The office of Frederick Myers; Fugimya Academy administration building
"I just want to know how he did it!" Myers seethed as he paced in his office.
"Calm down Fred, or you'll give yourself a heart attack." Said Anita Blanding, his secretary. "What makes you so sure the Howard boy is responsible?"
Who else could burn that message into the field only to have it erased by the time Chris got back?!"
"Fred, I think you're being paranoid. He isn't the only prankster at this school."
"No, but he's the most notorious, and as always, I can't prove he did it."
"No I suppose you can't." She was silent for a while. "Fred?"
"Yes?"
"Do you suppose the sky really is green and we're all color-blind?" The look Myers gave her could have melted lead.
It wasn't Mina Anio's reaction that surprised her friends and teammates so much as the savagery of it.
In fact, the only thing keeping the blond junior from killing her opponent was the grip of the tall brown haired girl who was standing behind her, her hands on each of Mina's biceps. It easily looked as though the brown haired one was having no trouble restraining the angry Miss Anio. But a closer look revealed that Mina's captor was straining and was fighting a losing battle.
"LET ME GO! DAMN YOU!" Mina shrieked, her blue eyes wild. "LET ME GO LITA OR I SWEAR I'LL BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU!" Lita tightened her grip.
"Calm down Mina." She said for what must have been the fiftieth time. In the back of her mind, she could not help noting that the scene on the soccer field had been much different barely a minute before.
The Score had been tied forty to forty with barely a minute left to go before the first game of the school season between Fugimya Academy and their opponent, Kyoto High School was over. Lita Kino, goalie for the Fugimya Academy soccer team looked over at her friend Mina.
"Quite the game huh?" She asked as she pushed her sweat matted hair out of her eyes.
"Yep." replied the blond haired girl as she moved into position.
Even afterwards, Lita couldn't be sure how it happened towards the end. The ball flew into play, the opposing team got control and passed it around the defense while the rest broke through the line.
With most of her teammates charging after the ball and Kyoto high in control and coming down the field fast. Lita set herself to meet the inevitable power kick that would send the ball hurtling towards her.
During the game they had discovered that Kyoto had a predictable but impressive bag of tricks. This one had kept them high in the district standings.
On paper it was simple. Kyoto got control of the ball and maneuvered it around the defensive line while their offense, made up of the biggest team members, rushed the defensive line. Once they broke through, the fastest one got the ball and ran like hell for the goal. To counter, all Fugimya had to do, was prevent the ball from getting around the defensive line which would effectively run out the clock and then they could simply put the ball into Kyto's goal in overtime using their own tactics against them
Of course, that was on paper, and as any man or woman who has ever fought in a military campaign can tell you, what happened on paper had a stubborn tendency never to adhere to real life.
What had actually happened was more akin to a football game then soccer.
Fugimya's coach had told his team to watch for this tactic and when they brought it out, to follow the ball. What they hadn't expected was for the girl with the ball to kick it over her head to her teammate behind her who then kicked the width of the field to whoever was down there.
It had been completely on the spur of the moment and it worked. By the time Fugimya had figured out where the ball went, it had been kicked back to the center of the field and Kyto's fastest runner, a girl named Kyione, had the ball and was driving it towards Lita.
That was where things got blurry.
Running hard behind Kyione was the best, most popular athlete at Kyoto, a tall, curvaceous raven haired girl named Ayeka. Her reputation was that she was an arrogant bitch more concerned with her popularity then actual schoolwork.
As Lita would later tell the police, it happened something like this:
Kiyone approached the goal with Ayeka close behind.
Kiyone feinted right just long enough to force Lita to commit to a lunge for the ball before dodging left.
Ayeka approached the ball and Mina rushed her in order to block the kick accidentally putting her hand under the other girl's chin and pushing up.
Instinctively, Ayeka punched back as the ball got tangled up in their feet. Both girls fell as the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the game.
As the girls got to their feet, Aykea started insulting Mina, calling her names and insulting her looks, clothes and ancestry
Mina had returned it.
That's when it got ugly.
Spurred on by a girl who had a cousin in Tokyo, Ayeka insulted the one thing Mina held dear. She insulted David Jones.
As the police would later learn, David was Mina's boyfriend. They had loved each other deeply and when he fell off of a cliff it had all but shattered her sanity. Since then, Mina had been on special medication to control her depression and had undergone a week of therapy.
The only reason she was on the Soccer team was that the Academy shrink had thought she might benefit from competitive sports. She had been too. Physical activity had been doing wonders for her, until Ayeka committed the unforgivable sin. She insulted the closest thing to Mina's heart.
Mina had flown into a rage and viciously attacked her, her fists flying as she screamed incomprehensible insults and accusations.
Aykea had a black eye and a cut and swollen lip by the time Lita had grabbed Mina and hauled her back.
Now that we're all up to speed, lets move on.
"LITA! LET ME GO NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL BEAT YOUR FACE IN SO DEEP YOU'LL HAVE TO WALK BACKWARDS JUST TO SEE!" Mina's eyes were wild and spittle flew from her mouth. She wasn't even speaking Japanese anymore, but her native english. "DAMNIT! LET GO!" Mina twisted out of her friends grip and launched into Ayeka.
Lita rushed into help when a fist flew into her range of vision and hit her head. Everything went black.
She awoke on a bed to find Serena sitting at her bedside eating a bag of cookies.
"What happened?"
"You got punched in the head. How are you feeling?"
"Thirsty." Serena handed her a water bottle.
"Thanks." Cold sweet water flowed down her throat. "Where's Mina?" Serena pointed. Following the finger, Lita could see her friend lying in a bed, an IV stuck in her arm and strapped down.
"She laid out two paramedics before they could get a sedative into her." Serena said, a chuckle in her voice despite the seriousness of her statement.
"Is she gonna be arrested?"
"Nope, and you can thank Raye and Amy for that. They talked Kyoto into not pressing charges if Fugimya took Mina off the team."
"Damnit." Lita said, shaking her head. "She was doing so well too." Serena nodded agreement.
At that point, a man she could only assume to be a doctor walked in.
"Ah, I see one of our patients is awake." He said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Worn out mostly, like I got a bad night's sleep." She admitted. He nodded as he planted a stethoscope against her back.
"Breathe in. Well that's normal, get a full nights sleep and take it easy for a few days and you should be right as rain. Breathe out slowly." She did as he instructed.
"What about my friend?"
"Heh. She'll be okay once she wakes up. Breathe in. She's on a light sedative for a few hours. Breathe out."
"Why the straps?"
"Breathe in. Standard procedure for violent patients. Breathe out."
"But she's not violent." Lita said, "Well not usually."
"Breathe in. Oh? Is that right? Breathe out."
"Yeah. Her boyfriend got killed when he fell off a cliff. They were really close."
"I see." He said as a nurse came in and began fastening a blood pressure cuff around her arm. "So she's like that whenever someone mentions him?"
"Usually she just breaks into tears."
"Usually." Lita nodded.
"But the other girl insulted David and his memory and the knowledge he'd want her to go on is the only thing keeping her from going bananas and trying to follow him to wherever he is now."
Charwar...
Bertie kneeled before Seekay. The entire host of the Negaverses and the Black Moons was assembled this day and she could feel their presence at her back. Her ears picked up mumbling and hushed conversation. She fought down the urge to turn around and use her powers to push them back.
Rubius. Report
"We have done as you commanded us Master. We have started at the Southmost tip of the Island and worked our way Northward. Already, the slaves are sorting the two tons we have collected and we should have to go no further then Tokyo to find what we need."
Excellent. Bertie. Report.
"We have landed and our scouting remotes have completed mapping the school and the surrounding terrain. We need forty-eight more hours to program our implants and mapping systems with the data and then we can take the school and crush the Senshi in their beds."
