Suggested changes: {before : after}
Spel chekers are legal in most jurisdictions.
When I mention differences in the background of this story from the
anime, I don't mean you need to change something to fit canon. I am
just noting the difference since it may have additional consequences.
On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 06:13:28 EST Kyhdin@aol.com wrote:
Disclaimer: The concepts of Spiderman are the {propery : property} of Marvel Inc. Sailor
Moon is the creation of Nakao Takeuchi. No money is being made from this and
no such intent should be inferred.
C&C{,, : ,} public or private is welcome. I respond to all C&C{.... : ... }eventually
It would be easier to read if you put a space after ellipsis.
"You know, at 72 pixels and in capital letters,
fish looks like its {mispelled : misspelled}."
Shinohara made a face as he studied the paper. Sailor Moon this, Sailor Moon
that. All anyone ever wanted to talk about was the mysterious woman who had
seen fit to take the law into her own hands. Even his father couldn't stop
talking about her. Though that may have been because of pressure from his
superiors on all {Kobans : kobans} to find and arrest the vigilante. He stared across
the ice rink at the far wall. Ami was having her first practice today with
the {Hockey : hockey} team and he had showed up to support her. He glared down at the
paper and scowled as he wondered who Sailor Moon was and what made her do
what she did.
"No." Shinohara sighed. "Miss Usagi," he said, speaking very clearly and
{ennunciating : enunciating} each word. "The last time Miss Naru began a {sentance : sentence} with the
words 'say, {shinnie : Shinnie}', I spent forty-five minutes in a subway station, dressed
in women's clothing and flirting with an American Marine. Apologies, but my
answer is no."
Gee, he's no fun at all. :}b
This Usagi and Naru appear much tighter than the pair in the anime.
That will make it much harder for Usagi to distance herself to protect
Naru if Naru isn't involved in senshi business in her own right.
"Pictures?" Shinohara yelped and then gave a mental {grimice : grimace}. 'Idiot,' he
berated himself. 'Now they smell blood.' He steeled himself. 'No matter what
they say, I will not react. I am like ice. My will is like iron. I am
emotionless. I. Will. Not. React.' Silently repeating that mantra to himself,
Shinohara focused on his paper again.
"Yep." Usagi sounded thoughtful. "She keeps this safe in the bathroom, you
know. Under the sink. Last place anyone would look, you know? Anyway, she
looked at the pictures and then dashed into the bathroom to put the pictures
away where no one else could see them. She must have stubbed her toe or
something though, cause when we listened at the door, we heard her moaning.
She must have wanted you there to kiss it and make it better, cause she kept
calling out your name."
The paper in Shinohara's hands tore lengthwise down the middle.
That was evil. I likes it.
Without any effort whatsoever, Flash came to a stop and faced the line,
looking almost like a drill {sargent and her : sergeant. Her} eyes were cold as they swept over
the group. "Listen up," she snarled. "With Shidou out sick, I'm team captain,
which makes teaching you lot the fine art of hockey my responsibility. She
pushed backwards a bit and gestured for them to look around. "See this? This
room, this whole building. All of it is a {seperate : separate} world. In here, you are
part of a team and any feelings you may have {towards : toward} your teammates, hostile
or otherwise don't exist here. In here, we are one living, breathing entity
with one purpose. Kick some ass." She moved back to her original position.
"Now even though you are backup for us regulars, you still need to be able to
play just as we do. But since I doubt most of you have even been on ice
skates before, we'll start with the basics." She reached into the box and
took out a black plastic disc. "This is the puck, your enemy and your
friend." She skated forward and handed a puck to each girl. "I say your
friend, because putting into the other team's goal is our goal. It's also
your enemy because keeping it out of our goal is our purpose." She let the
box fall to the floor. "So, let's see what you got. Do laps around the ice
until I tell you to stop. Go as fast as you feel comfortable. Use your stick
to guide the puck as you do."
She sounds like a pretty good coach and instructor so far.
"What's odd?" Shinohara asked. His stomach was a very tight knot. There were
rumors that Ami had been using steroids, which was why she had an athlete's
body when it was a well-known fact that the only {excercise : exercise} she ever got was
walking to and from school, {the : her :} cram school, and the library.
"I've known Ami for years," Usagi said. "She thinks it's embarrassing, but
she has a huge inner ear problem, messes up her sense of balance. She can
walk and run, but that's about it." She tapped a finger on her knee. "Come to
think of it, she's been acting odd since that bump on the head. She eats
more, walks different, just seems more...I dunno, aware." She whirled on
Shinohara. "You knocked her up, didn't you?"
That must have been a real problem in gym classes until someone
figured it out. Memories of that time would be a reason Ami would be
eager to avoid physical education as much as possible. It might also
raise a flag to Aunt Mai if she suddenly becomes a sports star.
