Act Two: Escape from Robotropolis! Venus and Sonic's Meeting
"Creature identified. Species: Human. Age: Approximately 15 years. Gender: Female. Threat level: Medium. Aura detected. Action: Engage."
I listen to this robotic voice drone on about some sci-fi stuff I saw in a movie once. I think that last word means it wants to hurt me. I flip to my feet and expertly dodge a shot from a laser gun headed in my direction. It's funny, in a way. When I'm watching cartoons on Saturday morning, I always laugh at the stupid sounds the laser guns make. When one of those blasted things almost singes your carefully groomed golden hair, it's an entirely different story. There's nothing funny about a bad hair day.
Thank Kami there's only one of these metayouma right now. Uh oh…when you think like that, the situation gets worse nine times out of ten. It's a proven fact. Usagi and I tried it during one of the longer battles a while back. We almost got killed about twelve times that day, and Rei and Luna had us on probation for weeks.
"Eek! You'll pay for that, buckethead!" Damn, my rambling almost cost me a finger. It's time to get serious now. "Crescent Beam Shower!" I point in the metayouma's direction and bring my arm down hard. About ten streaks of light slam into its armor and it stumbles for a moment. I let out a whoop and dash forward, preparing to drill through its head with my deadly heels.
"Sailor V Ki-yaargh!" I fall flat on my face when the metayouma throws me backwards. I realize that the metayouma more than likely has a clear view up my skirt due to my current position. I wonder if it's possible for metayouma to lust after humans?
Embarrassing thoughts aside, I roll out of the way of another laser. Hmm, this laser gun really does sound like the ones on cartoons. I'm sure Usagi would love to hear that. Since nothing else is working, I stand up and raise my arms in the air, allowing golden hearts to gather in each hand. They're spinning rapidly, preparing to strike my target.
"Rolling Heart Vibration!" The hearts zoom out of my hands, forming magnificent golden spirals. The hearts surround the metayouma and zoom in from all angles, effectively destroying the circuitry inside. The metayouma crumbles and a dead fox tumbles out. I bury the dead animal in the wreckage and overturn the metayouma's chest plate. There's Robotnik's logo again. I guess this must be his hometown, since this place reminds me of him.
I'm in a city made almost entirely of dirty metal. There's no sign of life anywhere, and the air is thick with industrial smoke. This definitely seems like the kind of town Robotnik would live in. I start to wander out of the alley and jump back immediately. There's an entire troop of metayouma surveying the city. I'm really glad Usagi isn't here to see all these animals being mistreated.
But who the heck would ever live in a dump like this? I imagine Robotnik would, but I don't think anyone else would care to tolerate the amount of pollution in this city. I think Robotnik must be using metayouma to keep everything running. He probably creates more animal slaves in some of these factories. Once the troop of metayouma is gone, I leave the alleyway. The abandoned street doesn't look much different.
I can see traces of life long gone in this city. There's metallic paint covering most of the buildings, but it's chipped off in some places. One of these abandoned lots was once a comic book shop. There was a farmer's market in the dome-shaped building to my left. I see scrap metal everywhere. My legs have been cut on a few pieces already. There are also dead robots lining the streets. I hope there aren't any animal corpses in them.
There's a flicker of red light somewhere above my head. An alarm sounds, and then the few lights in the city shut off. Great. I'm alone in the dark in an abandoned city with hordes of unfriendly robots hanging around. I didn't expect to land on a tropical island when I flew into that portal, but this is one of the loneliest places I can imagine. I guess it's better than drowning in the middle of an ocean though.
"C'mon Ant, we've gotta get going! We can't wait forever-I can't wait five minutes, but that's not the point! Buttnik's goons will be here any minute!"
There's a voice. An actual voice in this wasteland. An actual non robotic-sounding voice just a few steps away. I can't believe it.
"But Sonique, what of the darkness? How will you escape mister Robotnik's army if you cannot see?"
"Just trust me, Ant. Sal, we're leaving. Another mission complete, with Sonic speed!"
