Insertion

    Part 88

    101 reasons to hate Usagi Tsukino.

++++++++++++++++++

    A week had gone by on Jurai, parties were attended, dances were
formal, and life for Trunks basically sucked. He had grown to hate the
socialites of Jurai.

    "I'm not going to another stupid party," grumbled the boy as he
glared at Hotaru irritably.

    "It's not that bad, the celebrations should stop soon though,"
said the girl as she smirked at him.

    The boy was sitting on his giant bed, which he'd also grown to
hate, because he had to walk ten feet just to get to the floor if he
was in the middle of the bed. He was wearing his martial arts uniform,
as was Hotaru. "Screw being polite, I'm sick of this. I've got work to
do."

    "If you say so," replied the girl with a small shrug. "I doubt if
anyone will miss you, and those Senshi of yours are growing accustomed
to these parties."

    "What do you mean 'those senshi of yours'? You're one of them ya
know," replied the boy flatly.

    "I suppose so," said the girl with a slightly irritated frown. "In
any case, they seem to be enjoying themselves."

    "Usagi seems to have a panic attack every time I show up at one of
those things though," grumbled the boy irritably. "I haven't done
anything yet..."

    :"You've been surprisingly well behaved, for someone who was
permanently banned from any formal occasion by the queen herself all
those years ago."

    "Well, I'm not all him anymore ya know," grumbled the boy as he
glanced at her for a moment.

    "Yes, I had noticed that," replied the girl with a smirk forming
on her lips.

    "At any rate, I'm declining the next few invitations. I don't need
to be polite to save face for the others anymore, they can stand on
their own reputation now."

    "Hmmm," agreed Hotaru as she looked down at the magazine that was
sitting in her lap for a moment.

    "What's that?" said the boy as he hopped over to her side and
peered over her shoulder.

    "Just something I picked up while I was out. I got bored," replied
the girl with a small shrug. "Tenchi is Jurai's sexiest man." She held
up a page to him with the boy's face on it. Next to it was a full body
shot from one of the parties. He looked somewhat nervous.

    "Good for him," said the boy as he shrugged.

    "You're actually quite popular yourself," said the girl as she
held up another page. "According to this, you'll be one of the most
eligible bachelors in the Universe. With you being a prince and
all..."

    "I'm the prince of like, five other people, and two of them are
trying to kill me," said the boy as he blinked and looked at the page.
It was in a 'teen' section of the magazine. "This is..." He stared at
it for a moment. There was a full body shot of him standing with his
arms crossed over his chest with a smirk on his face. It was taken
directly from his battle with Buu, probably one of the satellites that
had broadcasted the fight to the ships in space. "I'm...a teen idol?"
he muttered dumbly.

    "Yes, apparently you're adorable," said the girl as she smirked at
him.

    "But...I'm not even ten yet," muttered the boy with a slightly
sour frown.

    "You're popular with the thirteen and under set," said the girl
with a small shrug.

    "Oh," said the boy as he flopped down and flipped through the
pages for a time. "Hey, you're pretty popular yourself. There's that
weenie Cerio...man, his fan club is pissed at me."

    "Yes, the entire planet is questioning his manhood thanks to your
comment," replied Hotaru as she smirked at him.

    "That guy is in serious denial then," said Trunks with a smirk.
"Seems Usagi is pretty popular too, so is Rei. Well, all of them
really, but they get the highest ranking. How little these idiots
know."

    "What? You don't think they are...attractive?" said Hotaru as she
arched her eyebrow at him.

    "Usagi is a klutz, and Rei is a complete and total bitch most of
the time."

    "Ah," said Hotaru as she nodded in understanding at this.

    "Come to think of it, that kinda puts Rei right in with these
Juraian royal types. Go figure," continued the boy with a small shrug.
"Ryoko sure is getting a lot of publicity too. Heh, they don't know
what to make of her."

    "I'm not surprised, considering her last visit here brought about
untold destruction and the loss of a first prince."

    Trunks smirked at this and shook his head. "Oddly enough, Yosho is
taking a back seat in all this. I've barely heard any mention of him
returning. It should be a big deal. Only thing I've seen are these
reports of him going off to marry Ryoko, and that they were secret
lovers or something."

    "Oh, you mean the story where she got angry with Azusa for not
allowing them to marry and ended up blowing up half the planet in
order to 'escape with her lover'?" said Hotaru cheerfully.

    "Yeah, something like that. It seems awfully played down to me."

    "Wonder if Azusa has anything to do with that?" wondered Hotaru
out loud.

    "It's very possible," said Washuu as she strolled into the room
and smiled at the pair.

    "Hey, what's up?" said Trunks cheerfully as he sat up and grinned
at her.

    Washuu smiled at him. "It's ready."

    The boy got an odd looking grin on his face, one that made even
Hotaru nervous. "Excellent," he said as he steepled his fingers
together.

++++++++++++++++++

    Nabiki Tendo was getting annoyed with this place, not so much by
the rich living and servants, but the idiot publicist and their
questions. "Which planet are you the senshi of?" she grumbled in
irritation as she walked. She gave a disgusted sounding snort at this
and continued to walk down the hall towards her room. She had been
associated with the Senshi more and more, mostly because she was
usually seen with them. This gave her a pause, she stopped her stroll
and turned towards one of the massive windows that gave her a view of
the planet's surface.

    "I have been spending a lot of time around them. There isn't
really anything else for me to do around here." She wasn't sure if she
liked that idea or not. The girls were the only people she really felt
comfortable around on the planet. She didn't speak to them much, but
they were friendly and welcomed her presence. Most of them were easily
manipulated by a few choice phrases or a little prodding.