No. I want to draw the Crystal Knight out into the open. The School is not to be attacked except on my specific orders.He paused for a moment. Await a time when they have all left the school. Attack them while they are at their destination and pay close attention to the Crystal Knight's tactics. I want to know who he is!
"Yes Master." The words had barely left her lips when Seekay vanished. Bertie stood, straightening her tunic. "Sergeant." A being that could only be described as the result of an unholy union between a human and a warthog strode out of the crowd.
A Porcine. They made up the bulk of Seekay's ground troops and were very effective and precise killers, provided you explained to them exactly what you wanted them to do. They weren't very bright, but they did what they were told.
Bertie made a gesture and a holographic terrain map of Fugimya academy and the surrounding terrain appeared between them.
She tapped a spot on the map that lay just a kilometer outside the school grounds. "Select a droid that can function well in this terrain and a squad of seasoned forest veterans. Go here and await my instructions which will tell you where and when to attack. When you do, you will attack only the Sailor Senshi unless the humans fight back. If they do, you can do whatever you want to them, but only to the ones who attack you.
"While you are waiting you are to feed on only plants and animals and under no circumstances are you to get near a human until the time comes to attack. If contact with a human or humans is impossible, capture them alive and contact me." The Porcine nodded and waddled off.
"Getting soft in your old age Bertie?" Rubius's voice said behind her.
"I'm not going to draw any unessacary attention to ourselves. You know as well as I do that if left on their own, the Porcines would destroy Japan.
"The Master has plans for that place and I for one, would like to be alive to see the day he rules this world instead of being dead or tortured because I let the Porcines run loose." With that, she warped the fabric of space-time and teleported back to her ship leaving Rubius to stare at the terrain map and lost in thought.
"...So the farmer says, 'Nope. Ya got it all wrong there sheriff. See, this here is the pig and that's my wife!'" Serena and Lita both burst into laughter.
"Oh Bhudda." Lita said, wiping her eyes. "Serena, where did you hear that?"
"Darien told it to me. Said he read it on the net."
"Its found at useless jokes dot com." Serena and Lita looked up. Conrad stood at the door. Serena stood up.
"I have to get going Lita. I'll be back later. Kay?" She waved and ran out. Conrad came in and sat in the seat Serena had vacated.
"I heard about what happened at the game." His voice was laced with concern. "Are you alright?"
"Nothing a good nights sleep and a few days of R and R won't cure." She managed a wan smile.
"That's good." He paused. "I was worried about you."
"You were?" He nodded, and hesitantly laid his hand on hers.
"Yeah. I was." They spent the rest of the time in silence, each gazing into each other's eyes, and thinking their own private thoughts.
When Serena returned, she found them both asleep, his hand curled gently around hers.
Air seared Mina's lungs as she ran. But no matter how hard she ran, the safety of the portal to Earth kept moving back, always staying just out of her reach.
Behind her, the shadow. The shadow with the red eyes kept coming, no matter what she threw in its path, it just kept coming.
"Get back!" She screamed at it. "For God's Sake, Get Back!" The portal was suddenly replaced by a wall.
She was trapped.
She spun, planting her back against the wall as the shadow loomed in front of her.
You are mine Mina Anio, MINE! The shadow's voice was cold and metallic.
"No!" She cried, pushing herself back against the wall, her eyes darting about for something, anything, she could use to defend herself with. Then she saw the wheelchair. She ran for it, feeling the cold wind of the shadow as it lunged for her. She grabbed the wheelchair and hurled it at the shadow with all the strength she had. It caught it with a hand made of black metal.
A wheelchair? You think to beat me with an aid for the WEAK? It ripped it apart. You have nowhere left to go Mina. It lunged for her and Mina screamed.
The blackness of the shadow was replaced with the dimly lit ceiling as Mina's body jerked upright against something holding her down. She looked around as panic raged through her system.
A nurse appeared in her field of vision and held her down, murmuring soothing words.
"Wha-where?"
"You're at Kyoto General."
"Kyoto?" Then memory flooded back to her. "Am I going to be arrested?"
"No. And you can thank Raye and Amy for that. But you have been banned from all competitive sports." Conrad stood in the doorway. "Actually, I'm not sure if you were in any real danger of being arrested."
"Huh?"
"I've been talking to students and teachers and it seems Miss Maboshi, that's who you beat to a pulp by the way, was getting far to big for her britches. Even her parents secretly approved I think. They made some noise, but backed off short of demanding your head."
"This world is way too screwed up." Mina said as she looked at her restraints. "Hey, can I get out of these?" The nurse hesitated a moment and then released the straps.
Mina sat up, rubbing her wrists where the straps had been cutting into her skin, then she noticed the IV needle. "Hey, what's this?"
"I believe it known by its more common name, Prozac."
"Prozac?" Conrad nodded.
"Prozac." Conrad said, nodding sagely.
Fugimya Academy, three days later, 7 am.
Rob looked over at Conrad as some of the students carefully spread the white, milk like liquid all over the floor of the rec room that was Isaki Hall's top two floors.
"What did you say that stuff was again?"
"I'm calling it Insta-Ice. By tomorrow morning, we will have ice across the floor, and up the stairs and on the upper floor."
"Its insane. Its crazy. Its not exactly instant, is it?" Conrad ignored that.
"It will work." Conrad said thinking back to this morning when had been watching his cereal float in milk and it occurred to him that if one could combine liquid nitrogen and Dry Ice, then add a third substance to keep the mixture stable, then he would have an ice-like substance that would go from liquid, to solid and then to gas.
It had taken him most of the day to come up with the third substance, but he had done it and now his creation was being applied towards the best thing to use it for. A skating party.
Breakfast, 8am
Lita sat down at the table the Senshi shared for their meals. Serena had her nose buried in the paper, Mina was reading, Raye was finishing off her math homework, and Amy was calmly breakfasting on some kind of wheat cereal.
"Hey. Check this out." Serena said and began reading aloud. "They've been called the rivals of the Kennedy clan, Modern day Montagues and Capulets. The Moooresdvelts and Kinocans, long known in the American East Coast high social circles for their long standing cold war, admitted today that Mooresdvelt Patriarch Sir Larry Howard Mooresdvelt and Kinocan Matriarch Abigail Henry Kinocan are both dying of bone marrow cancer and their life expectancy is being counted in months, if not weeks." Serena closed the paper, her face slightly scared. Her great-grandmother, then nearly six months pregnant. had been on the outer edges of Hiroshima when the Americans had dropped the bomb in World War Two. She had died only a few years later. Her children hadn't been born with it, but since then, the word cancer held a special terror for the Tuzinko Family. "Cancer..." She shuddered and folded up the paper, setting it aside.
"Goody. I hope it hurts." Everyone looked at Lita.
"What?"
"Those families." Lita waved her hand at the paper. "I hope they go out screaming in pain."
"Lita, that's a horrible thing to wish on someone." Amy said.
"No. Its what they deserve. " Lita said as she got up and walked away.
History class........
"...Any questions?. Good. Now before dismissal, I want to remind all of you that the buses for the field trip to the Himinyagi Archeological site tomorrow are leaving at Seven AM sharp. So make sure you're out at the boarding point by Six Forty-Five." The bell clanged. "And remember, I want to see a full report on what you learn from the visit tomorrow on my desk by six pm Saturday!" But the teacher's words were lost as the students flooded out the door en masse.
"I'm really looking forward to the trip tomorrow." Amy said as she, Conrad, Lita, and Mina awaited the elevator that would whisk them up to their dorm floor. " I hear they have some fascinating samples of jade from feudal times." The doors pinged open and the four teenagers filed in.