Looks like there's two of them-maybe three. I don't have time to verify that, because the next thing I know, I'm on the ground with my arms behind my back. Damn, I didn't even hear them coming. Jupiter would kick me if she knew about this.
"Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?" A female voice is hissing in my ear, and her grip on my wrists tightens. I'm strongly reminded of Rei here.
"Um…I was trying to escape from those metayouma that attacked me…and I was kinda wondering how to get out of the city…do you have a map?"
"You didn't answer the first question. And what are metayouma?" There's no distracting this girl. Just like Rei.
"Will you let go of me first? Oh, and they're those robot things patrolling the city." 'Those robot things?' Ami would pull out a thesaurus right away and make me find a better way to say that.
"Alright. And they're called SWATbots, by the way. But let's save the introductions until we get out of the city." At least this girl's reasonable.
"Good call Sal. Take Ant and that girl with you, I'll handle the bots."
"Right. Come with me then." The girl finally releases me and I stand up. There's a small flash of light. The girl who had captured me is holding a mini computer, almost like the one Mercury uses. The computer has a flashlight equipped, and I can see everyone better.
The girl who I guess is Sal is a furry. She's about a head shorter than Usagi. She looks like a cross between a squirrel and a human, almost. Her eyes are a bright blue and she's wearing a vest to match. If Ami ever becomes an animal for some strange reason, I'd expect her to look like Sal.
There's a caricature of a coyote standing behind Sal. I guess he's that Ant person. He's wearing what looks like a royal uniform and his hair is styled neatly. I guess he's somebody's royal bodyguard. Ant seems more frightened than Usagi from what I heard of his conversation with the other guy. That's not too comforting.
Someone else is standing next to Sal. Somehow I should have expected it to be him, but Ant and Sal threw me for a loop when I first saw them. The third guy is a blue hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog. At least that's what he looks like. I should probably write all this down and show the other girls when I see them again…if I see them again.
"We need to get out of here." Sal decides. I salute her and stand a short distance behind Ant. He's chuckling nervously. Poor guy. I try to smile encouragingly but he hides behind Sal.
"Antoine, I don't think she's going to hurt us. Let's go, okay?" This Sal sounds like a real mother. I guess it works because he starts to follow us. We're finally escaping this dump and I couldn't be happier.
Wait, scratch that. Yes I could. I could be a lot happier. I'm not very happy right now because there's ten more metayouma…or sweetbots or whatever Sal called them bearing down on us. I'm already raising my finger, but before I can hit the metayouma with Crescent Beam, it's already in pieces. Sal motions for us to run and I follow, but I take one last glance and notice a blue saw ripping through an endless stream of metayouma. Hmm, so it really is Sonic. Nobody else could defeat all those metayouma so quickly.
Oops, looked like Sonic missed one. There's a nasty metayouma about to rip Sal's head off. I jump in front of her and beat it away with my chain before it can do anything though. I can sense Antoine cowering behind Sal as I make my swing.
"Venus Wink Chain Sword!" This one's done for. I can see a bloody paw in the debris. Sal and Antoine don't seem to notice, though. They just keep walking, and I speed to catch up with them. Sonic's already come back. I see Antoine climb onto Sonic's back and Sal hop into his arms. This is a little strange. There's a gust of wind and then they're gone. Huh?
Sal had said we could get to know each other outside of Robotropolis, right? Didn't' that imply that I was going to come too? Oh well. Meeting Sonic was cool and all, but I can handle the metayouma on my own…I think. I wonder why the power went out though. Sonic had mentioned a mission completed…was that why they came? They're fighting to protect everyone, right? Just like us.
There's another blast of wind, and Sonic's standing in front of me alone. I guess he took Sal and Antoine home.
"Hey, you wanna get out of this mess?" Sonic's about the same height as Usagi. I thought he would be shorter.
"Sure, where did you have in mind?"
"Sal says I can bring you to the forest. She's waiting there with Ant. Are you coming?"
"Okay, just give me a map or something because there's no way I can keep up with you." I wish I had Sonic's speed. I've only seen one person match Sonic's speed in my life, and that's Usagi when she's late for school.
