MAVERICK LEGACIES

2-apr-02

    This will probably forever be know as the unfinished one. I've pretty much given up on it. I'm averaging about a paragraph a year. The only reason why I'm even bothering posting is because many elements from this fanfic found their way into the comic. Most notably Cammy. I also decided not to edit it so you are getting a raw and unsanitized version for your reading displeasure. I just don't have the time right now.

    Now for the legal junk. All borrowed characters copyright their original owners. All original characters copyright me, Joe Pullin. This fanfic may be posted on other sites in whole only. This fanfic may also be MySTed in part or whole. Tell me about it and I might post it on my site. Also, If anybody cares to, they may finish it for me. Please let me know. If I like, I post.

ARIGOTOU

            “There’s somebody at the door, Mama.” Toki said as she went upstairs. Then the doorbell rang.

            “How does she do that? Who could be coming by at this hour?” She opened the door and was greeted by someone who didn’t look much Japanese.

            “He-lou, nice to meet you.” She said in English very slowly.

            “Konnichi wa, Daisukeno-san. My name is Roll.” She said in fluent Japanese and bowed deeply.

            “Gomen ne.”

            “That’s okay, I love doing that. I bet you get tired of all us Americans trying to impress you with how much Japanese we know.”

            “Yes I do. You can call me Hanako.”

            “Roll Seiro.”

            “Ro-rrll…”

            “Call me Roruko. It’s much easier. The reason I stopped by is that I wanted to talk to your daughters.”

            “You do? What about?”
 

            “I want to thank them for helping my little Misao.”

            “She’s your daughter? They’re upstairs doing homework. I’ll bring them down.”

            “No need, I’ll go to them. If that is alright. I do need to talk to them in private.”

            “What about?

            “I’m afraid it is something very personal that only I can talk to them about.”

            “I don’t know.”

            “I am absolutely certain that they are very capable of defending themselves, I’m sure you know what I mean.”

            “I see, come along.” Hanako was apprehensive about this, but she led Roll upstairs to the first door.

            “They’re in the other room.” Roll said.

            “Not you too?”

            “Nani?”

            “Nothing.” She walk across the hall and knocked on the door. A voice inside said to come inside.

            “You got a visitor. This is Roruko Seiro.” Both girls got off on either side of the bed.”

            “I’m Sutako.” She bowed.

            “And, I’m Yume.” She bowed.

            “Where’s Toki?” Hanako asked.

            “In the shower, Mama.” Sutako said.

            “Seiro-san wanted to talk to you alone.”

            “You’re going to leave your daughters alone with a stranger? How could you?” Yume said in a mock scolding tone. Their mother just mouthed a few words and left. The girls just gave each other sidelong glances. A large sweatdrop formed on each of their heads.

            “I’m not here to talk about that. Relax, sit down.” Roll grabbed a chair from the vanity, turned the back towards the bed and straddled it leaning against the back. The girls sat back down. Yume laid down with her upper body resting against the head board. Sutako just sat down and folded her hands in her lap.

            “What do we owe the honor of this visit, Seiro-san?”

            “First, call me Roruko. Second, wait a minute…” She stood up went to the door. Roruko brought her hand up to about the middle, placed the nail of her middle finger in the pad of her thumb. Then she flicked her finger against the door, it just made a light tapping sound. Roll sat back down in the chair. Sutako and Yume looked each other questionly.

            “You really should crack a window open to prevent the air from being compressed when you close a door.” She stood up. “I would like to thank you for helping my daughter, Misao.” Roll bowed at nearly a ninety degree angle. Then she straightened up and sat down.

            “She’s your daughter?” Sutako asked.

            “Yes.”

            “Anybody would have helped out.”

            “But not anybody could have defended themselves against Eimi.”

            “Eimi?”

            “I’m guessing it’s that girl in the battle armor that beat you up.” Yume said. Sutako looked at her cross.

            “So you did see her!”

            “She really tore the place up. Other than Mom, you’re the only one to believe us.” Sutako said.

            “You are the first to see her other than Misao. This has been going on for five years now. Nobody else has ever seen her. At first I thought it was just an imaginary friend, had me concerned for how old she was at the time.”

            “I don’t think it is very unusual for a little girl to have a pretend friend.” Yume said.

            “I thought it was strange for a fifteen year old to behave in such a way.” Both nodded the heads in agreement. Then it dawned on them.

            “That started when she was fifteen?” Yume said.

            “That was five years ago.” Sutako said.

            “So she is now twenty?”

            “Probably starting her first…”

            “Second.” Roll said.

            “…Second year of college?”

            “That means we have to address her as ‘senpai!” They both said.

            “I’m so proud of my Little Misao.” Roll chuckled.

            “How…twenty? She looks like an eight year old.” Sutako said.

            “COLLEGE! She was wearing a Fourth Grader’s Fuku.” Yume said.

            “Nobody makes a college uniform that small and I never learned how to sew. As for her appearance: there is no one answer. Doctors have told me that she is allergic to her own growth hormones. Others have said it is her heart condition.”

            “But that’s not what you believe?” Sutako asked.

            “I believe she never really wanted to grow up. After her father disappeared and then seeing her brother die, she must have decided to stay a kid.”

            “Gomen nasai.”

            “Don’t worry. Someday she’ll decide to grow up.” There was a long period of silence. Roll looked around the room and studied the girls. Yume was wearing a long t-shirt with black leggings and Sutako was in purple pajamas with her name in Hiragana written across a star on the left side of her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a poster. She looked at it carefully. She was quite surprised at who it was.

            “Interesting that you would have a poster of an American.”

            “You should see Sutako’s room; she is practically in love with the guy.”

            “YUME!” She was now blushing a deep crimson red.

            “It’s true, you’re just as bad as Toki when it comes to…to...to…” She sighed and rolled her eyes. Sutako turned to look, her jaw dropped. Toki had returned from the shower.

            “TOKI! We have a guest!”

            “I see, and I love the hair.” She then hugged Roll from behind. Sutako’s eyes bugged out, she then stood up and bowed several times and apologized profusely.

            “At least she ain’t hitting on me for once.” Yume said.

            “I give up!” Sutako just flopped back on the bed.

            “I need some air, Toki. That’s better. You said she hits on you, her own sister?”

            “I’m really adopted. So there is no blood relation between me and them.”

            “But we’re still sisters none the less.” Toki said.

            “Unfortunately.” Sutako mumbled.

            “Ever since I had my hair cut short that one time.”

            “So you two are sisters?”

            “We’re cousins. Toki’s parents died in a car accident not long after she was born and was adopted by my parents. Toki, would you please let Seiro-san go and put some clothes on?”

            “I rather enjoy the attention. Though, where I come from, this would be illegal.”