"I got it." Conrad said, hitting the buttons. The ride up was spent mostly in silence.
"Hey!" Mina exclaimed realizing that the elevator had passed their floor. "What the hell is going on?" She pushed Conrad aside and checked the controls. Okay, Conrad." She said turning around. "Explain why--Why are you taking off your shoes?" Conrad flashed her a smile.
"I'm going skating."
"Skating?" Behind her, the doors slid open, revealing that the rec room had been coated in ice. Students were gliding around, and riding sleds down the staircase. Conrad took a running start and slid out across the ice.
"Come on!" He called. "Lets go skating!" Mina shut her jaw as Lita sprang forward and slid across the ice to join Conrad.
"Conrad!" Rob skidded up beside him. "This ice turned out so great!" He wrapped an arm around Conrad's shoulders. "How did you do it?"
"Oh sure." Conrad said, raising his eyes skyward in an expression of mock exasperation. "I tell you. You tell somebody else," He pushed off Rob and glided back, raising his arms in the air as he braked and did a three- sixty. "and before you know it, we're in the middle of another Ice Age!" He skated off.
"What's all this supposed to be?" Making his way across the ice was the Resident manager of the seventh floor, a tall nerdish looking senior. "I demand someone answer me!" Conrad skidded back up. The Senior looked at him. "I should have known. What's all this?"
"This?" Conrad pointed at the floor." This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold." He turned to the others and pointed at the senior. "This? This is Bob. This what happens when sexually frustrated squirrels marry." He took off again.
"Ha ha." Bob said, uttering the statement used only by those with no sense of humor who can't come up with any kind of reply. "Who's going to clean it up?" He demanded.
"You won't have to." Conrad said, coming to a stop. "Its going to go from solid form directly to gas." He paused and then crouched and tapped the ice with a pen. "I think." He muttered.
"Wow." Bob said, missing Conrad's last two words. "What is it?"
"Its very rare and very unstable." Rob said.
"Just like you." Conrad added. Bob ignored that.
"You're sure it'll go from solid form directly to gas?" He asked, more concerned about having to justify a cleaning bill then the water damage. Conrad nodded.
"Sure." He paused and gave the ice a thoughtful look. "Unless it explodes first."
"Ex-Explode?" Bob began inching back towards the elevator, trying to make it look casual. "Well as long as you're sure it will turn into gas, I'll just be on my way." Conrad was still staring down at the ice.
"You know," He said in a thoughtful tone. "if this was to explode, then it would probably vaporize this entire floor." Bob stopped trying to be casual and all but raced for the door, only to get knocked over by a passing sled.
"Uh, Conrad?" Mina ventured.
"Hm?"
"You were just kidding about this stuff exploding weren't you?" She asked, as the ice began to turn into gas. "Conrad?"
"Alright, I'll see your four and raise you two." Lita slapped her cards down on the TV tray, revealing a four of a kind. "Call." Rob had a small two pair, Mina a three of a kind, Conrad a full house.
"How do you do it? Mina asked, throwing her cards down on the table. Conrad shrugged and gave no answer. He just, as always, smiled.
Serena sat back on her heels and wiped some sweat from her brow. The fall afternoon sun beat down on the site, a small valley partially excavated from hardened lava and she was very much aware of the volcano rising over the site like a small tower.
"What are we doing this for again?" Lita, wearing a cap and sunglasses, looked up from where she was carefully excavating a shard of pottery.
"Extra Credit." She said, removing her cap and wiping the sweat from her eyes.
"I can do without this kind of credit." Serena muttered and stood, heading for the central tent.
It was cool inside the central tent where Amy, Conrad, and Dr. Rei Muzino, the head of the dig, were gathered around the computer used to catalog the items unearthed.
"...what about routing around the OS?"
"What?"
From there, the conversation degenerated into a highly technical argument over "software pathways" and "partition dividers".
Serena, understanding maybe one word out of twenty, shook her head and left the tent.
She paused to take a drink of water and then set off across the site.
The purpose of the dig, according to Dr. Muzino, was to excavate the castle of Dynimo Hiroginzhou Himinyagi, a forward thinking warlord from feudal Japan who built his castle up against a mountain then burrowed into it, intent on using the caves for storage and cover should he be attacked.
Sadly, while digging a new cave, workers plowed into a lava tube and triggered a river of lava that filled up the valley. Only a few serfs and soldiers escaped to tell the tale. The Dynimo had perished.
Pushing the facts out of her mind, Serena ducked to get into the castle temple, where she found Raye carefully cleaning something.
"Hey Raye, whatcha doin?"
"Be careful!" Raye barked. "You almost stepped in my work area." Serena carefully repositioned her foot.
"Sorry." Raye gave her an apologetic look.
"Never mind. Come take a look at this." She held up what looked like a flat piece of stone, slightly bent.
"What is it?"
"Its a stone lantern. When a Samurai took a life, he carved a stone lantern in atonement."
"I thought Samurai committed Hari-Kari for atonement." Raye shook her head.
"Only when they had been seriously dishonored."
"Oh." Serena said, making a face.
"Hey Guys." Mina said, ducking into the doorway. "What's up?" She managed a wan smile at them, but her eyes remained dead with emotional pain.
"Stone lanterns." Serena said, grinning.
"Yeah." Raye said, and held out the stone piece. Mina took it.
"Damn. Its heavy--" She broke off as something on the stone caught her eye. "Raye? Lend me the brush." Raye handed over the brush and Mina began dusting off one specific spot. Her eyes actually showing expression again. "Oh my..." She said softly, and then blew hard.
"What is it Mina?" Serena asked. "What did you find?" Mina said nothing. Just stared.
"Mina?" Raye asked.
"Hand me your transformation pen." Mina's voice was strangled. Raye blinked but handed over the small cylinder topped with an ornate crest. Mina glanced from the pen to the stone and back several times before handing the pen back to Raye.
"Mina?" Serena's voice was soft. "What is it?" Mina didn't answer, but turned the stone to face them. There, carved into the stone's surface was the symbol of Mars, backed by the crescent moon sigil that was Serena's own.
"Interesting." Rei Muzino, a tall, slim woman, with black hair and a studious expression examined the stone piece. "Iwo!" She called over her shoulder. "We have another one!"
"Another one?" Conrad's voice carried a hint of curiosity, but Mina knew him well enough to see his eyes light with intense interest. Dr. Muzino nodded.
"Hai." She led the way to the back of the tent to where three other items sat. Each was another fragment of stone, each with a different symbol on it. But all the symbols were backed by a crescent moon.
"Weird." Mina's voice was deceptively level.
"Hai." Muzino said. "Its very strange, and a mystery. But these are the only things we've found so far."
"Perhaps the answers are still buried under the lava." Conrad said.
"That's our hope." Muzino said. "All we can do is--She broke off as the tent shook from the shockwave of an explosion.
"What was that?" Muzino cried, grabbing the table, trying to steady it so the priceless artifacts wouldn't fall over and break. "Are we under attack?"
"Who would attack a dig site?" Her assistant yelled.
"I don't know!" She yelled back. "Conrad, Amy, you and your friends had better stay here." There was no answer. "Conrad? Amy?" The students were gone.
Conrad watched Mina and her friends take off, a bemused expression on his face.
But the moment they were out of sight, the bemused expression vanished and he turned and headed into a nearby cave.
It was a short shallow cave, more like a long narrow depression in the side of the valley then a cave, but it was out of sight and that's exactly what he needed. Smirking, he gripped his cane and slammed the glass orb against a rock.
Lightning flashed, and once more, the Moon Kingdom's Champion walked the Earth.
Leaping over a rock, the Senshi found themselves confronting a small army of brutish looking half man half warthog soldiers. Floating in the air behind them, Bertie and a female youma stood, watching as the soldiers fired randomly across the dig site.