If Ami has been around for so long, how long has Makoto been around?
In the anime, both started at Usagi's school very shortly before they
became senshi.
No. Weasel it out of her." The mad grin took on an air of hungry {anticpation : anticipation}.
"This is going to be fun." Shinohara simply nodded, even as he offered up a
silent prayer to anyone who might be listening that he didn't wind up wearing
say...a dog suit.
Or a weasel suit.
After practice, the {qaurtet : quartet} went to Ami's house so that she could drop off
her gear before they would, in Usagi's words "Descend on the Crown Cafe for
an afternoon of frozen goodness orgies."
When they entered the house, they found Aunt Mai and an {american : American} man at the
table, talking quietly.
The man was tall and powerfully built with short, dark gray hair in a crew
cut and a small {sqaure : square} mustache. An unlit cigar was in his mouth and his eyes
were sharp, missing nothing. He wore a dark gray polo shirt and matching
slacks.
"There's no need for this 'Sir' {bisinuess : business}, my boy. The name's Jameson. J.
Jonah Jameson." He spoke Japanese with a heavy accent.
"Shinohara...so you're the young man who's caught my {grandaughter's : granddaughter's} eye." He
let out a chuckle. "Mai's spoken quite highly of you."
Ami sighed. Grandfather Jameson had been with the American Navy during the
Korean War. After a medical injury had sidelined him, he had gone into
{Journalisim : Journalism}. His first wife had left him soon after the birth of their son,
unable to deal with his obsession with journalistic integrity. Heartsick, he
had gone to Japan on assignment, and fallen into the arms of a pretty
{secratary : secretary} at the {Toyko : Tokyo} Bugle. Jameson chose to stay in Tokyo with his new
bride and went to work for the Bugle. He was loud, brash, indomitable,
scrupulously honest and unforgiving of screw-ups. The Japanese people loved
him and his weekly editorials were one of the most frequently read. Even
after Ami's father had been born, Jameson continued in his ways, speaking his
mind on politics and society, his {forign : foreign} birth allowing him to get away with
saying things that many thought, but didn't want to speak.
Now the Bugle's publisher, Jameson frequently traveled back and forth between
Japan and America to attend to the Bugle's New York counterpart, which he
also owned and had named, "The Daily Bugle", as well as see his family. Ami
really didn't know much about that side of the family. Her uncle John was a
test pilot with the American Space Agency and would send her NASA {memorbilia : memorabilia},
and she occasionally exchanged E-mails with her cousin Mattie. But she had
never met either one of them. To do so would mean flying and--she was
trapped, the {darkeness : darkness} pressing in on her, getting harder to breathe--Ami
pushed the memories down and looked at Usagi.
"Masochistic {excercise : exercise} program?" Naru chimed in without looking up from the
magazine she was reading.
Crime fighting? Web slinging? I know that both come later.
"Because I...because I have had enough of your {chidlish : childish} and immature
behavior," Shinohara said and left the room. Ami looked at Usagi for a moment
and then ran after Shinohara. Their shouted voices mixed with those of Aunt
Mai and Mister Jameson wanting to know what the shouting was about and then
the front door slammed. Moments later, they could hear Ami in the front yard,
shouting for Shinohara to wait.
It would be sort of poetic if Ami and Gendo took the opportunity to get
a room and get it on. Not that this is that sort of story.
Gendo, {unfortnutly : unfortunately}, had had two hours to work up a fine head of steam and it
broke lose. "What human being? She constantly teases you, flings insults,
thumbs her nose at authority, and pays no attention to her grades. Then hides
behind her name. She's worse then a {Bukaramin : burakumin}! They, at least know their
place."
Now, up until that point, Ami had been doing pretty well with {controling : controlling} her
temper, but now it woke up and roared it's fury. "Place?" She repeated. "And
just what, pray tell, is her 'place'? Hm? In the kitchen? Walking behind her
boyfriend? Blending into the crowd? Not standing out?"
"Maybe I like outspoken!" Ami snapped. "Let me tell you something, Gendo
Shinohara, who, by the way, is afraid to even hold my hand in public for fear
he'd be seen as too forward, who apologizes {everytime : every time} he even trips over
something for being such a clumsy oaf. You think I'm going to be offended if
you trip? I spent the past two years being a target for Flash Kino's version
of humor. I can tolerate an insult or two and Usagi's at least, are meant in
jest. Usagi, at least, isn't afraid to go after what she wants!"
