Hi, Jeff, here, and this is the second episode of my fanfic. Um, I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters except for the Caretakers and Prince Neptune because I am Prince Neptune. Everything else about Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. Don't sue. Please. I can't afford it.
Episode 2:
Strange Dreams
Too dark. Can't see. What's that, or rather, what are those?
Minako walked through a nightmarish landscape of featureless, flat land surrounded by darkness. The only distinguishable objects were a row of variously decorated mirrors on her right ending in one last mirror facing her.
The first was very plain. Composed of straight lines and right angles, it was blue and in it, she did not she her reflection, but a pair of figures. Sailor Mercury. She was fighting someone. Upon closer inspection, the assailant was a duplicate of the defender. A wash of water struck the mirror, from the real Ami, or the doppelganger, she couldn't tell, and the image disappeared.
The next mirror seemed to be composed of flames wrought from iron. Inside she saw a similar scene, but this time, it was Rei. The fight seemed pretty even, until one of the combatants tripped and the other took a rather unfair advantage of the mistake. Instead of waiting for the outcome, she moved on.
Next, the mirror made from leaves and branches and slightly taller than the last two, she saw Sailor Jupiter. She saw the both of them landing good shots and taking them equally as well. 'That makes sense,' she thought, 'If they are duplicate of each other, then they would have to be equally good fighters.' She was surprised at the indifference of the thought, but only for a moment.
The fourth mirror showed the newest member of the team, Prince Neptune, although he was very deep inside the mirror. The only reasons she could tell it was him was by the distinctive trident shapes the two silhouettes were using and the storm clouds that made the frame of the mirror.
Next, inside a very pretty pink mirror, stood Usagi. The two Sailor Moons stared at each other, as if unsure how to handle this kind of thing. 'I don't blame her.' thought Venus. Right beside this mirror, a tall, solid black, modern-looking thing of metal and glass, stood Tuxedo Kamen's. In this one, Venus saw a magnificent display of hand-to-hand close combat, though she couldn't tell who would win.
In the next two, one made of white-capped waves, one of what seemed to be crystallized wind, she saw Haruka and Michiru fighting their evil twins. Again, she could not predict the outcome, and for some reason, this realization annoyed her, but she had no clue why.
Finally, she came to the last mirror, which happened to be facing her as she approached. 'Odd,' she thought, 'this seems to be a plain old mirror.' Which was true. She saw her own reflection staring back at her. It was a beautiful mirror, though, made of gold with flowing lines and graceful corners. She reached up to scratch her head and the reflection imitated her.....a split second too late. The shock on her face was only matched by the evil grin on her duplicate as it reached out to grab her.
She woke up. Her blankets were tangled around her and her pajamas were soaked with sweat. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and getting out of bed, she decided that a nice, long, hot shower would probably be the best thing to do right now.
"Minako, is something wrong?"
"Oh, its nothing, Artemis. Go back to sleep."
Artemis shrugged and did so and didn't bother her again on the subject.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Up on the Caretaker's ship, the crew was carefully being examined to select the ones to infect the subjects on the Earth, so that the raw emotional force could be extracted.
"Well," commented the first, "who shall be our first volunteer?"
The second looked at her list and motioned sharply at one of the beings before her. The thing that stepped forward was big and thorny. Truly, he had spikes and pointy bits protruding out of his body everywhere. Not even by the Caretaker's standards was this creature even remotely good-looking.
"Perfect." growled the third. "He will be an excellent soldier."
The second only nodded and thought silently to herself.
"Very well then," said the first, "we shall send him down immediately."
* * * * * * * * * * *
'Another glorious day,' Jeff thought, 'and I get to spend it all with her.' He looked to his right and drank in the sight of her. She looked at him and smiled. He realized that he would do anything for that smile. He was just about to say so when, completely out of nowhere, the biggest, ugliest, nastiest creature he had ever seen popped out from, well, nowhere and snarled. It had big green teeth and the foulest breath that anyone could have imagined possible. He barely had time to react when it fired. He braced himself for impact, but, too late, he realized that the shot wasn't aimed for him. He spun around in horror and saw the one thing he never wanted to. Ami was lying on the ground. She didn't appear to be moving. He looked back to the creature. He wanted to hurt it twice as bad as it had hurt her, but it was already gone. He quickly forgot about it and rushed to his fallen beloved. He put a hand to her wrist. Good, there's a pulse. He realized that he was fighting back tears of relief and wiped his eyes. He gently tried to wake her, and she responded immediately, as if she had only been sleeping.