    The girl frowned a little at that; she didn't see how they were
destined to rule the world one day as they claimed. Trunks seemed
agreeable with them, but she didn't see how they could as easily as
she seemed to maneuver them. They mostly just hung around each other
and talked for the most part, she would hang back and only
occasionally give her input on a given situation. They would usually
listen to her and seemed to accept her presence mostly. She wasn't as
friendly with the rest of the group as they were with her.

    "I don't get it," she muttered as she continued to stare out the
window.

    "Don't get what?" asked a familiar voice from behind her.

    "Huh? It's nothing," said Nabiki as she turned to see Mihoshi
standing there with her usual cheerful grin. She was dressed in her
Galaxy Police uniform and had a notebook under her arm. "Haven't seen
you for a while."

    The woman nodded and smiled at her even more brightly. It unnerved
Nabiki a bit. "Yes, I had to return to headquarters and give a
report."

    "That's right, you're some sort of cop," said Nabiki to herself.

    "Um, yeah," said the bubbly woman as she winked at her.

    "Trunks has weird friends," said Nabiki with a small shrug.

    "That isn't very nice," muttered Mihoshi with a small frown on her
face. It quickly vanished though and she shrugged.

    "I'm not a very nice person," said Nabiki with a somewhat
thoughtful cock of her head.

    "Really?" said Mihoshi as she stared at the girl.

    "I never really thought about it much before, but I don't think I
am," replied Nabiki as she nodded. It didn't seem to bother her that
much.

    "Well, better be good, or I'll have to arrest you," said Mihoshi
cheerfully.

    Nabiki smirked at this and shook her head in amusement. "I'll
remember that."

    "Well, I should be going, goodbye," said the blonde as she started
walking away.

    "Right, I should find something to do myself," said Nabiki as she
sighed.

    "Don't worry, I've got just the thing," said Trunks as he walked
up to her from behind.

    Nabiki turned and stared at him for a moment. "What?"

    "Come on, we've got to go get the others," said Trunks as he
motioned for her to follow him.

    The girl blinked and started after him, unsure of what else to do.
"Where are we going?"

    "You'll see," he replied calmly.

+++++++++++++++++++++

    Akane Tendo was standing on a boat staring out into the sea. "What
the hell am I doing?" she muttered to herself as she watched Japan
fade away into the distance. They were traveling on a rather large
yacht that belonged to Kunzite. It was really a miniature sea borne
base of operations, with several computers and some monitoring systems
onboard.

    Trunks and Gohan were simply standing there watching the opposite
horizon without speaking to anyone else.

    Nephrite jerked upright and blinked. He had been leaning against
the side of the boat with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over
his shoulder. "Do you hear something?"

    Akane turned to look at him and blinked. "Huh?"

    Trunks and Gohan remained still, but Akane saw them tense up for
just a moment. She turned her head towards Nephrite and frowned. "Like
what?"

    Jadeite walked up, attracted by the conversation. "You hear
something? Probably just the waves."

    "No, it's coming from inside the ship," said Kunzite as he
appeared from inside the cabin of the ship.

    Zocite was with him and looked somewhat annoyed. "Rats?"

    "I hate rats," grumbled Akane angrily as she clutched her arms a
little tighter.

    "There it is again," said Jadeite as he cocked his head.
"It's...tapping?"

    "Don't worry about it, the ocean causes a lot of strange noises,"
said Gohan as he glanced back at them.

    "Nothing this rhythmic," said Kunzite as he heard the sound as
well. "There's something on board the ship."

    "Um, no there isn't," said Gohan.

    Trunks was staring out at sea, seemingly ignoring the situation.
No one saw the pensive looking frown on his face.

    "It's coming from this storage compartment," said Jadeite as he
pointed down at a latch on the deck.

    "Uh-oh," muttered Gohan under his breath.

    "Shit, I thought I told you to use more drugs," grumbled Trunks.

    "I didn't want to kill him," said Gohan as he whispered back at
his companion harshly. "That would kinda defeat the whole point of
bringing him along!"

    Jadeite opened the latch and stepped back with a surprised looking
frown on his face. "What the?"

    A young boy in his twenties was curled up inside the compartment
with his hands and feet tied together. He had a gag over his mouth and
stared up at the man in frightened confusion.

    "What the hell is this?!" cried Akane as she stared at him.

    "Looks like our friends took a prisoner," said Nephrite as he
turned to look at the pair.

    "Sorry, we didn't have time to explain..." said Gohan as he
scratched the back of his head.

    "Hey, I know this guy. He works for us," said Akane dumbly.

    "Huh?" said Jadeite as he turned to look at the boy for a moment.

    "I don't know him," said Nephrite.

    "He works in the auto shop," said Akane in confusion. "What the
hell is he doing here?"

    "He's rather important," said Gohan.

    "That's enough," muttered Trunks.

    "Right," said Gohan with a small sigh. "Well, I suppose we should
let him go, now that they know about it..."

    "Let him go? What the hell did you two idiots do?!" cried Jadeite
angrily.

    "We kinda kidnapped him, sorry. We didn't have time to explain
things too him," said Gohan as he backed away from them.

    "Who is he?" asked Akane dumbly as she pulled him out of the hold
and began to work on his ropes. He was something of a wimp and she
doubted if she'd have much trouble subduing him if he caused any
problems.

    "His name is Keiichi Morisato," said Trunks. "He doesn't look it,
but he's very important. We need to keep him out of sight for the time
being."

    "Why?" said Akane.

