Welcome to episode three. Just so I don't get sued, I don't own Sailor Moon. She, and everything else in this fic, belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Except, of course, for the Caretakers and Prince Neptune. I mean, geez, I should be able to own myself, right? Right?
Episode 3:
Something Special for Makoto
Usagi suppressed a yawn. It was twenty five after two and this last class seemed like it would never end. The teacher kept going on and on about some mathematical constant or another or this or that equation and the clock seemed to move slower and slower. Finally, the bell rang.
"All right!" She tore out of the classroom, ran down the hall to collect Ami and Minako, and they were out the door.
"Really, Usagi. I wish you had waited a few minutes more. I was going to ask Mr. Welkley a few questions about the classwork."
"Ami, I can't believe that you wanted to spend five more minutes in that place." said Minako.
Usagi, of course, agreed, wholeheartedly. "Yeah, really. It's such a beautiful day out, who would want to be in a place like school?"
All Ami could do was sigh and hoped that they would understand the importance of a good education one day.
"In fact," continued Usagi, "It's such a good day, I feel like getting some ice cream."
"Yeah, let's go get some!" When anyone made a comment about sweets, it was hard to get Minako's mind on anything else. So, they dragged Ami to get the ice cream, despite her protests that they really should get to studying, but when they encountered Jeff along the way, she quieted down quickly enough. She thought it was a splendid idea to the both of them to get ice cream and sit in the park together and enjoy the scenery.
Quietly Minako remarked about this to Usagi, "Boy, I sure am glad about having him around. She finally stopped going on about studying."
"Yeah, I know," whispered Usagi, "Hey, I wonder if we can get him to buy the ice cream for us?"
Giggling, they walked on and out of the corner of her eye, Usagi saw Makoto standing by herself near a small coffee bar, staring at something that couldn't be seen from where Usagi was standing. She slipped away from her friends and sneaked over to where Makoto was seemingly in a trance. 'Uh oh. I've seen that look before,' Usagi thought, 'That's the look she gets when she sees someone she likes. I wonder who it is this time.' She looked over Makoto's shoulder into the building. She saw numerous people, but none seemed that remarkable until she saw the guy over in the corner quietly enjoying a cup of coffee. He was tall, well built, with heavily muscled arms and legs and broad shoulders, dressed like someone you would expect to be in a band, but not as grungy as Chad, the burnt-out "rock star" that worked at Rei's temple. 'As always, Makoto has remarkable taste.' Usagi mused. Next to the object of interest for her besotted friend, lies a guitar case. 'Oh, so he is a musician. We seem to run into a lot of those.' She remembered that, not only does Chad play the drums and, she thinks, the guitar, Michiru plays the violin, Haruka plays the piano, Jeff plays the saxophone and the guitar, and many of the various negaverse/dark moon/heartsnatcher victims had been into music, as well. She wondered what was so special about this one. Besides the obvious good looks, of course.
"See you later," said the mystery man to a friend of his. He was coming out of the coffee place. Usagi hid around the corner. Makoto didn't even move. She seemed half asleep. She just stared at him. As he moved toward and around her, he almost ran her over because she couldn't move. He just excused himself and kept walking. When he was gone, Usagi walked back to Makoto, expecting some sort of movement.
"Makoto? Are you all right?" she waited. "Makoto?"
"Oh, hi, Usagi." Makoto sounded half asleep and completely out of it.
"Um, who was that?"
"His name is John. Isn't he great?"
"He doesn't look like Freddie, does he?"
Makoto snapped out of it. "What? Of course not! What made you think I thought he looked like Freddie?"
"Oh, nothing. Come on, we're going to go get ice cream. Wanna come?"
"All right! I've been wanting to get a snack all day."
They caught up with their friends and they never suspected that they were being watched from far above.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Gentlemen, this is our next target." The three Caretakers sat in conference. The Second was giving a report on the next earthling to obtain energy from. They were all examining a holographic image projected above the table.
"About time. The reserves are quickly depleting. If we don't get something soon to recharge them, we'll have to land the ship."
"Patience, my friend. We'll soon get what we need."
