Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 7: The Senshi of Chaos.
Episode 106: The rice of Sailor Chef.

By Razor Knight
Last update: July 31, 2015
Last edited: June 13, 2017

"Come on, do it."

Mako looked at the girl standing besides her desk. Sure, not many fans nowadays approached them while they were at school, but this one of those rare cases. "Promise you'll stop nagging me about it after I do it?"

The girl frowned for a second at the word 'nagging' but then nodded. "Yes."

Kage was looking at Mako amusedly. "A little show for the fans now and then won't hurt."

"I guess." She looked at the lead pipe the other girl had placed in her desk and shrugged. "Okay, I'll do it."

Kage had to admit that, even though he knew just how strong Mako was thanks to her 'special' power, it was still impressive to see her showing it off. In a matter of seconds, she had turned the pipe into a compact mass of metal, and then she punched through it with her index finger, making a hole in it. "You're as strong as you are beautiful."

Mako smiled at him. "Good thing I take that as a compliment, because if I didn't..." And she crushed the small ball of metal into a disc to show her point.

Kage flinched, then smiled back at her. "Nice."

The girl took the lead disc and stared at it before looking at Mako. "That was awesome!"

"Uh, thanks."

Hotaru watched the girl walk out of the classroom and sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss everyone being crazy about us and not leaving us alone."

"Why, liked being popular?"

"No, it gave me something to think about other than... Her."

Mako sighed. "I can't even imagine how hard the wait must be for you, but... In a way, it's good. Back when we met you, you honestly looked like a robot to me."

Hotaru looked down. "I know. And I'd rather be sad and gloomy, like I am nowadays, than not feel anything."

"You did feel things," Kage said, "it's just that you chose to ignore them."

"Perhaps you're right," Hotaru admitted. She had noticed Yaten Kou (one of the Three Lights) was looking at them, but had ignored that, until now. "What's wrong?"

Yaten shrugged. "It may be weird for me to ask this, but are you guys really okay with everyone knowing who you are? Won't that interfere with your mission?"

"Most civilians are smart, or at least self-preserving enough to run away from areas where we're fighting."

"What about your enemies knowing who you are?"

"Most enemies we've faced knew who we were. This 'Galaxia' we're fighting right now is no different."

"Oh. I guess it's a matter of getting used to the fame, just like we did."

Hotaru nodded, then smiled. "Thanks."

"Huh? Why are you thanking me?"

"For helping me take my mind off certain issues, even if it's just for a minute."

Yaten blinked at that, then nodded. "You're welcome."

Hours later, the Senshi base was quite empty, but the few who were there were keeping themselves busy. Rei watched as Maria and Ami talked, and even though she didn't understand a word of Spanish, she could still tell Ami was having no problem keeping up.

Maria sighed and then nodded. "That power is pretty awesome - you don't even have a noticeable accent, it's like Spanish was your birth language."

"It's not that useful..." Ami admitted.

Rei shrugged. "My power is only good to shield me or trap an enemy inside the shield. Mako's power is only good for things that require strength. Minako's power won't help her beat a stronger enemy, just dodge better. And Usagi's powers... Her evil sense is useful, but just to tell us when someone attacks. And her other power..."

Ami nodded. "You're right. And I can't even imagine how that felt."

"I felt like a part of me had been sealed. Like I knew it was there, but I wasn't allowed to see it, to feel it," Usagi explained. "I'm not sure I want to go through that again, but if I must sacrifice my powers to save the world..."

Aiko suddenly looked up. "There's someone outside the dojo."

"Someone?"

"Takashi Hino," Aiko said, looking at Rei. "I'll make an educated guess and say he wants to speak with you."

"Why would he come here?" Rei muttered. "What the heck is he after?"

"I don't think he'll get anything from coming here, Rei," Usagi said. "Nothing material. I could be wrong, but the only way for you to find out would be asking him."

Rei sighed. "Guess you're right. I'll be right back."

"Not going to tell us not to watch?" Usagi asked.

"I know you, guys. Even if I told you, you would still do it. Also, I'd rather have you keep an eye on us, in case something happens."

"Something?"

"I don't need you to protect me from him. I need you to protect him from me," Rei said, walking into the elevator before the others could say anything else.

"Hello, Rei."

"What are you doing here, father?"

Hino met Rei's glare with a neutral face. "I know you may never forget about what I did to you- to both of you. I'm not asking you to do that. You don't even need to fear me doing anything against you or your friends - I would gain nothing from it. I just want you to forgive me for what I did. I can't fix the past, I can't bring her back, but ever since I saw you walk into the office that day, I realized what I had missed, all these years. I don't want my only daughter to hate me."