    "Because some very important and powerful people are going to be
looking for him. We'll need them later on, and if he dies, they won't
be available to us," explained the longhaired boy calmly. "Sorry if we
were a bit harsh about it, but it's very important."

    "Do we have any other guests?" grumbled Jadeite as he glared at
the pair.

    "Um...no?" said Gohan as he scratched the back of his head.

    "Idiot," muttered Trunks as he glared at him.

    "Come on, I suppose we should find them," growled Nephrite as he
glared at the pair and started walking away.

+++++++++++++++

    Shampoo was irritated, the place she was hidden away in was dark
and cramped, and the ropes that bound her were rather tight. She
growled in frustration as she tugged at them and glared forward at the
ceiling. Eventually she would be able to work her way out of the
bindings and escape. Unfortunately, that would take several hours.
"Shampoo kill when escape," grumbled the girl angrily as she continued
to tug at the ropes.

++++++++++++++++++++++

    Cologne sipped at her tea and sat inside another hidden
compartment on the ship. She was calm and relaxed, the two boys who
had kidnapped her and Shampoo were very polite thus far. She cocked
her head as she remembered them coming into the restaurant and
explaining that it was very important that they escaped Japan with
them. They promised explanations later and carried her rather gently
to the ship while flying.

    It made her feel like a young girl again to be carried away like
she had been. Plus, these powerful fighters had told her they were
planning to visit her village. Quite fine specimens the both of them.
No doubt she could find them both nice wives without too much trouble.
She had considered not allowing them to take her, but her curiosity
got the better of her and she remained. They even made her a nice
lunch to tide her over for the trip.

    Unfortunately, Shampoo had been less than cooperative with them.
They managed to subdue her without knocking her out and carried her
into the air. That stopped her struggles rather quickly and they tied
her up. Technically, it was a defeat, but she needed something a bit
more solid for the counsel to buy into it. She'd goad one of them into
knocking her out by accident or something once she was sure which of
them was the better catch. She could probably do it before they
reached the village. Seeing as most of those aboard could not fly.

    "It's nice how things work out sometimes," she said to herself
cheerfully.

    The door above her head opened and she smiled cheerfully at the
face that stared down at her. "Oh, hello."

    Akane blinked as she stared at the old woman. "I've found another
one!" she called to someone behind her.

    "Do I get to come out now? How nice," said the old woman
cheerfully as she picked up her staff from the ground at her side.

++++++++++++++++++++

    Ranma Saotome smirked at the group in front of him and walked back
and fourth. He looked them all up and down and they stared at him in
confusion. Each of them had a large green duffel bag in front of them.
The bags were filled, but no one could see what was inside. They also
had large backpacks on them with a lot of pockets on them.

    "What's going on?" asked Usagi dumbly.

    Nabiki frowned at Trunks as he glanced at the girl and smiled.
"He's up to something. I don't like this."

"We're only going on a little trip," said the boy.

He pulled out a small laptop computer and tapped a few of the keys.
Washuu appeared on the screen and smiled at him. "Hello," she said
with a cheerful smile. In the background behind her, a muscular man in
a thong was being held in the air by mechanical arms. He had a
panicked look in his eyes and was crying like a baby.

"Oh? Am I interrupting anything?" said Trunks as he smiled at this.

"Nothing important, just an...experiment," said Washuu cheerfully.

    "Right," said the boy as he smirked at her. "You finished the
systems check right?"

    "Everything is ready, anytime you want to go in," said the woman
as she grinned at him.

    "Just don't forget you've got your own projects to worry about,"
said the boy calmly as he nodded.

    "This is just a little distraction," said Washuu cheerfully as she
waved her hand at him. "Everything is on schedule. I'll be going into
my special room later today and finishing that up. I should be out a
few hours after you come back."

    "Right," said Trunks as he shook his head and shut down the
transmission.

    "Where are we going?" asked Usagi.

    "Pick up your gear ladies, it's time to go," said Trunks.

    The group looked at the ship next to them for a moment in
confusion. The Mikon Taka was sitting there and was shut down
completely.

    "This way," said Trunks as he opened a door from nothing and
pushed it open wide.

    The girls all blinked at this and the boy waved his arm for them
to enter. They all did so, not sure of what else to say or do.

    Trunks smirked and stepped in behind them. " Oh? You're coming?"
he asked Hotaru as she floated down behind him from the air.

    "Heh, I wouldn't miss this," replied the girl as she walked in
behind him.

    "I suppose I could always use a little help," said the boy as he
nodded at her.

    The door closed behind them, sealing all those inside for the rest
of a day for anyone outside, and an entire year for anyone inside.

+++++++++++++++++

    The girls looked around at the room; they were standing inside
what appeared to be a long hallway with an open wall on the opposite
side leading into a large field. There were several bunks on the end
they were standing on, and what appeared to be metal picnic tables on
the other end. The floors were polished to a shine and everything had
a sort of sterile look to it. The bunks were all made up uniformly
with dark green sheets, and a large open locker sat against the wall
just behind them.

    "What is this place?" muttered Rei in confusion.

    "Your new home for the next year," said Trunks as he looked at
them all. Hotaru was beside him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"It's going to stay looking like this too, or else."

    The girls all blinked at this, not sure of what to say.

    "This is a room of my own design, actually, it's more of a
subspace dimension than a room. It's whatever I want it too be outside
these walls." He pointed his finger and it started snowing outside the
room. The ground appeared to be made of simple brown dirt before, and
in an instant it was covered in three feet of snow.

    "Wow," said Usagi as she stared at the scene.

    "Heh, the amazement wears off I assure you. You're all stuck here,
no one can enter or leave this room for an entire year," said the boy
as he watched them all calmly.

