A/N: This is just something I decided to have fun with one day. I'm posting it to see if anyone would actually be interested in reading it. So please review and let me know. Reviews will inspire me to write another chapter.
This may seem familiar to you, yes it does follow the first episode pretty closely. If I do continue it only the most important events will follow the anime, with extra chapters in between.
Anyway, enough of that…
Disclaimer: Sailormoon does not belong to me.
Chapter 1 - "A Moon Star is Born"
The annoying sound of the alarm clock drove Ryan from the dream he had been having and into reality. With a half asleep, muffled moan, he threw his arm to the bedside table and knocked the offending clock to the floor, where it continued to blare.
"Drat," he muttered. Finally, the sound pulled him out of bed so that he could grab the clock and hit the off button. Reluctantly he turned it over to look at the time. The red digits on the display read nine thirty-one. It took a moment for his sleep-muddled brain to make sense of the numbers but when he did...
Suddenly the sluggishness of sleep was gone and Ryan was a whirl of energy. Socks and underwear were pulled out of the drawer and onto his body. Pants were next, followed by a shirt that he buttoned up as he ran out of his bedroom door. From the front closet, he grabbed his jacket and was slipping his arms into it, at the same time as he jammed his feet into his shoes.
"Mom!" his voice rang through the house, "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I did Ryan," was the answering reply, "Three times."
"Oh," was all Ryan could manage as he messed with the tie that was not cooperating. When that finally worked, he ran quick fingers through his hair and with a quick glance in the mirror saw that he was presentable. "Buy Mom, gotta go."
He was halfway out the door, bookcase in hand, when his mother's voice stopped him in his tracks. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked from where she stood in the kitchen doorway.
Ryan looked back to see his mother leaning against the doorframe, his lunch dangling from her hand.
"Oh yeah." Running back in he swept up the lunch bag, gave his mom a kiss on the cheek in thanks and was back out the door. Ilene could only shake her head as her son bolted out the door yelling as he went, "Thanks Mom, see you after school."
Feet thudded against the pavement as Ryan raced down the street. "Why, why did I have to be late again? And why, oh why, couldn't today have been Saturday," Ryan yelled in frustration as he ran. He was running by a small parking lot when voices distracted him from his headlong rush to school.
"Hold it still, I'm trying to feel its tongue," one of the young voices said just before Ryan turned the corner. The sight that met his eyes filled him with anger. Two young boys had a poor black cat held firmly between them while a third attempted to pry open its mouth.
"Hey creeps," Ryan yelled as he booted it towards them, "Leave that cat alone."
At the sound of his voice, and the anger contained within it, the three boys dropped the cat and scattered. Ryan was about to chase after them but thought better of it when a came up beside the feline. Instead, he sank to both knees on the cement, laying bookcase and lunch on the ground beside him. Picking up the cat he gently flattened the hair it had raised in fear, soothing the creature.
"Are you okay, you poor thing." There was a brief silence, which Ryan broke by laughing at himself. He had actually been expecting an answer. "Of course you are," he ended up answering himself, "Let's just get this bandage off of your head."
Carefully, so as not to pull the cat's hair, he pried off the Band-Aid. When it was off, he was surprised to see not black hair, but rather a gold crescent moon underneath the bandage. "What the heck," he muttered. The question was repeated, though a little more loudly, when the cat squirmed out of his grip and did a neat little back flip onto a nearby car.
Just as he was marveling at the abilities of the creature in front of him, Ryan remembered where he was supposed to be at that particular moment in time. "Oh crap," he exclaimed, "Now I'm really going to be late." Grabbing his book bag and lunch he was once again racing down the road.
The black cat stared after the boy as he raced away, her eyes wide in confusion. There was no way. It was not possible. This boy was the one she was looking for?
Ryan arrived at school long after the second bell had rung and he very reluctantly headed down the hall to his first class, which was almost half over. His first knock on the door was too quiet to be heard and as he knocked a second time he found himself hoping that Miss Haruna had had a great date the night before. Just possibly, if she had, he wouldn't get detention.
But his luck was just not that good today, it would seem. The scowl on the teacher's face when she answered the door was not a positive sign. In fact, he would be lucky to get only one-hour worth of detention.
