Fly Me To The Moon
by Sailor Coruscant
Chapter Four
A handsome man stood alone, watching the sun set. He is a soldier of justice, veiled in mystery. For a long time he stands there, his back to her, the gentlest of breezes making his hair ruffle slightly. One is completely aware of how lonely he is, and though she could go to him she too stands still, fighting silently what she feels for him, denying the truth of her emotions.
He steps away from her, knowing that what he offered has once again been rejected, and starts to walk down the beach in solitude. She starts to run after him but he is gone, a single card standing straight in the sand.
It is the Ace of Hearts…
Aino Minako sighed a little as the final credits for the show began to roll. This had been the coolest episode of 'Kaitou Ace' yet, and as it progressed she found herself falling more and more in love with the main character. Of course, all the other girls at school were also falling in love with him, but Minako knew something they didn't know. Kaitou Ace was going to be the love interest in this summer's biggest blockbuster movie release: 'Sailor V: Goddess in Love", so if anyone was going to get a chance to spend some quality time with the idol, it was going to be her.
After all, they didn't call her the goddess of love for nothing!
Beside her on the floor, Artemis sighed. The white cat always disapproved when she used her secret identity for anything other than fighting the enemy, but the movie deal was too good to pass up. And it wasn't like she hadn't turned down the roll of Sailor V's voice actress for the anime.
She'd been keeping a relatively low profile too, since the disaster in England, where she'd faked her own death. Sailor V still made the occasional appearance to destroy the monsters of the Dark Agency, but for the most part now she left crime fighting to the police. There was less chance of word getting back to Katarina and Alan that way.
The thought of Alan made Minako sigh sadly. She'd had a major crush on Alan ever since she'd first met him, on that fateful day, and done all she could to capture his heart since. Then she'd introduced him to her Katarina-onee-san. Minako had been completely blind to the true affection that had grown between Alan and Katarina until it was too late, and so to spare herself more pain, once she had destroyed the Dark Agency base in London Minako faked her own death and headed back to Japan.
And it was indeed great to be back at her old school again. Sure, she didn't have much time to spend with the girls outside of classes and lunch breaks, but Hikaru had proven herself to still be Minako's best friend, and she didn't miss the volleyball team that much. Even if she did, her destiny was written in the stars: she was Sailor V, who had to defeat the Dark Agency and until that day she would just have to put her social life on hold.
That was the way of the Senshi of love and justice.
Her long blonde hair fluttered in the wind as Minako walked down the street, Artemis perched on her shoulder, whispering delicately so as to avoid attracting the attention of anyone else. A golden crescent moon shone on the snow white cat's forehead, and his eyes held an intensity of ancient pain that would have made Minako cry, had she noticed.
Fortunately, she was blissfully ignorant of Artemis' old sorrows, focussing on the here and now as she had been taught. She had to train herself to react without thinking of the consequences, to move without effort and to hold a conversation while walking and balancing a book on her head. It wasn't easy, but at least that wasn't today's activity.
Today they were simply headed for the video arcade, where Minako would play her usual one turn at the Sailor V game (she still had the highest score after all this time) and then disappear without saying goodbye to Motoki-onii-san, who was Minako's first love.
What no one in the arcade ever sees is Artemis pushing a secret button on the Sailor V game that opens the trap door beneath it, while projecting a complete hologram of Minako and him leaving the arcade. Down beneath the Crown Game Centre is Sailor V's secret base of operations, a hidden basement room with computers lining the walls and a large monitor adorning the centre or the room.
Minako sat before the monitor, not bothering to use a keyboard or any other device to input her new data. From within her backpack she withdraws a single CD, which is placed in an isolated computer that serves as a testing spot for all potential Dark Agency traps. Soft music starts playing and Minako scrunches up her ears in disgust.
"Boss, is this what I think it is?" The words are not directed at anyone in particular, Minako is simply speaking to the room. She had given up long ago on trying to find out who her "Boss" really was, to her he was simply a disembodied voice that was transmitted through these computers and her magic pen.
The deep voice answered her after a moment in which analysis was carried out on the disk. The music stopped abruptly, causing Minako to snap out of the light trance she had been slipping into. It would seem that her first instinct had been correct.
