Chapter 7

Nephrite Strikes!

In the dark recesses of the Dark Kingdom, Nephrite was explaining to Queen Beryl on how he intended to get energy for them.

"Jadeite took energy from anyone and everyone he could. But if you ask me, that's just a waste of time and effort," he said.

"Well, Nephrite, now that you're in charge, what's your plan?" Queen Beryl asked.

"Unlike Jadeite, who targeted people indiscriminately, I will obtain all the energy we need from a single victim."

"How is that possible?"

"The stars above govern the fate of every human, defining the destiny for each of them. The same is true of energy. There's a moment in every person's life when their energy level is at its highest. Therefore, I will analyze the motion of the stars and then target the one person whose energy is going to increase the most."

As he finished, he heard a familiar chuckle nearby. Looking up, he saw a man floating down towards him with long, flowing hair. Right next to him was a ghost Pokémon known as Misdreavus. The man's name was Zoisite.

"Well, you certainly seem confident," said Zoisite.

"What do you want, Zoisite?" Nephrite asked in annoyance. "Why are you and that annoying Misdreavus of yours here?"

"Overconfidence has brought down many, you know."

"Get lost!"

"Misdrea!" Zoisite's Misdreavus said in a feminine voice, meaning, what a jerk.

"I will infiltrate the human world and exploit their weaknesses," Nephrite continued. "And I certainly don't need any help of either one of you two!"

"Oh, really? Funny, because right now I'm picturing you crawling back to Queen Beryl to tears," Zoisite mocked.

Nephrite just glared at Zoisite for underestimating his talents.

"Ooohh… Scary," he mocked as he disappeared in a whirlwind of cherry blossom petals.

"Nephrite, I leave it to you," said Queen Beryl.

Meanwhile, on Earth, various reporters were crowding around a young student named Rui Saionji, who was a famous tennis player in Japan. As much as she tried, the young teenager couldn't escape them. That is, until she made her way to the court to get to practice.

Elsewhere, Nephrite set up his base of operations inside an old, abandoned mansion.

"The stars see all, the stars know all," he said.

As soon as he said those words, the mansion vanished, and a celestial map with various stars and celestial spheres appeared around him.

"Celestial orbs, grant me your mystical powers."

Suddenly, the sphere in the middle started to flash until it eventually fired a beam of light at his forehead.

"The noble archer, Chiron, is about to fire his arrow into the center of the Milky Way."

Nephrite slowly opened his eyes, which then glowed a deep red as he mentally focused on his target. His target was none other than Rui Saionji, the tennis player that was being crowded by reporters not too long ago. He had found his first target that was filled with energy for the Dark Kingdom's Great Leader.

Meanwhile, at a tennis court, Rui was practicing against an opponent that looked to be about a year younger than Usagi. She had dark green eyes and ash-gray spiky hair. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless popped-collar shirt, brown wristbands, black shorts, white knee-high socks, and tennis shoes. Her name was Kaoru Matsubara. She looked up to Rui and idolized her. On the other side of the fence, Usagi, along with her friends, Naru and Duplica, were watching the match. Kaoru served the ball with a powerful strike, but Rui managed to return it and score.

"That was an awesome match, Sis!" Naru shouted.

Upon hearing that name, Rui glanced over towards Naru and gave her a smile.

"Seriously, Naru? Why do you keep calling her that?" asked Duplica. "You do know that I'm your only sister, right? I mean, it's the reason why we're in classes together."

"Yeah, I know. But what's up with that Gary guy?"

"Him? Oh, he's just really smart, so he skipped a few grades. Plus, he's Professor Oak's grandson."

"As if we didn't know that, already."

"I'm actually getting really tired of him reminding everyone about it," Usagi added. "Although, I have a question."

"Yeah, what is it?" Duplica answered.

"How is it that that Kaoru girl is so good at all of the sports she participates in, yet every time she faces Rui she loses?"