            “I believe that true love knows no age. Even if one is not the age she seems.” Roll immediately stood up and turned around. Toki stumbled back into the vanity. Roll walked over to her and leaned in, she was about an inch taller. Toki leaned back. Roll put her hands on Toki’s upper arms and put her nose besides Toki’s and whispered so only that she could hear. The other girls only saw Roll’s back. She then left.

            “Did she kiss you?” Sutako asked.

            “No.”

            Roll was just leaving the house when Toki came downstairs. She had on Sutako’s pajama top. Hanako was holding an ice pack to her left ear.

            “Mama, who was Makoto Daisukeno?”

*

            27-Apr-02. Here’s another chapter. The girls get an unexpected day off from school. Sutako meets her idol, Toki saves the day, and Yume starts falling for a trap.

SOME THANKS

            All three girls came down the stairs early in the morning in their school uniforms. They entered the kitchen and found nobody. They immediately became concerned, no food.  Sutako kept a level head.

            “Where’s Mama? I’m going to starve! I already feel myself wasting away! Look, you can now see my bones through my skin.” That was Toki.

            “Yume?”

            “Yes, Sutako?”

            “Hit her.” Yume formed a fist and more than gently tapped Toki on the head.

            “OOOW! You’re so mean to me! Why do you always have her hit me? Why don’t you do your own dirty work?”

            “Okay.” Sutako then hit Toki on the head. “Feel better now?”

            “No. You hit too hard.”

            “Enough, we have to go. We’ll pick up breakfast on the way to school.” Sutako said. Toki was about to say something but Yume just covered her mouth with her hand and started marching her towards the front door. Toki pulled the hand away.

            “I can take a hint.” Yume let her go and Toki went out the door. A second later she came right back inside. The other two looked at each other with a quizzical expression and then went outside, Toki followed behind. They found their mother talking with Roll by the sidewalk.

            “Oha.” Roll said. Sutako and Yume replied in kind and bowed. Toki just did her best to hide herself behind Yume. Yume turned around and was about to scold her younger sister but stopped when she saw the scared look in her eyes.

            “What’s wrong?” Toki replied with a yelp of surprise. Roll had come up behind Toki and embraced her.

            “I’m sorry that I scared you last night.” Toki turned around and looked into Roll’s eyes and found nothing but sincerity. She then laid her head on Roll’s shoulder.

            “How did she get over there?” Hanako was pointing back and forth. “Wait a minute, what are you doing with my daughter?”

            “Last night Toki came on to me…”

            “Actually I’m not surprised, your hair.”

            “…then I over reacted by coming on to her a little too rough, I’m sorry. I am not really interested in girls. You can let me go. Toki, I need air.” Toki backed away and blushed.

            “Wow, they look a lot alike.” Yume thought.

            “Shoot! We are late for school! Come on!” Sutako grabbed Toki and dragged her towards the gate, Yume was close behind. The gate closed when their mother hit the switch.

            “What are your doing, Mama!” Sutako exclaimed.

            “You girls should really check the news in the morning. School’s closed, due to battle damage.” She looked right at Sutako. She just whistled Dixie. “And, you should check your e-mail; Roruko is going to take you on a little trip.”

            “Cool!” All three said at the same time. The gate opened back up and Roll led them to her car. It was an American model. A bit on the big side compared to the road it was on.

            “Where do you park this thing?” Yume asked.

            “I store it where I work.” They all got in. Roll got behind the wheel with Sutako on the right side. Yume and Toki got in the back. Roll stepped on the accelerator and the car took off in a flash. The girls took in the sights of the city. After a while Sutako spoke.

            “How’s Misao doing?”

            “She’s fine. Right now she is at home resting.”

            “You left your daughter alone at home? She just had a heart attack! She should be in a hospital!” Yume scolded.

            “I am confident that if anything should happen, Eimi will be there to help.” They remained silent for a while. Sutako noticed they where heading to the airport.

            “Where are we going, Seiro-san?”

            “America.”

            “That’s a nine hour trip in the new runabouts.” Toki said. Roll pulled up to a gate, rolled down the window and pressed her thumb against against a sensor. The gate raised and she pulled through and came to another set. Some were marked parking, the middle set were marked terminal. Then last set were marked runabout. Roll pulled up to one in the last set. She was the third in line.

            “This car is too small.” Yume said. The other runabouts were twice the size of Roll’s car. She paid no mind. It was her turn at the gate. She once again pressed her thumb on a sensor and the gate went up. She pulled forward and on to a pad. She waited watching a display that appeared on the windshield. She pushed a button on the steering column and the car levitated. The wheels folded top down to the side. After a minute the word CLEARED flashed, in English, on the display. The car went up in the air and everybody’s internal organs flattened out towards their backsides.

            “I hate that part, fortunately I have to wait fifteen minutes before I have to really take off or I would hurl every time.”

            “I’m glad we didn’t have breakfast.” Sutako burped. Yume just held her stomach.

            “I’m hungry, are we going to make a stop in Hawaii and get a pork sandwich?” Toki was totally unaffected. The other three rolled down the windows. Sutako and Yume dry heaved, Roll had eaten breakfast.

            “Sutako, I keep some Kleenex in the glove box, thank you.” She was already handing Roll some. She dragged herself back inside the car. “Let’s hurry, before they stop me for littering. Sutako, how do you …”

            “This: Yume?” Yume tapped Toki on the top of her head with her fist.

            “Thank you.” Roll pushed the accelerator and the car took off at over five hundred kilometers an hour. They were pushed back into the seats by the inertia. After a few seconds they caught up with the car. Roll was holding her hand over her mouth.

            “Sutako.”

            “Yume.” Toki received another tap on the head.

            “We’re outside of Japan Air Space. We can now go to full thrust. This is going to hurt.” Toki brought her arms over her head.

End part one.

            29-Apr-02. Got up a few minutes early to write some more. I’m ‘writing’ on a computer.

            “We’re here already? I can’t believe it.” Toki said. “What do you have under the hood? An hour and a half to fly all the way here?”

            “Prepare for breaking.” Is all Roll said. She was looking rather pale. All felt as if their stomachs were leaving their bodies. Toki was unaffected. Yume put a hand over her mouth. The car came to a stop and descended. It touched down with a bump about a hundred meters in front of a building. Roll turned the car off and opened her door, she just fell out. Her back was on the ground and her legs propped up in the air by the car. Sutako crawled over.

            “Are you okay, Seiro-san?”

            “I’m taking the transporter back.”

            “I thought the transporter makes you throw up.” A new voice said.

            “It’s a whole lot smoother than riding with these three.”

13may02

            Yume got out of the car and went over to Roll to help her up when she saw who the voice belonged to: she wore a black body suit with halter, knee high boots, gauntlets, and a helmet all coloured brown. She was also six foot tall. They both bent down to help up the stricken Roll.