"What are those things?" Jupiter demanded.
"They appear to be descended from an animal similar to an Earth Warthog and then genetically enhanced for combat." Mercury said, working the scanning equipment built into her armor.
"You mean there's some planet out there full of those things?"
"More likely another earth." Mercury said. "We are dealing with dimensional travelers."
"Very good., Mercury." Bertie said. "Meet the Porcines. The Master's shock troops and this," She indicated the youma. "is Speedra."
"How nice of them to make introductions." Mercury snarled. "ICE SPEAR" She flung her hand forward, sending the spear hurtling towards it's target. Bertie batted it aside.
"Speedra. Porcines. Attack!"
She awoke. The bad place was gone. She was free and there was no sign of the mean man that had put her there. She needed to be inside someone or the Black would claim her. She couldn't be claimed by the Black. The Black would make her Go Away. She didn't want to Go Away. She must find someone.
Five very battered Senshi watched as the last Porcine fell.
"I can't move anymore." Sailor Moon said in a tired whisper. Jupiter nodded.
"My shoulder is killin me."
"Duck!" Mercury shrieked, shoving Sailor Moon aside as wind howled through where she had been standing. Speedra cackled as she skidded to a stop and turned, confronting her prey.
"Speedra." She hissed, drawing the phrase out.
"Speedra needs a new vocabulary." Said a new voice.
"Speedra?" said the youma looking around questioningly as the owner of the voice, a figure in red and black armor landed, lance in hand. "Speedra!" The youma shouted and launched itself at the Knight, talons outstretched.
The next few minutes was like a bullfight as Speedra and the Knight tested his reflexes against her speed.
"Speedra." The youma snarled.
"Hello." chirped a new voice.
"Speedra?" Both combatants turned to look at the being standing there. She was just under a meter tall, with spiky purple hair and blue skin. Her eyes were pale pink and very large. She wore what appeared to be a robe of many layers and her six fingered hands were long fingered.
"And you would be...."
"Mirna." She said and smiled up at him as a child might. "What are you doing?"
"Punishing this bad person." For reasons he was unable to fathom, the Knight was positive he was dealing with some sort of child.
"Speedra!" The youma howled, shoving him away and lunging for the child.
"No!" Then Knight reached forward, attempting to stop her, but his hands closed on empty air.
"Bad lady." Mirna stepped aside, letting the youma collide with an anvil. "Bad Lady go away." Speedra suddenly found herself tied to a rocket.
"Speedra? Speedra!" She howled, her words lost as the engine ignited, launching her into the air. Mirna beamed at the knight.
"Bad Lady all gone." She beamed. "Bye Bye." Then she walked away. Curious. The knight thought, and then put such thoughts away. He would have to change back before the girls found him.
"Hold it right there buster." He turned to find the Senshi confronting him. Blast! He had forgotten they were there.
The jets roared, and he rose into the air. But Sailor Moon was ready for him.
"Cosmic Moon Power!" The white light slammed into him, rocking his systems. Alarms howled in his head as the field dampers fought against an energy they had no way of dealing with and he fell to earth.
When his optical systems came back on line, he found them gathered around him. Mercury had an Ice Spear in each hand, Fire crackled around Mars', and lighting arced up and down Jupiter's arms, concentrated in her fists.
"Who are you?" Jupiter demanded.
"Yeah." The others chimed in.
"That is classified information." The Knight replied, starting to sit up. Jupiter calmly planted her foot on his chest and pushed him back down.
"We don't really give a damn." She said quietly, holding her hand over his eye plate. "You've got something that belonged to a friend of ours and we are extremely interested in how you acquired it." Tiny bolts leapt off her fingers, licking at the red metal of his helmet.
"In all honesty Miss Kino, I'm at a loss of how to explain it myself." Lita drew back, startled. It was enough for the knight as he lunged forward, shoving her off him as he launched himself into the air.
"Cosmic Moon Power!" The light hit him again.
"Ahhh!" He hit the ground and white light began to snake around the edges of his vision. No.
"Armor shutting down. Power drained." The computer informed him. NO! Not now!
"The Senshi watched, half in horror, half astonishment as the knight was consumed in white light. White light that slowly faded away as it moved up his body to his outstretched right arm, where it reformed into a cane topped with a glass orb.
"Conrad." Mina snarled, clenching her fists as she watched from her place of concealment.
Seekay stood immobile, watching as the strange child defeated Speedra. Beside him, Bertie also watched, her arms folded across her chest.
Mirna.... Seekay breathed and turned away from the veiwing crystal.
"Mirna?" Berite asked.
A member of a race of dimensional beings who wield vast power. Fortunulty, they can only do it on a small scale and how they do it is shaped by the subconious of their host. Seekay was silent for a moment. Mirna is child, that makes her useful. Another pause. In one week's time, Malachite and a few Black Moon droids are to launch an attack on Tokyo. Since only the Inners are at the school, one may assume the Outers and their allies are covering Tokyo. When things get to hot, Pluto or Nephrite will undoubtedly be dispatched to bring the Inner Senshi back with him. Mirna will do the rest. Bertie nodded and saluted before vanishing.
"How long Conrad? How long?" Mina turned on her heel, driven by cold fury and a touch of icy fear.
"Since David's Death." Conrad walked over to his computer and inserted a CD- ROM into the drive. "I want you to see something." The Senshi gathered around. Conrad's fingers danced on the keyboard and David suddenly appeared in a window on the screen.
"Hey Conrad. I'm not sure how much you've seen before this so bear with me since there's a message at the end of this for a special group of friends." He paused and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. You've heard about these Senshi in Japan right? Well they're real, and Mina is one of them. Yes. That Mina. There's a whole story that goes along with that but I won't bore you with it, its all on the rest of the stuff I sent you. The reason I'm sharing this with you is that the Senshi have been captured by a nut named the Black Lady. I'm off to rescue them but I've got this creepy feeling I won't be coming back. What I've sent you is everything I have on the Senshi and their equipment. Schematics, psyche profiles, everything. There's another reason as well. If, for any reason Dad has to leave, like because I died, your dad will be sent as his replacement, that means Aunt Mary, Shelly and you will get dragged along. When you get here, I want you to show this to the Senshi, and then I want you to help them in any way shape or form you can."
He paused and took a deep breath. "What I'm about to say is for the Senshi. Serena, you have the potential in you to great things, not just what you are destined to do, but that you are capable of so much more then that. Don't ignore your potential, you'll suffer in the long run. Amy. You are the voice of reason. Don't lose sight of that and good luck with Greg and your medical career. Raye." He paused. "Raye....." Another pause. "Its difficult to know what to say except thanks for listening. You really helped me to put some perspective on things that have been bothering me. Lita. Next time you see some Negatrash, give 'em one for me."
"Sure thing," Lita whispered.
"Mina...." The others drew back and Mina stepped forward. "Mina, the light in my soul, the Alpha to my Omega...My other half. I know you must be grieving for me. Please don't. I'm...someplace better now and I'm waiting for you. Don't rush to join me, we have all eternity. Live your life, enjoy each day, and open up your heart to love. You are the Senshi of love, don't let grief erase that."
He blew her a kiss. "I love you Mina."
"I love you too." Mina whispered then buried her face in a pillow and sobbed.
"Well, that's it for me." David paused. "Good Luck guys." The movie ended, leaving the Senshi to stare at their new ally.
Elsewhere on campus...
Shelly hummed to herself as she finished writing a particularly offensive and foul note to the general public on the wall of girls bathroom in the english department. Putting the marker away, she pulled a rubber washer from her pocket and popped it in her mouth, chewing and swallowing as she walked out of the room.
