Typical Header Stuff:  

     Even though most of these give you about as much coverage
as a g-string on a stripper, I'm going to play it safe and include
it anyway...

     Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters contained within
this work are the copyright of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation,
Kodansya, DiC, and probably lots of other big people I'm forgetting.
I am using them without permission, but suing me because of it would
be futile as I have nothing.  Also Certain characters mentioned
in the prologue are the copyrighted property of John De Chance.
Any characters that are not copyrighted by other people are my own 
creation, and therefore copyrighted by myself...  which means that
if for some REALLY weird reason you decided you wanted to use them,
(and why would you decide that?!?!?!?) you need to write me for 
permission.

Comments, Criticisms, and flames welcome...  Starrngr@aol.com
However, due to a large amount of spam I have received in the past,
I have blocked off mail from some domains.  Sorry if your one of 
them.  And don't expect me to reply to mail that's nothing but 
Flames!

See the Character Bio for information on key people to this Fic....



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Note:  Fica is a term I have invented to represent an entire 
dimension.  It can basically be considered a plural of the term 
Ficton, created by Robert Heinlein, which means a specific place in 
space/time.

The Wanderer:  Wandering Moon: Episode Six: Revelations


     Micheal awoke to the sun shining in through the balcony doors.
He had fallen asleep in the computer chair while reading the 
mysterious file that had shown up in his e-mail the day before.
He stood and stretched to try and get the worst of the kinks out and
stumbled for the kitchen.  He switched off the timer and started
the coffeepot brewing while he mused about everything he had learned
the previous night.

     This dimension had five re-incarnated princesses from over a 
thousand years ago running around fighting evil.  At least he now had
names to go with the faces he had run into several days before at the
Shinto shrine.  Sailor Scouts seemed reasonably appropriate,
since their uniforms bore as much resemblance to a sailor suit as the
school uniforms did.  The other side's forces seemed to be lead by 
Tinkerer and a deposed general Tinkerer had recruited from the past.
At least, that was the case according to the file whoever it was sent
him.

     By now the coffee was ready, and Micheal absentmindedly
poured himself a cup.  He started to take a sip, but noticed in time
that it was still to hot to drink.  He reached into the freezer
and pulled out an ice cube and dropped it into the hot coffee.  He 
carried his coffee out to the balcony, not noticing a certain black
tail sticking out from under the chair.  That is, until he stepped
on it.

     "MRRRROOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!" wailed Luna, as the pain of having
her tail stepped on woke her instantly.  Her flailing woke up Artemis
with a howl as well.  The wailing of the two cats ripped suddenly
from sleep startled Micheal, who jumped back off of Luna's tail, 
causing him to spill his coffee on himself and adding a human cry of
pain to the wailing of the two moon cats.  The two moon cats reacted
to this sudden awakening in unfamiliar surroundings instinctively,
by running, without realizing that the only place to run to was into
Micheal's apartment.

      In the next door apartment, Darien Chiba lay and dreamed of his
eternal love, when suddenly  howling and screaming intruded into his
dreams, instantly awakening him.  He darted onto his balcony, looking
for the attacking forces.  Instead, he saw a startled Micheal,
most of a cup of coffee saturating his neighbors shirt.

     "What's going on?" Darien grumped as it became apparent that 
whatever was going on was not an attack he needed to worry about.

     "I think I stepped on a cat... but how did a cat get on my 
balcony?" wondered a very bewildered Michael.

     "Um, I'm supposed to take Serena and her best friend's cats to 
the vet today for them.  They must have gotten out and jumped over
to your balcony," Darien quickly improvised to cover the two cats 
scouting mission. "Where did they go?"

     "I believe they are in the kitchen," supplied FRED from his 
supposed location on the desktop.  "At least I detected a black and
white streak run past me in that direction."

     "Might as well come over and get 'em, Darien," sighed Micheal.
"I doubt either of them will let me within ten feet of them right
now."

     As predicted, the two cats were found cowering in the corner
of Micheal's kitchen.  Micheal was rather surprised at how readily
the two felines responded to Darien's call.  Moments later Darien
and the two moon cats were safely back in Darien's apartment,
and Luna was informing Darien of just how much their neighbor knew
about them now.

