"Emerald, I know you stole my pen again!" shouted Zoisite waltzing up to Emerald's, the secretary, desk. She popped her gum, filed her nails, and for the most part ignored him.
"Zoi, I didn't steal your pen." she snapped, checking her nails. She blew on them and then went back to typing on her computer. Zoisite huffed at her and took a pen from her pen cup sitting next to her. She gasped and shouted at him. "Zoi, you dick! Damn it, give that back! I didn't take you pen and you know it, you stupid cow! Give me it back!"
"Oh, and how do I know that?" he stuck his tongue out at her, pocketing the pen. "I'm keeping this as a hostage."
"Damn it, Zoi!"
Zoisite blinked and turned as he heard the electronic door swing open to the lobby as his boss and the Tsukino family entered the MOON SENSHI base compound. He stood up next to Emerald's desk. Emerald blinked and swung back into her seat as she coldly viewed the new comers. Zoisite spotted Mamoru and Nephlite leading the Tsukinos, he recognized Kenji and Usagi easily and hazarded a guess that the other two were Tsukino Ikuko and Usagi's brother, Tsukino Shingo that the computer search had brought up.
The entire family stared wide eyed at the room as if expecting to see gadgets and weapons spilling out onto the floor. For the most part the lobby was a very regular looking room-it was about 40 ft by 40 ft room, complete with uncomfortably cushioned chairs, coffee tables, out of date magazines with all the coupons cut out-courtesy of Emerald, and a water dispenser by the wall near Emerald's desk. It had white walls, off white tiles punctuated by black, and had maroon carpets by the coffee table to accent the maroon chairs. If it hadn't been for the fact that is was twenty feet below ground it looked like a business building's lobby.
Zoisite grinned-he knew all the real exciting stuff was under this floor. "Hello, folks! Mamoru, Nephlite." he nodded at them.
Usagi grinned at him. "Zoisite-kun!"
His grin widened. "Ah, you remember me! I knew I liked you." Ikuko giggled and Usagi laughed while Kenji turned red with a rage. Uh oh, overprotective papa! Cover ass, cover ass! "Too bad you're too young for me. So, Mamoru, are you giving them the tour?"
"Actually, Zoisite, I was thinking you could handle that." said Mamoru as he walked over to Emerald as Zoisite squawked. "Any messages, Emerald-san?"
"Your father called-don't bother trying wriggle out of family dinner, your sister's making an appearance." she said looking at her notes. Mamoru raised his brows and whistled.
"Wow, didn't see that coming." he muttered shaking his head.
Zoisite heard Usagi speaking to Nephlite. "Doesn't Chiba-san see his sister often?" she whispered. He decided to answer for Nephlite.
"Actually," he whispered to her. "Seiya's a busy girl and only has so much time with her family. You know her, she's really popular-Seiya Kou of the Three Lights."
"Seiya of the Three Lights!" gasped Usagi. "No way! She's his sister!"
"Way." he grinned at her. "Ask Mamoru to get her autograph for you later." He grinned at the rest of them and leaned back. "Alright since Mamoru isn't coming, how about you, Nephie?"
Nephlite rolled his eyes and turned back to the Tsukinos. "Right this way, please." he directed them to the elevator at the back of the room. Zoisite turned back to Mamoru and shouted to him.
"Hey, Mamoru, coming with or what!"
Mamoru rolled his eyes at him. "I'll take the stairs."
"Thirteen floors down?" he sighed and shook his head at him. "Alright then, let's head down to the cafeteria. It's only two floors below us and the only place where nonpersonal are supposed to go besides the first floor beneath us."
"What's right beneath us?" asked Shingo as they pilled into the elevator and Nephlite pushed "3".
"Administration. Just a bunch of guys in suits making sure no one exposes us." Zoisite answered. "Hope you're hungry cause the cafe should have breakfast going still. They got good coffee, too."
"Its instant coffee." muttered Nephlite correcting him. Zoisite shrugged.