"Mirna has been released."
"Excellent."
"I just want to know how he did it!" Myers seethed as he paced in his office.
"Calm down Fred, or you'll give yourself a heart attack." Said Anita Blanding, his secretary. "What makes you so sure the Howard boy is responsible?"
Who else could burn that message into the field only to have it erased by the time Chris got back?!"
"Fred, I think you're being paranoid. He isn't the only prankster at this school."
"No, but he's the most notorious, and as always, I can't prove he did it."
"No I suppose you can't." She was silent for a while. "Fred?"
"Yes?"
"Do you suppose the sky really is green and we're all color-blind?" The look Myers gave her could have melted lead.
It wasn't Mina Anio's reaction that surprised her friends and teammates so much as the savagery of it.
In fact, the only thing keeping the blond junior from killing her opponent was the grip of the tall brown haired girl who was standing behind her, her hands on each of Mina's biceps. It easily looked as though the brown haired one was having no trouble restraining the angry Miss Anio. But a closer look revealed that Mina's captor was straining and was fighting a losing battle.
"LET ME GO! DAMN YOU!" Mina shrieked, her blue eyes wild. "LET ME GO LITA OR I SWEAR I'LL BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU!" Lita tightened her grip.
"Calm down Mina." She said for what must have been the fiftieth time. In the back of her mind, she could not help noting that the scene on the soccer field had been much different barely a minute before.
The Score had been tied forty to forty with barely a minute left to go before the first game of the school season between Fugimya Academy and their opponent, Kyoto High School was over. Lita Kino, goalie for the Fugimya Academy soccer team looked over at her friend Mina.
"Quite the game huh?" She asked as she pushed her sweat matted hair out of her eyes.
"Yep." replied the blond haired girl as she moved into position.
Even afterwards, Lita couldn't be sure how it happened towards the end. The ball flew into play, the opposing team got control and passed it around the defense while the rest broke through the line.
With most of her teammates charging after the ball and Kyoto high in control and coming down the field fast. Lita set herself to meet the inevitable power kick that would send the ball hurtling towards her.
During the game they had discovered that Kyoto had a predictable but impressive bag of tricks. This one had kept them high in the district standings.
On paper it was simple. Kyoto got control of the ball and maneuvered it around the defensive line while their offense, made up of the biggest team members, rushed the defensive line. Once they broke through, the fastest one got the ball and ran like hell for the goal. To counter, all Fugimya had to do, was prevent the ball from getting around the defensive line which would effectively run out the clock and then they could simply put the ball into Kyto's goal in overtime using their own tactics against them
Of course, that was on paper, and as any man or woman who has ever fought in a military campaign can tell you, what happened on paper had a stubborn tendency never to adhere to real life.
What had actually happened was more akin to a football game then soccer.
Fugimya's coach had told his team to watch for this tactic and when they brought it out, to follow the ball. What they hadn't expected was for the girl with the ball to kick it over her head to her teammate behind her who then kicked the width of the field to whoever was down there.
It had been completely on the spur of the moment and it worked. By the time Fugimya had figured out where the ball went, it had been kicked back to the center of the field and Kyto's fastest runner, a girl named Kyione, had the ball and was driving it towards Lita.
That was where things got blurry.
Running hard behind Kyione was the best, most popular athlete at Kyoto, a tall, curvaceous raven haired girl named Ayeka. Her reputation was that she was an arrogant bitch more concerned with her popularity then actual schoolwork.
As Lita would later tell the police, it happened something like this:
Kiyone approached the goal with Ayeka close behind.
Kiyone feinted right just long enough to force Lita to commit to a lunge for the ball before dodging left.
Ayeka approached the ball and Mina rushed her in order to block the kick accidentally putting her hand under the other girl's chin and pushing up.
Instinctively, Ayeka punched back as the ball got tangled up in their feet. Both girls fell as the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the game.
As the girls got to their feet, Aykea started insulting Mina, calling her names and insulting her looks, clothes and ancestry
Mina had returned it.
That's when it got ugly.
Spurred on by a girl who had a cousin in Tokyo, Ayeka insulted the one thing Mina held dear. She insulted David Jones.
As the police would later learn, David was Mina's boyfriend. They had loved each other deeply and when he fell off of a cliff it had all but shattered her sanity. Since then, Mina had been on special medication to control her depression and had undergone a week of therapy.
The only reason she was on the Soccer team was that the Academy shrink had thought she might benefit from competitive sports. She had been too. Physical activity had been doing wonders for her, until Ayeka committed the unforgivable sin. She insulted the closest thing to Mina's heart.
Mina had flown into a rage and viciously attacked her, her fists flying as she screamed incomprehensible insults and accusations.
Aykea had a black eye and a cut and swollen lip by the time Lita had grabbed Mina and hauled her back.
Now that we're all up to speed, lets move on.
"LITA! LET ME GO NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL BEAT YOUR FACE IN SO DEEP YOU'LL HAVE TO WALK BACKWARDS JUST TO SEE!" Mina's eyes were wild and spittle flew from her mouth. She wasn't even speaking Japanese anymore, but her native english. "DAMNIT! LET GO!" Mina twisted out of her friends grip and launched into Ayeka.
Lita rushed into help when a fist flew into her range of vision and hit her head. Everything went black.
She awoke on a bed to find Serena sitting at her bedside eating a bag of cookies.
"What happened?"
"You got punched in the head. How are you feeling?"
"Thirsty." Serena handed her a water bottle.
"Thanks." Cold sweet water flowed down her throat. "Where's Mina?" Serena pointed. Following the finger, Lita could see her friend lying in a bed, an IV stuck in her arm and strapped down.
"She laid out two paramedics before they could get a sedative into her." Serena said, a chuckle in her voice despite the seriousness of her statement.
"Is she gonna be arrested?"
"Nope, and you can thank Raye and Amy for that. They talked Kyoto into not pressing charges if Fugimya took Mina off the team."
"Damnit." Lita said, shaking her head. "She was doing so well too." Serena nodded agreement.
At that point, a man she could only assume to be a doctor walked in.
"Ah, I see one of our patients is awake." He said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Worn out mostly, like I got a bad night's sleep." She admitted. He nodded as he planted a stethoscope against her back.
"Breathe in. Well that's normal, get a full nights sleep and take it easy for a few days and you should be right as rain. Breathe out slowly." She did as he instructed.
"What about my friend?"
"Heh. She'll be okay once she wakes up. Breathe in. She's on a light sedative for a few hours. Breathe out."
"Why the straps?"
"Breathe in. Standard procedure for violent patients. Breathe out."
"But she's not violent." Lita said, "Well not usually."
"Breathe in. Oh? Is that right? Breathe out."
"Yeah. Her boyfriend got killed when he fell off a cliff. They were really close."
"I see." He said as a nurse came in and began fastening a blood pressure cuff around her arm. "So she's like that whenever someone mentions him?"
"Usually she just breaks into tears."
"Usually." Lita nodded.
"But the other girl insulted David and his memory and the knowledge he'd want her to go on is the only thing keeping her from going bananas and trying to follow him to wherever he is now."
Charwar...
Bertie kneeled before Seekay. The entire host of the Negaverses and the Black Moons was assembled this day and she could feel their presence at her back. Her ears picked up mumbling and hushed conversation. She fought down the urge to turn around and use her powers to push them back.
Rubius. Report
"We have done as you commanded us Master. We have started at the Southmost tip of the Island and worked our way Northward. Already, the slaves are sorting the two tons we have collected and we should have to go no further then Tokyo to find what we need."
Excellent. Bertie. Report.
"We have landed and our scouting remotes have completed mapping the school and the surrounding terrain. We need forty-eight more hours to program our implants and mapping systems with the data and then we can take the school and crush the Senshi in their beds."
