Episode 3: Believe in the Sign of the Water Star
For 14-year-old Shingo Tsukino (Cancer, Type O blood, Pearl birthstone), his routine had changed for the relatively and decidedly strange. For example, his family recently adopted a stray white cat that had taken quite a liking to the eldest child of the family. Only Shingo knew how much of a liking the cat had taken, for this one was named Artemis, and he had a crescent moon marking emblazoned upon his forehead. If that strange detail wasn't enough, the family cat occasionally entered a trance to relay truly important information... not that the rest of the family knew about this, for they had the impression that (despite the marking on his head) Artemis was just a normal cat.
Another secret Shingo was harboring from his parents was his recently-acquired double life as Tsuki no Zangetsu, and his battles against the Dark Kingdom, mainly squaring off against one of its four Shittenou (Jadeite). After their first face to face encounter, the two had met again when Jadeite was draining the life force of a certain gym's members. While Zangetsu did manage to stop Jadeite from obtaining any more energy, it wasn't a complete victory, as the Shittenou had managed to scurry off with the energy he had collected.
Later on, Shingo decided that it was time to introduce his family to Artemis at last. However, due to an incident when she was just a baby, Usagi had unfortunately obtained an irrational fear of cats, one which not even therapy had been able to purge. So desperate was she to have a different pet that, on the advice of a classmate, she purchased a strange animal known as a chanela for herself. However, this cute, fuzzy animal had a more sinister purpose: it was intended by Jadeite to drain the life energy of those unlucky enough to buy them, and those that did make the purchase fell under the thrall of yet another youma. Shingo himself almost became another victim before Artemis, suspicious, managed to free the boy. Not only was Zangetsu able to beat the youma, but Usagi's fear of cats had been forced into remission as a result of the incident, and she was noticeably nicer to Artemis from that point on.
After yet another jaunt in disguise, this time as a talent scout, he had managed to root out yet another energy-draining attempt by Jadeite using music. Soon after, another youma of Jadeite's had possessed a rather popular idol in an effort to drain the energy of those under her sway, but Zangetsu had managed to put a stop to that. However, Shingo was being run ragged by these constant Dark Kingdom attacks, and he desperately wanted a sort of ally, not unlike Victory Rider, to help lighten the load.
As the saying goes, one should be careful what they wish for...
Jadeite was starting to get a little uncomfortable as of late. Although he had managed to get some energy, the previous three attempts were total busts, no thanks to that irritating interloper. However, this latest plan of his just might work, thus Queen Beryl had summoned the Shitennou once more.
"Right now," he reported, "the children of Japan are forced to study day after day, and they are suffering."
"I have heard that there are more and more mothers that push their children mercilessly. I believe that they were called 'academic moms', or something similar," Beryl agreed.
"Their parents are desperate to send the children to the best kindergarten; the best primary school; the best junior high school; the best high school; and the best college," Jadeite continued.
"And then?" the Queen inquired. "What about after graduating from the best college? What do they do?"
"Of that," he admitted, "I am not sure. However, I am certain that we can tap into that implanted drive to succeed."
"I see... As always, I shall leave it to you," the Queen ordered.
"As you wish," the Shittenou confirmed.
Shingo Tsukino could only snicker as he read his favorite manga on the family couch. And why shouldn't he, when Roronoa Zoro had (once again) totally lost his way? One Piece was certainly one of the best stories ever written.
"Shingo!" his mother called, walking up to said couch.
"Kaa-san, you gotta check this page out!" he exclaimed, getting up and showing her the manga page in question. "Zoro's so hopelessly lost... again!"
She took a closer look, then chuckled appreciatively... before becoming stern once more. "This is no time to be laughing it up," she deadpanned. Shingo's face was immediately thereafter replaced by a giant sweat drop. "How did you do on that mock exam?"
"Oh, that? The results are coming out tomorrow," he waved off, sweat drop disappearing. "I can't believe you asked such a silly question." He then started to walk off with a nervous laugh.
"Shingo, I won't ask for the impossible," Mrs. Tsukino pleaded. "But please, just don't fail."
"You know, kaa-san," he said, turning around with beads for eyes, "there's always someone in first and someone in last, so what does it matter as long as I don't come in last?"
Ikuko could only sigh at her son's behavior. "Shingo, you hardly study, yet you're always ready with an excuse," she said mostly to herself. "I just wish you'd apply that sort of ingenuity towards your studies..."
Shingo continued to stare at his mother with those beady eyes of his.
Later that night, Shingo was sitting in his room, at his desk, with a book and pencil out.
"I'm proud of you, Shingo," Artemis (who, by now, had pretty much made the boy's room his home) complimented with pride. "You're actually studying for once."
"Must be so nice to be a cat," the boy snidely replied.
"Hmm?"
"I mean, cats don't have to go to school or study," Shingo elaborated.