            “Arigatou.” Roll said.

            “Dou itashimashite.” Yume replied. Roll saw the furrowed eyebrows on the tall woman’s face. Then she got it. The other two girls now had joined them. Roll introduced them and each bowed.

            “My name is Allia.” She said in Japanese, and bowed. Each girl was trying to say her name.

            “You’d think after several centuries of contact with Americans, they would learn how to say L.” Roll said in English.

            “How do you get them to say your name?”

            “Roruko. Yours would be Arria. Here’s an idea.” She got out a business card from her pocket and a pen. She wrote Allia’s name in Katakana on the back and gave it to the girls. They got it. Sutako turned the card over and did a double take. She looked at the building and back at the card.

            “We learn English in school: how to read it and write it. Not how to speak it.” Yume was explaining. They had started walking to the building. Sutako just stared at the card.

            “I know. Misao had the same problem for a while. She only uses English when she’s at home.”

            “I heard about what happened the other day. Is she okay?” Allia asked.

            “It was only a mild one this time. She’s resting up at home.”

            “We all wish you would transfer back over here.”

            “Moving back here would put too much stress on Misao.” They walked through a set of doors that slid open. Except Sutako who walked into the wall next to the doors. Toki caught her as she fell down.

            “I thought I was the empty headed one.”

            “Look at this card.”

            “It’s Arria’s name, in Kata.”

            “The other side.” She turned it over. It was all in English.

            “Roru Wurighto, Assitanto Directa, Maverikku Porishu, U Eshu Ei.”

            “Here’s my current one.” Roll handed it to Toki. It was in English with Katakana under the English.

            “Rouruko Seiro, Senior Director, Maverick Police, Japan.”

21-may-01

            “She works for the Maverick Police!”

            “I figured you guys would enjoy seeing the old place.” Roll said. Sutako got up and could barely contain her excitement. She bowed deeply and ran inside as Roll held the door open, ran right pass Yume and Allia. Toki and Roll joined them.

            “I can’t believe this is the same girl who gets straight A’s.” Yume said.

            “I can’t believe she is the same girl who can trans…OW!” Toki was saying when Yume kicked her shin.

            “What was that?” Allia asked.

            “NOTHING! Nothing at all!” Both girls said with rather large sweatdrops on the sides of their heads.

            “This is so cool! It looks like they’re all here.” Sutako said. She was standing in front of a glass case. In side was statue of Cutman.

            “This is the museum section. These are wooden statues of the robots built by Dr. Albert Wily and Dr. Thomas Light.”

            “What about Dr. Cossack?” Roll was taken aback. It looked like she was trying to hold something back. “Did I say something wrong, Seiro-san?”

            “Don’t call me Seiro-san, it’s Roruko.” She rubbed her eye and composed herself. “His robots are on display in Russia.” They started walking down the hall. “Allia, where’s James?”

            “His meeting with X went long and he will be late.”

            “Knowing Jazz, this could take all day. I told him I was coming and I was bringing some special guests.”

            “He went up two days ago. You know how he hates making that trip.”

            “Let’s see how he likes making that trip from Mars.” Roll had slipped back into English and Allia had followed suit so the girls ignored them while they walked on. Allia put her right hand up to the ear piece on her helmet.

            “I’m getting an emergency signal! It’s from Zero! He’s under attack! This way!” They all started running back the way they came.

            “The command center is the other way.” Roll said.

            “It would be better if we went this way.” They were now up to the main entrance. They didn’t notice Sutako stop at one of the display cases. The rest went out side.

            “Why are we here?” Roll asked. Allia pointed up. After a few seconds they saw a falling object. It looked like a meteor at first. Then it slowed down enough that the surrounding flames dissipated. Now it looked like fighter jet, falling straight down. It impacted right on top of Roll’s car and burst into flames. Roll started to run towards the carnage but Allia held her back.

            “LET ME GO! HE’S IN THERE!”

            “Do you know what will happen if I try to slap some sense into you? I’ll break every bone in your face. Now calm down and let me look.” Roll did and Allia let her go and started walking to the flaming wreck. Toki put her arm around Roll’s shoulders to comfort her.

            “She’s not seriously…” Yume started. Allia walked right into the flames.

            “Allia’s a Repliroid. She can take it.” Roll said.

            “He’s not in here!” Allia said when she was back in hearing range. “He must have transported out.”

            “Where did he go?” Her question was answered when another explosion tore apart the entrance and Zero in full battle armor came flying out and landed on his back a few feet from the group.

            “JAMES!” Is all that Roll said. She knelt down beside him.

            “Sorry I’m late. I had some trouble on the way down.”

            “I’m just glad you’re okay.” She then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

            “Ro, I need air.” She let him go and blushed. “One question: Who replaced those wooden statues with real robots?” Roll and Allia just looked at each other and shrugged.

            “We haven’t opened those cases in decades.” Allia said.

            “Second question: When did someone build a Female Repliroid who wears a cheerleader’s outfit?” Roll and Allia just looked back at each other and shrugged again. Toki and Yume looked at other with even larger sweatdrops on the sides of their heads.

            “Never.” Allia said.

            “Then explain that.” He pointed to the ruined doorway. Standing in it was Cutman. He was holding Sailor Ursis by the lapels of her Sailor Fuku.

End part 2

24-may-02

            “Why is it where ever I go I have to deal with Sailor Trash?” Cutman asked. “Lucky for you someone wants to see you.” He placed Ursis up against the wall next to the door, took the Rolling Cutter off the top of his head and placed the open end around her neck. The tips of the blade sunk several inches into the concrete. As soon as Cutman let go, Sailor Ursis grabbed the blade and tried to pull it out.

            “Struggle all you want, you’ll just slice your own head off.” Cutman turned around and took only a few steps. He was met by Zero who was in the middle of a sideways slashing movement with his sword. The sword beam went through Cutman from shoulder to hip.

            “I almost felt that. NOT!” Cutman merely smiled evilly. Zero deactivated his sword and looked into the hilt. Cutman thrust his arm forward and Zero went flying backwards and landed in front of  Roll.

            “ZERO!”

            “Roll, take those girls to safety. Allia, I’ll distract him and you help that other girl.” Zero and Allia ran over to Cutman and Roll herded Yume and Toki away. When Zero got back to Cutman, he went through the whole repertoire of his moves and Allia jumped over them and landed in front of Sailor Ursis. She grabbed the blade and tried to pull it out of the wall. She was having no luck, it wouldn’t budge.

            Zero meanwhile was having absolutely no luck either. He did everything from simple slashes to his forward spinning attack. None of which had any effect. Zero stepped back to catch his breath. He was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. He rarely worked that hard to defeat an enemy.