     In his own apartment next door, Micheal looked down at his 
coffee soaked shirt and sighed.  He shrugged out of his wet clothes
climbed into the shower.  As the warm water poured over him, he 
returned to his inner turmoil.  He was clearly meant to assist these
young Sailor Scout girls, but he was unsure as to just what that 
assistance was supposed to be.   From the descriptions given, the 
things that had attacked the school that he was unable to defeat
had been Youma, servants of the first enemy of the moon kingdom.
In addition to this, the Tinkerer, an old enemy of his, had been 
blasted into this fica by the same accident that had thrown him from
their home dimension.  And from the way the spyders had attacked
the sailor scout girls, he was probably allied with the forces of 
that enemy.

     These thoughts and others continued to drift in and out of his
thoughts as he continued his morning routine. It was as he stood out
on his balcony finishing his coffee, uninterrupted this time, that
he made a key realization.  Always before, he had preferred to stay
out of events in any particular fica, unless it has affected him 
directly.  And yet, here he was helping a failing student, and 
looking forward to a new battle with an old enemy.  

     He pondered the question of why this change had occurred,
and the answer surprised him.  He had been jumping from fica to fica
in an attempt to find his way home for months now, and was getting
tired of it.  He looked at why he had been so anxious to return to 
his home fica, and the answer was Jedi.  The two had just admitted
their attraction to each other not long before Micheal, as Star 
Ranger, had been blasted from his home fica by the explosion.
Always before, he had wanted to jump out of a fica as fast as FRED
could compute portal co-ordinates that would most likely lead them
home.  Objectively, the chances of getting back to Jedi eventually
were getting better.  However, the chances that she would be waiting
for him were not.  She probably assumed he had died in the blast,
and had moved on.  Even if he found his home fica soon, there was no
real way of knowing exactly where in the timeline he would emerge.
He might arrive decades after the accident, and Jedi would have long
forgotten him, or even have had died.  Against that dream, Patricia
Haruna was here now, in this fica.  Despite his best intentions,
Micheal realized that he had grown quite attached to the red headed
teacher.  The thought of could he bear to settle down with her and 
stop dimension jumping came back with a single disturbing answer...
YES.

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Serena Tsukino was barreling at full speed towards the 
intersection when disaster struck.  Her feet hit a slick spot on the
pavement and she went skidding out of control, right at the large
black car that was about to make a turn at the corner in front of 
her.

     "Yeiiiii..." she started to yell in panic before slamming
into the side of the car with a thud, and falling backwards.
She looked up to see Thunders-sensei looking out the car window at 
her.  His face was a interesting mixture of emotion, surprise and 
resignation being the most evident.

     "Are you all right, Ms. Tsukino?" Micheal asked, getting out of
the car.

     "I'm fine, Sensei," Serena assured him as she got to her feet,
struggling to catch her breath.  "But now I'm going to be soooo 
late!!!"

     "Not to worry, Ms. Tsukino.  Hop in, and I'll give you a ride
the rest of the way," Micheal replied with a grin.  Serena climbed
into the car, suddenly understanding why Haruna-sensei had needed
help getting in the other day because it was much higher off the 
ground than most cars.  She slid over to the passenger side, and 
Micheal climbed in after her.   

     Serena looked at the dashboard of the car and became even more
curious over all the buttons on it.  Finally, curiosity got the 
better of her and she felt compelled to ask about it.  "Sensei,
why is your steering wheel on the wrong side of the car?"

     Micheal laughed at the innocent question.  "I brought my car 
with me, Ms. Tsukino.  We drive on the other side of the road there.
And, before you ask, not all cars in America are this high off the 
road, either.  I bought this one because I go places where there 
aren't any roads sometimes and that's why it's so big.  Most cars in
America are very similar to the ones you see everyday."

     "Well, your dashboard is wicked cool, Sensei.  Do all American
cars have this much stuff in them?"  Serena was amazed by the large
number of lights and buttons and the like.

     "No, Ms. Tsukino.  I have a lot of special electronic stuff in 
my car that most people don't.  Things like satellite navigation
receivers and the like."  Micheal turned into the school parking
lot, glad for the opportunity to change the topic of conversation.
"And here we are, and your early for once.  And since you've started
the day on the right foot, lets try and behave, OK Ms. Tsukino?"