"Ignore him-he likes coffee shop coffee more." he told them. "Usagi-chan, if you join us as the MOON SENSHI, you'll eat here every day. They serve breakfast till eleven, then lunch til four, and then they start serving dinner. Hope you like veggies cause that's what will be part of your diet as long as you're here." Ikuko beamed knowing her daughter was going to get a good nutrition while Usagi groaned. "And they make a smashing chocolate cake after dinner so just eat the veggies and you get chocolate before bed." Ikuko shook her head as Usagi cheered.
There was a loud ping and the door slid open. Inside, a 20 by 20 room held four long tables. To the sides of the room there was a vending machine and a coffee canteen with a water dispenser next to it; on the other side of the room there was a café counter where four chefs wandered about.
"Usagi-chan, come on, I want you to meet four of the most wonderful women here." called Zoisite hurrying her to the chefs, who laughed as they heard him. Usagi saw they were four women in the twenties, all of them lovely. "May I introduce you to the lovely head chef, Prisma-sama. Girls this is Usagi-chan."
Prisma smiled and nodded to her. "Pleasure to meet you, Usagi-san."
"Hello, Prisma-san." she smiled to her.
"Prisma-sama is married to Sapphire-san, one of the suits upstairs I mentioned." explained Zoisite.
"Zoi-kun, don't call Sapphire-kun a suit!" exclaimed another one of other women, shaking a ladle at him.
"Ha! Usagi-chan, this the youngest of the sisters-by the way they're all sisters!-Catzy-sama." he introduced her. "She's unattached though I doubt Tiger's Eye will let that remain like that long!"
Catzy flushed but waved to Usagi with a wide smile. "Hello, Usagi-chan, come by after dinner and I'll hook you up with a slice of my famous chocolate cake okay?"
"Yay, thank you, Catzy-san!"
"Catzy-chan, Usagi-chan, call me Catzy-chan!" laughed Catzy. "I'm too young to me called "san" yet!"
"And this, Usagi-chan, is Avery-sama. She's second oldest and is married to Rubeus-san, another of the suits upstairs."
"Oh, you!" scolded Catzy shaking the ladle while Avery chuckled and shook Usagi's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Usagi-chan." greeted Avery.
"Thank you, Avery-san."
"Oh, please, I don't want to be called that." laughed Avery.
"Me neither!" laughed the last sister. She reached over the glass and shook Usagi's hand. "Bertie, before Zoi-kun can embarrass me! Bertie-chan if you please! And before Zoi-kun tells you any wild stories, I'm engaged to Hawk's Eye, one of technicians." she laughed.
"Thank you, Bertie-chan!" she greeted her.
"Usagi-chan, these lovely women are the chefs here at the base and they serve all the meals. These women will be taking orders directly from the physicians as to what you'll need for a diet." explained Zoisite.
"Don't worry, Usagi-chan, no matter the diet, we'll make sure you'll love the food, okay?" cheered Catzy. Usagi and Ikuko grinned while Kenji nodded-they maybe letting their daughter do this but they weren't doing it without making sure she was going to be healthy. "Are you guys hungry or will you guys be continuing on the tour, then?" she asked grinning at them.
"Sorry, ladies, but we'll have to be taking them along now." spoke Nephlite. "Though if you have some of your special coffee, Bertie-san..."
"One hot cup coming right up!" answered Bertie turning about and heading to a steaming coffee pot before pouring it into a mug and handing it over to him which he took gratefully.
"Thank you, Bertie-san. Would any of you like some coffee?" he asked turning to them. Kenji ended up taking a cup of the coffee before they all returned to the elevator. Catzy made sure to call to them before the doors shut.
"Come back and get something to eat after the tour, okay!" she shouted. Usagi grinned and waved.
Zoisite grinned at all of them before pressing a button reading "14". "So, Usagi-chan, how about we cut straight to the chase and head to the place where you'll be entering the BETA-verse, eh?"
Usagi's face became serious and she nodded to him. He smiled reassuringly to her family as the elevator began it's descent. They waited a few moments til the elevator pinged and the doors opened. Instead of opening to a room like before, it opened to a plain white hallway. There were three doors, one labeled with a feminine symbol and another with a masculine and then the last door read on slate "CONTROL ROOM".
"Alright, Usagi-chan those rooms right there are locker rooms. You'll suit up there-there's also a bathroom and shower in there if you need it." explained Zoisite.