"You think I would just forgive you?" Rei said. "Then you know me less than I thought."

"Rei, what you do, saving the world without asking for anything in return, is-"

Rei looked around and sighed. "Let's continue this inside the dojo... This place is one of the few secrets we still want to keep."

"Okay." The man followed his daughter inside the building, then looked around. "So, your base is-"

"Still out of your reach," Rei said. "You were saying something about my job."

"Yes. Risa... Your mother would be proud of you. I'm proud of you. You said I didn't have the right to be proud, but-"

"There's only one reason I didn't just leave you up here waiting until you grew bored of it," Rei said, interrupting him.

"What would that reason be?"

"My friends. They've helped me grow out of my old self- Specially Usagi. At first I thought she was naive, annoying, and I didn't understand why she was the one meant to be our leader. But after a while I knew - she doesn't give up, she doesn't run away from her troubles. She taught me that running away is never the answer."

"Well, I guess I should thank your friends for being there for you when I wasn't."

"I can't forget what you did. Mom... Grief killed her, I saw her letting herself go, and I hated you for it. Still, Usagi also taught me that being able to forgive those that hurt you is a good thing. I... I'm willing to give you a second chance, father. To be honest, I don't hate you anymore."

"Rei..."

"However, don't make me regret it. Don't you dare breaking my heart twice."

Hino saw his daughter walk to one of the walls and do something - he couldn't see what - and the wall slid aside. "Hey, is that-"

"Yeah, that's how you get inside, at least until you know how to teleport in."

"You can do that?"

"I'm still learning, but a short distance like this should be safe for me."

"Then why reveal that to me?"

"Not sure. A sign of trust, I guess. And while we don't want the world to find out where our 'secret' base is, we would also not mind fans knowing about it - nobody can get through these walls other than us, our allies, and our alien enemies."

"How can you be sure no weapon could get through these walls?"

Rei smiled, and punched the wall, leaving only a small dent in it. Her father could see her flinch, but she ignored the pain. "Even our attacks have a hard time drilling through this material. I'm not sure even tank shells would blast through it."

"Oh. Well, there goes my evil plan to unveil your secret base's location to the world," the man said, with a voice dripping as much sarcasm as Rei's voice could, at times.

Rei laughed at that. "Good thing our secret's safe with you. I have to go back now, but... I guess I'll go talk to you sometime, or you could drop by the shrine-"

"I don't think dad's ready to see me."

"I know he misses his son. He tries hard to deny it, but he'll be glad to see you."

"Good. I may surprise him, one of these days."

As she walked back in, she could see her friends staring at her. "What?"

"We thought you would just shout at him until he left," Usagi admitted.

Rei let out a sigh. "The old me would have done that. But now, joking aside, he's right. He can't get anything material from us, and he can't force us into anything. I want to believe that he really does want to start over."

"If he's just fooling around, I'll go beat him up for you."

Rei looked at Yuichiro and gave him a half-smile. "I'm not sure if I should be worried or glad to hear you say that."

Ami was now talking to ChibiChibi. Even though Rei and the others couldn't understand a word, they could tell Ami was having an easier time with her newfound power, after practicing it for days. "Uhm, this is strange."

"What is?"

Ami looked at Usagi. "This girl... She says her name is 'Gala.'"

Terry flinched at that. "That sounds like-"

Ami nodded. "Galaxia. I remember reading the legends, and Sailor Galaxia's name was Gala. I bet the word 'Galaxy' comes from Galaxia, and not the other way around as we thought."

"So this little girl is Galaxia? But isn't Galaxia our enemy?"

"Chibi chibi."

"Yes and no, that's what she said," Ami noted.

"But if she's Galaxia, then why is she a toddler, and why is she-"

Ami heard ChibiChibi say something else, and flinched. "She is... I guess we could say she's Galaxia's soul. The Galaxia who is sending those 'Animates' is just her body, Chaos has full control of it."

"If this little girl is Galaxia's soul, then she's been outside her body for... Maybe millions of years," Maria noted. "At least if we go by the legends."

"Would it be possible for a soul to exist outside its body for that long?" Rei asked.

Ami listened to ChibiChibi- to Gala's answer, and couldn't help but laugh. "She said 'nothing is impossible for us Senshi.'"

"I just have to know, why is she taking that form? Communicating would be easier if she was an adult."

"For two reasons," Ami noted after listening to the little girl's answer, "first being that her mind was... Weakened by the long wait - she remembers who she was and what she must do, but she can't use her normal form anymore." She heard something else from the girl, and flinched. "The second is, her power is also weakened. While Chaos cannot use Galaxia's full power without a soul, Gala is also... Let's just say the power I can detect in her is already too much for even Moon, and yet it's but a small fraction of her real power."