     "Yes, Sensei," Serena bubbled brightly as she hopped out of his
car and ran off to the front of the school.  Micheal shook his head
bemusedly at the exuberance and innocence of youth and reached over
the seat for his briefcase.

     "Are you dumb, or just obtuse this morning?" Inquired FRED, his
tone sarcastic.

     "Neither, you rolling opinion maker,"  Micheal replied.

     "Do you know who you just had in the car with you?"

     "Yup.  Serena Tsukino, one of my students."  Micheal glared
at the dashboard interface to FRED.  "Who did you think she was, 
anyway?"

     "Try Sailor Moon, AKA Princess Serena of the long dead moon 
kingdom.  You know, the one we got a huge file about the other 
night?"

     Micheal looked at his traveling companion with a look of 
disbelief.  "I think I'm going to have to run a diagnostic on you 
this afternoon FRED.  I think you've blown a logic circuit somewhere.
I've got to get to class now, baka."  Micheal got out of the car and
slammed the door, effectively ending the conversation for the moment.
As Micheal walked away into the school building FRED compared the two
images in his memory again, the blurry one of Sailor Moon from that
Saturday at the Shinto shrine and the crystal sharp image of Serena
Tsukino from moments ago.

     'The face on the one is too blurry, but the two hairstyles
are an exact match.  And I've yet to see anyone else wearing their
hair like that,' FRED thought to himself as he wondered how he would
get Micheal to understand.

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     

     As the lunch bell rang, Amy Mizuno began gathering her books
to go to lunch when her teacher indicated that he wanted her to stay
for a moment.

     "What is it you want to see me about, Thunders-sensei?"
she inquired politely after the rest of the class had left.

     "I need you to pass on a message for me, Ms. Mizuno.  The doctor
who is going to do the tests on Ms. Tsukino called yesterday 
afternoon.  She had a change in her schedule, and she is going to be
coming in this afternoon to do the tests.  Would you please tell Ms.
Tsukino that?"

     "Yes, Thunders-Sensei.  Is there anything else?"

     "Yes, there is.  Its a gorgeous day outside.  Why not enjoy it 
instead of spending lunch with your nose in a book like you usually
do?"

     Amy gave her teacher a funny look and a small sweat drop 
appeared behind her head.  "I'll take it under advisement, Sensei."

     Micheal sighed to himself.  "OK then.  Go on to lunch, and I'll
see you after school with Ms. Tsukino for her tests."  'What does it
take to get that girl to relax?????' he wondered as he watched her 
leave the classroom.  'How can I get her to realize that there is 
more to life than getting good grades?'  Tabling that thought for the
moment, he turned his attention back to his other duties as a 
teacher.  Walking across the hall, he stuck his head into Patricia
Haruna's classroom.

     "Ready to face the ravening hordes?" he inquired.

     "Ah, you've obviously seen Serena Tsukino eating," she replied
brightly as she locked the last of her papers in her desk.  "Yes,
I'm ready."

     "Great.  Why don't we sneak off after and do lunch since we are
both off fifth period.  Maybe discuss going somewhere Friday night?"

     Patricia's eyes grew very large at the thought.  "Yes, I think
I would like that."

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Cabelite stared at the small scrying globe.  Because of its 
size, it was not able to pick out fine details.  However, this same
fact meant that it didn't require much energy to use.  This suited
Cabelite's needs nicely, as he was more concerned with looking for 
locations where large numbers of people gathered as possible sites
for energy raids than discerning fine details.

     An evil grin crossed his face over what he saw.  'These humans
are such foolish creatures.  This tendency of theirs to gather at 
these 'malls' will make it all together to easy to gather all the 
energy my troops need.  Enough energy to defeat our enemies and put
that infuriating cripple in his place.'  He waved his hand and the 
globe cleared and slowly lowered itself back onto its resting stand
while Cabelite planned his attack.  

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Serena and Lita were already camped out in Serena's favorite
spot by the time Amy arrived.  Amy smiled to herself as she watched
her best friend and leader demolish the lunch she had brought.

