Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Episode 13a: Shadows of the Past
"Help me...."
This is the dream state of all existence.
"Help me....please..."
All thought, human and non-human, travel through here.
"Help me....."
These are thoughts of Jake Tyler. Obviously, he's in pain.
"Please....help me...."
Fortunately, this thought traveled a bit too far.
"....Lisa...."
Lisa suddenly woke up, all nervous and frightened. She looked at the earth outside her bedroom window, and realized she was still on SpaceCol 3. She then looked at the clock. It was 2 AM, Sunday morning, if you were relying on the New Eastern Standard Time.
"Man, third time this week!" she thought. "Is Jake really in trouble? C'mon, it's just a dream!" But she became worried. She picked up the videocom remote from the table next to her bed and dialed a number. On the video screen on the opposite side of the bed, a face appeared.
"Hello?" Serena said, responding to the videocom.
"Sorry, wrong number," Lisa said as she turned the videocom off. She dialed a second number, and another face appeared on the screen. "Chris, sorry to bother you."
"Lisa? Is that you? It's 2 AM! What's up?" Chris replied.
"Yeah, I know, I better make this fast, it's long distance."
"Sure is, being ALL the way up there in orbit and all..."
"Whatever. Tell me, where's Jake?"
"............."
"Chris?"
"Sorry to break it to you, but he's dead."
"No, that's not true!"
"He was killed last Monday."
"No, really! I can sense him! In my dreams!"
"Of course, in your dreams..."
"I'm not kidding here!"
"I'm not either. He died....while saving two other people from a cave-in."
"You mean in the NegaVerse?"
"...........H-how did you know that?"
"I told you, I can sense him in my dreams! I don't know how, though. Look, I'm coming down on the next ship, I'll call you to see what time I should be there."
"Well, OK..."
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JFK International Space/Airport. International/SpaceCol Arrivals Terminal. Chris, Jackie, and Kim were at the airport.
"What!?" Kim said.
"Yeah," Chris replied. "At least that's what Lisa thinks. I had to tell you now because you wouldn't believe me before we all left."
"Lisa?" Jackie asked. "Why would she think that?"
"Look, the story doesn't hold water," Chris added. "But she knows about the NegaVerse! Something's up!"
At that moment, a voice from a speaker said, "Eastern AirWays, flight SC3-149, departed from SpaceCol 3, is now arriving at gate 14."
"Well, that's Lisa's ship. Let's go!"
Gate 14. A number of people walked down the hallway from the ship to the gate. The Jumpers recognized one of them. Chris put his hand up and shouted, "Hey! Lisa!"
Lisa, with a backpack strapped on her back, walked out of the gate. She waved towards the Jumpers and ran to them. "Hi, guys!"
The others replied, "Lisa."
If there was a smile on her face, it disappeared quickly. "Man, it's been a while, eh?"
Jackie added, "Not long enough."
"Yeah, you still have the nerve to show up?" Kim commented.
"Oh, will you please forget about all that? It's almost been a year!"
"Uh, ladies," Chris jumped in. "We're on official business, so do you mind?"
It quickly became silent between the four. "Well, now that we have that settled, could we please get back to the city?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The group of four took a Mag-Lev back to the city. Most of the trip was silent, until Chris asked to Lisa, "It really doesn't look like they're going to forget, know what I mean, so you'd better be telling the truth, Lisa."
"I am telling the truth!" Lisa replied. "Why would I lie about Jake?"
Jackie interrupted, "Because unlike you, we were there for him. We don't go take off and leave for the space colonies!"
"It was too late! I had already applied for the colonies WAY before that happened!"
"Yeah, just trying to make excuses."
Lisa quickly became angry, "You want to settle it here, now?"
Chris stood up from his seat and shouted, "HEY! I don't believe this.....look, a train moving at 200 miles an hour is not the place for violence! Now, why don't we just sit down and shut up?"
