Well, it turns out that revising this story was EXACTLY what I needed to
get it started again.  After all, I've got to get V&J over with (at
least to the extent that Kunzite is concerned) because he's going to be
need in the main story within the next half dozen parts or so... and if
this isn't done by then... well, it might not ever get done.  Part 2
will be realeased soon (it's at second stage prereading right now), so
why not remind yourself what's going on.

Also, you may note that the characterizations seem to waver a bit.  It's
on purpose and meant to show that Minako and Makoto are both more mature
than they were as children (but still retain some of their old
personas).  

Oh, if you haven't read TRE (at least the first 11 chapters... it's
about 200k) now would be a good time to do so.  Really, this doesn't
make a whole lot of sense if you're not familiar with the back story
(and retelling it generally bores readers since I write in such short
pieces, anyway).

Anyway, let me know if you spot glaring errors in mechanics,
characterization, or anything else that crosses your mind.  I rather
enjoy arguing out this point or another because it helps me set my
intentions more firmly in my own mind.  More than one plot twist has
come out of just such a discussion.  Heck, half of them have.  Even just
a "I read it.  Not bad." is great since they tend to move writing up my
list of priorities a bit.

I don't believe the "sailor Banditos" appear in this one, but if you-

[A big mallet falls from off stage and clangs Tim over the top of his
head.]

[a banner unfurls in front of the camera and reads:] "We are sorry for
the inconvenience.  He tends to ramble and has to be shut up forcably
some times.--Management"

---Original notes---

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.

---end original notes :)---

Disclaimer goes 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 upcoming trip to England.  Somehow, Minako's definition of
"research"
seemed to include watching a lot of movies about some "James Bond" guy
on one of the amazing number of channels that the television got. 
        Sometimes Makoto watched too, but her English skills were
already as good as they were going to get.  She wasn't going to have an
English accent, no matter how much she practiced, so she just didn't try
very
hard.  She'd spoken the language off and on again while traveling the
world on diplomatic missions, but Britain hadn't been a very important
place for quite a while and other versions of the language had become
dominant.  That and the language had a lot fewer words in this time.  
        Which meant she had a lot more time for practice.  Even though
she had all of her powers, this body wasn't accustomed to calling on
them or channeling large large amounts of magic.  Not that she would
really have minded spending a few extra days lounging around with
nothing to do, but she was always a believer that work put in as
preparation saved effort later.
        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 James Bond."
        "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.  But I'm only on my third James
Bond movie."
        "Bed time for you, then."  Makoto scooped her up in her arms,
straining a bit at lifting someone almost the same size as herself.  It
was taking her a while to get her muscles back to what she was used to,
as well.
        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 more 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
was even
listening to her.
        "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 in a matter of hours.  Not that dissuading Minako
from
something silly like that was ever easy.
        "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 feed their signals into this," she indicated what
looked like a
largish laptop computer, "which then uses a satellite relay which Washuu
already had 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 few weeks.  By
the time that runs out, you should have received some credit cards which
I'll have made as soon as we know your new address."
        Minako grinned happily.  She'd always been a fan of spending
other people's money. 
        Mercury suppressed a sigh.  "Try not to charge too much to them,
though.  The bigger the numbers are, the harder it is to hide the fact
that they're never actually getting paid."
        Minako grinned again.  "Don't worry.  We won't buy anything that
we don't need."
        Somehow, Mercury had the feeling that she was going to be doing
a lot of hacking to keep the two bankrolled.

***

        The countryside of Japan rolled by gently outside the van as Mr.
Masaki guided it along the narrow roads that were so common 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.  Markio was also a better student than she'd ever been in her
youth.  The records placed her pretty near the top of her class in high
school, which she'd managed to finish quite a bit early.  No easy feat
in the Japanese educational system.
        Apparently, she was going to be studying at the University of
London for a while.  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
western schools, anyway.
        They only had a couple days before registration and it was going
to be tight if they were to get moved in and settled before classes
started.  Their lack of belongings was actually a  plus, for once. 
Shopping was
going to be a necessity and would probably end up eating at their cash
pretty fast.
        Maybe Minako would land them a toy deal or something.  It'd
certainly make them more independent.  Of course, she could always take
up bank robbing.  With Minako's shopping habits, it might just prove
necessary.

***

        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.  From her calculations, it didn't
look very promising.
        "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.  Mercury said we'd have credit cards in a
couple weeks, remember?"
        Minako wrinkled her brow a little.  "Yeah, but I don't know if
we have enough to last till them.  Unless you really want to use milk
crates for furniture."
        "Do they even have milk crates in England?  Well, 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
hero."  She looked back at the papers she held in her hands.  "I wonder
how fast I could get a student lone."

***


        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 dozen centuries or so.
        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 one of the buses 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 used to happen to us 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 practice in."
        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 seals were proving too complicated to unravel so they were
going to shove someone through in an attempt to shatter them.
        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 and this might have saved a full
month on getting the operation underway.
        Haste 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 eight feet and threw his arms wide in order to make his charge
as sweeping as possible.  Green-fuku hurriedly moved to one 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 don't like to see
idiots 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 fast
returning.
        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 his soul was freed to
rest.  His body was freed to rest, as well.  All over the concrete.

***

        "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 important image is.  If we're going to do
this, we need to look good doing it. To look good, 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