    "What!?" cried Rei in horror.

    "Relax, only a day will pass outside, that's why this room is in
another dimension. It's to protect the time stream outside from the
adverse effects of the different time field."

    The girls all relaxed slightly at this, but didn't look too much
happier.

    "What the hell are we going to do for an entire year?" cried
Minako as she stomped her foot.

    "You really want to know?" said Trunks as his evil looking grin
widened.

    "Of course!" cried the girl in frustration.

    "Heh," said Trunks as he turned to look at Hotaru. "Well, for
starters, all your senshi powers have been sealed away for the
duration of this trip."

    The girls all looked at him dumbly.

    "The reason you're here is simple. You call yourself pretty
soldiers? Well, I'm gonna turn you into real soldiers."

    "Um...you can do that?" said Usagi as she stared at the boy.

    "Well, I know enough about it, plus I've got a little help with
it." He nodded his head and smiled. "From now on, you'll call me sir."
The boy put a cap on with two silver bars on the front of it. "She's
Ma'am," he handed Hotaru a cap with a single silver bar on it.

    "This is Drill Sargent Fuller," the boy jerked his thumb back at
the towering figure who seemed to melt from the shadows. He was a
massive black man with arms as big around as the girl's waists. He had
a vicious looking snarl on his face and cracked his knuckles as he
stared them all down from under the rim of his large round hat.

    "You can call me...Drill Sargent." He chuckled at the girls as
they backed away from him slowly with horrified looking expressions on
their faces.

    "You...you can't do this too me!" cried Nabiki as she stepped
forward and stared at Trunks with rage in her eyes. There was also a
large amount of fear.

    "Heh, you're here with us for the year. You work, or you don't
eat," he replied calmly. "We don't have enough food to waste on
someone who isn't training."

    The girl stepped back and stared at him, there was nothing she
could do. "I'll tell them who you really are!" she cried desperately.

    "Tell them, it doesn't matter anymore," replied the boy as he
shrugged. "After this is over, they won't like me anyway. They'll
respect me though."

    Nabiki gasped at this and looked at the huge man standing over her
in terror. Usagi had started to cry, and Minako was clutching Rei
fearfully, much to the dark haired senshi's annoyance. Ami and Makoto
were simply looking up at him with their mouths open.

    "Are they mine yet?" asked the towering man as he looked at
Trunks.

    "Not quite, I've still got a few more things to explain to them,
and I'll turn them over too you," said the boy as he smirked at him.

    "Drill Sargent Fuller is an artificial program. Created from
military files and textbooks on training from the United States Armed
Forces. You'll get a little bit of everything from him. He's
unbribeable, ruthless, and he doesn't like you. Don't try to reason
with him, do what your told, and you'll be fine."

    The girls were all listening to him very carefully at this point.
"In this reality, you can't die, but you can be killed. Don't think
for a second that it won't hurt either. Every injury, every wound will
look and feel real. If you die, you'll be revived in about an hour. I
suggest you avoid that, take it from someone who knows. Dying really
sucks."

    "Um...he's going to kill us?" said Usagi fearfully.

    "No, he won't," said Trunks as he shook his head. "His job is to
make you wish you were dead. You won't have to worry about dying until
later, he won't hurt you. Well, he will hurt you, but he won't put you
in any real danger. That comes later on."

    The Drill Sargent grinned at them all; a single gold tooth
sparkled in his maw as he looked them over. "Hurting is good for ya,
lets ya know yer still alive. I'm gonna show you every kinda pain,
you'll love it."

    "Well Sargent Fuller, they're all yours."

    "Yes sir," replied the massive man as he stormed forward. He
glared at the girls. "I'm gonna show ya what yer locker's gonna look
like from now on. Ya'd better learn it real good."

    "Yessir," muttered Usagi in terror as he glared directly down at
her.

    "SIR!? I WORK FOR A LIVING! YOU WILL CALL ME DRILL SARGENT AND
ONLY DRILL SARGENT! YOU WILL BEGIN AND END EVERY SENTENCE YOU SPEAK
FROM NOW ON WITH DRILL SARGENT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" screamed the
man as he put his nose up to her face and got a look of rage so
horrifying that the girl almost passed out right there.

    "Yessir," muttered Usagi as any possible intelligence hidden
within the depths of her mind ran away and shit itself from terror.

"EVERYBODY OUTSIDE! I FEEL LIKE RUNNING A FEW HUNDRED LAPS!"

    "You were right! This will be fun!" said Hotaru as she smirked at
the boy next to her.

    "Heh, I'll start turning up the gravity a little at a time in a
week. We won't ever get up to our normal level, but I think they'll be
able to withstand twenty times or by the time this is over."

    Hotaru nodded and smiled cheerfully at the boy. "This part will
take about eight weeks or so?"

    "Yeah, then we get into the real meat of the training," said
Trunks with a serious nod. "That's when they can die, and we'll get
some real laughs out of that."

+++++++++++++++++++++++

    Makoto Kino's journal: Entry one

    We got a few notepads with our gear, Drill Sargent says they're
for writing letters home. He also said something about earning phone
privileges through hard work. I don't see what good that will do us,
seeing as there's no one on the entire planet we can call really. I
asked Trunks about it, he says there's still some bugs to work out of
Fuller's system. That scares me frankly.

    We're working hard, we've been up for two days straight now. The
Drill Sargent yells at us all the time and makes us do painful
exercises. Nabiki, Rei, and myself seem to be doing the best at that.
Nabiki says she did aerobics to keep herself fit, but we're all in
pain and can barely move. Drill Sargent says we get some sleep
tonight, after we clean the billets. That's what he calls the room we
stay in. He won't let us start for another hour though, we get what he
calls 'personal time' seeing as I can't really write letters, I
decided to do this. It looks like most of us have the same idea.

