April 1, 1996
Hiyama Hikaru parked her car in the parking lot of her dorm, 'Wombat
Hall' at Tokyo University. Some insane American had gotten the hall
renamed after he made a hefty donation to the school, so now the graduate
students had to put up with wombat jokes. I wonder who I'll have as a
roommate this year, she thought. As she got out, she saw a skinny short
blonde girl with twin buns on her head, each with its own ponytail. The
girl was busily unloading boxes into the hands of a rather older looking
man with short black hair. A second girl, incredibly tall and strong
looking was carrying a pile of luggage. Her hair was long and brown, tied
back into a ponytail. Hikaru went over to them. "Hey, you need some help
there?"
This girl looks awfully young to be a graduate student, Hikaru
thought. Maybe she's one of those teen geniuses.
The girl smiled, her blue eyes shining. "Thanks. I've got to go all
the way up to 503A. This is A tower, right?"
Hikaru nodded. "Hai." Wombat Hall was really four buildings around
a plaza, A, B, C, and E Tower. There had once been a D tower, but it had
burned down a long time ago. She blinked. "Wait...#503A?"
The man nodded. "Yes."
"Oh...you must be my new roommate! My old roommate graduated at the
end of last semester."
The girl smiled. "I'm Tsukino Usagi. Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Hiyama Hikaru. Nice to meet you." They shook hands, and Hikaru
grabbed some of Usagi's ton of stuff.
The man quickly introduced himself as Chiba Mamoru, Usagi's fiancee,
and the girl as Kino Makoto.
Hikaru unlocked the front door and got everyone inside. "I hope it
doesn't sound rude asking, but how old are you? You look awfully young
for a graduate student."
"Graduate Student? I'm a freshman!" Usagi said.
Hikaru facefaulted. I really HATE the administration at this
school...
************************
Chapter 10: Hearts of the City
************************
Priss said to Celia, "So you'll be back in two days?"
Celia nodded. "Shake down and keep an eye on those names we got.
Nene, finish getting all the info you can squeeze out of Schilling's
computers. They're our next target. Then we go after Wallace."
Linna nodded. "Still no decent footage of him so we know what he
looks like?"
"Not yet. He seems rather reclusive. We'll find him." Celia said.
She handed out sheets of paper. "Here are your assignments."
*************************
Tenchi and Ryouko sat with Manami, Sasami, Ryu, Mihoshi, and Kiyone
in Tsunami, looking at the charts Wasyuu had supplied them with. "Genom
Tower stands at the center of two circles of five points each. We're
going to deliver these devices to the points so we can neutralize them as
necessary." He pointed to the stack of metal cubes sitting on the table
nearby. "We don't know if Genom has the ability to use these energy nexi,
but if they know the house of Jurai exists, then it is possible that they
may."
"This won't take too long. Then what?" Kiyone asked.
"Then we get to hunt down some of these agents of theirs and see
what we can find out."
"This'll be easy," Ryouko said.
*************************
Ryu and Manami walked into their second target. It appeared to be
an humble ice cream parlor. The storefront looked like a typical late
nineteenth, early twentieth century front with a cheap tarp forming a
little shady spot in front of the store, which had big plate glass
windows. The tarp was pink and so was the decor of 'Bobson's Fine Ice
Cream'. Ryu whispered to Manami, "Where are we going to hide this thing
in this place?"
Manami whispered back, "Get us some ice cream and I'll figure out a
good place."
Ryu nodded and went to go get some chocolate for himself and his
sister. This will be easy, he thought, if not quite so easy as that
burnt-down temple we hid the first one at.
**********************
Mihoshi and Kiyone walked into the department store. Kiyone kept a
firm grip on the cube. This time she wouldn't let Mihoshi even look at
it. She said to Mihoshi, "While we're here, can you go pick me up a new
scarf?"
Mihoshi nodded. "Sure!" She ran off down the aisle, snagging a
huge pile of mugs and sending them toppling down on a clerk. Kiyone
smiled. That should keep the staff busy...I should have thought of this
at the first place.
***********************
Ryouko and Tenchi sat in the movie theater. "We don't have time to
watch the whole thing, Ryouko."
"But Tenchi..." she purred. "We've delivered all of our cubes.
Can't we have a little fun?"
"Well, maybe we can stay a little while longer..." Tenchi had the
feeling this was a mistake.
