Episode One: Another Scout!
Usagi's alarm clock rang violently next to her head. Unfortunately, she was too far gone in her Mamoru dream. An hour later a scream exploded from her room and carried on throughout her street. Putting on her uniform, she raced down the stairwell and out the front door.
"Oh man," she moaned dashing down the sidewalk toward the school "I'm going to be late again!"
Tears crawled to the verge of her eyes and decreased her vision. As soon as she reached the next corner, CRASH!
She moaned as she lifted her head from the ground. A hand reached down and helped her to her feet. When she regained her thoughts, she looked at the person who helped her. It was a blonde boy, roughly around the same age as her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, deeply concerned.
"Ah, yes," she replied and immediately bowed "I'm so sorry about running into you, please forgive me."
"It's okay," the boy smiled handing her books to her "it was an accident, no permanent harm done."
Usagi breathed a sigh of relief, until she heard the school bell ring.
"OH NO!" she yelled and raced off once more, leaving the boy confused.
As she swung into the classroom, she found her friends right by the door waiting for her.
"Late again I see." Makoto laughed.
"Usagi-chan, will you ever be here on time?" Ami wondered.
"I would have been here sooner but I bumped into someone on the way here." Usagi explained.
"More like crashed." Makoto joked.
Heat rushed to Usagi's face as the others laughed.
"Why hasn't class started?" Usagi asked taking her seat.
"The teacher came in but he was immediately summoned to the principle's office." Minako explained.
"I wonder why?" Ami wondered.
A few minutes later the teacher walked in.
"Hello class, sorry I'm late," he apologized "but it seems we have a new student in our classroom, please come on in."
'I wonder what the new student looks like?' Usagi thought to herself.
The classroom door opened and a blonde boy walked in. Usagi took one look and gasped.
"That's the boy from earlier." she whispered.
"Would you like to introduce yourself?" the teacher inquired.
"Oh, uh, yes, I'm sorry," he apologized "um, my name is Branders Derek, and I'm from America."
"Cool, he's from America." Minako stated.
"Man, if he hadn't said anything I wouldn't have known." Makoto commented.
"Yes, you're right, his Japanese is very good." Ami agreed.
"Usagi-chan," the teacher called "would you please raise your hand?"
Usagi raised her hand.
"Derek-kun, if you would take the seat next to Usagi-chan." the teacher directed.Derek smiled as he took his seat.
"Well, it seems we meet again, Usagi-chan." Derek commented.
"You two met before?" Makoto asked.
"Yes, actually, we met earlier," Derek laughed "I guess you could say we bumped into each other."
"I'm so sorry about that." Usagi apologized again.
"It's okay." Derek comforted.
"I know how Usagi-chan can make it up to you." Minako thought.
"Minako!" Usagi gasped.
"What, I was just thinking that you two should be friends." Minako stated.
"Oh," Usagi breathed a sigh of relief "yeah, actually, I think that's a good idea."
"Yeah, I think so too," Makoto agreed "let's all meet after school today by the front gates."
"OK!" they all stated.
Throughout all the rest of Usagi's classes she thought about Derek.
'Why can't I stop thinking about him,' she wondered 'for some reason I feel like I should know him from somewhere.'
After her classes had finished she went to the front gates and found everybody there.
"HI, USAGI-CHAN!" they greeted.
Usagi smiled and the group left the school. Eventually Rei caught up with them and looked puzzled when she saw Derek.
"Who is this?" she wondered.
"He is a new student from America." Ami answered.
"Hi, I'm Branders Derek, but you can just call me Derek." he warmly bowed.
"Hello, I'm Hino Rei, but everyone calls me Rei." she bowed back.
The group of students conversed as they walked down the city sidewalk, the girls seemed to have a lot of questions for Derek about America. Everything was going fine until Derek suddenly halted and looked toward the sky. He stood completely still and seemed to be focusing on something.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked pointing upward.
The girls were confused and decided to look up too. They searched the bright blue sky and eventually their eyes caught something. It was an unusual black speck that seemed to be dropping to the ground. It landed right in the middle of the group and it created an explosion that sent Derek and the girls flying back. Usagi quickly recovered and looked around. Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako quickly took to their feet. Derek, on the other hand, remained on the ground, probably out cold. Slowly, the girls eased to the small crater and looked inside. In the very center of the crater sat a small golden seed. Suddenly it started discharging massive amounts of energy that plowed the ground, digging up the pavement. A large root extended from the seed and a large flower began to bloom. As the girls watched this, they noticed that as it bloomed, on the inside of the flower was a face.
When it had completely developed, the eyes of the flower popped open and it smiled evilly at them. Arms shot from it's sides, and the root split into two legs. It stood, wobbly at first, but gained its balance.
