Author's Note: I don't own anything mentioned on page 1, not do I own Budweiser.

Chapter VIII: Saturday Night at the Movies.

Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 27th 2002, 6:30 pm.

It had been four days since Raye had captured Mark for herself in front of her jealous ex-boyfriend, and Mark and Chad had not spoken to each other even once. Jack had been doing his best to try and bring peace to the situation, but there was little success. The only thing he had successfully managed to do was to get them to sit on the same sofa, but that only intensified the divide between the pair. Chad was envious of Mark, but he only had himself to blame. Mark had gone to university for the other four days of that week to study Computing and to also get a bonus lesson in Music when the class was relocated to the smaller spare music hall. Chad stayed at home, claiming he was still shocked by monday's attacks even though that was the least of his problems.

It was saturday night and Mark was getting ready to take Raye on a date to the cinema. Chad knew nothing of this, so Mark had asked Jack to try and take Chad to a baseball match or a bar. Understanding fully the consequences of Chad finding out about Mark's date, Jack happily obliged to take Chad to a few games of pool at a bar at the bottom of the hill. Sarah was lying on the sofa minding her own business, watchng TV with a glass of red wine in her hand. Dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and blue and white tie, Mark emerged from his room, where he had just spent the last hour smartening up, into the lounge, where he instantly grabbed the attention of Sarah.
"Ya look sharp t'night Mark." Sarah took her legs off the sofa as Mark sat down.
"Thanks. I'm picking Raye up from the temple at seven, so I've got a bit of time on my hands." Sarah started to laugh as she looked down at his trousers.
"Cool. Ya flag's flyin' at 'alf mast though." Clearly embarrased, Mark quickly pulled his zip up.
"Er, whoops..." His face turned as red as a beetroot.
"Good job I spotted that. I just saved ya from being embarrased in front of ya girlfriend." she chuckled as she took another sip of her wine.
"Thanks." Mark headed off to the kitchen before returning with a glass of lemonade in his hand.

"Mark?" Sarah sounded slightly nervous.
"Yeah?" He sat back down on the sofa.
"I need to ask you a favour. Can you keep a secret?" Mark looked at Sarah. She looked extremely anxious.
"Yeah, sure. What is it?" There was a brief pause before Sarah finally found the words she wanted to say.
"It's about Jack..." Mark nodded his head as Sarah paused for thought once again. "You musn't tell anyone this, especially not Jack."
"I promise. Scouts' honour." replied Mark, smiling.
"About Jack. I..." She paused again as she stared into her glass of wine. "I love him..." Mark didn't seem too surprised.
"You mean you two aren't already a couple? I thought you were, I mean, you two always go out together when it's your or his turn to get the shopping in."
"It's a mutual agreement. We've know each other the longest out of the four of us here, and I've loved him ever since I first saw him. I just haven't been able to tell anyone about it until now." Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
"If you want my advice, the sooner you let him know the better. He's a very good man and a good friend to me. The best thing I can suggest is that me and Chad clear out of here for one night while you two have a romantic meal or summit'. If you tell all afterwards, I don't think there's any way he could refuse you. Play it tactfully." Tears rolling down her face, she looked up at Mark.
"Are you sure?" Her voice was quivering.
"Certain. If you prove to man that you love him enough, he's putty in your hands. Some guys are very cautious when it comes to saying that they love you, but don't be fooled. Go for it." Sarah finished her wine before giving Mark a huge hug.
"Thanks." With that, Sarah let go of Mark as he stood up and left to meet Raye.

Int. Southside Bar, Cherry Hill - September 27th 2002, 7:00 pm.