Jackie and Lisa looked away from each other and said, "Fine."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The FRC building's main entrance, noon. The four walked up to the security checkpoint. Chris, Jackie, and Kim held their ID cards up to the guard. Chris said, "Um...we need a visitor's pass for..."
"No need," Lisa interrupted. She opened her backpack and, to the Jumpers' surprise, showed her own ID card to the guard. "It's inactive, but I'll wait."
The officer grabbed the card from her hand and said, "Just a minute, miss."
As the guard inspected it, Chris turned his head towards Lisa and shouted, "You never told us you were with the FRC!"
"You didn't either, I wouldn't talk."
"OK, miss, here's your card. It's been temporarily reactivated, you should be able to use it for the next 48 hours."
"Thanks," and Lisa took back her ID card.
In the elevator, Kim whispered, "So, anything else we don't know about you?"
Lisa was already annoyed by Kim and Jackie, "Don't you mess with me, Kim! I've already had enough of your lip at the airport and the ride back!!"
The argument among Lisa, Kim, and Jackie continued as they rode in the elevator and walked down the hall to the war room. They kept on screaming even as they entered the war room, where Serena, Ami, and Lita were waiting.
Chris attempted to scream above the three, "HEY! HOLD IT!" And at that the argument stopped. He faced the three girls waiting in the room and added, "Well, I believe you haven't met Lisa here."
The three waved.
"Hi, I'm Ami."
"Lita."
"Sere--hey! You were that one on the phone last night!"
Lisa took a closer look at Serena and said, "I DID dial the right number! What's going on, Chris?"
"Well...um...you see..." Chris said nervously.
"Why was this girl sleeping over at Jake's house?"
"Heh...long story...really, REALLY long story."
Jackie spoke up again, "Well, obviously Jake didn't want to wait too long for you, know what I mean?"
"You got a real attitude, you know that!?"
And the fighting continued once more between the three. Chris gave up and stepped out of the way. Lita walked up to Chris and asked, "Is there something we're missing here?"
"Yeah, it's a really long story."
"Oh, come on, I'd like to hear it!" Serena said.
"Well, I guess they won't miss us for awhile, let me take you three to lunch and I'll tell you all about it."
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At a nearby restaurant. Serena, Ami, and Lita were with Chris. As they sat at a table having lunch, Chris told the story, "We all met Lisa almost two years ago. When she and Jake laid eyes on each other, they both fell in love, just like that! But they never told each other. Jake never knew Lisa liked him, Lisa never knew Jake liked her! They were both embarassed to tell the other. Everytime we were either with Jake or Lisa, they'd talk about the other for hours on end! But when they were together, they couldn't find the words to say."
Lita could only say, "Sad."
"Yeah, I thought so too. So me and the others got together to try to get those two fixed up. We delivered love notes between the two, but they always thought that we had written it up! We made sure we got them sitting next to each other at the movies, they left even before the previews ended!"
Serena said, "You mean they never told each other?"
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Lisa applied to be a participant in the space colonies project. Three months later, she got accepted! By then she had two weeks to pack up and take off. Lisa's family had thrown a big going-away party for her. Jake was there, too. He was actually shocked by the news. So he finally walked right up to Lisa and said 'I love you!' Bad news is he said it in front of Lisa's entire family! I bet she was so embarassed! And you know what? She slapped him right in the face and ran out of her house!"
"WHAT?" Serena shouted.
Ami added, "But I thought--"
"--that she liked him too? Yeah! But from time to time Lisa would tell us that her relatives were always bugging her about never having a boyfriend and all. When Jake said those three words, Lisa knew what her relatives would say, and their comments would've filled a ten-page report. Well, she ignored Jake for the next week, and then took off for space. For the next two weeks, Jake said he cried himself to sleep. His heart broke, just like that. We all felt sorry for him, so we covered for Jake when he skipped school for a week."
"He was in love with Lisa THAT much!?"
"That much. But after that, Jake moved on. I think Jackie and Kim blamed Lisa for the entire mess."
"Wow. What a story," Serena commented.
"Yeah, and then he met you and--"
"Me? What about me?"
