Well, here's another little five page tale.  Hope you enjoy it.  Drop me
a note and tell me whatcha' think ^_^

Okay, the amount of research that went into this thing is staggering
(three or four hours! Well, it's a lot to me.  I only spend about an
hour on a major research paper) and I've finally decided dates for this
whole thing.  We're looking at mid-late April as it meshes rather nicely
with the start of the Japanese school year and the beginning of summer
term in... well, just read on.

Also, my facts about London are going to be really off.  I'm making this
up as I go along, here.

The Rebound Effect
Spin-off #1
The Tales of Sailors V and J part 1


	Makoto found Minako in the same place that she always did, sitting in
front of the Masaki family television doing "research" for their trip to
England.  Somehow, research seemed to include a lot of movies about some
"James Bond" guy on the amazing number of channels that the television
got..
	Sometimes Makoto watched too, if only to refresh her memory on which
dialect of English she needed to use.  She'd spoken the language off and
on again while traveling the world on diplomatic missions, but England
hadn't been a superpower for several hundred years and other dialects
had become dominant.  That and the language had a lot fewer words in
this time.  
	Which meant that there was a lot of work left before she could get by
with English.  Not that she really minded having to spend a few extra
days lounging around with nothing to do.  It was nice to "get away from
it all," especially when "all" really meant everything.
	Makoto sat down on the couch beside Minako who immediately snuggled up
against her, going into movie watching mode.  Makoto smiled gently and
ran her hand gently through the blond girl's hair.  Minako grinned and
snuggled a little closer gently slipping one of her arms between the
couch and Makoto's back.  One of Makoto's arms found its way around
Minako's shoulders.  They seemed to mutually agree upon the position and
settled into watching the film.
	"I don't understand," Makoto finally said.  "Why is the title of the
movie "Octopussy"?"
	"Who cares," Minako mumbled sleepily.  "It's Sean Connery as James
Bond.  He was one of the best."
	"Mina-chan," Makoto turned her head to look down at her lover.  "How
long have you been sitting here?"
	"What time is it now?"
	"Nearly ten thirty."
	"Then... um..." Minako wrinkled her face cutely in concentration as she
did the math.  "Thirty two hours."
	"Bed time for you, then."  Makoto scooped her up in her arms, straining
a bit at lifting someone almost the same size as herself.
	Minako giggled and wrapped her arms around Makoto's neck.  "As long as
you're coming with me."
	"I'm going with you, but we're going to sleep.  We leave tomorrow
evening and I want to do some training before we go."
	Minako pouted cutely.  "Aww... you don't love me anymore."
	"You got that right," Makoto said mischievously.  "I just keep you
around for the sex."
	"I knew it!  That's all anyone ever wants!" Minako said in mock
anguish.
	As much as it annoyed her, Minako got a good night's sleep that night.

***

	"Let's do what?" Makoto asked.  They were doing some cool down
exercises after a healthy morning workout.
	Well, Minako called it morning, Makoto thought of it as early
afternoon.
	"Let's be superheros."  She reached up and brushed a strand of blond
hair out of her eyes.  "If we end up fighting the Dark Kingdom or Agency
or whatever, let's have some fun while we're doing it."
	"Exactly how's that different from just being heroes?" Makoto gave her
a skeptical glance.  The fact that Minako'd probably end up talking her
into the plan, no matter how silly, was the only reason she even was
considering it.
	"Well, for one thing, normal heros don't have agents.  Or
merchandising."
	Makoto sighed.  Sometimes it just didn't pay to be a hero.  Make that a
superhero.

***

	"So, M, what do you have for us today?" Minako asked.
	Mercury shot her an annoyed glance.  This "M" thing that Minako had
started was getting on her nerves.  She decided to just ignore it since
they'd be gone by the end of the day, anyway.
	"This is all the equipment that I could scrape together on such short
notice.  We're just lucky that Washuu let me use whatever I needed from
her lab or even this much would have been beyond me."  She looked over
the table of items, trying to decide where to start.
	"First off, these earrings and chokers are a complete communications
suite.  All the other Senshi have them already."
	"So we'll be able to communicate with Serenity and the others with
these?" Makoto asked.
	"Unfortunately, the range on them is only a couple hundred miles. 
Though that's more than enough for you two to talk to each other.  They
also have a feed back into this," she indicated what looked like a large
laptop computer, "which then uses a satellite relay which Washuu set up
to get back here."
	"The computer, itself, is linked to the Mercury computer both ways. 
I'll be monitoring your progress from here and should be able to supply
you with additional documents and the like via the laptop's printer." 
She picked up a pair of folders stuffed with documents.  "These are your
current identities.  You're both sixteen, according to these, and early
graduates.  There's also enough money to get you by for a week or so. 
After that, you're on your own in that department."
	Minako grinned mysteriously.  "I've got an idea that should handle
that."
	Mercury suppressed a sigh.  Whatever Minako was planning would probably
attract a lot of attention, which wasn't something that they needed. 
"Just be careful."  Not that warnings ever dissuaded her, but it was
worth a try.

