Operation: Reality Check
A Sailor Moon/Reality Jumpers FanFic
By Roehl Sybing
Episode 14: Home Court Advantage
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcript from channel 8 news, 4/23, 11 o'clock edition
THIS TRANSCRIPT MAY NOT BE COPIED OR RETRANSMITTED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM
Visual: Outside of New York University Medical Center, entrance to Rusk Institute; other reporters, various vehicles, and civilians at scene; Susan Carleton in front of camera holding microphone.
Carleton: Thanks, Jim. As you know, 14-year old Jake Tyler, presumed dead last Monday, was found at an abandoned building just scheduled for demolition today. He was found by construction crews clearing the building minutes before the blast that would take out the building occured. He was taken here to NYU, but was never in critical condition, doctors say. Tyler is in perfect health and is scheduled for release right now. The mysteries are why he was presumed dead, and why he was in the building in the first place. Wait---
Visual: Tyler walks out of building and is escorted by a tall man wearing glasses and a girl with blonde hair.
Carleton: Here he is right now. Tyler, you were missing for over a week. Some say you were dead. What were you doing in the city all this time?
Tyler (blank face): Um, no comment.
Carleton: You are aware of the mystery behind your whereabouts in that building this morning?
Tyler: (no answer)
Girl: Hey, you leave him alone!
Tall man: Yeah, if you'll excuse us, we have to get Jake out of here...
Carleton: Who are you?
Tyler, girl, and man: No comment!
Visual: All three walk out into the street and hail a cab; reporters chasing after them.
Carleton: Well, I guess we won't know tonight....I'm Susan Carleton, News 8, Manhattan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, that was close!" Hacker One said as he got into the taxi.
"Who's plan was this, anyways?" Jake added as he also sat in the car.
Serena entered next, saying, "I always thought being on TV was cool....didn't know they were this annoying!"
Hacker looked at the driver and said, "Staten Island, Tysens and Hylan."
At that the car drove away from the hospital. On the way to the onramp leading to the highway, the cab almost ran over a stray newscrew.
"That's gonna cost ya another fifteen bucks, pal," the driver said.
The cab went across the highway and into the Battery Tunnel. Inside, Serena gave a look of depression as she looked out the window.
Jake looked at Serena and asked, "You OK?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine...." But she didn't lookthat way. Jake was concerned.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the intersection of Hylan Boulevard and Tysens Avenue, Hacker said goodbye to Jake and Serena and went in one direction. The two went in the direction of home.
Jake still saw the sadness in Serena's eyes and asked again, "No, really, what's up?"
"Nothing! I'm alright..."
"Well, you don't look it...."
"It's nothing....I'll be fine..."
"Ah! So there is something wrong!"
But Serena said nothing. Jake got the picture.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luna greeted the two back at the house. but wasn't able to get any response from Serena. When she left the room, the cat asked, "What happened?"
"Don't look at me!" Jake replied.
Jake and Serena quickly got ready for bed. As usual, Jake slept on the floor and Serena on the bed.
A half hour passed, and Jake was still awake. It was obvious Serena was having a dream, because she was talking in her sleep. He could barely understand what she was saying, and was only able to get certain phrases and words such as "Darien," "I've missed you so much," and "I love you."
It wasn't the noise that kept Jake from sleeping, it was the thought of Darien presenting a bit of competition. But Jake wondered if he himself was the one that was interfering with a perfectly good relationship between the two.
It seemed useless to get any sleep, so Jake got out of his sleeping bag and headed downstairs to the kitchen. He grabbed a soda to drink as he sat down. After a minute, he heard a voice behind him saying, "You couldn't sleep either?"
Jake turned around and saw Luna. He replied, "Ah, so I'm assuming this isn't the first time?"
Luna walked into the kitchen and onto the table. "She's always like this when she thinks of Darien."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, especially the time when..."
"No, I don't want to hear it."
Luna stared at Jake, just as Artemis stared at Mike a few nights back.
"What?" Jake asked.
"You're jealous, aren't you?"
"Me? Why would-----OK, so what?"
"It doesn't like you're going to do a thing about it."
Jake put his soda can on the table and stood up, "You're right, I'm not. If she's not available, she's not available."
"So that's it?"
"That's it. Might as well get this mission over with it and move on." Jake left the kitchen, but by that time he had carried the same face Serena carried on the way home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wednesday afternoon, Jake entered Hacker's lab and handed him papers.