************************
Sasami sat on a floating disk in the main bridge of Tsunami. Wasyuu
was on part of the viewscreen. "So they've got 7 delivered?"
Sasami nodded. "Hai."
"I'm picking up odd power readings from some of these
sites...something may be tapping them."
Sasami cocked her head. "Uhoh."
Wasyuu frowned. "What do you mean, Uhoh?"
"I have business to attend to." She concentrated for a moment, and
suddenly there were two of her. One of them shrank to the size of a small
child and looked much as Sasami had as a little girl.
Wasyuu said, "Eh?"
Sammi giggled. "Time to go help oneechan. I think she's about to
have some trouble."
Wasyuu smiled. "I think I know someone who might be willing to help
you."
************************
Priss followed her target into the charm shop. This spy stuff is
not my strong point, she thought. Oh well, I'm just waiting for him to go
somewhere I can shake him down, anyway. The man was a two bit punk, but
he was also an informer in the pay of Wallace. He was about to do some
informing. Linna was nearby in the car. Priss had only gone inside in
case the punk slipped out the window or something. Nene was off doing her
duty through the power of computer technology.
The punk, a fleabitten hood named 'Trunks', was busily reading
labels on good luck potions that looked suspiciously like Palmolive to
Priss. She idly picked up a long ornately inscribed strip of paper.
According to the attached tag, it was a charm to ward off demons. She
laughed. Demons. As if.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck went stiff. Why do I
have this bad feeling?
***********************
Z frowned. Someone is setting up power dampeners...I can't allow
this. He extended his will and tweaked the sites of power. This should
do something to keep them busy until I come up with a better plan, he
thought...At least I hope it will. Deep thought was never Z's
strong point.
************************
The punk finally selected three potions, two charms, and a little
statuette that looked far too much like Howdy Doody. Priss decided to buy
the demon ward so she would look less suspicious. Suddenly, there was a
high pitched tone. Everyone in the store winced, especially Priss, who
felt like she was trapped in a bad feedback loop. A high pitched female
voice shrieked out something incoherent as a bright reddish glow formed in
the middle of the shop, slowly forming into a humanoid figure.
The shopkeeper, the punk, and Priss all stared at the strange
creature, which shouted something else incoherent and shot out tentacles
at all of them. Priss swore loudly, then the tentacles got too tight to
scream...
************************
Ryu and Manami sat quietly, eating their ice cream. "So what are we
going to do?" he asked quietly.
"I'll hide it in the ladies' room," she said.
He nodded. Good plan. He was completely surprised when suddenly
the shop became about twenty degrees colder, as was everyone else in the
place. He got a good glimpse of the pale skinned woman in white who was
to blame before suddenly everyone in the room was coated in ice.
***********************
Ryouko snuggled up to Tenchi. They hadn't had a good chance to just
be alone together and REALLY relax in years. They'd had plenty of private
time, but there was always the worry of assassination, of a sudden call to
an important Council meeting, that Manami's latest pet was rampaging
through the halls of the palace again...
For a moment, Ryouko could pretend they were back in college, going
on dates, attending classes, her and Aeka having riotous battles across
the campus...the good old days. Why, Aeka and I haven't had a nice
relaxing all out fight in at least three years, she thought. We're
getting mellow in our old age.
Tenchi was enjoying relaxing as well. The movie was close to the
ending. It won't hurt if we stay to the end, he thought.
Unfortunately, their reverie was rudely interrupted by screaming
behind them. A dark skinned woman dressed in what looked like various
vegetables was screaming something about avocadoes and tossing exploding
fruit everywhere. Perhaps it would have made more sense if this site had
stayed a supermarket for the last forty years, instead of being leveled by
the 2025 quake and rebuilt as a theatre. Then again, it still probably
wouldn't have made sense.
*********
Z blinked. What the hell are these things? He had sensed some
latent power objects in these sites and awakened them...this was not what
he had expected. Actually, he wasn't sure WHAT he had expected...still,
these would do nicely...if he could get them to obey, instead of just
rampaging and shouting 'AVOCADO' of all things. What kind of maniac goes
around shouting out the names of fruit?
*********
Priss swore mentally as the tentacles tried to choke her. This must
be some kind of fucked up fusion boomer, she thought...Just my luck. The
door opened and Linna ran in.
Linna stared in shock for a few seconds, then drew her gun and shot
at the creature. The bullet passed right through it and into the wall.
