Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.
BETA-vers is beta read by the too cool whitey9h. Have fun at the movies, man!
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Mamoru rubbed his temples as he held the phone away from his ear as his step-mother screamed herself hoarse at him. After Emerald had told him about his father inviting him to dinner, he had called to tell them that he would be there-now he rather wished he hadn't.
"-for the last five months, Mamoru! I hadn't heard from you in five months-do you know what that did to me!" shouted Alice. Mamoru finally sat the phone down and began to attend to his agenda, checking to see what he was doing for the day. "I've been worried sick-nearly had a heart attack twice."
"If only I was so lucky." he muttered to himself. Let's see, arrive at base with Tsukinos at noon, check. Go over papers for more sources for the tech department, check.
"-and then finally hearing that you were going to be there at dinner on Saturday-"
Write up progress report for base, check. Authorize clearance for Tsukino Usagi's dive at five-waiting for word from Zoisite and Nephlite about that. Authorize clearance for another candidate to go with Tsukino Usagi on her dive-still waiting on who Zoisite and Nephlite picked on that one too...
"-be more like your sister? She phone calls! She comes home once in awhile! Why is it that you only come when your father asks you!-"
"Oh, yeah, like he asked me." he groaned as he rolled his eyes. "There's got to be a better way, right?" he muttered. There was a loud knock from the door and Mamoru looked up to his door, picking up the phone. "Gotta go, ma, duty calls."
"Don't you dare hang up on me, mister! I raised you for 12 years of your life and if you think I'll stand for being shut out of your life-" Mamoru rolled his eyes, pressed the off button and sat the phone back on it's cradle.
"Chiba-sama, permission to enter?"
"Damn it, Mamoru! Open the damn door!"
"Ahh, didn't take them too long." Mamoru chuckled. "Come in-Nephlite-san, stop asking permission, and Zoisite stop shouting." The blonde rolled his eyes at his superior as he walked in. Nephlite shrugged eloquently to his superior and rolled his eyes at his co-worker. "So, I take it Usagi-san's check up went well? Was Motoki-kun able to get her medical records?"
"Yes, sir. Motoki-sensei checked up Usagi-san and found no problem's with any of her recent MRI or CAT scans." summarized Nephlite. "Physically speaking, she's in the green for a BETA dive."
"The problem is the other person whose to go with her." added Zoisite. "Many of the candidates haven't gotten a medical check up from Motoki-san in a while."
"Well then, who has gotten it?" grumbled Mamoru, jotting down on his agenda order candidates to take check ups.
"Urawa, Diamond, Umino, Ceres, Fish Eye, and Nephellania." answered Nephlite, reading off from a list that Motoki had given him as they entered the elevator. "Fish Eye has already shown to get along with her well but-"
"She disobeyed two of your direct orders and I had to override her by pulling rank." he finished with a sigh. He turned and jotted another point onto his agenda: order pyshc evaluation on Fish Eye. "We can't have her doing that again; especially in front of the odango atama."
"Odango atama?" snorted Zoisite. "You're still on about that?" he sniggered. Nephlite rolled his eyes while Mamoru ignored him.
"I don't think Diamond or Nephellania would be good choices either." Nephlite informed him. "Nephellania's high strung at the moment and might take out on Usagi-san, which could affect her performance. Diamond-"
"Flirts too much." finished Zoisite. "He'll just be too busy trying to woo her into bed to notice if there's even a youma about." Nephlite opened his mouth as if to dispute him but came up short and shrugged. Mamoru sighed in annoyance-Diamond could be a flirt and a hindrance at times when there happened to be a pair of pretty legs about.
"Agreed. Other suggestions, then?"
"Umino tends to get off topic and annoy others." drawled Zoisite before Nephlite could speak causing the brunette to shake his head at him. "Ceres may try to start to haze Usagi-chan early."
"They still insist on hazing the new candidates?" sighed Mamoru. Zoisite shrugged.
"Tricking someone into a cake eating contest isn't something that mean-just sneaky." he remarked.
"How do they do it again and again, anyway?" muttered Nephlite. He shook his head and continued on. "That leaves Urawa. He'll do good. He's already done it twice and people tend to get along with him as their guide-even the quartetto listen to him."
"Urawa, then? What say you, Zoisite?" asked Mamoru, turning to the blonde who gave a could-care-less shrug. "It's decided then: Urawa it is. Please tell him then that he'll be diving with Usagi-san then."