"Huh!? Oh, heh, never mind...you weren't supposed to hear that..."
"So why is Lisa here? Didn't you tell her that Jake was....dead?"
"You see, that's the problem. Lisa thinks Jake is still alive. She said Jake comes to her in her dreams. I wouldn't believe it, but he 'told' her that he was trapped in the NegaVerse!"
Ami said, "You think she's telling the truth?"
"I hope so. C'mon, let's head on back there."
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Chris and the three Scouts walked back into the war room, where it has become quiet among Lisa, Jackie, and Kim. They all decided to wait for the remaining two, Mike and Mina.
After fifteen minutes, the couple did walk in. They were having their own conversation, obviously talking about last night.
Mike looked around the room and asked, "Hey, what's up?"
Chris replied, "We think Jake's still alive?"
"You're kidding, right?"
Lisa walked in front of Chris, "No, he's not."
"Lisa? What're you doing here?"
"She said Jake comes to her when she's sleeping," Chris added.
Mike laughed a little, but returned to a straight face, "Lisa, I still remember what happened, so..."
Lisa shouted, "Don't you guys believe me? I said, why would I lie about Jake?"
"I would, but c'mon, when you're dreaming?"
The door to the room opened, and Hacker One entered, saying, "Lisa's right, guys."
Everyone else in the room said, "What?"
"This morning we happened to track Jake's anomaly signature. I don't know how, we just bumped into it. Oh, hi Lisa."
Lisa just put her hand up and put it back down. Mike looked surprised, "You....you two know each other?"
Chris commented, "Mike, she was part of the FRC before she left."
Mina added, "Mike, is there something I should know?"
"Yeah, I'll tell you all about it later..."
Hacker continued, "Anyways, the signature leads our scanners to an abandoned military complex in another dimension. The building is currently on a major war zone, unfortunately. I'm detecting about three, four hundred men in that base, and one of those signatures has a very high power frequency. I'll bet my next paycheck it's Queen Beryl."
"What do you want us to do about it?" Serena asked.
"Well, I got the order by the board to rescue our missing Jake. I'll give you all the mission profile in one hour, be ready by then." At that Hacker walked out the door. Chris followed.
Chris ran up to Hacker down the hall and said, "Wait!"
"Yeah, Chris?"
"How did you know to check for Jake's signature?"
".........I'm not authorized to tell you that."
"Well then, who gave you the order to restrict this information?"
"............."
"C'mon, Hacker!"
"It was Lisa."
"Wha--?"
"She called me late at night, too. She told me all about her dreams, I became suspicious. I checked this morning, and there it was. Jake's signature. OK? Now if you'll excuse me, just make sure you didn't hear it from me." And Hacker walked away in a hurry. Chris wondered why the secrecy.
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Seeing Stars
Gin Blossoms
(lyrics edited)
Straight up, the sad truth
One of many secrets we acquired in youth
My dirty clothes, lately
I keep them in a luggage that you gave to me
With a little luck, one night
We'll drink together in a different light
(chorus)
Take me, take mine
Hide it away
[I saw the ring]
Take me, take mine
And hide it away
[I saw the ring]
Straight up, the right words
Of course we always say them when we know it hurts
The little things, you did it too
I know I still believe it if it weren't for you
(chorus)
(repeat first four lines)
(chorus)
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An hour passed. A team of nine stood in Dimensional Travel 8 with Hacker One. He handed them the diagram to the building, and pointed where Jake might be. "14% probability he's on the fourteenth floor, section eighteen, but that's the best I can give you."
Mike replied, "Don't worry, we'll search the entire area."
"Well, I hope you do. Anyways, are you four in costume yet?"
"Oh, almost forgot," Serena said.
"MOON STAR POWER!"
"MERCURY STAR POWER!"
"VENUS STAR POWER!"
"JUPITER STAR POWER!"
"This is getting too weird," Lisa said as she looked at the transformed Sailor Scouts.
Hacker activated the machine and the portal turned on, "Good luck!"
