------------------------------------------------------------------------
S A I L O R M O O N 4 2 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Angus MacSpon
macspon@ihug.co.nz
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/
Based on "Sailor Moon" created by Naoko Takeuchi
------------------------------------------------------------------------
C H A P T E R T W O
"Setting-Up Exercises: Cat-Fu Revisited"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is just _so_ cool."
Bendis stared at Sailor Venus, a little alarmed. Whatever reaction she
had been expecting, this wasn't it.
"So let's see if I've got this straight. I'm the reincarnation of some
dead moon girl, and I get to fight all sorts of bad guys, and kick some
serious bootie, and become a princess, right?"
"What?" said Bendis dazedly. "No! Who told you all that?"
"It's only on the viddy every day! 'Queen Serenity and her Senshi.'
Not that I watch it any more of course, that stuff is like for little
kids only. Hey, am I going to get my own action figure?"
"A -- action figure?"
"Well, never mind. Oh, and I get all those neat attacks too! I've just
_got_ to try that 'lovely chain' thing."
"Attacks? Wait! No! Don't! Are you nuts?" shouted Bendis. Somehow
she'd thought _she_ was going to be the one in control here. How could
she have been so wrong? "Anyway, it's called the 'love-me chain,' not
'lovely chain.'"
"What? But 'love-me chain' doesn't make any sense! Oh, let's just give
it a try anyway --"
"No, don't --"
"VENUS CHAIN THING!"
There was a sudden loud noise.
"Hmm," said Venus slowly. "I'm going to have to get that window fixed."
Bendis simply stared at her for several seconds, unable to speak. Then
she burst out: "You're crazy!" Venus raised an eyebrow. "What do you
think you're doing?" Bendis went on. "You can't just go doing that
indoors -- what if somebody heard you? What if somebody _saw_ you?"
"Oh, relax," Venus said cheerfully. "There's nobody else home."
"Well, what about the neighbours? What about _me_? You could have hit
me with that ... that 'chain thing'!"
"Oh, come on! I didn't, did I? It went great! Well, except the
window, of course."
Abruptly Bendis snickered. "'Chain thing.' Man, if Artemis heard you
say that he'd have a fit."
"Ooh, Artemis?" said Venus, her eyes shining. "You mean he's for real?
He's so cool! Where's Luna, then? And who are you, anyway? I never
heard of a _tabby_ Moon Cat before. Are you on the viddy program?
Maybe I missed an episode. Um, back when I used to watch it, I mean.
And when do I get to fight some bad guys?"
Bendis stared for a moment. "Which question do you want me to answer
first?" she asked helplessly.
Venus rolled her eyes. "All of them, of course!"
[Of course,] Bendis echoed silently. [Whatever happened to the girl
that was here before? Someone's kidnapped her and replaced her with a
maniac!] "Um, right," she said aloud. "Yes, Artemis is for real."
[Unfortunately.] "He, er, he isn't around right now. He's, um, off on
an important mission, ahh, somewhere." [If Artemis finds out what I've
done before I calm this girl down a bit, he's gonna tear me to pieces!]
"What was the next one? Oh, right. Luna is ... Luna is ... what _are_
you doing?"
Venus was staring at her reflection in the mirror. "This is pretty
good," she announced. "I must be four, five cents taller, and I got a
bust job as well! Wow, look at that --"
Bendis coughed. "I can see it pretty well, actually --"
"Hmm. I can't see properly -- how do I undo this stupid costume? Who
designed it, anyway? Must be pretty draughty on a cold day outside.
Hey, I can't get this thing off!"
"It's, uhh, it's not meant to come off, you just change back to your normal
self instead."
"What? Change _back_? No way!" Venus gave her bust-line a final
admiring glance and turned away from the mirror. "Oh well. What next?
Bring on the bad guys!" She leaped across the room, landed awkwardly,
knocking over a chair, but managed to turn it into a dramatic pose as if
she'd meant to trip. "Yes! The valiant, daring (and devastatingly
beautiful) Sailor Venus is on the scene! Evil-doers, beware!" She
levelled a finger at an imaginary opponent. "Prepare to face your worst
nightmare, villain! In the name of the Moon -- no, wait a minute. Let
me try that again. In the name of Venus -- no, in the name of the
planet Venus -- that's better -- you're history! Ahaha! CRESCENT
BEAM!"
Bendis watched the posing rather nervously. This girl could change
moods in a microsecond. Still, she seemed confident enough -- for the
moment -- and it certainly looked like she was getting the hang of the
speech-making. All in all, perhaps it was rather promising after all.
-- Then she heard her trying another attack: indoors again, naturally.
['Promising'? I must be out of my mind.] She looked for somewhere to
hide.
"Wait a minute," said Venus, sounding puzzled. "Nothing happened."
"Eh?" Bendis poked her head out from under the bed. "What do you mean,
'nothing happened'? Try it again. No, wait, DON'T TRY IT AGAIN --"
"CRESCENT BEAM!"
"Hmm," Bendis said. "You're right. Not even a fizzle. What are you
doing wrong? I wonder if -- what was that?"
Downstairs, a door slammed.
Venus panicked. "Ohmygosh!" she gabbled. "It's my parents! Quick, how
do I change back out of this thing --"
"Just relax and picture yourself changing back. Hurry!" Bendis watched
anxiously as Venus closed her eyes and grimaced. Nothing happened for a
moment; but then she seemed to find the trick. She shrank slightly; her
fuku melted away, replaced by her dull-olive school uniform.
Her tattered, filthy school uniform. Whoops.
"Better get changed, fast," Bendis suggested helpfully.
"Oh, _no_ --" McCrea Beth jumped across the room to the dresser,
tripping over her school-bag half-way, and started to rummage
desperately though her drawers as she tried to yank her uniform off.
Bendis watched, interested.
"Beth-chan? Are you home?" called a woman's voice from the other side
of the door.
"Just coming," Beth shouted, pulling on a clean shirt frantically. As
she made for the door Bendis thought about pointing out that she was
still filthy, and covered with scrapes and bruises. But no, the cat
decided. She had to learn to cope with adversity.
The door slammed shut. Bendis relaxed, and looked around the room. It
looked like a hurricane had struck. The floor was covered in clothing:
piles of clean clothes left hanging out of open drawers, and the grimy,
torn remains of a school uniform. A schoolbag lay in one corner; it had
burst open and there were papers and books everywhere. An overturned
chair lay in the middle of the pile, a bizarre centrepiece. One window
was shattered, and broken glass lay all around, glittering in the
evening sun. A cool breeze blew into the room, stirring the papers and
scattering them even further.
"Well," Bendis murmured. "That didn't go too badly."
****************
When Masao finally reached the Olympus, he found a group waiting for him
as promised. What came next, though, was anything but promising.
"Where the hell have you been?" demanded one of them: a burly man with
short black hair and a thickly-stubbled face. "You were supposed to be
here more than two hours ago!"
"Oh, ease up, Kuroi," said the tall, lantern-jawed one. "I'm sure he's
got a good excuse."
"He'd damn well better," muttered Kuroi.
"Er ..."
Masao thought about telling them the truth -- about how Sachiko had
chased him down thirty-four flights of stairs, yelling threats at him
all the way; about the half-hour he spent in the men's room, gasping for
breath and occasionally throwing up from sheer terror; about his mad
dash home to change out of his soiled clothes -- and thought better of
it.
"Sorry," he said.