Nephlite turned and pointed to the remaining door. "That, Usagi-san, is the Control room like it says. In there, we keep precise readings of your health and whatever happens to you in the BETA-verse." he explained and walked to the door. He took off a clip on the lapel of his lab coat, which he had put on in the elevator, and swiped it through a key lock then typed in a code. He gestured to them to follow. "You'll get your own id card and the code later, but first come in."
They entered the room. Shingo was instantly enthralled by the large computer council and it's multiple screens. Kenji and Ikuko raised brows at the dark room while Nephlite flipped a switch and the room became brighter. Usagi stood in the middle of the room taking it all in. Zoisite walked in behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Feel familiar, Usagi-chan?" he asked as she peered about.
"This is..." she trailed off, examining everything. "It's exactly the same! I saw this place in my dreams!"
"Many of the SENSHI candidates report seeing this room as well." answered Nephlite. "Come over here, Usagi-san, this is the important part." Usagi obeyed walking quickly over. "Zoisite, the lights." Zoisite nodded and flipped the switch back off. Nephlite pressed a button and the computers booted up, components whirring about and humming. The screens came to life and many of the monitors began to display information. "This computer council gauges all of your health on it's monitors. But here-" he flipped a switch and the main monitor glowed into life. He pressed another button and the scene changed.
It revealed a chair, in a white room. It was heavily padded in black with long cables attached to it. The room itself was harsh in relief to the chair with white metal sheets lining it. More black cables were attached to the chair, dragged out on the floor. Above the chair, a large headset with a red visor hung. Nephlite pointed everything out to her explaining the meaning and cause for it to be there.
"That Usagi-san, is what we call the dive chair. You will sit in while we hook you up to the system to monitor you. We then clear out of the room and you place that headset on. The headset is called a diving tech. visor. It allows you to enter the BETA-verse." he explained.
"While we sit up here and check up on you to make sure everything's going to plan. And if it isn't, we'll log you out manually. We are able to communicate to you no matter where you are in the BETA-verse." explained Zoisite, leaning against the council. "Only you and two start up technicians go into that room to help you enter the BETA-verse. We'll give you log in and log out codes later."
Usagi stood staring at the chair and then turned back to Nephlite. "Can I go inside?"
"Usagi..." started Ikuko. Zoisite raised his hand and stopped her.
"It's a valid question." he then turned back to her. "Usagi-chan, you'll have to wait a little longer-we want to run some test then we'll get you started by sending you into the BETA-verse later this afternoon."
"This afternoon?" echoed Ikuko worried.
Kenji put an arm around his wife's shoulders. "We knew it would be happening, dear." he then turned back to Zoisite and Nephlite. "Will be able to see her when she first...dives then?"
"Yes." answered Nephlite. Zoisite bounded on his heels.
"Come along then! It's time you saw the place you'll be staying as long as you're here then, Usagi-chan!" he said. Usagi brightened and nodded following them out to the elevator. Zoisite grinned at them and pressed "7". Again when the elevator stopped and pinged, sliding the doors open, it revealed a short hall this time with two doors with another masculine and feminine symbol on them. Zoisite and gestured to the door. "Well, Usagi-chan you first."
Usagi hesitated a moment but then let the door swing open.
POP! POP! POP!
"Welcome, Tsukino-san!" chorused a group. Usagi gasped as she realized, fifteen other people were in a barracks like room holding party confetti poppers and laughing.
"Usagi-chan, I'd like you to meet the fifteen other MOON SENSHI candidates." introduced Zoisite. A loud chorus of welcomes came forth and Usagi beamed. "Most of them have only been here a month or two but they can tell that themselves." Usagi smiled to her parents and walked further into the room. A young girl with red wavy hair stepped up first.
"Hey, my name's Naru." she started sticking her hand out. Another girl, this time with long blue hair leaned over to Usagi.
"She's from Osaka, that's where she got the accent."
"Fish Eye-chan!" snapped Naru, shaking her finger at her. "You promised not to interrupt!"
Fish Eye sighed and leaned away. "Alright, alright, but it's true anyway." she said before she turned to Usagi again. "She's been here for a little less the two months." she continued, ignoring Naru's exasperated sigh. "But continuing on-" she stuck her hand out Usagi which Usagi shook. "My codename's Fish Eye and I'd preferred to be called that. I've been here a month and a half, and I'm a Tokyo girl myself."
