quickly. A quick communicator conference had yielded the decision for everyone to gather at the Temple for an emergency scout meeting. As they headed towards the temple to wait for Mina and Raye, they saw Thunders-sensei helping Haruna-sensei into Thunder-sensei's car. Apparently, he saw them too, because he waved them over for a moment.
"Don't forget about our agreement, Ms. Tsukino," he warned.
"But Sensei, how am I supposed to study with the school closed?"
"Nothing says you can't work at home, Ms. Tsukino. And I'm sure Ms. Mizuno would be willing to help you. In fact, I have a list of exercises I want you to try with Ms. Mizuno's help." He laid his briefcase on the hood and opened it, pulling out a textbook and a couple of sheets of paper and handed them to Amy. "Here are the exercises and a copy of the text for Ms. Tsukino's class, Ms. Mizuno. I would greatly appreciate it if you two would work them through tonight or tommorow."
"Yes, Sensei," the two girls agreed, and turned to go.
"Oh, and Ms. Mizuno?" the two girls turned to look at their teachers again.
"After you've helped Ms. Tsukino with the work, take some time off. Do something fun for a change. You're well ahead in your classwork and there is more to being a teenager than school and grades." Micheal noted that Ms. Mizuno found being ordered to relax slightly embarrassing, for she was certainly blushing!
"Don't worry sensei, I'll make sure of that!" bubbled the irrepressible Serena, as she began to drag a still blushing Amy away from the car. As the three girls headed off to wherever, Micheal noted that Amy had a slightly wild look in her eyes, and was trailing behind the other two girls like she was being lead to an execution.
____________________________
Coming soon, Episode 5, Moonlight Densetsu
Whew... this one took a long time to write. During the course of writing this chapter, I've had to deal with school leading up to finals, writers block, and preparing some apparently needed revisions in the first three episodes... Things should get better, since finals will be over in a few more days.