The third man got up with a sigh. "All right, enough chit-chat," he
announced. He was a tall, athletically-built man, only a little smaller
than the second man to speak, with dark hair. "Kuroi, if you're going
to beat him up, do it later. Aoiro, stop needling him. We've got work
to do."
"Right, we've got a kitty-cat to catch," Kuroi grumbled.
"Yes, we do," said the third man. He offered a hand to Masao. "Captain
Hiiro," he introduced himself. "And Kuroi there, Aoiro, and Mitsukai."
This last was a woman, tall and thin, with dark shadows under her eyes.
She glanced up as Hiiro introduced her, but did not speak.
"Kitada Masao. Er, I really am sorry --"
"Save it," Hiiro said. "Let's get to work. I assume you've been
briefed on what's expected of you?"
"Um. No. The man who called me just said I was being activated, and I
should get down here. He wasn't very helpful, actually --"
"Activated?" Hiiro stared at him. "You're an Irregular?"
"Er ... yes."
"What the hell?" Kuroi burst out. "What do those idiots thing they're
doing, saddling us with a boy scout?"
"Quiet, Ryo," Hiiro said absently. "I wonder if ... Kitada, did the
man you spoke to give his name?"
"No," Masao said, trying to hide his annoyance at the 'boy scout' tag.
"He just made a few sarcastic remarks and told me to get down here."
Hiiro was beginning to grin. "What sort of sarcastic remarks?"
"Um, he said something about 'This is just too painful for words.' And
then he told me I should just use my imagination when I asked what I was
suppose to tell my boss --"
"Midori," said Kuroi and Aoiro together.
"It does sound like it," said Hiiro with a sigh. "Well, he probably
won't have been all that helpful, then. So. All right, then, how much
_do_ you know about all this?"
"Not very much," Masao admitted. "All I know is that you're -- we're --
looking for a cat for some reason."
"'For some reason' is about right," sighed Hiiro. "That's all anyone
knows. Though I've heard about a hundred theories, some more likely
than others ..."
"We've started a book on them," put in Aoiro. "Want to place a bet?"
Masao looked up at him quickly. But the man wasn't smiling. Could he
be serious? "Ahh, no thanks," he said. Aoiro shrugged.
Kuroi spat. "Yeah, save your money," he snarled. "There's been enough
thrown away on this damfool operation already. Must have cost millions
by now -- not to mention everyone's wasted time. Damn cat must be the
most valuable animal in the whole damn world ..."
A silence fell. It was clear that all four of the group, even the
silent Mitsukai, agreed with Kuroi. At last Masao said, "So what are we
supposed to do here, anyway?"
Hiiro shrugged. "Check the notice, see who posted it, find them, and
find out if the cat they're after is the same one we want," he said.
"Shouldn't be too hard. You ought to be back at your day job in a day
or two."
Aoiro gave Masao a thoughtful look. "I wonder why they brought you in in
the first place," he murmured. "Are you an expert on cats, perhaps?"
"No," answered Masao. "I just happened to see a lost-pet notice stuck up
that sounded like the same cat, so I reported it."
"Very odd. I wonder that the Brass are up to ...?"
Mitsukai laughed. Masao jumped; it was the first time she'd made a sound.
"Second-guessing again?" she inquired.
Grimacing, Aoiro said, "All right, but you must admit it's strange."
Mitsukai rolled her eyes, but did not answer. Aoiro sighed.
"Suppose we get started," Hiiro suggested. Masao had been wondering if
he was the leader of the group; from the way the others reacted to what
sounded like a casual comment, he knew he was right. "Ryozo, you and
Mitsukai stay out here for the moment. Try and stay alert. There's not
going to be any trouble, but we might as well be ready for it anyway."
Kuroi and Mitsukai nodded. "Aoiro -- you, me and Kitada-san will go
take a look at the kitty-cat poster. Try to restrain your enthusiasm
and let's just get it over with, all right?"
The three of them walked into the building and up the steps to the
Olympus's reception on the second floor. Masao pointed out the notice
about the lost cat. Hiiro and Aoiro studied it carefully.
"No name or address," Hiiro noted. "Just says to give any details to
reception. Unusual."
"What surprised me was that it's on management stationery," said Masao.
"Usually that's only for official announcements -- membership notices,
things like that. I'm surprised Pappadopoulos-san hasn't pulled this
down yet, actually."
"Could -- what was that name again? -- Pappadopoulos-san have put this
up herself?" inquired Aoiro.
"About a cat?" said Masao dubiously. "I doubt it."
"Well, we can always ask," Hiiro decided briskly. "Aoiro, get a copy of
that notice. Kitada, go to the desk and tell them you've seen a strange
cat. Make it something completely unlike the one in this notice. Tell
them you want to ask the owner if it's theirs. You should be able to
get a name and a comm number, at least."
Masao shrugged and approached the desk. He recognised the young woman
on duty. "Hi, Ochiyo," he said, trying to sound cheerful. "They've
left you stuck with it again?"
"Oh, hello, Kitada-san," she smiled. She was a teenager with long dark-
brown hair in a ponytail. "Yes, I'm holding the fort until the evening
shift arrive. How can I help you?"
He explained what he wanted. Ochiyo frowned. "I never heard anything
about that," she said, annoyed. "Let me see." She went over to the
notice-board and read the sheet carefully. At last she said, "It must
be some kind of joke. I'll have to check with Pappadopoulos-san, but
it must be."
"Well, could I speak to Pappadopoulos-san about it?" suggested Masao.
Ochiyo gave him an odd look, and he realised that it must sound strange
to be so insistent about a cat. Well, the truth was even stranger.
"I'm sorry," the young girl said. "Pappadopoulos-san has gone home for
the day. You'll have to see her tomorrow."
Masao shrugged. Ochiyo stared to head back to her desk, and then paused
as she noticed Hiiro and Aoiro, still hovering in the background. "Can I
help you gentlemen?" she said politely. "Were you wanting to become
members, perhaps?"
Aoiro's eyes widened, but Hiiro answered smoothly, "Possibly. We really
wanted to get some idea of your facilities first. Do you have some kind
of a brochure ...?"
"Yes, of course." Ochiyo handed them several sheets. Hiiro took them
with a smile of thanks, and he and Aoiro left, pretending to study them.
Masao followed them out a minute later.
"Well, what now?" Masao demanded as they met outside.
Hiiro snorted. "We come back tomorrow, of course." He frowned in
thought. "I wonder ..." He looked over at Kuroi. "Ryozo, you and I
are going to head in to Supply. There are a few things I think we're
going to need tomorrow. The rest of you" -- he addressed the group --
"can take off. Back here at eight-thirty tomorrow morning. Kitada, be
on time."
The group started to break apart. Masao turned to leave, but stopped
when he heard his name once more. "Kitada," Hiiro said, "if your boss
gives you trouble, you can tell him you're on a 'W' Division Civil
Awareness course. Midori should have told you that. Our people will
have notified 'W' Division when you were activated, so the authorities
will back you up."
Masao nodded gratefully as he turned once more and hurried away. He was
fairly sure that Sachiko would be calling him that evening; at least he
wouldn't be at a complete loss for an explanation to give her. A Civil
Awareness course? He wondered what that was supposed to be. But then,
if it was run by 'W' Division -- the government's military and civil-
defence arm -- nobody was going to inquire too closely anyway.
He hurried home. Somehow, he felt more tired than he'd ever felt
before.
