[FFML] [FanFic][SM][NETTG] Terra in Tokyo Ch. 8 (of 27) "Plotting, Meditation, Torture, and Knitting?"

[Benjamin A. Oliver]

Heya!  Already at chapter 8.  How time flies, eh?

*Klacketyklacketyklacketyclackety!!* (Scrambles on the edits for the
remaining chapters...)  ^_~

Disclaimer:
This story is based loosely on Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon by Naoko
Takeuchi. This is a non-profit fan work created as a tribute, and no
infringement is intended. All rights to the characters, settings, and
situations of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belong to Naoko Takeuchi,
Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC. ArbyFish belong to
Daniel Oliver and are used with permission.  Gotta have ArbyFish.  How
would you make superpowered invincible villains if you didn't?


Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!!
Terra in Tokyo
Final Mix

---Chapter 8:  Plotting, Meditation, Torture, and Knitting?

	It was a typical day in the Dark Kingdom.

	"JADEITE NO BAKA!"

	With a wham from her giant staff, Queen Beryl sent her loyal First
General flying over the horizon.

	"Aiyah!" cried Zoicite in a cutesy Chinese voice.  "Crazy queen-lady
hurt Airen!"  He jumped on a slim motorbike and sped off in the
direction of Jadeite's flight, ringing the little bell on it as he
went.

	"Uncute tomboy!" Nephrite berated his leader.  "Yer always hittin' on
us for things we ain't doin'!"

	"You don't care about me!" sniffled the tall woman.  "I want to rule
the solar system and you can't beat up a few obnoxious little girls
for me!  Waaaah!"

	Kunzite, wearing a pair of extremely thick glasses, came in riding a
unicycle and poured Beryl a cup of tea.  "Beryl-sama!  Will you
finally accept my love and become my bride?"

	The queen suddenly became all forlorn and dewy-eyed.  "I will if you
kill off all the little Sailor girls for me."

	"Yes, my love!" replied the Fourth General, and unicycled off into
the darkness.

	Behind her throne, the gigantic force known as Metallia flowed around
and glared at Beryl with a huge demon face.  "BERYL, WHY AREN'T YOU
GATHERING ENERGY FOR ME?!"

	The redhead folded her arms and pouted.  "Well, I would have, if it
wasn't for those darn kids and their cat!"

	"YOUR FAILURE MEANS NOTHING TO ME," replied the monster, "AND FOR
THAT YOU MUST DIE!!!"

	Metallia promptly swallowed the queen in one chomp, then licked her
jaws and said, "TASTES LIKE CHICKEN!"

	Then Queen Beryl, ruler of the Dark Kingdom, woke up.

---

	Beryl opened her eyes.  She was slumped against the arm of her
skeletal throne, apparently having dozed off after the rough evening
she had.  Her face still burned from the tears of frustration she had
shed over the past couple of days.  Her emptied wineglass lay
shattered on the stone floor where it had fallen.  "Jadeite...."

	Her general was the latest casualty in the cross-dimensional campaign
to conquer the Earth.  A month ago, she had expected to lead her
forces unchallenged onto the planet and take control with barely a
fight.  After all, her youma armies were immune to most normal human
weapons, and with sufficient numbers they could establish strongholds
to cement their foothold upon the planet.  But unexpected resistance
came in the form of their old enemies, the Sailor Scouts--or Soldiers,
as they now called themselves.  Thousands of years ago, she had
watched the last of them die at the hands of her demon goddess, but
they had somehow been reborn or reorganized.  This complicated things
tremendously.

	General Jadeite had been a master of planning.  All of his plots were
reviewed by the others and deemed impossible to fail, with too many
contingency plans to be stopped entirely, and yet wherever he struck,
the Sailor Soldiers were there to confront him.  Even the first
foothold they had gained upon the Earth was obliterated by them with
the help of the traitor fleet commander, who must also have been
reborn in this time.

	Jadeite came up with the perfect plan to stop the Sailor girls once
and for all, with the help of the other generals.  He sought to kill
them and use the energy from their souls to fully revive Metallia and
open a bridge from the Dark Kingdom to Earth, and achieve a decisive
victory... but it was not to be.

	The little coward, Sailor Chibimoon, proved to be especially
troublesome.  Like a cornered rat, she fought the four generals to a
standstill and weakened Jadeite enough for him to be killed by the
other Sailors' attacks.  Beryl had watched it happen through a scrying
spell in the crystal ball atop her staff.  No one should have been
able to fight like Chibimoon had.  The girl moved impossibly fast, but
had been badly injured in the process, and should have died, but...

	Queen Beryl looked at the parchment on which the attack plan had been
written, then she crumpled it in her hand and threw it against the
wall.

	...but, the strumpet still lived!

	At that moment, Zoicite walked in.  His movements were slow and he
only used one eye.  The rest of his face, save his mouth, had been
bandaged up while his terrible burns continued to heal.  He came and
knelt near Beryl's throne.  "Your majesty."