Linna swore loudly, then the creature fired out a tentacle that wrapped
around her neck and arms. It laughed and kept shouting out something
incoherent as the shopkeeper and the thug passed out.
********
Kiyone stretched. Missions accomplished, with only minor damage.
Then her communicator started beeping. "This is Kiyone," she answered.
It was Sasami. "We've got problems. Get over to Bobson's Ice
Cream...Looks like some of these sites were defended."
With effort, Kiyone dragged Mihoshi away from a UFO catcher doll
machine and set out.
*********
People fled everywhere in the theatre, though the movie kept playing.
Ryouko sighed and rose into the air, manifesting her energy sword. Tenchi
swiftly changed into his battlegarb. Ryouko said, "I REALLY HATE PEOPLE
WHO CAN'T BE QUIET AT THE MOVIES!"
"AVOCADO!" Droid Avocado, who resembled a dark skinned woman clad in
rotting fruit with really bad hair, hurled an exploding Kiwi fruit at
Ryouko, who batted it aside.
Tenchi tried hard not to laugh at the silly looking monster. "Give
up now!" He got an exploding bunch of grapes that flung him into the
front row as his answer.
Ryouko charged at her ludicrous assailant, knocking aside the resulting
barrage of fruit with ease. Tenchi peeled himself out of the row of
chairs in the front and stood up. The strange creature cried out as Ryouko
raised her sword high and sliced it down. To her surprise, the creature
was sliced in half. It howled and evaporated, leaving behind a black gem
that fell to the floor.
The movie played on to the mostly empty theatre. Ryouko blinked.
"Geez, that was easy."
Tenchi said, "Some kind of odd crystalline construct...Must be a
result of the power in this place. I guess."
Ryouko pocketed the crystal. "Mom will want this." She turned to
Tenchi. "Well, now we can watch the movie in peace."
Tenchi facefaulted.
*********
Kiyone and Mihoshi blinked at the snow blowing out the front door
of Bobson's Ice Cream. Kiyone wondered for a moment if some relative of
Mihoshi's worked here or if Mihoshi had been here earlier in the day, then
choked down her paranoia. She drew her gun. "You ready, Mihoshi?"
Mihoshi was busy making a snowball. "Wow, I bet I could make a
really good snowman with all this snow."
Here we go again, Kiyone thought.
*********
Priss and Linna struggled futilely against the amorphous creature.
If only I could reach my knife, Priss thought. If only I had my hardsuit,
Linna thought.
They were both on the verge of collapse when suddenly there was a
shout and two streaks of reddish purple light flashed across their vision.
The tentacles collapsed into reddish goo and Droid Jellax screamed in
pain. Priss staggered and turned her head, as did Linna.
Three figures stood in the doorway. One of them was familiar to
Priss, if not Linna. It was Pretty Sammi. The other two were also
familiar, but totally unexpected. They wore tightfitting red body suits
and had a sort of tatoo of a black slash across their faces. It was Anri
and Sylvie.
Priss, for the first time in her life, fainted. It was all too
much. Linna simply stared in shock. "What the..but you...you..."
Droid Jellax shouted, "JELLAX!" and fired tentacles at the trio.
Pretty Sammi leapt out of the way. Anri and Sylvie tried to teleport out
of the way and both picked the same spot, ending up in a tangled heap on
the counter.
Linna ran over to Priss and dragged her towards the door. She
paused and looked at the trio. I can't believe this is happening. Her
vision settled on Pretty Sammi. For a moment, Sammi blurred, and then a
barrage of images rushed across Linna's sight. A small child weilding an
funky looking staff. A tree shining and singing among the stars. A
spaceship floating through the void. A young woman with long blue hair.
All of these were the being she was gazing on, Linna realized. She didn't
really WANT to know this. She tried to shut her eyes and drive out the
thoughts and confusion.
Pretty Sammi bonked Jellax on the head, then said, "Come on, you
two!"
Anri and Sylvie got untangled. They both held out their right hand
and formed spheres of energy, then hurled them at the Droid, which howled
and collapsed down into a small black gem. "Yatta! We got it!" Sylvie
said.
Anri smiled. "Hai. No more running away." Her stance was more
confident looking than before.
Pretty Sammi turned to Linna. "Are you okay, Linna?"
Linna blinked and opened her eyes. The images had stablized.
"You...you're a...a tree?"