Miss Haruna raised a single hand and pointed a single finger down the hall. "Go sit in front of the office for the rest of the period. Then come see me after school for your detention." Ryan turned back the way he came and trudged down the hall to obey.
The rest of his classes went much better than the first but they actually flew by too fast and too soon he found himself once again standing outside Miss Haruna's door.
His timid knock was answered this time by a singsong voice biding him to come in. He entered to room to find Miss Haruna was speaking on her desk phone and the smile on her face was a very pleased smile. Unfortunately she grimaced when she saw him and excused herself from the phone call for the moment. Covering the mouthpiece with one hand, she handed him a piece of paper covered in a multitude of red marks. Taking the paper from her Ryan noticed that the largest red mark was a thirty percent grade, circled in the middle of the page.
"Get it signed and return it," Miss Haruna ordered. Then she turned her chair away from him and went back to her phone call.
Gripping the failed test in a tight fist, he walked out of the school to find his two best friends, Molly and Melvin, were waiting for him at the curb.
"Hey Ryan," Molly called, waving him over, "You got out of that detention really early. I thought you be in there for hours this time."
Ryan shrugged. "Miss Haruna was on the phone with her boyfriend."
His friends nodded, as if that explained everything, and when it came to their teacher, that did explain everything.
Upon reaching his friends, Ryan sank to the curb beside Molly with a heavy sigh.
"What's wrong? You should be happy; no detention today," Molly said.
Waving the paper in his hand as explanation Ryan said, "My mom is going to kill me."
Molly snatched the paper out of his hand so that she could see the score. With a shrug, she handed it back to him. "Don't worry about it so much. Come to the mall with me. By the time you get home your mom will have forgotten all about that stupid test."
"The mall!" Melvin exclaimed, "He doesn't need to go to the mall. He needs a tutor. I'll tutor you Ryan. I need to study more anyway. I only got a ninety-five percent."
Ryan smiled and rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the offer Melvin. But as much as I dislike the mall I'd rather go there than study anymore."
"Okay," Melvin said, "I'll see you tomorrow then." With that and an abbreviated wave, Melvin turned and headed home.
"Come on Ryan," Molly beckoned, "I'll buy you some ice cream to cheer you up."
Already the test and its grade was forgotten in his back pocket as Ryan jumped up to join Molly. "Sure, as long as it's double chocolate."
It was with ice cream in hand that Molly and Ryan arrived at Molly's mom's jewelry store in the mall. They found it in a very strange state of being completely packed. Over the dim of the customers, they could hear Molly's mom.
"Diamonds, rubies, sapphires! Everything is on sale. Feel free to try on anything ladies. Try on everything!"
"Molly, what is going on?" Ryan asked from where they had stopped just inside the door.
Molly looked around the store in wide-eyed astonishment. "I have no idea. But my mom sure is acting strange."
"Yeah. What did she put in her coffee this morning?" After a moment longer of looking at the crowd, Ryan finally remembered the test in his pocket. Pulling it out he sighed. "Well, I guess I better go show this to my mom. See you later Molly."
"See you Ryan. And good luck," Molly called after him as he left the room.
As he walked down the street, dragging his feet and delaying the moment when he would have to turn the test over to his mother, Ryan tried to think of a plausible explanation for failing. Groaning in frustration he forced his fingers through his semi-long golden hair, pushing it back from his face only to have it fall back into his eyes almost immediately. Finally, he admitted defeat. There was no way his mom was going to believe he had even made an attempt at studying for this one. Between his two hands, the test quickly became a small projectile. "There is no way I can show Mom this thing!" With that, he turned around and whipped the crumpled paper at the nearest garbage can. Only to watch it bounce of the rim and settled to the ground.
"Nice throw," a voice said from behind him, "But it looks like you may have to work on your aim."
Ryan turned around to see a tall man with tousled black hair and eyes hidden behind black sunglasses standing by the doors to the arcade. Shrugging he bent over to pick up the test. Stuffing it back into his back pocket he said, "Yeah, well, it's a good thing I'm not trying out for the basketball team then."