"What are these?" Hacker asked.
"Dimensional-tracking request forms," Jake replied. "We're still waiting for you guys to find where the Scouts come from."
"Jake, you already filled out this form. Last week."
"Yeah, and I'm still waiting. I want it on priority one now!"
"It IS on priority one, and we're doing our best."
Jake sighed and left the room. On his way out he said, "OK if I'm honest?"
"Yeah?"
"The best isn't enough anymore..."
When Jake exited, Hacker thought, "Heh. What's his problem?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NewsNetLink
Subj: SIA Tops Tech; Moves on to Nationals
By Johnathan Crawford
The Battle of the Brains Eastern Finals wraps up as Staten Island Academy wins the match against Brooklyn Technical High School. Doesn't matter anyways--New York has a spot in the National Finals!
Academy's team captain Chris Davis led teammates Danny Edwards, Jennifer Cole, Johnathan Handel, and Terry Wilkins against Tech's captain Tod Smith, who led Joan Porter, Christine Dell, Scott Nomar, and Robert Johnson. Players from both teams consisted of 8th and 9th graders and had some of the top intelligence averages in the nation.
By the end of the three rounds of regulation, the score was tied at 245. The game was settled by a tie-breaker question in which only the captains could answer. In the final question, Smith buzzed in first, but was unable to get an answer out, causing SIA to win by default.
Academy will advance to the Battle of the Brains Finals against Los Angeles High School. A location has not been determined at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That afternoon, Ami went to a fast-food place to sit down and study for tests. As she studied, Mike walked in while playing around with a puzzle cube in his hands. He noticed Ami and sat down next to her.
"Hi," he said.
Ami replied, "Hello. What's that?"
"Oh, this? This is a Rubik's cube. VERY difficult."
"What do you have to do?"
"Well, you're supposed to match up all the colors so that there's only one color on each side."
"Oh. May I try?"
"You can try, but no one I know finished it!"
At that time, Chris walked into the place with four others behind him. He didn't notice Mike or Ami at one table. He slammed his books on another table and sat down. The other four followed. "Let me get this straight, John," he said. "You had a vacation planned with your parents almost a month ago, and you also planned to be in the competiton!?"
The one Chris called John replied, "Sorry, OK!? Didn't think we could make it to the Finals!"
The only girl in the group said, "Wait a minute....you're one of our top students, and you didn't even think of making it to the Finals?!?"
Chris sat back in his chair and added, "OK, we have to think here. Thanks to John here, we need a replacement."
Another boy asked, "Well, who's going to compete on such short notice?"
Suddenly, Mike stood up from his chair and shouted, "No way!" He was pointing at the cube Ami was holding. It had one color on each side, meaning it was solved.
Ami said, "Well, I don't know what was so difficult about it..."
Everyone looked at Mike and Ami and at the completed cube, and slowly they started clapping. Everyone but Chris' group.
"Thanks, I think," Ami said as she blushed.
Mike took the cube and replied, "I gotta show this to everyone else..." At that he stormed out of the fast-food place.
Chris and everyone else at his table were amazed. The girl said, "Doesn't she also go to Academy?"
John added, "Chris, here's your replacement."
"Well," Chris replied. "I guess I could go over and ask..."
The girl stood up and said, "This is your job, not mine....see ya."
She left the restaurant, and the other three followed behind her, leaving Chris. He sighed and went over to the table where Ami sat. "Hi," he said.
"Oh," Ami replied. "Didn't know you were here."
"I was over there....listen, I have to ask you a BIG favor.........."
".......Well?"
"What?"
"You were going to ask me a favor..."
"OH! Yeah, um, there's this academic competition for school, someone dropped out, and, well..."
"You want me to fill in?"
"Yeah."
"Of course!"
"Really?"
"Yeah," Ami said as she stood up. "You don't have to be so nervous to ask me..." At that she smiled and left.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And so, the next day, Chris, Ami, and their other three teammates gathered around the school's videocom to await a call. Finally, it rang, and a face of a woman appeared on the screen. "Hello, Staten Island Academy team," she said. "Hmm, I see you have a new one on your team..."
"Yes," Ami said as she stood up. "My name's Ami Mizuno."
"Hello Ami. Well, now, about the Finals. We decided that the participants should decide where this final round will take place. Since the Academy team has a higher score than the Los Angeles team, they will pick the location of this event."
