by Eugol Dlareg
I do not own any of the main characters in this story except for Gilded Rose. They are owned by someone in Japan. However, with the exception of Serena Campbell and Amy Anderson, I do own the Americanized names of the characters, as well as many of the supporting characters and villians. To make things easy, we'll just say that anything that has appeared in the manga or anime version of Sailor Moon is owned by someone in Japan, most likely Toei or Naoko Takeuchi.
EPISODE 5-AND JUPITER MAKES 5
PROLOG
Friday, 18 April 1986, Bastanchury High School, Sunny Hills, CA
10:03 a.m.
"Hey Makoto," Mark Westin called. Susan Makoto just ignored him. "I'm talking to you. You go deaf on me, bitch?"
Just ignore him, Susan thought to herself. Just get through this year without any major trouble. MacPherson's retiring in June, and it'd be real fun to see him go before I do. She ignored his taunts. Then, he did something she couldn't ignore.
He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. "I don't think you heard me," he said.
"I heard you just fine Mark," she said. "I just don't want to fight you right now."
"You're afraid MacPherson's going to kick your butt out of here," he said. "Personally, I don't care about your problems with him," and threw a punch at her.
Susan grabbed his arm in midair, and turned his punch into a judo flip. "If you want to continue this, meet me after school in Euclid Park," she said, in a tone of voice that said 'end of discussion'.
"Miss Makoto," said Mr. MacPherson, the principal of Bastanchury High School, "my office, now."
Two minutes later, Mr. MacPherson's office
"Miss Makoto," Mr. MacPherson adressed Susan, "do you remember what I said the last time I caught you fighting?"
"Yes," she said. "You said the next time you caught me fighting, I'd be expelled. But he threw the first. . . "
"It doesn't matter who started it," he interrupted. "What matters is that you were fighting. Now, it doesn't matter, because you're no longer my problem. The fact that Mr. Westin threw the first punch is the only reason I'm not sending you to Fred Nells, where you belong. I have no other choice than to send you to Malvern High." He signed a form, and gave it to Susan.
"Can I go now?" she asked.
"In a second," Mr. MacPherson said. A woman in her mid-20s, wearing a security guard uniform, entered MacPherson's office. "Clean out your locker," MacPherson continued. "Jane will collect any school property in your possession. Textbooks, library books, parking permit. You will gather all your personal belongings from your outside locker, as well as your gym locker. When you have collected your personal belongings, jane will escort you to your car."
Susan left, and Mr. MacPherson called Mark into his office. "Close the door Mr. Westin," he said. When the door was closed, MacPherson continued. "Miss Makoto claims you provoked her and attacked her."
"Damn straight I started it," Mark said. "What can you do about it now? You already booted her out of here."
MacPherson reached in his suit jacket, and pulled out a billfold. He opened the billfold, and pulled out several $100 bills. He counted out ten of them and handed them to Mark.
"What's this?" Mark asked.
"Payment," MacPherson said, "for services rendered. I only ask you to follow one condition in return."
"Name it," Mark said.
"Don't go flashing this around," MacPherson said. "I don't want anyone, especially Makoto, to know I paid you for provoking her to fight."
"Heaven forbid she had any concrete evidence to take to the school board," Mark said.
"Exactly," MacPherson said.
Later that afternoon
"This is totally heinous!" Susan Makoto told her mother.
"It may be heinous," her mother said, "but it's totally legitimate."
"But I didn't start it," Susan said. "That jerk Westin did. I bet he and MacPherson were in cahoots the whole time."
"Now Susan," Her mom said. "I believe you didn't start that fight, but I have a hard time believing that Mr. MacPherson has it in for you. If you're so sure, we can appeal the decision."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Susan said.
""Why not?" her mom asked. "I thought you felt the way he treated you was unfair."
"First of all," Susan said, "I don't have any proof he's got it in for me, so basically, it's his word against mine, and he's going to make me out to be a troublemaker. Second of all, if by the grace of God we get this thing overturned, he's bound to use any excuse he can to ship me to Fred Nells. At least at Malvern, I may get a chance to start with a clean slate."
Monday, 21 April, 1986 Malvern High School
7:40 a.m.
Susan Makoto saw the nameplate on the door. It read:
Dr. Richard L. Norris, EdD.
Principal
She knocked on the door. "Come in," Dr. Norris said. Susan entered the office. "Have a seat Miss Makoto," he said. "I was looking over your records," he continued, after she sat down, "and it says you were expelled from Bastanchury for fighting. Is that correct.?"