25-May-02

                                                                He had studied the history of robots. He knew Cutman’s strengths and weakness. Zero was certain that Cutman would easily fall to his sword, but he was just standing there unfazed.

            “This is working better than I had hoped.” Cutman said. Then he grabbed a hold of Zero’s arm and his eyes started glowing. Zero felt himself getting weaker. A stream of white smoke surrounded him. The stream flowed over to the cutting blade holding Sailor Ursis to the wall.

            “What is this?” Allia asked herself. She traced the flow by turning her head and saw what was happening.

            “He’s stealing his life energy. Stop him.” Sailor Ursis said. Allia ran over to Zero and Cutman. Cutman raised his other arm and Allia just stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t move at all. The life stream quit flowing from Zero and he passed out. Cutman let him go and Zero fell in a heap on the ground. Cutman turned his attention to Allia. He just held up both his arms and his eyes glowed again. The reaction was different this time: Allia scream out in pain, bolts of electricity coursed over her body, and her eyes turned white.

            “Now that was an interesting…” Cutman started to say. He was quite literally cut off. Zero’s beam sword slice through him again. This time it was Roll who was using it.

            “I felt that. When he tried, nothing. But, when you…” Roll then dropped kicked Cutman and he went flying towards the entrance. Allia was dropped where she stood. Cutman landed on his feet.

“Big mistake. My specific instructions where to bring her back in one piece.” Cutman pointed his right hand in a gun gesture at Sailor Ursis. “One piece will have to do.” He started squeezing his index and thumb together. The blade started closing.

“I surrender.” Roll said. She deactivated the sword and lowered it to her side.

“Good move. NOT!” Cutman brought his arm around and a ball of purple energy began to form. When it got large enough, he shot it towards Roll. She quickly reactivated the sword and swung it like a bat and hit it to her left. Unknown to her, Toki and Yume had left their hiding place from around the corner of the building and were running towards Sailor Ursis. They both saw the ball arc and fall right at them. Yume turned around to push Toki out of way, but Toki beat her to it. She pushed Yume away. The energy hit her and exploded.

End pt. three.

Toki opened her eyes. She looked around. She saw Yume sitting on the ground with a shocked expression on her face. She ran over to her.

“Yume-oneisama, I’m okay! Yume? Hello.” She waved her hand in front of Yume’s face.

“She can’t hear you.” Toki looked around trying figure out where the voice came from. She looked up. While everything on the ground looked bright as day, the sky looked as if it was midnight in the country. Every star was visible. A few of them floated down a few feet in front of Toki. Lines formed and connect the stars forming and image. Then colour filled in the rest of the body forming a lion.

“I am the Guardian, Leo. I have chosen you to protect and grant my powers to. With power comes a price: yours will be a hard life. You will be charged with protecting life where ever it is. Your cousin, Sutako…”

“SISTER!”

“Sister, she was given a choice, she chose to lead her life this way. I too, give you the same choice Guardian Ursis gave her. You may reject my offer and lead a normal life.”

“But didn’t this bomb just kill me?”

“No. I pulled you from your world. You are between seconds. I will place you back where you belong, safe and sound.”

“If I refuse, what of Sutako?”

“She will be alright, either way you choose. Are you ready.”

“One more: Are you going to claw me as a test or something if I say yes?” Leo was taken aback by this and a sweat drop formed on the side of his head.

“Sutako asked the very same question of Constellation Ursis, why?”

“No reason, no reason what so ever. Okay, I accept.”

“Finally. Just say ‘Zodiac Soul Power, Make Up’ to transform.”

“Here goes nothing: ZODIAC SOUL POWER, MAKE UP!” Constellation Leo shot a beam of light from his eyes into Toki and her school uniform was replaced with a new costume similar to Sailor Ursis’s. White leotard and white halter top. Her skirt, gloves above her hands, boots, and cape where made out of light yellow lion fur. The same colour as her hair. She had on a golden tiara with a red oval gem in the middle.

“Are you ready?”

“Let me find a spot to make a dramatic entrance.”

“A what?”

End pt four.

27may02. At Least she wasn’t inside a cave or something.

            When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a crater about ten feet across. Roll stared slack jawed and dropped the sword. Yume crawled over to the edge and looked in. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Zero came to and he began to sit up. Then Sailor Ursis began to cry hysterically. Zero sprang into action. He jumped up and ran over to her in a flash and placed one hand on Ursis’s forehead and the other on her collar bone.

            “Don’t move. You nearly cut your head off.” The edge of the blade had cut into Ursis’s neck and she was bleeding profusely. Zero was sure he got there in time before she cut an artery.

            “TOKI, NO! PLEASE GOD NO! TOKIIII!!” Tears were streaming down her face.

            “FEAR NOT, DEAR SISTER! TOKI IS SAFE AND SOUND!” All the English speakers turned to look, even Allia, who was starting to recover and began to sit up as well, in the direction of the wrecked runabouts which were still smoldering. Standing on top was a girl dressed like Sailor Ursis, hands on her hips, and her long blonde hair whipping about in the breeze. Ursis and Yume acted as if they didn’t hear her.

            “Hello? Ursis, Yume? Up here. I’m okay.”

            “Not another one. Jesus, I’m going through all this crap again.” Cutman said. “What’s your name?”

            “I am…uh”

            “Bishoujo Senshi…” A voice only Toki could hear started to say.

            “PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR…uuuhh…”

            “LEO!” She flinched.

            “You don’t have to yell. I am Pretty Soldier SAILOR LEO!” Then her nose crinkled. She smelled the air and then looked down. Smoke was coming from the soles off her boots. She jumped off the vehicles down to the ground. She sat down and began fanning her feet. Cutman put his hand over his face.

            “You wouldn’t happen to be related to a certain long haired double pony tailed Sailor Scout?” He asked.

            “No. Wait a minute, you’re speaking English? I can understand you! I’m speaking English! Let’s see if I can switch. Okay, there. Yume! I’m okay! Ursis!” Both girls’ attention was already focused on the newcomer, but until that moment they couldn’t understand what she was saying.

            “You have the power to speak different languages, useful, but not against me.” Cutman said. He charged at Leo with a fist at the ready. She got out off the way just before he slammed it into the ground. He charged at her again. Leo ran away.

            “MAGIC VOICE! GUARDIAN LEO! I NEED HELP! YOU DIDN’T TELL ME MY ATTACKS!”

            “TAIL SPIN!” Roll shouted. “What did I just say?” She thought.

9jun02

             “HOW DO I DO THAT!?” Sailor Leo yelled in panic. She was now on front of the crater that was formed from when Cutman’s energy attack hit her earlier. She took one last step right at the edge and jumped. Just as her foot left the ground she started spinning. She felt rather than heard something smack her pursuer several times. She landed right in the middle of the pit. Then jumped out, spun, and landed on the other side. She turned around to see Cutman rubbing the side of his face.