They both nodded. They were both turning to leave when Zoisite stopped and turned back to Mamoru. "Mamoru..." he began but faltered. "Mamoru, is it true about Usagi-chan's dreams? That she knows of the events that happened at the-"
"No. She DID know of HELIOS and GAEA. She doesn't need to know about FENRIR...not yet." he sighed. He jotted another note down on his agenda before standing and nodding to both of them. "All right, we got two dives happening in two hours-get Hawks Eye-san and Tigers Eye-san to prep Usagi-san for the dive. I want Ittou-san...and...I think, Sarashina-san should be able to get Urawa prepped up."
"Yes, sir!" snapped Zoisite, giving him a cheesy salute. Nephlite had apparently had enough of his horsing around, turned, and slapped him upside the head before grabbing his collar and tugging him out of the room as Zoisite cursed fluently in three different languages. Mamoru rolled his eyes and sunk back into his chair with a huff. He sat in his butter yellow leather swivel chair, gazing about his desk before deciding to straighten it out quickly, putting pens and papers in various spots about his desk.
He was placing a folder in his desk as a picture in its frame caught his eye. His hand faltered for a moment as he reached out for it making him halt and sigh. He stood up and flipped the photo over and quietly left the room.
He didn't want to be reminded of her before the dive that afternoon.
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"I wish my suit looked as good on me as yours does on you, Usagi-chan!" gushed Naru as Usagi pulled the gloves tightly back. Fish Eye and Naru had insisted on helping Usagi into her BETA diving suit which she was beginning to become very glad that she'd accepted-the suit was a close fit as it was one of Fish Eye's and pinched a bit in the bust but it was the closest thing before her own personal dive suit could be tailor made for her. "I mean it looks really good on you, Usagi-chan!"
"Really?" Usagi asked, holding her hair back so Fish Eye could finish hooking up some of the sensors in the back of the suit.
"Sure; makes you look like trim." commented Fish Eye. "Don't worry about these sensors here in back next time: they're just sensory units that you only have the first time, kay? They just need to get the read outs from this suit first before they get you any suits just for you. There; all done!"
"What's so special with this suit?" she asked, letting her hair fall back as Fish Eye hopped over the bench Usagi was sitting on that ran in between the lockers of the women's locker room. The locker room was a fairly large room with lockers on either wall of the room, bathroom stalls and showers attached by the back wall. The overall room reminded her of her school's locker room in that was exactly as boring as she expected it to be; nothing but a drab little room in gray and lavender hues.
"It's a start up suit." explained Naru, as Usagi poked and prodded the suit. "They use it on your first BETA dive and get the special read outs that are unique to you and then they make a specially designed suit based on the read outs from this suit."
"Wow." muttered Usagi as she quickly withdrew her hand from her administration on her suit. Fish Eye and Naru laughed before dragging her out of the locker room. Outside, the other candidates, Nephlite, Zoisite, Mamoru, and her family stood waiting for them. Fish Eye patted her shoulder as Naru gave her a gentle squeeze on her arm before joining the other candidates.
"Good luck, Tsukino-san!" cheered the candidates. Usagi smiled warmly at them. She blinked when she realized the Urawa had an identical suit to hers on; it was a similar all white suit with a large red circle blossoming across the chest.(1)
"Urawa will be diving with you as a guide, Usagi-san." spoke Mamoru as he saw the confused look beginning to show on her face. She blinked and nodded as Zoisite appeared at her side, tossing an arm around her; his other arm had a head lock around Urawa. He grinned and tossed an arm around her neck.
"Ready then, Usagi-chan?" snickered Zoisite affectionately.
"Ah-"
"Great! Now let's get you guys to the dive chambers and the technicians will get you plugged in!" he cheerfully exclaimed. Usagi peaked back over her shoulder to see Mamoru and Nephlite talking to her family and the other candidates, herding them into the control room. "Alright, Urawa! You'll be with Kotono-san and Asanuma-san and Usagi, you're with Tiger Eye and Hawk Eye! Good luck, we'll be watching you in the control room!" he cheered, shoving them into the elevator.
Urawa rolled his eyes as he stumbled into the elevator, the doors sliding shut behind them. At his side, Usagi nearly pitched forward onto her face but thankfully she managed to cling to the wall and save herself from a rather painful experience. With a sigh of relief she blinked behind her to Urawa who gave her a bizarre look. "Ahh, Usagi-san, are you alright?"
Blinking in shock that he'd seen her rather ungraceful fall, she blushed and tried to act nonchalant with a smile. "Ah-ha, yeah, I totally meant to do that!"
He stared at her as he felt a bead of sweat roll down his face. "Ah...will, alright, Usagi-san, if you say so."
She continued to try to laugh off her spill with her nervous chuckles as she groaned to herself inside. Wah, that was so uncool!
