Chapter 2

Sisters

It was just another day at Ash's house, where his best friend, Rini, was reading a magazine in shock. The person in the magazine she was looking at was none other than her art teacher, Michelle Kaioh, formerly known as Sailor Neptune in the glory days. "I can't believe she actually lost ten pounds!" she exclaimed upon seeing the image. "This isn't like her at all. Something's up, here, and I don't like it." Meanwhile, out at the Tsukino residence, Serena was whining over gaining half of a pound, because her parents had started her on a diet to lose some weight. Her younger brother, Sammy Tsukino, a boy who looked about Rini's age, was laughing at the fact that his teenage sister would be on a diet. Annoyed, Serena turned to him and said, "Quiet, you little runt!" Immediately, Sammy zipped his lip, knowing that his sister meant what she said this time. Breathing a sigh of relief, Serena started thinking back to her encounter with Rini. "Why does it feel like I've seen that pig-tailed squirt before?" she thought to herself. "It's like I actually know her from somewhere. If only I could remember." Back at the Ketchum residence, Rini was thinking the exact same thing about Serena. The girls had no idea about their past relations, but that would soon change.

Meanwhile in the Negaverse, Queen Beryl was annoyed at Jedite's recent failure over gathering energy. He explained in detail what had happened and showed her a recording in which his own Pokémon, a Murkrow, which had a little camcorder attached around its neck, had captured during Morga's fight against the two Sailor Scouts and Ash. "I see, Jedite," she said to him. "These gifted children will not stand in our way long, though. Tell me of your recent progress, I am dying to hear it." The Pokémon stopped the recording and flew away. "Yes, my Queen," said Jedite reluctantly. "There is something that these humans desire to do, but fail at reaching the exact number they so desperately want. It's called losing weight. The humans will do anything to lose those extra pounds, even if it comes to having to exercise in a gym, which is where I will gather their energy." "Very well, Jedite, you may proceed," she said. Unknown to them, Mewtwo, Pokémon #150, the most powerful one to ever exist, was watching them from above and shielded himself with his Barrier ball. "If they do succeed, then the world is doomed," he said to himself. "I must warn Luna!" With a flash of light, he teleported out of the Negaverse. Luckily, no one saw him leave.

"What? You called James?" asked a confused Ash, because he knew that James was a part of Team Rocket, the Kanto gangster team. "He's worried about Jessie, she's been acting strange lately," answered Rini. "And to top that off, she hasn't been thinking about boys like she normally does," said James, the lavender-haired Rocketeer. He then explained that Jessie was responsible for all of the disguises that they had on their failed attempts to capture Pikachu, but recently, they had stopped doing that, because of some strange activity going on in the region. Skeptical, Ash asked what kind of activity James was referring to. "Pika pika," said Pikachu, who was also skeptical of James. He showed them an advertisement in a magazine, promoting the fighting gym in Celadon City as a newly-improved workout gym. "Uh, you need more proof than that," said Rini. Sighing, James showed them two pictures of his colleague, Jessie, the redheaded Rocketeer, representing before and after. The three of them gasped in shock at the change Jessie had gone through and decided to go to Serena's place to discuss matters with Luna.

Back at her house, Serena was exhausted from working out at the new gym and decided to relax on her bed. Just then, she heard the doorbell ring. Her mother, Ikuko, answered the door and politely told Ash and Rini to come in, then yelled at Serena that they had guests. Serena ran from her room to the main door and saw the two friends. Pretty soon, though, she started to remember Rini from four years earlier, as Rini did with Serena. Just then, the thought had hit them. They were sisters! Luna, Serena's black cat, peered out from behind the edge of the doorway and saw Ash and Rini and immediately noticed that they were best friends. She walked up to Serena's leg, causing Serena to pick her up, then she told the two friends to follow her to her room, which is exactly what they did.

