The rejected chapters.
Chapter 3
Mizuno Ami sighed and leaned against a wall. It was Thursday evening
and the Senshi were in the midst of a business meeting. It wasn't so
much business that they hadn't spent the first hour grilling her about
her date though. No detail had been left untouched, no moment was
ignored.
"Well, now that we're done with the important stuff, let's talk about
this new guy." Usagi clearly considered this minor as compared to Ami's
love life.
"He seems to be from the Negaverse. Didn't we beat all those guys when
we smashed Beryl?" Makoto had given this more than a little thought.
"He must have escaped or been in hiding," Artemis said. "He is most
definitely not beaten."
"Well, he's strong and fast but not very powerful. Since we fought
Beryl we've all grown. I think that by himself he won't be too much of a
threat," Minako commented from the side.
"Good. So the next time he shows up, we just take him out." The other
blonde smiled and started looking for some manga.
"Oh yes. We will take him out," Minako muttered darkly, to low for
anyone else to hear.
***
The Senshi did not have to wait long to test their plan. It was four
days later that the call came in. Makoto, walking back from the grocery
store, heard screams and cries of fear coming from a small neighborhood
marketplace. Within minutes, the Senshi had arrived.
They entered the marketplace cautiously. They had heard a great deal of
screaming in fear and agony and fully expected a monster attack. Still,
just because something sounded like hell on earth, they weren't
absolutely sure it was. Accidentally diving into a Goth metal music
concert had taught them that. Sure there were a legion of black beings,
dressed in bizarre and blasphemous clothing, chanting and dancing
obscenely. They had acted like men devoid of energy and slowly shambled
about. On a platform before them, a man who looked identical to Pearl
had stood. Of immense height and chilling deep voice, he had mouthed
deprecations and mournful threats into the assembled crowd. The Senshi
had blasted everything in sight. Type O Negative never had a concert
there again.
Still, this time it was no accident. Pearl was draining people of their
energy in the middle of an open-air mall, glowing with a black light. He
was laughing maniacally and floating a four feet above the ground. The
previous guy hadn't been able to float.
"In the name of Love and Justice I am Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon!"
"I am Sailor Mercury!"
"I am Sailor Mars!"
"I am Sailor Jupiter!"
"I am Sailor Venus!"
"I'm about to shoot you in the head."
BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM
"Ahh!"
"Dammit! Get back here!"
The Senshi paused for a moment. That was not in the usual speech.
Perhaps Sailor Moon had added something? A look at her showed that she
had not. She was just as surprised as the others.
At that point Pearl ran by, not flying, running. In fact, he also
appeared to be ducking for cover and doing other such remarkably
undignified things. The flurry of lead projectiles in the air might have
something to do with it.
A man ran in front of the befuddled Senshi, swearing a blue streak and
using a pair of large and highly unpleasant looking handguns. He, as was
apparently everyone else in Tokyo, wore all black.
"You know, I'm beginning to think we live in a depressing city," Venus
commented.
The Senshi watched Pearl run by, magic shield flickering as bullets hit
it. His pursuer chased him until he ran into a drug store. Standing in
the doorway, the man in black fired three times. "Squeal little piggy!
Squeee!" He fired twice more and went into the store after him.
The Senshi turned and formed a circle. Luna and Artemis popped up.
"There wasn't some mysterious other Senshi, was there? From the
asteroid belt, or the Sun, or something like that? Perhaps wildly
overpowered and feared by everyone else?" Mercury asked. "Perhaps
reincarnated as a guy?"
Luna looked at her like she was an idiot.
"Yeah, that is somewhat rediculous."
"Well, that's one theory out," Venus added.
"Perhaps Tuxedo Mask's disgruntled, ex-post office employee brother?"
Moon suggested.
"I don't think so." Artemis doubted that very strongly. He also thought
the very suggestion was in remarkably poor taste.
"A previous ally of ours we've completely forgotten about due to plot
contrivance?" Mars added her own two cents. "With a dark and mysterious
history and strange connections to one of us, ties of blood and hate?"
There was a moment's pause.
"Nah," they said as one. "Stuff that cheesy just doesn't happen."
They lapsed into thought. Pearl ran by, crying for his Mommy, as the
mysterious stranger chased him with a chainsaw.
"I've got it!" Moon exclaimed.
"What?" Pick a Senshi, they all said something to this effect.
"Let's ask him!"
The dark figure ran by, swearing. Pearl chased him, blast energy balls
flying. They darted into a music store and sounds of violence and pain
were heard from within.
"This might not be the best time," Jupiter noted sagely.
"Oh, I don't know. I think it's not that bad," Moon replied.
The music store, and much of the block it was on, exploded.
"Then again, I strongly believe in you. We'll try it your way for
once." Moon always tried to listen to her friends.
"Black Pain Energy!" A cry was heard from the rubble.
"Glock 17 bullets!" a different voice replied.
"Pure Evil Shatter!" It was the first voice again.
"Um. MORE Glock 17 bullets!" second voice.
"Wrath of Death!" Voice number 1.
"LOTS AND LOTS of Glock 17 bullets!" Voice number 2.
"I'm going eat your soul!" You should be able to guess.