Pretty Sammi blinked now. "How did you know that?"
Sylvie and Anri rushed over to Priss, who slowly opened her eyes.
"Linna, I must be hallucinating...I thought I saw..."
Sylvie kneeled and hugged Priss. "It was no dream."
Priss nearly fainted again.
********
Kiyone looked around the now frozen over ice cream store. For a
moment she wondered if someone had left the refrigerator door open for too
long, but then she spotted the white clad woman with pale snow-colored
skin floating in the air in the middle of the room. The room was full of
snowmen with only a bit of clothing or a hat sticking out to show that
there were humans inside them.
Mihoshi said, "Halt! You're under arrest for violating Galactic
Code #345-YUP, which forbids turning people into snowmen!" She leveled
her laser at the woman. "Come out with your hands up!"
Kiyone blinked. Galactic code what? Whatever. "Don't make us use
force!"
The woman laughed. "Beruche will be pleased...I wonder where
those Sailors went..."
Kiyone wondered what on earth the woman was talking about. "This
is your last warning!"
The woman took a deep breath. Kiyone suddenly realized what was
coming next. She leapt at Mihoshi and pushed her out of the blast, which
clipped her legs. She was frozen in snow and ice from the waist down and
stuck facing away from the woman.
Luckily for Kiyone, Mihoshi now opened fire on the woman, who
started dodging laser blasts. Not so luckily for Kiyone, Mihoshi wasn't
aiming very well, and a few shots nearly took off Kiyone's head.
*******
Priss stared at Sylvie. It's not possible. I killed you. I had
to kill you...You can't be alive! It's not POSSIBLE! She tried to speak,
but she couldn't focus long enough to give her mouth any instructions.
Finally, she managed to croak out, "But..."
Linna just stared. This couldn't REALLY be Sylvie and Anri. Not
only were they dead, the real Sylvie and Anri didn't fly, teleport, and
fire energy blasts. Or if they did, they sure had done a good job of
hiding it. "You died. Both of you."
Sylvie resisted the urge to say, 'we got better'. "Wasyuu-okachan
fixed us."
Anri nodded. "We were in the morgue at Genom, and she adopted us
and brought us back to life."
Sammi smiled. "She's not the greatest genius scientist in the
universe for nothing."
Priss began to cry and hated herself for crying. "Is it...really
you...I mean...I...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."
Sylvie hugged Priss tightly. "You did what you had to."
Sammi left the three of them to their reunion and walked over to
Linna. "So you have the sight."
Linna blinked. "What? I'm just an aerobics instructor. I don't
do mystic new age stuff."
"Neither do I, but if you could tell that..."
Linna laughed nervously. This was all getting to be too much for
her again. "You mean the, uh...tree comment?"
"Yes. I am many things, and one of them is a tree that walks among
the stars." She looked up and down at Linna and her eyes widened for a
second. "Have you ever been in space?"
Linna smiled, remembering her dream of the previous night. "Only
in my dreams."
"Then you know how beautiful it is. Come with me...we need to save
your friends." She turned to go.
"What about Priss?"
"She needs time to adjust...she's not ready to fight. You are."
Linna followed Sammi out. "So you're with these aliens?"
Sammi smiled. "You could say that. Let's go get your hardsuit."
******
Kiyone shivered and swore. Mihoshi had nearly killed her twenty
times so far in the last half an hour. The entire store was an frozen
wasteland now. A squad of cops had shown up and they had gotten frozen
too. She almost wished the ice maiden would finish her off so at least
she wouldn't have to suffer anymore.
Somehow, Mihoshi still hadn't gotten frozen over. The ice maiden
was clearly starting to get tired from chasing Mihoshi everywhere.
Unfortunately, Mihoshi had used up the charge on her laser pistol by now.
At least she didn't collapse the roof on us, Kiyone thought. The roof,
naturally, then started to shake.
As the ice maiden finally trapped Mihoshi in the corner, the sound
of gunfire suddenly attracted everyone's attention. The blue woman went
flying. She did not bleed, but blackish energy leaked out of her new
holes, looking eerily like blood. Mihoshi turned and looked. Kiyone
would have looked if she could move.
Linna, now wearing her hardsuit, and Pretty Sammi stood in the
doorway. Pretty Sammi leapt into the air, staff in hand, while Linna
activated her jumpjet and power leaped at the ice maiden. Sammi smacked
the ice maiden in the head, then Linna spun and sliced her up with her
monofilament whips. The creature gave a shriek and dissolved away into
mist. The reddish crystal upon her brow turned black and fell to the
ground.
Linna definitely felt better. I can beat these damn things. I
just have to be ready for them, she thought. As she looked around, the
ice faded away and many unconscious people slumped to the floor.
Kiyone stretched. "Thanks for the save, Linna."
"You're welcome...Kiyone." Linna sighed. I wish she'd been able
to trust me earlier with the truth.
Kiyone said, "We need to talk, girl." She turned to Sammi. "We're
going to have to check out the other points...Where are these damn things
coming from?"
"Something is manipulating these points...I think the enemy knows
we know about them." Sammi said.
Mihoshi said, "Waaah, the staff is unconscious so I can't buy any
ice cream!"
Kiyone ground her teeth and reminded herself that killing one's
partner is a bad thing.
*****
Leon sat at his desk and sighed. Daley gets back tomorrow. Today,
I get to do paperwork--bleah--get yelled at by the chief--bleah--and watch
everyone stare at each other as if they expected people to start sprouting
tentacles--bleah.
Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and decided to go harrass
Nene for a while over in communications. "Yo, Nene-chan. How's it
going?"
"Busy. I think the brass is trying to decide if this falls in our
sphere of activity or not...whatever is going on, the metropolitan police
are getting whooped."
"Whooped by what?"
Nene laughed nervously. "Well, it's not boomers, but it's not
ordinary criminals either..."
"Can you be more specific?"
"Well, it sort of kind of looks like monster attacks." Nene
laughed nervously.
"MONSTER attacks?"
"We're also getting strange reports of people with paranormal
powers fighting these monsters. An entire riot squad apparently got
frozen at an ice cream store and saved by one of the Knight Sabres and a
blue haired eight year old. There was some sort of maniac who supposedly
flew and hurled exploding fruit at a movie theatre. Etc, etc."
Leon frowned faintly. "How many of these things are there?"
"Somewhere around ten."
Leon thought for a moment. "Any pattern to these incidents?"
Nene called up a map and started punching in addresses. Ten dots
lit up, forming two circles of five, one inside the other. In fact, they
formed two perfect pentagons. "Oh my."
Leon looked at the map. "Have it calculate the exact center of
the pentagon."
"The program isn't designed to do that."
Leon sighed and went and got a ruler from his desk and estimated.
Genom Tower was in the middle. "Can you differentiate them by time?"
Nene tried. "All the reports from the sites came in within ten
minutes of each other."
"Hmmm. My instincts say to blame Genom, but surely they wouldn't
be stupid enough to do something like this and make a pattern that screams
'blame us'."
Nene laughed. "Maybe they're a target. They do have enemies.
These things could be some kind of modified boomers, though the reports of
their abilities...are really scary."
Leon nodded. "Well, the target locations are all rather
insignificant...an ice cream shop, a video arcade, a jewelry store,
a charm shop, a movie theatre, a bookstore, an art gallery...No pattern
there. Maybe this is an advanced boomer fieldtest planned by an idiot."
Leon was half right.
******
Z frowned. This was getting out of hand. There were too many of
these awakened creatures for him to control them all or keep proper track
of them, even with them getting killed. A door opened and X walked in.
"I see that age doesn't always bring wisdom."
Z glared at X. "Or tact."
"Touche. Are you perhaps TRYING to advertise your presence here?
Do you WANT our enemies to be certain they can find us here? If you have
some 'clever master plan', I'd like to be aware of it."
Z drummed his fingers on the table that he was sitting at. "Our
enemies are moving to close off our access to the hearts of the city.
This location is powerful, but if they control all ten..."
"So you unleashed rampaging monsters?"
"At least THEY can't be traced to us by EVERYONE, the way boomers
would." Z sighed. X never used to criticize me all the time like this.
X said, "You go work on finding that dreamwalker. I'll do damage
control for this."
Nodding, Z put his mind to work trying to think of how best to locate a
dreamwalker.
**********
Dr. Mizuno Ami hid behind the bookcase and prayed the monster
wouldn't see her. Her husband was out there somewhere, having gotten
himself clobbered trying to fight the strange creature, which looked
rather like an insane flying female punk with a huge drum, babbling about
thunder. In fact, there seemed to be a local rainstorm in progress. The
glass of the bookstore windows had shattered and rain was pouring in.