            “What did you hit me with?” Cutman asked. At the same time Leo asked:

            “What did I hit him with?” She felt some thing curl around her waist. “AAAA… what the… it’s a, tail?” Cutman took advantage of her distraction and began to jump over the pit. Leo looked back up and saw what he was doing. She reached down to the ground and swung up like an upper cut, then ran back around the pit.

            “Your attacks are even cheesier than Sailor M…” He doubled over holding his gut. “What the hell was that? I’ve had enough. You are dead! YOU HEAR ME!” Cutman was surrounded by a purple glow and levitated a foot off the ground and shot forward towards Sailor Leo. She had stopped to watch the results of her attack, so she didn’t have enough time to get out of the way and Cutman nailed her right in the chest with his head. He stopped right there but Leo rolled backwards for several yards. She stopped in a sitting position. She just sat there as if knocked out.

            “That was a beautiful: the sound of a human bone breaking. I forgot I didn’t have that hedge clipper. I’ll fix that.” He brought his arms up chest level, curled his forearms towards his chest palms up indicating a distance. Then he started slowly bringing them together. Leo looked up but was still had no idea where she was. Zero yelling woke her up from the daze.

            “STOP HIM! I CAN’T HOLD THIS BLADE!” Zero was trying to hold open the jaws of the Rolling Cutter. He was having a very hard time because Sailor Ursis’s blood had made it too slick. Ursis was frozen with fright; she was sure this was it. She looked up and into Zero’s eyes. She tried to say something but Zero cut her off.

            “DON’T TALK! IT’S CAUSING THE CUT TO GO DEEPER!” His hands began to tremble. Leo, despite the pain she was beginning to feel in her chest, sprang into action. As she ran over to Cutman she cross her arms at the elbow in front of her and then swung them out. He didn’t know what hit him. He bent backwards in pain and froze that way and a cloud of purplish smoke escaped from his body. Then lines formed throughout and he fell apart into hundreds of blocks of wood. At that same moment, the blade snapped in two. Zero’s arms flew out and Sailor Ursis fell onto him causing him to fall backwards. As he hit, Ursis bounced up landed higher up his torso. Their heads were even, she unwittingly let her lips touch his. She blushed and passed out. Zero immediately saw why: the cut had gone deep enough to open up the artery and blood was pumping out rapidly. He made a grab for the wound after dropping the blades, but couldn’t apply proper pressure because his hands where cramped up.

            “ALLIA! GET DOC! I CAN’T HELP HER!”

            “I can.” Sailor Leo said. She knelt beside them and placed her hands on Sailor Ursis’s back. She gave a silent plea for help. “Please help her, my Guardian. Without my sister my life will have no meaning. I beg you to help her.” A white glow surrounded all three. Zero looked on in disbelief as the wound on the girl’s neck simply closed up. The cramp in his hands went away also. Then the glow faded. Leo was now gasping in labored breaths. As she tried to stand up, she grabbed Ursis and picked her up as well. She placed Ursis’s arm around her shoulder, but the pain was too great and she fell back against the building.

            “Let me help you.” Zero said when he got back up. Allia and Roll where walking over to them.

            “Stay away from us.” Leo growled.

            “You both need medical attention. She’s lost too much blood to be moved around like that. And, I’m sure you have a broken rib or something.”

            “You just want to dissect us; you government types are all alike!”

            “You can trust us. We will protect you.” Roll said.

            “THAT’S WHAT WAS SAID TO TORIKO!!!” Sailor Leo touched the gem on her tiara with her free hand. “FULL MOON CLOAK.” Both girls simply vanished.

            “Where did they go?” Allia asked.

            “I don’t know.” Roll lied.

End. Got done with that scene finally.

10jun02

            They reappeared around the corner of the building in the same sitting position next to Yume. She had gone back there soon after Sailor Leo appeared. She gasped at the sight of Sailor Ursis’s uniform which was covered in blood. Yume put her index and middle finger on Ursis’s neck.

            “I can just barely feel a pulse. I need to get her to a doctor.”

            “Not like that. We need to undue her transformation first.”

            “I know that…who are you?”

            Leo’s jaw dropped. “IT’S ME, TOKI!”

            “Don’t play games with me, I just saw her die. DON”T DO THIS TO ME!” Sailor Leo took the tiara off her forehead and then her sailor fuku faded back to her school uniform. “TOKI!!! THANK GOD! I THOUGHT YOU HAD DIED!”

            “SSSHHHH! They’re right around the corner. Take Sutako’s tiara off.” Yume did so and Sailor Ursis’s fuku also faded back to her school uniform just in time: Roll, Allia, and Zero came around the corner as well.

            “Thank God.” Roll sighed. “I thought I had killed you when I deflected that energy blast.”

            “Uhhh…It missed, it uhm…landed in front of me, that’s right.”

            “I pulled her back around here.” Yume said.

            “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Zero asked in English.

            “They can’t understand you, besides, we don’t have time. They need to see Doc ASAP.” Roll said. “No arguments, Toki.” Roll held out her hand, Toki nervously took it and was pulled up. They locked eyes and once again Toki saw nothing but honesty.

            “Gomen nasai. I shouldn’t have said…”

            “You didn’t say anything wrong, you were back here the whole time, right?” Yume picked up Sutako as Roll was talking. “James, could you please help Yume.”

            “No problem.” He picked Sutako up by cradling her in his arms. The group started back to the main entrance. Roll and Toki led the way hand in hand, Zero carrying Sutako with Yume by his side followed, and Allia brought up the rear.

            “I could have sworn that girl Toki had short hair earlier.” Allia thought.

End.

11jun02.

            The man took the helmet off his head revealing blues eyes and short blonde hair. He wore a grey military style suit. He immediately threw the helmet on the ground breaking it in several pieces.

            “I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS SHIT! IF IT ISN’T THAT BITCH SAILOR MOON THEN IT’S HER SECOND STRING!”

            “Could have been worse, you could still have Queen Beryl breathing down your neck.”

            “Commodore, I apologize for my failure.”

            “It was not your fault, I didn’t tell you about the other Sailor Scout.”

            “WHAT THE HELL!”

            “I needed to see how well you deal with such surprises. Plus I didn’t really know if she was going to show at all.”

            “I would like to have known of all possible enemies before going into combat.”

            “I would like to have some officers who obey my orders and not take initiative when they don’t need to. I gave you express orders not to harm any Scouts you might come across.”

            “I told her not to struggle.” He shrugged. They began walking across the bay to a door.

            “This was actually a very good learning experience. Your powers are more than a match for those Maverick Hunters, so I’m putting you in charge of that front. I should show you your troops.” They came to the bay door and it opened on its own. There was someone nonchalantly standing next to the entrance.