"I'm so glad you're all right!" he gushed. His smile almost split his face in two. She smiled at him.
"Thank you." As he tried to help her up, she shrugged off his arm to get up under her own power. He thought nothing of it, it was just a sign of her hurt pride at not being able to defend herself, that's all. She turned all serious after that.
"We'd best tell the Scouts about this."
"Yes, of course, Ami. Let's get to Rei's temple."
* * * * * * * * * * *
At the temple, everyone arrived for the emergency meeting on time, even Usagi, which was quite a surprise. As Ami and Jeff told everyone what happened, everyone grew more and more serious.
"Are you sure you're alright, Ami? I'm afraid that monster did something horrible to you that we just haven't figured out yet." Luna's face was a mask of concern. She truly did worry about the Scouts, she still saw them as the vulnerable children that she has seen develop into the young men and women before her.
"Yes, Luna. I'm fine."
"That's good." There was something that still bothered Luna that she just couldn't put her paw on, though. 'Oh, well,' she thought, 'I'll figure it out later.'
"Luna," Usagi looked oddly curious, "What do you think that thing did to Ami?"
"I don't know, Usagi. I can only assume something diabolically clever and subtle, if anything is happening at all, of course." That answer didn't exactly satisfy Usagi's curiosity, so she decided to take a closer look at her friend. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Blue skirt, light blue stockings, turtleneck, a beautiful brooch fastened at the collar.....aside from the unbelievable frequency of the color blue, nothing much seemed odd about her, just one thing she couldn't put her finger on. She noticed Jeff, standing a few steps away, gazing at her. 'Wow,' she thought, 'I wonder if Mamoru looks at me like that.' Hmm...for the past few days, those two haven't actually been that far apart, even if it is only a few steps. Perhaps they are just finally getting comfortable with each other again. There still seems something is wrong. It seems like it has something to do with the eyes...
She was snapped out of her thoughts by Minako.
"Hello, earth to Usagi! Wake up, girl!"
"Huh, what? Did I miss something?"
"Yes, of course you did, Usagi." Luna looked her usual annoyed self at Usagi's confusion, "We were just talking about how it would be best to confront our new enemies."
"Oh, right, of course. Well, go on." As they debated, discussed, and deliberated, the slight and subtle changes that were started in motion not to long ago grew and made more apparent results.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Subject shows 47.8% increase in emotional output." Some random bridge officer read readouts off the screen to the Caretakers at their command posts.
"Not long before our little crop reaches time to harvest." the second mused about her little experiment.
"If you ask me, it's taking to long." The third sat in his chair, squirming like a child who was told to stay still and behave himself.
"Patience my friend. We shall have our resources soon enough," the first was the epitome of calm and tranquility, "Science station, how long until 'harvest'?"
"Showing 50.1% increase. Estimating three earth hours until completion."
"Excellent."
* * * * * * * * * * *
As he watched the fountain, he thought of how beautiful the water was. He thought of how it could destroy mountains, cities, and whole continents with the patience that only water can have. He thought about how necessary it is for life it self to exist. It's dual nature is the very basis of philosophy on Neptune. Even his title and his sister's title, the Storm and the Sea (they, of course, are just two titles of many that royalty has), respectively, come from this very basic and necessary substance. To Preserve and to Destroy. He was able to pull his attention away from the water long enough to see his one True Love approach. She looked stern and cross. He thought, perhaps, she had a bad day, or something, and needed a little cheering up. He rose to greet her and opened his arms to her. She stopped just out of his reach. Puzzled, he lowered his arms.
"I need to tell you something." Ami said. She offered no other information.
"Sure, you can tell me anything." He soon wished he had never said that.
"I don't ever want to see you again."
For a few moments, all he could do was blink. The look on her face was unreadable. He swallowed, found it a little hard to because of the lump growing in his throat, and tried to speak.