--**--
After Masao left, Ochiyo thought about the strange notice for a few
minutes, then punched a button on the comm.
"Yes?" came Itsuko's voice a moment later. Pappadopoulos-san had gone
home, all right; but then for her, home was on the next floor up.
Ochiyo told her about the strange notice, and about Masao's inquiries.
Itsuko was most interested.
****************
Beth returned to her room some time later. She had bathed, and the
worst of her cuts and bruises had been treated. Still, she looked
rather subdued.
"Well?" said Bendis expectantly. "How did it go?" She'd been getting
bored in Beth's room. There wasn't much to look at or do there, though
she'd been interested to note the number of (rather badly-drawn)
pictures of a young man that she'd found hidden under Beth's bed. She
rather thought she'd seen the young man in question, at the school
earlier that day.
Beth stared at her for a few moments. "Oh, no," she whispered. "This
can't be happening."
"What? Why? Don't tell me you --"
Beth made frantic shushing gestures. "Quiet!" she hissed. "Someone
will hear you!"
"You didn't seem too worried about that before!" Bendis whispered back
indignantly.
"I --" Beth hesitated. "Talk outside," she whispered. Bendis nodded.
Then, to her horror, Beth picked her up, walked briskly to the broken
window, and simply dropped her out. She landed on her feet, unhurt, of
course, but it was the principle of the thing. That girl needed a
serious talking-to.
A couple of minutes later she heard a door open and close. Footsteps
approached. "That was very rude," she complained.
"Sorry," Beth muttered. She glanced down at Bendis. There was an odd
expression on her face: as if she were ... afraid?
"All right," said Bendis. First things first. Find somewhere private.
That was easy; she'd seen somewhere perfect on the way in. "Come on,
this way," she ordered. There were a pair of trees at the side of the
house. One of them was fairly tall, and nice and bushy. Perfect for a
cat; and if they kept their voices reasonably low nobody would ever know
they were there.
She leaped up into the branches. Some distance up there was a
convenient fork. She settled down comfortably, then looked around for
Beth. The girl wasn't there. She got up and peered down. Beth was
standing down on the ground, looking up at her. "Well, come on," she
snapped.
"You ... want me to climb up there?" said Beth. She sounded dubious.
What on earth was wrong with the girl?
"Yes, of course!" [Really, these humans,] though Bendis, annoyed.
[Lacking in the most elementary skills. Well, I'll just have to bring
her up to scratch ...]
With some effort, Beth climbed up and found a seat on a branch near
Bendis' fork. She looked rather uncomfortable.
"Now then," said Bendis briskly. She'd had some time to think about
this. By all reports, Artemis and Luna had made rather a hash of the
last scouts' training. Oh, they didn't like to admit it ... but it was
obvious, even in the stories Artemis himself told. What was needed now
was a bit of discipline, a bit of strategy, and quite a bit of sheer
creativity. And she was just the cat to handle it.
[Remember, sound cool and confident,] she told herself firmly. "We need
to get you settled down and confident with your powers," she stated.
"Working out your problem with the Crescent Beam is a big priority.
Also we need to work on your aim with the Love-Me Chain. And I think
you're going to need some physical training as well, if you can't even
climb a tree ..."
She trailed off. Beth was simply staring at her. "What?" she asked,
annoyed.
"You're talking," Beth whispered. "You're a Moon Cat. It's real."
"Oh, very good. I thought we'd already covered this before. Yes,
I'm talking. Very clever of you. My name is Bendis -- _not_ Luna,"
she added quickly. "And I'm -- _now_ what?"
"It's real," whispered Beth again. "Oh, God. It's real. I'm a Sailor
Senshi. Oh, no. What are my parents gonna say? I can't be a Sailor
Senshi! They're all supposed to be dead! What am I going to _do_?"
"You," Bendis said with unaccustomed gravity, "are going to fight for
love and justice, in the name of the planet Venus."
"Don't _say_ that! It's sacrilege!"
"It's not sacrilege. It's what you were born to do. To guard and to
defend. To fight in the service of the Queen."
"The Queen? But she's dead!" Beth burst out. Then, rather hesitantly:
"Isn't she?"
"Well, technically, yes," Bendis admitted. "But Artemis is pretty sure
there's an heir around somewhere." Artemis could be a little fanatical
on the subject, actually. "But don't worry about that. She's bound to
turn up sooner or later." [Maybe. Hopefully.]
"I don't understand any of this," sighed Beth. "If everyone died back
during the Great Fall ... er, they did die, right?" Bendis nodded. "If
they all died back then ... then why is it all starting up again now?
And why pick _me_?"
"I didn't pick you. Like I said before, this is what you were born to
do. I only recognised the potential in you."
"Potential ..." Beth took a deep breath. "So, I'm Lady Aino reborn?"
"Err, no," Bendis told her. "Sorry. This time around you're an
original. But don't sweat it," she added nonchalantly. "That's what
I'm here for. Just stick with me and you won't have any problems.
Right?"
"Right," Beth said dubiously.
Inwardly, Bendis frowned. What was this girl's problem? "Don't worry,"
she reiterated. "After all, there's no Queen Beryl around this time to
cause trouble. So really, you've got nothing to worry about."
"Who's Queen Beryl?"
"Huh?" Bendis eyed the girl suspiciously for a moment. "I thought you
said you watched that viddy program," she accused.
Beth's eyes widened guiltily. "Me?" she said. "No! Of course not!
That's a kid's program! I mean, I used to watch it ... once or twice
... when I was little, but, um ..."
"Oh, boy," said Bendis, shaking her head. "Look, on this program that
you ... used to watch ... there wasn't anything about Queen Beryl? The
Dark Kingdom?" Beth shook her head. "Geez. Well, what about the Black
Moon family? The Death Busters? Mistress Nine? Pharoah-90? The Dead
Moon Circus? Nephrenia? Galaxia? What, _none_ of them? Really?"
Beth kept shaking her head, looking confused. "Well, what _did_ they
fight, then?"
"Umm, there were these alien invaders called Zentraedi ... and then they
fought Ryoko and her space pirates ... and --"
"Stop. Please." [I can't take this,] Bendis though, agonised. [How
could they do this? It's ... it's a travesty! A mockery! It shouldn't
be -- hmmm. I wonder if Artemis has heard, though? I'd like to see his
face if I --]
"Isn't that right?" asked Beth innocently.
"Not quite," Bendis understated. "Let's say that, er, you're not likely
to be seeing too many pirates. Or aliens. Or, well ..." She sighed.
"Let's start again, all right? You're a Senshi. The first one in more
than seven hundred years. You're supposed to fight for love and justice
in the name of the Queen."
"But fight _who_?"
"Um." That was a good question, Bendis had to admit. There didn't seem
to be any mysterious threats in the city at the moment. Well, maybe
something would turn up. Artemis would probably know, of course, but
she wasn't too keen on exploring that option. Not just yet. "You won't
need to worry about that for a while," she temporised. "For now, we
have to start your training. Getting you used to your abilities. That
sort of thing."
"Training?" Beth said, making a face.
"You don't sound too happy about it," Bendis remarked, frowning. "Geez,
I thought every kid _wanted_ to be a Senshi!"
Beth sighed. "Oh, I suppose so. It's just ... not what I'd been
expecting. I mean, where are all the others? Where's the Queen? And I
thought we got to fly in Colonial Vipers, or something."
