Revised
The Spawn of Satan or Thank God for Little Brothers
Chapter 2: Revelations
* * are for emphasis
~ ~ are for thoughts
Standard Disclaimers Apply, so don't sue me.
I think I'll put a name key here this time so we all understand who our favorite people are:
Tsukino Usagi – Serena
Chiba Mamoru – Darien
Tsukino Shingo – Sammy
Mizuno Ami – Amy
Hino Rei – Raye
Kino Makoto – Lita
Aino Minako – Mina
Tsukino Ikuko – Did she ever have a name in the dub?
Tsukino Kenji – Did he ever have a name in the dub?
Furuhata Motoki – Andrew
Furuhata Unazuki – Lizzy (Elizabeth)
Notice I list names in the Japanese way, family name first. Don't get confused now. It's
easy once you get the hang of it.
Notes at the bottom. Now on with the show!
* * * * *
"Odango Ataaammaaaaa!"
Usagi, and the rest of the cafe, heard sung out behind her. She knew the voice
but didn't know how it had learned of *that* particular nickname. Slowly, she swiveled
around in her seat, dreading the worst.
"Shingo," she groaned, spotting him standing just inside the doors, looking right
at her.
He grinned evilly as he walked over to her table. (AN: If any of you have
younger siblings, you know the *exact* expression I'm talking about. Of course, if any of
you *are* younger siblings, you probably practice in the mirror. ^_~)
"What do you want, Brat?" she grumbled.
"Mom wants you home, like, five minutes ago," he announced cheerfully, making
her wince. "She sent me to find you and to make sure you don't get 'detoured' on the way
there."
Usagi made a face. ~I hope she didn't find that 30% test paper I hid behind my
bed~ she thought.
"Mom was muttering something about test papers and how you were grounded for
life this time," Shingo went on blithely.
Usagi covered her face with her hands. "That's it," she mumbled between them.
"Life as I know it is over."
"You really did it this time, Odango Atama," Shingo shook his head mock-sadly.
She glared at him. "Where did you hear *that* name, anyway, Brat?"
"I met someone. He seems to know you really well," he gloated.
~Argh! Thanks a lot, Mamo-chan~ thought Usagi sourly. Rising, she laid some
money on the table, made her apologies to the others, and left with Shingo trailing behind
her. Luna stayed with Artemis-tachi, and Usagi assumed they were going to discuss
senshi business some more and that Luna would fill her in later.
"Come on, Usagi, hayaku," Shingo brushed past her and ran a few steps ahead.
"Mom meant sometime today, ya know."
Usagi stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, then let's cut through the park. It's
faster."
"Do we have to?" Shingo whined. "It's getting dark, and it's even darker under the
trees."
"Don't be such a baby." Usagi took this opportunity to pay Shingo back for the
odango atama remark. "There are plenty of lights in the park, and the moon's out tonight.
See?" She pointed upwards at the not-quite-full-moon already shining brightly in the
fading daylight.
Shingo sighed dramatically. "Fine, whatever," he acquiesced gracelessly. After
all, he couldn't have Usagi-baka thinking he was afraid of the dark, could he? He'd never
hear the end of it from her.
Usagi caught up to him and they crossed the street to the park. About five
minutes later, Usagi realized that there was almost no one else there. Sure, they had
passed a few couples cuddling on benches here and there on the outskirts, but deeper in
the park they hadn't seen another living soul. Barring the fact that it was a school night,
it was barely seven o'clock. There should have been *someone* hanging around. But
there was no one to be found. Not even an animal scurried along the ground in search of
its bed. ~Or~ shuddered Usagi, ~a bat.~
This was really starting to creep her out. She couldn't let Shingo know that,
though. He might think she was afraid of the dark, and then she'd never hear the end of it
from him. She was, of course, but the thing that got to her this time wasn't the dark. It
was the silence. There was no sound at all. Not even by straining her ears could she hear
the slightest noise beyond their own footsteps and breathing. Not even a breeze rustled
through the tree tops.
Usagi wasn't only creeped out now. She was getting a really bad feeling. She
clutched her brooch with one hand and grabbed for Shingo with the other. ~He must be
feeling it too~ she thought, when he didn't raise any objection to holding hands with his
sister. Nor did he tease her about being scared of the dark. Shingo moved closer to
Usagi, clutching at her hand and wrist with both of his hands. They started walking faster.
