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Chapter 1 : The Trouble Begins
Mina and Artemis followed Zero back down the central hall as
their tour of the Justice Agency's headquarters began. Mina looked at all
the doors that lined the hallway, then looked at Zero.
"What are all these doors?" she asked him.
"Those are the dormitories," Zero answered, "the private rooms
for every agent working here. You'll have a room just like one of these,
that only you can get into unless you let someone else in. I'll show you
your room at the end of the tour"
"Do we ever get to leave this place"
"You can leave the facility at any time, but you must remain in
constant touch with this place to be ready to act on a moment's notice"
When they had reached the center lobby, Zero made a left turn into
another hall.
"How many agents work in this organization, Zero?" asked Artemis.
"Exactly 1000 work in the field, plus many more trainees and
administration," he responded. "Our first stop is the Lab. I need to pick
something up there."
After walking down a hall similar to the previous one, they came
to a large door. Zero looked at the guards, and they could tell right
away who he was. They opened the door, and the three of them walked in.
Inside, people in pure white lab coats were study and experimenting with
various objects. One person stood out the most: A man wearing large red
goggles and a green suit that looked slightly similar to Zero's armor.
He was handling a small stick-shaped object that was slightly larger than
the palm of your hand. Zero approached the man and tapped him on his
shoulder.
"Not now, I'm busy," the man said, brushing Zero off. Zero tapped
him again. "I said leave me---" he turned and saw Zero. "Oh, hi there,
Zero. Didn't see you there"
"Hey, Douglas," Zero said with a slightly softer tone than he
used when talking to Mina. "Is it ready yet"
"I just have to make a few adjustments, and it will be good as
new." Douglas fiddled with the stick in his hands a little more, then
handed it to Zero. "Here's your beam saber. I'm such a genius. After all,
I made the thing"
"What is that thing?" Mina asked looking at Zero, who was closely
examining it.
"I've never seen you here before," Douglas said to Mina. "Are you
a new recruit from training"
"No, my name is Mina. I was brought here by Signas to help you
guys"
"Is that so? Nice to meet you, Mina, I'm Douglas. To answer your
question from before, that thing's a beam saber, the ultimate melee
weapon. You see, it can---" Before he could finish, a beam of blue light
shot out of the stick in Zero's hand and zipped past Mina's face as she
jumped back.
"Looks like it still works," Zero said looking at Mina, smiling.
She was trying to catch her breath from the sudden fright.
"Mina, are you alright?" Artemis asked.
"I'm...just...fine," Mina said with an agitated look on her face.
'So that's how he wants to play, huh?' she thought, looking at Zero.
"Thanks, Douglas," said Zero. "See you later." He turned to Mina.
"We're heading to the Statistics room next. Stop goofing around and come
on." He headed for the exit without her.
"Ooo, I wish I could just smack him!" Mina said tightening her
fist.
"Give him time, Mina," Douglas said. "He's a nice guy if you hang
around him for a long time... well, sorta. See you later. It was nice to
meet you." He walked off to go help the other scientists.
"Well, let's go Artemis," Mina said. She looked around, but
Artemis was nowhere to be found. "Artemis? Now where did he go? This is
starting to become a bad day for me." She shrugged and ran to the exit
after Zero.
When they made it to the center lobby, Zero just noticed that
Artemis was not with Mina. "Hey," he said, "where's the talking cat"
"I don't know," Mina said, "he disappeared when we are at the
lab"
"I'm sure someone will spot him later. For now, let's move on"
Before he could turn back around, the voice of a little girl could be
heard calling out. "Zero!" Suddenly, Zero found himself being hugged by a
little girl with long brown hair wearing a red and blue uniform and a red
beret.
