Well, this is the second round. No reviews you all make me sad by not giving me reviews!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Again, I don't own the Sailor Senshi concepts, but I own the characters and story etc.
Enjoy this one, the third one could be a while. PLEASE R+R!
THE FATE SENSHI
AUTHOUR: Jetster
EMAIL: PG/M (Drug Use)
1st Round (Practice Round)
2nd Deal: The King of Diamonds
The lights were bright and the music loud. Just how Cara liked it.
"Hey, babe," Joel, a frequenter at the Queensland nightclub and friend to Cara, sidled up beside her, "how's it going?"
"I dunno Joel, I'm getting a bit sluggish!" She had to yell over the music, but it didn't matter. The music consumed her and all that mattered was the techno beat.
"How 'bout a pick me up?" Joel produced a few small silver packets, "On me, babe"
"Thanks, babe," Cara took two of the packets and popped the contents into her mouth, swallowing quickly, "no telling the 'rents, kay?"
"No worries, mum's the word."
The rest of the night became a fabulous blur.
Cara stumbled into her house at 3 o'clock in the morning. The geckos were making their strange clicking sound loudly outside of her parent's room, so luckily the small sounds that Cara made did not stir them.
It did stir the cat though. Cara's cat was strange looking, a breed that no-one seemed to had ever seen before. Not that Cara really cared. He was free as she tripped over him coming from a rave two years ago.
"Hi kitty," She pushed him away as he brushed up along her legs, "not now, I'm not feeling so good."
Cara made her way to the toilet and proceeded to vomit. The cat followed her and watched calmly. Cara turned to face him, bleary eyed.
"Yeah, you think I'm stupid, don't you kitty?" She sighed, "well you're right. I'm sick of coming back home and coming straight to the toilet. Tell you what, kitty," Cara reached out and unattached the 20 cent coin that hung from his collar, "heads, I keep going on with how I'm going. Tails, I go straight. No more raves or speed," the cat purred, "OK, no more illegal drugs full stop," the cat kept purring, "geez, you drive a hard bargain. Fine. No more smoking either, but I'm not giving up alcohol 'cos that's alright on a social level. Even mum and dad say it's OK to drink a bit."
The cat stopped purring and Cara flipped the coin up.
"Tails it is then," Cara smiled and patted the cat on the head, "I guess you win then." Cara re-attached the coin to the cat's collar, vomited again, then stumbled off to bed.
♦
"You know, for a courtier, you sure do act strangely. Almost like you are mad."
Cara groaned and slowly opened her eyes, only to find herself looking at two, big yellow eyes.
"Ah!" Cara jumped out of bed, breathing heavily from shock, "oh, kitty. It's you. You scared me there. I thought you were talking to… me… Hey, what's up with your fur?"
Cara moved closer to her cat to examine him. His fur was no longer its usual white. Royal purple stripes had appeared all over him, making rings all the way across his body.
"Wow, kitty, did you eat something? I should take you to the vet…" Cara went to pick her cat up when he leaped back a bit.
"As much as I would appreciate that, I realise what else the vet may want to do to me. I do not particularly relish the idea of being spayed. Cheshire cats like myself do not belong in a doctor's office. And I also thank you for not naming me for two years. By doing so you saved me from forgetting my own name, which is Flip, by the ways." Cara lowered her face to Flip's level, very slowly.
"OK, so suddenly you're a talking cat and your name is Flip."
"That's exactly right, why?"
"AHHHH!" Cara leaped back from Flip.
"Cara? A anh tính từ? Are you all right?" Cara's father called from the kitchen in Vietnamese.
"Khẳng định, cha. Yes father." Cara breathed in as she heard her father walking towards her room, "Don't come in! I'm naked!"
"Fine then. No more screaming." Cara calmed down as she heard her father walk away.
"OK, kitty… Flip… Whatever. You're lucky today is Sunday and I don't have to worry about my parents finding you today while I'm out somewhere. If they did they'd… well, they'd flip. Now, why can you suddenly talk? And something that I've been wanting to know for ages is, why the hell are you grinning all the time? I've never seen a cat like you before and no-one else can tell me why you're so freaky."