"I hope you're right."
The second waited for the other two to quiet down before continuing.
"As I was saying, with this target, I have devised a more subtle approach. We will be focusing on the emotion of love. It seems to be particularly strong in this one at this time."
"Good. Proceed with the mission."
"Of course."
* * * * * * * * * * *
At the Ice Cream Shoppe, Usagi and her friends had all got their orders (which they had successfully got Jeff to pay for) and were sitting down to talk about whatever happened to be relevant. Usagi thought that this would be a splendid opportunity to tell everyone about Makoto's new obsession.
"Guess what everyone?" Usagi asked. She got various interested answers and questioning looks, so she continued. "Makoto's got a new crush on someone."
"No, Usagi, don't!" It was too late. Everyone had their attention on her and Usagi.
"Well," Usagi went on as if she didn't just embarrass her friend, "his name is John and he's a musician."
"Really, what's he like?" Minako leaned closer to make sure that she got all of the details.
"He's tall, of course, with a muscular body and an incredibly sexy rock star look."
"Nothing like Chad, I assume."
"Oh, of course not."
The conversation went on between Minako and Usagi while exasperated looks passed between Makoto, Jeff, and Ami. They decided to have a slightly more sedate conversation about how Makoto feels instead of how this 'John' fellow looks.
"So, have you actually ever talked to him?" asked Ami.
"Yeah, if you've never talked to him and found out what he's like, how do you know you if you would get along well with him?" said Jeff.
"Well," Makoto looked at the ground and blushed slightly, "I've been to a few of his band's gigs, and his voice is amazing, not that he sings often. He plays the bass, so he doesn't get up to the mic very often. He plays with real passion. I think all of that feeling has to count for something."
The pair across from her looked at each other, then nodded as they agreed with Makoto.
"Yes, if he puts that much into his music, then he has to have a lot of it to put into his everyday life." Ami thought she had a good idea on what this guy was like. "He is probably the classic artist, full of life, energy, and passion for whatever he does and whatever it involves."
"You know," began Jeff, "I bet if you actually talked to him, he might actually go for you, Makoto."
"Oh, I don't know..."
"Makoto, you have to take a chance sometimes."
She looked up at her friends and decided that they were probably right.
"You know, I think I'll go for a little walk. Is that all right with you guys?" As Makoto got up, everyone nodded and said goodbye. Ami wished her good luck. 'I'm gonna need it.' she thought, 'I don't know if I have the guts for this.'
* * * * * * * * * * *
As Makoto walked to where John's band had it's next gig, she had several second thoughts. She almost turned back a few times and went home. Eventually, she found herself at the park where some of the band members were setting up the equipment on the small stage in front of long rows and columns of folding chairs. She steadied herself and went to move toward the stage when a funny looking little man with a weird, shuffling step walked out of the park in quite a hurry and knocked Makoto right over.
"Oh, sorry miss." He had a strange voice, and as he took her hand to help her up, she felt a strange sensation, like she had touched something slimy and cold.
"Um, it's all right. No harm done." She felt a little confused about the little man, but all of that confusion went away when he saw John crossing the park to the stage. He got to it, took his bass and began to tune it. Makoto felt as if she were paralyzed. Half of her wanted to run right home and forget about ever trying this silly attempt and the other half wanted to run over to John right now and grab him and kiss the life out of him. The tiny, almost unnoticeable piece of common sense still left up in her brain won out, though, and she calmly walked over to the stage. As she approached, John looked up and looked directly at her. She froze in her tracks.
"Can I help you?"
"Well, um, I guess you could..." Makoto scolded herself for sounding so stupid.
"Well, if you could tell me what I could do, I'm sure I could help in some way." 'Hmm, she's kind of cute,' John thought, 'but she seems kind of lost.'
"Uh, could you, uh, walk with me, please?"
John thought that this was a little odd, but who was he to pass up a chance to be alone with a beautiful girl? He hopped off of the stage and followed her. They walked around the park a bit before either one of them said anything. Eventually, John spoke up.
"Did you want to talk about something, or are you just a fan?"
"I, uh, well...."