"Who is this?" Mina asked. "With how tight she's holding on to
you, you'd think she was your sister"
"You wish!" Zero said, gently prying the girl off him. "What are
you doing here, Iris? You're supposed to be in class! How did you get out
this time"
"The instructor was busy lecturing another trainee, so that's
when I got out," Iris replied. "I was getting bored in there, and I
haven't seen you all day!" She looked at Mina. "Who's that"
"She's supposed to be my 'partner"
"WHAT!?" Iris jumped up and grabbed Zero by the collar of his
armor. "That can't be! I was going to be your partner when I finished my
training"
"Well, with you skipping your sessions, you'll never finish"
Iris let go of him. "You're mean!" She turned and walked up to
Mina. "You better not get any funny ideas with him or you'll have to
answer to me"
"Believe me, I have no intention," Mina said while giving Zero a
cold gaze. Just then, a man came up from behind Iris and grabbed her by
the back of the collar of her uniform.
"You think you can sneak off like that!?" the instructor said.
"You're in for a very long lecture when the training session is over!" He
carried her off as Iris groaned.
"Anyway, let's get moving," Zero said heading down yet another
hallway. Mina quietly followed.
After another long walk, They stopped in front of another large
door. Mina stretched her legs a little. "Why is everything have to be so
apart?" she asked.
"You ask too many questions," Zero said. "Besides, this is good
exercise. Your complaining proves how out-of-shape you are"
"You're doing that on purpose aren't you!?" she yelled at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he retorted calmly. He
approached the door as it slid open. Inside, it was nearly pitch black,
the only light coming from the hundreds of monitors lining the walls. As
in the lab, the people inside were totally absorbed into what they were
doing. Zero walked past the busy workers and towards a pair of girls; one
had short blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a light, pink and white
suit like Douglas and Zero; the other with short pink hair with a tuft of
white hair and blue eyes as well, wearing a light, white and orange suit
with the number 77 on her chestplate. Zero quietly snuck up on them and
gave a sharp whistle. They literally jumped out of their seats and turned
around.
"Don't do that!" the pink-haired girl shouted at him.
"You almost gave me a heart attack, Zero," said the blonde.
"Sorry about that," Zero said smiling. "I thought you two would
want to say hi to the new person. This is Mina, my new 'partner'. If you
can even call her one. She doesn't look very competent"
"You're so mean, Zero!" said the pink-haired girl.
"Glad I'm not the only that thinks that," said Mina.
"So you're Mina? Nice to meet you, my name's Nana. Glad someone
other than me can speak openly about what they think about him"
"And I'm Alia," added the blonde. "You're going to be Zero's new
partner? Then you'll be hearing a lot from us. I'm in charge of giving
Zero his orders and providing him with information"
"And I transmit combat data if he runs into any Neo Arcadia
soldiers. Since you'll be working with him from now on, you'll need
this." Nana handed her a small headset. "Put that on, and you and Zero
will hear everything we tell you"
"Thanks." Mina put on the headset. "Testing, testing," she said
tapping the mike. "Can you hear me"
"Clear as a whistle," Alia said. "Now you're ready to go on
missions." Suddenly, sirens sounded off throughout the entire facility.
Red lights flaring up made everything turn a deep red.
"Speak of the devil," said Zero. "What's going on, Alia"
"Scanning the city now," Alia said typing quickly on her console.
"Source of disturbance found. It looks like a massive blaze has broken
out downtown"
"A fire? That's it?" said Zero. "Let the fire department handle
it. We can't worry about small things like that"
"Let me finish," Alia said. "The source of the blaze is.
moving"
"What?" Mina and Zero looked closer at Alia's monitor. As she
said, the focal point of the massive flames was moving down the streets
leaving everything in it's path charred. "Wait a minute," Zero said.
"Zoom up on the source, Alia"
"I'll try." She typed some more on her console and the picture
was magnified several times. In the center of the flames was the shape of
a person. "There's someone, or something in there"
"All signs point to Neo Arcadia," said Zero. "I'm on it." He
quickly ran out of the room. Mina pulled out her transformation pen and
held it up into the air.
"Moon Power Transform!" In a bright flash of light, Mina had
reappeared as Sailor V, and ran off after Zero.
"Wow," Nana said as she watched. "That's impressive"
"I hope she can handle this," Alia said. "I don't think she knows
how dangerous Neo Arcadia soldiers are..."