"Yes sir," she said. "But the other guy threw the first punch."
"Frankly, Susan," Dr. Norris said, "I find it hard to believe that you could have a reputation as a troublemaker, like Mr. MacPherson said in the letter he sent me warning me about you," he held up a letter, then ripped it in half. "As of now, I'm wiping the slate clean. What's on your record is in the past, someone else's dirty laundry. If you claim you acted in self defense, I believe you. I just want you to know if you ever need to talk to me, you know where my office is."
Susan recognized a picture on his desk. "I know him," she said, "He goes to my church, when he's not away at school."
"That's my nephew," he said. "He's a senior at BYU."
END OF PROLOG
Monday, 21 April, 1986
"Did you hear about the new girl," Melvin Mathers asked Molly Beil. "I heard she beat up a teacher at Bastanchury."
"I heard it was the principal," Molly said.
"You sharing rumours about the new girl who got booted out of Bastanchury?" Jake Slater asked. "I got a doozy for you. I heard she took on the entire wrestling team and beat the crap out of every single one of them. Of course, that's the wildest rumour I heard about her. Frankly, I don't believe any of them. Personally, I'd be more inclined to believe she's some nice Mormon girl who's only here because the administration at Bastanchury needed a place to dispose of some dirty laundry, so to speak."
Lunchtime
Susan Makoto was looking for a place to sit down and eat, but nobody would let her sit at their table. Finally, she came to Serena Campbell's table. "Mind if I sit here?" Susan asked.
"Go ahead," Serena said.
Susan sat down, and opened a bag of muffins. "You like blueberry muffins?" she asked, offering Serena a muffin.
"Sure, thanks," she said, taking the muffin. She took a bite. "These are amazing!" she said.
"Thanks," Susan said. "I made them myself. By the way, my name's Susan. What's yours?"
"Serena," Serena said.
The two talked until the end of lunch. After lunch, Serena ran into Melvin. "Serena," Melvin said. "I saw you talking to that new girl. You should stay away from her, she's bad news."
"She's not as bad as everyone says she is," Serena said. "She's actually very nice. Besides, she makes really amazing blueberry muffins."
Meanwhile, somewhere else entirely
"Puchirol," Cyprine asked, "Why do we do what we do?"
"What do you mean?" Puchirol asked.
"Why do we have to hurt the people on this planet?" Cyprine asked. "They've never done anything to us."
"We have our orders," Puchirol said.
Back in Sunny Hills, later that afternoon
Susan offered Serena a ride home. "You know," Serena said, "you're nothing like what everyone says about you."
"Thanks," Susan said. "By the way, I'm curious about exactly what everyone is saying about me."
Let's see," Serena said. "You took on the whole wrestling team at once, you put a student through a window, you put a teacher in the hospital, broke some guys arm. . . "
"i did all that?" Susan asked.
"Actually," Serena said, "That was just what I heard during first period. You're going to find that rumours and gossip around here spread faster than a fire in a room full of oily rags soaked in kerosene."
"Oh," Susan said. "From what you were saying, I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought I killed someone or something."
"Come to think of it," Serena said, "I think I heard someone say that. On the other hand, I heard you're a nice girl who got fobbed off on us because the principal at Bastanchury had it in for you. So what's the real story?"
"Well," Susan said, "one of the various macho neandrathals they call students over at Bastanchury would try to kick my butt on a weekly basis, and I'd beat the snot out of them. Unfortunately, the principal there was some male chauvinist who couldn't handle it."
"That's not good," Serena said, as Susan pulled in front of Serena's house. "Wanna come in and work on our Spanish homework?" she asked.
"Sure," Susan said, as she pulled in front of Serena's house and cut the engine on her car. They went into the house, and upstairs to Serena's room.The first thing Susan noticed was the rabbits. There were rabbits everywhere. Ceramic rabbits, stuffedd rabbits, pictures of rabbits on the walls, rabbit bedsheets, a large pink stuffed rabbit on the bed.
"Can you tell I like rabbits?" Serena asked. "I've been collecting them since I was 9." She grabbed one that was standing on what looked like the surface of the moon, and was stirring something in a pot. "This is my favorite," she said. "My aunt bought it for me in Japan. It's called Tsukino Usagi, or 'rabbit on the moon'. It's an old Japanese legend that there's a rabbit living on the Moon that makes a rice delicacy called mochi."
"i heard something like that once," Susan said. "But I heard it was just a shape of a rabbit on the face of a full moon."
At that moment, Luna came into Serena's room. "I've finally found you," Luna said. "The team is finally complete."