"Actually, I have plenty of work to do myself," said cat chided. Like finding the princess, he thought to himself. He then leapt onto the desk, forcing the boy to cover up his book. Unfortunately, Artemis saw what said book was anyway.
"Weekly Shonen Jump? Again?" Artemis exclaimed in exasperation.
"What? I'm a guy! I'm supposed to like this stuff!" Shingo cried out in defense.
Artemis sighed. "If you applied yourself to defending the earth like you do with... certain other pursuits, then we wouldn't be in danger from the Dark Kingdom," he quipped, eyes like beads.
"Yeah, about that... do we really know anything about these people besides the fact that they're probably the most cliché villains to ever exist?" he asked.
"Make no mistake, Shingo, the Dark Kingdom is a genuine threat that is not to be taken lightly!" the cat explained.
"Oh yeah? Then what are they after?" Shingo quipped in return.
"That's easy!" Artemis proudly announced. "It's...?"
"'It's'... what?" the boy prodded.
Artemis was silent for a good few seconds. "You know, I honestly don't remember," the cat admitted. Shingo promptly face-faulted onto his desk.
It was past midnight. The shutter door to the Crown Arcade inexplicably opened for a moment, then closed... or it would have if no one other than a certain sentient animal had been there and not understood the circumstances. Whatever had made it inside soon made its way to a glowing Victory Rider game terminal.
"Please try the Victory Rider game!" the game's announcer cheerfully requested as the animal hopped onto the provided stool.
"Code name 0087. This is Artemis," the white cat stated. He then touched the screen with his right forepaw. The game's title screen gave way to a sort of voice-print ID system. "Password: 'My name is Kamille.'"
"'Kamille? Isn't that a girl's name?'" the presence on the other side asked; in actuality, it was the second part of the password.
"'Kamille's a man's name, and I'm a man,'" Artemis concluded with the third and final part of the password. Immediately, the second screen gave way to a third, which was an indirect line of communication with the cat's superior, whoever that was.
"Have you found the princess yet?" the superior asked without preamble.
"Not yet," Artemis admitted, "I still have no clue as to where she is. I assume that Luna hasn't been located."
"Affirmative," the superior confirmed. "Remember, you must keep watch over the Tsukino boy until we locate her."
"Right," the white cat conceded. "It's just that this samurai has been doing everything the Sailor Senshi were supposed to be doing. At least the girls would be more reliable than this Zangetsu would be."
"Don't let it trouble you," the superior consoled. "We'll deal with things as they come."
"Alright," Artemis sighed. "Interestingly, I recently started to sense a strange new energy."
"Indeed?" the voice asked.
Artemis then proceeded to input some new data into the console. In a flash, a boy's image had popped up: he had blue hair and eyes, and wore the same boy's uniform that Shingo did. "This is him," the cat reported.
"I see..." pondered the voice. "He could be another youma sent in disguise by the Dark Kingdom."
"That was my line of thinking, too," Artemis agreed.
"Investigate him immediately," the superior ordered.
"Roger," Artemis acceded.
The next day, the results of the mock exam were posted on the wall for all the students of their particular year to see. Shingo could only thank his lucky stars that he was, indeed, not ranked last.
"Wow..." someone next to him gaped while they were looking at the test results. "Ayato Mizuno from Class 5 placed in first again! He's a real genius!" Shingo took a quick look again, and sure enough, he saw Mizuno's name there in black print.
…
"Mizuno's top of our class again... not that that's a surprise," Naru later commented during one of their breaks between classes.
"Not only that," the rather portly girl affectionately named Pochiya elaborated, "he's also the best in the country!
"Huh?" Naru and Shingo exclaimed out loud together. "The best in the country?"
"According to the rumors," Umino (popping in out of nowhere, as usual) interrupted, "his IQ is supposedly 300."
"Yeah, that definitely sounds like a genius to me," Shingo admitted.
"Umino..." Naru shook, "don't just pop up out of the blue from such weird places!" She then proceeded to slam a fist into the top of the bespectacled boy's head, sending him to the ground. Shingo just looked away from the spectacle... only to see the boy they had been talking about.
"Hey, isn't that Mizuno?" he commented. Those present turned to look at the blue-haired boy currently standing next to one of the windows. He was, in turn, looking at the scenery outside. His eyes were colored the brilliant blue of pure water; the color of his hair was lighter than his eyes, and had two strands sticking out like antennae on his left side; finally, he had a sort of pale complexion that plainly said that he spent too much time studying.
"I heard he attends Crystal Cram School," Umino further commented.
"Hey," Shingo recalled, "isn't that the new place they just built?" He then leaned in closer, eyes like beads, in a conspiratorial manner. "I heard kaa-san say that they were expensive," he whispered.
"Well," Naru in turn whispered, "from what I heard, Mizuno's mother is a doctor."
"That would explain it," Pochiya stated. "Only doctors could bring in that much money."