Urawa shrugged and decided to get down to business. "Alright, Usagi-san, I'm going to explain everything to you as we enter the BETA-verse, okay?" he started and waited for her to nod before going on. "Alright, when we get out of the elevator, a couple of technicians well help us get set up in the diving chairs. They'll connect some wires to your suite and then they'll help you with the tech. visor. After they leave the room, the doors seal themselves and Chiba-sama and the others will tell you what to do from there. Understand?"
"Yes!" she declared, feeling both anxious and eager to finally arrive in the BETA-verse. Urawa stared at her a moment-she seemed to be another girl from the one just before as she tumbled into the elevator; she looked to be a strong willed, brave young woman now. He merely spared her a friendly smile before the elevator in front of them slid open and four people stood before them.
"Hey, then this is the girl Fish Eye was talking about." chuckled one of the men in front of her. He had long fiery blonde hair and a fierce grin as did the other man with almost-bubble-gum pink hair. "Alright then, the name's Tigers Eye, pinky here's my brother, Hawks Eye. If you couldn't tell, were Fish Eye's older brothers."
Usagi didn't even get to remark upon this as the two other people went ahead and introduced themselves. "My name's Kotono Sarashina, and this boy next to me is Asanuma Ittou!" explained the only girl there quickly. "We four our going to be the start up technicians today!"
"Start up technicians?" echoed Usagi at a loss. Kotono nodded.
"Yep, that means we help you get plugged into the BETA-verse!" she answered. Tigers Eye took his cue and cut in.
"Okay, let's get you guys set up in the chairs then. Tsukino-san, you're with me and Hawks Eye. Urawa-san's going with Ittou and Sarashina." he explained, steering her into a room with Hawks Eye following behind. Surprised, she looked over her shoulder to see Asanuma roll his eye and Kotono shepherding Urawa forward into another room.
"Ah-I thought Urawa was going to becoming with me?" she asked, surprised by the new turn of events.
"He is. He'll be in the BETA-verse with you. But the diving chairs only accommodate one person. He's going to be in another chair." explained Hawks Eye patiently as they showed her into the room. It was the same room as she had seen on the screen in the control room earlier, white metal surrounding the circular room. What surprised her was how high the ceiling was going up nearly six meters up but she wasn't quite sure how high it actually went as the ceiling was too shadowy to make out it's height. Coming from the ceiling, a large red visor hung above the chair. Standing in the room, Usagi was hit by a strange sense of deja vu.
"Alright, Tsukino-san, up into the chair." ordered Tigers Eye, helping her up. She slipped up into the chair and rested on the padded back. At least it was comfy, she thought as the two technicians began to plug wires into her suit. "Almost done, Tsukino-san." they grunted as they fought a few of the few plugs into the chair. When the plugs went into the chair, steam hissed out for a moment. "There, now for the visor."
Hawks Eye reached up and snagged the visor before putting it on Usagi's head. It was large but the inside was padded, the screen that went over her eyes was a reddish orange color. When Hawks Eye flipped a switch, a whirring noise whistled into her left ear and a few amber colored marks appeared on the screen before disappearing. After they disappeared the screen turned blue.
"How'd it do that?" she asked, trying to turn to the technicians. She suddenly realized she couldn't move; the heavy plugs and visor weighed her down to much. "H-hey! How am I supposed to move!"
"Huh? Oh, that?" pipped Tigers Eye. "Don't worry about that. Alright, you're all set. Wait for Chiba-sama to tell you what to do. Good luck." he called as he and his brother exited the room.
"H-hey! Jerks! You didn't answer me!" she shouted after them in a huff. Resigning herself to not getting her answers, she waited for a sign.
Quietly and suddenly, a voice pipped in her right ear. "Usagi-san, can you hear me?" asked Nephlite.
"Hey, hey, Usagi-chan, how are you in there!"
"Zoisite, don't be so informal in the control room." ordered Mamoru.
"Ah, yes, I can hear you." answered Usagi before Zoisite could retort and make a scene. "What do you want me to do?"
"Just relax." Nephlite told her. "We'll tell you what to do. Alright, first we have to boot up the gate passage to the BETA-verse. We're doing that right now, it will only take us a moment. After that we'll log you into the BETA-verse."
"How, do I know I'm there?" she asked in confusion. They make it sound like they were logging into their e-mail on the internet. she thought a bit huffily as she waited for an answer.
"Trust us, you'll know." answered Zoisite.
"Well...alright." she muttered.
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(1.) The BETA diving suits worn by candidates and SENSHI are meant to look something the country's representative flag. Usagi's looks like the Japanese flag, Minako's like England, and so on.
