Author's Notes: This was only meant to be a Writer's Block breaker idea but it somehow turned into a full-blown story idea. I have not forgotten the other stories but I just can't seem to get ideas for them right now. Please forgive this decent into madness. As far as I know this is actually a somewhat original idea.
You Can't Choose Your Family
Chapter 1
It was not exactly the most pleasant of dreams, she concluded while slowly awakening. In it she dreamt that her friends were being defeated by a ridiculous butterfly that completely overwhelmed them. If she hadn't tapped into her heritage as the child of a transexual and a food dish they would have all been destroyed. Like that could actually happen, right? The weary senshi of Jupiter sat up in her lonely little apartment and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Ridiculous didn't even cover it. Makoto swung her legs around and slowly made her way to her feet, wobbling slightly. She was obviously still tired and hadn't slept well so she just wrote it off.
"Things like this just don't happen." She muttered as she conveniently forgot that schoolgirls don't usually turn into magical girls dressed in a pervert's wet dream to fight energy sucking demons. Can't forget the part about being mentored by talking cats and millenia-old women who still look hot. Makoto Kino was not in the mood to contemplate this. She made her way into the bathroom of her apartment, shucking her clothing as she went. An advantage of living alone was being able to walk around without a stitch of clothing. She passed the bathroom mirror without stopping, only vaguely noticing an odd flash of color as she passed, but quickly dismissed it.
"School today...great..." She murmured half-heartedly. A trait she shared with her father was a dislike of school in general. She got her mother's acceptance of the inevitable. The shower hissed on at the temperature she liked it. Today though it didn't feel as hot as it normally did. The girl frowned as it seemed that the water was too cold before turning it up. It improved marginally but not enough to make her happy. She pouted in annoyance.
"I have got to complain about this but later." She says to herself as she reduces the cold water. Finally turning the cold water off entirely she finds it to be about the right temperature but still on the cool side. She shrugs as she proceeds to soap herself up and rinse off with efficiency. When it came time for her hair she paused. It had felt weird all morning, like her head was heavier somehow. Now she understod the problem. There seemed to be too much hair. How is that possible? She pulled a hank of her now waist-length hair up for closer inspection and stared in shock. It was like her dream was somehow coming true.
Her hair was a beautiful combination of hues. Colors missing in her dream were now before her. There were reds, browns, whites, lavenders, blacks, and blues all in a shimmering mass. Objectively she could see the beauty in it but on a more personal level she was holding onto her instinctive terror reaction with both hands. Her figure was not quite the same either. She seemed a bit fuller, more mature in appearance. Makoto always wanted the kind of looks that Minako and Usagi had but in time, not all at once! Mechanically she washed her now lengthened hair and stepped from the shower. It hung down over her shoulders and down her back. The eyes staring into the mirror were not her own either. She could see a scintillating array of colors in her eyes. Makoto was growing more unsure and uneasy.
"What do I do?" She asked herself aloud, pleased that her voice was still her own. The Senshi of Jupiter staggered from the bathroom. In her dream she had changed back but obviously she hadn't. Now the only reasonable, can't say logical, explanation was that she blocked out the fact that she was still like this. How much had she blocked? She held up her hand, palm up, and stared at it. Her body felt strange in ways she could not define. It was like a power transformer was powering her instead of her heart. There just seemed to be so much but she couldn't wrap her mind around how it happened.
"Maybe Pluto could help?" She mused as she got out her communicator and tried to reach her. Though she tried several times, the Senshi of Pluto failed to respond.
"Grrrr...she tells me what I am but can't be bothered to give me more answers? Geez!" She huffs angrily before someone knocks at the door. Makoto blinks a few times before realizing that she's still naked and quickly throws back on her nightshirt and a pair of shorts. Her thoughts derail slightly when she realizes how much she currently fills out her old sleepwear before the knock brings her back to reality.
"Mako-chan! C'mon! We're going to be late for school!" Usagi's sweet voice echoed through the door driving the poor girl to the verge of panic. Well, if anyone would accept what happened to her, it would be Usagi. She opened the door expecting only Usagi only to see the other Inner Senshi as well, minus Rei. If she had a camera for this moment it would have been perfect. She was still the same height but judging by the looks coming her way she was at least twice as tall. Mina-chan was unconsciously checking herself out as if evaluating where she stood. Usagi's jaw was dropped in stunned incomprehension, sadly it was her normal look. Ami was peering at her with mild interest as if studying some interesting new problem.
"Yeah?" Makoto asked intelligently.
"Uhm...is Mako-chan here?" Usagi asked in mild confusion. Not going unnoticed was Makoto's sleepwear. The Senshi of Jupiter didn't need to be a mind reader to figure this one out. She quickly ushered them into the apartment before shutting the door firmly behind her.
"Ah...who are you?" Minako asks. The only one not saying anything is Ami.
"It's me, Makoto." Makoto says to the stunned trio. "Why don't I explain...?" She suggests as she ushers them into the living room. School could wait.