"Actually, Mizuno's got a scholarship, so he doesn't even have to pay any money!" Umino exclaimed. Shingo could only look at Umino in shock.
"But he's got a bad attitude!" Pochiya claimed, then leaned in closer much like Shingo had done. "It's like he thinks he's better than everyone else..."
"I can't stand people like that!" Naru bluntly stated, and with Umino and Pochiya nodding, it seemed as though they agreed. Shingo, however, just looked back at Mizuno. Sure, he looked lonely, but the stance sure didn't seem like that of arrogance. Mizuno turned his head to look at Shingo's own group. As he did, Naru and the others got nervous and Shingo wisely changed the subject.
"Hey, guys! It's such a nice day outside, isn't it?" the blond stated out of the blue.
"It sure is!" Naru agreed.
All the while, Ayato Mizuno regarded the group of friends in almost total silence.
"It must be so nice to be a genius," Shingo muttered to himself as he walked home from school. "Kaa-san's always on my case when it comes to grades. At that very moment, a truly frightening image burst forth in his mind...
"Shingo!" the monstrous visage of an enraged Ikuko Tsukino announced, with whip in hand. "It's about time you started going to a cram school!"
A bead of sweat appeared on his head at the image's very existence. He then sighed and resumed his journey home. When he passed an alleyway, however, Shingo saw Mizuno walking by himself. Was he really that stuck up... or was it something else? In a moment's notice, the boy saw a white streak quickly hop onto the wall... and leap towards the genius. In shock, Shingo realized that it was Artemis, just as Mizuno turned his head towards the cat in motion. With all seriousness in place, Artemis landed on the blue-haired boy's shoulders, the cat never losing the serious edge in his eyes.
"A cat...?" Mizuno wondered as the cat remained perched over his left shoulder.
I knew it, Artemis thought to himself. There's some sort of strange energy coming from this boy. Artemis' thoughts, however, were interrupted when the genius started to scratch the feline's chin. For a moment, he enjoyed it... but for only a moment, as he shook his head and blushed in embarrassment. Now's not the time to succumb to petting! the cat mentally scolded himself.
Shingo could only look on as Mizuno continued petting Artemis.
"You're pretty soft," the genius cooed to the cat. "If only we didn't live in a high-rise apartment... then I could probably take you home as a pet." As he listened, the blonde couldn't help but notice that Mizuno's diction was clear and polite... not at all arrogant.
Shingo only sighed and made his way towards the heart-warming scene. "Artemis!" he called out. The cat's ears perked up; immediately, Artemis dropped to the ground and returned to his pseudo-owner. "Sorry about that," Shingo told Mizuno. "You OK?"
Mizuno turned around to face the blonde directly. "Are you the owner of that cat?" he asked.
"Yep," Shingo nodded in response.
"For a brief moment, I thought it was an angel instead of a cat. It came from the sky, after all," Mizuno poetically finished.
"Artemis... an angel?" Shingo wondered, confused.
"Yes," the blue-haired boy confirmed, "it was a lot friendlier than I thought."
The two then began to walk together.
"You must be Ayato Mizuno from Class 5, right?" the blonde asked. Mizuno merely nodded. "Well, then," Shingo continued, "I'm Shingo Tsukino from Class 1. Good to see 'ya."
"Oh, no," Mizuno responded, "the pleasure's all mine."
"By the way, my cat's name is Artemis, and for future reference, he's male," Shingo stated, referring to the cat now cradled in his left arm.
"Artemis?" the genius inquired. "Wasn't that the goddess of the moon in Roman mythology?"
"Nice job!" Shingo complimented. "You're the first person to get it!" Mizuno merely blushed, but was too busy looking at the ground to notice the blonde's mischievous face. If I can get all buddy-buddy with this guy, he thought to himself, he'll probably help me study for my exams...
Artemis chose this moment to lean in closer to the boy's ear.
"Shingo," he whispered, "he could be a youma sent by the enemy, so be on your guard."
Shingo only laughed out loud, patting the befuddled cat's head playfully. "No way!" he shouted out.
"Tsukino," Mizuno inquired, "why are you laughing so suddenly like that?"
Shingo had to think fast if he wanted to keep Artemis' true nature secret. "Oh, it's nothing, just remembering a joke I heard," he lied, covering the cat's mouth for good measure. "By the way, Mizuno, do you play video games often?"
"No," he confessed, "I've never even tried one."
"Then allow me to educate you in the joys of fast reflex action," the blonde offered. In exchange for helping me pass my exams, he inwardly schemed, before the cat angrily freed his face from the boy's grasp.
"It's alright, Artemis," he assured. "I think you're just being paranoid."
Artemis continued to look at Shingo with undisguised annoyance written all over his face.
At the Crown Arcade, Shingo was seated at one of the Victory Rider game terminals, attempting to get past the first level and growing more frustrated as he kept losing lives.