"I have been able to talk for all my life. Talking is normal for Cheshire cats, as is grinning."
"Cheshire cat… As in Alice in Wonderland?"
"Pah, Alice in Wonderland," Flip jumped down onto the floor and looked up at Cara, "now, if you please, give me your hand." Flip put out his paw expectantly.
"Fine. Being commanded to shake hands with a cat. A fictional one at that. Great. Can't get any stranger I guess."
"That comment all depends on what your classification of strange is. Your hand, please?" Cara sighed and gave Flip her hand, "thank you," Cara looked down at Flip's collar. The coin attached to it began to glow, "I, Flip, here hereby initiate you into Chance's Agents Rivalling Darkness as their second junior member. As I have recognised you to be one of the searched for, I have been granted authority to do so. And so I announce that Cara Sparnjelle is the second of the Senshi that CARD sent me out to find, and therefore shall be known from this day to all operatives as 'The King' or, 'Sailor Diamonds'. Transmission over." The coin on Flip's collar went back to normal. Flip then made the huge grin on his face even larger, "let us get on with business then."
"Business? What was all that junk?"
"You shall find out soon enough."
With that, Cara and Flip vanished into thin air.
♦
Cara stood up from where she was on the ground and looked around the white, empty room she was now in.
"Well, that was interesting. I wonder why I've been taking speed at raves for all this time when you could have just done that."
"Well, I didn't know you were a Senshi until last night."
"A what?"
"A Senshi"
"Come on Flip. You've known me for two years, even if you were just a poser. You know what I mean."
"Mean about what?"
"Wow. You really are annoying. And I never knew. I want to know what a Senshi is and why you called me Sailor Diamonds and The King… What exactly is going on here?"
"A Senshi is one of a group of soldiers I was sent to find… Even though I was largely delayed by you. You are the second I found of the group… You're Sailor Diamonds. The part about 'King' is your codename that all agents of CARD must call you, they are not meant to know your name, unless you really wish them to. However, this could put you at danger."
"OK. Good. I still have two questions though. One, what is CARD. Two, I'm a girl. So why am I the 'King'?"
"The answer to question one is Chance's Agents Rivalling Darkness, a secret organisation. The answer to question two is that you are only the King as you are the second to be initiated as a Junior Member. If you had weighed so much on luck earlier then you could have been the Ace, but because you were slow you get to be the King."
"Oh. I see. Wait, second? Who's the other Junior Member?"
"The Ace."
"I guessed that much."
"I suppose you'll turn into Serious Cara now."
"What? Is someone coming?"
Serious Cara is what Cara called herself to describe what she was like around people who weren't friends. Even her parents only ever saw Serious Cara, which was the Cara they wanted her to be. Serious Cara stayed home and did homework. She was going to be a business woman or a scientist, or some other academic career. In other words, Serious Cara was exactly the opposite of what Cara was really like.
It wasn't like she meant to be Serious Cara half the time anyway. Serious Cara had become a habit, though it was handy to keep her parents from knowing what she really wanted to be- a musician.
Cara pulled back at her black, shoulder length hair nervously, tucking it behind her ears.
"Who's coming?"
"You'll find out. Just take a seat." Cara looked around thinking she remembered the room being empty. However, she quickly dismissed the thought when she found a white chair behind her. Flip looked around the room, thinking, "I wonder what she wants now…" Flip then vanished into thin air, leaving Cara very confused.
Almost instantly after Flip disappeared, a tall man wearing a brown pinstripe suit and white mask entered the room. Cara couldn't tell much about him from his outward appearance except that he couldn't be much older than her, and she was eighteen. At the most, Cara thought, he could be twenty-four. But she was still uncertain.
"You must be… The King."
"Er… Yes" Though Cara thought this was a stupid statement, as if what Flip said was right then the only thing she could possibly be was The King. Though the codename was beginning to make her feel a little like a rock star.
"Ah. Brilliant. I'm The Trump. Or Joker. You can call me either, I don't care as neither of them are my real name. Anyway, I'm here to brief you… The Cheshire cats aren't all that good at explanations," Joker paused, as if expected Cara to reply, "well, you're certainly quieter than The Ace. Anyway…" Joker turned around and picked a folder up off a table. Both, which Cara noted, were not there before, "do you know why you are here?" Cara lifted up her hand and made a 'sort of' motion. Joker chuckled to himself, "are you a mute or something?"