Unconcious cops were scattered everywhere. My day off isn't supposed to
be like this, she thought for the fiftieth time.
"THUNDERCLAP!" bellowed the strange being, trashing more of the
bookstore as it banged its drum.
Ami winced. This thing is giving me a headache, she thought.
There was something oddly familiar about the creature, although she was
fairly certain she had never been attacked by boomer before. At least,
she thought it was a boomer. What else could it be?, she thought.
A voice spoke. "A forgotten remnant of what once was and shall be
nevermore." Pause. "Dead Scream." A corruscating bolt of energy filled
the store with light and Ami scrunched her eyes shut. There was a great
howl and the dreadful banging and thunder finally stopped. The rain began
to fall more gently and the wind died.
The voice spoke again. "Come on out, Dr. Mizuno. It's over now."
Ami stepped out into the middle of the store. A dark green haired
woman in what looked like an ornate sailor fuku had lifted Ami's husband
up onto a table and seemed to be checking him for injuries. She whispered
something to him that Ami could not hear and he awoke.
The woman turned to Ami and regarded her with a calculatedly
neutral gaze. For a moment, Ami thought she knew this woman, but couldn't
remember where or why or how. The woman said, "Your husband will be
alright. He's tougher than he looks, with good reason." She smiled
faintly. "But then, so are you. We will meet again."
She turned to leave. Ami said, "I...thank you...who are you?"
"One day you will not need to ask that question. I am Sailor
Pluto. Good day." She stepped out the door.
Ami blinked and turned to her husband, a young looking man with
short black hair. "Are you okay, dear?"
He nodded. "I've been better."
"Are you sure, Ryo-kun?" Ami sized her husband up. A few bruises,
but otherwise, he looked unhurt.
Urawa Ryo nodded and smiled. "I'm fine, Ami-chan. Let's go."
*******
Amid the long burnt-out wreckage of a once prosperous and holy
Shinto shrine, someone moved. Her mind was dim and filled with the memory
of her death. Something about...Mars. It was time for revenge...If only
she could remember what Mars looked like.
There was a person nearby. His breath smelled strange and he wore
crumpled dirty clothing. He stared at the woman, then took another swig.
"Where is..Mars?" she asked the man.
He blinked. "What, the planet?" I wonder what she's on, he
thought. And where can I get some?
"The...person."
The man thought for a moment. This was harder than it looked,
given the number of brain cells he had sacrificed to the bottle over the
years. "Does he have a first name?"
She wracked her brain. "Sailor...Mars."
"Don't know him. Try the docks."
"Which way?"
He pointed east. "That way, I guess."
Passersby tried to ignore the weirdo wrestling woman as she
staggered out of the ruins. They had learned to ignore it, since it was
usually full of druggies and squatters. She looked little different from the
bums that typically infested it. Well, more than a little, but not enough for
them to care.
*********
Priss finally pulled herself together. She could hear the cops
coming. "We'd better get out of here."
Sylvie nodded and took Priss' hand. Flicker. Now they were
standing, with Anri, on a beach looking out on the ocean. Priss blinked.
"I wasn't expecting that."
Anri sat down on a rock. "The world is full of surprises. Some of
them are even nice."
Priss laughed. "Yeah. So...you say this...Wasyuu brought you both
back? What is she, some kind of..."
"Mother is a genius," Sylvie said. "If you want to meet her,
she's been curious to meet you for a while."
"A genius. You...I mean...I wouldn't have thought it possible
that..." Everything has a price, Priss thought. What's the price
of...hey, Sammi never did tell me the price of my powers...
"Sometimes you just don't question good luck," Sylvie said. She
paused. "So are you really 25,000 years old like Wasyuu-okachan said?"
Priss laughed. "I'll tell you everything, but I'll be surprised if you
believe it all."
*******
It took hours to clean out all the monsters and properly plant the
devices. By that time it was getting late. After a brief meeting at
which plans were made for the next day, they scattered in various
directions. Linna found herself going out to eat with Kiyone at a nice
Italian place.
For a while, they ate quietly, neither quite sure how to broach the
subject. Finally, Kiyone said, "I'm sorry I decieved you for so long."
Linna sighed. "Well, I didn't exactly tell you everthing." She ate
a little more, then asked, "How can you stand it?"
"Stand what?"