"I'm Tsukino Usagi. I'm from Tokyo too!" laughed Usagi.
"Really?" grinned Naru.
"Which ward?" asked Fish Eye.
"Azabu." she answered.
"Right, that's cool. I'm from Shibuya." said Fish Eye before turning back to the other people behind her. "Alright, now these guys," she said, pointing to the men behind her, "are the only male candidates for the MOON SENSHI. They are Umino-kun," she pointed to the one with glasses, "Urawa Ryo-kun," she pointed to the next young man who gave her a shy wave, "Alan-kun," the next young man nodded to her, "And least of all, Diamond." she finished with a roll of her eyes.
Diamond reached out and took Usagi's hand, placing a kiss on it. "I extend to you my warmest welcome."
"Ah-HEM." growled Kenji, glaring at the older man holding his daughter's hand. Usagi, who was already blushing, flushed deeply and took back her hand before her father did anything...damaging to the man.
"I'm Ann." declared another girl walking up to her and sticking her hand out. Usagi shook hands with her and she continued talking. "I'm Alan's fiancee, so no funny business." Usagi blinked, a bit unnerved and nodding.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." she replied, feeling a bit out of place. Fish Eye continued.
"And over there is Nephellania-chan-" a young woman looked up from her compact's mirror as she applied make-up to her face.
"Never use my make-up with out my permission or you're dead." she exclaimed, glaring at four young teenaged girls slightly younger than Usagi at her side. The four began to whistle innocently.
"And there the quartet-Ceres-chan," a serene looking girl with pink hair nodded to her, "Vesta-chan," a red-head grinned up at her, "Juno-chan," a serious looking girl with green hair nodded to her, "and Pallas-chan." the last was a young girl with blue who waved enthusiastically.
"They stole Nephellania-chan's make-up this morning and smeared it over their faces like war paint." whispered Naru. "Never call Nephellania-chan Nephie, okay? She hates it-that it confuses Nephlite-san if you say it around both of them." Nephlite, who heard, rolled his eyes and went back to his coffee. "Eep! Sorry, Nephlite-san."
Fish Eye continued on with the introductions. "And other there is the resident pain in the neck, Beryl-"
"WHY YOU-!" screeched the red head, fingers reaching for her as if to choke the life out of her.
"What, Beryl's stolen Emerald's job?" sniggered Zoisite. "Cause if she did, I need more pens-"
"Shut up, you twit!"
"Moving on," began Fish Eye. "We have the last of our group-Kakyuu-san," she said nodding to a pretty red headed woman, "and Chibi Chibi-chan." From behind Kakyuu's skirt a young girl maybe three or four years old peeked out. Usagi gasped to see such a young girl there. For a minute the little girl stayed behind Kakyuu before quickly waltzing over to Usagi and lifting her arms up in the universal "pick me up" gesture. Usagi picked her up and smiled at the shy little girl who quickly buried her head in Usagi's shoulder. "Well, she warmed up to you fast!"
"How old is she?" asked Ikuko looking over her daughter's shoulder at the small little girl.
"She's tiny!" remarked Shingo. "How come she's here?"
"Chibi Chibi-chan is about three years old." answered Nephlite. "She came to us about a month ago, having similar dreams as Usagi-san. She the youngest SENSHI candidate beating out the SATURN SENSHI by nearly seven years. The SATURN SENSHI happens to be twelve now-she was ten when she joined the project, in case you're wondering."
"And that concludes the grand tour!" proclaimed Zoisite. "Usagi-chan, you'll be showed more later but right now, how about we break for lunch? After that the doctors want to run some tests and then it's time for BETA-diving."
"BETA-diving?" repeated Usagi in confusion.
"He means you'll be going to the BETA-verse." answered Naru.
"It's just techno jargon-don't worry you'll pick it all up on the way." added Fish Eye. "Now let's go get some lunch! I'm starving!" she shouted, steering Usagi back to the elevator.