All nine jumped in and disappeared.
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"D*mn you, Queen Beryl!" Jake shouted as loud as he can at Queen Beryl. The two were at the military complex, just as Hacker had said. He was in a standing position, but was too weak for his legs to support him. "You tricked me!"
"Of course," Queen Beryl replied wickedly. "I had to make it easy for you to call for help! Now they will fall directly into my trap once and for all! Oh, by the way, thanks for the energy!"
Jake said nothing, but moved his leg to try to sweep Queen Beryl. But that only made it hurt more. "You'll never get away with this!"
"I already have, boy. Who's going to stop me now? The Sailor Scouts? Your precious Jumpers? I don't think so. The NegaVerse is too powerful now for anyone to stop us! And I owe it all to you, Jake!"
Queen Beryl quickly disappeared from the room. She left just as she had come in: from thin air.
Jake lay in that small room, hoping for a miracle.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Episode 13b: Shadows of the Past
(sub-chapter two)
This place was formerly known as Phoenix, Arizona. Formerly. In the first months of the U.S. Border Wars between the West and the East, Phoenix was one of the first cities to fall. Few buildings have been extremely lucky to remain standing. Currently, there is a cease-fire order and most areas of the war zone formerly called the United States have been evacuated.
One of the buildings left standing is the once-famous forty-eight floor Lincoln Reconassiance/Intelligence Military Building Complex. For some reason, it seems awfully busy the past few days. In fact, some say the cease-fire was ordered because of the movements inside the building. Suspicious, the military on both sides of the Dividing Borderline have sent whatever few aircraft each side has left to view the activity inside the building. But anyone or anything that has come within thirty feet of the building was blown up or torn apart. Washington and Los Angeles are looking for answers, but they aren't getting any.
The people inside the building do not care. They're setting traps, but it's not set for the West or the East. It is set for two teams unknown to the participants in the war, the Sailor Scouts and the Reality Jumpers.
The building's main lobby. A portal opened in the ceiling of the large room, and out of it came nine kids who fell flat to the ground.
"Ow," Sailor Moon said.
"C'mon, guys, get up," said Chris who was still on the ground.
At that moment, all nine heard the sound of guns loading. They looked up in the direction of the building's entrance and saw fifty men pointing weapons at them.
"HEY, GET UP!" shouted Chris.
In a second, the team of nine got on their feet and ran further towards the splitting hallways of the building. In that same second, every weapon went off, causing major damage to the lobby. One weapon managed to hit Lisa's shoe. Fortunately, the bullet didn't hit her foot, but was one small notch off. But it caused her to fall, forcing her to crawl out of sight from the gunfire.
Lisa dragged herself to the opening on her left. She leaned herself onto a wall pointing away from the enemy and tried to catch her breath. She peeked out to see that the fifty gunmen were still firing non-stop. Lisa jumped up when Kim tapped her on the shoulder. Kim handed her gun and shouted, "You gonna use this or not!?"
She took the gun, pointed, and fired. As flames came out of the gun, Lisa quickly turned away. After a few seconds, the gunfire stopped.
"Did we get them?" they all thought. Lisa looked back and still noticed that the enemy was still there. Again, they fired off their weapons, and Lisa put her head out of sight.
"They're supposed to be gone!" she screamed.
Sailor Moon stood up and said, "Here, let me try." She took her tiara and shouted,
"MOON TIARA....MAGIC!"
The tiara flew across the lobby and took out the gunmen in an instant. The gunfire stopped for good.
"You have to aim," Sailor Moon said proudly.
"Oh, be quiet," Lisa replied. "You gonna get your headpiece or not?"
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In another room, there stood Jake, taking out his anger on a doorknob. "C'mon, you stupid door!" Jake shouted as he bounced back and forth holding the doorknob in the hopes that the door would unlock.
Suddenly, someone behind him appeared out of nowhere. This time, it wasn't Queen Beryl, but a man dressed in tight black clothing. Jake recognized him from the short battle with him last Monday.