     "Hi Amy," Lita waved as the blue haired girl sat down.  "As you
can see, Serena decided to start without you.  What kept you?"

     "Thunders-sensei asked me to stay behind for a moment.  He asked
me to deliver a message for Serena.  He said that the person who is 
going to give Serena those tests he wants her to take is coming in 
this afternoon."

     "Rats," sighed Serena.  "I was hoping to convince him to let Amy
work with me at home this afternoon since I didn't get detention
for being late.  No chance of that now."

     "We have bigger problems than you needing to take some tests,
Serena,"  came a voice from above them.  After a second careful
look around to make sure no one was in earshot, Luna jumped down from
her concealment in the tree above them, a very serious look on her 
face.  "Your teacher knows almost everything about us."

     "What are you talking about Luna?" interjected a confused
Lita.

     "Exactly what I said.  Last night after he came home, from a 
date with Haruna-sensei no less, he opened some sort of file on his
computer that told him everything about us."

     "Everything?"  asked a shocked Amy.

     "Almost everything.  It contained a history of the fall of the
moon kingdom, plus a list of all of you scouts and your powers,
as well as a history of your fight against the Negaverse and those
two tree aliens.  The only thing it didn't have is your civilian
identities, but I doubt it will be long before he figures them out."

     "Is there any chance that he could have dug up the information
from public sources?"  Amy continued.

     "Not a chance.  That file had information that only a scout 
would know, like the fake Sailor Moon incident, and what happened
to you girls in the final battle with Beryl."  Luna turned a steely
gaze at Amy.  "That strange computer of his SAID someone sent it to 
him.  That means one of us told him everything!"

     Amy returned Luna's accusing gaze calmly.  "I don't see how you
could think one of us told him everything.  Besides, I'm the only one
of us who even has a computer and I know I didn't send him anything."

     "Well, I'm glad this particular mystery is settled."  Two girls
and a cat looked at Lita in a state of shock.  "Don't you guys get 
it?  If he was the enemy he wouldn't have to be told anything about
us.  All he would care about is finishing us off.  He hasn't even 
attacked us, even though he has had a couple of perfect 
opportunities.  I say someone sent him here to help us, and that file
was so that he would know who he is supposed to help."

     "I think that's a very shaky leap of faith, Lita," replied
Luna, "I think we need to discuss the import of this as a complete
group.  That includes Darien, Serena.  Since Darien is his next door
neighbor maybe he can give us some additional insight into the whole
matter."

     "I'll call him, but I don't think he'll be available until this
evening Luna," Serena promised.

     "I can't be there until after dinner," chimed in Amy.  "My mom
asked me to hang around after school today because she had some 
business in the area and was going to pick me up after and take me to
dinner."

     "Then it sounds like an after dinner meeting at Raye's, then,"
concluded Lita.  The assembled company nodded in agreement, and Luna
leapt back into the tree and vanished.

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     When Micheal and Patricia arrived at the food court at the local
mall, Micheal was surprised at the level of pandemonium.  The source
was readily apparent, being a huge crowd around the sign reading
"Free Pizza".  Ever the individualist, Micheal looked at Patricia
and asked "So, does Chinese sound good to you?"

     "Not exactly, but I don't want to fight that crowd around that
Pizza place either," she replied.  Deep in her subconscious,
something about this seemed all to familiar, and alarm bells began
to ring.  "How about that place over there?  I know its got kind of 
an Anime theme, but the food's pretty good."  Patricia indicated
an onkyami establishment that had a tie in with a popular anime 
series, right down to the super deformed versions of the characters
all on the sign.

     Micheal nodded and the pair began to make their way across the
food court when the pair consciously noticed the first signs of 
something wrong.  The tables were jammed with people, almost all of 
whom were having pizza.  Most of them were sitting almost zombielike,
though, half eaten slices of pizza forgotten on the tables in front
of them.  Patricia began to become nervous, and Micheal figured
he knew why.  From the looks of it, this had all the signs of an 
attack by whoever it was he was supposed to be fighting, something
that Patricia would have been caught by in the past.