	"Zoicite," Beryl replied perfunctorily, and eyed her minion's
condition.  "Are you still recovering, after all this time?"

	"No, my queen," the bandaged general hissed, "I am ready to go back
NOW.  It's true, isn't it, that the... CHILD still lives?!"

	"Yes," Beryl said with no small hint of malice.  "I've been watching
her movements, thinking of how to dispose of her."

	Zoicite stood and held up a clenched fist.  "Allow me to go, majesty,
and I'll make her wish she'd never been born!"

	"Silence," Beryl spat back.  "She made all of you look like fools,
and you still want to face her alone?"

	"Not alone," Kunzite said as he entered from the shadows behind
Zoicite.  He put his hand on the other man's shoulder and motioned for
him to keep quiet.  "I have something ready.  That sailor girl is
already walking into my trap."

	"Trap?" inquired the queen.

	The silver-haired general nodded.  "Yes, indeed."  He looked into the
shadows beyond Beryl.  "Advisor!  Would you mind explaining the plan
we devised?"

	There was a deep, dark, and melodious chuckle from beyond the edge of
the light.  "Not at all, you fascinating creature," the masculine
voice said.  The clickety-clack of metal against metal and cloth
echoed throughout the hall.  "About that girl, Sailor Chibimoon.  She
has powers far beyond what any of us had expected.  I myself was
impressed.  I doubt you could kill her alone, however hard you tried."

	"Why wait until now to tell us?" asked Beryl.

	"It wasn't so obvious before that night," explained the mysterious,
dignified voice.  "She did well to conceal her powers.  Perhaps before
she activated them, we may have stood a better chance, but now that
she knows how to use them, we had best beware.  She may even be
touched by the one I seek, the one whom I wish to kill."

	"We have to be more covert," explained Kunzite.

	The Queen nodded.  "A sneak attack, then, to kill her."

	The dark voice let out a long, mocking peel of laughter.  "Oh, no,
no, no.  A simple death?  Tell me, would that satisfy your thirst for
vengeance, General Zoicite?"

	Zoicite clenched his blackened teeth.  "No.  Death is too good for
her, for what she has done to my face!"

	Kunzite grinned evilly.  "What we plan to do is to capture her,
brainwash her, and make her our slave for the rest of her tortured
life.  We've put a lot of preparation into this.  We set the plan into
motion before we actually fought her.  We had assumed that she
wouldn't join the others to fight us, but now that she has, our plan
has taken on new meaning and importance."

	Beryl stroked her chin.  "I see.  On our side, she would become a
valuable weapon.  But will it work?"

	The voice chuckled once again.  "I took care of your little 'Sailor
V' problem, didn't I?"  A broken crescent-shaped compact fell into the
light, as well as a few shattered scraps of what had been a
crystalline sword.  "She and her ditzy friend are gone forever."

	The ruler of the Dark Kingdom smiled slightly, her eyes twinkling.
"You make a compelling argument.  Very well, Advisor.  What do you
require to carry out this plan?"

	"Nothing, darling.  Nothing at all except your patience," the voice
said.  "Soon, I'll make your wildest dreams come true."

	"Thank you, Advisor."

	"Oh-ho-ho, yesss."  Out of the shadows, the Advisor hopped forward.
He was a small creature, pure white, vaguely cat- and seal-like.  His
red irises glowed in the darkness and he carried a pair of sharp, thin
knitting needles as well as a scrap of tightly-woven cloth.  He tossed
the needles away and tied the cloth around his neck into a long,
sparkling white cape, embroidered with patterns of other shades of
white.  "And don't worry about titles.  Please, call me Bruce."

---

	The Irish girl huffed and puffed as she dashed into the building
where her interview was to be held.  "I'm late," she gasped.  "So
late!"

	After Terra left Rei's shrine and got on the bus, she discovered that
she'd taken the wrong one.  Its stop wasn't too far from where she
needed to be, but it was far enough to make her late, even if she ran.

	That slowing-down-time trick she'd figured out a few days before sure
would have come in handy, but despite her efforts to engage it, the
power wouldn't come.  Maybe it would only work when she activated her
Chibimoon powers, and transforming in the middle of the street in
broad daylight probably wasn't the best idea in the world.

	She arrived at the doors of the tall building about five minutes late
and barely able to speak as she tried to explain to the security guard
why, exactly, she needed to get in right that instant.

	"Hold on there, girl," the gigantic, scary guard said.  "Let's see
some ID first.  Show me your driver's license."

	Terra sighed.  "I'm fourteen!  I don't have a driver's license."  She
dug through her Sack of Confusion and located some other forms of
identification.  "But I've got my passport and visa.  I think my
school might have a card ID system, but I didn't get one from them
yet."

	"Passport and visa are fine," the guard said, examining the two
items.  Finally, he nodded, let her in, and pointed her in the
direction of the receptionist's desk.

	"Excuse me," Terra said to the receptionist.  "I need to see the CEO.
 I've got an interview," she looked at the clock, "seven minutes ago."