The man said, "You're not so tough without your mirror, are you?"
"You going to kill me now?" Jake replied.
"Not right away. We were just wondering how long you were going to be attacking that doorknob over there."
"I'll get out of here, I swear!"
"Well, we'll make sure that never happens." The man disappeared from the room, leaving an exhausted Jake still attempting to open the door.
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Mike handed Lisa a spare stun gun, and said, "We'll split up, just one-man teams. Search the entire building, and don't use the elevators if there are any; take the stairs. Find Jake, we regroup back here in twenty minutes. OK, go."
The team of nine split up in all directions down the winding hallways of the first floor.
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Sailor Moon took a stariway up to the second floor. As she walked down the hall, she came across a door on each side of the hallway. "Which one should I go through?" she thought. When she opened the door to the left, the door fell off, causing it to fall through a huge hole in the floor. Sailor Moon heard a loud thud once the door hit the first floor.
She looked down, saying, "Ack! Not that one, I guess..." Sailor Moon turned around and opened the other door. She stepped through the opening, not noticing there was a hole in the floor in that room as well. As Sailor Moon fell, she grabbed onto the floor where the opening was and hung onto it.
"Great! What do I do now?" Sailor Moon looked down, noticing the twenty feet drop to the bottom. She screamed as loud as she could, "HELP! SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF HERE!!"
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Mike kept on searching throughout the first floor. He peeked into empty rooms and tried not to make any noise walking down the corridors.
"Freeze," someone said behind Mike. Mike turned around and saw another man holding a gun. He put his hands up, saying, "You're not going to use that, are you?"
"Just come along with me and you won't get h--"
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM...SMASH!"
Luckily, Sailor Venus was behind the man. The beam knocked him to the ground.
"Thanks," Mike said as he put his hands down.
"No problem."
Mike walked up to the fallen enemy and checked for a pulse, "Hmm, you flatlined him..."
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Kim inspected the eighth floor and found a radio in one room. With a bit of curiosity, she turned it on and scanned a few channels. She was able to pick up a conversation.
"Is this *bzzt*nel secured?" one man said.
"Yes *crackle* is, sir," another replied.
"Good, prepare our bomber. I want a bomb dropped on that bui*bzzt* within the hour."
"But sir, there are people in there!"
"Yeah, no doubt *bzzt* the eastern forces. Is that clear?"
"*crackle*, sir! Give us twenty-five minutes!"
Kim thought, "They must be talking about this building! Hmm..." She scanned the channels again and picked up another conversation.
"It is no secret the western *bzzt* are up to something in that building!"
"What do you suggest we do?"
"What else? Activate our *crackle*ground explosive device immediately!"
"But s-sir...*bzzt*"
"Are you questioning me?"
"No sir!"
"Then set it! Twenty-five minutes!"
"*crackle*....yes sir!"
Kim became more terrified, "We're in BIG trouble!"
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On the fourteenth floor, Sailor Mercury checked out the large communications room. It was filled with monitors and computers, but she didn't notice an infrared sensor still functional on both sides of the room. When she crossed the invisible light between the two sensors, a laser weapon next to one of the sensors activated silently and fired an energy beam. Sailor Mercury was able to notice it in the corner of her eye, but couldn't react fast enough.
Fortunately, out of nowhere, Chris ran and pushed Sailor Mercury out of the way, leaving him to take the beam. The two were lifted off the ground as the beam hit his shoulder. When they landed, he said, "Ow.....I was here before you, you know...."
Sailor Mercury replied, "Thanks."
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For the past five minutes, you could hear Sailor Moon scream throughout the second floor, "HELP!!" She was still hanging onto the second floor, trying not to look at the long drop below her. But she couldn't help it. When she looked once more, she became frightened and her hands slipped. The second she fell, someone grabbed her by the hand. Sailor Moon looked up and saw Jackie trying to lift her up.
"How did you manage to fall into that hole? You blind or something?"
"You don't have to comment, you know!" Sailor Moon replied.