Hurrying around a bend in the path, Usagi wasn't paying much attention to what
was directly in front of her, being too busy scanning their surroundings for potential
danger. So of course she crashed right into the person who was hurrying in the opposite
direction. The person emitted what sounded what sounded like an "Oomph," and
stumbled back a few steps. Usagi let loose a shrill, short scream as she tumbled to the
ground. And, because they were practically bound together at the hip, Shingo tumbled
with her.
"Daijoubu?" she heard a concerned voice ask as she and Shingo disentangled
themselves.
"Hai, we – " Usagi began, then looked up. "Mamoru?" She could hardly believe
her eyes. Jumping up, she launched herself at him with an "Oh, I'm so glad to see you!"
tumbling from her lips. Shingo looked on in mute amazement.
"Na-nani? Honto?" Mamoru found that hard to believe. He'd been wandering
around the park for the past twenty minutes when all of a sudden he'd gotten this eerie
feeling. Like someone – or some*thing* – was watching him. He realized then that he
couldn't hear anything. No birds, no animals, no people, nothing. He also discovered
his rambling walk had left him quite alone in the middle of the park. That's when he'd
decided to get the hell out of Dodge. (AN: Pathetic, I know, but I couldn't resist.) He'd
been walking as fast as he could without actually running when, for the second time that
day, someone had crashed into him. He'd recognized Usagi and Shingo right off, but
no thought of teasing had entered his head. That's how strong the feeling of impending
danger was. And now Usagi had flung herself into his arms, in front of her brother,
saying how happy she was to see *him*. That feeling was getting stronger.
Usagi flushed slightly at his words, and flushed even more as his hands came up
to grip her shoulders, but, if anything, her hold on him only tightened.
"Please don't tease me right now, Mamoru-san," she pleaded with him. "I know
how this is going to sound, but I've got this really bad feeling. Like – "
"Something terrible is about to happen," he finished for her.
She looked up at him in surprise. "Then you feel it, too. It isn't just us." She
looked to Shingo for confirmation.
Shingo, meanwhile, didn't quite know what to make of his sister hugging this man
like she was, but he could agree with her about the weird feeling. He nodded.
Mamoru eased Usagi back, looked at her, then at Shingo, then at Usagi again. "I
think, in that case, we had better get out of here as fast as possible," he said.
He took Usagi's hand, and she took Shingo's, then they all started running back
the way Usagi and Shingo had come.
They had only gone a few yards, however, when a horrible looking youma
shambled out from the bushes and blocked the path. All three froze, then Mamoru
stepped in front of Usagi and Shingo, as Shingo moved closer to Usagi. She put her
arm around him and backed away.
"Get out of here," Mamoru shot over his shoulder. "I'll distract it, then you run."
"Iya!" Usagi protested. "We can't just leave you. Either we all go or none of us
do," she said. Shingo looked scared, but nodded determinedly.
"Kuso!" Mamoru swore. "This isn't a game," he growled at her. "I'll be fine, I
promise. Now GO!"
Usagi shook her head, and neither she nor Shingo budged.
The youma, meanwhile, had inched a few feet closer. It was a thing out of
nightmares, way more terrifying than any youma Usagi or Mamoru had fought before.
It's greenish tentacles sliced through the air as if searching for something, and the rest
of it all seemed to be teeth and claws, where it wasn't a sickly looking blue-ish color.
It didn't resemble anything even remotely natural (AN: From nature). It shambled along
the path on four elephant-thick legs, which gave the impression the youma was slow. So
Usagi-tachi weren't prepared when it suddenly charged forward faster than they could
react.
Usagi screamed as the creature's tentacles whipped forward, grabbed Mamoru,
and flung him out of its way. He crashed into a tree, dazed but not seriously hurt.
She screamed again, and Shingo yelled with her, as the youma smashed into them,
separating them. Shingo was tossed to the far side of the path, while Usagi was knocked
in the direction Mamoru had taken.
"Shingo!" yelled Usagi, as the youma turned and headed towards him. Shingo
was shaking his head groggily, and there was blood running down the side of his face
from a cut at his temple.
Usagi started to run to him, but a dark blur shot past her, grabbed Shingo, and
leapt away again just as the youma's tentacles struck the spot where Shingo had been.