'Yep. She's a groupie.' John thought.
"Here," John held out two tickets.
"What are these?"
"Tickets to tonight's show. See you there." As he turned and walked away, Makoto couldn't do much besides stare at him as he left. She was more than a little confused by her inability to say anything to him. The good thing was that she would have another chance later tonight, and that was all she cared about.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Rei moved the broom mechanically. She couldn't stand to sweep anymore, but it had to be done. She wished she had some other help besides Chad around the temple, but it was just him, her and Grandpa. Luckily, a little, pink-haired excuse for a break from the monotony trotted up the stairs at that moment.
"Oh, hello, ChibiUsa! What brings you up here?"
"Oh, nothing." The younger version of Usagi didn't seem as happy as she usually was. Rei picked up on this and knew that there was something wrong.
"Come on. There's got to be something on your mind."
"Well," ChibiUsa was reluctant to tell what it was that was bothering her, "I miss my mom and dad." The last part came out in a mumble.
"Well, I'm sure that if you tell Usagi--"
"Don't you dare tell her! I don't want her involving herself in my problems!" With that, she ran off.
'Well, that went well.' thought Rei. As she went back to sweeping, she forgot about ChibiUsa problem and went back to thinking about how much she would like to get some extra help around the temple.
* * * * * * * * * * *
As she held the pair of tickets in her hand, she was faced with two problems. One, what would she do once she was at the concert, and two, who would she bring? She walked aimlessly through Tokyo pondering the question and eventually, she realized that she had ended up in front of Rei's temple. She barely missed being run over by a short, pink-haired missile barreling down the stairs. With barely an 'excuse me', ChibiUsa was gone down the street. 'ChibiUsa's never that rude, well, not that rude,' Makoto thought. She wandered up the stairs to the temple to see if Rei was free to talk. She found her where ChibiUsa had left her moments before sweeping the yard of the temple. As she approached, Rei looked up.
"Have you come to help?" Rei asked, hopefully.
"Uh, actually, I was wondering if you could help me." Makoto's head felt all foggy inside. It was if she was in a dream. She held out the tickets for inspection. "I, uh got these from John..."
"Who?"
Makoto remembered that Rei hadn't heard about the new crush Makoto had, so she explained who he was and what he was like. From behind Rei, a voice, that sounded like the speaker had just woken up and was a stoner to boot, decided to enter the conversation.
"Hey, I know that guy. He's in the Flying Dream Machine as the bass player, right?"
Rei rounded on the newcomer with fire in her eyes and let loose a barrage of harsh words that she let out only when someone decided to rub her the wrong way.
"Where the hell have you been, Chad?! I've been working out here for hours with no help, whatsoever!"
"Whoa, sorry Rei! Uh, your grandpa asked me to help him with something"
Rei made no effort to hide the disbelief on her face, but she relented.
"All right, just get going with your chores!" At that, Chad scampered off to do as he was told and escape from this taskmaster. In truth, however, he would do anything for Rei, and the both of them knew it.
"Geez, Rei," said Makoto, "Do you have to be so hard on him?"
"Oh, I guess you're right. It's just that I seem to get less and less help these days."
"And I bet it's because you like him an you're just trying to hide it, right?"
Rei's eyes widened and her mouth opened on shock. "What? Me? No, never!" Unlike Rei, Makoto hid the disbelief very well and just continued telling Rei of her problem with the tickets.
"Would you come with me?"
"You know, I'd like to, but so much needs to be done around here that I can't do anything until it's done."
"Oh," Makoto stared at the ground dejectedly. She thought that Rei might have had a solution to her problems. With a start, she realized that she did indeed have more than one problem. One, she had an extra ticket. Two, she was totally obsessed with this guy, which, considering Makoto's emotions, was normal, albeit a little over the top. Three, her obsession was becoming just that, an Obsession. But she really didn't care because she was in love with this guy, at least, she thought she was. She heard Rei muttering something about not having enough help around the temple and Makoto suddenly had an answer to at least one of her problems. A few minutes later and a few phone calls, she had everyone at the temple helping clean up. She didn't tell anyone about the tickets, but to get them to help she promised to make them a feast for lunch tomorrow. Either that, or a knuckle sandwich. At any rate, she had Usagi, Ami, and Minako down to the temple to help Rei get done with the cleaning. Makoto picked up a broom, and started sweeping along side Rei, who was much more pleasant now that help had arrived.