Meanwhile, at downtown, people were running away from the
approaching flames. The flames continued down the street, scorching cars
and buildings like pieces of firewood. The figure from the center of the
blaze stepped out into the open, revealing itself to be a robot, with a
head shaped like a smokestack, fire shooting out the top, with two large
eyes peering out. It had two flame cannons for arms, and had an emblem
with a flame on its chest.
"Hah! Look at them run! Soon, they won't have anywhere to run,
and then I'll turn them into one big barbecue! Hahahah"
"Not if I have anything to say about that," called out a voice.
The robot looked around to see where it came from. Behind him stood Zero.
"What was that?" the robot said. "You think you can extinguish
Fireman's flames? Then you're seriously mistaken"
"Really?" Zero pulled out his beam saber. "We'll see." He began
to charge at Fireman. Fireman braced himself for the oncoming attack.
Just a few feet from making contact, another voice came from nowhere.
"Stop right there!" Zero was so startled that he tripped and fell
at Fireman's feet. They both looked up and saw Sailor V standing on top
of one the burnt buildings.
"Threatening these innocent people with your flames of
destruction is totally unforgiveable! I'm Sailor V, the soldter of love
and beauty, and I'll defeat you"
"Oh yeah, REAL SMOOTH TIMING!" Zero yelled at her. He looked up
real quick and saw Fireman aiming his flame cannons at his face. He
rolled away as the ground was set ablaze. Zero scrambled back onto his
feet and headed for cover.
"Nana," Zero said through the headset in his helmet, "have you
found any open spots on this guy? My one chance to end this quick just
went out the window"
"I'm looking in on it, Zero," Nana responded, "give me some more
time"
"Crap." Zero ran from cover to cover, trying to get closer to
Fireman. At the same time, Sailor V saw the opportune moment to strike at
Fireman. She leapt from the building and came down with a kick.
"Sailor V Kick!" Fireman turned around at the last moment and
cushioned her blow with his arm and pushed her away. She somersaulted and
landed on her feet. "So, that's the way you want it, huh?" She pulled out
her compact and aimed it at Fireman.
"Crescent Super Beam!" A large beam of light shot out from the
compact and straight for Fireman. He retaliated by holding out both his
arms.
"Fire Arm!!!" Two jets of fire shot out from the cannons on his
arms. The first blast struck the beam head on and neutralized it. Before
Sailor V could have a chance to react, the second blast shot just a few
inches past her. The pure intensity of the blast knocked her off her
feet and back into a wall.
"Pathetic," Fireman grunted. "You're even weaker than that other
one!" Sailor V was too weak to move, and could only look at him.
'I knew something like this was going to happen,' thought Zero.
'Looks like I don't have a choice.' He jumped out from his hiding spot
and charged for Fireman. He pulled out his beam saber again and tried to
take a swing at him. Fireman parried the blow with his arm. He took his
other arm and punched Zero in the stomach, knocking him back some.
'He's right,' Sailor V thought to herself. 'I am too weak. I
couldn't even lay a finger on him. What am I going to do now...?' Just
then, she felt someone brushing up against her. She looked down, and saw
Artemis. "Artemis... How did you"
"You have to stand and fight, Sailor V," said Artemis.
"But how?" she answered. "I don't even have enough strength to
get up"
"You always have the strength inside of you. You just have to
believe in your own abilities. Look deep inside of yourself, and release
that strength"
"Look inside me...?" Sailor V closed her eyes and concentrated.
She could feel a new warmth coming from inside of her. 'Is this what
Artemis was talking about?' she thought. 'I can feel it... I feel it
struggling... struggling to get out!' She opened her eyes as her body was
covered in light.
After being smacked around by Fireman, Zero was brought to his
knees. "Damn," he said, "this one is much stronger than any I've ever had
to fight before." He looked behind Fireman and saw Sailor V covered in
the light, and his eyes widened. Fireman saw this, and turned around. His
eyes also widened in amazement.