"Yes, Mina. The Dark Agency is behind this new group of idols. You will have to investigate and fight them if necessary."
"Right Boss!" She made her trademark 'V for Victory' sign at him. "You can count on me. The Dark Guys group is history!" She stood to move towards the door, but Artemis called her name and she turned back.
"Mina, we've found one of your allies."
She turned back to the monitor, stunned, as a picture of another girl in a sailor fuku not dissimilar to her own was displayed. Her hair was long and blonde like Minako's own, but it was tied up in a strange twin-bun manner that seemed so very familiar to Minako. Somehow she had the feeling that she'd known this girl before.
"This is Sailor Moon", Artemis went on, "my partner, Luna, found her in Metropolis, where the Dark Agency has also been attacking. I'd lost touch with Luna for a long time, so I was very surprised when I received her message this morning. She'd only just been able to arrange for a command centre over there to be built, and as yet her Senshi has only fought two battles, but from what we've seen, Sailor Moon is facing a much tougher battle there than you have yet encountered."
"Does this mean we have to move to America?" Minako would have been glad for some company in battle, but the thought of moving again so soon caused a great pain in her heart. She had only just gotten settled back here in Tokyo, she couldn't stand the thought of having to relocate once more.
"No", the Boss said, causing a few more images of Sailor Moon in action to display in succession on the monitor. "The information we've received from Luna suggests that the search for our princess will be centred mostly in Metropolis, for an unusual conjunction of forces is building up there. You have been asked to remain here in Tokyo for a time, to continue with our current plan of foiling the Dark Agency's plots."
"As you can see", Artemis went on as many photos of Sailor Moon tripping and falling and generally not fighting at all were shown to Minako, "Sailor Moon is not much of a warrior yet, though Luna is gradually training her up. So, it's up to us to distract the Dark Agency and convince them that we are more of a threat to their plans than Sailor Moon, until such time as she is able to fight effectively against them. Do you feel up to it, Minako?"
Staring at the computer monitor, Minako couldn't help but feel a great sympathy for the poor girl who had been roped into being a Senshi. Sailor Moon was inexperienced, without the benefit of three years of fighting and studying the Dark Agency's methods. She would obviously need all the help she could get, not only in battle but also for the war that was coming. There was something else that was bothering Minako about this though.
"Metropolis", she murmured thoughtfully, "Isn't that where Superman is based?" Though Minako had never met the flying superhero, she was a big fan of his, and hoped secretly that one day they would get a chance to spend some time together discussing their methods and the mythology behind the personas they had adopted.
"Yes", Artemis said, "and it seems that he is having trouble adjusting to their being a new hero in his territory. He has publicly slandered Sailor Moon in the media, causing Luna a lot of worry about the girl's image." At this, the screen changed to a newspaper article, in English, but Minako was fluent in the language and she frowned as she read some of the judgements the reporter had made, which seemed unjustified to her.
"However", Artemis went on, "it is our belief here that the rift between the two will actually be a benefit to us, and we hope that the enemy will not go out of their way to target Superman until after they have dealt with the Senshi."
"We're protecting him then? Even after what he's done?" Minako suddenly realised how quickly she had come to think of this Sailor Moon as a member of her little team. Even though they'd never met, Sailor Moon and Sailor V shared a bond of destiny and duty, something that most other people on the planet would never experience. In a peculiar way, that made them sisters.
"Minako", the Boss' voice gave the impression of him rolling his eyes at her, and she grinned in response, knowing that he knew she didn't really mean what she had said. Superman needed the protection of the Senshi just as much as anyone else, for he was surely vulnerable to their energy-sucking attacks the same as everyone else.
"Anyway", Minako stood, "We can talk about Sailor Moon later. I have to take care of the Dark Guys band now. You wanna tag along, Artemis?"
As they ran the streets of Tokyo, Minako was slightly surprised to hear the Boss beeping her on the magic transform pen.
"Minako", he said, "I've done some checking on these Dark Guys. It turns out there are a bunch of other idols being promoted by the same company that all have 'Dark' names. There's the 'Dark Princess', the 'Lonely Dark', 'Another Dark Group' and 'Twin Dark'. You'd better check them all out."