"Being around all these incredibly powerful beings...It makes me
feel so inferior. I can keep up with them with my hard suit, but..."
Kiyone smiled, "Just because you don't turn into a spaceship or
fire energy beams from your hands doesn't make you inferior, Linna. Just
be the best at what you are. In the end, skill is far more important than
powers. And you have plenty of that."
"You really think so?"
"You're one of the best fighters I know, and I know a LOT of
fighters." She paused and ate a bit more. "And there's the other issue
too."
"Huh?"
"Power brings responsibility, yet you never have enough power to get
everything you want. If you're not careful, you end up in a never ending
spiral of constant searching for more and more power that satisfies you
less and less." She turned and stared out the window into the night. "An
easy road to damnation."
"That's why I got out of beauty contests. I didn't like what I was
turning myself into...and there wasn't a future in it."
"That's another thing I meant to ask you about."
Linna blinked. "Eh?"
"How would you like to join the Galaxy Police? I think you'd have
a lot more future there than working as an aerobics instructor."
Linna was NOT expecting that.
*********
Priss sat quietly on a bench inside in one of the vast garden spaces
inside Tsunami. Sasami sat by her, eating an ice cream cone. Priss had
one too, but she was almost finished with her.
"Sasami. You mentioned a price of my powers, but you never told me
what it was."
Sasami said, "The price of magical power is that you will never have
a normal life again. Once you set off down that road, there is no
returning."
Priss began to laugh. "Like I HAD a normal life. Geez, if that's
all..."
"And with power comes responsibility. There are only two Sailor
Warriors upon this world where once there were over a dozen. It is a
heavy load for you to bear."
"You and me, eh?"
"You and Pluto. I share in your fate, yet most of my duties lie
elsewhere."
Priss frowned. "Arrogant little..."
Sasami sighed. "Pluto has never been noted for her tact. Although
she was worse than usual with you. A lot of her hopes are riding on you,
you see."
"What the hell does she want from me?"
"We have to find the Empyrean Silver Crystal."
Priss started. "My dream..."
"It is the key to reawakening the other Sailor Warriors from their
slumbers. Especially your sister."
"Sister," Priss said quietly.
"It's all hard to accept, isn't it?"
Priss nodded. "At least..."
"Hmm?"
"I'm glad my friends still treat me the same...well, the ones who
know. Well, except for Manami calling me Princess all the time now."
Sasami laughed. "She's so much like her mother."
"I can't believe you and Aeka are sisters. As well as...how does
that all work anyway? You're her sister, but you're also..."
"This is going to take a while." A long while.
*******
Ryu, Tenchi, Nene, Ryouko, and Manami sat in the park on the Tokyo
University campus and quietly looked up at the stars. Ryouko pointed off
to one star. "That's Jurai, right?"
Manami smiled. "Indeed it is."
Nene looked up at it. "How far away is it?"
"Hundreds of light years." Ryouko said. "A few days in Ryo-ohki."
"Wow. I'd like to see it one day."
Ryu smiled. "Once I graduate, I can take you on a vacation there."
"Stick with us and you'll see more of it than you can stand," Ryouko
said. She winked.
Manami said, "Jurai is a very beautiful world."
Nene looked up at the stars. One day, I'll be up there. She leaned
over and snuggled up to Ryu, who smiled. "Your grandmother is a very
interesting person, Ryu."
He laughed. "And dangerous. I spent many interesting days trying to
survive being taught by her."
Manami nodded. "Like the time she decided to mind-switch us, then
pretended she didn't know what had happened?"
Ryouko laughed. "He tried to tell me what happened, but I thought he
and Manami were trying to play a joke on me!"
"Yeah, like Manami could play a joke to save her life!"
Manami said, "Don't tempt me, brother."
"Is that a threat?" he laughed.
Ryouko looked at Ryu. "Don't tempt your sister."
Manami smiled far too lovingly at Ryu. "Too late."
Ryouko and Manami looked at each other and began to laugh. NOW Ryu
was worried.
******
Linna floated through space in her dreams again. The stars were all
in the wrong places and she felt lost. I wish I had a map, she thought.
An AAA guidebook appeared in her hands. Opening it, she saw a vast array
of dots with a X <--You are here. Some map.
She tried flapping her arms and found she could swim through space,
so she started swimming along. Three stars caught her eye. They formed a
close triangle in space, though several other constellations of stars
hovered near them. Indeed, all three of the stars seemed to be binaries,
orbiting in tiny circles with another star.