    We're all wearing camouflage uniforms, they have our names on them
in Romanji, but no tag specifying what service we're in. Ami says it's
Army Training from what she sees. We have to keep our hair pinned up
above our necks now; he isn't making us get it cut though. It has to
be able to fit under our covers, what he makes us call our caps. I
hate this place already; I don't see how we're going to make it.

    Usagi has the worst of it; she's terrified of the man. He won't
leave her alone, I feel so sorry for her. We can't do anything to help
her either, our powers are locked up and he's as strong as he looks.
Not that we've tried, but I saw him lift a few ten foot long logs as
if they were made of paper the other day when he was building a large
pit just outside to fill with water for mud. I don't really want to
know what that's for.

    That girl Nabiki stopped talking. We don't know her that well, but
she's been a friend of sorts since this whole mess started. She seems
to have taken too this rather well I think. She does what she's told
and tries to stay out of sight. I think she's just as scared of him as
we are, but she doesn't show it. The stress of this is getting to all
of us, and there's no escape.

    Ami can't move around much, the same for Usagi. Minako is a little
better, but not much. They were complaining about every part of their
body being sore, it's the same for me, but I'm in better shape. I know
it must be really hard for them.

    The weather outside has been perfect so far, but I know it's only
a matter of time before Trunks starts making it harder for us. He
seems indifferent to our suffering, we've tried talking too him, but
he ignores us and states that if we want to eat, we have to work. I
don't see why we need this; we were doing fine... well maybe not.
Still, I don't see how this is going to help us.

    The man is horrible to us, all he does is yell and force us to run
and sweat in painful ways. If one of us screws up, we all do. Those
are his exact words, we've always worked as a team, I hope we can get
through this.

+++++++++++++++++

    Makoto's journal: Entry Two

    It's been three days since I last wrote anything in this book. We
get sleep now, but only six hours at most. We're outside before light,
and we don't come back until the sun comes down. Most of what we do is
physical, Trunks says there's a few classes he had to edit out of the
program. So far we've learned about some of our equipment and he's
teaching us how to march. Next week we get gas masks, I don't think
that's good. Why would we need them?

    Another thing bothers me, we got weapons today. We have to call
them weapons, Usagi has trouble speaking without getting herself into
trouble, we try to railroad him away from her, but he seems to single
her out more than anyone else. Our new weapons are called M-16 A2s. We
don't need guns, the very idea offends me. Still, we have to do what
we're told. None of us like it one bit though. We're learning to
adjust the sights, clean, and disassemble the weapons right now, but I
know it's only a matter of time before we end up firing them.

    We're constantly under his thumb, all day every day. He's
constantly criticizing us; nothing we do is good enough. Plus, he
forces us to act like we enjoy this torture. During what he calls
'PT', or the workout portion of our training. He makes us say things
like. "We like it, we love it, we want some more of it. Make it hurt
Drill Sargent, make it hurt!" I feel stupid and humiliated; I've never
felt so inadequate in my life. His favorite torture is making us run
'until he feels tired'.

    Usagi is trying hard, but she keeps screwing up. That girl Nabiki
keeps giving her angry glares. It's not the poor girl's fault, I'm
kind of upset with her, but in a way I also understand. It's hard on
all of us.

    We discovered what he was building outside with those logs as
well. He calls it 'The Pit'. Over the past few days we've learned all
about it, and we regret every moment. The pit is where he forces us to
roll around, crawl, run, push up, and basically hurt ourselves in the
most grueling experience of my life. He literally has us in there
until we can barely stand. It's the place we go when he decides to
punish us for some imagined insult. His favorite game is to ask us
questions he knows we can't answer and then send us out there for a
half-hour or so. The man is sick, twisted, and completely revolting.

++++++++++++++++++++++

    Makoto's Journal: Entry Three

    I wish I could put a date to this. I'm not sure what month it is
anymore, much less what day. It's been about a week since my last
entry. Things aren't getting much better, but we are getting through a
little easier. The physical part doesn't hurt so much anymore. Even
Usagi isn't rendered completely helpless any longer. Doing something
to the point of muscle failure isn't rare, but we recover much faster.
It seems warmer in here also, and if I didn't know better, I'd think
that we're growing weaker. Everything seems to be heavier now, if only
a little.

    I found out why we needed gas masks. I wish I hadn't. Fuller took
us to a small building, and put us into a small room. He then
proceeded to break several gas capsules in the middle of the room. We
were forced to put on our masks in less than a minute, and had to
clear them of the gas before we could breathe. It was horrible, we
went outside and we were covered in snot, tears were pouring down our
faces, and Usagi and Minako got really sick. The stuff burned, it was
awful. It took a long time before it wore off. Why is he doing this to
us? What did we do?

    Yesterday, we fired our weapons. We were taken out to a range and
fired at targets. Fuller explained a lot of things to us, how to hold
the weapon, how to keep score on the targets, that sort of thing. Rei
shot him. He laughed at her and beat her up pretty badly. She's not
seriously hurt, but it was a devastating blow to all of us. She cried
herself to sleep that night, I almost couldn't bear the sound of it.
We went to Trunks about that, and he simply snorted and said 'Now
she'll no better than to try something like that. Those aren't toys.'
That bastard. Hotaru is a little more understanding, but she didn't do
anything either. She watches us a lot, but doesn't say much and tends
to keep to herself.