"You got it Boss."
Tightening her grip on the pen, Minako continued to run towards her destiny.
"How much?" She asked the man at the gate incredulously, and again he told her the fee for entry to the Dream Idol Fair. Looking more angry than Artemis had ever seen her, Minako stomped around the edge of the building until she found herself in a deserted spot. "Ten thousand yen for a day's entry?" she ranted, "That's more than any normal teenager with healthy spending habits could afford!"
Artemis wisely chose not to say anything about Minako's supposedly 'healthy' spending habits. Instead he just nodded and smiled as she brought out her henshin pen.
"Crescent Moon Power Transform!" Minako screamed, and she was engulfed in a bright light. Taking advantage of her anger and desire for revenge against the gate guard, she thought of what to dress up as. "Change me into an army foot soldier!" A flash of dazzling purity scoured through Minako, and when the flashing lights faded she was standing in a camouflage suit. Chunky black boots assured her continued stability, while an effective black ribbon had been folded across her forehead to prevent her now-short hair from interfering with her mission. Completing the ensemble was a standard-issue military rifle, which Minako had no doubts was fully loaded and ready for action. Normally Minako abhorred guns, but this was the Dark Agency she was dealing with, not some petty criminal. It was entirely possible that the gun would come in handy, though she truly hoped not.
Sighting a back entrance to the Dream Idol Fair, Minako jumped the tall fence with ease, noting once again how even in a simple disguised state she still had stronger abilities than the average human. The guard on the backdoor was human, though her compact showed him to be brainwashed by the enemy, so Minako quite delicately knocked him unconscious with a boot to the head before giving Artemis the all-clear.
The cat followed warily, not trusting Minako's haste in this mission. There was something clearly bothering her, he hadn't seen Minako acting this ditzy in years. Normally she showed a semblance of caution in her actions, but today she was going all-out, hoping for the kill and looking like she would revel in it.
Minako wandered the corridors of the Fair's building, avoiding conflict wherever possible, eliminating threats as they approached. Although she had found several of their minor minions, none of the Dark Agency's officers had yet to discover her presence in this building. Passing by an empty recording studio, Minako couldn't help but wonder if she was walking into a trap. There was something very wrong about this mission, but that might just be the Dark Agency's own miasma of darkness clouding her thoughts.
Finally, she climbed some stairs, turned a corner and found herself standing outside the stage door for one of the television studios. From where she stood, gripping her rifle tightly, Minako could hear that a concert of some sort was taking place inside. This must be where the various Dark Idols were performing. Artemis murmured something to her about never being too careful, but Minako was on a roll now. She couldn't lose.
Banging the door open with no hint of subtly crossing her mind, Minako stormed onto the black stage dramatically, but no one seemed to notice her over the crooning of the Dark Guys on stage. There were five of them, all dressed alike, dancing in a manner that served to send the teenybopper girls in the audience wild as they all swayed in time. Their trendy clothes and hairstyles simply made it harder for anyone to distinguish between the Dark Guys and any other boy band in existence. They sang of love, which no Dark Agency officer ever seemed to truly know about, and about the importance of submitting one's will to that of the person you were in love with. There was also another theme to the music, but Minako could not hear it in the heat of the moment.
Artemis tried desperately to make himself heard over the ruckus, to make sure Minako understood the implications of the spell the Dark Guys were casting over their audience and to point out somewhat irreverently that it was her they were singing about as the boy band informed everyone that if they wanted to be beautiful idols, they would have to kill Sailor V. This crowd were currently complete slaves to the Dark Agency and would do anything commanded of them. If Minako wasn't careful, she would have to fight a mob on her way to destroying the officers in charge of this company.
The song finished and the enemy soldiers started bowing to the wild chants of the crowd before them. Through a gap in the curtains Minako could see the television cameras that were capturing every moment of this performance, every nuance of the magic that was being woven here this day. She felt a strong desire to join the idols on stage and start singing herself, to prove to them all that she was a more popular person than anyone in the Dark Agency.