"So if she gets her powers back, she'll defeat Galaxia- I mean, the other Galaxia?"

Gala looked at Rei and shook her head. "Chibi."

"'I won't.'" Ami translated.

"But-"

Ami sighed. "I don't need her to say it to guess why. If we kill the other Galaxia, Gala will be gone for good."

"But if we don't-"

"Rei, there's more ways to win a war than killing all our enemies," Usagi noted.

"... Right."

Usagi looked at ChibiChibi- Gala. "And really, if this girl is the real Galaxia, then we should help her. We may win a very powerful ally."

Terry smiled at her. "That's quite a good point. As expected from our leader."

Gala suddenly looked up. "Chibi."

Usagi flinched. "I'm sensing it. They're attacking Mako... Probably targeting Kage, too."

"Let's stop them."

Mako and Kage were out for a walk, with no destination in mind. She had to admit that it was nice to just be with someone, like this. She didn't need to be treated to a movie or a restaurant to have a great time. "Say, Kage, I've been wondering..."

"Yes?"

"How good is your control over gravity?"

"I think it's quite good. Why?"

"Try to push me down."

"But-"

"I can't use my real stength when training with the others," Mako said, "and it's annoying having to wait for an alien creep to show up to use it."

Kage sighed. "I don't know, feels wrong to try and crush my girlfriend."

Mako blushed. "Uh, I guess. What do I have to do to convince you, kiss you?"

"Who knows?" Kage said, smirking at her.

Mako shook her head. "Silly." She then gave him a kiss in the lips. "There."

Kage blinked at that. "Not going to complain, but you didn't need to-"

"I know. Now go ahead, try to knock me off my feet."

Kage nodded. "Okay. Gravity Hold!"

Mako felt the pressure almost immediately. It felt like having a bus on top of her head. Still, she was hardly noticing the pressure. "Nice, but not enough."

"You don't even notice my basic gravity attack... That's a surprise. Let's see if you can keep up with me. Gravity Press!"

Mako fell to one knee almost instantly. "Ugh, now this is... Better." She slowly started pushing up, and smiled. "I knew I could stand your-"

Kage chuckled. "That's not my full power, Mako. Gravity Crush."

Mako was knocked down to the ground. "Wow, this feels... Painful."

"Should I stop?" Kage asked, then saw Mako slowly staggering up. "No damn way."

Mako looked at him and flinched. "That's... Enough, thanks."

Kage stopped his 'attack and saw Mako didn't look quite steady. "Shit. Sorry, let me just-"

Mako groaned. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I'm fine!"

Kage saw her fall forwards, and caught her before she hit the ground. She looked at him with a rather mortified face. "I won't think you're weak just because you need me to help you once in a while, Mako."

"... Thanks," she said and let him help her up. They sat down on a bench and, for the first time, Mako noticed they had an audience. "Uh, guess that little show didn't go unnoticed."

"Hey Jupiter, why was he attacking you?"

Mako looked at the man who had asked that. "We were just training. I just need to get my bearings back, and I'll be okay."

Just as the man was about to say something else, two women teleported in. Kage looked at them and sighed. Iron Mouse, and a new girl whose suit made her look like either a cat girl, or a dominatrix. Or both. "Damn it, I guess Zephyr is right."

Mako was also looking at the two women. "What I'm wondering is who the heck thought those were good Senshi outfits."

Mouse glared at her. "We can wear whatever we want, we're much stronger than y- Eek!"

Kage chuckled at the scene. Mako had phased right behind Mouse, raising her leg and kicking down, but Mouse had sensed her and had barely been able to dodge. The ground where Mouse had been standing was now a small crater. "That's my girl."

Nyanko stared at Mako. "Hmm, so strong. I'm not sure if I should kick you or lick you."

"... Hot."

Mako gave Kage a short glare. "You're not helping."

"Oh, right. Gravity Crush."

Mako saw the 'cat girl' was now pinned to the ground by Kage's attack. "Well, I guess I'll have to take care of the rat girl."

Mouse smirked. "Foolish girl, don't you know cats love to play with their food?"

"What does that-" Mako heard a grunt and turned around. She saw Kage was down, and saw the cat girl was holding a black bazooka... And the projectile loaded in it was shaped like a cat paw. "... Weird."

Nyanko giggled. "Serves him right for crushing my hopes and dreams."

Mako flinched. "Just leave, that's what you do once you get your target, right?"

Nyanko smiled. "Yes, once we get both our targets, we'll leave."

