Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Episode 5: "State of Emergency"
The digital clock on the wall in "DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL 8" displayed 16:59.41. In twenty seconds it turned five, as the machine on the far left of the room automatically turned on. A portal opened up inside of it, and out of it came Kim and Luna, who were thrown to the floor by the portal. In seconds it closed, while Kim tried to stand up. She said, "Ow, we gotta get that thing fixed...."
The cat named Luna replied, "Yeah, whoever said cats always land on their feet...."
She stopped in mid-sentence as the portal opened again. This time Jake and Serena walked out of it. They noticed the two on the ground as Jake asked, "Portal broken again?"
Kim said, "Oh be quiet....ouch...."
"Luna, what are you doing on the floor like that?" Serena pointed out.
"I'm doing flips, what does it look like?"
Jake and Serena laughed a little as the portal opened again. It was Chris, Mike, and Jackie coming out of it, and behind them was Mina, who was in costume as Sailor Venus. Without noticing the other four, Jackie said, "Man, remind me never to go there again. We almost got killed!"
Mina looked around the room and saw Serena and Luna, as she said, "Serena?!?"
Serena turned around and noticed Mina, "Mina? They found you?"
They both smiled and gave each other a big hug. The others might have noticed a few tears coming out of their eyes.
Mike went up to Jake and said, "Split apart for only a day and already they miss each other."
"Yeah, well....how did you find, what's her name?"
"Mina. And it's a long story. I'll tell you about it later."
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The team of now eight headed back to their war room. They were in front of the videocom, again conferencing with Hacker One. He said, "Well then, welcome to the Jumpers, Mina. I assure you that this is only a temporary job until we find the rest of the Scouts."
Mina replied, "Thank you, sir."
Jake stood up, "Hacker, that's supposed to be my line!"
"YOUR line? Anyway, on other affairs...I read your report about the little incident yesterday. It mentions about a tiara?"
"Yeah, mine," Serena replied.
"Hmm, well I'd be interested in examining this little head accessory, if you don't mind..."
"Sure!"
"Very well. Ask Chris to drop it off at my lab later. Hacker out."
The videocom turned off.
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A half hour later the team exited the FRC building and walked to the nearest fast-food place.
"OK," Serena said while looking at the picture menu, "I'll have two of that, one of that, three of those, hey those look good (hehe), one of that..."
Everybody, including the cashier, was staring at her place the order. Jake whispered to Mina, "Is she always like that?"
"You should see her back home...."
After the other six, including Kim, who was ordering for Luna, placed their order, they got their food and sat down at a table for dinner. While they were eating, Serena asked, "Yum, hey Mina, where's Artemis?"
Mina looked up, "I thought he was with YOU!"
Mike thought, "Ho boy, we're in trouble...."
"Uh, pass the fries; who's....Artemis?" Chris said.
Luna replied, "Artemis...is a white cat. He's Minako's guardian."
Jake said, "Another one we have to find?"
"Exactly. And we have to find him quickly too. He might be in more trouble than the others."
Mike asked, "Why is that?"
Jackie sighed and said, "MIKE! Cat! Small size! Take a guess!"
"All right, all right! Geez..."
Luna turned to Chris and asked, "Are they always like that?"
"You should see them as a team..."
Jake said, "Don't worry. We'll find him, along with the rest of the t...."
He was interrupted by the sound of beeping. It was coming from his left pocket. He reached into his pocket and said, "Hold on, it's my pager."
He looked at the message with some surprise. Jake said, "C'mon, let's go! Trouble at the FRC!" The main Jumpers, except for Jake, reached for their jackets and ran out the door.
Mina asked, "What's going on?"
"Level three emergency back at the headquarters! Let's move!"
"OK!" Mina and Serena said.
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At a running speed, it took them five minutes to get back to the building. All eight entered the lobby, but it was too late. Everything was in ruins. The two guards that greeted Jake and Serena earlier that morning were on the floor and unconscious. A water sprinkler on the ceiling was gushing water. The panel behind the guard's desk was damaged and letting out sparks. Everything else was either damaged or inoperable.
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Just then, a speaker in one corner of the lobby turned on, "Team forty-one, *bzzt*-port to the main *crackle* room *bzzt*-diately!"
Chris shouted, "That's us! C'mon!"
They all followed Chris throughout the first floor into the main command center. On their way to the room, both Serena and Mina transformed, saying:
"MOON STAR POWER!"
"VENUS POWER!"
In seconds they were Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus. They all reached the room and saw the technical staff of forty-one, with Hacker One standing over someone's monitor. He turned around and said, "Glad you guys came. We have a bit of trouble here."
Jake said, "A bit?!? Didn't you see the lobby?"
"Yeah, bu that's the least of our problems. Take a look at this."