	"I see, and what's your name?" the lady inquired, taking out a long
schedule listing.

	"Terra.  Terra Incognita."

	"Terra?  Hmm... Oh!"  The receptionist looked up and smiled at her.
"Incognita-san, we're glad you could make it.  Take the elevator up to
the penthouse level and go straight in.  She's waiting for you there."
 She pushed a button and spoke into a microphone.  "Ma'am, your four
o'clock is finally here."

	"Thanks," Terra breathed a sigh of relief.  She went over to the
elevator and got straight in when it opened.  Someone came out past
her.  She stopped when something like a shock jabbed through her mind.
 It was like her mind was trying to tell her something, but when she
looked around, the individual had vanished.

	The redhead shrugged it off and went up to the penthouse level.  It
took a few minutes for the elevator to get there.  Dude, thought the
girl, this is a totally tall building.

	"But... I don't say 'dude,'" Terra whispered to herself.  "It
wouldn't be proper!  Actually, I don't know anyone that says 'dude.'
Not even Arby talks like that."

	"Woof woof, tweet tweet, give the ArbyFish a 'shroom," someone behind
Terra said.  She turned around and sure enough, it was Arby.  He was
wearing a tattered brown robe, its hood on fire, and he carried a tin
cup, which he rattled.  The creature looked positively gnomish and
bizarre as it looked up at her from the floor.

	Terra sighed.  "Arby, what are you doing here?  And why are you
wearing--"  Then she stopped.  She remembered that terrible, terrible
things had a nasty habit of occurring when she asked the creature
questions.  "Nevermind!  I don't want to know anything!"

	Arby smiled broadly.  "Nope!  Too late.  You gets an answer."  He
took out a mushroom from the tin cup, which had a nickel balanced on
its top, and hopped onto the girl's shoulder.

	Don't ask why he's got an American nickel in Japan, the girl coached
herself.  Don't ask what he's doing.  I don't want to know what he's
doing.  I don't care what he's doing.

	"Oye's givin' yew a recharge!" Arby announced, squeezed the 'shroom,
and squirted some mushroom juice onto the mushroom mark on the girl's
neck.  "It's Ritualistic!"  Ritualistic was spoken like yet another
expensive buzzword.

	"No, don't question the action, just accept it," Terra muttered in
her continued effort to avoid thought.

	Then the mark on her neck hissed, burned, and glowed.

	Terra let out a yelp of pain as she clutched it.  In a rush of
annoyance, she pursued Arby, but before she could catch him, he flew
out the open elevator escape hatch.  "Aaaarbyyyy!"

	A falling mushroom nailed her in the face when she tried to climb up
the wall.  Then the elevator chimed.  Terra wiped the mush off her
nose and straightened her borrowed outfit.  She had her hopes and
dreams to pursue, after all.  The mark on her neck was glowing strange
colors, so she pulled up her collar to hide it.

	The door slid open to a beautiful, padded silken paradise.  Light
shone down from tinted windows, illuminating what amounted to giant
lava lamps and crystal decorations.  In the midst of it all sat a
busy-looking woman in a pants suit at a desk.

	"Incognita-san," the CEO said in a melodious voice.  "Please, come in
and have a seat.  We have much to discuss."

	Terra obediently and demurely sat down in the chair across from her
interviewer.  She felt a bit nervous and had to place her hands firmly
on her legs to keep them from shaking.  She'd never been in a real job
interview before.

	The woman smiled reassuringly at her.  "No need to worry.  I'm only
going to eat your soul."

	Terra laughed nervously at the joke.  "Umm, yeah."

	The CEO glared at her.  "I SAID I'M GOING TO EAT YOUR SOUL, YOU TWIT!"

	The girl laughed some more.  She'd switched off her brain somewhere
after Arby had popped up and hadn't yet found a reason to turn it back
on.  "Yeah, heh.  Cool."

	Then her mind gave her a whap upside the skull and told her, hey,
this woman here can't be the real CEO of a major modeling company.  I
mean, look at her, turning into a bat-winged grey creature like that.
Do you call that professional behavior?  Honestly, some people have no
manners.

	But it was too late.  The youma already had Terra on the ground,
choking her, strangling her, draining her energy, and being generally
weird.  She wasn't really worried.  After all, she'd beaten four
generals just the other day.  Surely she could handle one youma by
herself.  Why, it'd be a trifling effort!  She'd fight it off with one
finger and then brag about it to her friends afterwards.

	"Moon Prism Power, Make Up," Terra whispered.  Even in the youma's
enervating grasp, she transformed normally, pink miniskirt and all.
"I'm Sailor Chibimoon," she said through her partially blocked
windpipe.  "I've fought four generals, beat them all at once, and
you're next!"

	Terra poked the youma with one finger.  Surprisingly, the monster
didn't recoil back against the other wall and shriek in agony like she
had supposed it would.  "Oh my."  She tried again and it still didn't
work.  Plus, she was getting kind of drowsy at this point.  "Oh,
right!  I remember.  Chibimoon Temporal Flux Compressor!"