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One man, armed with a gun, walked down the twentieth floor. He opened the door to a room and saw Jake pointing a gun directly at him.
"Think about it," Jake said, trying to catch his breath.
The man took his gun, but Jake was faster. He fired a shot to the head, and killing him. Now the door was open. As Jake walked out, he said, "Hey, thanks," to a second dead body in the room.
Trying his best to walk, Jake limped down the hallway, leaning against the wall. He had the stolen gun in his hand, pointing away from him so that it was in front of him.
Lisa was walking down an intersecting corridor, holding the stun gun in both hands. As she came to the intersection, she saw two hands holding a gun out. She almost made a noise, but she didn't. Lisa raised her stun gun up in the air, waiting to strike that person with it.
At that moment, when Jake walked across the intersection, he felt someone had hit him on the head and then in the back. He fell to the ground very quickly, face down.
Lisa looked down and used her foot to move the person's body to see who it was. She was very surprised to see who it was, "Oh no, Jake! I'm so sorry!"
Jake opened his eyes and saw Lisa. "Well, hello to you too," he replied.
"C'mon, get up! We gotta get out of here!"
Jake took his arm and wrapped it around Lisa so that she could help him walk. They took the stairway down to the first floor. As they almost finished the flight down the stairs, Jake asked, "So, you really did hear me?"
"Of course I did! That's why I'm here."
"............Thought you'd forget about me, after all that..."
"............"
"Lisa?"
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened."
"No, I'm sorry. It was my fault."
"Your fault?"
"Yeah, I should've never opened my mouth and said...you know."
"Really, it's my fault. Should've never slapped you when you said that. Fact is, well....um..."
"Yeah?"
"......Forget it. It's not important anymore."
"Lisa?"
"Jake?"
"Look, I...."
As Jake and Lisa got down the stairs to the first floor, they looked at each other. And, without thought from either one, they got closer and they kissed. When they could say something, they smiled and said, "Wow."
After a minute, Lisa said, "C'mon, we better get going."
"....Yeah," Jake replied. He leaned against the wall and followed Lisa to the lobby. Lisa crossed another intersection in the hallway, but Jake wasn't so fortunate. When he walked across, he was hit in the body with a good kick. He was knocked to the ground again.
"Heh, got one," Sailor Jupiter said.
Lisa turned around and saw the Sailor Scout leaning over Jake. "Um, Sailor Jupiter," she said. "Meet Jake Tyler."
"Oops...um, sorry."
Jake tried to stand up, saying, "No problem, ow..."
Sailor Jupiter said, "Well, now that we found what we're looking for, I'd better go find the others..." She disappeared into a hallway.
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Jake was able to stand on his own as he and Lisa walked into the lobby. But there was someone standing in the lobby with a sword in hand. It was the same person in black clothing Jake met up with just minutes ago. "You again," Jake said.
"You cannot leave," the man replied.
"Oh yeah? You can't stop us."
"Is that a threat?"
"Whatever."
"Well, then...." The man pointed his sword at Jake as Lisa moved out of the way. Jake moved too as the sword moved in.
During the next few minutes, Sailor Jupiter came back along with the rest of the crew. They stood next to Lisa, at least ten feet away from the battle. The Jumpers were watching carefully, including the Scouts, who were too surprised to say anything.
For ten minutes Jake dodged the man and his sword until Jake leaned against the wall. The man pointed his sword and thrust it toward Jake. He moved out of the way again, causing the sword to dig into the wall. As the unknown person tried to get it out, Jake threw his fist and hit him in the face with it. He hit him three more times in the face as the man fell to the ground. Jake pulled the sword out of the wall and looked down on the person on the floor.
"I don't need a mirror," Jake said as he pointed the sword at him.
As the nine on the side looked, Sailor Venus said, "It can't be, that's, that's...."
Kim asked, "You know him?"
Sailor Moon didn't respond to Kim, but shouted, "Darien! It's us! Remember?"
Jake and the person Sailor Moon called Darien turned their heads to see the group.