They all grouped in front of the radar. "This is a reading of the inter-dimensional traffic just fifteen minutes ago. If you notice, the readings jump up by 250%. That's over 45 entities than normal. Usually that wouldn't be a threat, but that group of entities warped into the main lobby. They were looking for you guys. Their leader was a lady in some funny-looking clothing."
"Queen Beryl..." all eight thought.
The man in the seat, one of Hacker's staff, added, "They did a lot of damage to the first floor, but we were able to hold them off. Another one of the tech staff just happened to walk by the lobby and notice what was happening. She was able to use the emergency evacuation device for the lobby to activate a portal in the lobby. The portal sucked everyone, except her and two of the guards, inside."
Jake asked, "Where are they now?"
Another of the staff said, "Right now, they're along the west coast of the Californian islands. Readings indicate they're heading back toward the New York region within thirty minutes."
Hacker continued, "We've asked the military to issue a full nationwide state of emergency. With the firepower they've got, they've been able to hold off the, what's it called, Nega...Verse at the coast, but reports show that casualties are high. They're not going to hold it off any longer."
"What're we gonna do?" Kim said.
"Well, I've scattered every squad across the country. I've equipped them with portable dimensional devices (* used to activate a portal to send the entity back to whatever reality they came from, but takes a great deal of energy), it should cut the enemy numbers in half if we're lucky, but already three attack teams have been disabled. The Planetary Guard is deploying some of their best rocketbelt men to defend this building, but that'll take them between ten and forty minutes to get here."
Jake replied, "Wow, you've done a lot in fifteen minutes."
Hacker smiled, "Isn't that my job?" He walked over to a map that contained the blueprints of the building and said, "I want your Jumpers to secure the top floor of the building. Serena and M - I mean, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus - I want you to use whatever powers you have to fend the NegaVerse off."
Sailor Venus looked up and replied, "We've been doing that for two years, don't worry about us!"
"I hope I won't have to...."
Someone stood out of his seat, turned to Hacker One, and shouted, "Boss, military forces haven't been able to hold off the enemy! I read over thirty entities airborne, currently over the Extended Pacific Ocean, moving at thirty-five hundred miles per hour! Readings indicate they will be here in under twenty minutes."
Hacker looked in panic for half a minute, and finally said, "OK, move all of the remaining attack squads back here so we can secure the building. Let the military clean up what the NegaVerse left behind." He turned to the Jumpers and continued, "You can see how much trouble we're in right now. Go, secure the top floor and intercept the enemy from there."
Just as the eight were about to leave, Hacker said, "Wait, keep the cat here. It's too dangerous."
Luna looked up at Hacker and said, "Oh, c'mon. Let me go with them."
Sailor Moon thought about it and said, "Luna, stay here."
"Serena!"
"No," Jake added, "She's right. You'd better stay here."
"Oh all right, I just hope you know what you're doing...."
The team of seven left the room, leaving Luna, Hacker and his tech staff in the room. Hacker said to Luna, "You think they stand a chance?"
"I hope so. Or else we're all finished!"
"True," he turned to his men and said, "How much time estimated before they arrive?"
"Eighteen minutes, sir."
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Once they were on the roof, the Jumpers, along with Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus, performed a total checklist.
"Long range automatics?"
"Check."
"Photon lasers?"
"Checked."
"Portable force fields?"
"Double check."
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"Time?"
"T-minus fourteen minutes and thirty seconds, sir."
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"Mini-flame thrower?"
"Ready!"
"ElecGun?"
"Yep."
"Water cannon?"
"Armed!"
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"Sir, t-minus nine minutes and ten seconds."
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"Moon tiara?"
"Here!"
"Crescent V?"
"Ready to be fired!"
"Mirror Reflect Shield?"
"Got it!"
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"Three minutes exactly, sir."
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"OK, we're all armed with the right equipment, right?"
"RIGHT!"
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"Sir, I read our attack teams coming into the region."
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Chris was looking through a pair of binoculars as he said, "Hey, they're flying in!"
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"Team one, reporting."
"Team two, reporting."
"Team three, reporting."
"Team four, reporting."
...............................
"Team fifteen, reporting."
"Reserve team, reporting and awaiting request for backup."
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"Sir, the enemy is approaching!"
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"Hey guys, I see a bunch of flying objects but it looks like they ain't our side!"
Sailor Moon took the binoculars, looked through them, and said, "Hey, the one in front looks like Queen Beryl!"
It appeared to everyone that it was the NegaVerse's forces. It must've, because on their approach to the building, they took out three attack teams with a single energy beam. They were a quarter of a mile away from the building, but they were in sight. Sailor Venus said, "I'll try to take care of these..."
"VENUS....CRESCENT V.....SMASH!"
The energy beam that came out of Sailor Venus' hand flew across the sky and headed straight toward the incoming objects. But the team saw Queen Beryl absorb the energy beam with her hand. With a little laugh, she aimed it right back at the Jumpers. It took a direct hit on the edge of the roof, almost hitting one of the Jumpers.