"Grrrr..." he growled as he came up on his last life, his eyes oddly without pupils. Alas, his concentration failed him as the monsters slaughtered the virtual hero with no mercy. It was at this point that the words "GAME OVER" appeared on the screen. He nervously chuckled to himself as he rolled his shoulders. "I must be off my game today," he claimed in deception. "Mizuno, do you wanna give it a shot? I guarantee that you'll have fun."
"It looks... difficult..." the shy boy muttered.
"Very observant," Shingo tutored. "This game is one of the hardest ones that I know. I'd even consider it an achievement for a relative newcomer to get a score of 500 on their first try." Shingo got up off of his stool, and (after a moment) Mizuno sat down on said stool, beginning to play. The blonde looked on as the genius got to a running start, managing to beat down the first rush of enemies. "Good job so far!" he encouraged. "You're not too shabby."
"You think so?" Mizuno cheerfully responded. He had a content smile on his face as he continued to perform quite well. A score of 360 became 380... then leapt from 400 to 420... then jumped straight up to 820...
"Whoa! You're pretty good!" Shingo clapped as he continued to watch. 1120... 1140... 1160... 1200... 1360... 1400... and all the while, the content smile Mizuno initially had on his face was replaced with a determined frown. The score continued to increase from 6680 to 6700... 6900... 7200... Shingo started to watch in shocked awe as the score counter for Mizuno's game now read 9820... 9860... 9900... 9940... 10440! Mizuno's eyes grew more focused as the score continued to inflate from 18800 to 19200...19400... 20000...! No way! the blonde thought to himself as the genius' score had increased beyond anything he could imagine. In Mizuno's hands, Victory Rider continued to leap around his enemies, possibly getting revenge for all those times the virtual hero had died at the monsters' claws. The score now read 30060.
"I can't believe it!" a voice from behind Shingo cried out. "That kid just got the high score!" Curious, Shingo took a look and got a shock, for a small and admiring crowd and been built up around what was initially only the two schoolboys.
"Hey, Shingo!" Motoki called from a gap in the crowd. "I didn't know you were here."
"Yep, here I am," Shingo greeted with a small wave of his hand. It was then that Motoki got a good look at Mizuno's game.
"Wow, he's amazing!" he observed.
"Tell me something I don't know..." the spikey blonde muttered, turning back to the genius' run with a hand to his head. There goes my exam assistance, he ruefully thought to himself. A cry of shock escaped Mizuno's lips, but it wasn't because he lost the game.
"Oh my!" he said in alarm, suddenly getting up from his stool and looking at his wristwatch. "I'm sorry, Mr. Tsukino, but I have to go to my cram school!" Muscling his way through the crowd with his schoolbag in hand, Mizuno attempted to run out of the arcade, leaving his game run incomplete as a result. However, he spilled the contents of said bag as a result.
"No, I should be the one apologizing," Shingo (having muscled his way after the genius) admitted, and began to help Mizuno get the contents of his bag back together. "I didn't know that you had your cram school session today."
"Actually, I attend every day," Mizuno informed the blonde. Shingo's face soon changed to that of shock.
"E-e-every... day?" he repeated in astonishment.
"That's right," the genius confirmed. "I don't have any talent... other than studying." He then headed towards the automatic sliding glass doors, which immediately opened as described. "Thanks, I'll see you back at school," he added in farewell, running off to his cram school.
"Later, then!" Shingo called out to Mizuno. His bright face then became gloom in a hurry. "It's like we're living in different worlds," he said more to himself than anyone else. The blonde then heard the doors open once more. This time, it was Motoki coming out.
"Shingo, could you do me a little favor?" he requested.
"No problem, Motoki!" Shingo affirmed with a thumbs-up gesture. "Anything for a friend."
"Great!" Motoki said in relief. He then handed over a red disk to the boy. "I think your friend dropped this while he was hurrying out. Could you give this back to him?"
"Yeah, I think I'd better," Shingo agreed, looking at the red disk in his hand. The label revealed that it belonged to Mizuno's cram school, and it even had Mizuno's own name on it.
Students in various states of unrest soon shuffled into the Crystal Cram School as the computer class' teacher looked on, laughing to herself. "Stupid humans," she eerily said to no one in particular. "Keep studying and provide us with the plentiful energy contained within your puny minds." She then closed the blinds to her windows, intending to get back to work.
EYECATCH
In class, Ayato Mizuno was in a bind in front of his assigned computer. "Where is it?" he muttered to himself. "I know I had my disk in here earlier. Did I accidentally drop it?" He then shrugged. "Well, I don't use it if I can help it." He then began to get out his books before he felt a hand being placed on his left shoulder.
"Mr. Mizuno," a female voice from behind Mizuno greeted. He turned around to see this particular class' sensei, a brown-haired and brown-eyed woman who wore top-rim classes with golden earrings and a light green woman's business suit, complete with skirt. "I urge you to use our special Crystal Disk as an aid for your sessions," she lightly requested. "After all, you're here on scholarship, and it wouldn't do for someone of your talents to slack off, right?"