"No," Cara said quietly, "I just don't see why it is necessary for me right now."
"Oh. I see. So you know that you're a Senshi and all that jazz?" Cara nodded in response, "great. You were able to get some sense out of Flip. That would be something special. Do you know what CARD is?" Cara thought for a while.
"Flip didn't really explain it except for what it stood for."
"Ah, OK. CARD is a secret organisation. Until you can prove yourself trustworthy to the organisation, even you aren't allowed to know its ultimate cause that you were brought here for. It will take a while before we will let you out of surveillance and allow you to be a free will agent. You are now an agent of this association. You are to keep this information secret from everyone. Including other agents of this organisation except for those who work directly with you. If you run into any other agents, you are visiting a relative. This is only a new precaution we've had to take due to a security breach."
Cara blinked and was amazed to see that Joker was no longer standing in front of her. He was now to her left, on the other side of the room. It was hard to tell what he was doing as he had his back to her. When he turned around he had a cup of coffee, and there was now an espresso machine on a counter.
"Now, I have to get you down to the briefing room so you can start your training mission. May I just say that your silence is a blessing after having to deal with The Ace, but if you want to ask any questions I suggest you ask them now. Otherwise they'll just keep running through your head and you won't get any answers," Cara thought of a few questions, but kept them to herself. Joker sighed, "OK. I'll answer them anyway. Your family is being watched to make sure they don't find out that you are gone, from now on you are going to have to make up a few stories to stop them from finding out what you are."
Cara grinned inwardly. Telling lies to her parents about being a secret agent? No problem. Cara was an expert liar.
Joker sat down on the table and appeared to be looking at a paper in his folder for something. Cara looked over to the espresso machine and got an idea. She stood up, thought about having a soft drink, then closed and opened her eyes. A mini bar fridge now stood in front of her. When Cara opened it up, she found a can of coke inside. Impressed, Cara took it and went and sat back down. Joker looked up when she settled down.
"Oh, thank you," Joker took the can of Cara, tapped the opening and opened the can. Rather then drinking it, he sat it down on the table next to him, "now. Sailor Diamonds…" Joker then picked up the can again, and tipped it out onto his hand. Rather then the coke overflowing from his hand, it solidified and turned into a red brooch in the shape of a playing card diamond, "This is your brooch. It is the key to transforming into who you really are. You won't know your true identity at the moment, but for the moment it will reveal itself as Sailor Diamonds. You are to wear this brooch at all times. It is how we can contact and communicate with you."
"Erm… I do have a question…"
"I know, and I was getting to it. Now, you do realise that you have actually been Sailor Diamonds all your life?" Cara blinked and shook her head slowly, "did that cat tell you anything? Anyway, we'll skip all the mumbo jumbo 'cos all the information is probably too much for you all at once anyway. All you need to know now is how to transform," Joker took Cara's hand and softly placed the brooch in her hand. Cara drew away and solemnly put the brooch on, "now, what I need you to do is put up your hand and yell out 'Diamonds, draw power!'"
"Diamonds… Draw… Power?" Cara whispered.
"Yeah. Now put up your hand and yell that up." Slowly Cara put her hand up in the air.
A sudden rush of adrenaline ran through her, and Cara suddenly yelled with feeling, making Joker almost choke on the Coke he was drinking, "DIAMONDS… DRAW… POWER!"
Cara brought her arm down quickly to her chest and crouched down. Diamonds shot out of the ground and spiralled into the air before making a dome over Cara. Suddenly, Cara smashed out of the dome, now in a red and white fuku. The diamonds rose up and followed her, now spiralling around her hair, turning it from shoulder length black into a waist length crimson red. Two diamonds wrapped themselves around parts of her hair at the back and became elastics, making two pigtails. Cara spun around on one foot, as she did so crimson red strappy heels appeared on her feet and fingerless crimson red gloves with a triangular golden edge at her elbows appeared on her arms. Cara then drew her fingers up to her eyes, which changed from their usual hazel to a very dark navy blue. A red mask appeared and Cara smiled. Three more diamonds rose up, creating a neck choker with a diamond in the middle and two dangly earrings with a diamond decorations at the bottom. Yet another diamond came to rest on Cara's forehead, creating a tiara with a red gem. Finally, Cara grabbed a diamond out of the air, which changed into a simple black pistol. Cara posed, now as Sailor Diamonds.