It was seven o'clock and Jack and Chad had been spending the past hour in the local bar. Chad had no idea why Jack had only invited him alone, but he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest. He had already explained to Jack about the whole Raye situation and how he was feeling now that his flatmate Mark was going out with his ex-girlfriend who he still deeply loved. The pair were in the middle of a game of American Pool.
"I personally don't blame her, but why this divide between yourself and Mark?" Jack struck the cueball breaking the pack of balls. Chad stepped up to the table.
"Because he's, like, with my girl. Simple." He pocketed the 3 ball. "Spots."
"Yeah, but she ain't goin out with ya no more. How can she be 'your' girl?" Chad missed a ball sitting right over a pocket. He slowly looked up at Jack, slightly angered.
"I've known her for a long time. I was the closest person she had apart from her grandfather, and when he died I was her shoulder to cry on." Chad stepped away from the table. "Two shots."
"But ain't it her decision who she goes out with?" Jack set up a ball to be readily pocketed as Chad took a sip of his beer.
"True, but I don't, like, see what she sees in him." Jack pocketed the 14 ball while trying to think very carefully about what to say next.
"I don't know either but all I'm askin' is that ya try an' get along with Mark. There's no escaping each other, so why not just get along?" There was an eerie pause between Jack and Chad before Chad spoke.
"I'll try. I'm not, like, guaranteeing anything though. What ya, like, havin'? I'm gettin' this round."
"Mine's a Bud." Jack pocketed the 11 ball as Chad walked towards the bar.

Chad had reached the bar and was ready to order when he saw two familiar faces sitting near the other end of the bar: Amara and Michelle.
"Aww crap..." he thought to himself, stooping down in the hope that they wouldn't spot him. He feared the fact that Amara was very tomboyish and very strong. He had seen her make grown men scream in pain as she protected her girlfriend Michelle from them. She was almost unreal, and the last thing Chad needed was a confrontation with her about Raye.
"What d'ya want mac?" Chad quickly looked up at the bartender.
"Oh, like, two Buds please." He quickly glanced in the direction of Amara once more.
"Comin' right up." Chad waited for the drinks while he carefully glanced at the pair. Things just seemed to get from bad to worse as he saw another familiar couple enter from the other end of the room. He instantly recognised the golden bunches atop the lady in the long black dress and the face of the man holding her hand. It was Serena and Darien.
"Damnit! Not them as well!" he thought to himself as he began to panic. There had always between friction between himself and Darien, even before he discovered that Darien had been seeing Raye behind his back. He knew that Darien had dated Raye before he had properly met Serena, and that didn't bother him too much since he didn't start working in the temple until a good six months afterwards, but finding out that they had been seeing each other underneath his nose was Earth-shattering for him.
"Here's ya drinks. That'll be 1020 yen please." Chad swiftly handed over the money, grabbed the two bottles and jogged towards the pool table where Jack was standing. He was in a very tight spot. He wasn't certain, but if Darien still had feelings for Raye then he was in serious trouble. For all he knew Darien could turn violent, despite beng a man of honour. He knew that it was a mistake to fly out to Los Angeles last year, but he was beginning to wonder whether or not it was a bigger mistake returning to Tokyo.
"Dude, your beer." Chad handed Jack one of the bottles as he grabbed his cue to take his shot.

Ext. Electric Multiplex Cinema, Tokyo Electric District - 27th September 2002, 7:30 pm.

It was yet another perfectly clear night over Tokyo. Mark and Raye had taken a taxi to the cinema since it was too far to walk, heading straight through the heart of the overcrowded Electric District high street. Mark gazed in amazement at all the magnificently bright lights and neon signs on the building. The street where the American messenger's attack had occured the week before was still cordoned off, yellow diggers at work lifting away the rubble lining the road. Raye thought nothing of the Electric District. She was never one for electronic gadgets and gizmos, plus she had lived in Tokyo all her life so she was used to it. Soon enough the Taxi arrived at the cinema, a huge structure, bigger than any of the cinemas Mark had ever been to in England. Added to the fact that it was lit to the rafters with neon lights and signs, Mark was amazed. Mark paid the fare before being joined by Raye to decide which film to watch.
"So, what d'ya wanna see?" Mark couldn't make heads from tails on some of the film titles. He could speak the language, but he wasn't as good a reader of Japanese. He was relying on Raye to pick something good to watch.
"Hmm... Let me see..." Mark stood back as Raye bobbed about glancing at the listings on the wall. "A-ha! Do you wanna see 'Eternally Broken'?"
"What's it about?" Mark had a completely blank look on his face.
"It's a romantic film. A couple in love are cursed so that they cannot live together, so they both try to break the curse individually. I've heard it's quite sad. I love sad romantic films." Mark saw no other option.
"'Eternally Broken' it is then." Raye kissed him on the cheek as they walked to the box office inside hand in hand.