Kim stood up and said, "We gotta take out her army 'fore we get rid of her!" She reached for her fire gun and pulled its trigger. Small amounts of ignited jelly fired from the gun and impacted on one of Queen Beryl's youma, causing his to disintegrate and disappear.
"Got one," Kim said.
The youma were coming closer and stopped within a thousand feet of the building. Chris took a quick count of the enemy. "Twenty-one," he thought, "Including Queen Beryl..."
Queen Beryl was just about to give the signal to fire upon the Jumpers, but a group of small ships moved in between the two groups. The RJ's comms sounded, "Team fourteen, take attack position C to intercept threat."
The squad of nine fighter planes formed a square and fired their guns at full force upon the NegaVerse threat. Four or five from the NegaVerse were taken out by the time all nine ships were destroyed by Queen Beryl and her team. They returned their attention on the Jumpers. Another energy beam came from Queen Beryl's hand. Jake reached into his pocket to get his mirror. He got it out and screamed,
"MIRROR....REFLECT!"
The mirror extended to absorb and reflect the incoming energy beam. But it missed the enemy by a couple of feet.
Sailor Moon turned to Jackie and asked, "Hey, that gun, it fires lightning, right?"
"Right. Why?"
"Fire it at my tiara right after I throw it."
"Why would I do that?"
"JUST TRUST ME, ALL RIGHT?!?"
"OK OK...."
Sailor Moon took the tiara off her head and shouted,
"MOON TIARA.....MAGIC!"
After the tiara left Sailor Moon's hand, Jackie reached for her gun and aimed it at the tiara. The electricity and the tiara joined together, making it an even more powerful attack toward Queen Beryl. Leaving a streak of light behind it, the tiara hit Queen Beryl and her crew, taking out another eleven men from the group. There were only four beside Queen Beryl. All four fired at the Jumpers, knocking Chris to the ground.
"Argh!" he said "Take this, creep!" He then reached for his water cannon and fired it at the remaining youma. Water came spitting out of the weapon at a hundred miles an hour. Chris directed it at the remaining four, knocking them unconscious as they fell to the ground. Once they hit the city street, they were covered by some sort of darkness as they disappeared.
The only enemy left was Queen Beryl, and every gun and weapon from the Jumpers and the remaining attack teams were aimed at her. She looked around and said, "You'll never get away with this! I'll be back!"
A portal opened in front of Queen Beryl. She entered it and disappeared. Every thing was quiet once again, except that their comms activated again, "Mission accomplished. Attack teams out."
The fighter planes flew away, leaving the Reality Jumpers, the two Sailor Scouts (who transformed back into Serena and Mina), and a setting sun the only ones in the area.
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It was dark an hour later, when the Jumpers were debriefed and were escorted out of the FRC building. News crews from channels 4, 6, 7, 8 and 11 were swarming in front of the entrance to the building. Microphones were shoved in front of the seven as reporters were requesting a statement. The eight didn't say a word as they were brought to a car that was to take them back to Jake's house.
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Back at Jake's house, everyone was sitting down having a drink. Mike was applying first aid to Chris' shoulder, where the blast hit him.
"OW!"
"Hold still, will ya? You're gonna make it hurt more if you don't."
"Yeah, I know."
Jake said, "You know what? I was almost scared to death today!"
"Now you know how dangerous the NegaVerse is," Luna replied.
"Well I guess we gotta stick together from now on when we're looking for these Scouts," Jackie added.
Kim said, "Yeah, we could've gotten killed when we were on the roof before."
"Jake," Serena stood up, "You have anything to eat? I'm starving!"
"Is that ALL you ever think about, Serena?" Mina asked.
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By midnight everyone was asleep in Jake's house. That night Jake had a short dream. He was in some sort of a courtyard. In this dream, he asked, "Where am I?"
"You're asleep," a voice called out. The voice came from a lady on the other side of the courtyard.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Queen Serenity."
"Do I, uh, know you?"
"No, you don't, but you're a friend of my daughter."
"And who is that?"
"Usagi is my daughter."
"Usagi? Oh, you must mean Serena, right? Didn't know she was royalty."
"I want to thank you for taking care of my daughter the past day."
"It was nothing, really."
"Look after her carefully for me while you're searching for the others. The journey ahead of you is long and dangerous, and you must brave that challenge."
"What challenge are you talking about?"
"Think about that, Jake. I must leave now."
A white light surrounded the person known as Queen Serenity as she disappeared.
Jake screamed, "Wait! Why are you here? Why am I here?"
He left his dream as he stood up, awoken. He was wondering what that dream was about. "Serena, daughter of Queen Serenity?" Jake thought. "But that would make her....a princess." He thought about that for a moment and added, "Nah, that can't be. It was just a dream, right?" He looked up at Serena sleeping in Jake's bed. Jake smiled as he put his blanket over Serena and went to sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED........