Notes: Episode 21, "Protect the Children's Dreams! Friendship Linked by Anime". Or, "The one with the two girls at the animation studio working on the Sailor V movie."

Episode 21

"I'm going."

"Mina, wait! That is SUCH a bad idea."

"Not the worst I've ever had!"

"Well … no, that's true."

"So there you go! It's brilliant."

"It's anything BUT brilliant! You CAN'T just go running off to Tokyo!"

"Okay, why?"

"Because … because the Dark Kingdom, for one."

"You said they could wait a weekend when my class took a boring old trip to Winchester, they can wait a weekend now."

"How are you going to get there? Plane tickets are expensive, Mina."

"I dunno. Charm a guy at the front desk. Act like my long lost mother is dying and this is my only chance to meet her. Disguise myself as a pilot—"

"YOU CAN'T!"

"Oh okay fine, not that. I'll … run and grab the wheel just before take-off and ride in cargo. I dunno! I'm Sailor V, I'll figure something out!"

"Even if you did, it's a world premiere. Tickets must've been sold out for months."

"Pssh, details. Aren't you the one always telling me how resourceful I am? I am FULL of resource. I'll get in, don't worry."

"But you can't—"

"Artemis."

"Can't just—"

"ARTEMIS."

"What?"

"I've been doing this for how long? Almost a year? What do I have to show for it? No friends, more groundings than I can count, and a scar on my shoulder I don't think'll ever heal. It's a movie, all about ME. It's someone trying to GIVE me something for a change. I just need this. Okay?"

"Mina …"

"Okay, good. So, what do you think? I'm leaning towards the 'run and grab the wheel' idea. That sounds pretty super hero-y, don't you think? 'Course it's gonna suck if I grab the wrong one."

"You won't have to do that."

"I mean imagine my surprise if I think I'm going to Tokyo and I wind up in Russia or something. AWKWARD."

"I'll get you a ticket."

"What now?"

"For COACH. But I'll get you a plane ticket, and a ticket for the premiere, too."

"You can do that?"

"I can do that."

"How can you do that?"

"Moon Cat secret."

"You only ever say that when you don't want to tell me something."

"You're a 'resourceful' girl, why do you think I'm saying it now, then?"

"You're so full of s—"

"I'm going to point out that you don't have tickets yet."

"—sweetness and light, I was GOING to say. Geez, what kind of girl do you think I am?"

"I think it's best for us both if I don't answer that."

"Yeah, probably. Hey, Artemis?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

... ... ...

And so it was that Minako was wriggling happily in her seat when the lights went down in theater. She hadn't hardly slept and was jet lagged to hell, but she was HERE, front row, at the premiere of HER MOVIE.

That she hadn't had anything to do with the creation of the Sailor V movie was utterly irrelevant, Minako decided, when you WERE Sailor freaking V!

A big-budget anime movie, featuring HER.

It was like all of her dreams were coming true in 35mm.

She squirmed again and hugged herself to contain the squeals of pure joy.

The movie opened with beautiful panoramic shots of London. Minako's eyes lit up. She knew those places! She'd just come from those places! She battled to keep from telling the person next to her what all those places were.

Everything was drawn with such care and detail that Minako thought she might cry. If they'd put that much work into just the environments, what would it be like when it actually came time for V herself?

She didn't need to wait long. Sailor V appeared on a rooftop, dramatically backlit by the setting sun. She was powerful and gorgeous. The audience in the theater erupted into cheers. Minako thought she might cry.

A few minutes later and Minako STILL thought she might cry, only for a very different reason.

Sailor V was a joke.

After that establishing shot, everything had rapidly gone downhill. V had looked dramatic for a few seconds at best, then she'd seen a bank robber on the streets below and Minako's dream mutated into a nightmare.

Sailor V didn't so much as jump from the rooftop as trip off it. When she finally caught up to the robber, she'd gotten so nervous she spat out nonsense. She'd attacked with a Sailor V Kick, and missed. Missed! When the robber attacked back, V shrieked and cried so much that she didn't notice the robber got away.

Minako was ready to kill. She was going to find whoever was responsible for this and personally introduce them to how a Sailor V Kick was REALLY done. She had never been so furious in her entire life, was sure that this was the absolute zenith of fury. It was utterly impossible to achieve a state of angry greater than that in which Minako Aino currently found herself.

Then Sailor V detransformed.

She took off her mask (like that was how detransforming even WORKED) and in a shimmer of magic became a frail, nervous girl of twelve or thirteen, rail thin, absolutely NO curves to speak of, and with flat, mousey brown hair.

Minako lost it.

With an agonized cry of pure indignation, she leapt to her feet. "This is not Sailor V! This is an outrage! This is a TRAVESTY! Who did this?! Who's responsible?! Face me, you coward!"

To say that she had everyone's attention would be an epic understatement. Still gripped in the feverish rush of her own impassioned words, Minako climbed up on her chair and addressed the crowd. "Good people of the cinema! Don't let them feed you images of this False V! Stand with me! Together we can demand proper representation of your goddess and mine! Together we will demand they right this injustice! Together we—"

Strong arms seized her and hauled her down. Minako continued to scream for revolution, even as security drug her from the theater.

Many rows back, Rei leaned around Usagi to make sure Ami and Makoto could hear her. "Hey, doesn't that girl look like Sailor V?"

"Don't be stupid, Rei-chan!" Usagi said, heedless of Rei's dark scowl. "She doesn't look anything LIKE Sailor V!"