The queue for the box office was fairly large, mostly consisting of die-hard Otakus grabbing their tickets for a new animated movie which had received rave reviews, some even in cosplay as seveal characters from shows. Much to the fright of Raye she discovered that some had even decided to dress up as Negaverse soldiers. It had only dawned on her that they too were only cosplayers after she noticed a wicked lady lookalike and a pair of Ann and Alan lookalikes posing for a photo. She had her hand in her black handbag, ready to grab her transformation pen at any moment, but she realised that she was acting foolishly and closed her bag immediately.
"Freaks. Why do they bother dressing like anime characters?"

The inside of the multiplex was enormous, the walls were a shade of dark claret red, the polished floor a dark blue and bright red and green neon lights and shapes flashing above them. Also above them were several TVs suspended from a metal frame, all showing trailers from movies playing at the cinema. It was a fair while before they bought their tickets, so they had missed the showing they wanted to see. However, they didn't mind waiting only half an hour for the next one.
"I'll go get the snacks. You waiting here?" Raye sat herself down on the bench in the foyet as Mark took his wallet out from his pocket.
"Yeah. I'll have orangeade and one of those small tubs of sweets. Are we sharing a large popcorn?"
"Okay then. I'll see ya in a few minutes, then." Raye sat back and stared at all the cosplayers, freaked out by those who dressed as Negaverse soldiers, thinking to herself how much they didn't look like the real thing.
"Heh. Call yourself Queen Beryl? You look nothin' like her!" She thought to herself as a Queen Beryl lookalike walked towards the escalators, followed by three men dressed as her generals. "You guys don't look too good yourselves." It was then that a horrible thought hit her head. "Three generals? I always thought she had four cronies following her around." She carefully looked at the three men in the matching black uniforms. No-one was dressed as Zoicite. "They couldn't be... Could they?" She paused for a few moments before shaking her head. "Snap out of it, Raye. They're just cosplayers. No way would they turn up in their Negaverse uniform in a public place. They're just jerks that have no idea how to spend their saturday night."

Mark was now near the front of the snack queue. Whistling to himself as he waited patiently, he suddenly felt a vibration in his inside left jacket pocket. It was his palmtop. As he took it out of his pocket a red clock symbol appeared in the corner of the screen before an amber warning triangle appeared in the bottom corner of the screen. He glanced behind him at the Queen Beryl cosplayers moving up the escalator before the guy at the counter grabbed his attention.
"Hi. How may I help you?" Mark put the palmtop back in his jacket pocket.
"Hi. One large popcorn, one medium orangeade, one medium cola and a small tub of mini-chocs please." He glanced towards the escalator once again, but the four were gone.
"Coming right up." Mark took out his palmtop once again, but the amber warning triangle had disappeared. He glanced over at Raye, who was also looking at the escalator.
"That's 1600 Yen please." Mark put the palmtop back before swiftly giving the cashier the money and grabbing the food and carefully barging his way through the crowds to reach Raye.
"You okay?" Raye seemed suprised by Mark's sudden appearence.
"Yeah. Just some people that caught my eye." She stood up before straightening out her ruby red dress and grabbing the carton of orangeade and the tub of chocolates. "Well, let's go."