"Kaoru's a sports prodigy. She excels at a lot of things, especially sports. She's also a really passionate Pokémon Trainer, as well. She really looks up to Rui, and whenever she plays against her, it's like she's trying to improve her own skills. I think that it's more of a show of respect whenever she loses against her."

"True that," Naru chuckled. "And as for why I call Rui Saijonji my sis, it's because her mother's been a longtime customer at our jewelry store. So, we've known each other practically our entire lives. Remember?"

Duplica blinked and then felt really stupid for not remembering that.

"Sis and I used to play together a lot when we were little kids. It was around the time you got your Ditto."

"Oh, yeah. I think I remember that, now."

All of the students that were watching were amazed at how well Rui moved on the court.

"We're actually only a year apart, but she's always looked out for me just like a real big sister would, you know? Kind of like how I do for you."

"Oh, I get it now. That makes total sense."

As the match continued on, a mysterious man driving a red Ferrari Testarossa 512 TR eventually pulled up in front of the court's entrance. He then got out of his car and walked towards the fence.

"Hey, check out that guy!" exclaimed one of the female students.

"Oh, sweet Arceus! He's gorgeous!" another said. "Wait! I think I recognize him!"

"Yeah? Who is he?"

"He's the president of some new company that opened up around here."

"So, he's super rich?"

"Yeah. Maybe even richer than that Himeko girl."

What the kids didn't know, however, was that this man, with his yellow shirt and blue jacket was actually Nephrite in disguise.

"Wow! He's hot!" swooned both Naru and Usagi.

Seeing Rui, the disguised Nephrite made an impressive leap over the fence and landed on the side of court, just barely out of bounds.

"Hey, do you mind? We're in the middle of a match, here! You can't just waltz on to the court like that!" barked Kaoru.

"You should be putting more weight behind the ball," Nephrite said to Rui.

Rui just stared at him in confusion. She had no idea what he was talking about. He then walked towards Kaoru, who was a bit taken aback by his sudden behavior.

"Give me your racket," he said.

"Sure, whatever. Not like you can hit any better than I can."

"We'll see about that. Now, serve me the ball!"

Rui tossed the ball into the air, then hit it over the net with her racket. Nephrite responded by hitting it back harder than any other player that she's faced before. The ball moved so fast that it ended up hitting Rui's wrist before she could serve the ball back to him.

"That serve was so slow that a fly could've landed on it," he chastised.

"I'm sorry, but just who are you?" asked Rui.

"My name is Masato Sanjouin. I'm a coach and I can help you."

She stared at him, not knowing what to say. He then offered to get her racket back for her. The moment he put his right hand on her racket, however, he made the sign of the Dark Kingdom appear on the bottom of it.

"Hear me, my monster. Take control of this racket. Raise Rui Saionji's energy to its highest level, then take it all away!" he said telepathically.

Once the symbol vanished, he grabbed the racket and gave it to her.

"Focus on putting your weight behind the ball."

As soon as she touched her racket, her pupils disappeared, almost as if she was no longer in control of her actions.

"I need someone to receive."

As soon as he said that a random boy volunteered, much to the disdain of the other students.

"Ha, ha! You snooze, you lose, guys!" he announced heartily. "But uh, hey, could you please go easy on me, Rui?"

Rui then served the ball so hard that it not only knocked the boy backwards, but it also created a hole in the court.

"Thanks for the tip," she said.

She looked around for Mr. Sanjouin, but she noticed that he had somehow disappeared. It turns out, however, that Nephrite was watching her from one of the rooftops, waiting for her energy to peak at its highest level.

"The more you use that racket, the more your energy will increase. And the more I can steal."

As time went on, Rui continued to use her racket against other tennis players and kept hitting them extremely hard. It got to a point where all of the boys became afraid of her due to her newly aggressive playstyle.

"Something doesn't seem right," said Naru.

"You said it, Naru," Duplica agreed.

Later that night at the Celadon Department Store, Luna was in the Crown Game Center talking to the Sailor V video game monitor.

"Codename 0091, this is Luna. Passphrase: The rabbit on the moon is pounding rice cakes," she said.

"The moon's rice cakes are sticky," said the voice from the monitor.

"And they puff up when you toast them as well."

"Good news. We've uncovered information on the enemy we're up against."

"You're certain about that?"

"Yes, of course."

"Sorry."

"The enemy's organization goes by the name Dark Kingdom. It's the organization that Mewtwo most likely already told you about. They're trying to collect human energy, but as of yet, we haven't been able to uncover their master plan."

"Why would they want human energy?"

"We're not sure. But it will most likely be revealed in due time."

The next day at Hikawa Shrine, Luna discussed what she had found out the previous night.

"The Dark Kingdom, huh?" said Rei. "Wow. And I thought Mewtwo just said that because he was angry at us."

"He was," growled Kirlia. "Honestly, I don't understand what he sees in you guys when all you do is bicker and argue about everything."

"Be that as it may, we need to prepare ourselves to face them," Ami interjected.

"Well, I say that we bust in there and crush those evil jerks!" Rei snarled.

"But we're not really capable of doing that, yet."

"You know, I hate to say it, Rei, but Ami's right," said Ash.

"Yeah? And how would you know?" she barked.

"It's that very attitude that once caused my Charizard to disobey me."

Rei was stunned. Ash then explained that he let his Pokémon evolve too quickly, which was why it refused to obey him until a particular event during his time in the Orange Islands.

"I had no idea."

"None of us did, Rei," said Luna. "But they're right. You have to prepare for that confrontation by studying and training yourselves."

"Ooh! I have an idea! Why don't we use tennis to train?!" Usagi suggested.

The others were confused but decided to hear her out.

"There's this really hot tennis coach named Masato Sanjouin, and I bet he could help us."

Chibiusa couldn't believe what she was hearing and fell over in embarrassment.

"Seriously, Usagi? You're sounding a lot like that Momoko girl you keep talking about," sighed Ash. "And besides, didn't you mention that you saw Kaoru yesterday?"

"Wait, you know her, Ash?" asked Ami.

Ash nodded his head.

"We used to play together after my other friend, Mamoru, moved away from Pallet Town."

Hearing the name snapped Usagi out of her trance.

"Who's Mamoru?" she asked.

"He's that guy that keeps calling you bun-head," Ash sighed.

"What? That jerk's name is Mamoru?"

"Yeah. Before I met Kaoru, he used to stand up to me back when Gary used to pick on me. Then one day, he moved away and Gary started picking on me again. That's when I met Kaoru."

Ash remembered. He was only about eight years old. His old friend, Mamoru, had just moved away from Pallet Town a week ago. His next-door neighbor, Gary Oak, was teasing him again for not knowing that much about Pokémon. That is until a certain spiky-haired girl that was around the age of eleven, stepped in.

"Hey, jerk! How would you like it if someone started picking on you, instead?!" she barked.

Seeing how tough she looked; Gary ran away from Ash as the girl shook her fist at him.

"Yeah, you better run!"

The girl then ran over and asked how Ash was doing.

"I'm okay," he said.

"You like Pokémon, do you?"

"Uh, yeah."

"So do I!"

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"I like you, kid. I can tell that one day, you just might be a Pokémon Master."

Everyone was shocked upon hearing his story. No one knew that he had such close ties with this guy that Usagi didn't seem to like.

"Wow. If that's the case then, how about if Ami plays tennis with me, huh?" asked Usagi, who was still focused on the tennis due to Masato Sanjouin.

"Oh, sorry, Usagi, but I have to go to cram school," Ami admitted.

Just then, Kirlia felt a spike in energy nearby.

"What's wrong?" asked Chibiusa.

"Something's not right. I just felt a huge spike in energy nearby," said Kirlia.

Back on the tennis court, Rui was up against Kaoru again. This time, however, she hit the ball so hard that it broke her opponent's racket in half. Rui seemed unphased by this and just chuckled sinisterly as she slowly walked towards the net. She even managed to step on the broken racket head, as well.

"Rui, we need to stop! You're out of your mind!" Kaoru whimpered.

She wasn't the only one who was scared. The girls behind her were scared, as well. This included a girl with blonde hair tied in curly pigtails, and a girl with orange hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a big, red bow in her hair. The girl with blonde hair had blue eyes and went by the name of Miyako Gotokugi. The redhead had magenta-colored eyes and was named Momoko Akatsutsumi. They were Kaoru's best friends.

"I don't like this," whimpered Miyako.

"Me neither," Momoko added.

"What's the problem? I brought you a spare racket," Rui said uncaringly. "Now come on, get up on your feet. Let's finish this."

She kicked the broken racket head off the court as Kaoru slowly got up to get her spare racket. Naru was watching the match intently. There was a sense of worry in her eyes as she watched Rui play against the girls.

"Something's wrong. Sis has never acted like this before now," she muttered to herself.

Later that evening, at the Osa-P jewelry store, Naru invited Usagi over for some green tea. Next to her was her Pokémon, an Eevee. Sitting next to Usagi on the other side of the tea tray was her own Pokémon, a Clefairy.

"Sorry for calling you here last minute," Naru sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Usagi responded reassuringly. "Is something wrong?"

Naru was silent for a moment. She then looked at her Eevee, who was understandably worried about her.

"I don't know," Naru said anxiously. "But Sis has been acting really strange the last couple of days. She's become so aggressive whenever she plays tennis. In all the time we've spent together, she's never been like this. It's as if she's become a different person."

"Do you think she's just on-edge because of the big tournament coming up?"

"That was my first guess, too, but now I think it's more than that. I don't know…"

Naru's voice started to break as she spoke. Usagi then noticed that her best friend had begun to cry.

"What could've happened to her?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks as Naru remembered the times she and Rui used to play together when they were little. She also remembered playing tennis with her when they were just little girls, as well. She was so nice back then. When she went up to talk to her earlier that day, however, it was as if the Rui that she once knew was gone.

"You okay, Sis? Is something the matter?" asked Naru. "If there's anything I can do to help…"

Rui slowly turned her head and glared at Naru with cold eyes.

"This has nothing to do with you," she snapped. "Leave me alone."

Those words stabbed Naru right in the heart. It was as if something or SOMEONE had caused her to completely change.

"I've never seen Sis act like that towards me before," Naru said as she finished her story. "It makes me wonder if maybe something really terrible has happened to make her behave this way. She won't even talk to me."

Unbeknownst to Usagi and Naru, Duplica had been listening in on the entire conversation through the keyhole in the door. Seeing her sister break down like this was devastating to the young circus performer. She never thought she'd see the day when her sister would break out into tears like this. Sure, just like Usagi and Chibiusa, they often got into spats, but unlike Usagi and her sister, theirs were usually over pretty quickly, due to the cuteness of her sister's Eevee breaking things up. Duplica ran away from the door and entered her own room, slamming the door behind her.

"Did Duplica just overhear our entire conversation?" asked Usagi.

"She must have. She's been worried about me ever since Sis started acting like this. I think my breakdown must've been too much for her."

Naru wiped the tears from her eyes as Usagi tried to think of a way to cheer her friend up.

"Hey, listen! Why don't you and I do some poking around and see if we can find out what's going on with her!"

"Usagi…"

"We'll figure it out."

Later that night, both Usagi and Naru made their way to Rui's tennis school.

"So, this is the place where Rui comes to get tennis lessons?" asked Usagi.

"Yeah, she comes down here to train every single day after school is over."

"I've got a really bad feeling. Could a monster be behind all this?!" Usagi thought.

Just then, Usagi heard a familiar voice call out her name nearby. She turned her head and was surprised to see both Ash and Chibiusa running towards them.

"Chibiusa, what are you doing here?"

"Kirlia felt a huge spike in energy earlier, so we decided to investigate," her sister explained.

Suddenly, they all heard a grunt coming from the tennis court. It turns out that Rui was playing tennis against two men who were supposed to be pros at tennis. Upon serving, however, the ball crumbled from the impact due to how hard Rui hit it with her racket.

"Hey, are you okay?" one of the players asked his partner.

"What was that serve?" his partner inquired.

Rui, however, was unphased by the one player's condition from her serve.

"What's wrong with you guys? I thought you were supposed to be pros!" she said coldly. "Are you telling me that you can't even return a serve?!"

"Look, just give us a break, okay?" the one player begged.

"No, I'm serving again!"

Just as she was about to serve, however, Naru stepped in and demanded her to stop.

"Move it!" Rui barked.

Seeing that she was distracted, the two tennis players ran off the court to get away from a crazed Rui.

"No way! Not until you stop acting like this, Sis, I mean it!" Naru pleaded.

"Get out of the way, Naru!" Rui scowled.

"I won't!" Naru announced firmly.

"Rui, this has gone far enough! You nearly forced Kaoru to get a cast today!" growled Ash.

"Naru is just worried about you, Rui! Please, listen to her!" Usagi pleaded.

"Just SHUT UP!" Rui bellowed.

Then, out of nowhere, Rui's racket began glowing a mysterious red aura. Rui swung the racket towards the group of friends, releasing a beam of energy that sent them flying into the bushes. After she did this, Nephrite flung his eyes open, sensing that Rui's energy was at its highest point.

"Her energy is at its peak!" he said telepathically. "Now Tesuni! Do it!"

The symbol appeared on the bottom of Rui's racket and started to glow. Rui began to feel strange as an ominous shadow emerged from the head of her racket. She then dropped her racket after all of her energy was released from her body. After that was over, the shadow revealed its true form: Nephrite's monster, Tesuni. She had pale white skin with blonde hair and was wearing a dark navy-blue uniform with gold bracelets. She also had a red pendant in the middle of her torso and her shoulders were covered by a red collar-like item.

"Now all your energy belongs to the great ruler!" she cackled.

"I knew it! A monster!" Usagi whispered.

Both Tsukino sisters hid behind a wall so that no one would see them transforming into their alter egos.

"MOON PRISM POWER! MAKE UP!" they shouted.

After shouting the phrase, the two transformed into both Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon.

"Monsters aren't allowed to score an ace!" shouted Sailor Moon. "How dare you use tennis for your evil ends! Even Navratilova would be upset!"

"We are the guardians!" Ash exclaimed.

"Who fight for love and for justice!" added Sailor Chibi Moon.

"I am Sailor Moon!" said Sailor Moon.

"And I am Sailor Chibi Moon!"

"And I am the Pokémon Trainer known as Ash!" Ash added.

"And now, in the name of the moon…" Sailor Moon started.

"We'll punish you!" she said with Sailor Chibi Moon.

"Whatever," Tesuni scoffed.

A tennis racket made of fire suddenly materialized in her right hand. The sight of not just the racket, but the dark core emitting from it caught the heroes off-guard. Tesuni swung the racket, releasing the sphere of dark energy towards the friends. Kirlia thankfully managed to teleport Sailor Chibi Moon, Ash and Pikachu away from the dark core. Sailor Moon, however, wasn't so lucky. The dark core hit her and transformed most of her body into a giant tennis ball. She then started floating in the air before hitting the ground with a thud.

"Serves you right!" Tesuni joked.

Sailor Chibi Moon covered her mouth as her face turned bright red.

"Are you laughing?" asked Kirlia.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help it," she admitted through her snickers.

Sailor Moon kept bouncing around on the court until a red rose hit Tesuni in her right eye.

"Who did that?!" Tesuni snarled.

Sitting on a nearby bench was none other than Tuxedo Mask.

"Leave now or you'll end up like that pathetic girl!"

"Sounds like a challenge to me," he said slyly. "Go on, do your worst."

"You fool! I'll make you regret that you ever said those words!"

Tesuni served another dark core from her racket towards Tuxedo Mask. Unlike Sailor Moon, however, Tuxedo Mask was much too fast for her, as he jumped out of the way before it could even hit him. He then got out his cane, which extended to the point where it hit Tesuni, knocking her to the ground. After that happened, Sailor Moon instantly transformed back into her Guardian form.

"Thank you for saving me," she said dreamily.

"Stay on your guard," he stated bluntly.

Sailor Moon was so focused on Tuxedo Mask that she didn't notice Tesuni throwing fireballs from her racket.

"Sailor Moon, look out!" shouted Sailor Chibi Moon.

Thankfully, both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask dodged the first fireball just in time. Tesuni then fire a barrage of fireballs at Sailor Moon like a Fire-type Pokémon using Ember at its opponent.

"Cut it out, would you? What if one of those things hits me?" begged Sailor Moon.

As she frantically attempted to dodge the fireballs, Sailor Moon suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. Thanks to that, she knew she couldn't get out of the way of one of the fireballs heading straight for her. She was sure that she'd been burnt to a crisp. Just then, a mysterious flying lizard with a flame on its tail swept in and rescued Sailor Moon. Ash looked up and was happy to see that it was one of his Pokémon. More specifically, his Charizard.

"Charizard! You're here!" he shouted excitedly.

Charizard showed his gratitude by releasing a flamethrower blast on to Ash. Ash just laughed as Charizard landed with Sailor Moon on his back.

"Does that always happen?" asked Sailor Chibi Moon.

"It's just his way of saying hello. Right buddy?" said Ash.

Charizard roared in agreement. Tuxedo Mask then landed right next to them.

"Let's end this match together!" he stated.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Tesuni then threw out another one of her fireballs towards them.

"Charizard, use Ember!" commanded Ash.

Charizard opened his mouth and shot six fireballs towards Tesuni's. The collision caused a minor explosion that evened the odds. Kirlia's eyes then turned blue as she used Psychic to disorient Tesuni. To add insult to injury, Tuxedo Mask even through a rose at her, as well. Doing that, however, left him paralyzed as if he were hit with an Electric-type move.

"Tuxedo Mask! Are you okay?!" asked Sailor Moon.

"I'm fine! Use your tiara!" he said.

"Sailor Moon, hurry!" shouted Kirlia as she collapsed from exhaustion.

Sailor Moon, seeing now what she had to do, removed her tiara from her forehead.

"MOON TIARA ACTION!" she shouted as she tossed her tiara at Tesuni.

The tiara hit Tesuni, which destroyed her in a magical explosion. Both Sailors Mercury and Mars ran over to see what was happening and saw that the others had already won the battle. Upon seeing Charizard, Sailor Mars admitted that he was impressed that Ash had such an amazing-looking Pokémon.

The next day, Naru stated to Usagi that Rui couldn't remember anything that happened to her.

"As long as she's doing okay now, that other stuff doesn't really matter!" she said reassuringly.

Mewtwo watched her from a distance with a smile on his face.

"She is learning. That is good," he said. "This Dark Kingdom poses to be more of a threat than I imagined. And yet, somehow I can't shake the feeling that there is more to her than I had first thought. Only time will tell if my premonition is correct."

And with that, he teleported away, leaving the others on their own. Will the Sailor Guardians and Ash be able to defeat the Dark Kingdom and stop their evil plans? Only time will tell.

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Phew! A lot of character exposition going on in this chapter. Sorry if this took so long. To be honest with you guys, I can't wait to get the Nephrite chapters done. Seriously, most of these are probably the weakest episodes from the first season, in my opinion. Also, for those who are confused about Momoko, Miyako and Kaoru, I'll explain it here. At this point in the series, they don't have their Powerpuff Girls Z belts, yet. They're just three ordinary girls attending the Celadon Pokémon Academy. Hopefully this clears things up with that. Anyways, I guess I'll see you guys again when I publish the next chapter. Until next time; Sayonara!