No. I want to draw the Crystal Knight out into the open. The School is not to be attacked except on my specific orders.He paused for a moment. Await a time when they have all left the school. Attack them while they are at their destination and pay close attention to the Crystal Knight's tactics. I want to know who he is!
"Yes Master." The words had barely left her lips when Seekay vanished. Bertie stood, straightening her tunic. "Sergeant." A being that could only be described as the result of an unholy union between a human and a warthog strode out of the crowd.
A Porcine. They made up the bulk of Seekay's ground troops and were very effective and precise killers, provided you explained to them exactly what you wanted them to do. They weren't very bright, but they did what they were told.
Bertie made a gesture and a holographic terrain map of Fugimya academy and the surrounding terrain appeared between them.
She tapped a spot on the map that lay just a kilometer outside the school grounds. "Select a droid that can function well in this terrain and a squad of seasoned forest veterans. Go here and await my instructions which will tell you where and when to attack. When you do, you will attack only the Sailor Senshi unless the humans fight back. If they do, you can do whatever you want to them, but only to the ones who attack you.
"While you are waiting you are to feed on only plants and animals and under no circumstances are you to get near a human until the time comes to attack. If contact with a human or humans is impossible, capture them alive and contact me." The Porcine nodded and waddled off.
"Getting soft in your old age Bertie?" Rubius's voice said behind her.
"I'm not going to draw any unessacary attention to ourselves. You know as well as I do that if left on their own, the Porcines would destroy Japan.
"The Master has plans for that place and I for one, would like to be alive to see the day he rules this world instead of being dead or tortured because I let the Porcines run loose." With that, she warped the fabric of space-time and teleported back to her ship leaving Rubius to stare at the terrain map and lost in thought.
"...So the farmer says, 'Nope. Ya got it all wrong there sheriff. See, this here is the pig and that's my wife!'" Serena and Lita both burst into laughter.
"Oh Bhudda." Lita said, wiping her eyes. "Serena, where did you hear that?"
"Darien told it to me. Said he read it on the net."
"Its found at useless jokes dot com." Serena and Lita looked up. Conrad stood at the door. Serena stood up.
"I have to get going Lita. I'll be back later. Kay?" She waved and ran out. Conrad came in and sat in the seat Serena had vacated.
"I heard about what happened at the game." His voice was laced with concern. "Are you alright?"
"Nothing a good nights sleep and a few days of R and R won't cure." She managed a wan smile.
"That's good." He paused. "I was worried about you."
"You were?" He nodded, and hesitantly laid his hand on hers.
"Yeah. I was." They spent the rest of the time in silence, each gazing into each other's eyes, and thinking their own private thoughts.
When Serena returned, she found them both asleep, his hand curled gently around hers.
Air seared Mina's lungs as she ran. But no matter how hard she ran, the safety of the portal to Earth kept moving back, always staying just out of her reach.
Behind her, the shadow. The shadow with the red eyes kept coming, no matter what she threw in its path, it just kept coming.
"Get back!" She screamed at it. "For God's Sake, Get Back!" The portal was suddenly replaced by a wall.
She was trapped.
She spun, planting her back against the wall as the shadow loomed in front of her.
You are mine Mina Anio, MINE! The shadow's voice was cold and metallic.
"No!" She cried, pushing herself back against the wall, her eyes darting about for something, anything, she could use to defend herself with. Then she saw the wheelchair. She ran for it, feeling the cold wind of the shadow as it lunged for her. She grabbed the wheelchair and hurled it at the shadow with all the strength she had. It caught it with a hand made of black metal.
A wheelchair? You think to beat me with an aid for the WEAK? It ripped it apart. You have nowhere left to go Mina. It lunged for her and Mina screamed.
The blackness of the shadow was replaced with the dimly lit ceiling as Mina's body jerked upright against something holding her down. She looked around as panic raged through her system.
A nurse appeared in her field of vision and held her down, murmuring soothing words.
"Wha-where?"
"You're at Kyoto General."
"Kyoto?" Then memory flooded back to her. "Am I going to be arrested?"
"No. And you can thank Raye and Amy for that. But you have been banned from all competitive sports." Conrad stood in the doorway. "Actually, I'm not sure if you were in any real danger of being arrested."
"Huh?"
"I've been talking to students and teachers and it seems Miss Maboshi, that's who you beat to a pulp by the way, was getting far to big for her britches. Even her parents secretly approved I think. They made some noise, but backed off short of demanding your head."
"This world is way too screwed up." Mina said as she looked at her restraints. "Hey, can I get out of these?" The nurse hesitated a moment and then released the straps.
Mina sat up, rubbing her wrists where the straps had been cutting into her skin, then she noticed the IV needle. "Hey, what's this?"
"I believe it known by its more common name, Prozac."
"Prozac?" Conrad nodded.
"Prozac." Conrad said, nodding sagely.
Fugimya Academy, three days later, 7 am.
Rob looked over at Conrad as some of the students carefully spread the white, milk like liquid all over the floor of the rec room that was Isaki Hall's top two floors.
"What did you say that stuff was again?"
"I'm calling it Insta-Ice. By tomorrow morning, we will have ice across the floor, and up the stairs and on the upper floor."
"Its insane. Its crazy. Its not exactly instant, is it?" Conrad ignored that.
"It will work." Conrad said thinking back to this morning when had been watching his cereal float in milk and it occurred to him that if one could combine liquid nitrogen and Dry Ice, then add a third substance to keep the mixture stable, then he would have an ice-like substance that would go from liquid, to solid and then to gas.
It had taken him most of the day to come up with the third substance, but he had done it and now his creation was being applied towards the best thing to use it for. A skating party.
Breakfast, 8am
Lita sat down at the table the Senshi shared for their meals. Serena had her nose buried in the paper, Mina was reading, Raye was finishing off her math homework, and Amy was calmly breakfasting on some kind of wheat cereal.
"Hey. Check this out." Serena said and began reading aloud. "They've been called the rivals of the Kennedy clan, Modern day Montagues and Capulets. The Moooresdvelts and Kinocans, long known in the American East Coast high social circles for their long standing cold war, admitted today that Mooresdvelt Patriarch Sir Larry Howard Mooresdvelt and Kinocan Matriarch Abigail Henry Kinocan are both dying of bone marrow cancer and their life expectancy is being counted in months, if not weeks." Serena closed the paper, her face slightly scared. Her great-grandmother, then nearly six months pregnant. had been on the outer edges of Hiroshima when the Americans had dropped the bomb in World War Two. She had died only a few years later. Her children hadn't been born with it, but since then, the word cancer held a special terror for the Tuzinko Family. "Cancer..." She shuddered and folded up the paper, setting it aside.
"Goody. I hope it hurts." Everyone looked at Lita.
"What?"
"Those families." Lita waved her hand at the paper. "I hope they go out screaming in pain."
"Lita, that's a horrible thing to wish on someone." Amy said.
"No. Its what they deserve. " Lita said as she got up and walked away.
History class........
"...Any questions?. Good. Now before dismissal, I want to remind all of you that the buses for the field trip to the Himinyagi Archeological site tomorrow are leaving at Seven AM sharp. So make sure you're out at the boarding point by Six Forty-Five." The bell clanged. "And remember, I want to see a full report on what you learn from the visit tomorrow on my desk by six pm Saturday!" But the teacher's words were lost as the students flooded out the door en masse.
"I'm really looking forward to the trip tomorrow." Amy said as she, Conrad, Lita, and Mina awaited the elevator that would whisk them up to their dorm floor. " I hear they have some fascinating samples of jade from feudal times." The doors pinged open and the four teenagers filed in.
"I got it." Conrad said, hitting the buttons. The ride up was spent mostly in silence.