A stabbing pain in her ankle caused Minako to snap out of the trance she had been falling into with a shocked cry. She looked down to see bright red blood welling out of her right ankle, and Artemis staring at her with burning anger in his eyes. She looked out at the stage again for a long moment, before sighing at the cat accompanying her.
"Put your claws away, Artemis. I'm not going to fall under their spell again. I'm not sure I'm going to walk again either, but that's not the point. A slight sound alerted her to someone approaching from behind and Minako whirled, her compact in one hand as the idols she could only assume were Twin Dark turned a corner to come face to face with a gun-wielding Senshi of Love and Justice.
Glancing down at the mirror she held in one hand, Minako beheld two beautiful monsters behind the disguises of young female artists, and she shook her head somewhat sadly as they saw her and prepared to change forms. "I could have worshipped the ground you walk on if only you weren't evil", she said, "I'm a big fan of all idols."
For a moment they stood there dumbly, staring at her in shock and amazement, neither thinking to call for help or unleash their terrible powers. Moving with the grace only a Senshi could possess, Minako fired twice, turning her head aside so that she did not have to see as the dust that had been Twin Dark fell to the ground and disappeared. All the soldiers of the Dark Agency died like that; they just crumbled to dust that never really seemed to settle.
Onstage, the Dark Guys bowed to the crowd, basking in their adulation. Minako positioned herself in the shadows, knowing that her time in spotlight had at last arrived. "Thank you", the Dark Guys cried as one, bowing one last time. "And now for our sisters, Twin Dark!" Smiling, all five young men gestured to the back of the stage, where a single light started to shine on the tall young woman with cropped short blonde hair in army fatigues standing at the top of a short flight of stairs.
Immediately, murmurs arose amongst the crowd, as the Dark Guys looked on in shock.
"You're not Twin Dark!"
"Who are you?"
"You're cute!"
Minako paused a moment, supposedly for dramatic effect, basking in the sudden surprise and worship of the crowd. Warm feelings washed over her, and she knew that this was what it must be like to be famous. Someday, Minako would be an idol in her own right, she knew it in her soul. Without the magic of Sailor V backing her up, she would stand on her own and be adored for who she was.
But for now, Sailor V had a battle to fight and a crowd to rescue. Already she could feel the first strands of the hypnotic spell begin to break.
Minako turned her head slightly as a strange woman walked on stage, looking put out that the concert had been disrupted. She was dressed in a strange grey suit, with purple trimmings, which could have almost been some sort of uniform. "Who's that?" she called, looking up at Minako for a long moment as she tried to see past the disguise.
Knowing then that this was the true enemy, Minako allowed a great and righteous anger to build in her before speaking. "You use idols", she cried in a ringing tone that was heard in the back of the concert hall without any amplification, "boys, girls, regardless of age!" She took a step down towards the strange woman, slowly, deliberately, allowing her fury and indignation to be heard. "You brainwash people!" This time, Minako could feel it as the woman's grip on the crowd began to falter.
"Such greed!' Minako cried out, noticing for the first time that the other Dark Agency idols were gathering in the wings, "The taxation office won't allow that!" And somewhere behind her, she could hear Artemis sighing loudly. Ignoring him and the fact that what she had said didn't make very much sense, Minako pressed on with the speech she was composing.
"I was an army foot soldier, and a newcomer beautiful idol" These statements were made to the members of the audience who gazed at her with adoring yet questioning eyes. "The real me is…" Minako paused once more for dramatic impact before calling out her henshin phrase.
"Moon Power Transform!"
A bright flash of light engulfed Minako, as the familiar sensation that was her henshin washed over her, filling her soul with music the most famous idols would give their souls to sing and completing her in a way she had never known. Transforming brought to Minako the knowledge of what true love and power were, and she knew that she would not hesitate to use them in this battle. As her comfortable boots were changed to high heels, and her fatigues to a suitably-armoured fuku, Sailor V felt her old self melt away, her long hair suddenly flying free, though her trademark red ribbon still kept it back from her face. She knew from experience that a golden crescent moon shone brightly on her forehead, and a red, feathered mask protected her identity from the general public.