            “I have something for you, Cammy.”

            “What is it, Don?” He held out his hand and in it floated a crystal; it had eight facets, four points in the center that tapered into two at each end. It flashed three times and so did the multifaceted round crystal that Cammy wore on a chain around her neck.

            “After five years we finally found one.” Cammy took the crystal and cradled it in both hands.

            “That looks like one of those Litanium Crystals you showed me a while back.”

            “Jedite, you are an idiot. Litanium has the same ends yes, but has an extended body.”

            “So what’s this one then?”

            “It is what gives the Sailor Scouts their powers, their very heart and soul, the Sailor Crystal. I wonder which one this is. Hopefully the others won’t take another five years to find.

*

14-Jun-02.

            “Is this some kind of joke? These are my troops, drawings on paper? You expect me to bring them to life with my powers? I can’t, I don’t have enough energy. What I got from Zero wasn’t even enough to recover what I used to animate that wooden puppet for so long.”

            “Are you done? These are the DESIGNS for your troops. They should be ready in about a couple of months.” Admiral Ballade said.

            “A ‘couple of months’? You people take entirely too much time to plan. I’ve conduct ten times as many attacks in two weeks than you have in what, five years?”

            “Do I have to explain to you again why it took us so long to make our first attack?”

            “I’m beginning to think I joined the wrong group.”

            “You can go anytime you want. I won’t stop you.” Cammy said as she entered.

            “Are you kidding? He knows too much.”

            “Jedite is a scummy, nerve wrecking, little S.O.B. He is also a good tactician when he wants to be. Plus we can trust him not to stab us in the back.” Ballade and Jedite were looking at Cammy when she was talking then turned to look at each other and immediately engaged in a stare down.

            “KNOCK IT OFF YOU TWO!” They slowly turned back towards Cammy. “Okay, Don, get the techs to work on fine tuning the drones used to fight Zero and get to work on these plans. I’m going to take Jedite up to the surface and explain the whole deal.”

*

14jun02.

            “That’s a martini for the lady and gentleman. Your order should be ready in just a minute.” The waiter said and then left. They watched him climb back down and access hatch. Jedite looked up into the star filled sky.

            “This has got to the stupidest place to hold a briefing. Out here in the open.”

            “Nobody ever comes out here or even flies over.”

            “Wouldn’t you find it odd that someone is standing on the Moon’s surface without a space suit on?”

            “We’re to far away for the city’s cameras to be able to see us. Plus the airlessness will prevent anybody from hearing us.” Cammy adjusted her helmet visor to prevent the Sun’s rays from hurting her eyes. “Despite the advances we have made, I still need to wear my full armor in order to be out here. Here is the whole deal, as you have figured out, we are not from here, unlike you who came from another universe; we come from another solar system. My intent is to take over and rule that planet.” She pointed to the Earth hanging low in the horizon.

            “Unfortunately, I discovered the Terrans had a much more advanced defense network than I believed possible: repliroid robots. We’ve had to spend countless time observing and developing new weapons. Which until you arrived, was to build our own repliroids. To build a robot as advance as a repliroid you need the technology to build one. We didn’t until last year. Then we had to build the machines to build repliroids and the computers to program them.” Cammy turned to look at the hatch just before it opened up and the waiter came out. He handed the two their drinks and left them. Jedite held up his container and looked it over. Cammy put the straw in her mouth and turned a knob in the middle of the straw and sucked some of the alcoholic liquid into her mouth. Jedite soon followed suit. He made a sour face.

            “Why humans do stuff like eat and drink, and drink such horrible concoctions. My method is much better.”

            “Nothing beats the taste of alcohol and plastic. I wish we could figure out what ever it is you do that it is you do. Certainly makes you invulnerable to most of Zero’s attacks at least.” Jedite seemed a little unnerved at this remark. Cammy took another sip of her drink. Jedite took advantage of her silence.

            “So what are you going to do with that Sailor Crystal?”

            “Repliroids and robots have two main sources of power: batteries which have to be recharged periodically, and fusion reactors which last for centuries before they need to be replaced. Reactors need heavy shielding and tend towards large explosions when breached. I’ve developing a new power source that is more powerful and stable: Litanium. No one on Earth has ever used it. We have plenty to work with up here. I’m just glad we found it first.” Jedite was looking bored at this dissertation.

            “That is only the first step. Imagine if the day comes we somehow wind up on the losing side and our base is invaded. The very best of the Maverick Hunters will be in the lead. Even my elite guard will fall. Not unless they are Repliroids powered by Sailor Crystals.”

            “I see, the Scouts I fought where pretty strong I must admit.”

            “They weren’t even at full power, just level one.” Jedite’s eyes slightly widened at that statement.

            “At first I was very bitter at Queen Beryl for dispatching me. But when I wound up in this universe, I became convinced that was the best thing to ever happen to me. No Sailor Moon or her Scouts. The down side was that there was no Negaverse as well. So I had to do everything myself with no help. Just keeping myself alive is challenging enough.”

            “I’m not going to promise you eternal happiness, just some troops that will give our enemies a run for their lives. They might have the advantage in any given situation.”
 

            “How so?”

            “Sometimes the psychological advantage is all you need.”

            “I like it I can’t wait to start.”

*

            “Let her through, she has a pass that only the top guys can hand out.”

            “I find it odd that someone I can’t understand can get this type of pass.” He was holding the card in his hand so he could get a good look at it. “How do you pronounce her name: Day-suh-keeno, Yuum?”

            “Die-skee-no, Yuu-meh.” She said.

            “You can never be too safe, better give the CQ a call.” The guard with the card went over to a wall mounted speaker and pushed a button underneath it.”

            “CQ this is Sentry One, over.”

            “Sentry One this CQ, go ahead over.”

            “We have a girl in a sailor looking suit who can’t speak English trying to get into a restricted area, over.”

            “Does she have a pass, over?”

            “Yes, a level one, over.”

            “What does the name read, over?”

            “First name Daisukeno, last Yuume. Y-U-M-E, over.” There was another long pause.

            “Name checks out, let her through, over.”

            “Uhhh…Roger out. Let her through.” He walked back over and handed the card back to her. “Sorry about the delay, ma’am.”

            “Arigotou.” She said a bowed slightly. The guards had no idea but bowed back in response. She then went on her way down the corridor. There were no directional signs and she had to backtrack several times when she made a wrong turn and came to a dead end and the doors had the wrong placards on them. Every time a door came up she would look at a piece of paper she was carrying and compared what was written on it to the label on the door. After a few more minutes she heard some voices up the hall. They were stationary and sounded muffled. They became louder as she walked further. Finally she found the source: it was a door that was barely cracked open. She recognized one of the voices as belonging to Roll. Roll and someone else were speaking English so she had trouble keeping up.