"Guess so," the man said. Ryan was about to walk away when he added, "By the way, my name is Darien."
"I'm Ryan," he replied.
"Well, see you around," Darien said, then turned and entered the arcade.
Once again on his way home, and once again dragging his feet, Ryan came across yet another distraction in the form of a poster in a video store window. The poster consisted of a tall slender woman dressed in an abbreviated sailor suit, one hand on her hip, the other held up in the 'V is for victory' symbol. Above her head were the words 'Sailor V - The Movie'.
"Oh man. I wish my life were as cool as hers. Being able to fight bad guys every day would be great." Ryan dug his hands deep into his jean pockets and sighed when they came out empty. "But I can't even afford to see the movie." After staring at the poster a moment longer he chuckled and muttered to himself, "But if I were to fight evil I would definitely not do it in an outfit like that." Then he spun on his heel and continued toward home.
What he didn't see was the small black cat that was watching him from behind a sign in front of the next store. The black cat stepped out from her hiding spot to follow Ryan. Under her breath she muttered in amazement, "I can't believe it. This boy, he's the one."
Ryan carefully turned the door knob to his front door and slowly pushed open the door. Maybe if he was lucky his mom wouldn't even know he was home.
"Hi honey. How was school today?"
Damn, no such luck.
"Fine," he answered, still trying to get up to his room before she remembered....
"So, how did you do on your Algebra test today?" Ilene asked as she stepped into the hall from the kitchen.
"Algebra test?" Ryan squeaked, trying to play dumb.
"Yes, algebra test," Ilene said, the warning clear in her voice, "The one you studied so hard for, with Melvin, at the library."
Ryan's shoulders slumped. "Oh, that algebra test"
"Well, how did you do?"
He couldn't help it, Ryan started to fidget. His fingers pulled fuzz that wasn't there off of his school uniform and his toe dug at the floor. He did it even though it would immediately give away the bad news to his mother. "Well, you see, I, um... Well, I..."
"Let me see it," Ilene demanded, holding out her hand.
Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled, and now torn, test paper and smoothed it out before handing it to his mom. Thinking the whole time that he did it that he had just signed his own death warrant.
"Thirty!" Ilene's voice raised in pitch as she waved the offending test in her son's face. "Thirty! I thought you said you studied! You know what you need to do!"
Ryan didn't even dare to attempt an answer.
"You need to go back to the library and study for a make up test!" With her last words Ilene pushed her son out the door, slamming it behind him. Ryan could hear the bolt slide home as she locked him out.
"Damn," Ryan muttered, kicking at the front step. He had known she would be mad but it wasn't often that she got mad enough to lock him out of the house. After a moment of staring at the front door, willing it to open, he became convinced that she wasn't going to relent this time. So, lacking any other options, Ryan set out for the library.
It was a few hours later that Ryan sat back up in his bedroom watching the sun as it set over the rooftops of Tokyo. With a sigh he fell back onto his pillow, an arm flung up to cover his eyes. "Studying is tiring," he said to no one in particular, "It can't be good for a person."
Sleep was just about to steal him away from reality when he heard his window creak open and felt a weight land on his bed. Sitting up in surprise he backed up against the head board. "Holy crap, you scared me. What are you doing here?"
Before him, standing on the foot of his bed, was the black cat that he had saved that morning. This time he actually received the response that he waited for.
"Why Ryan," the cat, obviously female, said as she stepped towards him, "I came to see you of course."
Ryan actually relaxed at the sound of her voice. "I definitely studied too hard. My dreams are never this weird."
The cat tipped her head to one side, studying him. "What are you talking about?"
"Your talking. Your a cat. Cat's don't talk. So, obviously, I'm dreaming."
"You are not dreaming," she insisted. Clearing her throat, the cat started into a speech that she had clearly been practicing, "My name is Luna. I have been searching for you for a very long time. It is my duty to lead you on the path to your ultimate destiny." Luna looked at Ryan for a moment, her gaze wondering down, then back up, his frame before continuing. "I wasn't sure if it was you the first time we met, but I've been watching you and I am absolutely certain that you are," she paused for effect, "the Sailor Scout of the moon."