Everyone in the room looked to Chris, as he said, "Well, how about...."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Madison Square Garden?" Mike asked back at the war room.
"Yeah," Chris replied. "You know, Knicks? Rangers?"
"I know that! But why there?"
"Just thought it'd be fun. Want seats?"
Mina looked and said, "Sure!" as did the other Scouts.
Jake and the other Jumpers didn't seem interested. "No, not for me," Jake said. "After all, this is YOUR school we're talking about."
Chris held up a pack of tickets and said, "They're courtside..."
The Jumpers jumped at the offer, with Mike saying, "YES!!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday night, Madison Square Garden. Four Jumpers and three Scouts sat next to each other on the sidelines of the Knicks court. The rest of the court was filled with a capacity crowd, consisting of people from both the hometown and Los Angeles. At half court, there were tables equipped with buzzers and name tags for both teams and a podium for the host. The scoreboard high above the court was set up so that there was a score kept for both teams. Higher up, a net extended throughout the entire area of the court protecting framework at the absolute top.
"Hey, is this going to start yet?" Serena said impatiently.
Jake looked at his watch. "Yeah! It's almost seven!"
Finally, a voice from a loudspeaker said, "Ladies and gentlemen....welcome to the Final Round of the Battle of the Brains!" At that moment, everyone cheered.
"The teams are from the schools of Los Angeles High School....and Staten Island Academy!"
The crowd cheered again.
"The visiting team consists of team captain, Bryan DeWitt..."
A brown-haired kid came running of an opening and stood on the sidelines.
"...Joshua Kendrick...."
Another kid, this time with black hair, ran out and stood next to Bryan.
"...Natalie Caxton...."
A blonde girl walked out and stood on the sideline as well.
"...Melissa Catlin...."
A rather short girl also appeared out of the opening and stood next to the three.
"...and Matthew Hill!"
The last boy ran out and stood next to the rest of his teammates. The five received applause from certain spots in the audience, obviously from spots held by Los Angeles fans.
"And now, the Staten Island Academy team, consisting of team captain Chris Davis..."
On the opposite side of the court, Chris ran out of another opening and also stopped at the sideline.
"...Daniel Edwards...."
Daniel appeared and stood next to Chris.
"...Jennifer Cole...."
The girl called Jennifer went out, waved, and stood along the sideline.
"...Terry Wilkins...."
Terry ran out of the opening and stood on the sideline as well.
"...and finally, filling in for Johnathan Handel, Ami Mizuno!"
Ami peeked out of the opening and walked out, standing next to the rest of the team. The Academy team received as much applause as their opponents, this time from other spots in the crowd, especially from the Jumpers and the Scouts.
Ami said, "This is pretty large crowd...."
Nervous from receiving the applause, Jennifer asked, "Chris, tell me again why you picked the Garden?"
Chris replied, "Heh heh....shut up...."
The two teams walked onto the court and shook hands with each other. Then they took their positions at their appropriate places along the two tables. From another opening at the side of the court, a man with a business suit on walked up to the podium and talked into the microphone, "Well, now that the teams have been introduced, let me explain the rules...."
"For this final round, there will be four periods, each consisting of twenty minutes, each team having two time-outs of three minutes each. During the four-periods, I will ask a series of questions. The person who buzzes in first wll answer. A correct answer will add 5 points to his or her team's score. An incorrect answer will subtract 5 points from his or her team's score. The point value will increase by 5 points by every period, until it reaches 20 points in the fourth period."
"We have changed the method in the event of a tie-breaker. In case that happens, a 30-second 'split second' round will take place. One player from each team will come up here and answer a series of questions. The player answering the most questions when the timer hits double-zero will win the victory for his or her team!"
"This is so exciting!" Serena said. "I wonder if we'll be on TV again!"
"OK," the host said. "If everyone will test their buzzers..."
One by one, both teams pressed the buttons, turning on the lights in front of them.
"Good! We will begin! Set the clock for twenty minutes..."
High above the playing area, the scoreboard lighted up and the timer displayed "20:00" and started counting down.
The host held up a series of cards and read, "OK, first question....what is the only state in the United States that was once a nation of Mexico?"
Chris quickly pressed his buzzer.
"Yes, Davis, Academy team."
"Texas."
"That's correct, for 5 points."
On the scoreboard, the zero below the word "Academy" changed to five.
"Next question. What was the year when the eastern islands were destroyed and what war was this?"