	As much as Sailor Chibimoon attempted to grab onto the fabric of
space and time, it kept slipping through her metaphysical fingers.  It
felt like she'd need a LOT more power to try that out again.  Her only
other trick was to try and hit her opponent really hard.

	Much to her dismay, her punch bounced ineffectively off the
creature's face.  What's more, the youma yanked her arm out of its
joint and twisted it around rather painfully.

	"YOWCH!"

	"Stay still," the youma hissed.  "This will all be over soon!  BWAHAHAAHA!"

	Let's see, Terra went over in her head, what other tricks did I
learn?  Oh yeah, there was the psychic projection stuff.  That was
much easier than compressing time.  And besides, a Sailor Knight
Centurion with a nice, sharp sword and armor was just what the
situation called for.

	"Chibimoon Psychic Projection," the girl called out in an imitation
of what her friends always did to use an attack.  She stuck out her
hand and pointed somewhere behind the youma, then focused her will
into a cohesive form like the previous time.  "Sailor Knight
Centurion!"

	In a puff of smoke, a figure appeared where Terra had pointed.
Short, squat, pale and with a horrified look on its face, it was a
naked anemic midget with a broken stick falling out of its hand.
What's worse, it was drooling and its eyes rolled back into its head.
It collapsed, seized up, and died before the poor creature mercifully
vanished in a sickly blue haze.

	Chibimoon grimaced.  THAT wasn't supposed to have happened.

	Finally, Terra's body went numb, the youma let go, and it stood a
ways off with its arms folded.  The girl tried to move, but while she
found herself perfectly conscious, she was totally paralyzed.

	Not good, not good, not good! her mind frantically yelled at her.
We're a sitting duck!  We could get captured, killed, tortured, or
whatever else the enemy's got in its mind!

	"Then... mind?" Terra whispered.  "Help... me out... of this...."

	It was your stupid idea to come here in the first place, she chided
herself.  You get us out of this.

	Chibimoon didn't have a chance to wonder when she'd developed a dual
relationship between herself and her own mind.  She was actually more
concerned about the portal that opened and the bandaged-up
Negamafoozle general that walked through--Zoicite, probably.  She
could see the blond hair sticking out of the full-head bandage.
Jadeite was the only other blond general, but he'd been fried.
Besides, there were other telltale signs like the not-so-bulky body
and short height.  Actually, remembering his face, if she'd never
heard him speak, she might have thought he was a woman.

	Gee, Terra told herself, for not thinking, my head's awfully loud.

	"Quiet, you," Chibimoon whispered.  She could move her eyes and head
just a bit, so she looked up to Zoicite when he came to gloat over
her.  "Hi, Zoi," she said softly, "how's that energy-blasted face
working out for you?"

	YOU FOOL! Terra's mind screamed.  Taunting's fine, but do it when
we're not helpless!

	"My face?" Zoicite said, deathly still and even-toned.  "Let's see
how you like it."  He held out his hand and gathered a ball of yellow
light into it.  "Yes, let's see how YOUR face looks when it's been
totally burned off.  FEEL MY PAIN, CHIBIMOON!"

	Terra wasn't particularly worried about the energy blast.  She'd been
"killed" before and gotten away without a scratch.  For all she knew,
she was invincible.  "Bring it on," she whispered defiantly.  "You
weak little complaining pansy."  She feared no death; death was
something that happened to other people.

	"DIE!" screamed Zoicite before he unleashed the attack.

	But somehow he missed.  The blast crashed into the tiled floor a foot
away from Terra's head, spraying dust and ceramic fragments
everywhere.

	Zoicite recoiled, holding his wrist and bleeding.  He pulled out a
small throwing knife from his forearm.  He looked around.  "Why?!"

	"Stick to the plan," said a deep voice, "and you'll have your
revenge.  Patience, my pet.  Patience."

	Terra heard a hissing noise.  She looked over and saw a snake-thingy
slithering toward her from under some of the padded furniture.  Her
eyes went wide with horror.  Try to kill her, sure.  Torture her?
Well, that's proper; this was a war, she was caught unpowered and
off-guard, and she'd want the same advantage had their roles been
reversed.  But... to have sent a snake after her?

	"AAAAAAAH!!!" Terra screamed, attempting to squirm out of its path,
but it kept coming.  She hated snakes.  To make matters worse, it was
some kind of alien snake with all sorts of mouth and jaw junk--toothy,
spiny, yellow, and icky.  It moved so quickly that the girl didn't
have time to reflect on the terrible slimy cold feeling when it
climbed into her mouth, burrowed through her soft palate, wrapped
around her spine, and connected itself to her brain.  "MMRPH!  Er, I
mean, OH MY!"

	Silly me, her mind noted before she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Oh my" doesn't even begin to cover it.

---

	"Hurry up!" Sailor Moon panted as she frantically climbed the stairs.
 "We might still have time!"