Susan was completely dumbfounded. "Serena," she said. "I think I'm freaking out."
"Why?" Serena asked.
"I could have sworn I just heard your cat speak," Susan said.
"I did speak," Luna said.
"I still get weirded out when she does that," Serena said.
"Now that we're through with the weirding out," Luna said, "Susan Makoto, I have something for you," Luna jumped up and did a backflip, and a wand topped with the symbol for the planet Jupiter appeared. Susan instinctively grabbed it out of midair.
"What's this for?" Susan asked.
"This will give you power and allow you to fulfill your destiny," Luna said. "When you find yourself in trouble, hold that wand up and say 'Pretty Jupiter Soldier, Make-up!' and you will become Sailor Jupiter."
At that moment, Serena's communicator went off. The cover had a flashing picture of a golden rose. She answered it. "What's going on, Jake?" she answered.
"I got a question," Jake said. "What's gray-green in color, 9 feet tall, and looks like a cross between Godzilla and Swamp Thing?"
"I'm not sure," Serena said.
"Well," Jake said, "It's loose in Hillcrest Park. Get your butt over here fast."
"I'll be there," Serena said. "Hope you don't mind if I bring a friend."
"Great," he said, "the more the merrier."
"Well," Serena said, "Time for your trial by fire." Opening her brooch, she touched the crystal. "Pretty Moon Soldier, Make-up!"
"Here goes nothing," Susan said, holding her transformation wand up. "Pretty Jupiter Soldier, Make-up!" She found herself dressed like Serena, except for the green trim, and green ankle-high lace-up boots. "I have one question," she asied.
"Shoot," Serena said.
"When you first transforned, did you think you looked like something out of a Japanese cartoon?"
"Yeah."
A couple of minutes later, Sailor Moon and the team's newest member Sailor Jupiter arrived at Hillcrest Park, where they were met by Gilded Rose. The other Soldiers showed up within a few seconds. "Well," he said, "the Siamese twins bugged out as soon as I showed up, so I guess it's just us against tall, dark, and butt-ugly."
"Let me take the first crack at that," Sailor Jupiter said, as a 45 mm. antenna grew out of her tiara. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" she yelled, and threw a ball of lightning at the monster, which expanded as it flew towards its target. The monster was momentarily staggered, and when it recovered, shot a blast of energy at the Soldiers, knocking them back.
The monster then grabbed Gilded Rose around the throat with a tentacle. "Someone help me," he said. "Get this thing off me!" he yelled, as the tentacle tightened around his neck.
A red rose hit the tentacle, causing the monster to release its grip on Gilded Rose. "You attack my friends," Tuxedo Mask said from atop a nearby tree, "you have to deal with me. Time to finish this thing off."
Sailor Mars stood between Gilded Rose and the monster, and got down on one knee. Gilded Rose ran towards the monster, and vaulted off Sailor Mars' shoulders. At the apex of his flight, he did a flip in midair. "Gold Rush!" he yelled, flying towards the monster, shooting bolts of gold energy out of his staff. Landing in a kneeling position several metres behind the monster, he yelled "Sailor Moon, NOW!"
Sailor Moon already had out her scepter. Pointing it towards the monster, she yelled "Moon Scepter, elimination!" The crescent-shaped beam sliced the monster in half. The monster exploded. "Guess that takes care of him," Sailor Moon said, as Gilded Rose took a running start, jumped up, ricocheted off a tree, and landed where the Soldiers were gathered, throwing his transformation rose down, timing it so that it and he landed at the same time.
"Well," Jake said, "It looks like we have a new member of our team. I think we should all introduce ourselves. I'm Jake Slater, aka Gilded Rose."
"Amy Anderson, Sailor Mercury."
"Sailor Mars, also known as Rae Lincoln."
"Elizabeth Minako, otherwise known as Sailor Venus."
"Serena Campbell, I'm the one named Sailor Moon."
"I'm Sailor Jupiter, but you can call me Susan Makoto."
Jake was looking towards the tree where Tuxedo Mask had appeared. "What's the matter?" Amy asked him.
"He should be here," he said. "If he were our ally, he should be our friend. We don't even know who he is."
"Give it time," Amy said, putting her hand on Jake's shoulder. "One day he'll reveal who he is."
One day, Jake thought to himself, we're going to find out who you are.
NEXT TIME ON AMERICAN SENSHI
The moment the Soldiera and Gilded Rose have been waiting for. They finally learn the secret behind their new ally. Join us next time for:
TUXEDO UNMASKED