            “Where did those other two girls come from? I know you know.” Roll remained silent. “Where did they disappear to? How did that one survive that blast? What did you yell at that girl to cause her to go from running around to attacking?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “I hate it when you lie to me, Ro.”

            “You think I like this. Please stop, James. I wish I knew why it is I know some of the stuff I know.”

            “You know who those two were. Are they related to those three guests you brought here?”

            “I can’t answer that! They are scared enough as it is, especially Toki, I have her trust tenuously at best.” Zero walked over to Roll and put his hands on her upper arms, she looked away.

            “A wooden statue in the shape of a robot that was destroyed over a century ago beat the hell out of me, two girls in furry cheerleader outfits saved me, one nearly died in my arms, then two of your guests were severely wounded hiding around corner that has no battle damage what so ever.”

            “Please don’t.” She still was looking away from him. Then a buzzer went off from Zero’s desk. He let Roll go and went over and pushed on a button.

            “What is it?” He said slightly annoyed.

            “We have the footage from the surveillance camera, sir.”

            “Download it right to my office.” A screen on the wall flashed on and progress bar appeared and filled up real quick. The scene that appeared was that off the inside off the front entrance as seen from over the doors. A girl in a sailor suit was standing in front of a glass case. She dodged to the left and the front of case exploded in a shower of glass. Cutman walked out of the case and looked around. Zero then appeared in a bright flash right in front of him. Zero stared blankly at him for a second. Cutman grabbed Zero by his arm and tossed him against the doors that didn’t have time to open and were now jammed closed. Cutman started walking over to Zero. The girl had slipped over to the far side of the case. She held something to her forehead and her clothes were replaced with the style of uniform that Sailor Ursis and Sailor Leo wore. Cutman held up his hand and bolt of energy hit Zero causing the entrance to explode and the picture to black out.

            “Now I assume that the other girl that appeared was Toki in disguise. Am I right, Ro?”

            “Do you remember who my mother was? That’s why you should delete any footage we have and forget what happened here.”

*

15jun02.

            Sutako opened her eyes, when they finally cleared, she didn’t quite recognize the person leaning over her.

            “Where am I and who are you?”

            “I’m just the girl who saved your life not once, not twice, but three times.” Sutako concentrated harder, and then I dawned on her. “Toki, is that you? What happened to you?”

            “Me? You’re the one who took the beating.”

            “You look different…what happened to your hair?”

            “An unfortunate side effect of that energy blast.”

            “I think it looks good one you. What exactly happened after you were hit?”

            “I was transported to another world and this giant lion gave me super powers. You didn’t see me transform so you didn’t recognize me as Sailor Leo.”

            “You mean…?”

            “Yep, you no longer have to go it alone anymore. I really like my uniform; it highlights all the tourist attractions.” Sutako formed a mental picture of Toki wearing in Sailor Ursis’s uniform.

            “That’s not how it looks.”

            “Oh yeah.” Her picture change to Sailor Leo’s uniform. “You look rather pretty in it. Makes me kind of wish you weren’t my cousin.”

            “How many times have I told you we’re sisters, besides, we are now much closer now.” Toki held up her arm and pulled up the sleeve of her school shirt to show a bandage on the in side of her elbow. Then she pointed to a rack next to Sutako’s bed, on it hung a bag of blood that was connected to Sutako’s arm by a tube.

            “That’s my blood you’re using now, so could you please drop the semantics?” Sutako looked at Toki, the bag, and back to Toki.

            “You’re right, Sis.” Toki’s face broke out in a wide grin and she threw her arms around Sutako.

            “Watch it you pest, injuries don’t go away when I transform back.”

            “We don’t have time for this; we have to get out of here now.” Yume said as she entered the room. “They know our secret and coming for you right now.”

            “How is that possible?” Sutako asked.

            “There was a security camera that filmed Sutako transforming. Roll and Zero watched it.”

            “Ruko-chan won’t hurt us.” Toki said.

            “Remember what mother told us about Toriko, how she was hunted down by the government and forced into hiding. Separated from her family. That changed the course of our family history. Do you want to end up like her?” They could hear voices down the hall and sprang into action.

            “Don’t do it, James. You can’t.”

            “If you won’t tell me then they will, please Ro, don’t make this any more harder than it already is.” Zero open the door and went in, Roll followed soon after. The girls were not in there.

*

23Jun 02.

            “Are you feeling better yet, Sutako?” Yume asked.

            “I can carry a train of thought without fainting now.” They were standing outside a second hand clothing store. They had changed out of their school uniforms into regular street clothes. Sutako had on a pink sweat shirt with jeans that were a size too big. Yume wore pants that were the right size with a red and black flannel shirt that was buttoned up just below her bust line; she wore a black t-shirt underneath.

            “That cloak thing works really well.”

            “I just wish I was strong enough to transform and help out Toki.”

            “Don’t strain yourself, you and Toki are a hand full, transforming and cloaking all three of us was way too much for her.”

            “I know; she gave me more blood than she should have.”

            “I had to hold her down while the doctor unhooked her.” Sutako was leaning against the building, her head drooped down, Yume caught her before she fell down; Yume looked around and spied a bus bench. She half carried the unconscious Sutako over to it and sat her down. Yume sat next to her. She put her across Sutako’s shoulders to support her head. After a minute Sutako started mumbling in her sleep; Yume couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.

*

            Sutako was dreaming about the earlier battle. The dream started at the point just before Toki was hit with the energy blast. The perspective wasn’t from were she actually was at the time, it was from beside the wrecked runabouts. The blast dissipated and Toki was still standing crouched over with her hands over her head. She looked up and around, went over to Yume and waved her hand in front of her sister’s face. Toki suddenly looked up, Sutako followed suit and noticed that the sky was dark as midnight and all the stars were visible while the landscape was bright as day. Sutako’s attention was brought to a pattern of stars that formed into a lion.

            “This must be when Toki was transformed into Sailor Leo. It reminds me of the time I first transformed. Why am I seeing this now?”

            “I sensed a great doubt in you about your cousin.”

            “Sister.”

            “Sister. You think that she had no choice to become Sailor Leo.”

            “Why Toki, did she have to be drawn into my battles?”

            “Guardian Leo would not have reawakened Sailor Leo if she wasn’t ready.”

            Sutako could now hear what Toki and Guardian Leo were saying. Toki was indeed given a choice and that if she refused she would be alright and so would Sailor Ursis.

            “Something doesn’t seem right. How would we have been saved if Toki hadn’t transformed? Zero’s attacks didn’t have any effect, he’s the strongest of all the Maverick Police.”

            “You forget: one of those involved could have easily defeated the threat if they knew the extant of their inner strength.”

            “Who?”

            “You weren’t paying much attention, where you?”