     "Suddenly I feel more like sushi, Patricia... How about that 
little place by the school?"  With a nervous nod, Patricia agreed
and the pair began to make their way out of the food court, when 
suddenly their path was blocked.  The person doing the blocking
was a rather extreme charecature of a stereotypical Italian chef,
short, overweight, with a red complexion, slicked back black hair and
a large black handlebar mustache.

     "Wazza matta U, Eh?  You gotta something againsta my pizza?",
the figure demanded indignantly.

     "Gee, if you put it that way," Micheal stalled, nonchalantly
grabbing a soda cup of the table next to him, "Hell YES!!"  With 
that, he splashed the contents of the cup into the figures face and
the he and Patricia took off at an angle.

     The pizza cook gave off an inhuman snarl, and Micheal bet that
the thing was taking on a more monstrous shape, although he didn't
look over his shoulder to confirm it.

     "Insolent bug," an inhuman voice screamed from behind them.  
"I'll Pasta the walls with you!"  Micheal ignored it for the moment,
as he and Patricia reached relative safety, diving behind the counter
of onakayami establishment.  Over their heads, something warm and 
sticky slammed into the back wall of the stall.

     Micheal looked up at the gob of white goo splattered on the wall
behind them.  "Mozzarella," he declared.  "I've heard of cheesy 
situations, but this is ridiculous!"  He spied the counter attendant,
huddled up in the corner cowering in fear.  "Hey kid, is there a back
way out of here?"  The young college student shook his head no.

     Micheal sighed.  "OK kid. This is what we're going do then.  
I'll distract that thing, and you and the lady here make a break for
it.  Get the heck out of here and call the police or someone.  I'll
be right behind you as soon as you two are safe."

     "But Micheal!" Patricia protested.  "That thing will make 
meatballs out of you."

     "Patricia, I happen to like you.  A lot.  That means I need to 
make sure you're safe first.  Then I'll run like heck.  Besides,
god smiles on idiots and crazy gaijin."  He wiggled his mustache
and eyebrows comically and mimed having a cigar in one hand, 
summoning up his best Groucho Marx impersonation. "And as far as 
gaijin go, I'm crazier than most," he deadpanned.  Patricia gave him
a dirty look, but nodded her head in agreement.

     Micheal lead the break from cover, running into the midst of the
food court zombies shouting, "Hey, meatball head!!!  You couldn't
hit the broad side of a barn!!".  His suspicions were correct,
for the pizza chef had in fact become quite demonic, with blue skin
and adorned mostly in Italian foods.  It also seemed to have suddenly
become female.  The youma snarled and hurled a large number of small
spheres at him, causing him to dive for cover under a table.  Since
the creature's first attack, Micheal had been struggling to avoid
transforming in response to the stress of the situation.  Now, he 
released his will and allowed himself to shimmer into his Star Ranger
form.  The small spheres rained down around him, exploding on contact
with the ground and tables like mini grenades.

     "Ah, now that's a spicy meatball, eh?" exulted his attacker.
In response, the now transformed Star Ranger burst to his feet, 
tossing the table to one side.  The Shockwave launcher under one arm
chuffed, and the telekinetic blast struck the youma and drove it 
deeply into the far wall of the food court between two storefronts.

     "You're not to hot, so I think I'll stay in the kitchen,"
taunted Star Ranger as the youma struggled to free itself from the 
wall.

     >>Youma energy signals confirmed.  Standard tactics will be 
ineffective.<<

     <<Like, serious DUH.>>  "Star shield summons!!", Star Ranger
shouted, inwardly wondering why magic commands always had to be 
shouted.  The artifact from another fica materialized on his arm with
a flash of light. Star Ranger clipped his gun to his back and drew
the Star sword from the shield.

     "Linguiniasso!", the youma shouted, shooting ribbons of pasta
from its arm at him, clearly free of the wall sooner than expected.
Parrying the attack with the Star shield, the pasta blast broke apart
into many small noodles upon striking the shield.  These smaller
noodles radiated from the surface of the Star shield like a sunburst,
continuing to grow and trying to wrap around him and envelop him.  A 
timely slash with the Star sword severed   their connection to the 
youma with one stroke, causing the noodles to drop lifeless to the 
floor.