"Code name: Sailor V", she murmured to herself, wondering not for the first time what those words meant. She leapt forward the last few steps to land agilely before the Dark Agency officer, her movements and words fluid. "I am the soldier of justice, the sailor-suited beautiful soldier", these words were still said in a voice for all the audience to hear, though they were primarily directed at those of the Dark Agency, "I am Sailor V."
Before the enemy could react to her declaration, Sailor V threw her crescent boomerang at the locked rear doors of the auditorium. "Everyone", she cried to the audience, "take shelter!" Still slightly under the effects of the mind-controlling hypnosis, most of the innocent victims started to file from the studio, hopefully headed towards their homes and families.
"You're interrupting me, Sailor V", the woman beside her said irritably before turning to walk again. "I'm Fluorite." She snapped her fingers in the air, glancing at the many idols lining the stage. "Put an end to her."
Suddenly they surged forward, encircling Sailor V, and several of the young pop stars launched vicious attacks at her. Sailor V kicked one of the Dark Guys into the others, before sighing aloud. "I don't have time to waste on you small fries." From seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled her compact into her hand and opened it, aiming without discrimination at the bad guys. "Crescent Beam!" A stream of intense white light shot from the compact, burning its way through the monsters to strike harmlessly at the wall behind them. She turned around, destroying another way, this time setting one of the stage curtains to smouldering in the process.
"My pretty clones!" Fluorite cried in dismay.
'Clones?' Minako and Artemis wondered as one, Minako feeling relief that she was only killing clones, and her companion curious about how the Dark Agency was planning on using this new technology.
But the villain's frown quickly changed to a grin of amusement as she lifted her hands and gestured towards Sailor V as dark tendrils of energy encircled her hands. "I will stop you, V."
Minako felt the presence of dark energy in the air as she fried another group of clones and instinctively threw herself high into the air in an almost frantic jump. She somersaulted quickly, and summoned her compact into her hand. Minako threw the compact at Fluorite as she started her fall, crying out, "Crescent boomerang!"
The compact changed into a boomerang-shaped beam of energy, that seemed sure to hit Fluorite, but then appeared to pass through her at the last moment. The dark power around her continued to grow, and a few wisps of it started to float in the direction of Sailor V, even as her boomerang returned to her hand.
"Icky!" Sailor V pouted as something slimy touched her. She danced away, and Artemis leapt forward to claw at the ankle of Fluorite for a moment, before being kicked away. 'What can I do?' Minako thought, stretching all of her reflexes to the limit to avoid being captured by the dark energy, 'None of my normal attacks seem to work.'
From deep within her heart, some words emerged. Acting purely on instinct, Minako drew forth her compact once more, opening it and aiming it at her enemy, who was still trying to attack.
"Venus Power!" Sailor V called out in a ringing voice, feeling the surge of emotion that normally only entered her as she transformed. "Love Crescent Shower!" The world around her seemed to burn with the pure light of her love for the world, and Sailor V found herself pointing upwards towards the ceiling, letting the light and hope from her compact outshine the stage lighting and the dark energy. "Pour down rain!"
Large drops of crystal brightness condensed and started to fall from the roof. Minako grinned in response to the beauty of the scene, holding her hand out flat to catch one of the pinpricks of light that were drifting down in a gentle shower that felt like rain without any moisture. There was a small flash of light on her palm, then the spark disappeared. All around her, other sparks were flashing out as they landed on the ground and props of the stage, providing a brief moment of illumination before dying out.
It was not so around Fluorite. The Dark Agency's officer was melting, like a witch in an old movie Minako barely remembered. Her skin seemed to collapse in on itself and drip towards the ground beside the burning sparks of light that Minako had created. Her clones were similarly melting, dripping down until they were little more than a puddle on the ground that evaporated into nothingness.
After a few moments it was all over, leaving Minako and Artemis alone on stage, looking out at the empty theatre. Sailor V took a bow as the last glittering particles twinkled to the ground, acknowledging her absent audience. Her movement betrays a grace and sadness that is not shown on her face, hidden as it is by the mask, and yet Artemis seemed to sense it, coming over to brush his head and neck against her ankle in a very normal-feline act of reassurance.
"Mina", he said with a touch of pride in his voice, "you did it!"