"What?" Jake said as he looked at the man on the ground. "Y-you're....Darien?"
Darien didn't respond as he disappeared out of thin air quickly.
"It's him! It was!" Sailor Moon kept saying.
Sailor Jupiter sighed and added, "Well, looks like he's brainwashed again..."
At that moment, they heard a plane flying overhead just outside the building.
Kim jumped up and shouted, "Uppt....that reminds me, we gotta get out of here and fast!"
Mike took a TRT device from his pocket and opened up a portal. But it was too late. A bomb dropped from the fighter plane and exploded on the ground surrounding the building. At the same time, an explosion occured underneath the building. Everything was falling apart around the group of ten. Everyone except Lisa, Jake, and Sailor Moon jumped into the portal at the same time and disappeared.
"C'mon, Jake!" shouted Lisa as she jumped in as well.
Jake replied, "Yeah, I'm coming!" He looked at Sailor Moon and shouted, "Serena! C'mon!"
Sailor Moon, still surprised, said, "Yeah....OK..."
The two jumped in just in time before the entire building collapsed to the ground.
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Monday morning, JFK International Space/Airport. International/SpaceCol Departures. Jake still had a hard time walking, and so used a wheelchair to move around. He was with Lisa, who was confirming her boarding pass with a clerk. After she received her boarding pass, Jake looked up and said, "The others are waiting at the gate."
Jake followed Lisa to the gate. "You sure you don't want to stick around a bit longer?"
"I can't, Jake. You know that."
"So you're just going to leave? Like that?"
"Please, don't do this to me."
"Face it, Lisa. You can't make trips like this every weekend. Or every month. Or maybe even every year. You'll go on without me, I'll go on without you, right?"
"Why are you doing this, Jake?"
"I don't know, really. But it's true, right?"
"....Yeah, guess you're right..."
The two continued on to the gate where the other eight were at. Just then, someone from an intercom said, "Eastern AirWays, flight SC3-52G, gate 14, non-stop service to SpaceCol 3, last call for boarding."
"Well, I guess that's it then," Lisa said to the others.
"You going to come by sometime?" Mike asked.
"I don't know......well, goodbye." She turned and headed for the gate.
"Last chance, Lisa," Chris shouted.
Lisa turned around once more to look at Jake, but kept on walking towards the gate and disappeared.
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"Insensitive"
Jann Arden
(lyrics edited)
How do you cool your lips after a summer's kiss?
How do you rid the sweat after the body bliss?
How do you turn your eyes from a romantic glare?
How do you block the sound of a voice you'd know anywhere?
Oh, I really should've known by the time you drove me home
By the vagueness in your eyes, the casual goodbyes
By the chill of your embrace, the expression on your face that told me
Maybe you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive
Insensitive
How do you numb your skin after the warmest touch?
How do you slow your blood after the body rush?
How do you free your soul after you've found a friend?
How do you teach your heart to cry? To fall in love again?
Oh, you probably won't remember me, it's probably ancient history
I'm one of the chosen few who went ahead and fell for you
I'm out of vogue, I'm out of touch, I fell too fast, I feel too much
I thought that you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive
(instrumental)
Oh, I really should've known by the time you drove me home
By the vagueness in your eyes, the casual goodbyes
By the chill of your embrace, the expression on your face that told me
Maybe you might have some advice to give on how to be insensitive
----------------------------------------------------------------------
After a final look at Lisa walking away, Jake sat back in the wheelchair. He felt someone's hand on ohis shoulder. He saw it was Serena as she said, "C'mon, let's get out of here."
"Sure."
The group of nine walked down the hallway to the exit. Kim said, "So, Jake, how does it feel to be back?"
"Oh, I don't know..."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Jackie asked. "We all thought you were dead!"
Jake laughed a little, saying, "Oh come on. From the looks of it, Mike, Mina, it looked like life went on without me, right?"
"What're you talking about?" the two said at the same time.
"Heh. Never mind..."
TO BE CONTINUED....