'The tallest building in Tokyo and {its :: it's} on the other side of the city from
Juuban!' her inner voice shouted. 'I just ran all the way across {freakin : freaking}
Tokyo!' With that realization came a memory of her crawling up the side of
the tower. Her hands and feet clinging to the glass and steel like velcro. 'I
really am a freak,' she thought to herself.' Already her breathing was normal
and her heartbeat was slowing to its normal pace. 'More proof that I was
right to keep this curse a secret.' She looked around the roof and sighed.
There was no sign of roof {acess : access} to the inside of the building and with a
sigh, she began to crawl down the side of the tower, hoping no one saw her.
Now I have to wonder what happened to Gendo. It seems a little odd to
me, especially after reading to the end and knowing what happened,
that Ami doesn't wonder either.
I also wonder a little where Sailor Moon is. This sounded like a
youma attack and Sailor Moon is already active.
It was rare for Usagi to see someone {: mad} spitting mad and even rarer for that
anger to be not directed at her. It was therefore, with some amusement, that
she and Naru sat side by side on the couch sharing a bag of candied nuts and
watching as Mister Jameson screamed into his phone.
"I told you! Her name is Ami Mizuno, she's fifteen years old and she ran out
of the house three hours ago after her friend and has yet to call us. She's
my granddaughter and I want her found. So get off your--" he said several
words in {english : English}, which Usagi didn't speak, but thought they sounded naughty
"--and find her instead of feeding me excuses!" Whoever was at the other end
said something that Jameson apparently didn't like because he turned a
peculiar shade of reddish purple and bellowed into the phone. "Rules be
damned! FIND HER!" With that, he jabbed the phone with his thumb, cutting the
connection.
"She's one of the Miracles?" The officer asked, obviously astonished. The
Okinawa Air Collision was one of the worst disaster in the history of Japan.
Equipment failure, sloppy traffic control and bad weather had caused five
aircraft, three Marine Transports and two passenger liners to collide over
Okinawa Marine Base. Only seven people had {surived : survived}, most of them children.
More then a thousand people dead in the air and twenty more on the ground
during both rescue efforts and when bits of the planes {and : had} flown every which
way {upon landing :}, destroying buildings and incinerating an entire stretch of
tarmac. The so called "Miracle Seven" had become minor celebrities, each one
bearing the number in the order they had been pulled from the wreck. "I
thought her name seemed {familar : familiar}." Ami Mizuno had been number seven, the last
living being they found.
I guess getting shaken and stirred at a young age would explain her
inner ear problems.
"I suppose I should me moving along as well," Jameson said. "Miki will be
starting to wonder." He paused. "Mai, are you sure it's a good idea? The
slumber party? I've heard stories about {Tuskino : Tsukino} and Okasa."
As much of a control freak as he sounds, I'd expect a meter thick
dossier... on each.
"I wasn't sure either," Mai replied. "But Ami trusts her, and Usagi has never
once failed to be there for her when she {needs : needed} a friend." From upstairs came
a shriek of laughter and Naru shouted voice declaring a pillow fight. "And
Ami needs friends tonight."
It was at that point{, :} the phone rang.
"Curious," Mai said to herself and set the phone on the {reciever : receiver}. Walking
into the TV room, she turned the TV on and flipped the dial to six.
That's going to put a load of guilt on Ami, Usagi, and Naru;
especially since it apparently didn't occur to any of them to check
on Gendo before the slumber party started really rolling.
Giving her aunt a puzzled look, Ami left the room, Naru right behind her.
Usagi, however, stopped at the doorway and looked at the older woman. "Bad?"
the teen asked. Ami's wail of grief from downstairs answered the question.
"I'll call my dad's lawyer," Usagi said simply and hurried downstairs.
It's odd that her first reaction to some as yet unknown problem would
be to call a lawyer.
"Are you okay?" asked a voice. Ami turned to see a tall, graceful woman
standing nearby. She wore a {bisinuess : business} suit and her long hair seemed almost
dark green in the afternoon sun.
Sailor Pluto cameo. Is she going to be more active than she was in
the early anime?
Dark save for the table in the middle of the room. {Upoun : Upon} this table sat a
lamp, which cast a small circle of light around the table, and beyond that
circle, deep blackness. The only other thing on the table was a small, old
fashioned tape recorder.
"This is the journal of Ami Mizuno, to be published in the event of my death.
I have been more then a month in the {preperation : preparation} for my purpose. For my
atonement of the act of cowardice that cost Gendo Shinohara his life.
{Wether : Whether} by accident or design, I have power. Gendo only wanted one thing out
of life. To be a cop. To protect the people of Tokyo. Now, in his name, I
will do what he never got to do. I will become the spider, I will become the
night.
With Great Power, comes the even Greater {Responsibilty : Responsibility} to use it.
It will be interesting to see how she accomodates her
responsibilities as Spiderwoman to those of a senshi if she does get
tapped as Sailor Mercury.