"You're just joking, right?" He managed a feeble smile. He would have given anything to hear her speak. It didn't even matter what she would have said. Instead, she just walked away and that hurt the most. He fell to his knees as if begging her to return, but just watched her go. He wanted to yell after her to tell her he was sorry for whatever he had done, or to beg her to come back, but no words came. As she passed out of sight around a corner, he put his head on the ground and cried, wishing that the water, in all it's power, could take him away.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"98.6%, sir. Estimating ten earth minutes to completion."
The first gave the order, "Very good. Prepare the soldier for harvest."
"He's on his way." The second prepped the collector herself and was quite proud of it.
"It's about time," said the third, "I wanna see this thing actually work."
"100.0%, sir. Project complete."
"Launch."
"Aye, sir."
* * * * * * * * * * *
At Rei's temple, Usagi, Rei (of course), Makoto, Minako, Ami, Luna, Artemis, ChibiUsa, Diana, and Jeff were gathered on the front steps to discuss the threat before them. Ami and Jeff sat on opposite sides of the stairs. No one really was listening to Luna for that very same reason. They were all studying the pair that they thought were inseparable. Jeff looked miserable. He held his head down, his eyelids drooped. He was constantly sniffing and wiping his eyes. He refused to look at or acknowledge anything around him. Ami was the exact opposite. She had her head held high. She was alert and seemingly ready for anything. In fact, the one word Luna could come up with to describe her at that moment, which she didn't share, of course, was 'bitch'.
"Usagi, did you just hear what I said?"
"Of course I did, Luna."
"Oh really? Well I had just told you that you had fish heads in your hair in that your feet were on fire and you just nodded! Please, Usagi, if you're going to ignore me, just have the good grace to admit it when you're caught."
"Sorry, Luna."
Around the perimeter lurked the collector for this particular mission. It was the same being that had attacked Ami earlier, and he was really just waiting for a signal. His communicator beeped. That's the signal! He burst from his cover hoping to surprise the lot of them. It worked very well, and he had his chance to complete the mission. He took a small transmitter from his belt and pressed the button. Ami, who was sprawled on the ground after Usagi bowled into her trying to run, sat bolt-upright. For a moment, she quivered, and then she screamed an ear-piercing scream and split in two.
When everyone got a good look, they couldn't believe their own eyes. There were two Ami's. One was Sailor Mercury and one was still Ami. The monster looked a little confused. He wasn't quite sure which one was the solidified hate energy that had been building up to take back to the ship. The two Ami's were now on their feet. The other Ami had transformed into Sailor Mercury and the two were facing off. Dodging and twisting around the other's attacks, neither one landed a single shot. By this time, everyone had transformed, and the Scouts and Prince Neptune were ready to attack, but they had no idea which Ami to shoot. Prince Neptune kept taking aim at one or the other, but always changed his mind when he got a good chance to shoot. Usagi was completely confused. She refused to even act against the two duplicates. The other Scouts were no better. Rei was the only one doing anything, she seemed to be meditating, as if to find an answer. Eventually, Sailor Jupiter thought that she had a good idea.
"Sailor Mercury!" he yelled, "Can you give us a hint as to which one is real?"
"Shoot us both!" they yelled in unison, then glared at each other. They both knew the old 'shoot us both' trick.
The Scouts realized that it was all up to her, now. They could do nothing but watch. The monster was getting impatient as well.
"Hurry up!" he screamed. This, unfortunately, caused the Scouts to turn their attention to him. He wished that he hadn't done that, but he guessed that he would have to deal with them anyway. It was a good thing that he had been equipped very well by the Caretakers and could take these little boys and girls with no problem.
As Neptune turned and looked at this creature, he felt an unnatural rage building inside him. 'You did this to her,' he thought, 'You're going to pay.' With an inarticulate growl, he launched himself at the massive fiend before him. His action caused the others to act as well and they too engaged the enemy. The creature turned out to be well equipped, indeed. He moved like serpent, dodging every attack perfectly, throwing some back, and throwing a few of his own. One by one, he beat his attackers back. Rising, the Scouts held their arms, backs, and various injured body parts and got ready to try again. The monster merely stood there arrogantly and laughed at their pitiful attempts at trying to dispatch the threat. His laughter was cut short when a rose came streaking by, sticking in the ground at the collector's feet.