The explanations took up a good portion of the morning. School was forgotten in the wake of this unusual situation. They were used to shape-shifting youma, and even cats, but they're own fellow Senshi? This was a new one for the record books. The disguise pen merely changes the outward appearance but according to the Mercury Computer her entire genetic code had been effectively rewritten. There was still evidence that she was Makoto Kino and that she was the Senshi of Jupiter, but other then that it was confusing.
"Fascinating..." Ami said. She had taken to saying "Fascinating" alot during the explanations and the scanning with occasionally flavoring it with "Interesting" and "How peculiar". Makoto felt like an exotic insect. Usagi was being her usual self, hyperactive and cheerful. That was a good thing. Normalcy was what she needed from her blonde-haired friend. Her blonde-haired 'fiend' Minako was absently poking her breasts to make sure they were natural. Oddly enough, that seemed to be perfectly in-character for Mina-chan, and that thought scared her more than anything.
"Mina-chan...that hurts." Makoto stated, this time not quite hiding the whimper. Usagi immediately leapt to her defense.
"Stop poking her breasts! That's rude Mina." She declared while trying to soothe her friend, though her method could do with some work. Usagi knows that rubbing a wound can sometimes make it feel better but in this case all it did was make the poor gene swapper flustered.
"Uhm...Usagi...c-could you stop please?" She asked plaintively. Somehow the rubbing was worth it to see the overly cheerful rabbit remove her hand so fast it was like she had been scalded as she realized just what she was rubbing. Minako toppled sideways blushing due to hentai thoughts running loose in her head. The unflappable Senshi of Mercury finally looked up from her ruminations, having completely missed what happened, and cleared her throat to get their attention.
"You are an interesting blend." She began. "Apparently you are human, dragon, chicken, phoenix, feline, duck, pig, bull, crane, snake, and yeti." She tells her eager listeners before once again reading the results again. It seemed ridiculous when she read it but stating it out loud was downright outlandish. At least the vict-er...their friend seemed to be taking it alright. She hadn't fainted yet.
"I'm a freak!" Makoto was not prone to crying fits but this was one of those times. She buried her face in her hands and started to bawl. The leader of the Senshi took in the scene at a glance, despite her appearance this was still her best friend, and hugged her tight. Minako joined in the embrace with the normally demure Ami doing so as well. The three teens trying to soothe the wounded spirit of their friend. Their communicators could not have picked a worse time to go off. Reluctantly the teens broke the embrace to check it out. Makoto was too lost to reach for hers.
"What's going on?" Usagi asked. Whenever one of her friends was in trouble she could put aside her ditziness. Sailor Uranus was on the other end, scowling.
"You better get down here Princess. We're engaging the enemy but they-" Before she can finish the communation is cut off.
"I have a lock on their location!" Ami announces.
"Makoto, we gotta go!" Minako says, trying to rouse Jupiter but the girl merely hugs her legs to her chest. Usagi draws Mina away.
"We can do this ourselves. Let her go for now." She suggests. The three girls are reluctant to leave but they have no choice. With a quick transformation and a teleport later they're gone. Makoto stares at the spot they vacated for a long moment contemplating something. Contemplating her new existence. Her thoughts are rather bleak.
The three senshi appear to what appears a youma party. Youma, literally of all sizes, ranging from the ludicrously small to some the size of tanks, dot the landscape. The girls all stare in disbelief before seeing a flying Mars heading towards them.
"When did Mars-chan learn to fly?" Moon asks no one in particular before catching the attractive raven-haired girl rather painfully. The two skid to a halt with the shrine maiden tuned Senshi literally smoking. Venus goes into action immediately upon seeing a winged youma zooming towards them and unleashing a barrage of crescent beams before finally roping it with her chain and slamming it face-first into the asphalt. A Deep Submerge obliterates it. The Outers rush to their location as they regroup.
"About time you got here!" Uranus exclaims in exasperation.
"They made excellent time dear." Neptune tells her lover. They were almost interupted except for a Silence Glaive Surpise annihilating the enemy before it reached them.
"Less chatting more monster bashing." Mars tells her leader as she feels the magic of her transformation rejuvenating her. Mercury concludes her scan of the battlefield.
"These youma are effectively generation one youma. Youma from Beryl's time. Singularly they're nothing to worry about but in numbers they are." She tells them. Moon just shrugs.
"So...just keep firing until they're all dead?" She questions. Since it usually works every other time it's the plan they all agree on. With that the Senshi beging attacking in earnest. Large groups of youma are obliterated by their attacks. Since they weren't that powerful, the Inners resorted to their second stage attacks rather then their most powerful ones. Mercury was right to insist on this since it seemed there were too many to fight if they kept expending enormous amounts of energy. Effectively using atomic weapons to kill fleas. Mercury hung back from the battle, out of the way, trying to track the strange energy signature she was detecting.