"Are you _sure_ that was 'Queen Serenity and her Senshi' you used to
watch?"
"Yes, why?"
"Oh, no reason. Look, you're the first Senshi to be found. I expect
the others will be showing up soon enough. Hell, Artemis may have found
some of them already!"
The moment she said the words, she regretted it. But it was too late to
take them back. "Artemis?" Beth said, her eyes shining. "Wow. Where
is he, anyway? When do I meet him?"
"Oh, er, soon enough, soon enough," Bendis said hastily. [No way, girl!
You're _mine_ now! I'm not letting Artemis horn in on this!] "He's
away on a scouting mission at the moment," she added for good measure.
"Oh, all right. So, what sort of training am I supposed to be doing?"
"That's the spirit! Transform, and we'll get started."
"VENUS POWER, MAKE-UP!"
--**--
It was different when she was Venus. She didn't have to worry about
things. She was taller, stronger, faster; but that was only the
beginning of it. All her senses seemed sharper. The touch of the
evening breeze on her face, her arms and her bare legs had been almost
imperceptible before; now it was like a caress, cool, invigorating. The
air seemed alive with smells: delicate, sharp, sweet, pungent, exotic,
faint, overpowering ... tantalising. Her hearing seemed magnified; she
could hear her parents speaking inside almost as clearly as if she'd
been standing next to them. And where she had sat precariously on her
tree-branch before, holding on firmly to the trunk, now she stood
upright, perfectly balanced, her arms hanging by her side, easily riding
the motion of the branch as it swayed beneath her weight. She felt ...
she felt totally _alive_.
"Oh, yes," she said.
The cat looked up at her. It seemed uneasy, for some reason. What was
there to be uneasy about? Everything was perfect.
"Um, are you all right?" the cat said.
"Fine," she said cheerfully. "What did you say your name was again?"
"Bendis," the cat said huffily.
"'Bendis?' What kind of name is that?" she wondered aloud. But really,
who cared? There were much better things to think about. Without
waiting for an answer, she stepped off her branch and dropped lightly to
the ground, a few metres below. She landed with barely a jar. Nothing
to it.
She heard a muffled squawk of outrage from above. Moments later, the
cat raced down out of the tree and stood glaring at her. "What are you
_doing_?" the cat shouted.
She picked it up by the scruff of the neck, and held a finger to her
lips. "Shh," she whispered. "Don't want my parents to hear, remember?
Now, let's go train."
With the cat in her arms, muttering indignantly, she bounded off.
The sun had set, and the twilight was deepening. The street-lights were
coming on. There were not many people on the streets, but enough that
she had to duck out of sight occasionally. For a few minutes the
impromptu hide-and-seek game was fun, but she quickly became bored with
it.
"How'm I supposed to get around without being seen?" she asked the cat
at length. What was its name again? Oh. Right.
"Try the roofs," Bendis suggested.
Hmm. That might work. She eyed a nearby house for a moment, then took
a short run and leaped. She made it, but only just; she had to catch
hold of the guttering (dropping the cat, whatever its name was, for a
moment) and pull herself up. She made a fair bit of noise doing it.
Maybe the cat was right; she _did_ need to practise this.
"Cat?" she whispered. What was its name again? "Bendis? Where are
you?" Bendis. Remember that name. Bendis, Bendis, Bendis. What kind
of a name was 'Bendis' anyway?
"I'm down here, baka!" came a low voice.
Oh. Right.
She dropped off the roof, found the cat (Bendis) and picked her up once
more. "Let's try that again," she said. Ignoring Bendis' protests, she
stepped back and jumped. She made it this time; actually she overshot
slightly, and skidded when she landed. Definitely more practice needed.
This was fun, though.
She was about to drop off the roof and try it again when the -- when
Bendis made her feelings felt by sinking her claws into Venus' arm.
"Ow!" Venus hissed. "Stop that!"
"_You_ stop!" Bendis shouted. "What in the world do you think you're
doing?"
"Practising," Venus said in an injured tone. "I need to get the hang of
this, right?"
"You're making too much noise! Somebody's going to hear you!"
"Oh, come on. I wasn't _that_ loud --"
"What the hell's going on out here!"
The house's outside lights came on unexpectedly as the new voice spoke.
Venus acted without thinking: she jumped once more, landing lightly and
silently on the roof. She crouched down and waited. Down below, she
heard somebody moving about and swearing. After a while he went back
inside.
"Now that's more like it," Bendis said.
"But I didn't mean to do it that time!" Venus complained. "I just,
y'know, did it."
"Err, that's what I mean," said Bendis quickly. "You did it on
instinct. That's what you need to practise! You see, when you stop to
think it all out, you get all muddled, you tense up, trying to override
what your body already knows how to do. Yeah, that's it! What you
really need to do is just relax and, er, just go with the flow!"
It was odd, the way the cat was speaking, Venus thought. Hesitant,
stammering at first, and then suddenly talking in a rush, almost
gabbling. Almost as if she were making it up as she went along, in
fact. But of course, that couldn't be right, could it?
"So you're saying," she said slowly, "that I should just ... relax, and
let my instincts guide me?" That sounded easy enough.
"Um, yes ..." Bendis sounded uneasy, all of a sudden. Venus wondered
why for a moment, then shrugged inwardly. What did it matter? She had
to follow her instincts, and her instincts said: Who cares why the cat
sounds worried?
She lifted her head and looked around, wondering what to try next. The
office buildings a few blocks away caught her eye. Her instincts said:
Go for it!
With a wild whoop of glee, she picked up the cat (whatever its name was)
and went for it.
****************
"That's the fourth report of alien invasions this evening," the duty
officer said.
Lieutenant Nishihara groaned. It was going to be one of _those_ nights,
he could tell. Back when he'd joined 'P' Division, he'd been under the
impression that a cop's duty was to fight crime. Instead he seemed to
spend most of his time pandering to nut-cases.
"Any particular sorts of aliens?" he said, trying to sound interested.
Trying to sound awake.
"Bright lights in the sky, loud noises, and a lot of shouting and
screaming," the duty officer told him. "Apparently they shoot yellow
rays out of their hands. One guy said there's actually two kinds: one
human-shaped, and one little and furry."
"Why, of course. No evening would be complete without small furry
aliens. Anything else going on? Anything _serious_?"
The duty officer checked her stat sheet. "Bunch of burglar alarms going
off," she noted. "We sent an Opal over. All false alarms, probably a
power surge or something. They were all in the same office block."
Nishihara nodded, and made a note. They'd have to get the alarm systems
checked tomorrow.
"Oh, and old Tsukamoto-san called to say his hedge is singing to him
again."
"Ah. Well, at least _something_ is going normally tonight."
****************
"I think," Bendis said with some difficulty, "that we need to make a
distinction between _instincts_ and _impulse_."
Venus did not reply at once. She was still lying flat on her back on
the building's roof, gasping for breath. Thankfully, her face was no
longer that alarming shade of purple.
Bendis' own breathing had finally slowed enough for her to start
lecturing. "That was the most ridiculous display I've ever seen.
Supposing somebody saw you? What would they _think_?"
"Oh ... come on," Venus gasped. "It was ... fantastic! And when that
... police Opal ... came buzzing around ..."
Bendis shivered at the thought. If the police had seen them, there
would have been trouble. She remembered another close encounter with
another Opal, in an alleyway the night before. Was Artemis right? Was
somebody searching for them?
"Oh, man, that was _so_ good!" finished Venus.