"I will not let this go on any further. I, Tuxedo Kamen, will protect these girls with everything in my power," in mid-sentence, he paused, smirked, and motioned to something behind the collector, "and a little bit that's not."
"Neptune Deep Submerge!"
"Uranus World Shaking!"
Hit from behind, the monster alternately shook until half of his systems shut down and gasped for breath until the other half shut down. Barely able to stand, he turned to look for who had attacked him. Backs to him, they arrogantly stood there as if to say that he was not worthy of their presence. He was about to do something to show them how worthy he was, but the two assailants cut him off. They turned to face him.
"I fight for the peace of the world and the purity of life. I am Sailor Neptune!"
"You threaten the tranquility of our lives and that of the entire world. For that, I will destroy you. I am Sailor Uranus!"
Sailor Uranus turned her gaze to Sailor Moon and gave her the signal to act. Usagi, with renewed confidence, stood and hoped that she had enough strength left to use the Crystal. She rose and lifted the Silver Crystal above her head and shouted the words to activate it. For an instant, nothing happened. Usagi thought that she had failed or wasn't strong enough, but then the Crystal flared to life and the monster was vanquished.
"Hello, Moonface." Haruka greeted Sailor Moon with the usual friendly jest.
"Hello, Haruka, Michiru. It's good to see you again."
Michiru turned to Prince Neptune. "Hello, Jeff".
He managed a grin. "Hi, Sis." The grin faded quickly as he turned his attention back to the twin combatants before him. Still trading blows, and not landing any of them, the two Sailors fought each other until a bizarre sort of unspoken truce was called. They both stared at each other as they caught their breath.
"You'll never win, you know."
"I don't care, just so long as you don't"
"How so?"
"If anything, I mean to take you down with me."
"How noble, I didn't really expect that sort of thing from you, I mean I saw how you treated poor Prince Neptune..."
"Shut up! That wasn't me. I still love him. I always have, you never changed that." Thanks to that one sentence, the Scouts finally knew which Ami was which. Jeff, of course, was incredibly relieved. "You caused me to do something that I never wanted to do and for that, this is what you get." The gift that Ami had intended turned out to be a blow from the very essence of her power. Screaming a battle cry like a talisman before her, she slammed the full force of her energy into her doppelganger and the twisted version of herself vanished. Prince Neptune couldn't contain himself. With a cry that could only be described as infinitely happy and relieved, he ran to his beloved and into her waiting and open arms.
Observing the serene scene, the remainder of the Scouts caught their breath and nursed their painful, but minor, wounds. Usagi, standing next to Mamoru, was quite taken with the Kodak moment in front of her.
"It's so beautiful." She was beginning to cry. She leaned against Mamoru and watched the pair just stand there in each other's arms.
"They really do make a cute couple." said Haruka.
"Yes, just like on the Moon." said Michiru, "Romantic, isn't it?" She leaned up towards Haruka. Just before their lips touched, Usagi stopped watching the two of them. 'Everyone deserves to have a little privacy,' she thought.
Ami and Jeff approached the group. "Well, since we've had quite a day," Jeff's expression was a little chagrinned, "Ami and I are going to find someplace quiet and look at the stars." Ami's almost imperceptible smile implied something else.
"Really? I want to look at the stars, too! Can I come?" ChibiUsa made her presence known. A few looks passed among the group as to who would tell her why she couldn't come and Mamoru decided to handle it.
"It's almost bed time, kiddo. You should probably get home."
"Oh, I guess you're right. Maybe some other time, guys." The last was directed at Ami and Jeff. Jeff was still trying his damnedest not to laugh at her innocence.
"Right, uh, some other time, ChibiUsa." said Ami. 'Phew. Crisis Averted.' she thought.
* * * * * * * * * * *
As they all went their separate ways to wherever they were going to spend the night, the Caretakers were monitoring their situation.
"Damn." said the third, "Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! We almost had it!"
"Yes, well, what's past is past. We just have to move on to the next target." The second was also irritated that her plans and devices had not worked, but she didn't let it show. It just wouldn't be professional.
"Right. We'll try again when we are ready. Until then, we have work to do." The voice of reason, the first Caretaker had to keep everything on schedule. This, fortunately, was enough for the third.
"Yes, another day."