	Just behind her, Luna and the other three Sailor Soldiers easily kept
up.  Mars had the note in her hand that had informed them of the trap.
 It was written in green, scrawled, broken Gaelic, so Mercury had
needed to take out her computer to translate it properly, but the
message had been unmistakable.  Terra was going to be captured and
brainwashed at a mock interview in revenge for what she'd done to the
generals last Saturday.  There was no threat in the message; it was
merely a statement of fact.

	The message had arrived just a few minutes after the Irish girl left.
 It had been wrapped around a very heavy, slimy mushroom, and thrown
through a closed window in the shrine.  Usagi had been so dismayed by
the message that she insisted on running the whole way there, despite
the fact that if they'd taken the bus or a taxi they would have been
there so much sooner.

	"Maybe it's a false alarm," Jupiter suggested.

	"But Sailor Moon's right," Mercury said.  "We shouldn't take any
chances with these kinds of things.  We have to check it out."

	"Anyway, we're just about there," said Mars when they reached the
door to the penthouse level.  Jupiter kicked it hard, sending the
reinforced steel door tearing off its hinges and bouncing through the
room beyond.  The four Soldiers ran in to see General Zoicite and
another one of those gnarled gray Dark Kingdom youma standing
triumphantly over a fallen, unconscious Sailor Chibimoon.

	"Stop right there!!!" Sailor Moon commanded, pointing at them.
"Toying with a girl's idol superstar modeling dreams is... well,
that's just plain wrong!  In the name of the Moon--"

	"And Mars!"
	"Jupiter!"
	"And Mercury!"

	"We will punish you!"

	The four miniskirted warriors for love and justice struck a great,
big photogenic group pose that would have won them dozens of awards
and marriage proposals at sentai series cosplay conventions.

	"Oh-ho-ho-ho!"  Zoicite covered his mouth and laughed.  "You lose,
Sailor Brats!  She is already under our control."  He kicked the girl.
 "Get up, Chibimoon, and fight off these brats for me, will you?"

	Chibimoon's eyes opened, and they burned with an inner white light
for a fearful instant.

---

	Terra opened her metaphysical eyes and was suddenly mistreated to the
sight of what her mind really looked like.  The view was fuzzy, but
she could tell things were quite messy.

	"Ew," she whispered.  "Luna was right.  This place IS messed up.  And
it's so blurry, too."  She turned to a passing memory troglodyte.
"Excuse me?  I was just attacked by something nasty and I think it's
doing something to my brain.  What can I do?"

	"Nothing," the crickety troglodyte said.

	The girl blinked.  "What do you mean?"

	"Don't worry about it.  It's in the bag."

	"No, no, I don't think you understand--"

	"I'm a part of us.  If I don't understand, then neither do you, kid.
But I got something we might like.  Look at these."  It held up a
stack of photographs.  "I've got GREAT pictures of your boyfriend if
you want 'em.  Real cheap, too."

	Terra covered her mouth in shock.  "NAKED BEEFCAKE PICTURES OF TUXEDO
KAMEN?!!?"

	"Wow, it sure didn't take long for you to figure out what you wanted,
did you?  I got 'em here!  In focus and everything."

	Terra instantly reached for her purse, but then remembered she was in
some sort of mental dreamscape.  "Ooooh--I mean, no, no!  Bad mind!
Bad!"  She shook her head quickly and smacked her face a couple of
times.  She was a good girl and didn't go for those kinds of things.
Or, at least, she thought she didn't.  If she did, she was a lot more
messed up than she thought.  Or perhaps not, given what adolescence
does to teenage minds and preferences.  "What I meant to say was that
we should probably try to mount some kind of defense before my mind
gets taken over."  She saw a color sweeping the edges of her view.  It
was an icky yellow, the same as the alien brain-snake.  "There!  Look!
 We're in trouble!"

	The girl got roughly yanked aside and found herself face to face
with... herself, albeit herself with shorter hair and a slightly older
appearance.  "The snake-head's trying to brainwash us," her double
explained, then grinned like some sort of sadistic woman that liked to
do very naughty things with whips and leather.  "But we're stronger
than it is."

	Terra attempted to shake her imaginary head and clear her vision
without much success.  "Be that as it may--"

	"Wake up," her double ordered, just before drawing back and smashing
her fist into Terra's cheek.

---

	Terra's eyes snapped open and she stood up.  Aside from being a bit
woozy and having an uncomfortable squirming lump in the back of her
neck, she felt okay.  Taking stock of the situation, she found herself
facing Zoicite and the other Negamafoozle.

	"Kill them," Zoicite said.  "Watch as your friends are forced to fight you."

	Chibimoon turned around to see her four fellow Sailor Soldiers in a
group pose.  But they looked worried and were hesitating.

	"Chibimoon, no!" Sailor Moon cried, her eyes full of tears.

	"This is terrible!" Luna exclaimed.