Upstairs, Serena was confused as to how the two friends knew about the Negaverse. "It was a Pokémon named Mewtwo," explained Ash. "He said there was an evil force trying to take over the world and that the only way to stop it was gather up a group called The Pokémon Heroes." "So it must be true what he said. Mewtwo knows everything about our predicament," said Luna. Ash and Rini were shocked that Luna, a black cat, could talk. Ash, out of curiosity, wondered where she learned how to talk. "Never mind that," said a familiar voice. Just then, Mewtwo materialized right in front of the children's eyes. "What is that?" Serena asked, feeling a little bit surprised. "Mewtwo, what news do you have for me?" asked Luna. "It's the fighting gym," he said. She gasped upon hearing that. "The Negaverse plans to strike there to drain energy!" He turned his attention towards the kids and told them that they needed to check the place out for anything suspicious. Ash and Rini nodded in agreement. "If only you knew more about your past, little Rini. For I know everything about you. You lived with Serena for five years until one event left you in the orphanage, where you learned to live on your own. You are the second child of Ikuko and Kenji Tsukino, but you have been away from the family so long. You probably don't even remember that much." Rini gasped at what Mewtwo had said and started remembering all of the good times she had with Serena, such as playing in a park, visiting a flower garden in Celadon City, and eating sweets together. "All those times we spent together as sisters are starting to come back to me," thought Rini as she looked down in depression. "Poor kid needs some time alone, Mewtwo," said Luna. "I know," he said. "As do I, in order to fully understand the enemy better. Farewell." Then, he vanished out of sight. "Man, I can't believe that I actually had forgotten that we were sisters," said an enthused Serena. "Come on, Rini," said Ash as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder. She glanced over at him. "Let's go check out that gym and see what we can find." Sporting a smile of reassurance, she nodded in agreement with her best friend.

Later, at the fighting gym, the three of them went inside and saw lots of Pokémon working out, such as Machop, Machoke, Machamp, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Tyrogue. "Wow! Look at all of those Fighting Pokémon!" said Rini in amazement. "I wonder where their trainers go to work out." Ash asked himself. Pikachu, who was on Ash's shoulder, asked himself the exact same question. Just then, Serena spotted a room behind a solid glass window. Inside the room, were various trainers, all who were participating in various athletic warm-ups. The three of them were speechless for a moment until a man walked up to them, welcoming them to the gym. He looked like an athletic gym trainer with a face similar to that of Jedite. He introduced himself as Jed and showed the girls to the workout room, where they did exercises on bikes. While in there, Rini noticed Jessie, James's partner-in-crime on a bike, working out. She started to get a weird suspicion about the place. "It seems as though this place is being run by the Negaverse," she thought while she was pedaling on the exercise bike. After Jed called for time, the three girls stopped and Jed offered to put them in relaxation pods, which resembled space capsules. The Tsukino sisters, however, bailed out early before Jed could offer them to go in. Once Jessie was in the pod, Jed closed it and turned it on. It then started to drain the energy out of Jessie and some of the Pokémon that were in the other pods. Jedite laughed in delight at the success of his plan to gather energy. "Soon the Negaverse will triumph over all humans and Pokémon! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he thought sinisterly.

Having left the gym, Ash, Pikachu, Serena, and Rini were finally at a place called the Crown Game Parlor, which is a store that stores video games and serves food. This is the place where a good friend of Serena, Andrew Furuhata, works on most days. He is a tall boy with a blue shirt and red overalls. He has dark blue eyes and light brown hair. "As you can see, we had to bail out of there, Ash, it was just too much for us," said Rini inside the parlor while at a table beside Ash with Serena on the other side. "Man, I never thought the gym could be so brutal," said Ash in disbelief. "Pikachu," said Pikachu, which meant, I agree. Soon, Andrew came over to the table with a tray and brought each one of the friends a parfait. "Thanks, Andrew," said Serena. "You're welcome, Serena," said Andrew with a smile. "Hey there, little Rini. Haven't seen you in a long time." "Yeah, it's been four years, actually," said Rini to Andrew. "Four years and don't remember Meatball Head?" said Darien, who was at another table by himself. He took off his sunglasses, which caught Ash by surprise. "Huh? Darien?" he said in shock. "Yup, that's me, Ashy Boy," he teased. "You know something Darien," began Ash. "You're the only person I can accept calling me Ashy Boy. I always hate it when Gary calls me that." "I know," said Darien. "It's like he does it on purpose just to make you angry." "Tell me about it," said Rini, who had her hand on her head with a sweat drop visible on her head and her eyes in a closed annoyed position. Serena, on the other hand, was visibly angry, as her eyes were huge and she was growling underneath her breath. "Very funny, Darien! I hate it when you call me Meatball Head!" she yelled. Pikachu, Ash's Pokémon, was playing with the ketchup bottle again, due to his love of the condiment. "Hey, Pikachu, cut it out!" said Ash, after realizing what his Pokémon was doing. Suddenly, the ketchup squirted onto Rini's shirt. She freaked out when she saw the ketchup stains on it. Her eyes bulged out in fear. "My shirt! I just had this washed recently!" she screamed. "Pikachu," he said, which meant, Sorry about that. "You know, that gym is real weird," said Serena. "Why would anyone want to train that hard?" As Rini enjoyed her parfait, Ash explained to the blonde teen that people normally wouldn't train like that, even with their Pokémon. "My suspicions were correct," said Rini. The two turned towards her. "What do you mean, Rini?" asked Serena. "Look, we'll discuss this outside, okay? Come on!" said Rini. She ran outside of the store, where the other two soon followed. Serena was panting due to working out a lot at the gym. "Okay, what's going on?" she said before collapsing on the sidewalk. Pikachu leaped down from Ash's shoulder and tried with all of this strength to get Serena back on her feet as Rini explained the situation of the gym being controlled by the Negaverse. "I say we go back there and show this Jed person who he's messing with!" exclaimed Ash. "No doubt," agreed Rini. Serena groaned, then asked if she could take a rain check on the situation. Ash and Rini both let out visible sighs.

