Imperial Naoko Hotel
“Aw man, my head feels like the floor of a taxi cab,” moaned
Grunge.
“Here, this should help,” said Freefall as she handed him an
icepack. Grunge gratefully accepted.
“So what are we going to do about this?” asked Bobby as he began to
pace in what had been his and Grunge's room yesterday. It had now been
declared Gen13’s unofficial “war room.”
“I’m not really sure what you mean,” said Caitlin.
“Come on, Cat,” prodded Sarah. “We were attacked for no reason. Are
you just going to forget that?”
“I’m not!” growled Grunge. “I owe those chicks some payback!”
“Oh, you’re just mad that you got your butt stomped by a bunch of
little girls,” teased Roxy. Grunge only fumed.
“I understand how you feel,” began Fairchild. “But I’m not sure if
that’s the best course of action. If Mr. Lynch was here we cou--”
“But Mr. Lynch isn’t here,” interrupted Sarah. “That means you’re
in charge. That you have to make the decisions.”
“It’s just… just that I’m not sure what to do,” admitted the
redhead.
“My dad always said that the best defense is a good offense,”
reminded Bobby. “I say we find these girls and make them tell us why
they attacked us. If someone is coming after us, it’d be best if we were
to strike first.”
“Say, you don’t think those girls were Gen-Actives, do you?” asked
Roxy.
“As far as I know, we Gen-Actives are the creation of I/O and the
US government,” said Sarah. “I don’t think information on Project:
Genesis is something America would willingly share with a foreign
power.”
“Unless the Japanese have a Project: Genesis of their own,”
speculated Burnout. “That would explain those girls. Maybe they came
after us as some sort of test to see how good they were,”
“Wow, that sounds like the plot for one cool anime,” mused Grunge.
“This is getting way too X-Files. I think I’m getting a headache,”
sighed Roxy.
“You guys are right.”
Those words drew everyone’s attention to Fairchild. “I don’t
believe a word about those girls being Gen-Actives, but someone did
target us. If they did it once, they’ll do it again. For our own safety,
we have to find out who is responsible.”
“Great,” nodded Bobby. “But how do we find them?”
Instead of speaking, Cat went to her purse and retrieved what
looked like a large calculator. “With this. It’s a tracking device. With
it, we can locate those girls anywhere.”
“But wouldn’t we need to have planted a homing beacon or something
on one of them first?” quizzed Roxy.
“I already did,” grinned Caitlin. “I had a few tracers concealed in
my boot and slipped one on that Sailor Jupiter girl while we were
fighting.”
“Since when do you carry tracers in your boot?” demanded Sarah.
“It was Mr. Lynch’s idea. After what happened the last time we went
abroad is it any wonder he’d be a bit paranoid?”
“Cat’s got a point,” admitted Bobby. “Getting attacked by rogue
British Intelligence agents would sour anyone’s feelings about
vacations.”
“Right,” confirmed Fairchild. “He took me aside back in San Diego
and explained his fears. He thought the tracers would be useful if we
were attacked or separated.”
“Another secret John ‘Paranoid is my middle name’ Lynch keep from
us,” muttered Freefall.
“Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get
you,” noted Bobby.
“It’s going to take me a few minutes to calibrate this to the
tracer’s frequency. Why don’t you guys load the spare costumes into our
flashbands while I’m doing that?” suggested Caitlin.
“Are you sure that thing can pick them up? What if they’re out of
range?” asked Sarah.
“This is one of the most sophisticated pieces of tracking hardware
on the planet,” informed Cat. “If those girls are anywhere within thirty
miles, we’ll find them.”
“And when we do, we’re going to get medieval on their fuku wearin’
asses!” promised Grunge.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Is Mina going to be okay?” asked Serena as she looked at her
unconscious friend as she lay in Raye’s bed.
“I’m not a doctor, but I think she’ll be fine,” diagnosed Amy. “She
just needs some sleep.”
Nearby, Raye was treating some scrapes on Lita’s leg with iodine.
“Ow! That stuff stings!” winced Lita.
“I can’t believe you,” muttered Raye. “You can take a pounding from
some girl built like a freight train with no problem, but you whine
about a little iodine.”
“Hey, at least I actually did some fighting!” retorted Lita. “All
you did was run around dodging fireballs!”
“At least I didn’t almost pass out on the way here!”
“Hey, you two, stop it!” shouted Serena. “Mina’s hurt. Now is the
time we have to pull together.”
“Serena is right,” chimed in Amy. “I know we’re all tired, hurt,
and angry, but we can’t take that out on each other.”
“They’re right,” sighed Raye. “I was out of line. Sorry, Lita.”