    This is wearing us down, I yelled at Usagi today. I felt pretty
bad about it, but it didn't last long. She screwed up again during a
march and we were forced to run. I feel so sorry for her, she's
trying, but...she's causing us so much pain. I hate to say it, but I
wish she hadn't come with us. We got little knives called bayonets,
they attach to the front of our weapons. That part wasn't so bad, we
had to run up and stab little dummies made up to look like Trunks and
Fuller. The man actually seemed to enjoy watching us do it. It's
disturbing.

    We've got the marches down pretty well now. It doesn't give us too
much trouble. Even Usagi seems to have gotten the hang of it somewhat,
she still screws up a lot though. Not nearly as much as when we first
started though.

    Tomorrow we go to an obstacle course. That sounds like it might be
a little fun, even though I hate to admit it.

    Ami and Nabiki have gotten very quiet, they don't talk much to
anyone, more so for Nabiki than before. Ami seems distant now, but
still friendly. I caught her giving Usagi an odd look the other day.
I'm not sure what to make of it. Rei is handling this surprisingly
well; she acts pretty much the same towards Usagi as she always has.

+++++++++++++++++++

    Makoto's Journal: Entry Four

    Another week has gone by, I hate this place. I know I say that a
lot, but it's tearing us apart. The stress is unbelievable, we're
constantly under pressure to perform, and we never get the opportunity
to have more than a few moments to ourselves. Even when we're just
standing around, we have to do it quietly and uniformly. The worst
part is, I'm growing to dislike Usagi. Even Ami feels that way, though
she doesn't voice it. I realize that was what that look she was giving
the girl meant after I saw it on a few of the other's faces. I'm
really trying to fight these feelings, but...

    Fuller has grown more sadistic with time. This morning he woke us
up by rolling several canisters of gas into the billets. We had to
struggle to get our masks and he laughed at us while we were doing it.


Ami doesn't voice much of anything really. She only speaks when she's
spoken too anymore, it's frustrating. Nabiki is a bit more vocal, but
she has to be. Fuller appointed her 'squad leader' meaning she's in
charge of keeping us in line so to speak. She's become our
spokesperson, we had to ask for feminine items the other day. That was
embarrassing, Fuller doesn't seem to care about our moods though. Rei
is really bad, Minako is going into withdrawal I think. She hasn't
seen a boy in weeks. She's starting to give Fuller odd stares.
Fortunately, Trunks seems to be a little young for her to stare at
that way. It's very disturbing.

    All we've really been doing is firing those rifles this week. We
go out to the range for most of the day, and shoot up targets. Some of
them jump up at us now, and we're learning about other weapons as
well. The M-60, I didn't like the look in Rei's eyes when she saw that
weapon. I think she was sexually aroused when he brought out the
rocket launcher. This place is doing strange things to us, I'm afraid
for us.

    Nabiki seemed to go on some power trip after she became squad
leader. She was always ordering us around. I didn't understand it at
first, but when she was confronted by the group of us she said 'would
you rather have me tell you to do these things, or have him find out
they aren't done?' It made too much sense, we apologized for it and
she seems to be doing a good job of keeping us out of trouble.
Unfortunately, Usagi does just as good of a job of getting us into it.

    I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this into the journal, seeing as
it's something I don't really want to remember. We found out two days
ago, that Trunks was not bluffing us. We learned about hand grenades,
and went out to a range to toss a few around. There were large targets
and dug in barricades for us to hide behind when they went off.
Naturally, Rei got that look in her eyes a few times while we were
there. It wasn't shaping up to be that bad of a day really, it was
light on PT, and we seemed somewhat relaxed.

    That is, until Minako blew off her arm and tore up her face when
she dropped her grenade. We all panicked, Usagi cried a lot, we all
did. Nabiki was the only one who didn't look too upset. She had a
disturbing calm about her throughout the whole thing.

    Trunks showed up in a truck and loaded her onto the back of it. He
tried to calm us down, but we were too angry. He ignored us and drove
off, Fuller wouldn't let us follow.

    When we got back to the billets...she was sitting on her bunk as
if nothing had happened to her. The look on her face was scary. She
seemed almost white with fear. She was looking at her arm and flexing
her fingers. We asked her what had happened, but she simply said that
she had passed out just after arriving, and when she woke up, she was
fine.

    This place isn't natural; it scares me more and more each day.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

    Makoto's Journal: Entry five

    Another week has gone by. I hate Usagi Tsukino, but that doesn't
excuse what we did. I feel so horrible, but it was satisfying in a way
I can't describe. I can't understand, how I could have enjoyed it.

    She's quiet now, looking at us with that hurt and betrayed
expression. I think it broke her, I don't know how I'm going to live
with myself after seeing those eyes. I just...

    Usagi screwed up one too many times. Her weapon was a mess for the
inspection. It was dirty, and she had forgotten to put the firing pin
back in. We just couldn't take any more.

That night, we all sneaked up on her in the middle of the night. We
grabbed her sheets and beat her with soap that we had put into socks.
Her cries of pain tore into my heart, but I didn't stop. I couldn't.
This went on for a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. We all
went back to bed. She didn't even get up; she just stayed there
sobbing to herself. I didn't get any sleep that night, I know Minako
and Rei didn't either. Ami and Nabiki did though, I don't see how
though. I'm not sure how many times I cried that night, listening to
Usagi apologize to us over and over. I don't think I'll ever forgive
myself. She wasn't doing any of it deliberately, it was just. I can't
even bring it to words. I just...oh god what have I done?

One of my best friends, and I can't even bring myself to think of her
that way any more. She's just an annoyance now, the one thing keeping
us from succeeding.