***

	The countryside of Japan rolled by gently outside the van as Mr. Masaki
guided it along the narrow roads that were so popular in this area. 
Minako rode in the front with him and chatted idly about the weather
while Makoto was sitting in the back trying to memorize her new
identity.  Not that it would really matter all that much, but it was
something to do.
	According to the papers, her name was now Kamo Mariko.  A bit too close
to her real name for her tastes, but it was too late to change that
now.  She was also a lot better student than she'd ever been in her
youth, too.  The records placed her pretty near the top of her class in
high school, which she'd managed to finish quite a bit early. 
Apparently, she was going to be studying at the University of London. 
Well, if she didn't decide to scrap her cover story as soon as they got
off the plane, that is.
	Seeing as she had the papers for a full semester's worth of campus
housing, it looked like she was going to be a college girl for a while. 
Too bad there wasn't a class schedule included with the paperwork.  It
shouldn't be too much trouble to get into something decent, though. 
Summer term classes were usually fairly empty.  Well, in non-Japanese
schools, anyway.
	They only had a couple days before registration and it was going to be
tight if they were going to get moved in and settled before classes
started.  Not that they really had anything to move in with.  Shopping
was going to be a necessity and would probably end up eating all their
cash pretty fast.
	Maybe Minako would be able to get them an advance on their
merchandising.  Not that they'd be able to sell anything until they got
to be well known, but maybe.  It'd be a shame to have to rob a bank or
something, not that it would be difficult.

***

	After a short layover in Seoul, the flight was nonstop across Asia to
England.  Minako slept for most of the flight, well, as much as was
humanly possible.  She did stay awake through the in-flight movie, a
badly dubbed American flick whose name she never quite caught.  
	Eventually the boredom got to be too much and she tried to read her new
profile.  Her new name was Asato Misato, apparently going to University
of London, going to be staying in the same dorm room as Makoto.  Well,
at least that was a bonus.	
	Then she got down to figuring out exactly how much cash they had and
would be needing to get set up.  It didn't look good.
	"Mako-chan?" she asked quietly.
	"Mina-chan?"  Makoto groaned softly and rolled her head around to face
Minako while slowly waking up.  "We almost there?"
	"Another two hours, I think.  I've just been looking at our
finances..."
	"Donn worry �bout it.  We're going to be superheros, remember?"
	Minako wrinkled her brow a little.  "Yeah, but we won't be able to get
a decent deal out of anyone until we've been in town for a while and
gotten some exposure."
	"We could always rob a bank or something." Makoto said, her voice too
filled with sleep for Minako to be able to tell if she was being
sarcastic or not.
	"Nope, can't break laws without a good reason.  Part of being a
superhero."  She looked back at the papers she held in her hands.  "I
wonder how hard it'd be to get a student loan."

***


	London was dirty and crowded.  Well, it wasn't really that bad, but
Minako and Makoto had both been expecting something more along the lines
of what London had been in their time.  Apparently, things were due for
improvement sometime in the next few hundred years.
	The airport was several miles away from the center of town where their
lodgings were supposed to be.  At least the mass transit system was well
developed since they didn't have the budget to handle cab fares.  
	Well developed except for the six foot tall reptilian youma that was
currently trying to turn the bus over, that is.
	Makoto and Minako were just exiting the terminal building when the
thing showed up.  
	"Do you think they knew we were coming?" Makoto asked, glancing warily
at the beast thing.
	"Probably not.  This kind of thing happens to us superheros all the
time," Minako grinned.
	"What kind of thing?  The being near random monster attacks?"
	"Yep.  Don't you remember our childhood."  She paused for a second and
considered recent events.  "I mean, our first childhood.  Anyway, this
is a great chance to get some exposure."
	Makoto grinned.  "But I thought we were supposed to keep our clothing
on in public."
	"Very funny," Minako latched onto her arm and started dragging her back
into the terminal.  "Let's find a place to change before I decide to use
you as bait."
	"You're so touchy after plane rides.  You've got to learn to relax."