"Yes, sensei," Mizuno meekly responded.
"Remember," she said as she walked off, "we here at Crystal have high hopes for you."
Mizuno turned back to his computer, slightly worried, yet sighing in relief. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he mused to himself in a low voice, "but using that disk gives me a headache."
Back outside, Shingo and Artemis were looking at the school's sign. "'If you use our newly developed Crystal Disks,'" the blonde read off of said sign, "'even you can be a genius!' Which would mean," he continued, bringing out said disk in the process, "that this must be the disk they're talking about."
"Shingo, be careful," Artemis cautioned.
"Artemis, will your paranoia know no bounds?" the blonde boy quipped. "I'm just going to return this disk, that's all."
"Looking into cram schools, now?" a certain hated voice quipped. "I see that you've finally decided to take your studies seriously."
That very voice really pushed the boy's buttons, for it belonged to the Raven, his relentless tormentor.
"Not you again!" he cried out angrily. "Why do you have to show up at the worst possible moments?"
"How should I know?" she quipped. "Maybe it's fate that keeps bringing us together. By the by," she added, "didn't that cat just talk?"
That one observation pretty much unnerved the boy and cat: normal people should not know that Artemis could talk! Things went quiet while Shingo thought up an excuse. Then he put a big grin on his face. "Are you kidding me?" he brightly claimed. "Everyone knows cats can't talk! That's just silly!" He and the cat then jogged off before abruptly stopping. Both nervously looked back at the Raven, who was still staring at them in suspicion. Seeing no other choice, Shingo and Artemis quickly made tracks out of the woman's sight.
The two stopped when they put enough distance between them and the Raven, panting heavily.
"That was close..." Artemis sighed when no one was around. "We'd have been in big trouble if she found out..."
"Yeah..." Shingo agreed. He then got a good look of what he was holding in his right hand. "D'oh! We were in such a rush to get away that we didn't get a chance to give this disk back to Mizuno! It's all her fault!" he ranted.
"Shingo," Artemis announced, getting himself off the road (having collapsed from all that running to catch his breath), "let's use the computers at your school."
"Huh?" the boy asked. "Why?"
"I want to check out that disk," the cat explained.
Shingo then looked from his cat to the disk currently in his hand. Dubiousness was written all over his face. "You think this is suspicious somehow?" he pondered. "I'll give you fair warning right now: I don't really know my way around computers."
A white paw slipped the disk into the computer tower, which lay directly below the monitor.
"A-heh-heh," Shingo nervously chuckled in the school's computer lab. "I didn't know cats knew how to work computers..."
"What can I say?" Artemis quipped, typing away at the keyboard. "I'm just that special. Besides, most people nowadays are capable of operating these things."
"Is that so?" the blonde asked, beads for eyes. It was then that the program on the disk finally booted up, emitting a faint, yet irritating noise as it did so.
"I thought so..." the cat muttered as the program continued to run.
"The hell?" Shingo cried as he put his hands over his ears. "Why is this noise giving me such a headache?"
"Offer the energy of your brain and knowledge to our great ruler," a sinister voice announced, much to the duo's consternation, "and become our loyal followers."
"A brainwashing program!" the cat concluded.
"Probably Jadeite's work, I'd bet," the boy assumed.
"And I'd also assume that Mizuno is one of his youma in disguise!" Artemis asserted.
"Argh!" Shingo pulled his hair in frustration. "I can't believe a youma managed to pull one over on me!"
With no time to spare, Shingo and Artemis rushed back over to the Crystal Cram School, but both were currently hiding behind a nearby wall.
"Y'know, Artemis," Shingo stated, "somehow, I still find it kinda hard to believe that Mizuno could be a youma."
"We're already past the point of no return," the cat responded. "Remember what we went through on our way over."
Of course the boy would remember: Shingo would use his Kabuki ability, which would hopefully put him in a good disguise so that they could infiltrate (the boy had experimented with the power after it was first revealed to him, and they had found that he had no control over what disguises he'd worn) without being questioned too much. With no time to lose, Shingo concentrated on his left hand, and those now familiar streams of light began to emanate from his fingers. Running them over his face, the red lines appeared as he thrust his palm forward and shouted "KABUKI!" His body was then enveloped by light.
When said light disappeared, Shingo had apparently aged, his spikey hair having grown long to the point of framing his face, while a thin ponytail led a trail partway down his back. He was now wearing a doctor's coat over a white dress shirt with red tie, matched with white slacks and black business shoes. A stethoscope was coiled around his neck while he carried a black bag in his left hand. Finally, he wore thin glasses over his eyes, because this particular facade had poor eyesight for some odd reason.
"A doctor... Very schwank, Shingo," Artemis complimented.
"A doctor?" the boy in masquerade wonderingly repeated in his guise's reedy voice. "Well, this makes coming up with an excuse to get in easier." He then rounded the corner and ran into the cram school at top speed.