"It was not! It was --" Bendis found that she couldn't think of a
strong enough word for what it was. "What on earth possessed you to try
and climb up here _that_ way?" she asked plaintively.
"Hey, those window ledges were a good five centimetres wide," Venus
protested. "That was heaps of room!"
Bendis stared at her, the memory of Venus leaping up from ledge to ledge
horribly vivid in her mind. "Heaps of room? You fell off three times!"
"Well, it was good practice with the Chain Thing, wasn't it?"
"It's supposed to be for fighting with, not using as a rope! And that's
another point. You have _got_ to stop calling it the 'Chain Thing.'"
"But --"
"People are going to laugh at you if they hear you calling it that!"
"But ... well, 'Love-me Chain' is so ... sappy-sounding," Beth insisted.
"Come on, I'd just be so ... embarrassed!"
Bendis snorted. "What you _should_ be embarrassed about is those jumps
of yours," she commented acidly. "Honestly, you humans have absolutely
no idea how to do it right."
Venus looked up at her, interested. "Oh yeah? How should I be doing
it, then?"
Bendis demonstrated a proper cat jump. After a few tries, Venus started
to get the hang of it; and that encouraged Bendis to point out a few
other points where (in her opinion) humans fell short.
Venus turned out to be a quick study. The evening turned out to be
quite a lot of fun, actually; except when Venus insisted on climbing the
building three more times, to try out what she'd learned. A cat just
couldn't win ...
****************
Masao made sure that he arrived at the Olympus a good ten minutes early
the next morning. None of the others were there. He sat down on a
bench near the entrance and waited.
Rather to his surprise, he found that he was actually rather looking
forward to the day's "work." It was certainly different from his usual
grind. And now that the initial shock had worn off, he was beginning to
think that being _paid_ to take time off work and search for a _cat_ (of
all things) might just be fun.
Aoiro showed up a quarter of an hour later. He nodded politely to Masao
and leaned back against a wall, hands in his pockets, without saying a
word. After a few seconds, Masao shrugged mentally and ignored him.
Mitsukai arrived ten minutes after that. She had a heavy-looking
satchel over one shoulder. She didn't say anything either. She ignored
Masao when he smiled in greeting.
Finally, nearly an hour after the time Hiiro had ordered, Hiiro himself
got there, Kuroi right behind him. Kuroi was lugging a bulky tote-bag;
he looked hot and annoyed.
As Hiiro came to a halt, he shot a glance at Aoiro, who gave a quick
nod. Masao wondered why.
"All right," Hiiro announced. "Has anybody checked upstairs yet?" They
all shook their heads. "Good. Kitada, get on up there. Try and get in
to see what's-her-name. Pappadopoulos. Same story as last night.
Clear?" Masao nodded, bewildered. "Right. Go!"
Masao went. He headed up the stairs at a run, remembering just in time
to slow down before he ran into the reception area. He was already
heading toward the young man at the desk -- Ochiyo only worked in the
afternoon -- when he noticed that something had changed.
The missing-cat notice was itself missing.
He took a second look to be sure. It wasn't there. He thought for a
few seconds, then headed back downstairs.
Hiiro looked up as he walked out of the building. "Well?" he inquired.
"Is the poster gone?"
Masao stared at him. Then he nodded. "How did you know?" he burst out.
"It seemed likely," Hiiro said laconically.
"But --"
"Look, that girl last night may have pulled it down herself. Or she may
have left a note for her boss, who pulled it down this morning. All
perfectly innocent, right?"
"But --"
"Or any one of a dozen other perfectly reasonable explanations. _Or_
... there might be something funny going on. In which case we'll find
out, eventually."
"But how did you _know_?" demanded Masao.
Hiiro sighed. "I didn't _know_ it'd vanish. But I thought there was a
good chance. That girl at the desk last night ... she hadn't noticed
the poster. But _you_ saw it immediately when you went in yesterday
morning ..."
He trailed off, frowning in thought. Then, with a sudden shake of his
head, he seemed to came to himself. "In any case," he said crisply.
"Either the poster was stuck up by one of the staff, or by someone else,
probably a member of the gym. We'll have to check both possibilities.
Ryozo, please --"
Kuroi pulled open the tote-bag and began handing out bundles. Everyone
got one except Masao, who watched, puzzled. They looked like packages
of clothes. Gym clothes. "Wait a minute ..." he began.
"We'll all be signing up as members," Hiiro went on, ignoring him.
"You've all got identity details? Good. Not you, Kitada, you're
already a member. Now, I'll work out a schedule for everyone. You go
in, you get some exercise, and you have a casual chat with the other
members. Find out if anyone remembers seeing the poster. Find out if
anyone knows who put it up."
"This could take forever," Aoiro protested. "They get a lot of people
in here."
"I know. We'll concentrate on the early-morning and late-evening crowd
to begin with -- that's when the poster's most likely to have gone up.
We may have to rotate those times, though; be prepared for some odd
hours."
"But even so --" said Aoiro.
"But even so, we'll do what we can. I know, there aren't enough of us
to cover everyone; if necessary I'll get more people in. If it looks
like this isn't just a wild-goose chase. For now, there are a few other
avenues to try as well ...
"Aoiro, I want you to be a journalist. Make an appointment, interview
this Pappadopoulos woman. The other staff, too. Find out what you can
about the place. Especially, I want to know about usage patterns -- who
comes in when. Maybe we can narrow it down to a group of people who're
most likely to have stuck the damn thing up."
"Right."
"For now, though, get upstairs and sign up as a member. Make sure you
get a receipt for the fees."
Aoiro sighed and left.
"Okay. Ryozo -- wait an hour or so, then go and sign up too. And
shave, will you? Kitada -- go get your regular gear, then head up and
get some exercise. Ask a few questions. Try and be subtle. Mitsukai,
you're to ..."
Masao trudged off, sighing. Maybe this wasn't going to be as much fun
as he'd thought.
****************
School that day was torture. Beth had had far too little sleep the
night before, and her arms and legs ached as if she'd been running a
marathon. (Actually, she supposed, in a sense she had. A vertical
marathon.)
At least she'd been able to leave Bendis at home today.
Beth still couldn't believe it. She was a Senshi? The idea seemed so
ridiculous. It was the year 4200, not the Crystal Millennium! The
Senshi were legends. People you learned about in history class, or
characters on a viddy program. They weren't _real_.
And yet ... there was a talking cat back at her house. She had the
henshin stick. She knew what would happen if she pulled it out and said
the words. That was real.
Maybe, if she was very very careful, she could manage to keep anyone
from finding out about it.
Morning classes went badly. She dozed off four times; the first three
time she got away with it, rousing with a jerk as her head touched the
desk, but the fourth, she was suddenly woken by the teacher's hand on
her shoulder. That was bad enough; but everybody laughed at her, even
Nanako. She thought she was going to die of embarrassment.
It was better at lunch-time, for a while at least. The fresh air
revived her somewhat, and she began to think she might be able to get
through the rest of the day after all. She should have known better.
She finished her lunch and moped around for several minutes, rubbing her
sore legs and thinking dark thoughts about a certain cat. Then a much
more pleasant thought occurred to her. Why was she dawdling around here
when there so much better ways of spending her time?
With a casual glance around to see if anyone was paying attention, she
stepped into the bushes at the edge of the grounds and began to work her
way silently around. She'd had a lot of practice at this, and she was
an expert. Nobody ever saw her.