---------------
After a quick lunch where Usagi found out more about the other candidates-including Diamond's panty fetish and Beryl's odd habit of seeming to want to kill him at every mention of "the locker room incident" as they referred to it and Chibi Chibi's three word vocabulary consisting of her name and "cake!"-Nephlite escorted her and her family-Naru and Fish Eye tagged along-to the medical floor.(floor 10, if you must know)
"Don't worry, Usagi-chan, this is no sweat at all!" reassured Naru, patting her shoulder.
"Yeah, Motoki-sensei will take really good care of you." agreed Fish Eye. "Motoki-san is the head medical officer here at the base. He performs all of the check ups for us most of the time and he's really nice."
With a loud ping the elevator doors open to reveal a large 40 by 40 room. A few doctors and nurses wandered about looking at read out schematics or checking on some medication dosage. Machinery hummed loudly and a operating table was closed off by a curtain while an examination table sat on the other side of the room. "This, Usagi-chan, is the Medical Level where doctors will take care of you and check up on you to determine your diet and training schedule." explained Zoisite, he then pointed to one of the doctors, a young man with short wavy blonde hair in a lab coat as she walked over. "There's Motoki-san."
"Hello, you must be Tsukino Usagi." laughed Motoki. "I'm Motoki, the head physician here."
"Hello, Motoki-sensei." greeted Usagi with a bow, a blush tinting her cheeks.
"Tsukino-chan, I'll be running some tests and doing a check up for you today so why don't we head on over to the examination table?" he smiled and gestured to the table. Usagi gulped and nodded. Fish Eye and Naru, seeing this, reached over and linked arms with her.
"Don't worry, Usagi-chan, it's not hard!" cheered Naru, pulling her towards the table.
"Easy peasy!" agreed Fish Eye, "Just sit there and do what Motoki-sensei tells you." They helped her up on the table and stepped back as Motoki came over with Zoisite, Nephlite, and her family trailing behind.
"So, Tsukino-chan, say 'ah', please." he said, putting a tongue depressor on her tongue as she opened her mouth.
The rest of the check was pretty basic-Motoki checked her heart, her hearing, her sight, and blood pressure. Finally at long last, Motoki turned to Zoisite and Nephlite and nodded.
"She's checks out fine-we've seen her past medical records and there shouldn't be a problem. You guys can go ahead and let her start diving soon." he said as he placed his clipboard to the side. He then turned back to Usagi. "Congratulations, Tsukino-chan, and welcome to the program. If you ever get hurt or need someone to talk to just come to one of us here, alright?"
"Yay, Usagi-chan!" cheered Naru.
"Now you can go diving to!" laughed Fish Eye. Usagi turned to Zoisite and Nephlite.
"Can I-" she began.
"We'll get you cleared to go diving by five o'clock, Usagi-chan." interrupted Zoisite.
"Five o'clock?" echoed Kenji, glancing at his watch. "But that's barely half an hour from now-"
"We can get authorization from Chiba-sama." explained Nephlite. "It'll take about twenty minutes for the computer start up and for Usagi-san to get suited up." He stopped and turned to Usagi. "We usually send first timers in with another of the candidates in case they need help. Usually, it's easier for others we you have another with you we you first arrive. We'll choose someone to go with you when you dive."
"Oh, I wanna go! Can I go?" begged Fish Eye.
"Hey, I'd like to go!" quipped Naru. "Nephlite-san, requesting for clearance to enter the BETA-verse with Usagi-chan!"
"Hey, no fair!"
"We will decide who is going with Usagi-san based on current performance with procedures." insisted Nephlite, interrupting their squabble. Zoisite shook his head at the two of them and piped in too.
"Fish Eye, you ignored two direct orders last time. Naru-chan, you haven't been checked over by Motoki-san's people since your last dive five weeks ago. There isn't a chance either of you are going." he retorted. Both girls groaned.
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All right, people! I have forums set up for this story and my other sailor moon stories but I need your help! Besides the SUN and EARTH SENSHI, I've tried to keep Original Characters at a minimum but I need your help:
I need to make one extra senshi! I want to either use Sedna which was that planet they found not too long ago or should I go with an older idea I had for Lilith. Lilith was a false moon that people thought orbited the Earth back along time ago.
Which should I pick? Review and come to the forum to help please!