"Interesting. You have a pistol too. How do you feel?" Sailor Diamonds was silent for a moment, then a huge grin appeared on her face.
"That was the most awesome thing EVER! This is so cool! I even have a gun!" she flicked her earrings, "look at these earrings, they're gorgeous! And I've never had shoes like this before! Why couldn't you people have found me earlier!" Joker gave Diamonds a strange look.
"Well, I take what I said about you being quieter than the Ace back. Now, we better get going. You're meant to start your training mission in five minutes and I still haven't even briefed you yet. Follow me."
Sailor Diamonds was still checking herself out when Joker left the room. She finally looked up and noticed he had gone through the open door.
"Yikes!" Diamonds jumped and ran after him.
♦
Diamonds finally caught up with Joker in the hallway.
"So, Joker, where are we going any- woah!" She was cut off as she tripped over Flip, who had suddenly appeared in the middle of the hallway, "Flip… Why is it that I always manage to trip over you somehow? Where'd you go, huh?" Flip sat there and blinked. Then he turned to Joker.
"I see you got rid of Serious King"
"Huh? Flip, stop confusing me. You always do that"
"Only when confusing you is necessary," he turned to the fallen Senshi, who was now on her hands and knees to be level with the cat, "You manage to trip over me all the time because I do believe you do not always look where you are going. I went to the Kimset's room"
"The Kimset? Who's that?" Sailor Diamonds picked herself up. Flip went to answer, but Joker cut him off.
"Don't worry. You'll meet Lady Luck later. For now, come on" Joker led the way, as Diamonds followed. She turned around to check on Flip, but he had vanished.
♦
Joker led Sailor Diamonds into a green room, full of computers running programs she did not recognise. Joker motioned to a large, green, plastic chair for Sailor Diamonds to sit in.
"I'll say all of this at once, because I forgot some of it last time. This is the briefing room. If at anytime we call you through your brooch, you are to report here. To do that, you must transform where no-one can see you. Then, hold onto the diamond on each of your earrings and say wherever you want to come in the building… For example, 'briefing room , green', which is all you should be saying. Either that, or one of the Cheshire cats will come and get you. You're going to have to lie to people a bit too, so that they don't worry too much when you disappear for a bit. Clear?" Diamonds grinned and gave Joker a thumbs up.
"Yup… What's that room?" She was pointing towards a white room that could be seen through a window.
"Oh, the training room. You're going in there now, but not me. Quick, we're running late"
"This is SO cool"
"Good, good. Now get in the room"
"I'm going!"
Joker closed the door on Sailor Diamonds once she was in.
"Computer, begin simulation"
"Subject identified as Senshi. Please identify further for appropriate training simulation."
"Diamonds"
"Thank you. Simulation will begin in 5…4…3…2…1…."
♦
The room melted around Sailor Diamonds, and she found herself in… A nightclub.
"Assess the situation and terminate the enemy, if you would be so kind." Joker's voice rang in her ear.
"Gotcha" Sailor Diamonds looked at herself. The outfit was probably a bit out of place for this situation. She unmorphed and began to look through the crowd. The music was very loud. Cara couldn't hear herself think. There was something strange about the music too… With a club this crowded, it was going to be hard to find who the 'enemy' was.
"HEY!" Cara yelled at one of the dancers, "I'M TAKING A SURVEY… I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD TELL ME WHAT SORT OF THINGS THEY DO HERE?" The dancer looked at her and nodded.
"You don't need to yell. The music's not that loud. Mostly it's just dancing and music as far a I'm concerned. If you want to really know about the place, ask that guy. He's the owner" The dancer pointed at a man standing near the DJ. He was in a black suit and looked a little shifty. Cara decided that he was a good person to question.