***

	Things weren't going well for Gisei.  First, he'd been hand picked by
General Kunzite to spearhead the England operations.  Of course, it
SOUNDED like a good thing.  A good chance to distinguish himself for
promotion and the like.  What they didn't tell him was that the gate he
would be using didn't have the seals fully broken yet and would have
random effects on it's passengers.
	Which was why he was currently on a mindless rampage through the
outskirts of London.  Nowhere near the kind of covert operation that the
General had been hoping to run, but with the pressure in Asia heating
up, Beryl was pressing him for results.
	Pressing led to mistakes, the foremost of which was bashing in a tour
bus with his bare hands.
	"Stop right there!"  A feminine voice shouted from the direction of the
terminal.
	Even mindless as he was, Gisei stopped what he was doing and turned to
look.  Two girls in Sailor Fukus were standing just outside the glass
doors or the station.  	
	"You are trying to-" the one in the orange began but was interrupted by
the youma's bestial roar.  Some part of his mind had latched onto the
instructions that he had been given about what to do if young girls in
fukus showed up.  He launched himself toward them, almost dropping to
all four in his rush to get to the targets.
	"Hey!" orange-fuku shouted.  Gisei reared up to his full height of
almost seven feet and threw his arms wide in order to make his charge as
sweeping as possible.  Green-fuku hurriedly moved to the side so that he
would have to choose a target.  
	Orange, however, stayed put, her face showing no fear.  What it was
showing was an amazing amount of anger.  As he drew closer, her stance
seemed to melt a bit and loosen. 
	His monstrous claws swept downward in a vicious V centered on the poor
girl, who, mysteriously, wasn't there.  As the arms came toward her, she
flowed into motion and danced inside his reach and past him, pausing
only long enough to deliver two swift, painful kicks to his knees.
	Stunned, he fell to the ground as his legs would no longer support
him.  A powerful kick to the back of his head sent him sprawling, though
it wasn't strong enough to kill him or render him unconscious.
	"First, NEVER, EVER, EVER interrupt one of my speeches.  I don't care
who you are."  She was almost growling as she spoke.  "And second, if
you're going to fight, make it look GOOD.  People aren't going to pay to
see an idiot like you rampaging around.  Put some finesse in your step
or something."
	Gisei rolled onto his back and spent a moment in a daze before flipping
to his feet.  He roared again and charged, his frenzy not having been
broken.
	Orange-fuku smiled at him wearily.  "Alight, if that's the way you want
to play it."  
	She dodged his second charge and ended up standing back where she had
been a few moments before.  
	"Sailor V..."  A glowing V settled onto the tip of her index finger. 
"...Beautiful..."  The V began to spark and pulse with power. 
"..Laser!" The V seemed to surge forward until it formed a beam of
triangular light.
	Gisei was struck in the side as he was turning to face her again. 
There was one brief moment of agony before the bonds that held his soul
to the mortal plane were severed and he was finally allowed rest.

***

	"I can't believe it!" Minako grumbled angrily as they rode the subway
into the heart of town.
	Makoto, who hadn't really been paying all that much attention to her
since the fight, looked up from her magazine.  "Believe what?  That we
were attacked after being in town for less than an hour?"
	"No.  That's nothing new.  But he interrupted my speech!" Minako said.
	"Why are you so upset over a silly speech, anyway?"  Makoto looked at
her, interested in the answer that she would come up to for this one.
	"Mako-chan," Minako said, giving Makoto a benevolent stare.  "You just
don't understand how the manga and toy industries work.  If you're going
to be a superhero, you've got to do speeches.  Trying to be a hero
without them is like..."
	Makoto sighed.  Minako was probably going to go on and on about this
until the subway ride was over.  Or longer.

END

Well, I'm not writing full time anymore.  Though that's not surprise, I
got a lot of stuff out during the last few weeks.  Anyway, next up will
be either TRE #17 or V&J #2, whichever I decide to write first, I should
have one out by the end of the week, anyway...

Later
-- 
Tim Williams
http://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia/ 

"This time, we're leaving nothing to the imagination.  We tried that
last time, and, in our opinion, it didn't work." -- Henry Rollins,
"Driveby Shooting"