	A tingling at the base of her skull stung Terra, but it didn't force
her into action.  Zoicite believed her to now be susceptible to
suggestion, her mind told her.  She had no attacks, but perhaps there
was a way to exploit this momentary advantage.

	Chibimoon held out a hand and addressed the general.  "Give me a
weapon," she ordered, discovering that her voice had gotten deeper and
acquired an additional vibrato due to the snake's effect on her
larynx.

	Zoicite gave her the throwing knife he'd pulled out of his wrist.
"Use this.  Make it slow."

	Terra felt her control wane somewhat.  She felt urged forward towards
her friends, brandishing the knife.  She had to get rid of the snake
somehow.  If she just let it do what it was doing, she really would be
possessed.

	"No, better yet," Zoicite corrected, "kill yourself in front of them.
 Put that dagger into your heart."

	An idea occurred to Terra.  "How about my neck?"

	The general shrugged.  "Fine.  Just do it."

	Sailor Chibimoon raised the knife above her head, and then jammed it
into her neck right about where the snake was squirming.  It must have
been quite a nice direct hit, since whatever connected her brain to
the snake's was sending her a deathly amount of pain.  To gasps of
shock from her friends, she widened the incision, grabbed the yellow
alien serpent, tore it out of her body, and flung it at Zoicite.

	Then Terra fell to the floor because, well, her spine was badly
traumatized and her brain juice was leaking out.

	The group of enraged Sailor Soldiers then let fly with a flurry of
attacks.  Sailor Mars conjured a tremendous bolt of flame!

	"FIRE SOUL!"

	Sailor Moon turned her tiara into a grand disc of energy and flung it
towards her enemy.

	"MOON TIARA ACTION!"

	Sailor Jupiter called upon the titanic powers of Jupiter's incredible
lightning storms, flinging a tremendous bolt in Zoicite's direction!!

	"SUPREME THUNDER!"

	Sailor Mercury crossed her arms, twirled around once, clicked her
heels, snapped her fingers, and flung a pathetic bunch of soap bubbles
at the general.

	"Shabon Spray!"

	The others glanced at Ami with raised eyebrows.

	"What happened to that cool ice spear attack of yours?" Jupiter
whispered to her.  Ami merely shrugged in reply.

	Zoicite, struggling with the snake, glanced frantically at his minion
as the combined strike sped closer.  "YOUMA!"

	The fake CEO obediently jumped in front of the attacks and took their
full brunt.  It disintegrated in the combined wash of energy.

	Sailor Moon stalked toward Zoicite.  "I won't forgive you.  In the
name of the Moon... I'LL PUNISH YOU!"

	Rather than face the full force of a berserk teen with a powerful
energy disk, Zoicite vanished in a shower of cherry blossoms, saying,
"I'll still get you!  I'll get you all!"

	"So, she wasn't really brainwashed," Sailor Mars whispered, looking
at her fallen comrade.

	"Not all the soap in the world could wash THAT brain," Luna commented.

	"No, no, NO!" an angry voice yelled from the shadows.  "This is all WRONG!"

	Mars looked around.  "Who's there?!"

	"DIE!!!" the voice screamed, and something white with a blade flashed
past Mars and Jupiter, leaving them with deep cuts in their sides--so
deep, in fact, that they fell down from the pain.

	The flash zipped toward Usagi and nailed her squarely in the
forehead, shattering her tiara and leaving her face bloodied.

	It was about then that Luna got a good view of their attacker.
"N-no!  It can't be!"  She started to back off.  "It BRED?!"

	"And I had the perfect plan, too," Bruce growled while slashing up
Sailor Mercury to relieve his disgust.  "If it weren't for you...
uncooperative THINGS!"

	"What is it!?" Jupiter cried.

	Mars grimaced, clutching her wound.  "I have no clue!"

	Mercury desperately switched on her computer and tried to get a scan.
 "It's a... rare breed... elite class... White ArbyFish?  This one's
fifty thousand years old.  And its power readings are off the scale!"

	"They're evil mutants!" Luna screamed, pointing at the White
ArbyFish.  "Mutants, I say!  Run, everyone!  Run!"

	Bruce's eyes gleamed.  "There's no escape for you.  You're doomed."
He slashed Mars' unprotected legs and toppled her over.

	"It'll kill us all!" Luna wept.

	"Kill?" said Bruce with raised eyebrows.  "Oh no, never kill.  Not
you.  You all have to live, and deal with what I'm about to do to
you."  He sniffed the air and his grin grew deeper.  "You smell like
immortals as well.  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to
wallow in freakish misery forever?"

	"Why are you doing this?!" asked Sailor Moon.

	"There's someone I do wish to kill," replied the creature.  "But it
looks like my plans to draw him out have been thwarted for now.  So
I'll just have to take out my displeasure on all of you instead.  It
won't be over quickly, I can assure you.  I know how to make these
things... endure."

	Then something on Terra's neck glowed, a bit below the deep cut.
That drew the White ArbyFish's attention.  "I feel a strange power.
What's this?"