As she was sweeping, Makoto asked Rei if she could come now, due to the extra help.
"Well, I don't have anything else to do, and since I would like to see this John person..."
"That's great! I needed some back-up, or else I don't think I could do it."
"Back-up? Do what? Makoto, if you'll please try to make coherent sentences, I'm sure I'll be able to understand you."
"What? Oh, sorry. I need back-up, you know, in case I lose my nerve at the last minute or something." Makoto lost herself in thoughts of what she would do tonight. It felt like there was two of her inside her head arguing about what she should do or should not do. One said she should go for it and tell John exactly what she thought of him. The other said that she should run home and forget that she had ever thought of this. Of course, the ever-present kernel of control and common sense told her to just be herself because that always worked and always will work when she deals with other people.
"Uh, Makoto, the best way to use a broom is by moving it." Makoto just looked at Rei for a moment as if she had said the oddest thing in the world and then she realized that she had indeed stopped sweeping. 'Boy, I am out of it.' she thought.
"Um, right, Rei. The quicker I work, the quicker we're done, right?" She started sweeping again with redoubled effort and thought of things to come.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Wow," the second Caretaker was reading her instruments, "Look at it go! I don't think I've ever seen it go this fast before. She's ready to burst with emotional energy. I must be better than I thought."
"Good. I think that by tonight she'll be ready for harvest, yes?" said the first.
"Tonight?!" the third was outraged, "She'll be ready in an hour! Why wait?"
"Because we have the time to. If we let her go until tonight, we'll get twice as much from her than we normally would."
"Yes," agreed the second, "We really don't even have to bring the double back to us, we can just siphon off the excess and destroy the doppelganger."
"Or, we could let them destroy it for us." offered the third.
"Excellent! That's the spirit! Now, we wait."
* * * * * * * * * * *
Everything was in place, the lights, the crowd, everything. Now, all that was needed was the band. As John and his bandmates walked up onto the stage, the cheering began. 'This,' he thought, 'is what I live for.' He scanned the crowd for people he knew. He always did this at every gig, but he rarely saw anyone he knew well. Usually he only recognized people he'd invited. This time, however, he recognized one person in particular. Right up in front, as if she'd made sure that she got the best seat, was that groupie that he'd given free tickets to. He also saw that she'd brought a friend. She looked like someone that the drummer had been going on about.
He put all of his thoughts on hold because he had gotten to his position on stage and had picked up his bass. The lead singer/lead guitar player was getting the crowd going and he was leading into the first song. It was time to play. The first song felt good. It started just like in practice and the notes came easily. He felt, more than heard, the bass thrumming underneath the rest of the song as the melody played along top. The rhythm was dead-on, which John was surprised at, considering the drummer was a new guy. As they were going into the tail end of the song, he caught a glimpse of the groupie chick staring into space. Her friend leaned over to shake her back to reality and, again, all was as it should be. The song wound down to a stop and the crowd took the relaxed posture of the band as a cue to cheer and applaud the musicians. The sound of it rolled over John and he thought, 'Yes, this is where I belong.'
The cheering rolled past the members of the audience, too, but one member in particular seemed oblivious to it. Makoto merely stared at the object of her affections on stage as he reveled in the praise of the fans. Rei looked over at her and decided that this time, she would just give up. If Makoto was going to pass into a catatonic state every five minutes, then so be it! As her attentions went back to the band and the crowd, she heard a rather distinctive shriek above all the rest. When she turned her head, sure enough, there was Meatball Head cheering at the top of her lungs and, standing next to her, was Mamoru. He was enjoying himself, despite having a howling banshee screaming in his ear. 'I don't know how he does it.' she thought.