Int. Cherry Hill Arcade - September 27th 2002, 7:15 pm.

Luna had been trying desparately trying to contact London all week, but with little luck. The closest she had managed to get was Berlin, and even the Germans had been having trouble contacting London, that added to the fact that she always had a hard time talking to her German counterpart. Luna struggled intensely with the German language, so all conversations took place with broken English. Very rarely did the entire message get across.
"Come on. This should've been fixed ages ago." Luna was still as frustrated as ever with Central's technical team.
"You have reached Moon Kingdom Earth, London branch. Please state who you with to talk to." stated the innocent-looking arcade machine.
"Yes!" Luna thought to herself, glad that she could finally clear things up once and for all. "I'd like to speak to Ganymede, please." The word 'CONNECTING...' appeared on screen in large orange letters on the dark blue background. A few seconds later the screen flickered before the image of a grey tabby appeared on it.
"Hi Luna, long time no see."
"Good morning Ganymede, I do believe." Chuckled Luna as Ganymede yawned.
"Yeah. Answering a call at quarter past seven is not my idea of a sunday morning." Ganymede obviously seemed tired.
"It's about your missing Mars senshi. Myself and Artemis have been trying to contact you for the past week or so, but comms to London were down." Ganymede perked up upon hearing about the Mars senshi.
"Have you found him? Where is he?"
"We have a hunch. We just need you to confirm the name of his civilian identity. What is it?" Ganymede sat down once again.
"Oh, his civ name. It's Mark Davison. Why d'ya wanna know?" A broader smirk emerged on Luna's face.
"I know exactly where he is at this moment. However, you must promise not to come after him if I do tell you. If you do, you may end up tipping the future on it's head. The last thing anyone wants to do is upset destiny." Ganymede closed her eyes for thought.
"Okay. I promise not to tell central. I will have to tell Anna though, she has a right to know. Mark was her closest friend." Ganymede clicked a button as 'SECURE CONNECTION' appeared in green on the bottom of the screen.
"He's with us. He's been spotted twice as the Mars knight. Our Sailor Scouts have got to know him well in their civilian forms, but I don't think any of them know that he's the Mars knight. He might have saved Sailor Jupiter in an attack, but we can't be certain who it was that saved her."
"So, er, why can't we get him? He's really left London Central in a bit of a pickle."
"Two reasons. A, we need him because we're in the middle of a Negaverse revival here. He's already proven his worth by turning Zoicite to a pile of ash, so he might be very worthful if we're to fight all of our previous enemies in such a short timeframe. B, he's romantically involved with our Mars senshi, Raye Hino. I've been getting strange vibes whenever they're together and I'm around. I felt them when he was looking after her after the attack on the electric district. This might have something to do with destiny, so not even I want to get involved." Ganymede looked saddened.
"Oh." She looked at the floor. "I'll tell Anna the bad news later. Thanks for the news."
The screen flickered once more before turning black. Luna lept off the machine and strolled into the darkness.

Int. Southside Bar, Cherry Hill - September 27th 2002, 8:00 pm.

For the past hour Chad had been feeling very nervous. Nervous that Amara was at the bar. Nervous that Serena was talking to Amara and Michelle. Nervous that Darien was with Serena. Things were becoming tricky. He and Jack were playing their final game before calling it quits.
"So, like, that's the meaning of life for surfers." stated Chad as he broke the pack. He looked up only to see Darien and Amara heading towards the pool tables. "Oh shit..." He froze as they came closer. It was inevitable that Darien would spot him.