"Sorry for the intrusion!" he yelled to the receptionist. "I heard that there was a medical emergency!" Having properly fooled them, the fake doctor headed up the stairs to the computer lab. With zero hesitation, he threw open the door to said lab and stepped inside. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency!" he called out in that reedy voice. Almost as one, the students looked at the man without a medical license... but they had no life in their faces, their eyes almost white and sunken in their sockets. "Umm... I-If you can hear me, step away from your computers, now!" he nervously ordered.
"Who are you?" a voice called out; Shingo turned his head and saw that the one inquiring was Mizuno. "Please don't interrupt our studies!" the genius demanded.
The doctor's eyes narrowed. "If you're not affected like the others here," he reasoned, "then you must be the one behind all this."
"What?" Mizuno stared blankly. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't try to play dumb with me!" the disguised boy yelled out.
"Shingo," a small whisper from floor level rose; it seemed that Artemis was successful in his own infiltration. "It might be a good time for Zangetsu."
Immediately, the doctor reached into his handbag, pulling out... a small black object.
"Huh?" Mizuno cried out, recognizing it. "A smoke bomb?"
"Nice job, 'genius'," the man in glasses taunted as he threw it to the ground obscuring his personage from all in the room. "First up," he whispered from within, "to ditch this disguise. Kabuki... kai!" The keywords having been spoken, the full-body mask disappeared, revealing the boy for who he really was... if smoke hadn't already concealed his body from line of sight. "Next," he breathed, "Kuchirikatabira!" In a flash of light that went unseen, much of Shingo's body, save for his head, was now protected by what looked like a cybernetic super-suit: the chain mail that went with the armor that he was about to wear. "BUSOU!" he cried, gathering the now-familiar energy into his hands. "TSUKI!"
The smokescreen soon dissipated, revealing the golden samurai for all to see. Mizuno only looked stupefied. "No way..." he uttered almost soundlessly. It was then that a red-nailed hand clasped his mouth shut and pulled him aside.
"What the...?" Zangetsu muttered to himself.
The bespectacled woman currently holding Mizuno hostage merely chuckled. "A pleasure to meet you, samurai," she told the boy in the golden armor. "I am Garoben, the youma of knowledge!" Her body, at this point, quickly dropped the human guise, revealing her red-and-black skinned monster body for all the world to see. "This genius boy," she continued, "is going to sacrifice his brain energy to our great ruler!"
Zangetsu was silent for a moment... then turned to look at the cat below. "Guess Mizuno wasn't a youma after all," he snidely sniped.
"That's strange..." Artemis muttered.
Sighing, Zangetsu turned his back to the villain, preparing to delve into his speech.
"What are you doing?" Garoben irately asked. "Look me in the eye, coward!"
"There are people in this world that are extremely wise and intelligent," the samurai spoke, ignoring the youma's taunt. "They use their wisdom to solve conflict and bring happiness to all. We call such people... geniuses!"
"Whatever," the youma deadpanned. "I know who you are already, Zangetsu."
"Then let's get straight to the point..." Zangetsu irritatingly replied, veins somehow popping in the back of his helmet. He swiftly turned to gaze upon the evil-doer. "For the sake of the moon," he announced, pointing at the monster, "I'll defeat you!"
Garoben merely glared, apparently thinking hard. "First question!" she cried out, turning the samurai's eyes into beads (complete with sweat drop). "According to Newton, why do apples fall from trees?"
Zangetsu silently contemplated the question for a moment before chuckling out loud. "Ha-hahaha! Everyone knows that that's gravity!" he answered with an air of stating the obvious, wagging his finger.
"Correct," the youma grudgingly admitted. "Looks like you're not as unintelligent as I first assumed. Next question!"
Zangetsu closed his eyes; surely, nothing this fiend could throw at him would be all that difficult.
"Explain gravity in 50 words or less!" she demanded.
That threw him for a loop. Eyes like beads once more, he sheepishly raised his hands up to his sides in a gesture of surrender. "Eh-heh-heh... pass?"
"Too bad!" she announced in confidence. "I'm afraid that you fail, my friend!" Raising her free hand to the air, she made several test papers (complete with razor edges) fly at the off-guard samurai. Gathering his wits in time, Zangetsu dodged to the right, evading all test papers as a result.
If I can get around behind her, then I can probably get Mizuno out to safety... he covertly thought to himself.
"Servants!" she ordered to the zombified horde. "Surround him! Make sure he can't get behind me!"
What the...? he disbelievingly pondered. How did she know I was gonna do that?
Immediately, upon her command, the victimized students rose as one and, with unnatural speed, cut off all of the samurai's escape routes.