    The next day, Usagi was gone. We didn't do anything; we just did a
lot of PT, but no real training otherwise. She came back that night,
her eyes never fixed on any of us. I'm not sure what happened to her.
I think she was with Trunks and Hotaru all day, but she isn't talking.
Most of the others are too disturbed by their own actions to speak
with her.

    Ami and Nabiki don't seem to care. I don't know what happened to
Ami, she's so different now. She was always quiet, but she was never
this cold. I liked her a lot; I'm not sure how much. Now, I can barely
stand to look at her. We've all changed so much. I don't think it's
for the better either.

++++++++++++++++

    Makoto's Journal: Entry Six

    I haven't seen the billets in three days. We've been outside for a
long time. Camping, Fuller calls it Bivouac. We sleep in tents, and
spend the day running around in the strange environment. We seem to be
in a forest, but I've never seen one while outside before. It's as if
it popped up overnight. That doesn't surprise me, seeing as Trunks
controls every aspect of this place. It rained all day yesterday, and
it snowed most of the day today. We've got about four feet outside the
tents now, and we're all miserable. Even Nabiki seems to show it. Ami
seems oddly comfortable though, maybe because she's Sailor Mercury?
Huh, I'd almost forgotten about that.

    We call each other by our family names now, nowhere near the
personal relationship we used to have. I'm not sure why, but it seems
right with the situation. Fuller has always referred to us that way
though. I wonder if we'll go back to the way we were once we leave? I
doubt it. I don't think any of us will ever be the same.

    Usagi screwed up as usual, she managed to tie her arms together
during first aid training. Fuller seems to focus more on us as
individuals now rather than as a group. Our fear of Usagi screwing up
has lessened somewhat, but we still don't want to let her if we can
help it. Fuller doesn't always focus on just her. When she screws up,
sometimes he announces that we should 'Thank Tsukino' for whatever
torture he's devised for us. We all screw up sometimes, and all of us
have had a similar announcement made on our behalf. Usagi just has it
happen a lot more, a whole lot more.

    She's stopped crying at least, and seems to have more focus on
what she's doing. She's trying harder than ever, and her slipups are
lessening somewhat. Whatever Trunks told her, it definitely helped.
She still doesn't speak too us about that, or anything if she doesn't
have too. I can't bear to look her in the eyes, not out of disgust for
what I did so much as I honestly don't like her. The others feel the
same way, and none of them tries to hide it. It's like we've all had a
big fight about something important. Maybe we did, but I don't see it.
Her cheerfulness is gone, she's sullen most of the time, but doesn't
look for forgiveness or try to make up with us. I'm not sure if she's
expecting us to make up with her, or if she just doesn't care anymore.
Maybe she doesn't like us either? I can't say I blame her.

    Trunks seems to be around more often than normal. I've seen him
talking to Usagi, he seems to be encouraging her. We all tried that
before, but it didn't work. It's obvious he doesn't like doing it, I
had to hold in a laugh when he walked by me muttering something about
'becoming Tuxedo Dork'.

    Fuller is more reserved now, if we do things on our own, he
doesn't show up as much. He seems to leave us on our own as long as we
aren't screwing around. That's a great relief to most of us, we strive
to keep things in order just to keep him away whenever we can.

    Eating is still an adventure. I found that out when Fuller passed
out something called an MRE. Meal Ready to Eat or something like that.
It was the most disgusting thing I've ever had. There was a little
chocolate bar inside of it, but it tasted like chalk flavored wax. We
all ate it though, going hungry isn't a good idea the way we move
around. We march miles at a time, we run constantly, and we're always
stopping for 'PT stops'. No one else gets the pun but me, not that
it's funny or anything.

    From the very beginning, we've had to eat meals in about five to
ten minutes, depending on how well we've performed over the past few
days. The better we did, the more time we have to eat.

    We go out at night sometimes now. We've been to the rage a few
times after dark, it's a lot different. Rei's weapon is always
immaculate, I think she's gotten in a bit of trouble for keeping it
that way rather than focusing on her uniform and boots. Fuller has to
be able to see his face in our boot toes, that's not easy to do with
as much wear and tear as the boots get. Life is getting into a sort of
pattern now. It's getting easier to predict what's happening next, and
a lot of our time is becoming routine. I find myself thinking that
this place isn't so bad. I hate that thought.

++++++++++++++++++++

    Makoto's Journal: Entry Seven

    It's been two weeks since I last wrote in this book. Looking back,
I wish I had written more. Fuller says he'll be leaving soon, and that
we should be proud of what we've accomplished. I don't know what to
say to that. I've just got no clue.

    All I know, is that Trunks has something else planned for us after
this. I'd like to think the worst is over. Over the past few weeks,
we've worked hard. Usagi earned Expert on her marksmanship oddly
enough. She did the best out of all of us. Unfortunately, that's about
all she can do well. Rei is a bit upset that the girl did better than
her on the range.

    We've done so much, I've been too busy to write, and too tired to
even think at night. We repelled off the top of a tall tower, after
climbing up to the top with nothing but our hands, feet, and a few
protruding ledges in the side of the structure. We went through an
obstacle course at night, with a  machine gun firing over our heads.
The pit is rarely visited any longer. Not that it bothers us much
anymore.

    I've learned so much over the past few weeks. I don't know how it
will help us in the future, but I can't fault the man for being a bad
teacher. We learned everything he had to teach us, whether we wanted
too or not. I know we were changed forever by this. I wish I could
just go back to the way I was before. I know that's not possible.

    I feel a sense of pride for just having survived this. Fuller is
an evil man. Well, he's not a man at all really, it's easy to forget.
He's evil, but he's evil with a purpose, I find myself respecting him,
despite the fact I know he doesn't even exist..."