"Amara, set 'em up. I've got a score to settle." Amara glanced in the direction of Darien's view and saw for herself what he was talking about.
"That piece of crap. What's he doin' back here?"
"My thoughts exactly." Darien walked over towards the table where a bewildered Chad stood.
"Darien." Chad sounded sour, keeping his ground.
"Chad. Why d'ya bother showing your face around here again?" Darien was still approaching him.
"Gettin' an education, dude. Why else?" Darien kept his calm although his rage was building.
"I dunno. Maybe because you want a certain woman you drove to suicide back in your life?" Chad had to stay tough yet calm.
"Raye? I'm, like, over her. My only two loves are, like, surfin' and music." He seriously hoped that Darien had just fallen for his white lie.
"You'd better be tellin' the truth, Chad. You lay a finger on her and we'll all be down on you like a ton of bricks. You understand?" Darien eyed him ever-so-bitterly, but Chad just smiled. He was beginning to gain control somehow.
"What's the use? She's already, like, taken for. She's got a boyfriend, and I have to, like, live with him." Darien stepped back as Chad looked back at Jack. "Dude, I forfeit. Let's, like, blow this joint." Jack simply nodded as the pair left the bar. Darien was fuming. Not only had Chad got the better of him somehow, but Chad had got the better of him in front of his girlfriend and her friends. Nethertheless, he simply stepped up to the table to take his shot.

Ext. Electric Multiplex Cinema screen 14, Tokyo Electric District - 27th September 2002, 8:30 pm.

Mark and Raye had been watching their movie for just over half an hour. Raye had lead Mark to the middle of the back row, the typical sitting place for lovers at the movies. Arms behind each other's back, Raye was almost in tears from the start as the story of the young couple separated by a curse unfolded.
"I just don't understand it. Why did this happen to us? Why on earth was I destined to find that damn crystal?"
"Taka, I don't know. All I can suggest is to find out what the curse does and how to break it. Do you have the crystal with you?"
"Yes. Here."
"I'll analyse this. You go to the city library and see what you can find about the curse of the Sayitonen."
"Thanks. If this curse ever breaks, I-"
Raye and Mark jumped as the film suddenly stopped. All was pitch black as people wondered what had happened. Suddenly a bright blue aurora formed behind the screen before a catastrophic explosion blew away the first few rows of seats. Screaming in the pitch black darkness, people ran as fast as their legs could take them into what they hoped was the exit. Raye had ducked down, transformation pen at the ready. However, to her right she noticed a bright red light. Mark had just pulled out a necklace from underneath his shirt. She stared at him, wide-eyed with amazement as he screamed out "MARS KNIGHT SOLESTIAL TRANSFORMATION!!!" What she saw was all too similar to her own transformation. He turned into a white silhouette, red sparks of light engulfing him until after one final burst of blinding red light, he had transformed into the same guy that had turned Zoicite into ash earlier in the week.
"No way... It can't be..." Raye was totally stunned. Her boyfriend was a senshi. Not only that, but he was also a senshi of Mars. After pausing for a moment she realised she still had her pen in her hand. "Oh crap. I almost forgot. MARS STAR POWER MAKE-UP!!!" She stood up as she completed her transformation to Sailor Mars, realising what she had just dropped herself in.

"Oh shit..." Right before her just below the now obliterated screen stood Queen Beryl. Queen Beryl and three of her Generals. She immediately ducked down before whipping out her communicator.
"Calling all Scouts! Calling all Scouts, both inner and outer! We got a warzone here at the Electric District. Queen Beryl and her three cronies are attacking screen 14! Repeat, Queen Beryl is back!!! Over!" She knew she stood no chance against her alone. She remembered being killed by Berryl's army while protecting Sailor Moon six years ago. It was the Silver Crystal that had brought her and her fellow inner scouts back to life afterwards, although she only remembered the battle over a year later. All she could do at the moment was to try and get away, buying some time for herself and her fellow Scouts.
"Sailor Mars." She jumped as she heard a voice to her side. It was the Mars Knight. "We need to get out of here and stay safe until the other scouts arrive."
"Easy for you to say. The exits are near the front. There's no way we could survive if they spotted us." The Mars Knight just smiled.
"I've got a plan."

End of Chapter 8.