	Bruce flew over to the girl.  What glowed was partially covered by
her choker necklace.  He pulled that down and his eyes went wide.
"It's--"

	The mushroom mark shone green with a frightening, burning intensity.
Bruce slammed up against the wall from the force of its power.  The
light increased to such a magnitude that all the girls had to cover
their eyes.  The ArbyFish seemed to find its presence difficult to
endure.

	"THE MARK OF THE FIRST ONE!" Bruce growled.  "On the body of a human!
 How can this be?!"  The light flared up to a new level.  "AARGHH!
Too much!  If he can do THIS to me without even being here, I'm no
match for him yet!"  He slashed a portal through the space-time
continuum with his knife and dove into it.

	The mushroom mark's power lessened somewhat, then flickered at an
unusual rate.  The wounds on Terra's and the other Soldiers' bodies
sealed themselves and vanished within seconds.

	Sailor Chibimoon sat up, holding her head and rubbing her neck.  For
now at least, the mark had died down to its more normal levels.
"Aaaaowwww," she moaned.  "That was the SECOND most horrible
experience of my whole life!"

	Mars got up and put her hand on the redhead's shoulder.  "I'm glad
you're all right.  You had us worried for a minute."

	Sailor Moon rushed up and hugged Terra.  "I'm so glad you're okay, Chibimoon!"

	"Hey now," Makoto said.  "Don't get too friendly there."

	"I can't explain it, but she's like a sister to me," Usagi said,
helping her friend get back up.

	"Thanks, Sailor Moon," Terra whispered.  "I thought I could handle
them, since I fought four generals at the same time and won."

	"You can't get lucky all the time," Rei replied with a shrug.

	"One question, though," Mercury began.  "If this was the second most
horrible experience of your life, what was the first?"

	"Running naked through the city for hours with a crazy ArbyFish
taking pictures of me and selling them to the highest bidder," Terra
explained.

	Rei burst out laughing.  "Ooh boy, that's a good one."

	"So your most horrible experience wasn't, like, dying or anything?"
Makoto inquired with a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

	"Dying?" Terra mused drowsily.  "Pfft, nah, that was a cakewalk.
Kind of fun, now that I don't have to remember it so much."  She
paused.  "Then again, watching my friends die a horrible quick death
and seeing everything I cared about fall apart in an instant was
pretty bad."  Then she remembered the bus trip back home after getting
stripped down, and shuddered.  "Nah, Arby was definitely the worst.
No contest.  Doesn't even compare."

	"Why's that?" Usagi asked with a frown.

	Chibimoon closed her eyes and shook her head, twitching.  "You don't
wanna know.  You just... don't wanna know."

	"It's true, then," Luna spoke, obviously not wanting to believe
something that she now knew to be a fact.  "Arby... lives?"

	Terra nodded.  "As much as I'd wish otherwise."  She rubbed her neck.
 "On the other hand, something he gave me actually came in handy."

	"Strange," Luna noted.

	"Indeed," Chibimoon added while leaning against one of the
heavily-padded couches.  It fell aside to reveal a woman, gagged and
bound, with a nametag that identified her as the company's chief
executive officer.  "Oh my!"  The girl quickly untied her.  "Are you
all right?"

	The woman nodded slowly, rubbing her sore wrists and ankles.  "I am
now, thank you.  Someone knocked me out and tied me up back here!  Did
you see who it was?"

	Terra nodded.  "Yes, but I don't think you'll be able to catch up
with them.  Different dimension and stuff."

	"I see."

	Sailor Moon leaned toward Chibimoon and impishly suggested, "Hey,
maybe if you ask very nicely, she'll give you that job interview you
wanted."

	Terra's eyes widened.  "That's right!"

	The five girls hurried out of the room to undo their transformations.
 The other four waited outside while Terra went inside.

---

	The company chief seemed surprised when Terra entered, but since the
Irish girl was on the schedule, she decided to go ahead with the
interview.  They sat across a small table from each other while the
businesswoman thumbed through a thick portfolio she had somehow
obtained of Terra in various poses and outfits.  They seemed to be
from the past few weeks or so.

	Terra tried not to think of how much Arby must have been stalking
her.  Still, though, she felt pretty confident about her appearance.
"So, what do you think?"

	The woman placed the portfolio on the table and, with cold geniality
said, "We at this company hold our models up to the highest achievable
standards."  She crossed her legs.  "Incognita-san, you are adorable.
However, there are some issues."

	Terra frowned.  "Such as?"

	Her interviewer recoiled from the way the girl spoke.  "You are being
quick with me, so I shall be quick with you.  Our markets are targeted
toward a more complex, mature audience.  We're not much for tattoos
around here, either."  She pointed at the mushroom mark on Terra's
neck.

	"This isn't a tattoo," the girl explained.

	The CEO waved off the comment.  "Or birthmarks, et cetera.  In short,
you are too young, your singing voice leaves much to be desired, and
your hair is... just not what we are looking for at this time."