    "Actually, he does exist. Fuller was created from my own
memories," said Trunks as he smiled at Makoto and looked at her after
glancing over her shoulder at the page she was writing.

    "Huh?" said the girl in surprise as she looked at him. "Sir!" she
jumped to her feet and saluted him sharply. "I'm sorry sir! I didn't
see you come in!"

    "It's all right," replied the boy calmly as he returned the salute
and shook his head.

    "You knew a real Fuller?"

    "It was a very long time ago, but yes I did. I never liked him,
but I respected him an awful lot in the end." The boy smirked at her
and looked around the room. "I wish I could give you all a graduation
like the one I had. Your families would be quite proud."

    The girls all looked at him in confusion.

    "What?" said Nabiki.

    "It's over, you've all passed," replied Trunks calmly as he walked
into the middle of the room and looked around. "You've just completed
Basic Combat Training. You're all real soldiers now."

    Usagi turned to look at the others for a moment and smiled
slightly weakly. "Congratulations then."

    Everyone looked at her uncomfortably, even Nabiki was unnerved by
the reaction. Ami frowned at the girl and shook her head slowly.

    "What do you mean?" said Trunks as he looked at her. "You passed
as well. You're a little rough still, but you meet all the
requirements."

    Usagi blinked at this and stared at him. "But...I'm not good
enough, all I do is hold them back."

    "I'm not going to argue with you Usagi. You may be an annoyance
sometimes, but they will not succeed without you."

    Everyone in the room stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.

    "You've all still got a lot to learn, but don't worry. You'll
learn very quickly. The real training is about to start, and I'm
afraid it's nothing compared to what you have just done. All I did,
was give you the knowledge to take the first step in the next part of
your training."

    "There's more?" wailed Minako.

    "Great," grumbled Makoto irritably. "I take it we'll be seeing
Fuller again tomorrow then?"

    "No, Fuller has fulfilled his role. You're going to have to deal
with this on your own. I'm afraid Fuller has been shut down." The boy
blinked in surprise as Minako fell too her knees with tears in her
eyes.


    "Noooo! Fuller! The only real man in this place is gone!"

    Ami had been standing next to her and moved away with an
uncomfortable looking frown. "So, what will we be doing?" she asked
gently.

    "You're jumping straight into the field. You'll get the weekend
off today, do what you want, rest, relax, and enjoy yourselves for a
couple of days. On Monday, you'll start your first mission."

    "Mission?" said Usagi as she cocked her eyebrow in confusion.

    "That's right. Tendo, I'd like to speak with you," said the boy as
he walked out of the room and outside.

    The girl stood in front of him at attention and he looked her up
and down. "Heh, you've done very well."

    "Thank you sir," replied the girl emotionlessly. Trunks could tell
she didn't like speaking too him at all.

    "Well, I've decided to keep you on as the leader of this troupe.
Congratulations Lieutenant." He handed her a small box with a single
gold bar inside. She looked at him in surprise and muttered a quiet
thanks.

    "I doubt if you'll be very pleased with this in a few days time.
You're responsible for them now, I'm giving you Fullers job. You just
don't have to be as vicious about it as he was. They're completely
under your control."

    "What about you?" said the girl as she stared at him.

    "I'll be giving orders to you, it's your job to make sure they get
sent out," replied the boy calmly. "Minako is going to be your first
Sargent, with Ami being directly under her as Sargent First Class."

    "All right," replied the girl as she nodded once. "What will we be
doing, if I might ask?"

    Trunks smirked at her. "See that?" said the boy as he pointed at a
building that had appeared on the horizon. Nabiki gasped as she
realized that it was several buildings, making up a complex of some
kind. "You're going to invade that building, with specific objectives
that you need to complete. This is a live combat exercise. You saw
what Happened to Minako on the grenade range, so you understand what
I'm planning."

    "What?" gasped the girl in shock as she stared at him.

    "I'm telling you so you can be ready, you can tell the others if
you like, or keep it to yourself until the time comes. Let them enjoy
their time off so to speak. However, don't think for a moment that
you're going to survive at first. There are hundreds of programs
similar to Fuller running around that building. Most of them
programmed to kill you all."

    Nabiki was as white as a sheet, she stepped back away from the boy
slightly and nodded her head once. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

    "You'll understand when the time comes," replied the boy calmly.
"For now, simply concentrate on relaxing, because in a few days,
survival will be the only thing on your mind."

    Nabiki nodded and turned away after giving the boy a sharp salute.


    After she had returned to the inside of the building, Hotaru
landed beside the boy. "That was definitely worth my time to watch."

    "They've grown harder, stronger, now they'll learn to be ruthless
and smarter."

    "It should be amusing at any rate," said Hotaru with a small
shrug. "Are you sure about Usagi though?"

    "She'll go in with the others. Despite it all she did pass, if
only barely."

    "Your call," replied the girl with a small shrug. "How do you
think she'll handle it?"

    "That's up to her," replied Trunks with a small snort. "She has
the strongest will. I think she'll do better than you think."

    Hotaru nodded and glanced at the doorway to the billets. "Maybe
you're right. They'll never be the same though."

    "Heh, of course not," said Trunks as he waved his hand to dismiss
the matter. "It'll be interesting if nothing else."

    "Well, I think I'll definitely be entertained watching those girls
get themselves killed."

    "The fact that they don't stay that way, does make it more amusing
doesn't it?" agreed Trunks. "Let them have their two days though.
We've got plenty of time for that stuff later."

++++++++++++++

    TBC...

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