~Mamo-chan. Thank goodness he's all right.~
Mamoru and Shingo were back by her side seconds later. "Shingo!" exclaimed
Usagi. "Daijoubu?" she asked taking his head in her hands to examine the cut.
"Hai, Usagi," he said. "Mamoru-san saved me." He looked up at his new hero.
"We don't have time for this," Mamoru broke in. "Can you run?" he asked them.
They nodded affirmatively, and the three took off into the wooded areas of the park, with
the youma in hot pursuit.
~Maybe I should henshin~ thought Usagi. ~But then Mamo-chan and Shingo will
find out I'm Sailor Moon.~
Mamoru was having similar thoughts. ~I can't become Tuxedo Kamen in front of
them. We either have to avoid this thing long enough for the Senshi to show up, or get
away from it altogether.~
Shingo was just wondering what was taking the Sailor Senshi so long to get there.
He was feeling dizzy, thanks, he was sure, to the cut on his head, which he could feel was
still bleeding.
Suddenly he stumbled over a tree root and went down. Usagi and Mamoru were a
few steps ahead of him when they heard his cry and the crash as he fell.
"Shingo!" They rushed back and tried to help him up. The thrashing behind them
got louder as the youma came closer.
"Come on!" Usagi yelled, desperately pulling at her brother.
Shingo attempted to stand, but the moment he put his weight on his foot, pain shot
through his leg, and he crumpled again, his face turning white as he gasped in pain.
"My ankle," he moaned, clutching at it.
"Never mind," Mamoru said. "I'll carry you."
Just then, the brush parted, and there stood the youma, not thirty feet away.
"It's got us," Shingo whispered in fear.
"No."
It was spoken quietly, but with such force, both Shingo and Mamoru broke their
transfixed stares at the youma and looked at Usagi in surprise.
"No," she said again, rising. Without turning to face them, she spoke quietly.
"Onegai, Mamoru, take care of Shingo for me."
"What do you – " Mamoru began, but broke off, making a grab for Usagi and
missing as she started towards the youma.
"Usagi, matte!" he shouted, untangling himself from Shingo.
She didn't respond. She was talking, very quietly, to the youma it seemed.
"You hurt my brother and Mamoru. You threatened our lives. I won't allow you
to continue. I will stop you." Thrusting her hand into the air, she called out –
"MOON – "
~Moon?~ thought Mamoru, startled.
" – PRISM POWER! MAKE UP!"
The youma, whose tentacles had started to reach for this strange girl walking
towards it, recoiled at the light given off by a transforming Usagi.
Mamoru, frozen in a half-crouch, and a pale Shingo watched in total shock as this
girl they had thought they'd known finished transforming and spun to a stop, no longer as
Tsukino Usagi, but as Sailor Moon, Champion of Love and Justice.
~Usagi – my Usako, my Odango Atama, is Sailor Moon?!~ thought Mamoru
incredulously.
"Sonna. Sonna! SONNA!" Shingo protested this revelation violently. "NO
WAY can my sister be Sailor Moon! It's just not possible!"
Usagi, rather, Sailor Moon, shot an annoyed glance over her shoulder at that.
"Believe it, Brat," she said. She looked at Mamoru and said, "Stop gaping, will ya? Get
Shingo out of here." With that, she turned back to the youma and, pulling out her
communicator, radioed for help.
"Minna, come in," she called, keeping an eye on the youma.
"We're here, Usagi. What's up?" Minako's voice answered.
"Youma in the park, you guys. I need you *right now*," she stressed. "Mamoru
and Shingo are here, and Shingo's hurt."
"We gotcha, Sailor Moon," came Makoto's voice. "We're on our way."
~Great~ Sailor Moon thought. ~Now I just have to hold this thing off until they
get here.~
Stepping forward, Sailor Moon began her ritual speech. But not in its usual
manner. "I'm not playing around this time." Her voice was full of all the white-hot fury
she was feeling at the moment, and her face reflected it. "You hurt my brother. That was
a major mistake. Now I am seriously ticked off." She struck her trademark pose. "I am
Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"
With that, she jumped at the youma.
Mamoru let out a half-strangled yelp at this, but soon he saw he needn't have
worried. This was not his normal klutzy Usako, nor even the perpetually clumsy Sailor
Moon he was used to saving.
She avoided the youma's tentacles easily, landed a booted kick where Mamoru
supposed the head was (that's where all the eyes were, anyway), and leapt from there to
the youma's other side.