“I’m sorry to, Raye,” said the auburn-haired girl.
“Great,” smiled Serena. “Now let’s figure out a way to show those
Negadorks why no one messes with the Sailor Scouts!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Are you sure this is the place?” asked Sarah. “It looks like a
Shinto shrine.”
“That’s what the tracker says,” confirmed Fairchild.
“Supervillains and mad scientists have been known to hide out in
stranger places,” noted Bobby. “I say we check it out.”
“Maybe we should split up,” suggested Roxy as the kids entered the
Cherry Hill Temple.
“Rox, Rox, Rox. Don’t you know anything about horror movies?”
sighed Grunge. “Splitting up is what people do right before the psycho
killer starts to pick them off one-by-one.”
“What the hell do horror movies have to do with anything?!”
demanded Roxy. “God, sometimes I wonder if you’re even from the same
planet as the rest of u--”
“Whoa, check that cool statue! I gotta get a picture!”
“You brought your camera on a mission?!” gaped Sarah as Grunge ran
off.
“Bobby?” said Cat.
“I’m on it,” replied Burnout. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t break
anything.” The blonde boy then took off after his friend.
“Hello there, ladies. Is there something I can help you with?”
came a voice from behind the girls. They turned to see a very short man,
wearing the robes of a temple priest, smiling at them.
“Haro, Osho-sama,” greeted Caitlin. “Maybe you can help us. We’re
looking for some friends of ours and think they may be around here.”
“Please, call me grandpa,” insisted the old man. “Now, what do
these friends of yours look like?”
“They’re five girls all about fourteen,” described Sarah. “One was
blonde and had her hair done in a very unusual style, another girl’s
hair was blue, and another--”
“Oh, you must mean my granddaughter Raye and her friends,”
interrupted grandpa. “Strange, Raye never told me she had any Amerikajin
friends. You must be exchange students at one of the local colleges,
right?”
“Uh, um, yeah,” fumbled Roxy. “We’re exchange students!”
“That girl is growing up so fast,” sighed the priest. “Hanging out
with older kids, not telling me about new friends… I guess Raye’s
finally become a teenager. Anyway, she’s in her room with her friends.
Just go though there, take a left and you can’t miss it.”
“Arigato,” thanked Cat as she gave a small bow.
The old man returned it and turned as if to leave. But he stopped
and quickly looked the girls up and down. “Say, you young ladies
wouldn’t be interested in helping out around here after your classes
would you?” he asked. “Community service always looks good on job
applications.”
“Uh, sorry. We really don’t have a lot of free time what with
college and stuff,” replied Freefall, who had been taken aback.
“Can’t blame a man for asking,” mumbled grandpa. “Oh well, if you
girls need anything just call.” With that, the old man wandered off.
“What an odd, odd little man,” commented Fairchild.
“Odd? Try perverted,” spat Roxy. “Did you see the way he looked at
us? I bet he’s some kind of secret lecher.”
“Speaking of lechers…” said Sarah.
In was then that Bobby returned dragging Grunge by the arm. “Dude,
you need to lighten up!” insisted Grunge. “I was only trying to get some
phat photos for the ol' scrapbook.”
“Grunge, this is a holy place. Did it ever occur to you that the
Japanese might find the idea of you climbing up on that lion statue and
riding it like a horse a bit offensive?” demanded Bobby.
“Uh, no, not really.”
“Forget that,” ordered Fairchild. She then filled the boys in on
their meeting with grandpa. “According to the scanner, the signal is
coming from what should be this girl Raye’s room.”
“Okay then, let’s get to the bottom of this,” said Bobby.
“The truth is out there,” joked Grunge as the team entered the
shrine.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Are you sure you’re up to this, Mina?” asked Luna.
“It takes a lot more than a nasty zap to stop me,” smiled Mina as
she drew her hand across her face in her trademark “V” style. “Don’t
worry, I’m tough as whales!”
“Don’t you mean, tough as nails?” corrected Amy.
“Whatever.”
That’s my girl, thought Artemis. She’s not the sharpest knife in
the drawer, but she can bounce back like nobody’s business.
“Now that we’re all okay, we have to come up with a way to beat
these new creeps from the Negaverse,” said Raye.
“Actually, I don’t think they were from the Negaverse,” interjected
Amy. “According to the reading I took at the mall, their energy
signatures are nothing like the ones used by any known Negaverse
creature. In fact, the signatures are very much lik--”
“I don’t care if those guys were from the Negaverse or the Merry
Old Land of Oz!” flared Lita. “I want a rematch!”
“Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it,” came a
voice. The Scouts looked up the see Gen13, with Fairchild in front,
standing in the room’s doorway.