"Definitely dreaming," Ryan sighed.
Luna shook her head, frustration clear in her words, "You are not dreaming. You are Sailormoon and your friend Molly is in trouble. I'll prove it to you." Without waiting for Ryan to respond Luna launched herself straight up into the air, performed a perfect back flip, then landed in the exact spot she had preciously occupied. Laying on the bed in front of her was a watch. "Take it," she said, swatting it towards Ryan with a paw, "It's yours."
Ryan gingerly picked up the watch by one of the black straps. He found that the face, instead of containing numbers, or even hands, like a normal watch, had a crescent moon pictured underneath the glass. In place of the numbers three, six, nine and twelve were four small jewels, each in a different color. There was a red, a green, a blue, and a yellow. "Luna, this watch is broken. There's no hands, you can't tell time with it."
Luna smiled. "It's not actually a watch. It is your transformation tool. Sailormoon is a warrior who's destiny is to defend the princess, and defend the earth from evil. You must fight, it is your destiny."
Ryan looked from the black cat sitting on his bed to the wrist watch he held in his hand. "You want me to do what?" he asked
"Hold the watch up and say 'Moon Prism Power,' Luna told him. To herself she added, "Hopefully it will work."
"What was that?" Ryan asked without taking his eyes off of the watch.
"What? Oh, nothing."
But it hadn't been nothing. Ryan had clearly heard the muttered words. Hopefully what will work, was his thought. The next was, what am I getting myself into? as he held the watch up over his head and spoke the three words.
Bright lights filled his room. forcing Ryan to shut his eyes or be blinded. He could feel movement but really didn't want to open his eyes. Especially since some the movement shouldn't have been possible. He could feel his legs lengthening in proportion to the rest of his body, and his waist thinned. When the room stopped spinning he stood in the middle of it and refused to open his eyes and look.
After moments of silence it was Luna's very quiet and shocked, "Oh dear," that forced him to open his eyes and spin on his heel to look into the full length mirror on the closet door. When his eyes landed on the reflection they widened in shock. His breath escaped his lungs with an undignified squeak and he stumbled backwards until he tumbled onto the bed, nearly landing on Luna. he couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him.
He was a she.
Standing back up she examined herself in the mirror. Her short blond hair had grown out until it brushed the back of her knees and arranged itself up into two ponytails extending from buns on either side of her head. The front of each bun was covered by a red disk rimmed with gold.
She skipped over her face, her gaze taking in her long and slender neck, around which was a red choker. Her neck flowed into the small shoulders that had replace the wide shoulders Ryan had yet to grow in to.
Her pajamas had been replace by a sailor suit, consisting of a skin tight, white bodice with short sleeves. There was a red bow centered on her chest and another nestled in the small of her back. The bottom half of the outfit was an extremely short red skirt. It took her a moment to realize why the line of the bodice looked strange. Then it hit her. She had boobs!
Gently she poked one with a finger that was encased in a white glove up to her elbow. She watched as they bounced once.
"Yup, they're real alright." As soon as they words were spoken one gloved hand flew up to cover her mouth.
Had that been her voice. Instead of the low voice with the occasional crack that she was used to it had been higher and sweet to the ears.
Getting over the shock of her voice her eyes continued down her body to her legs. And kept going down and down and down.
"Holy crap," she muttered, "These legs are long!"
From just above the knee down those long legs were encased in red boots with low heels.
Finally she gathered up the courage to look at her face. Small chin lead up to full lips, the pert nose and high cheekbones. Last she met her eyes in the reflection and let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Staring back at her were the same azure blue eyes that stared back at her every day.
"I'm still me!" Ryan exclaimed, relief evident in her voice.
"Well, of course you are!" Luna said, but Ryan continued as if she hadn't heard a word.
"And man-o-man," she said, gazing at the mirror, "Am I hot!"
Luna sighed in exasperation. "Sailormoon, you weren't given this ability so you could gaze at yourself in the mirror. Your destiny is to..." Luna's lecture was interrupted when the red disks on Sailormoon's buns began to flash and a small voice filled the room.
"Help me, oh, somebody please help me!"