"Hey!" Mina exclaimed realizing that the elevator had passed their floor. "What the hell is going on?" She pushed Conrad aside and checked the controls. Okay, Conrad." She said turning around. "Explain why--Why are you taking off your shoes?" Conrad flashed her a smile.
"I'm going skating."
"Skating?" Behind her, the doors slid open, revealing that the rec room had been coated in ice. Students were gliding around, and riding sleds down the staircase. Conrad took a running start and slid out across the ice.
"Come on!" He called. "Lets go skating!" Mina shut her jaw as Lita sprang forward and slid across the ice to join Conrad.
"Conrad!" Rob skidded up beside him. "This ice turned out so great!" He wrapped an arm around Conrad's shoulders. "How did you do it?"
"Oh sure." Conrad said, raising his eyes skyward in an expression of mock exasperation. "I tell you. You tell somebody else," He pushed off Rob and glided back, raising his arms in the air as he braked and did a three- sixty. "and before you know it, we're in the middle of another Ice Age!" He skated off.
"What's all this supposed to be?" Making his way across the ice was the Resident manager of the seventh floor, a tall nerdish looking senior. "I demand someone answer me!" Conrad skidded back up. The Senior looked at him. "I should have known. What's all this?"
"This?" Conrad pointed at the floor." This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold." He turned to the others and pointed at the senior. "This? This is Bob. This what happens when sexually frustrated squirrels marry." He took off again.
"Ha ha." Bob said, uttering the statement used only by those with no sense of humor who can't come up with any kind of reply. "Who's going to clean it up?" He demanded.
"You won't have to." Conrad said, coming to a stop. "Its going to go from solid form directly to gas." He paused and then crouched and tapped the ice with a pen. "I think." He muttered.
"Wow." Bob said, missing Conrad's last two words. "What is it?"
"Its very rare and very unstable." Rob said.
"Just like you." Conrad added. Bob ignored that.
"You're sure it'll go from solid form directly to gas?" He asked, more concerned about having to justify a cleaning bill then the water damage. Conrad nodded.
"Sure." He paused and gave the ice a thoughtful look. "Unless it explodes first."
"Ex-Explode?" Bob began inching back towards the elevator, trying to make it look casual. "Well as long as you're sure it will turn into gas, I'll just be on my way." Conrad was still staring down at the ice.
"You know," He said in a thoughtful tone. "if this was to explode, then it would probably vaporize this entire floor." Bob stopped trying to be casual and all but raced for the door, only to get knocked over by a passing sled.
"Uh, Conrad?" Mina ventured.
"Hm?"
"You were just kidding about this stuff exploding weren't you?" She asked, as the ice began to turn into gas. "Conrad?"
"Alright, I'll see your four and raise you two." Lita slapped her cards down on the TV tray, revealing a four of a kind. "Call." Rob had a small two pair, Mina a three of a kind, Conrad a full house.
"How do you do it? Mina asked, throwing her cards down on the table. Conrad shrugged and gave no answer. He just, as always, smiled.
Serena sat back on her heels and wiped some sweat from her brow. The fall afternoon sun beat down on the site, a small valley partially excavated from hardened lava and she was very much aware of the volcano rising over the site like a small tower.
"What are we doing this for again?" Lita, wearing a cap and sunglasses, looked up from where she was carefully excavating a shard of pottery.
"Extra Credit." She said, removing her cap and wiping the sweat from her eyes.
"I can do without this kind of credit." Serena muttered and stood, heading for the central tent.
It was cool inside the central tent where Amy, Conrad, and Dr. Rei Muzino, the head of the dig, were gathered around the computer used to catalog the items unearthed.
"...what about routing around the OS?"
"What?"
From there, the conversation degenerated into a highly technical argument over "software pathways" and "partition dividers".
Serena, understanding maybe one word out of twenty, shook her head and left the tent.
She paused to take a drink of water and then set off across the site.
The purpose of the dig, according to Dr. Muzino, was to excavate the castle of Dynimo Hiroginzhou Himinyagi, a forward thinking warlord from feudal Japan who built his castle up against a mountain then burrowed into it, intent on using the caves for storage and cover should he be attacked.
Sadly, while digging a new cave, workers plowed into a lava tube and triggered a river of lava that filled up the valley. Only a few serfs and soldiers escaped to tell the tale. The Dynimo had perished.
Pushing the facts out of her mind, Serena ducked to get into the castle temple, where she found Raye carefully cleaning something.
"Hey Raye, whatcha doin?"
"Be careful!" Raye barked. "You almost stepped in my work area." Serena carefully repositioned her foot.
"Sorry." Raye gave her an apologetic look.
"Never mind. Come take a look at this." She held up what looked like a flat piece of stone, slightly bent.
"What is it?"
"Its a stone lantern. When a Samurai took a life, he carved a stone lantern in atonement."
"I thought Samurai committed Hari-Kari for atonement." Raye shook her head.
"Only when they had been seriously dishonored."
"Oh." Serena said, making a face.
"Hey Guys." Mina said, ducking into the doorway. "What's up?" She managed a wan smile at them, but her eyes remained dead with emotional pain.
"Stone lanterns." Serena said, grinning.
"Yeah." Raye said, and held out the stone piece. Mina took it.
"Damn. Its heavy--" She broke off as something on the stone caught her eye. "Raye? Lend me the brush." Raye handed over the brush and Mina began dusting off one specific spot. Her eyes actually showing expression again. "Oh my..." She said softly, and then blew hard.
"What is it Mina?" Serena asked. "What did you find?" Mina said nothing. Just stared.
"Mina?" Raye asked.
"Hand me your transformation pen." Mina's voice was strangled. Raye blinked but handed over the small cylinder topped with an ornate crest. Mina glanced from the pen to the stone and back several times before handing the pen back to Raye.
"Mina?" Serena's voice was soft. "What is it?" Mina didn't answer, but turned the stone to face them. There, carved into the stone's surface was the symbol of Mars, backed by the crescent moon sigil that was Serena's own.
"Interesting." Rei Muzino, a tall, slim woman, with black hair and a studious expression examined the stone piece. "Iwo!" She called over her shoulder. "We have another one!"
"Another one?" Conrad's voice carried a hint of curiosity, but Mina knew him well enough to see his eyes light with intense interest. Dr. Muzino nodded.
"Hai." She led the way to the back of the tent to where three other items sat. Each was another fragment of stone, each with a different symbol on it. But all the symbols were backed by a crescent moon.
"Weird." Mina's voice was deceptively level.
"Hai." Muzino said. "Its very strange, and a mystery. But these are the only things we've found so far."
"Perhaps the answers are still buried under the lava." Conrad said.
"That's our hope." Muzino said. "All we can do is--She broke off as the tent shook from the shockwave of an explosion.
"What was that?" Muzino cried, grabbing the table, trying to steady it so the priceless artifacts wouldn't fall over and break. "Are we under attack?"
"Who would attack a dig site?" Her assistant yelled.
"I don't know!" She yelled back. "Conrad, Amy, you and your friends had better stay here." There was no answer. "Conrad? Amy?" The students were gone.
Conrad watched Mina and her friends take off, a bemused expression on his face.
But the moment they were out of sight, the bemused expression vanished and he turned and headed into a nearby cave.
It was a short shallow cave, more like a long narrow depression in the side of the valley then a cave, but it was out of sight and that's exactly what he needed. Smirking, he gripped his cane and slammed the glass orb against a rock.
Lightning flashed, and once more, the Moon Kingdom's Champion walked the Earth.
Leaping over a rock, the Senshi found themselves confronting a small army of brutish looking half man half warthog soldiers. Floating in the air behind them, Bertie and a female youma stood, watching as the soldiers fired randomly across the dig site.