A few minutes later, she reached her favourite spot. She knelt down and
parted the leaves cautiously. Would they be in the usual place? Yes,
there were Eitoku and Iku ... she couldn't see Nanako at the moment, but
that didn't matter. Her eyes were filled with Eitoku.
She watched him, scarcely breathing, a dreamy smile on her face. [He's
so ... so perfect ...]
Since the first time she'd seen him, months ago, she hadn't been able to
keep her eyes off him. That serious face of his, so intense, so solemn;
and yet when he smiled, it was like the sun rising, lighting up the
whole world. She sighed happily. She saw him by day at school and by
night in her dreams, and when he gave that smile, when she heard his
voice, something inside her melted and she thought she might expire with
passion.
(That was a line from a poem she'd written. One of her better ones, she
thought. She'd torn the poem up later, of course, in case her parents
saw it. But still, it had been a good line.)
He always seemed to hang around with Nanako and Iku, and for a while she
had been worried that he liked one of them. But that was impossible.
Nana-chan was nice, but she was such a bubble-head, always talking and
laughing and gossiping; nobody as serious and intelligent as Eitoku
could possibly want her. And Iku? She was so distant. Remote. Like a
robot, almost. She hardly ever even talked. Beth snorted; what kind of
girl was that for her Eitoku-kun?
No, sooner or later he would see that he was wasting his time with those
two. He would come to the one who really loved him. She knew it. She
could see it in her mind's eye ...
[What have I been doing?] he says. [How could I have been so blind? I
have been searching for the woman of my dreams for so long ... and yet
when I turn around I find that the one I've sought has been there all
along, waiting ...] [Oh, Eitoku,] she answers, a tender smile on her
lips, [How I've waited to hear you say those words. I always knew you'd
come for me some day.] His strong arms encircle her. [My princess,] he
murmurs, [for so long my eyes have been closed ... but now they are
open, and I see the truth ... you are my destiny, my Angel, and we are
fated to be together, though all the world should try to keep us apart.]
[Oh, my prince,] she cries, the light of true love burning in her eyes,
[a thousand years parted from you would be as nothing, set against a
single hour in your arms. I am yours, now and forever ...] [My own
heart,] he says, and she whispers back, [My soul ...] And then his lips
touch hers, and a golden light fills the world, and she is swept away on
an endless sea of bliss --
"I thought I'd find you here."
Beth screamed. She couldn't help it; the unexpected voice, rudely
jerking her out of her fantasy ... the shock of discovery ... Heart
racing, blood thundering in her ears, she scrabbled back, trying to get
away from ... from ...
"Geez, are you all right?" said Nanako. "I didn't think I'd startle
you _that_ much."
"N -- na -- nana-chan?" she stuttered, her heart still pounding.
"I've been looking for you," Nanako said innocently. "C'mon over here.
There are some people I want you to meet."
She stepped out of the bushes, heading toward Iku and Eitoku. After a
few steps she stopped, looking back at Beth expectantly. Over her
shoulder, Beth could see the other two, staring in her direction.
Beth wanted to scream. Her face was a blazing scarlet, she knew. This
could not be happening to her. This was terrible. This was _disaster_.
She was going to have to _meet_ him ... _talk_ to him ...
He was watching her. She could not read his expression. There was
absolutely no way out.
She went to meet her doom.
****************
The Olympus was higher than most of the surrounding buildings, and from
her office Itsuko could see a long way over the rooftops of Third Tokyo:
all the way to the great dome in the centre of the city. She stood
looking out of her window, her hands clasped behind her back. She felt
uneasy, and she was not sure why; and that made her all the more uneasy.
Something was wrong, somewhere. But what?
That missing-cat poster? No. She was pretty sure she'd caught that
before it could become a problem. It had been a mistake to put it up in
the first place; but Artemis had been quite persuasive. Granted, they
needed to find his missing great-granddaughter; but the risk was just
too high. If people got inquisitive about cats with moon-markings, they
might start asking other questions. And Itsuko could not afford too
many questions.
What, then? She could not pin it down, the reason for her worry; but
there _was_ something, she could feel that much. Vague, obscure;
distant as yet, barely perceptible; but slowly getting closer. The
sense of danger.
With a sigh, she turned away from the window. There were papers piled
high on her desk, work that needed to be done; but she knew she'd never
be able to concentrate in this mood. She knew what she needed to do.
She touched the hidden contacts, and stepped through the secret door
that swung open. After a moment's indecision, she removed her clothes
and put on the miko robes that rested on a narrow shelf inside. She'd
had to have them specially made, some years before; but they'd been
worth the price. Here, alone, she could doff her false name and be Hino
Rei again. For a few minutes.
She knelt before the sacred fire, the last Shinto priestess in the
world, and prayed. And, for the first time in more than seven hundred
years, she saw visions.
[Past or future?] she thought wildly. [Past or future?] She could not
tell. Perhaps a mixture. But the images danced, and she had no more
time to think; she could only watch. [The ghost of the dead queen,
speaking to a kneeling figure.] [An army of crystalline monstrosities,
tramping through the streets, killing all in their path.] [A light in
the darkness -- an eye? -- and a sense of overpowering danger.] [A
young dark-skinned girl, lying in a pool of blood.] [A man wearing
gloves.] [The Olympus in ruins.] [Herself, staring in shock at a
shadowed figure sitting behind a desk.] [A young boy, holding a tabby
cat with a full-moon mark on its forehead.]
The visions faded. She found herself lying face-down on the floor,
gasping for breath and sobbing.
When she was able, she got up, changed back into her work clothes, and
left the hidden room. She did it all without thought, automatically.
There was no room left in her for conscious thought. She could only
repeat to herself, over and over again:
[It's beginning again. The Great Fall is beginning again.]
****************
Beth managed to escape from her new friends at the end of the lunch
break. She had never had such an excruciatingly embarrassing time in
her life.
Eitoku had been most polite.
He knew. She was certain of it. Nanako knew, so _he_ had to know. He
must have known she was watching him all along. All along. She had
been making a total fool of herself all along.
He never even mentioned it. He was polite. Friendly, even.
That made it worse, of course. If he had yelled at her, or laughed at
her, she could have taken that. She'd have been upset, but she could
have taken it. Instead, he treated her perfectly normally.
For some reason, she found herself getting angry. How dare he? How
dare he be _polite_ to her? He was supposed to be her prince! Her
knight in shining armour! The man she loved with a passion like no
other! How dare he be _friendly_ to her?
She thought about that for a moment. Then she burst into laughter,
startling everyone else in the class ... including the teacher. The
teacher was not amused. Very shortly afterward, neither was she.
--**--
She and Bendis trained again that night. She was tired and sore and
depressed, but the cat managed to bully her into it. To tell the truth,
after she changed to Sailor Venus, she didn't mind.
Bendis continued to lecture her on ways where humans fell short of cats.
To hear her talk, cats were the supreme intelligent life-form in the
universe. Actually, Venus found herself thinking, Bendis might have a
point. After all, which one of them spent all day stuck in a stuffy
classroom, and which got to lie around and get fed by willing humans?
They spent a lot of time working on combat techniques. There was a lot
to cover. McCrea Beth was no fighter; the very idea of physically
attacking someone repelled her. As Venus, she was a lot stronger and
faster, but no more skilled.