"Now that he's taken care of," Garoben mused, "I can turn my attention to you, boy!" With ferocity, she placed Mizuno's face in front of a nearby computer monitor, which glowed ominously. "It is time for you to give us the energy contained within your mind!" She watched in triumph as, though he tried to struggle, tendrils of evil energy wrapped around the genius' head... but upon contact with his skin, they dissipated into nothingness.
"What's this?" she wondered, not willing to accept what she saw. "It's not absorbing his energy? Why?" she pondered as she pushed Mizuno's face into aforementioned monitor. "Didn't you use the Crystal Disk?" Garoben demandingly inquired.
"I..." he struggled to answer. "I believe that... you don't need... fancy... gadgets... to study!"
"You little...!" the female demon uttered furiously. At that moment, however, a symbol started to glow upon Mizuno's forehead. It looked similar to the gender symbol for females, but with the addition of two small antennae on top of the circle. Such a phenomenon did not fail to escape the youma's notice. "What... what is this?" she asked in amazement, bringing the young genius' head up into full view while doing so.
Now it was Artemis' turn to notice what was going on with Mizuno. That's... he realized in amazement. The sign of Mercury! First Moon, now Mercury... what does this mean? Luckily, having read up on the planets before the day he met Shingo, the cat already deduced what was likely to work.
"If I can't have your energy," she ruminated, throwing Mizuno to the floor, "then I'll just take your brain!"
The blue-haired boy could only look at his evil sensei in terror. "Hey! Mizuno!" a voice from the floor called out. "If you can hear me, call out 'Kuchirikatabira'! Quickly!"
Mind in disarray, Mizuno found it quite easy to listen to this confident presence. "Kuchirikatabira...!" he muttered. In a glow of light, the genius' clothing was covered by a sort of white metal plating with light-blue highlighting. Garoben, having shielded her eyes momentarily, took in the boy's new appearance.
"I don't know what that is," she ominously announced, "but I know just how to get at what I'm after!" Eyes glowing, the youma's left arm swiftly morphed into a large ax. Bringing it up into the air, she swung it down, intending to carve the strange boy into a bloody mess. Instinct took over Mizuno's body at that point, quickly moving out of the blade's intended path and getting back up on its own two feet.
"Now's your chance!" the mysterious voice yelled out. "Equip your armor with 'Busou! Suisei!'"
That voice again...! Mizuno realized. Well, if they were right once, then we'll try it again! Cupping his hands, he started to concentrate, unknowingly collecting energy. "BUSOU! SUISEI!" he cried, the energy continuing to build. As the crackling peaked, the image of a light-blue suit of armor with a metal fin-like ornament on its helmet emerged within his mind. With a grunt of effort, Mizuno forced the orb of energy in front of him, which cued numerous scrolls to unfurl around him. Higher and higher the scrolls traveled as the energy continued its expanse. At the spectacle's climax, the scrolls glowed and burst into sakura petals of light. As they fell, a spotlight fell upon Mizuno as he was now wearing the armor he had seen. As he opened his eyes, a metal faceplate slid down from above, obscuring all but his eyes from view. The light this show generated once more forced the youma to cover her vision. When it was over and she got a good look at the new samurai, saying that she was shocked would be a dreadful understatement.
"Who are you?" she asked in confusion.
"I am the Samurai of Trust..." the warrior clad in blue armor announced. "...Suisei no... Uzumaki! Repent for your sins," he demanded, left index finger raised, "and bathe in the cold lakes of the Water Star!"
If the chosen warrior of Mercury is now a Samurai instead of a Sailor Senshi... Artemis pondered, ...then the others will have...!
"Huh?" Zangetsu cried out while trying to fend off the mindless mob. "Mizuno is...?"
Once more, the youma let out a war cry and raised her ax to strike.
"Summon your weapon, Warrior of the Water Star!" a voice rang out in Uzumaki's head. "Jumonji-Yari!"
"Jumonji... Yari?" the blue samurai repeated, unsure. In a flash of light, a stylistic trident-like spear had appeared in Uzumaki's hands. Without thinking, he used the shaft of the weapon to block the edge of Garoben's weapon. Eyes narrowing, she retreated to seemingly formulate a better plan.
"Do not let her gain the upper hand," the strange voice echoed in the Water Star's Chosen's mind. "Concentrate... Conceal yourself with the Hiden Kasumi!"
That voice again! Uzumaki thought to himself. What does it mean to... Without meaning to, the samurai had closed his eyes and concentrate on the words he had just heard. As he did so, a strange aura began to spread from the bottom of the shaft to the top tip of the middle blade. Instinctually (and with both hands), he spun the Jumonji-Yari so that its blades faced the air and the shaft was hovering inches above the floor. "HIDEN..." Uzumaki cried, raising the weapon slightly higher.
"You're mine!" the youma, silent for the longest time, dashed forward with ax ready to strike.
"...KASUMI!" the blue samurai finished, slamming the bottom of the shaft into the floor. In that instant, mist began rapidly spreading from the point of impact, obscuring the warrior from view.