"Hey!" she yelled. It didn't seem to grab their attention, which was to be expected, considering the noise, so she tried again. "Hey!! Usagi! Mamoru!" This time it worked and they turned towards her an greeted her. She asked what they were doing here.
"Oh, I know the lead singer," said Mamoru. Sure enough, the guy up in front picked up the mic and thanked his good friend Mamoru for coming and complemented him on his beautiful, and enthusiastic, date. "We got some tickets off of him."
"Oh, what a coincidence, Makoto got a pair from the bass player."
"So that's why she made us all help you out!" Usagi's eyes widened with realization, then narrowed with confusion, "If you wanted to go that badly, why didn't you just ask Chad?"
"He had his own chores to do."
"That's not what I mean. I meant why didn't you just ask him for tickets?"
Rei thought her meatball headed friend had finally lost it. "Why ask him for tickets? If you think I'd go as far as to ask him out--"
"No, look," Usagi pointed, "there he is." Rei followed Usagi's line of sight, and there he was, sitting behind the drum set, keeping time as the band went into a new song. Rei's jaw hit the floor. 'How come he didn't tell me?' she thought. As she was watching him, she noticed how well he played. He was pouring his heart and soul into it. It was if the music kept him alive and he wanted to keep going as long as possible. She realized that she was staring and chided herself for acting like Makoto. She looked over to find her and saw her exactly where she had left Makoto, staring at John.
* * * * * * * * * * *
As the band played on into the night, after a extremely good cover of 'Turn On Your Love Light', a somewhat unremarkable audience member separated himself from the crowd. He was small, stout, and had an odd way of walking. He walked a small distance away and pulled an odd looking device out of his pocket. It looked like a bizarre mutation of a cell phone. He pulled out the antenna, pushed a button, and spoke into it. The device beeped once to show that the signal had been received and he put the device away. He turned and headed back to the crowd to proceed with phase two of the mission, after the band was finished, of course.
* * * * * * * * * * *
It was late by the time that the band had finished playing and most of the fans had left. Pretty soon, it was only Makoto, Rei, Usagi, Mamoru, and a few other stragglers.
"Well?" Usagi asked Makoto.
"Well, what?"
"Well," she added stress to the word, "are you going to go up to him?"
"I, uh, I will. In a minute." The others decided that she needed a few minutes to let her collect herself and they walked away. Inside Makoto's head, she was debating with herself, weighing pros and cons. Again, the warring halves, the two that either wanted to do this right now or go home and hide, were yelling at each other and causing more than their share of confusion, resulting in Makoto just standing there with a glazed look in her eyes. Her dilemma was solved for her, anyway, because John, noticing that she hadn't left yet, decided to go down and deal with the lingering groupie.
"Did you enjoy the show?"
"Huh? Oh, John! Uh, yes, I did. I enjoyed it very much. You played magnificently." John thought that Makoto sounded like she was on something. He didn't know what, but, whatever it was, it was making her seem like she was dreaming.
"Thank you very much, uh, you know, I don't think I got your name."
It truly did sound like Makoto was dreaming. Her speech was beginning to slur and she looked quite dazed.
"My name's Makoto." The words became drawn out and stretched.
"That's a nice name. Do you want to walk with me? There are too many people here." In truth, there weren't too many people around, it was just that he thought he could take her somewhere where she might be able to get home safely. She seemed as if she would topple over at any second. One of the other band members called to John to tell him that they were leaving. He acknowledged them and said good bye. Chad was asking Rei if she liked the show and she was trying to get him to go back to the temple. He finally relented and left. John noticed that the only ones left were himself, Makoto, her three friends, and this odd looking little man. Before he went on a walk with Makoto, he decided that he'd better help this other fan of his.
"Excuse me, sir. Can I help you with something?"
"No, not really." The voice that came from the little man did not sound natural. He looked into John's eyes and John became afraid. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that his life was in danger from this odd person.