Back at the gym, Luna had apparently snuck in the front door to investigate the place. She ended up in the downstairs area, where the relaxation room was and saw that the pods were draining the users of their energy. The black cat rushed back upstairs and saw Ash, Pikachu, and Rini pulling Serena's legs to drag her into the gym, as she was completely exhausted. "Serena, get up! You have Sailor Business to attend!" she demanded. Immediately, Serena sprang up onto her feet at the sound of Luna's voice. "What's going on, Luna?" she asked. "It's the relaxation room, the pods are draining the users of their energy," said Luna. "I knew it!" said Rini. "MINI PRISIM POWER!" she yelled as she began her transformation into Sailor Mini Moon. After the transformation, Serena yelled, "MOON PRISIM POWER!" She then transformed into Sailor Moon. "Come on, girls, let's go!" said Ash before running off downstairs. "I'm right with you, Ash!" said Sailor Mini Moon before running after him and his Pokémon. Sailor Moon, who was obviously unsure about the fight until she noticed that the others were gone, yelled after them before running off. "Can't you slow down a little?" she said while running. "Exercise isn't everything, Sailor Moon, you also need to eat to be healthy," said Sailor Mini Moon while running. "In other words, stick to your original eating habits!" Once they reached the relaxation room, they all stopped and confronted Jed. "Jed!" yelled Ash. The athletic trainer turned around. "Why hello there," he said, keeping his cool. "Are you here for a workout?" "I don't need a workout and neither do my friends, but we do know that you're from the Negaverse!" shouted Ash. "I'm Sailor Moon!" shouted Sailor Moon. "And I'm Sailor Mini Moon!" shouted Sailor Mini Moon, joining her older sister. "And on behalf of the moon," said Sailor Moon. "We'll punish you!" said the two scouts together. "You three again!" said Jedite. "Well, this time you won't be as lucky! Arise fellow minions and finish her!" The pods opened and all of its users got out, looking larger in terms of height and weight. "PRIMEAPE!" one of them shouted. "Oh no! It's my Primeape!" shouted Ash in complete horror. His Primeape currently belonged to a trainer named Anthony, who owns a Hitmonchan and competed in the P1 Grand Prix, which Ash won for him. As the mindless trainers and their Pokémon ran towards the three heroes, Jedite vanished out of the room by a flash of light. The three heroes dodged the attacks by the energy-drained victims. "If this keeps up, we're done for!" said Ash, who was apparently on the ground with his friends. "Come on, Sailor Scouts! You have to save those trainers!" said Luna. "And the Pokémon, too," added Ash. "These guys need an attitude adjustment," said Sailor Moon as she stood up. She took off her tiara then spun around with it, before holding it back, like getting ready to throw a shuriken or boomerang. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she yelled as she threw her tiara like a boomerang, which sparkled, then turned everything back to normal. "Alright, you did it, Sailor Moon!" congratulated Ash. Sailor Mini Moon went up to one of the trainers and knelt down to reach the eye level, as he was on the floor. "Are you alright, sir?" she asked. "Where the heck am I?" he asked.

Back in the Negaverse, Queen Beryl was disappointed that Jedite left the gym early and asked him why. "It's those stupid Sailor Scouts and their trainer friend!" he said. "But they will pay for this!" His eyes were filled with dark desires intended on destroying the trio. Since the gym had been restored, workouts were back to normal and Jessie had returned to James with her normal attitude. "I'm just glad you're back to normal, Jessie," said James. "I was so worried about not having the brains of the team back." "Who asked you?!" demanded Jessie, which frightened James with a small sweat drop being in place on his hair. "Some things never change," said Ash. "You can say that again," said Rini. The two friends just laughed as Serena was in the bike room pedaling, obviously still trying to lose weight. "Why me? Mom and dad still want me on that diet!" she said to herself. Being a hero just got harder for her.

DISCLAIMER: This clears some confusion from the previous chapter. Yes, Serena and Rini are portrayed as sisters in this story. Also, I do not own either of the series, this was written on my own time to express my love for anime. All characters belong to their creators.