"Wh... what the?" Garoben cried as the mist expanded, covering the entire room. "Where... where did he go?" The mist, which had dropped the temperature of the room, was enough to make the monster shiver with cold. "Why is it so cold?" she wondered.
As her control lapsed, her zombie-like minions (attempting to drag the golden samurai down before that point) slumped to the ground, unconscious once more. What the...? was the first thought that crossed his mind at that point.
Within the mist, Garoben continued to shiver. "Damn," she cursed, unable to see even two feet in front of her. At that moment, luck finally seemed to favor the youma as the image of the new samurai had appeared to her left. "I've got you now!" she screamed in triumph ash she brought her ax-hand down upon the blue samurai's head... but sparks emitted when she had impacted said head. Too late, she realized that it was, in fact, a computer screen she had embedded her blade into.
"That was a fatal mistake," a voice from behind her said. "Now it's time for you to reap the whirlwind!" In the next moment, pain shot through Garoben's body; she looked down and saw the blades of the Jumonji-Yari protruding from her torso. Using the mist as cover and the computer monitor as a clever bit of misdirection, Uzumaki had managed to trick the youma into revealing her blind spot. As her life ebbed away, Garoben let out a pitiable groan. Her body then turned gray, dissolving into ash and spilling onto the chair and floor. All too soon, the ash itself vanished into nothingness.
The mist vanished as quickly as it had been summoned, and some of the youma's victims were starting to come around.
"Don't worry," Zangetsu assured the woozy students. "Everything's gonna be all right." He then ran over to where the new samurai, Uzumaki, was standing.
"Am I...?" he started to wonder.
"Looks like it," the voice Mizuno heard said. He finally thought to look down and saw a white cat. He recognized it immediately as Shingo's cat, Artemis. "You're the second of the samurai, Suisei no Uzumaki," the cat answered.
Uzumaki only looked at the cat in silence for but a moment. He then turned and looked at Zangetsu. "What's going on here?" he asked.
Zangetsu sighed. "Looks like we have a lot of explaining to do," he plainly stated.
"So, that's the whole gist of it," Shingo finished up on a nearby rooftop. The two samurai just couldn't talk with the victims of the latest Dark Kingdom scheme waking up, so they had retreated here and shed their armor. To say that Mizuno was shocked when he learned that the friendly blonde boy and the golden samurai were one and the same would be an understatement. "Oh, and we're sorry for suspecting that you were a youma, Mizuno."
"Please," he replied. "Ayato is fine. And it's alright. Given the circumstances, I completely understand."
"Well, guess we have an ally among us now," Shingo stated in relief. "Right, Ar-te-mis?" the blonde then stressed.
"I guess," the cat meekly replied.
Heh, Shingo inwardly chuckled. Now I can really get some study assistance from this guy, and I have a perfect excuse to do so!
"Shingo," Ayato offered. "Together, we can stop the Dark Kingdom from getting away with more plots like these in the future." He then held out his hand.
A sweat drop on the back of his head, Shingo accepted the offer to shake hands, nervously chuckling all the while. "Yeah! Pleased to know you're on-board, Ayato!"
With the speed his mind works at, the spikey blonde pondered, I'll be lucky if I'm able to keep up with him!
Shingo: Well, with that out of the way, we've got some peace and quiet to ourselves at–
Ayato: Shingo, have you heard about these disappearing buses?
Shingo: Poof! There go my visions of nice, relaxing downtime.
Ayato: Be serious! The rumor is that the priest at the local shrine is somehow responsible.
Shingo: You don't say... *yawn* Next time, on Tsuki no Zangetsu: "The Flame Star's Wisdom!" For the sake of the moon, I'll defeat you!
A/N: Huzzah! At last, a review! Now keep 'em coming! Anyways, to answer the lone question from SailorCopperOwl:
I wonder who the others will be – Naru and Umino? ;D
No, those two are pretty much only secondary characters. Naru is female, and according to the rules I've laid down, no female is capable of being a samurai. This goes back to traditional Japanese societal rules that stated that the wife's proper place was in the household, though they were allowed to fight intruders if needed. Umino, as a boy, I just can't see as being a samurai... more like being a source of information as to the going-ons in these incidents.
I'll say right now that, if they were a Sailor Senshi in canon and had no brothers (like the majority of them), they are gender-bended into males, as seen with Ami/Ayato. The name Ayato is somewhat significant; Aya Hisakawa, the seiyuu who first portrayed Ami, would eventually go on to portray Haruka Shitow in RahXephon. Haruka's love interest was the show's main character, Ayato Kamina. So, that's my own little in-joke explained.
I also had at least two people favorite this story. I like how things are developing so far! I hope that you continue your support, and if you like this story, spread the word, especially to TVTropes! Hey, you really haven't made it if you don't make it onto their FanFic index.
'til next time! All I ask is that you don't turn into a maniac and get a mob to ransack my house.