Bendis thought (of course) that humans made indifferent fighters, at
best. However, she had a lot of ideas about how things might be
improved; and Venus was ready to try. Unfortunately, some of them
didn't work too well -- humans had a deplorable lack of claws, and their
teeth were simply inadequate -- and one or two of them were physically
impossible (thought it took a lot of effort to persuade Bendis of this).
The cat was genuinely upset when Venus refused to practice by pouncing
on rats. But still, they made progress. Of a sort.
Venus continued to have no luck with the Crescent Beam. This baffled
both of them. It was supposed to be her most basic attack, but she
couldn't get it to work at all. Whereas the Chain Th -- the Love-Me
Chain, supposedly a much more advanced attack, came to her effortlessly.
For a while Bendis actually accused her of faking her problem, and it
was only with great difficulty that she persuaded the cat that she
wasn't.
Another thing of which Venus had trouble persuading Bendis was that
humans weren't naturally nocturnal. It was after midnight when she
finally refused to do any more; and by that time she was too tired to
run home, by rooftops or otherwise. To her relief, she managed to catch
one of the late buses (having changed back from her Senshi form).
As she walked toward her house from the bus-stop, she remembered what
time it was, and groaned. "What are my parents going to say?" she
wondered aloud.
"They didn't say anything last night," Bendis pointed out.
"They didn't _notice_ last night. They were out at the theatre, and I
got back before they did. Tonight ..."
"I'm sure you'll think of something," said Bendis unhelpfully.
Beth looked down at her. "I don't suppose I could just tell them the
truth ...?" she asked hopefully. At Bendis' look, she added, "No, I
suppose not. They'd ground me for a decade."
She sighed. "This is all your fault," she complained. "Everything's
been going wrong since you arrived. First you follow me home from
school, get me into dozens of accidents on the way, you drop a _piano_
on my head, and almost get me run over by a truck --"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" protested Bendis. "You did that one on
your own!"
"But what if I'd gotten hurt?" asked Beth plaintively.
"Oh, well ..." Bendis somehow managed to look ashamed. "Maybe I got
carried away. But it worked, didn't it?"
"I don't know! You won't tell me why you were doing it!"
"Er --" Bendis was saved from having to answer as they came in sight of
Beth's house. The porch light was on, and Beth's father was clearly
visible. "I wouldn't worry about that, if I were you," she murmured.
"I think you've got other problems right now."
"Oh, no ..."
Beth swallowed, and advanced to face the music.
--**--
It could have been worse, as it turned out. Her parents had somehow
gotten the idea that she'd been out with a boy. Beth was able to
truthfully confirm that there was a boy at school that she liked. And
after all, she _was_ sixteen.
So she ended up getting away with it. She had to listen to a rather
embarrassing lecture, and make some rather firm promises about hours,
but she actually got away with it. This time.
So it continued. Long hours of training in the evenings (but not as
long as before), and exhausted days in school; and at school, forced
association with Nanako and her friends. Including Eitoku.
(She was definitely making progress there, at least; she was beginning
to find that she could actually speak to him without blushing. Well,
sometimes.)
The long evening hours were beginning to make themselves felt in more
than one way, unfortunately. She kept on falling asleep in class.
She'd had detention twice already. Her homework was suffering, too --
inevitably. Well, it hadn't gone too far yet, she hoped. But she was
going to have to find a way to deal with it before things got too bad
and the school did something disastrous, like calling her parents.
But still ... when she said the words, and the energy surged and the
ripples of transformation swirled around her ... then, none of it seemed
to matter very much. She was Sailor Venus, a champion of Justice. And
what else counted?
Then it all changed once more.
--**--
It was her fifth night of training. She was trying to get the hang of
swinging from building to building on her Love-Me Chain (Bendis kept
complaining that it wasn't cat-like, but even she had to admit that it
looked totally cool) when she heard the gunshots.
They sounded pretty close. She jumped across the gap to the next
building, carefully doing it by the Bendis-approved method (crouch down;
hindquarters up; gather yourself and spring, landing on your hands), and
peeked down to the street, eleven stories below.
[My oh my,] she thought. [Real bad guys.]
There were two of them, both armed. Her enhanced vision could make them
out clearly. They were holding up the vehicle charging station across
the street: one of them was standing guard outside, while the other,
inside, pointed his weapon at the station attendant. The latter was a
balding, middle-aged man. He looked terrified.
She smiled.
[Real bad guys. And they're all mine!]
She glanced up and down the street. Nobody else in sight ... check. A
quick look around the skyline. No Opals on patrol ... check. And the
face of the building below her. Plenty of handholds ... check.
Finally, behind her. Bendis not in sight ... check.
She took a deep breath. Grinned. And dropped over the side of the
building.
It was such a rush, going down this way. A bit like abseiling, she
supposed, but better. Bouncing from ledge to ledge, almost without
using her hands at all -- just a touch here to steady her, a quick tug
there to duck under the overhang -- and then she touched down, silently,
in the street below.
The man outside was no threat, she decided. The man inside was a
different matter. Unfortunately, the door was closed, so she couldn't
just burst in and take him by surprise. (Surprise attacks were a good
thing, Bendis had taught her.)
[Hmm. I guess I'm going to have to be subtle.]
--**--
Inside the checkout office, Asano Katai stared, almost hypnotised, at
the gun pointed at his chest. At the barrel. The muzzle. It was like
an eye. A dark, cyclopian eye. An eye that might wink at him at any
moment.
It was strange. He'd seen guns before. He'd even handled them. But
he'd never realised before just how different one could look. When it
was loaded. And when that blank, one-eyed gaze was staring at him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "The safe's on a time-lock. I can't open
it."
"Oh, I think you can," said the man holding the gun. "I think you can,
if you really, _really_ want to."
He grinned, and adjusted his aim. "I bet you really want to right now,
don't you?"
Katai took a step back, opening and closing his mouth soundlessly. This
was the end, he knew. He could see the man's finger, tightening on the
trigger --
Something subtle changed. A slight draught, perhaps. Or a shift in
air pressure. He glanced automatically at the door, but it was still
closed. Perhaps a window --
The gunman raised his eyebrows. "Looking for a last-minute rescue?" he
inquired mockingly. "Sorry. Not gonna happen. Only way out for you's
in a box." He lifted the gun, took aim. "Or by opening that safe."
"Or maybe there's a third way," said somebody.
They both looked around, involuntarily moving in perfect sync. Across
the room, standing on one of the component racks, was a young girl.
Katai blinked. Wait a minute, she was wearing --
"I am Sailor Venus!" the girl proclaimed. "A champion of justice, in
the name of the Planet of Love! And you, buster --" she addressed the
gunman with a rather unnerving grin "-- are catfood."
The gunman stared at her, mouth open. "C-c-catfood --?" he began.
He didn't have a chance to say any more. The girl -- the impossible
girl -- leaped at him, a strange, almost feline leap. Katai almost
thought he heard her hiss. She struck him in mid-air and the two hit
the ground hard, rolling over and over.
The gun went skidding across the floor, and Katai picked it up, dazed.
When he looked back, the gunman was lying prone, and the girl was
sitting on him, buffeting his face with her paws. Well, no. With her
hands. Why had he thought 'paws'?
She stood up, dusting off her hands in a self-satisfied sort of way.
The gunman stirred, started up get up; she sighed, stepped back and
threw a precise kick that caught him on the chin and flipped him
half-way across the room. He did not stir again.
She turned to Katai. "Are you all right?" she said cheerfully.