Sailor V slowly stood up as her wounds were healed. Her
transformation pen appeared in front of her, and changed shape. She
looked at it, then grabbed it. "I can feel my new power..." she said.
"Now, Sailor V," said Artemis, "Use your new power! Become the
true soldier of love and beauty!" Sailor V nodded and held her new pen
into the air.
"Venus Power, Make Up!" A surge of golden light flared out and
blinded Zero and Fireman. When the light faded, they both looked up and
saw Sailor V, who looked a little different. Her face mask was gone, her
blue neck bandanna and skirt were orange, and she had a gold tiara with
an orange jewel across her forehead.
"What's going on!?" Fireman said.
"That's something I'd like to know," said Zero.
"I am..." said Sailor V, "...the true soldier of love and beauty,
Sailor Venus! And in the name of my guardian planet of Venus, I will
punish you!" She held her arm into the air, and energy began to gather at
her fingertip.
'Something tells me I should move,' Zero thought as he ran away
from Fireman. Fireman turned around to see him running, and turned back
to Sailor Venus.
"I'll fry you before you have a chance to attack!" Fireman
shouted as he aimed his cannons at her.
Sailor Venus did not look worried at this gesture as more and
more energy came to her finger. She brought her arm back down and pointed
at Fireman.
"FIRE ARM!!!" Fireman yelled at the top of his lungs as two
gigantic jets of flame shot out of the cannons.
"CRESCENT BEAM!!!" Sailor Venus shout out in the same fashion. A
large beam of light that was twice as big as the flame jets shot out of
her finger. As it passed the flames, they instantly dissipated, and it
continued on its path straight for Fireman.
"WHAT!?" Fireman looked shocked as the beam completely devoured
him.
Zero had to shield his eyes because the light was so bright.
"Jesus, man! What the heck is that"
Fireman could feel his body breaking apart under the beam of
light. "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!! GRAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Soon, his entire body was
vaporized completely.
As the beam faded, Sailor Venus lowered her arm and was gasping
for air. "I... did it..." She smiled, closed her eyes, and passed out on
the ground.
"Sailor Venus!" Artemis called out nudging her. "She really put a
lot of energy into that one. She did good. Rest while you can, you
deserve every moment"
Meanwhile, Zero just lowered his arms and looked around. There
was no sign of Fireman, and he saw Sailor Venus on the ground. "Alia, can
you hear me?" he spoke into his helmet.
"Zero, what's happened out there?" Alia asked. "All signs of the
Neo Arcadian robot disappeared in an instant. What's going on"
"I'll explain later. For now, send out a medical crew, we're both
pretty beat up. Mission accomplished... amazingly."
Moments later, back at Justice Agency headquarters, an unarmored
Zero and Mina were sitting in beds in the infirmary. One of the nurses
was tending to Zero's wounds.
"OUCH! No so tight!" said Zero as the nurse wrapped a bandage
around his arm.
"For being a top agent, you sure whine a lot over a few scrapes
and bruises," said the nurse.
"Well, I wouldn't be like this if a certain somebody didn't show
up at the wrong time!" He looked at Mina in her bed.
"What!? You want to blame that on me!?" Mina shouted back at him.
She was ready to get out of the bed, but she fell back down cringing in
pain.
"Are they going to be all right?" Artemis asked the nurse.
"Your friend has no injuries, amazingly," she replied, "but she's
totally exhausted. As for Zack, he's a grown man. He can take the pain"
"Your real name's Zack?" Mina looked at Zero.
"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Zack snapped at her.
"No! Why do you always have to yell back at me!?" She retorted.
"I didn't like the tone in your voice when you said that"
"Oh yeah"
"Yeah"
As the two argued with eachother, Artemis sighed. "Something
tells me we're going to be here for a while..."
At that time, in a dark office, a figure watched a recording of Fireman's defeat through a widescreen monitor. "How interesting..." it muttered. "Sailor Venus, is it? Let's see how long it will take until my army crushes you into oblivion!"
To Be Continued