"But," the man continued, "she can." He pointed to Makoto. Rei, Mamoru, and Usagi all had varying amounts of realization showing on their faces, but they couldn't act on it because they cannot transform in front of someone. This hesitation was all the funny little man needed. From his jacket, he produced the weird cell phone-like device and aimed at Makoto. When he pressed a button, she stood ramrod straight. Another touch of a button on that horrific device, and she screamed and split in two. This time, they were both Sailor Jupiter after the split and they both were instantly at each other's throats. Punching, kicking, and even biting, they fought with an amazing passion. The little man was better equipped than his predecessor and he knew which one he was to take back, but just in case, he activated the collector to gather the excess energy cascading off of the doppelganger.
"He's mine!" one Makoto screamed at the other, "You can't have him!"
"Shut up! I am going to put you where you belong!"
"I'd like to see you try, bitch!"
Those, and other furious verbal assaults, where thrown back and forth in almost as many numbers as punches landed. After a few minutes of this, both Makoto's decided to rest for a few minutes and tend to their numerous bruises. During this respite, Rei remembered herself long enough to call for back-up. They were going to need the help. John, although he knew he shouldn't, took this opportunity to sort things out and he approach the dueling twins.
"Uh, excuse me." Both Makotos turned to look at him. He had to swallow while under those twin gazes. Both carried an intense hate of their respective duplicate and another emotion full of passion and hope. John had a good idea of what the latter was.
"John," one of the combatants seemed to forget the battle, "I hope you're all right. Don't worry, I'll get rid of her soon." This one simpered and made all sorts of suggestive winks and gestures at him, and for a moment, he was afraid that this one might be the real Makoto. He changed his mind when he saw the other one come barreling into the simpering one. The second one had seemed to find a second wind after that brief respite and had descended upon her duplicate. John was impressed. This one did not seem to be the simpering type. She seemed to be exactly the opposite. She was strong of mind and body, forceful, but not wrongly so. She had wrestled her opponent to the ground now, and was proceeding to beat the living daylights out of her. The fire in her eyes was impressive and John lost himself in the welcome thoughts of how beautiful she seemed in her berserker's rage, full of life and energy.
These thoughts were interrupted because just then, the funny little man had had enough. If he was to bring this specimen back to the Caretakers, he couldn't do it if she was dead, now could he? With an energy that was felt, more than heard, he shed his disguise, much like someone would wash dirt away under a faucet. He appeared to grow in size until he loomed over all of them. This explained the odd walk, at least. It must be cramped in that little suit. Usagi, Mamoru, and Rei knew that they could not wait any longer, they transformed.
Through the cascading energies, John saw what he had thought to be normal music-lovers turn into beings of power and grace, ready to confront the dangerous creature that threatened them. The little one, the blonde with the odd haircut, stepped forward and introduced herself. Her speech was the absolute dumbest thing he had ever heard, but at the same time, it seemed to hold great strength and meaning for the costumed heroes before him. He turned to look at the creature to see how it reacted to the speech and, to his disappointment, the thing seemed to be annoyed, at best. Not scared or even respectful. It didn't even reply, it just took the advantage of them standing in a group to launch an attack to finish them in one fell swoop.
John had to cover his ears at the sound of the impact and turn away. As a result, he lost track of the three would-be-saviors and panicked. 'Did he get them? Where are they?' Thoughts whizzed through his head. He sighed briefly when he located them. The one with the cape was almost directly above where he had been, in a tree, and the girls had jumped, or been thrown, he couldn't tell, to either side. The next shock to assail him was the blast from Makoto landing next to him. The shot meant for her double had missed, almost hit him, and raised the hairs on the back of his neck. He jumped again when an arrow of fire shot past his shoulder, apparently from the one in red. It struck its mark and he thought that they had won, but his heart sank when he saw the creature come out without a scratch. This apparently had startled the one who had shot it and this gave the monster an opportunity to strike her down. She fell to the ground and John thought it might be over. The monster rounded on the remaining heroes and the man in black stepped between it and Sailor Moon. John had never seen anything like it. The caped one was meeting the monster blow for blow and, for a moment, it seemed like he was winning, but the monster took a very unfair advantage of his opponent's footing and tripped him. While on the ground, the man in black was swatted away like a rag doll, where he hit a tree and slumped to the ground. The creature now had it's sites on Sailor Moon. It showed no concern over the twin Makotos dueling each other. It was as if they didn't matter. It truth, it ignored everything else except the three that were fighting it. John thought it was over for him and the three that had fought the demon, but just as the monster raised it's hand for a killing blow, he heard the cavalry arrive.