	Terra gasped.  "Do... do you really mean that?"

	The woman chewed on her lip, deep in thought for a minute, and then
sighed.  "No, not really.  You're rather pretty, and I'm sure we could
fit you in somewhere, but you're a foreigner."

	Terra nodded.  "Nationalism and racism?  I can understand that."

	"You're Anglican as well," the woman added.  "I'm sorry, but... I
can't stand Irish protestants.  The Church of England is worst of all.
 I hope you don't mind me saying so."

	"Religious intolerance?  No, it's fine.  We got that all the time
back home.  Violently so."  She shuddered at a distant memory.  "Annie
was the worst.  I'm just glad that nothing she did gave me noticeable
scars."  She darkly dwelt on that thought for a few seconds before
looking up at her interviewer.  "Anyway, it's to be expected."

	"And my niece wants the job, so I don't think I should give it to you."

	"Nepotism?  Okay, I'm all right with that.  If I had a niece, I'd
want to give her a nice job, too."

	"And we'd like someone with a tight, lithe, slim figure.  You're too
short, slightly too bulky and you're one cup size too large."

	Terra stood up and put her hands on her hips.  "HEY NOW!"

	"So you see," the woman said smugly, "you simply would not work out here."

	"Look, missus lady ma'am," Terra complained, her language skills
slipping.  "I really think I could be a great star!"

	The CEO's eye twitched.  "Missus... lady... ma'am?"

	"I've got lots of idol potential.  You can see it, can't you?"

	More twitching.  "'You?'  As in, 'me?'"

	"Yes, yes, of course.  You're the one to know--"

	But it was too late to say anything else.  Due to an incredible lack
of honorific usage, the one upon whom Terra had placed all of her
hopes and dreams had gone for her pointy umbrella.  "OUT, OUT, OUT!
AND LEARN TO BE POLITE BEFORE TALKING TO ANYONE EVER AGAIN!!!"

	"WAAAAAAAAH!!!"

---

	Terra Incognita rolled out of the corporate office building in a
large plastic garbage can with a great big scratch on her face.

	Her friends watched her as she slid to a halt and crawled out.

	"So, did you get the job?" Makoto inquired with great interest.

	The bruised and sliced Irish girl looked up at her friend with an
expression that read, "What do YOU think?!"

	"Awww, that's too bad," Usagi said in a sympathetic tone.

	"Did you remember to use the right honorifics?" Ami inquired.

	Terra thought about that.  "Um... no?"

	The bookwormish girl nodded.  "That explains it.  You have to be
careful around top-tier business workers, especially the ones with
pointy umbrellas."

	Rei examined the loaned blouse and blazer.  "Looks like you ruined
it."  She folded her arms.  "You're going to have to buy me a new one
now."

	Terra looked up at her with twitching eyes.  "Rei... don't be so mean!"

	Rei helped her up and smiled faintly.  "I was just kidding.  I feel
bad it didn't work out.  Come on, let's get you home."

	"Sorry for dragging you into this mess," Terra sighed.

	Makoto patted her on the back.  "Hey, it's no problem.  Anything for
our favorite good luck charm."

	"Good luck charm?" Terra asked as they headed towards the bus stop.
That sounded good.  While it wasn't exactly Kind Fearless Leader, Our
Beloved Ruler, or even Sweet Gentle Paladin, it was nice to have a
title she actually earned.  Plus, it was better than just being known
as the comic relief of the group.  "I like that.  It makes me feel...
special or something."

	There were no disagreements.  There were a few more chuckles, a
playful argument or two about unimportant things, some plans for a
trip to the mall, and finally some expressed concerns for a huge test
going on the next day, whereupon the group split up and hurried home
for a last-ditch cramming session.

---End Chapter 8

And now it's time for... MIND YOUR MANNERS!!! with Sailor Nuke.

(Scene of a snake diving into Terra's mouth.)

Sailor Nuke:  Today, we learned that you should never let snakes climb
down your throat.

(Terra rips the thing out.)

Sailor Nuke:  It's too much trouble to get it out afterwards.
Besides, it's a lot more fun to blow up before it makes it there!

(Scene of the high-level interview.)

Sailor Kawaii:  Also, if you're going to be rude to corporate
executives that hold your fate in their lives, at least be cute about
it.

(The CEO attacks Terra savagely in the head with a pointy umbrella.)

Sailor Kawaii:  If she'd been acting cuter, she'd never have gotten
attacked like that.  Be cute and don't get stabbed in the head.
Sailor Kawaii says.  Tee-hee!

Sailor Nuke:  And blow up snakes before they get to you.  Sailor Nuke
sez.  BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAA!!!


Thanks for reading!

-- 
Benjamin A Oliver
benjamin.a.oliver at gmail.com

Technical Writer / Translator
M3 Engineering & Technology

Master of Science in Management Information Systems
Eller College of Management
University of Arizona

Writings: Fan Fiction
http://boliver.florestica.com/

Webcomic: Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!! The Early Years
http://nettg.com