Startled out of her moment of though, Minako grinned at him with a hint of her own assurance. A brief giggle preceded her words. "I guess I showed I can do it, for once." If her tone was slightly mocking of the cat, her stance did not emphasise it. Sighing slightly, Minako headed for the stairs to make her way from the studio.
"I don't believe that Fluorite was the true enemy", Artemis said sometime later, as they made their way home from the Crown Game Centre. Once again he was riding on Minako's shoulder, and she had resumed her human form once more. A bag of shopping burdened one hand, and her schoolbag hung limply over her other shoulder.
Minako thought back over the encounter, and reluctantly concluded that the cat was probably right. Although Fluorite had been a hard enemy to defeat, and judging by her clothes had probably held some rank in the Dark Agency, she was not their leader. That battle would no doubt eventually come.
"There should a more powerful enemy", Artemis' words echoed her own thoughts unconsciously. A side part of Minako noted that this was not the first time the cat's way of thinking matched her own, and wondered if they were spending too much time together.
"I will practice more and more then", she said in a quiet vow, "for the day when I will face and defeat that powerful enemy."
Suddenly Minako looked up, feeling the attention of someone wash over her. A teenage girl, about the same age as her, realised that she was staring and looked away, turning her attention to the Sailor V poster advertised in the arcade's window. Her short red hair was slightly wavy, and the short boy next to her had thick rounded glasses that completely obscured his eyes. Minako couldn't shake the idea that she had seen this girl before.
"Wow, the new Sailor V game", the girl gushed in an incredibly enthusiastic voice. "Sailor V's so cool!"
Minako sighed, thinking to herself, 'Yes, at the moment Sailor V is cool. But how long until she is unpopular once more? Fame is fickle like the weather, always changing, willing to dessert you at a moment's notice.'
And there had been no sign of Kaitou Ace at the battle either. She had fought alone, as it often seemed was Sailor V's destiny, the solitary soldier of justice.
But was this going to be always the case? Sailor Moon had been discovered in America, and it was clear that Artemis had great hopes for the two of them to fight the enemy together someday. What on earth was Sailor Moon like, anyway? She looked like she wasn't much of a soldier, but then, neither had Minako when she had started out. And those still pictures had really given no indication of the girl's personality except that she had been afraid of the enemy, which any sane person would be in their first encounter.
Would Sailor Moon like her as a person? Did Minako want Sailor Moon to like her as a person? Minako wasn't sure. And did Sailor Moon's arrival herald the coming of an era when Sailor V and Artemis' long search for the princess was finally over? Minako sighed, wishing that she knew the answers to all her questions.
Not looking back, Minako headed for home, wondering what the future would bring for her.
…Sailor V shook her head in disgust, kicking aside the minion of the enemy who fought her. As she turned her back to deal with another monster, the first rose up from the ground, reaching forth its tentacles to wrap them tightly around her neck. As the air was squeezed out of her throat, Sailor V saw her life flash before her eyes, and waited for the blessed release of silence to come. But it did not.
Just as the edges of her vision were starting to go blurry, something bright and sharp flicked past her, causing the monster to drop her with a cry of pain. Sailor V reacted instantly, calling out "Crescent Beam Smash" in a loud voice as she pointed at the monster, before turning and obliterating its friend. When the bright lights of her attack faded, she looked up expectantly, hoping to see who it was who saved her.
But the street is empty, all the normal people hiding in fear of the monsters and all allies gone for fear of exposing their secret identities. There is only one clue to the identity of her saviour, a small playing card that looks as if it has been negligently dropped on the ground by one careless shopper.
"The Jack of Hearts", Sailor V murmurs, remembering something she was once told, "a young man who is anxious to promote the Queen's welfare, protecting and becoming an ally to her for one or another matter." But who would leave such a thing behind, and did it actually represent a message for Sailor V? She is the solitary soldier of love and beauty, Sailor V, who can form no attachment for fear of losing those she loves best. No one would dare to attempt to break through her icy heart and risk the young woman inside, would they?
Turning away, Sailor V walks from the battle slowly, not savouring her victory but pondering her rescue. As she walked silently along the beach, her hips swaying gently and her hair caught by the breeze, the scene slowly fades, to be replaced by three words.
"To be continued…"