     "Abondanza!!" the youma screamed, charging into hand to hand 
range. It was using a large stick of pepperoni as a sword and a pizza
for a shield.  Although its weapons were inferior to Star Ranger's,
it could regenerate them at will, and was skilled enough to keep Star
Ranger from landing a killing blow.  As the two continued to trade
blows, it was all Star Ranger could do to maneuver the fight out of 
the food court into the mall proper in the hopes of minimizing
the danger to innocent bystanders.  Behind him, he never noticed
the blue glow that surrounded the unlucky food court patrons, 
draining them of their energy and causing them to drop limply to the
ground.

     Cabelite grinned at the size of the energy ball from the 
patrons.  'And that _cripple_ thinks he can do better.  A few more
attacks like this and I won't need _HIM_ any more!'  "Come, Barilla!
Our job here is finished!" he called through an open skylight.
Youma Barilla launched one more furious attack to push Star Ranger
back a bit before leaping up to join its master.  "Better luck next
time, Tin Man," the Negaverse general taunted before disappearing
in a flash of light.  Star Ranger cursed to himself and shimmered
back into Micheal Thunders, just before Patricia Haruna came around
the corner into the food court, throwing her arms around him.

     "Thank goodness your all right," she exclaimed with relief.
"When you weren't right behind us I was so worried!"

     "I may be a gaijin, but I know when to hide, Patricia,"
Micheal responded lightly.  "Come on, lets get out of here.  If we 
aren't gone when the police show, they're going ask us so many 
questions we'll be late getting back."  Patricia nodded in agreement,
and snuggled up close to Micheal as they made their way out of the 
mall.

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Serena looked at the clock and sighed.  She really was trying
to pay attention to the work Thunders-sensei was describing,
but she just couldn't concentrate.  Her mind kept turning back to 
Luna's lunch time revelation, and Lita's interpretation of it.  She
wished time wouldn't drag so, because the sooner school was over,
the sooner she could take those tests for Thunders-sensei
and go home.  She suddenly became aware of the fact that someone
was kneeling next to her desk.  She tore her eyes from the clock,
and blushed as she realized that it was Thunders-sensei,
his arms folded on her desk and giving her a very bemused look.  The
rest of the class was pointedly looking elsewhere, causing her blush
to deepen further.

     "I realize its a gorgeous day outside, Ms. Tsukino, but please
try and give me five more minutes to make sure you get the homework
assignment copied down correctly, OK?" he asked.  Serena was only 
able to nod mutely, her shame stealing her voice.  The last few 
minutes went quickly as she intently copied the assignment on the 
board into her notebook for later.  Finally, the bell rang and she 
quickly packed up her books so she could leave as soon as she was 
done with the tests.  No sooner than the last of the class had filed
out, than a mature woman appeared in the door to the classroom.

     "This is Micheal Thunder's classroom, is it not?", she inquired
politely.

     "Ah, Dr. Mizuno, I presume.  Yes, your in the right place.  This
is Serena Tsukino, the student I would like to have tested."  As he 
finished explaining, he got this sinking feeling that there was 
something going on here that he didn't know about.  The looks being
exchanged between Ms. Tsukino and Dr. Mizuno seemed to indicate
that they knew each other.

     "Oh!" A startled Amy Mizuno appeared in the doorway.  "Hi Mom!
Why didn't you say that your business this afternoon was here in 
school?"

     "Because it would have violated Doctor/Client confidentiality,
dear.  And if I had realized that it was your friend Serena I was 
going to be testing I would have told you even less."

     Micheal's face was a picture of disbelief as he tried to compute
the odds of this happening.  He stopped and sighed as the number
crossed a million to one and kept climbing.  "I guess we should give
you some privacy for your tests then, Doctor?", he inquired.

     "That is the standard procedure Thunders-san.  In fact, you can
go on home, if you don't have anything else to do here.  I'll send
the results to the school office once I have them.  Amy, I'll meet
you in the library when I am done here, all right?"

     "No problem Mom," she replied, as teacher and student left the
classroom.  All the way down to his car Micheal wondered what 
vengeful god he had irritated for these strange things to be 
happening to him.

---------

Coming eventually:  Episode 7: In the trenches.

I guess you could say this is the sort of episode that happens when
one has to much pizza before going to bed while working on your 
fan-fic!