Many other stars clustered near these. In fact, as she got closer,
they seemed to be moving closer together. All the stars seemed to move
gently, more than they should have moved with her movement. The stars got
closer and larger, becoming glowing spheres. Suddenly, she was in their
midst. They swarmed around her, closing in on her. She panicked and tried
to flee, but they followed her. One of them struck her right arm and
suddenly grew, swallowing up the entire universe.
******
Linna was standing inside a laboratory, much to her surprise. It
was very well equipped, or at least she thought it was. Really, she
couldn't tell, but all the beakers and tubes and machines and things going
ping looked scientific. The room had two exits. One seemed to lead into
a house, while the other was huge vault door, locked and chained. Celia
was trying to shove the door open, but it wasn't working very well. For
one thing, the door opened into the room, but she was trying to push it
open. For a second thing, Celia was chained to the scientific equipment
and it was holding her back. She was having to strain to the utmost just
to reach the door, let alone push.
For a few seconds, Linna simply stared, trying to figure out what
the hell was going on. "Umm, Celia, what are you doing?"
Celia, still staring at the door, said, "Have...to...open...this
door." She was straining badly and sounded extremely tired.
Linna walked over and saw that there was a lock on the chains by
the table, and that in fact there was a key in the lock. "Why don't you
take the chains off?"
"No, I can't do that!"
Linna blinked. This was way too surreal. How did I get here,
anyway? She couldn't remember. "Why?"
"Daddy gave me these chains! They're all I have left of him!"
Celia's voice sounded odd, perhaps because she was now a twelve year old.
The chains had shrunk to fit and now she couldn't even reach the door.
"Daddy said they'll keep me safe and tell me what to do!"
Linna blinked. Am I dreaming? This is too weird. "Then why are
you trying to open the door?"
"Cause I wanna be a magical princess like Grandma and my magic wand
is on the other side."
"How do you know that?"
"Cause daddy locked it away cause it was dangerous, but I need it
so I can take care of my best friends." She looked at Linna and smiled
nervously. "You're my friend, right?"
Linna said, "Of course you're my friend, Celia. One of my closest
friends in the world. We're like family."
Celia strained at the chains again. "I just can't do it."
Linna walked over to the door. There was a key in its lock as
well. She turned the lock and opened the door. "There you go."
"I can't reach the door!"
Linna knelt and tried to turn the key in the lock on Celia's
chains, but it wouldn't budge. She kept trying, but it wouldn't move.
Celia watched nervously. "But daddy said I should never take off the
chains!"
"You can't get through the door if you don't. Don't you want to
get through the door?"
"But..."
Linna shrugged. "Up to you. Guess I'll go see if I get to be a
magical princess if I go in there." I must be dreaming, she concluded.
She started to walk towards the door.
"No!!!! Don't go without me!"
Linna kept going. "Just unlock yourself and come with me."
She kept going, then heard a clicking noise. Suddenly, Celia was
by her side, aging with every step. Beyond the door was a white light
and...
******
Linna was sitting in her master's training hall. Hiromi was
standing over her, sighing. "Get too close and they will always suck you
in."
"I don't understand, master. What exactly did we just do?"
"We meditated and you entered the dream world. All those stars were
dreams. You have to be very careful or they will suck you in. It takes
great discipline. And if they are dreaming of you...you may not be able
to get out."
Linna blinked. "How...how is that possible? You can't get into
other people's dreams!"
Hiromi smiled. "I'm in this one, aren't I?"
The world shattered.
******
Linna woke up. "Ugh, what a weird dream."
Then a giant flaming Quincy ate her.
******
Linna woke up. "Ugh, what a weird dream." She flinched, but
nothing happened. Was I really in Celia's dream? Naaah, I must have
imagined things.
*******
Celia woke up, her sheets, soaked with sweat. What a weird
dream...and...She focused her thoughts for a moment and a glowing ball of
light formed over her hand. A wash of excitement flowed over her and she
felt like a child again on Christmas Day, opening her first present. She
juggled the tiny glowing ball back and forth, laughing. Only with effort
could she keep from running to show her grandmother what she could do. I
feel like a small child, she thought. I feel...happy.
*******
John Walter Biles : MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
rhea@tass.org http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/
"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority."
--Dr. Who, "The Wheel in Space" (Serial 43, fifth season)