"Hi, I'm a new worker for the council. I was wondering if I could just ask you a few questions?" The man glared at her, but then his face softened.
"Sure. Come with me, we'll go somewhere more quiet."
The man led Cara out to a small room with two couches and a water cooler in the corner. It was empty, aside from them.
"Sit, please," Cara did as she was told and the man sat across from her, "now, how can I help you?"
"Well. You just have to answer a few questions. First one is, what is the purpose of owning this nightclub?"
"To make money, of course! What else are such establishments for?"
"I see your point. Now… I noticed something strange about that music out there. Have you by any chance got some audio problems" the man seemed a little taken by this question and took a few seconds to answer.
"Yes, an audio problem. I'm getting it fixed soon" Cara nodded, this man was probably the enemy. She just needed to catch him out to make sure.
"Could you show me? I'm quite good with electronics, I could probably fix the problem for you."
"No, no. It's fine."
"Sir, I have reason to believe that you are casting subliminal messages under that music. I don't know what it's for, but I'm sure that it's not good" Cara realised that this mission was quite stupid. What was happening here would have never happened in real life. This was going to be very easy. The man narrowed his eyes.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, the music sounds strange, and for some reason your dancers don't think it's very loud despite how loud it is" The man glared at her.
"I think you have been here too long." The mad put his hand into his suit and began to draw a flip knife out. Cara dodged the blade just in time, then ran out of the room.
Great. Now I've got to find somewhere to transform… Cara thought to herself. She located the girl's toilets. There were two girls in there, smoking what Cara assumed to be weed.
"Right. I'm not on duty at the moment, girls. But if I were you, I would get out of here before I call the cops who are." The druggies looked at her and rolled their eyes. But they vacated the toilets all the same.
"DIAMONDS… DRAW… POWER!" Cara transformed again, and ran back out again. The man had been waiting for her, just outside of the toilets. He was shocked to see a girl dressed up like a superhero.
"I'm sorry miss, but this club does regulate a dress code. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"I don't think so, buddy." Sailor Diamonds ran through the crowd towards the room again. There was no point in involving other people. The man followed her, as she planned. He was getting his flip knife out already.
Sailor Diamonds turned around and faced him, grinning. She brought her pistol up to eye level and shot at him… Sailor Diamonds was shocked when it made a sound like a party popper, and spurted out streamers.
"Oh… Crap" The man laughed and stood over her.
"Out of ammo, are we?" He prepared to lunge at her, when something came to her mind.
"COINS…" The man lunged at her, only to have the knife bounce off an invisible barrier. Coins began to rise out of the ground and spiralling around Sailor Diamonds. The man stood back in amazement, "ACE… SHOWER!" The coins rose up into the air on the word 'Ace' leaving the man confused. When Sailor Diamonds shouted out 'shower', the coins rained down on the man. He wasn't confused anymore, as the coins hit his body, he disintegrated.
Sailor Diamonds grinned and began dancing around in triumph.
"Having fun there?"
Sailor Diamonds looked around. The nightclub had disappeared and she was in the white room again.
"Situation, complete"
Joker smiled again.
"Welcome to CARD"
♦
Cara was still giddy when she got back from CARD. She collapsed on her bed, and stroked Flip who had come back with her.
"I never thought such a stupid thing could be the most fun I've ever had."
A/N:
'Cara moved closer to her cat to examine him. His fur was no longer its usual white. Royal purple stripes had appeared all over him, making rings all the way across his body.'
I figure if Roll and Flip can make their body parts appear and disappear at will, why can't they make their coloured stripes disappear as well? Normally, you'd say, "you can't get rid of the stripes, you'd be left with the cat's skin."
However, if you think about it, the cats could possibly make the colour disappear out of their fur, leaving it white.
'"Cara? A anh tính từ? Are you all right?" Cara's father called from the kitchen in Vietnamese.
"Khẳng định, cha. Yes father." Cara breathed in as she heard her father walking towards her room, "Don't come in! I'm naked!"'
For those of you who DO speak Vietnamese, you've probably figured out that I don't. If you happen to speak Vietnamese, could you please drop me a line at to give me the proper translations? I would really appreciate it .