Katai stared at her. She had to be some kind of gymnast, he realised.
And she really was wearing a Senshi uniform, or at least something
pretty close to one. Didn't she realise how dangerous that could be?
Dressing up was all very well for little kids, but for a teenager to try
to emulate a legend was just asking for trouble.
But she _had_ saved him.
"Miss," he began. "You really shouldn't --"
There were three sounds, so close together that they sounded like a
single noise:
A gunshot.
A smash of glass.
The whining of a ricochet, somewhere at the back of the office.
The girl cried out, clutching at her arm. There was a long bloody
streak from her shoulder half-way to her elbow.
Another gunshot. This time a clean miss. Katai and the girl dove for
cover. They had forgotten the second gunman.
They stared at each other for a few seconds. The girl's eyes were wide
with pain and shock. "Don't worry," whispered Katai. "I triggered the
silent alarm when the first one came in. 'P' Division will be here in
another minute or two."
The girl's eyes narrowed. For some reason she did not like that. Then
to his horror he saw her gather herself for a jump. He reached out to
pull her back, but was half a second too late. She was going to get
herself killed, and it was all his fault --
Then she burst out of cover, whooping and grinning that manic grin, and
she gestured and yelled the words, and his preconceptions took a final
body-blow.
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!" she shouted.
And the Chain came. The spiral chain, bright flashing gold, whining
with energy and glittering with power. Bursting out through the
shattered remains of his window. There was a sudden roar of bullets as
the terrified gunman outside opened fire. Then a single, terrified
yell. Then silence.
The young girl -- Venus, Katai realised dazedly, she really was Sailor
Venus -- took a short run and jumped out through the broken window,
head-first. She returned a few moments later, carrying the second
gunman over her shoulder, and his weapon in her other hand.
She dumped the man unceremoniously next to his companion. "He's only
unconscious," she said reassuringly. "You might want to hold onto that
gun, though. Until 'P' Division get here."
Then she winked, and held up two fingers in a 'V' gesture. "Seeya," she
said, and ran out.
Katai stood there, staring after her, for a long time. Until 'P'
Division arrived.
--**--
"That was so cool!" Venus gloated. "You shoulda seen it, Bendis! They
didn't stand a chance! They fell before the just wrath of the scion of
the planet Venus," she intoned, "and --"
"And one of them shot you, I see," said Bendis coldly.
"What? Ahh, that's nothing, just a scratch. Look, let me tell you
what happened. You see, I --"
"It's still bleeding," Bendis pointed out.
"Huh? But --" Venus trailed off uncertainly.
"Three centimetres to the left, and it would have hit bone. Then
where would you have been? Have you ever heard of hydraulic shock?"
Venus stared at her. Her face was beginning to turn pale.
"You should put a handkerchief over that scratch," Bendis said briskly.
"That should stop it from staining your clothes when you change back.
Your parents would notice that."
Venus obeyed silently. It was only eight o'clock, but she followed the
cat home as if she were exhausted.
****************
Itsuko dozed in her armchair, in her suite on the third floor of the
Olympus building. She had been watching a long, rather pointless drama
on the viddy, but around half-way through her eyes had simply given out
on her.
When she woke up, for a few seconds she thought she was still dreaming.
The late news was showing. And what it was showing was pictures of a
Sailor Senshi.
"-- This film taken from a hidden security camera at the charging
station," a voiceover said. "The picture quality is not good, but we
can see what appears to be a young girl dressed as one of the legendary
Sailor Senshi of Queen Serenity's court --"
The girl stood on top of a rack of equipment, shouted something, and
threw herself at a man. There was a struggle. The girl seemed to be
fighting in a most peculiar style.
Itsuko watched carefully, frowning. Which Senshi was the girl meant
to be? It was hard to tell from the blurred, black-and-white picture.
[Don't do it, girl,] she thought, [you'll only get hurt ...]
There had been other people who'd tried to imitate the Senshi, over
the years. None of them had lasted long.
Then Itsuko saw the girl explode from cover, shouting silently, make
a familiar gesture, and cast a Love-Me Chain at somebody out of the
camera's range of view.
The announcer was still speaking, saying something about unexplained
phenomena, but Itsuko paid no more attention. When the clip began to
repeat she switched the viddy to _record_ mode.
[Oh, no,] she was thinking. [It's starting again. It's starting all
over again. The cycle isn't broken, it's going to happen all over
again, and they don't know what's waiting for them!]
She strode into her bedroom and began to change into outdoors clothes.
[I've got to find Artemis.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
S A I L O R M O O N 4 2 0 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
E N D O F C H A P T E R T W O
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT: The Senshi are back! The world reacts! But not all of them are
applauding ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX : The Government of Japan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some clarification of the references to "Divisions" in the story may be
in order. Broadly speaking, the government and administration of Japan
is divided into sixteen Divisions, under the Serenity Council. Each
Division has control over certain broad areas of responsibility. The
Divisions are:
'A' Division - Natural Resources.
Originally "A" was for "Agriculture". Responsible for farming,
fisheries, forestry, conservation and the environment.
'C' Division - City Planning
There is a separate arm of 'C' Division in each major city of Japan,
having roughly the same duties as an ordinary City Council.
'D' Division - Diplomatic
The Foreign Office. Maintains relationships with foreign states.
'D' Division is also (secretly) the external-espionage agency. It
is not true that all Japanese diplomats are spies; but around 60% of
them are.
'E' Division - Youth and Education
Responsible for education, schools, young peoples' services,
qualifications and career services.
'F' Division - Finance and Trade
The Treasury division. Governmental budgeting; fiscal regulation;
trade and commerce.
'I' Division - Information
Handles statistics; registers of public information; the Copyright
office; censorship; registration of births, deaths and marriages;
land information & survey; Government publishing.
'J' Division - Justice
The courts and penal system.
'K' Division - Science
Science and research; the Patent office; energy; broadcasting; and
the weather service.
'M' Division - Manufacturing
Handles the manufacture and maintenance of all Council vehicles,
tools, machinery and other specialty items.
'N' Division - National Affairs
Oversees the identity of Japan as a nation. Citizenship; customs;
immigration; passport control; tourism; historic places; cultural
affairs.
'O' Division - Social Services
Controls public health care; state housing; unemployment and other
benefits; job schemes; et cetera.
'P' Division - Police / Patrol
Police; public law enforcement. Sometimes has to cooperate with 'S'
division, but generally the two are independent. Most (but not all)
Opals are 'P' Division patrol vehicles.
'Q' Division
The high-tech gadgetry division. 'Q' Division does not actually
exist; it's just a joke made by 'S' Division operatives. Nobody
knows quite what it means, or how it got started.
'R' Division - Transport
Originally named "R" for "Road and Rail". 'R' Division builds and
maintains roads; oversees vehicle licensing; runs the national rail
system; and oversees civil aviation and shipping.
'S' Division - Security
Intelligence; covert operations. Internally, maintains a huge net
of agents and operatives all over the country; externally, works
closely with 'D' Division. Many 'S' Division agents are also
registered in 'D' Division.
'T' Division - Taxation
The taxmen. Originally an arm of 'F' Division, but it grew enough
that it was spun off into its own portfolio.
'W' Division - War
The military arm of the Council. Has three subdivisions: Land, Sea
and Air/Space. (The "Space" part is mostly just a name, for now.)
Also handles civil defence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angus MacSpon Allen Gainsford
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/ http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/