While not the smartest of her group, Mako wasn't dumb, either. And past battles let her predict what these two were planning. She spun around, using her elbow to knock the air out of Mouse's lungs. Mouse had been about to sneak up on Mako, but she suddenly realized the tall girl wasn't as easy a target as they had thought. "So I'm a target too."

Nyanko groaned. "Damn it, Mouse."

"Not... My... Fault..." Mouse said from the ground.

The cat girl shrugged. "I'll take care of this."

Mako saw the incoming paw-like missile, and then did the only sensible thing - she grabbed it out of the air, and threw it back at Nyanko. "No you won't."

Nyanko clutched her stomach and glared at Mako. "Oh, now I'm so going to beat you down."

"Just try."

"Starlight Laser!"

Mako realized the other alien Senshi were there as well, and that their attacks hurt a damn lot. "Ow, those assholes, I'm going to-"

"You're going to give me your star seed," Nyanko said from behind her, before putting her hand in Mako's neck. The star seed floated up from her target's forehead, and just like the guy a minute earlier, it was a dull brown color. "Two duds for the price of one. Awesome."

Mouse had finally recovered from the blow, and looked around. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..."

Nyanko shrugged. "Let's just go, I'm not in the mood to play with weaklings."

Just as the two alien Senshi left, Moon and her friends teleported in. "Damn, we're late."

"You're right on time for the main course!"

8 Mars looked at what Mako had turned into. She was wearing a cook's outfit, except it had a short skirt instead of pants, and she was holding two large knives. "... And of course she would be a cook."

"I am Sailor Chef, and I'm going to make you a sandwich."

"Make you... A sandwich?" Mercury repeated. "Puns. Why did it have to be puns."

"I'm just trying to spice things up."

Moon groaned. "Let's just knock her out- Wait, where's Kage?"

Mars saw Moon be hit by a thin energy beam, the impact was strong enough to send her friend rolling and crashing into a parked truck. "Usagi!"

Mercury looked around. "That was Kage. He's... Shooting us from afar."

Dragon Mars flinched. "So he's... Dragon Sniper?"

"Guys, get him. We'll take care of the cooking freak."

Sailor Chef saw the two Dragons fly away, and frowned. "You fools, prepare to get your just dessert."

"Oh shut up already," Mars snapped and shot several fire blasts at Chef.

"I think you need to try a side dish. Salad Tornado!"

"What the heck?"

Mercury saw Mars suddenly surrounded by onions, lettuces, tomatos, and other vegetables. "I would laugh, if I couldn't see the power that attack has."

When the attack passed, Mars was down on one knee. "Fuck... We should stop underestimating these fake Senshi."

Mercury shrugged. "I already stopped underestimating them."

"Heh, that's fun for you to say," Chef noted, "you're just standing there talking."

"Being still and doing nothing are different things," Mercury said.

"What does that-" Chef started, then noticed something. Her feet were cold. Extremely cold. She looked down and saw ice crawling up her legs. "Oh I see, you're giving me the cold shoulder. Or knee."

"Just chill," Mercury said as Chef's body was frozen, except for her head. "... Damn it, I made a pun."

"And a bad one, too," Chef said.

Mercury smiled and punched the ice. Instead of cracking, the ice turned a deep blue, and Chef screamed in pain. The ice then turned into water in a matter of seconds, but Chef was unconscious by the time it was gone.

Mars looked at the knocked out Senshi. "That was... Awesome."

"Wonder how the guys are doing?" Mercury asked as Mars returned Mako's seed. Just then, a Dragon wearing a suit resembling a military outfit, and wielding a broken sniper rifle, run by followed by Dragons Mars and Mercury. "... I guess they're doing fine."

"Burn you evil thing, burn!"

Mercury flinched as the fake Dragon fell. "Uhm... Guys?"

"Yeah?"

"What got you so angry?"

Dragon Mercury shrugged. "He could have shot you a few more times before we got to where he was, but he was too busy zooming in to your... Uhm... Assets."

Mercury blushed at that. "Oh."

"He what?" Mars almost shouted.

"I've made him pay for his lewd actions," Dragon Mars said as he walked back to them. "... And I also returned his seed."

Dragon Mercury sighed. "Eh, it's not like I never checked you girls out, I'm sure some of the Dragons also do that, even some of the other Sailors..."

"I'd never do that," Dragon Mars noted.

Mars smirked. "Yuu, I caught you staring at Usagi and Mako more than once."

"... Sorry?"

"Boys will be boys," Mars said with a shrug.

Mako stood up. "Ugh, I guess you guys took care of my evil form already. But why do I feel like going home and cooking a lot of food?"

Mercury looked at her and sighed. "Trust me, you don't want to know."