"Guys, transform!" Usagi shouted.
"Mercury Crystal Power!"
"Mars Crystal Power!"
"Jupiter Crystal Power!"
"Venus Crystal Power!"
"Moon Eternal, Make Up!"
A separate light surrounded each of the girls as they transformed into their sailor form. The flower monster watched as they transformed and began laughing uncontrollably.
"You won't be laughing after this!" Sailor Mars yelled.
"Flame Sniper!"
An arrow of flames shot towards the flower monster but stopped short as a shield of energy surrounded it.
"What happened?" Sailor Mars called to Sailor Mercury, who was vigorously working on her computer.
"It's a force field created from pure energy." Sailor Mercury responded.
"How can we break through?" Sailor Moon asked.
"The only way to break through is to hit it with a blast more powerful than the shield can handle." Sailor Mercury explained.
"I'll take care of that." Sailor Moon told them.
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"
Usagi's attack hit the monster's shield directly but unfortunately the shield was able to fend it off. All of the scouts stared in disbelief. Without warning, ropes made of roots shot up from underneath the scouts and enveloped them. They tried desperately to escape but the roots held fast.
'Oh no, what are we going to do,' Sailor Moon thought to herself 'is it all over?'
"D Cannon Flare!"
A large orb of black fire shot through the air and shattered the flower monster's shield. It shrieked as the fire started taking over its body.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?" a voice called out.
The scouts looked all over for the owner of the voice and the attack, until Usagi noticed a shadow in one of the nearby trees. The shadow jumped out revealing someone in a black ninja suit.
"Now, I'm starting to get bored of you," the mysterious ninja scoffed while drawing a blade from his leg sheath "so let's say we end this."
The creature looked at him with mad crazed eyes. Instantly, more roots exploded from underground hoping to catch him off guard.
"Did you really think using the same attack twice would work?" he commented and sliced through them like a sharp pair of scissors.
"Here, let me show you a real attack!" he announced lifting the blade over his head.
"Dark Fire Slash!"
As he let the sword come crashing down, a slash of black fire was created and it instantly cut through the air toward the flower monster. The creature tried to fend off the attack but it cut through everything the monster threw at it and in the end carved right through it. The roots holding the sailor scouts loosened and slowly dissipated as soon as the monster dissolved.
"Well, that wasn't too hard." the ninja laughed.
"Thank you, uh…" Sailor Moon started.
"You can just call me, Sailor D." he winked.
The scouts were shocked at this.
"Wow, look at the time, I'd better get going." and with that he threw a small sphere to the ground, which produced a smoke screen, and disappeared. A few seconds later Sailor Mercury remembered Derek. The scouts looked at each other with worried faces and decided to transform back to normal. After a few minutes of searching they found Derek lying unconscious amidst a patch of trees.
"The blast must have sent him back here." Ami figured.
"Come on, let's get him to my shrine." Rei offered. The others nodded and Makoto picked Derek up over her shoulder. Back at Rei's shrine, she patched up his small cuts and tended his bruises. When she had finished, they held a meeting which included Luna and Artemis.
"So tell us again what happened." Luna sighed.
"A golden seed fell from the sky and sprouted into a flower creature," Makoto explained "we tried to fight it but ended up getting tied up."
"Then a man in a ninja suit, who calls himself Sailor D, shows up and defeats the monster and saves us." Minako finished.
"Are you sure he said his name was Sailor D?" Artemis inquired.
"Yes, positive." Ami answered.
"If he's here, then that must mean…" Luna whispered.
"Do you know something about him?" Usagi asked.
"We don't know a lot about him, but we do know something." Artemis responded.
"Well, what is it?" Minako urged.
"Okay, Sailor D is rumored to be the guardian of the D Zone," Luna expounded "the D Zone is located on another plane right next to ours."
"Well, if he's the guardian of that plane, why is on ours?" Makoto questioned.
"I don't really know, if we want the answer to that question we will have to ask him."
"Well, then, the next time he shows up we'll know what to ask him." Rei commented.
The group nodded and jumped as the screen to Derek's recovery room slid open.
"Hey, guys, what are we doing here?" Derek looked confused.
"Oh, um, you see…" Usagi stuttered.
"Did I pass out again?" Derek wondered.
"Uh, kind of." Usagi told him.
"I'm sorry guys," Derek apologized "I ruined your day today."
"No, no you didn't." they comforted him.
"Thanks, well, I'm feeling a bit queasy," Derek held his stomach "I think I'll go home for some rest."
The girls nodded and each said their goodbyes as he walked out the front of the shrine. As Derek walked down the sidewalk toward his house, he stared at the backside of his right hand. After looking at it for awhile an unusual symbol appeared on it and he smiled to himself.