"Hey tall, dark, and ugly, over here!" she called in her most taunting voice.
The youma emitted what sounded like a growl from its mouthful of teeth and
whipped around, charging all out at Sailor Moon.
"Onee-chan!" yelled a terrified voice.
Mamoru had momentarily forgotten Shingo, so shocked was he at Sailor Moon's
identity and her new gracefulness.
She spared a glance at them as she barely leapt out of the way. Landing on a tree
branch near them, she shouted, "Why are you two still here?"
Bounding away again, she landed in front of the youma, which was just turning,
raised a hand to her forehead and cried out, "MOON TIARA ACTION!" Her tiara went
whirling towards the youma.
It dodged at the last second, but it couldn't move quite fast enough. Sailor Moon's
tiara sheared through several of the creature's tentacles, and they dropped, twitching, to
the forest floor, oozing a pinkish, goo-like substance. (AN: That one's for your strawberry
cream cheese, Cassie. ^_~)
The youma screeched in rage, its remaining tentacles whipping out in all
directions. Sailor Moon dove to the ground as they came her way. Mamoru, frozen
before, now moved quickly to push Shingo down and shield him from the enraged
youma.
"No! Let me go! Onee-chan!" yelled Shingo. He broke Mamoru's grip and rolled
away, struggling to stand with a tree trunk as support.
"Shingo, abunai!" Mamoru watched, helpless, as a tentacle came flying at them,
knowing he'd never get to Shingo and pull him out of the way in time.
Mamoru grabbed Shingo's arms and waited for the impact, the pain.
It never came. The tentacle crunched into the tree's trunk, a bare couple of inches
to their left, and Mamoru heard two gasps, one horrified, one pain-filled. Looking up at the
boy, Mamoru saw that he was staring fixedly at something over his shoulder. Shingo had a
terrible expression on his face. Dreading what he would see, Mamoru turned his head.
* * * * *
End Chapter 2
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(maniacal laughter)
What do *you* think Mamo-chan's gonna see in the next chapter?
Uuugh. Can't think. Need sleep. You guys don't really want notes this time, do
you? pathetic whining noises inserted here
OH, FINE. I'll try.
First off, I don't know how this got so scary. It honestly beats the hell out of me.
Usagi calls Shingo 'Brat' 'cuz that's what I call my own younger brat of a brother. It's a
term of affection. You should hear some of the things he calls me. Foul-mouthed, little – !
I imagine even Usagi would get just a teeny bit upset at a youma threatening the lives of
her brother and her true love. So don't think her actions seem over the top or odd or
anything. I truly believe that Sailor Moon can come thru in a pinch. She's not Sailor
Moon for nothing, ya know. All that training Luna's been putting her thru has to pay off
sooner or later.
Oh, yes, before I forget AGAIN, I forgot the disclaimer for the first chapter so,
STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY TO EVERY AND ALL PARTS OF MY
FANFIC. This is the blanket disclaimer in case I ever forget again. Don't be too hard
on me, 'k? I'm new at this. First fic, first time submitter, a lot of firsts with this story.
As you may have noticed, I've started naming the chapters, starting with this one. I can't
think of a name for the next one, tho, so . . . anyone have any ideas? Please? (Ignore this)
No more. Any other questions, e-mail me.
maiyav@yahoo.com
"Asking a working writer what he thinks about
critics is like asking a lamp post what he feels about dogs."
~Christopher Hampton
Thanx for reading
MaiyaV ^_~
Japanese Word Key:
-tachi – As in 'Usagi-tachi'. Means 'Usagi and everyone' or 'Usagi and the others',
referring to Usagi and anyone she might be with.
Hayaku – 'Hurry' or 'Hurry Up'
Daijoubu? – 'Are you all right?' as well as 'I'm okay'
Hai – 'Yes'
Honto – 'Really' or 'Truly'
Iya – 'No'. 'Iie' also means no.
Kuso – It's a curse. An American translation could be 'Dammit' or 'Damn it'
Henshin – 'Transform'
Matte – 'Wait'
Sonna – 'No Way'. A seriously vehement denial.
Onee-chan – 'Big Sister' or 'Older Sister'. The '-chan' is an affectionate ending. Can also
be used with '-san'.
Abunai – 'Look Out', tho it's literally 'Dangerous'
That's all the new words. Now I really am done.