*bzzt*
"Caxton, Los Angeles team."
"1983, and the Great AntiMatter War."
"Correct. Score is now tied. Next question...."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The game continued on. Throughout the first two periods, both teams answered many questions, especially Ami who earned her team 85 points. At the half, the score was 200 to 185, Academy's game.
The two teams left their seats and headed through a door leading to the locker rooms.
"You were great!" Chris said to Ami.
"Thanks," Ami replied.
Jennifer added, "Yeah, well...fifteen points isn't exactly a big lead. We might lose it in the second half!"
Chris said, "Don't worry. Right now we got some time to think it over."
Halftime lasted an entire thirty minutes. People were either in their seats or outside to get some snacks. Serena fell into the second group. She waited in line behind twenty other people.
Suddenly, she was bumped by someone that walked by. She looked at the person and said, "Hey, watch it!" But she quickly covered her mouth. Although the man that bumped Serena continued to walk away, she had the feeling he seemed very familiar. Out of curiosity, she stepped out of line and followed the man. After ten minutes of walking through the crowded perimeter of the arena, she stopped when she saw the unknown person walk into a room with a door marked "PERSONNEL ONLY." Not aware of what might happen to her if she was caught, Serena followed.
She closed the door behind her, leaving little light in the room. She had noticed the man walking up the stairs ahead of her, but other than that, there was no one else in the room. Yet she was still afraid to walk up the stairs, so she took her locket and shouted,
"MOON STAR POWER!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, where's Serena?" Mike asked as soon as the third period started. The two teams have taken their seats on the court once again.
"First question....when was Winston Churchill assassinated?"
*bzzt*
"Kendrick, Los Angeles team."
"1942."
"That's correct. It is tied once again. Next question, spell questionability."
*bzzt*
"Mizuno, Academy team."
"Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N......A-B-I-L....I-T-Y."
"That's correct, next question..."
Near the end of the third period, Lita asked, "Yeah, where is Serena? She hasn't come back since halftime!"
Jake sighed and said, "Well, I'll go find her..." He left his seat and headed towards the arena's perimeter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How much more do I have to walk?" a tired Sailor Moon asked. She was now high up, having already walked eighteen flights of steps towards the top. Finally, she could see an opening up ahead. From the opening, Sailor Moon could hear the crowd below shouting and cheering for the participants further down. She entered through the open doorway and noticed that the only ground in front of her was a large platform and a metal beam ahead leading to the rest of the framework at the top of the arena. She was scared to see that she was so high up, and the net below the framework didn't help to stop her fear of heights.
After a minute, Sailor Moon was able to pull herself together. She remembered that she was up here to find a person she thought was familiar, though she wondered why she walked all the way up to such a high area. Fortunately, she looked ahead and saw the person she was looking for. This time, she fully recognized who it was. It was Darien!
He was standing on another metal beam, holding a knife up to one of the many pieces of rope holding up the scoreboard down below. He noticed Sailor Moon and jumped. But he quickly took his knife and threw it at her.
Sailor Moon almost froze, but dodged the knife just in time. "Darien!" she shouted. "It's me, remember?"
He didn't say a word, but grabbed another dagger and continued his job of cutting the ropes. Sailor Moon remembered that Ami and the others were right below the scoreboard, and she knew she had to stop him. She tiptoed across the framework to get closer to Darien. She shouted again, "Don't you know what you're doing?"
Darien gave a smirk and replied, "Oh, you mean getting rid of Sailor Mercury and her friend, Chris? Yes, I do." He tossed another dagger, but this time he threw it towards on of the ropes supporting the metal beam that Sailor Moon was standing on. The beam partly gave way, but it moved just enough to force Sailor Moon to lose her balance. As she slid down the beam, she jumped and landed on another part of the framework. But she did not regain her balance there; her foot slipped as it landed, causing her to fall again. Luckily, she stayed on the framework.
"Now," Darien said. "Don't get in the way." It seemed that he had an unlimited number of daggers, because he took another one from his pocket and continued cutting the ropes supporting the scoreboard.
Down below, it was down to the last two minutes in the fourth and final period. The score was now 615 to 595, Los Angeles' game.
After a minute, Sailor Moon eventually got back up. She did not want Ami and her friends hurt, but she did not want to hurt Darien as well, who was a good fifteen feet in front of Sailor Moon. She reasoned again, "We can help you, Darien! Why won't you listen to me?"