"You won't need a map." I'm staring at him curiously when he picks me up, the same way he held Sal a few minutes ago. Wow, he's hiding some super muscles in his arms. It's probably magic."Anyway, let's juice!"
…Let's juice? What kind of catchphrase is that? That's not fair, Sonic. I'm supposed to be the master of campy phrases. I don't have much time to come up with a better catchphrase because he's rocketed off already. Wow, Sonic's really impatient.
The ride only lasts a few seconds, but it's crazy. There's a sea of gray ripping past us for a second or two, and then I recognize grass and trees and a dirt road. Mmm, nature. That's much better. We're traveling so fast that I don't know how we're going to stop.
Sonic apparently has magic braking shoes. He manages to skid to a halt in front of Sal and Antoine. When he sets me on the ground again, my mind's still flying. This is not good. It takes a few moments, but my brain starts functioning normally again. That's when the questioning begins.
"Who are you?" Sal jumps right in.
"You really want to know? Okay. I am the pretty sailor-suited soldier of love and beauty, Sailor Venus! In the name of Venus, I will punish the forces of evil!" I include the lovely poses in my speech of course. You can't introduce yourself as a Senshi without the poses.
"So you fight to protect people, then?" Another question from Sal.
"Yup. I've been doing it since I turned thirteen."
"Where do your powers come from?" It's Sonic's question this time.
"I know you'll have a hard time believing me, but it's magic. The powers were a gift I got from a talking cat." I expected this to be funny or at least weird, but then I remembered that most animals on this planet can talk. Maybe this'll be easier than I thought.
"Magic? Okay…where did you come from, Sailor Venus?" Back to Sal.
I would have answered Venus, but people can't exactly live there. "I'm from Tokyo, Japan."
"Begging your pardon, but where on Mobius is that place?" Wow, Antoine asked a question.
"Um…I don't know where Mobius is."
"This is Mobius. Mobius is a planet." Thanks for the explanation, Sal.
"Oh, well I'm from a planet called Earth."
Sal and Sonic look alarmed. They start whispering to each other. This isn't good. I don't think they like Earth.
"Are you with Buttnik?" Sonic's glaring at me now. I wonder why he would think that? Oh yeah...the citizens of Mobius are animals. The only human they've ever seen before is Robotnik. No wonder they're not eager to trust me.
"Buttnik? Never heard of …wait, you mean Dr. Robotnik?"
"Yes, that's who we mean." Sal's arms are folded across her chest. She looks skeptical.
"Oh, he's how I got to Mobius. He arrived in Tokyo a few months ago, and his robot army's been attacking the city. There's other Sailor Soldiers like me in Tokyo, and we've been holding them off for a while now. I went to Robotnik's base and battled him. When I tried to kick him in the face, I missed and fell through a portal that ended in that city back there." I stopped to catch my breath.
"Buttnik can't be there, because he's here!" Sonic insists, stomping his foot.
"We don't know that for sure, Sonic. He could be anywhere, we haven't seen him in months." Sal reasons.
"I guess…but what do we do now?" Sonic's glancing at the sky again.
"We'll go back home." Sal answers.
"But what about Venus? We can't just leave her here." Wow, thank you Sonic.
"Okay, then she'll come too. I think we can trust her." At least Sal has common sense.
"Um…guys?" It's my turn to ask a question now. "Can I ask you questions when we get to wherever we're going?"
"No prob." Sonic winks. "C'mon, let's get home." He dashes off to wherever 'home' is, and I shrug. Sal and Antoine gesture to me and I follow them to the destination. Wherever that may be.
Act Three Preview: Hey, it's Minako here. I'm here in Knothole with Sonic the Hedgehog and his crew. It's their mission to protect the Mobians from Robotnik's evil schemes. They're a great bunch, but I still miss thegirls back home. Watch for Act Three: Fight for Freedom! Venus and the MobiansA/N: Whew, that was a long one. Next chapter will be a brief interlude in Tokyo starring Mako-chan followed by Act Three. I've got some surprise cameos for the Tokyo Interlude planned. Thanks again for reading!