"What are those things?" Jupiter demanded.
"They appear to be descended from an animal similar to an Earth Warthog and then genetically enhanced for combat." Mercury said, working the scanning equipment built into her armor.
"You mean there's some planet out there full of those things?"
"More likely another earth." Mercury said. "We are dealing with dimensional travelers."
"Very good., Mercury." Bertie said. "Meet the Porcines. The Master's shock troops and this," She indicated the youma. "is Speedra."
"How nice of them to make introductions." Mercury snarled. "ICE SPEAR" She flung her hand forward, sending the spear hurtling towards it's target. Bertie batted it aside.
"Speedra. Porcines. Attack!"
She awoke. The bad place was gone. She was free and there was no sign of the mean man that had put her there. She needed to be inside someone or the Black would claim her. She couldn't be claimed by the Black. The Black would make her Go Away. She didn't want to Go Away. She must find someone.
Five very battered Senshi watched as the last Porcine fell.
"I can't move anymore." Sailor Moon said in a tired whisper. Jupiter nodded.
"My shoulder is killin me."
"Duck!" Mercury shrieked, shoving Sailor Moon aside as wind howled through where she had been standing. Speedra cackled as she skidded to a stop and turned, confronting her prey.
"Speedra." She hissed, drawing the phrase out.
"Speedra needs a new vocabulary." Said a new voice.
"Speedra?" said the youma looking around questioningly as the owner of the voice, a figure in red and black armor landed, lance in hand. "Speedra!" The youma shouted and launched itself at the Knight, talons outstretched.
The next few minutes was like a bullfight as Speedra and the Knight tested his reflexes against her speed.
"Speedra." The youma snarled.
"Hello." chirped a new voice.
"Speedra?" Both combatants turned to look at the being standing there. She was just under a meter tall, with spiky purple hair and blue skin. Her eyes were pale pink and very large. She wore what appeared to be a robe of many layers and her six fingered hands were long fingered.
"And you would be...."
"Mirna." She said and smiled up at him as a child might. "What are you doing?"
"Punishing this bad person." For reasons he was unable to fathom, the Knight was positive he was dealing with some sort of child.
"Speedra!" The youma howled, shoving him away and lunging for the child.
"No!" Then Knight reached forward, attempting to stop her, but his hands closed on empty air.
"Bad lady." Mirna stepped aside, letting the youma collide with an anvil. "Bad Lady go away." Speedra suddenly found herself tied to a rocket.
"Speedra? Speedra!" She howled, her words lost as the engine ignited, launching her into the air. Mirna beamed at the knight.
"Bad Lady all gone." She beamed. "Bye Bye." Then she walked away. Curious. The knight thought, and then put such thoughts away. He would have to change back before the girls found him.
"Hold it right there buster." He turned to find the Senshi confronting him. Blast! He had forgotten they were there.
The jets roared, and he rose into the air. But Sailor Moon was ready for him.
"Cosmic Moon Power!" The white light slammed into him, rocking his systems. Alarms howled in his head as the field dampers fought against an energy they had no way of dealing with and he fell to earth.
When his optical systems came back on line, he found them gathered around him. Mercury had an Ice Spear in each hand, Fire crackled around Mars', and lighting arced up and down Jupiter's arms, concentrated in her fists.
"Who are you?" Jupiter demanded.
"Yeah." The others chimed in.
"That is classified information." The Knight replied, starting to sit up. Jupiter calmly planted her foot on his chest and pushed him back down.
"We don't really give a damn." She said quietly, holding her hand over his eye plate. "You've got something that belonged to a friend of ours and we are extremely interested in how you acquired it." Tiny bolts leapt off her fingers, licking at the red metal of his helmet.
"In all honesty Miss Kino, I'm at a loss of how to explain it myself." Lita drew back, startled. It was enough for the knight as he lunged forward, shoving her off him as he launched himself into the air.
"Cosmic Moon Power!" The light hit him again.
"Ahhh!" He hit the ground and white light began to snake around the edges of his vision. No.
"Armor shutting down. Power drained." The computer informed him. NO! Not now!
"The Senshi watched, half in horror, half astonishment as the knight was consumed in white light. White light that slowly faded away as it moved up his body to his outstretched right arm, where it reformed into a cane topped with a glass orb.
"Conrad." Mina snarled, clenching her fists as she watched from her place of concealment.
Seekay stood immobile, watching as the strange child defeated Speedra. Beside him, Bertie also watched, her arms folded across her chest.
Mirna.... Seekay breathed and turned away from the veiwing crystal.
"Mirna?" Berite asked.
A member of a race of dimensional beings who wield vast power. Fortunulty, they can only do it on a small scale and how they do it is shaped by the subconious of their host. Seekay was silent for a moment. Mirna is child, that makes her useful. Another pause. In one week's time, Malachite and a few Black Moon droids are to launch an attack on Tokyo. Since only the Inners are at the school, one may assume the Outers and their allies are covering Tokyo. When things get to hot, Pluto or Nephrite will undoubtedly be dispatched to bring the Inner Senshi back with him. Mirna will do the rest. Bertie nodded and saluted before vanishing.
"How long Conrad? How long?" Mina turned on her heel, driven by cold fury and a touch of icy fear.
"Since David's Death." Conrad walked over to his computer and inserted a CD- ROM into the drive. "I want you to see something." The Senshi gathered around. Conrad's fingers danced on the keyboard and David suddenly appeared in a window on the screen.
"Hey Conrad. I'm not sure how much you've seen before this so bear with me since there's a message at the end of this for a special group of friends." He paused and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. You've heard about these Senshi in Japan right? Well they're real, and Mina is one of them. Yes. That Mina. There's a whole story that goes along with that but I won't bore you with it, its all on the rest of the stuff I sent you. The reason I'm sharing this with you is that the Senshi have been captured by a nut named the Black Lady. I'm off to rescue them but I've got this creepy feeling I won't be coming back. What I've sent you is everything I have on the Senshi and their equipment. Schematics, psyche profiles, everything. There's another reason as well. If, for any reason Dad has to leave, like because I died, your dad will be sent as his replacement, that means Aunt Mary, Shelly and you will get dragged along. When you get here, I want you to show this to the Senshi, and then I want you to help them in any way shape or form you can."
He paused and took a deep breath. "What I'm about to say is for the Senshi. Serena, you have the potential in you to great things, not just what you are destined to do, but that you are capable of so much more then that. Don't ignore your potential, you'll suffer in the long run. Amy. You are the voice of reason. Don't lose sight of that and good luck with Greg and your medical career. Raye." He paused. "Raye....." Another pause. "Its difficult to know what to say except thanks for listening. You really helped me to put some perspective on things that have been bothering me. Lita. Next time you see some Negatrash, give 'em one for me."
"Sure thing," Lita whispered.
"Mina...." The others drew back and Mina stepped forward. "Mina, the light in my soul, the Alpha to my Omega...My other half. I know you must be grieving for me. Please don't. I'm...someplace better now and I'm waiting for you. Don't rush to join me, we have all eternity. Live your life, enjoy each day, and open up your heart to love. You are the Senshi of love, don't let grief erase that."
He blew her a kiss. "I love you Mina."
"I love you too." Mina whispered then buried her face in a pillow and sobbed.
"Well, that's it for me." David paused. "Good Luck guys." The movie ended, leaving the Senshi to stare at their new ally.
Elsewhere on campus...
Shelly hummed to herself as she finished writing a particularly offensive and foul note to the general public on the wall of girls bathroom in the english department. Putting the marker away, she pulled a rubber washer from her pocket and popped it in her mouth, chewing and swallowing as she walked out of the room.
"Mirna has been released."
"Excellent."