Darien quickly became impatient, "I am getting tired of this...." He grabbed a gun from his pocket and fired. A laser beam shot out of the gun and headed for Sailor Moon. Just then,
"MIRROR.....REFLECT!"
Neither Sailor Moon nor Darien noticed Jake was there, he was just....there. He had his mirror shield in one hand and a tracking device in another. The beam hit the shield that Jake held in front of Sailor Moon and bounced back towards Darien. He took full impact of the beam, forcing him to fall off the metal beam. Fortunately he landed on the net, but as soon as he landed, he became surrounded by some sort of darkness and disappeared.
"Of all the places in the Garden," Jake said. "You had to end up here?"
But Sailor Moon didn't say a word. She was only thinking of how she could get Darien back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Twenty-eight," Terry said.
"That's correct!" the host replied. Just then, the horn sounded and the clock had reached double-zero. The score was 735-all. "Well, we have a tie!"
The audience became extra loud at that moment.
"OK, now. This is the tie-breaker round. Teams, choose one player to play this final round."
At that moment, the Los Angeles team got together and sent Melissa Catlin up to the podium. At the other table, Chris said with a little confidence, "Ami, want to play this one?"
"Well, OK," Ami replied as she walked up to the podium. She and Melissa shook hands one more time and went to opposite sides of the podium. Two extra buzzers appeared on the podium for the two contestants. The scoreboard lighted up one more time and displayed 0:30. It started counting down as soon as the host asked the first question.
"In science, what does SLOT stand for?"
*bzzt*
"Yes, Ami?"
"Second Law of Thermodynamics."
"Correct."
0:26....1-0....
"These two continents make up the largest land mass in the world, what is it?"
*bzzt*
"Ami?"
"Europe and Asia."
"Correct."
0:21....2-0....
"One billion bytes make up a gigabyte. What does one trillion make?"
*bzzt*
"Yes, Melissa?"
"A terabyte."
"That's correct."
0:17....2-1....
"One angle is 48 degrees. What must the other angle be in order to make it complementary?"
*bzzt*
"Melissa again?"
"42 degrees."
"Correct again."
0:12....2-2....
"IRC stands for..."
*bzzt*
"Melissa?"
"Internet Relay Chat."
"Correct."
0:10....2-3....
"Songs on a compact disc are..."
*bzzt*
"Melissa once more..."
"Tracks."
"Correct!"
0:06....2-4....
"In the simple interest formula, what does the T stand for?"
*bzzt*
"Ami?"
"Time."
"Correct."
0:03....3-4....
"Light travels how fast?"
*bzzt*
"Yes, Ami?"
At that moment, time ran out. The host said, "The score's four to three, Los Angeles High School wins the game!"
The crowd cheered and some people even ran out to the court to congratulate the Los Angeles team.
Ami put her hand out once more towards Melissa and said, "Good game."
Melissa smiled and replied, "Yeah. Good game." At that they both walked in opposite directions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris and Ami went with the rest of the Jumpers to find Jake and Serena. When they found the two at the arena's perimeter, they all took the Mag-Lev home.
It was now late at night, the two tired participants ended up back at Chris' house. Ami sat on the steps at the front of the house, looking up at the stars. Chris went outside as well. He looked at Ami and asked, "You OK?"
She looked at Chris with a puzzled look and replied, "I'm sorry."
"For what? Oh....hey, it wasn't your fault."
"You lost by one question, all because of me, right?"
Chris sat on the steps right next to Ami and continued, "It was only a game, you know. Not like some big test or anything like that..."
"Yeah, but what if it was a test? You know what I could've got? An A minus!"
"Uh....yeah....look, nobody's perfect, you know. You can't get every question right. Just learn from a mistake and move on."
"What if I don't learn from this?"
"What? You? Hey, I've heard a LOT about you from your friends, c'mon!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right."
They both giggled a little and looked up at the sky that was full of stars. After a minute of silence, Chris added, "But you know, I did like something out of all this...."
Ami looked at Chris oddly and replied, "What?"
He smiled and said, "Being at the center of the Knicks court in front of, like, ten thousand people! Now that was cool..."
"Oh..." At that Ami looked down.
Chris asked, "What?"
"Nothing...."
He yawned and stood up, "Well, I'm going to bed. Good night." He then walked inside the house.
Ami smiled and thought, "He's right. Even I didn't get that one correct!"
TO BE CONTINUED....