Sailormoon's eyes widened in fright. "That was Molly! I have to help her!" Before Luna could speak the slight girl had flung herself out of the still open window and into the night. It didn't take Luna long to recover and she was almost immediately out the window following her charge.
Luna caught up to Sailormoon as she turned the corner at the end of the block. "Where are you going?"
"Molly's mom's jewelry store."
"How do you know that's where they are?"
Sailormoon looked down at Luna, an expression of confusion on her face. "I don't know how I know, I just do." Then the time for talking was past and Sailormoon found a new reserve of speed, taking off down the street to the mall.
She arrived at the jewelry store just in time to see a gray, skeletal monster grab hold of Molly. As she watched, Sailormoon could see Molly grow weaker, almost as if the energy was being sucked out of her.
"Let her go!" Sailormoon heard her voice ring out with authority.
That gray skull, barely covered by the skin stretched over it, turned right around on its neck to look at her. "And who would you be?"
"I am Sailormoon, the champion of justice. On behalf of the moon, I will punish you!" She ended the speech with her feet spaced shoulder width apart and one slender finger pointed at the villain. "Note to self, never do that again," Sailormoon thought as she shifted her stance to something a little bit more normal.
The monster continued to stare at Sailormoon. "Never heard of you." Then her attention shifted from the blond before her to the fainted bodies that littered the floor around her. "Arise," she told them, "Arise and serve the Negaverse."
Slowly, struggling to stand despite being unconscious, the bodies began to rise and move toward Sailormoon. They fanned out, maneuvering to trap the heroine in a corner.
"I don't think so," she muttered.
The track she had been in all her regular life came into play as she positioned herself, took a few running steps, then jack knifed over the crowd as if there were a high jump bar above their heads. She sailed higher and farther than she ever had before and was marveling at the feat before her boots even hit the floor. It was this, combined with the fact that she was awkward in her unfamiliar girls body that caused her to twist her ankle and crash to her knees.
Her breath hissed in between her teeth as she fought to stifle the cry of pain that was lodged in her throat. Suddenly a shadow fell over her and Sailormoon looked up to see the skeletal monster standing mere feet from her.
When the monster leapt at her Sailormoon barely had time to realize she was trapped before she heard the whistling of something moving fast through the air. As if by magic, a single flawless, red rose appeared stabbing into the floor in front of the monster, stopping it in its tracks.
Once again the creature's head twisted around on it's neck, this time to look at the figure that darkened a window high up in the wall. "And who might you be?"
The man in the black tuxedo swept his cape before himself dramatically before speaking, "I am Tuxedo Mask. Sailormoon, look into your heart and find the warrior within you. It is your destiny!"
Sailormoon stared at the man, slack-jawed. Just who did this guy think he was, showing up and telling her what to do.
"Sailormoon," Luna whispered urgently, while the monster was distracted, "Throw your tiara."
"What?" Sailormoon asked in disbelief, without taking her eyes off her adversary.
"Throw your tiara and say 'Moon Tiara Magic'," Luna insisted.
Since it was the only option open to her with a twisted ankle, Sailormoon decided to try it.
Pulling the tiara off and holding it in her right hand she began to whisper the words.
"Moon." The tiara began to glow.
"Tiara." The tiara was no longer a tiara but rather a glowing disk that spun over her fingertips.
"Magic." With the last word she threw the tiara turned discus and her aim was true. It hit the monster in the stomach and the monster let out a screech of pain. The grating sound was cut off as the monster turned to dust that piled unto the floor. The discus then returned to Sailormoon's hand and was once again a tiara, which she slipped back on.
The silence that followed was interrupted by Tuxedo Mask. "You did well Sailormoon. All the ladies are free. Others will test you. Do not be afraid. I will fight with you." With his final word said Tuxedo Mask turned and jumped from the window sill, disappearing from sight.
"Are you alright?" Luna asked when Sailormoon remained silent after Tuxedo Mask had left.
"You know what Luna? That man is extremely annoying." Without waiting for Luna to respond Sailormoon got to her feet, favoring her twisted ankle, and made her way out of the store.
Luna followed close behind.