"I'm going to kick you in the balls!" Again, you should be able to
guess.
"You know, that mysterious stranger is beginning to sound familiar."
Mars had her head cocked to the side as she listened.
"Pizza guy?" Moon asked.
"No."
"Neighbor?" Venus suggested.
"No."
"Get back here so I can shove this Death Ball down your throat!"
"Fuck no, dill hole! Eat flaming lead!"
"Old teacher?" Mercury offered.
"No."
"Old boyfriend?" Jupiter contributed.
"No. I keep thinking it's someone with a bizarre and very personal
connection to me. A connection of deep emotion that transcends space
and time." Mars' brow was furrowed in thought.
The other Senshi nodded and began to think. Even Luna and Artemis
frowned and tried to come up with something.
Pearl ran by, throwing black death behind him <the energy attack, not
the plague> as the unnamed gun wielding semihero chased him. They ran
around a few times and took pot shots at each other for a while. The
Senshi ignored them and continued to debate.
This might have gone on for quite some time, were in that at this
moment a rat came out of the sewers. Not too unusual, were it not for
one thing. The rat was the size of a Great Dane. While this wasn't
atypical in some North American cities or Tasmania, in Tokyo it was a
surprise.
The rat climbed out of a sewer grate and right into the path of a
fleeing citizen. They went down in a tumble, but the man hopped to his
feet a moment later and resumed running away. The rat melted.
The Senshi cranial danger detectors abruptly started dinging away. The
five heroes of love, justice, etc, etc, turned and faced the weird,
shiny blob that had just previously been a rat. It had a metallic sheen
and rippled slightly in the light. It was also growing.
"Mercury, are rat's supposed to do that?" Moon asked.
"They never did in any lab I've been in," she replied.
The bubbling pool of metal rose higher now. It shifted into a tall,
thin shape, which rapidly began to have creases and lines appear on its
metallic surface. Then in a flash, the surface color changed. It stared
at them from human eyes and took a step forward.
"I have a really bad feeling about this." Venus began to slowly back
away.
"I have a worse one." Mars was also backpedaling.
The man began to walk toward them, slowly at first but rapidly moving
faster and faster. The Senshi set themselves. Something told them this
was going o be a fight like nothing they had ever encountered before.
The man began to run. He jumped straight at Sailor Venus, one hand
outstretched. Venus leaned back, nearly a foot from the open palm.
But when the hand abruptly changed into a blade nearly two feet longer,
Venus almost had her head cut off. As it was, she fell onto her backside
as the blade cut through the air above her.
The man pulled his blade arm back and prepared to cut Venus in half. He
was forestalled by Mars' Fire Bird, which connected with the middle of
his back. It knocked him down, and he rolled. When he stood up a moment
later, half his back was no longer covered by a shirt, it was a giant
metallic mark. But before their eyes, it shrank. Two seconds later, the
man was uninjured and unharmed.
"Um, this is not good," Moon said. "Are they supposed to be able to do
that?"
"What is it anyway?" Jupiter countered.
Behind them, Pearl and the other guy strolled by, drinking cappacino
and munching on biscuits. The looked at each other, started, and tried
to kill each other again.
The mechanical man jumped at Venus again, who had by now risen to her
feet. Wary of any extending limbs, she jumped back ten feet. The blade,
which morphed from his hand, cleft nothing but air. Undaunted, it
charged everyone else, both arms large weapons.
"This is like something from a bad import action movie!" Jupiter
shouted. The shape shifting assailant was pressing her hard. It had not
landed any successful strikes yet but it was very close. Finally,
Jupiter saw her opportunity and kicked it with both legs. It went down
backwards.
It flew backwards and crashed, face first, into a wall. Instead of
turning around, its features melted and changed. It stepped forward, now
back to the wall. It was unharmed.
Then Pearl crashed into it, upside down. His very energetic battle the
figure, who you don't know the true identity of yet, really, had
climaxed in a spectacular display of impromptu pyrokinetics. A fireball,
shock wave, radial heat, and a mini-mushroom cloud were all there. We
are talking serious some exploding.
The Senshi paused as fire, rubble, and the fender of a '73 Buick rained
down from the heavens. Fortunately they had taken cover and were not
seriously, or even minorly injured. This fight was getting a bit out of
hand.
Then somebody else showed up to through his hat into the 'lets destroy
Juuban through collateral damage ring.' A tall, strong man walked around
a corner and surveyed the scene. He was dark, sinister, naked, and
dripping seaweed. He carried a long metal pipe which appeared to have
been forcibly removed from its moorings, as straggly wires and barely
attached anchoring plates were dangling from one end.
The Senshi looked around. Pearl was rising to his feet and glowing with
black energy. The shape shifting individual was flowing to his feet and
generally looking like he was about to do something that most major
religions frowned on. The seaweed ensconced newcomer was walking
straight towards them with a completely blank face. A tumbleweed rolled
by.
"Mercury, you have any strategic suggestions for us?" Moon asked.
"Run like hell?"
"Of a more aggressive nature?"
"Working on it."
The assembled villians charged.
Authors Note:
This one didn't quite come out the way I wanted it to. I think the
flavor might have been a bit off.
Miashara