"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"
A chain made of the purest light lanced out and ensnared the creature's arm. John looked up and saw more people dressed in similar costume as the three he had witnessed. Five were female, one just barely old enough to fight, it seemed, and the other was male, carrying a big trident, and he looked like he knew how to use it. One of the girls, who was dressed in yellow (John decided that he was going to get a different way of telling them apart), had hold of the other end of the glowing chain and she gave a mighty tug. Since the monster was startled and all ready off balance, he fell over backwards and hit the ground hard. It tried to get up, but the other guy and one of the girls, they seemed to be related, he supposed, rushed in and fired at the still prone creature. They produced a torrent of water and energy that tore into the creature and threw it backwards for a good dozen meters. They cued Sailor Moon, who was in the process of getting up, and she raised a small gem above her head. John had no idea what this seemingly insignificant crystal could do, but when she activated it, the white light that poured from it and washed over the creature. It opened it's mouth to scream, but no sound came. Then, it vanished. The light continued and it washed over John. He felt the best he had in years. He watched the light flow over the twin combatants, who had not stopped for anything, and one of them appeared to falter. The other, the stronger, non-simpering one, smiled triumphantly, called forth her power, and destroyed her evil twin.
After a moment of celebration, and a quick check to see that everyone was all right (everyone was fine, except for a few bruises and scrapes), they turned to John. They all looked so severe. He realized that these costumes concealed their identities, despite the lack of masks or other concealing articles of clothing (AN: Gotta love them short skirts!!), and he had found out who four of them really were. He feared for his life. If he knew who they were and they wanted to keep that a secret...
He backed up a step.
"No, don't run. We're not going to hurt you," said Sailor Moon. He wasn't sure if he trusted the rest of them, but for some odd reason, he trusted this one.
"All right," John was surprised at how calm he sounded, "What are you going to do to me?" This got more than a few giggles from the girls. One burst out laughing. The guys traded disbelieving looks, well, he guessed at the looks because he couldn't quite tell what was behind those masks. He felt a little insulted. One, they laughed at him for asking a perfectly sound question, and two, they obviously didn't consider him enough of a security threat to do anything about it.
"It's all right, John. The only thing that we ask of you is to keep our secret safe." This was unbelievable. No other super heroes he'd read about or seen on T.V. would accept a promise, but, he decided, it was better than death.
"O.K., your secret is safe with me."
The Scouts collectively sighed relief. At what, John had no idea. Maybe they were ready to do something had he not agreed. John was surprise for one last time that night because the Scouts had just de-transformed and John saw a group a perfectly ordinary people. Sailor Moon stepped forward.
"Hello, my name's Usagi."
* * * * * * * * * * *
At Rei's temple one evening, the girls were studying and something was bothering Minako. When Makoto asked her why, Minako jumped as if she had been lost in thought.
"Uh, Makoto. How did your fight with your, uh, double go last night?" She was obviously trying to avoid some topic of conversation, but thankfully, Makoto didn't pick up on it.
"Oh, we beat each other up pretty good and I've got the bruises to prove it."
'So it wasn't the same as in my dream. There, it looked like neither one was landing a punch!' Minako thought, 'But what does that mean?'
"Minako, are you all right?" asked Rei, "You look lost."
"No, I'm fine. Really, now what was that problem we were working on?"
All of a sudden Makoto jumped up.
"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" And she ran out the door to hopefully be on time for a date with John. This took Rei's attention from Minako's worried look and everything continued as normal.
When study group was over and everyone went home, Minako lingered. When Rei asked why, Minako just said she really wasn't that tired and she didn't want to go to bed.
"Well, Grandpa won't let you can't stay here. Sorry."
"I know, I know. See you tomorrow, Rei."
"Good bye, Minako"
As Rei shut the door, Minako turned to go home with a sinking feeling about what she might see in her dreams.