"It's almost like..." but before she can say what she was thinking a blast of energy comes roaring in like a comet and blasts her from her feet. The Senshi of Mercury hits the side of a parked car with an audible crunch, her reinforced body bending the metal around her. The Ice Senshi felt darkness creeping into her vision but could not fight it. With an agonized sigh she slumped into unconciousness.
All activity seemed to cease as the Senshi watched their friend get thrown in stunned horror. It was at this point that they began attacking with reckless abandon. Their anger at what happened to Mercury spurring them on to attacking with even greater power. The youma were now being vaporize by the simple backwash from the attacks before the attacks would even reach them. The youma were now growing more cautious as more of their kin were destroyed. The one who opened fire on Mercury took that opportunity to thin the herd some more as another bolt roared in to strike the already weakened Mars. The bolt hit her with enough force to drive her to the ground and dig a six foot trench with her body, her fuku armor shredded almost to indecency.
"Moon Gorgeous..." Sailor Moon never finished the attack as she was struck from three sides by youma strikes and from their nameless sniper. The Moon Princess hunched from the tremendous damage done to her but somehow remained standing. She tried to stand only to get blown off her feet by another blast. Elsewhere the other Senshi were being steadily overwhelmed. Even Tuxedo Kamen had fallen. Before she lost consciousness, she whispered "Mako-chan..." Before succumbing to the darkness.
Makoto's head snapped up as she felt the call. How could she sit here feeling sorry for herself when her friends needed her? The girl snapped herself from her self pity and leaped to her feet with the henshin rod in her hand.
"Jupiter Star Power...Make UP!" She finished with a shout as tendrils of ancient magic interacted with her newly transformed state. The transformation sequence had a different ending as it combined with her Super transformation. She struck a different pose with her left leg at a diagonal, her right holding her full weight with her left hand on her hip and the right hand held diagonally out to the side. Her ribbons elongated to iridiscent emerald streamers. All the green was replaced with irridescent fabric. The white was somehow almost glowing. Her hair flowed in an invisible breeze.
"What...never mind. Worry about it later." She told herself, not questioning the different transformation. Jupiter focused on her friends in need and warped to them. The scene that greeted her wondering eyes was almost like from her dream. Except for the numerous youma. Lots of youma. Her friends were being gathered in the center of the street. They were dangled by their wrists from a streetlight. A woman stood there staring up at them. She was hidden by the shadows of the street. The youma acting with clear terror of this person leading Jupiter to the conclusion that this was the new enemy.
"I wish that it hadn't had to come to this..." The woman said with obvious regret in her voice before suddenly leaping to the side as a bolt of almost irridescent green plasma removed her from existence. She blinked her eyes several times to clear the flash from her retinas.
"Your reign of terror ends here. For harming my friends and terrorizing these innocent people you will pay! In the name of Jupiter I will punish you!" The changed Senshi said with enormous power lacing her voice. The woman has to double check what her eyes are telling her. That is Sailor Jupiter she concludes. The senshi of Jupiter flips and lands in the street.
"Take her!" The woman commands as the youma come barreling at the lone warrior. Jupiter doesn't even flinch as she remembers the night before. It had seemed like a dream but apparently dreams were reality as she explodes into action. Several youma are reduced to dust by a flash from her Supreme Thunder. The compressed air that accompanies the attack drawing in the monsters rendering them helpless to the attack. Several punches and kicks later even more are demolished. Her body begins operating on auto-pilot as she cartwheels and handstands away from her foes. The youma growing increasingly more frustrated by their failure to hit this obscenely nimble and lethal opponent. With a dramatic flourish she unleashes an uppercut that fails to connect with any of her opponents.
"What...?" Was all the woman had time to say before all sound was drowned out by the roaring of a powerful vortex that literally seemed to kill all rational thought. The rational mind would say there was no way for such a powerful cyclone to be born from an uppercut. The bound Senshi begin getting pulled in the direction of the killer wind before a green streak rescues them and whisks them to safety over a block away. Jupiter stares in shock at the devastation she has given birth to before it suddenly stops as suddenly as it had begun. The youma literally consumed by the tornado.
The woman realizing what fate awated her if she waited there any longer warped away with all haste. She really needed to come up with a better strategy and fast. These Senshi were going to be very difficult to kill.
Jupiter falls to her knees upon seeing what happened after the wind vanished. The whole street was strewn with windswept debris. There was nothing intact except for the buildings. She looked to her friends with horror. They were so badly injured that it hurt to look at them. She couldn't remain here. Jupiter was certain that most of the damage was caused by her when they were briefly dangling in the tornado. She didn't know that it was really caused by their assailant. If she had known that critical piece of information she would not have done what she did.
She fled and did not look back.
End Chapter
Author's Notes: This is a story of loss and redemption...er...maybe not. It's just a story done by me who can't get enough of torturing people. Like it, hate it, love it but denying it, I don't care. Just review! Review! Whee...hope you enjoyed this! Ja ne!