            “My attention was very focused on not cutting my head off.” She pointed over to the main entrance. At that moment she saw her and Zero fall backwards and kiss. “I can’t believe you are making me see this. It’s so embarrassing! Is Guardian Leo like this as well?”

*

            “Sutako wake up! People are starting to stare.” Yume was pushing Sutako’s head away from her face. “If it weren’t for all those posters in your room I’d swear you were just as gay as Toki.” Sutako decided to strike back at that comment. She stroked Yume’s hair.

            “I like long blonde hair.”

            “That’s it, I’m dyeing. What is wrong with you two?”

            “Nothing, I appreciate beauty where ever it is: man or woman. I don’t think Toki really is that way. I’ve seen her around guys with blonde hair and she is a lot more aggressive.”

            “’More aggressive,’ I feel sorry for them considering what I’ve gone through. When I had my hair short, every morning I would wake up and she would be in bed with me, sometimes even now.”

            “She sleepwalks, she been coming into my bed as well, even Mom’s.”

            “Remember that house we lived in as kids? Two bedrooms, we had to sleep in the same bed for years. I’m sure she misses that, I do.” Yume realized what she said and quickly added “If I ever catch her I’m going to give her a boot to the head.” Sutako chuckled and leaned against Yume. Yume made no attempt to push her away.

24Jun02.

            “What is Taking Toki so long?” Yume asked.

            “Knowing her it is something that will ‘highlight the tourist attractions:’ mini skirt with a sleeveless sweater.”

            “She dresses like a whore.”

            “That was just plain mean.”

“I dress like a slut, I don’t make people pay.” Toki said in an irritated tone. Sutako and Yume turned and saw she was only joking because she had a smirk plastered across her face. Then they saw what she was wearing: a white dress shirt with a gray suede leather vest and same type of leather for the pants. The whole thing looked as if it was a size or two too small, which accentuated her curves. Sutako and Yume stared with there mouths open.

“My God you look absolutely beautiful.” Yume said.

“And you’re drooling, both of you.” Toki walk over and closed their mouths with the tips of her index fingers which created an audible click of teeth. “After all these years I finally got a reaction out of her. I don’t need to show skin to show off my body.” They shook their heads to regain their composure.

“What is that outfit?” Sutako asked.

“It is called a Charro Outfit. I’m actually not supposed to wear it, it is a man’s dress, the woman’s has a long tight skirt, but I figured in the current situation I should wear something a little functional.”

“Functional yes, but you are probably the only one in this city wearing something like that.” Sutako said. A bus pulled up and a Mariachi band disembarked off. “O-Kay.”

“How much money do we have left?” Yume asked. Sutako took her wallet out of her pocket and opened it up.

“We have enough to pay for a hotel room. Mom should be by tomorrow to pick us up. I think we should go to China Town section, we should get a pretty good deal there.”

“That’s the first place they’ll look for some Japanese girls.” Yume said. She noticed that bus had left and Toki was staring out across the street. “Earth to Toki.”

“That has to be her.”

“Who is it?” They both turned to look. Across the street was an open restaurant. Seated close to the sidewalk in a way that her profile clearly showed, she had naturally permed red hair that came to her waist. She had on a purple blouse. On the table was a foot tall furry black hat and a cat. She seem to be having an animated conversation with the waiter.

“It can’t be.” Sutako said.

“Small world.” Yume said.

“TANYA! TANYA CAIN!” Toki shouted.

*

27Jun02.

Zero was watching Roll talking to Hanako Daisukeno; actually it was more like Hanako yelling at Roll. Roll winced many times over a five minute period. Finally the screen went blank.

“That didn’t sound good at all.” Zero said.

“How would you know? You never took all of one minute it would take you to learn Japanese.” Roll said in a very bitter tone.

“I rarely have any contact with anybody from Japan.”

“Misao no ojii-san.” Roll said flatly. Zero just snorted. She got up from the desk and started walking out of the office, Zero followed her.

“What did you tell her?”

“That they were injured in an attack on HQ and they are in sickbay.”

“Didn’t you tell her about those cheerleaders?”

“Sailor Scouts, no because she already knew, they had called her and told her everything. She was pissed because I tried to cover it up, plus she knew about what happened to an ancestor of hers.” They turned around a few corners and began walking down a long hallway.

“What happened to her ancestor?”

“Something similar to what happened yesterday; some terrorists were hold up in Tokyo Tower. They were threatening to blow it, and a school field trip into a statement against the ‘Great Satan.’ As you know those kinds of people don’t just threaten, they follow through. One of the bombers decided to have some last minute fun with the teacher of the group of students. He tried to rape her, she fought back so all the terrorists decided to make her pay by shooting her. They had fully automatic assault weapons, over one hundred rounds were fired at her, all of them missed. Somehow within a split second she transformed into a Sailor Scout and dodged out of the way. She captured the terrorists and diffused the bomb.” They came to a set of double doors labeled garage, Roll looked around and found the dispatcher’s window.

“Douglas, so here you are, I see you got garage duty this week.” Roll said.

“Yeah, I heard what happened to your old car, shame, it was the last one built. The new model is much better on speed and inertia, but it is a little bigger.”

“I’ll take it; I leave it parked any way and just walk to and from work. If I have to commute a long distance I usually will sign out a Japanese model.”

“Here you go, just need you to sign the dispatch.”

“That was quick.” Zero said.

“I figured Roll would be down here soon enough, so I took the liberty of dispatching it.”

“Only I can authorize the dispatching of runabouts.”

“Colonels and Civilian Senior Directors.” Roll smiled. Douglas was beaming. Roll signed the paperwork and Douglas handed her a set of keys. Roll smiled again and Douglas looked as if he went to another world.

“Uhm…Douglas, could you buzz me through.”

“Uh sure thing.” He hit a button a loud buzz went off indicating the double doors were now opened. She went through.

“I’ll talk to you later.” Zero said and then gave Douglas the thumbs up as he went through the doors.

            “Yes, the purpose behind the automobile is to make traveling faster and less physically tiring, that is unless you have to walk a mile to get to your car.” Roll said as look at the set of keys and at the cement pillars. The current pillar had the number five painted on it. The key had two-hundred printed on it.

            “Where was I, oh yes, at first nobody recognized the teacher, something about the uniform kept people from seeing her and the Sailor Scout as the same person. Unfortunately, a security camera recorded her de-transforming. The tape was first viewed by the police in their investigation.

28-Jun-02

                                                          They dismissed it as some kind of hoax. CIA, FBI, and a whole host of other groups also investigated and got a hold of the tape. That’s when the Japanese Government became interested, mostly because they didn’t want the gaijin looking into what they overlooked. They arrested her on trumped up charges and stuck her in a lab.” Roll and Zero were about halfway down and Roll decided for a breather. She walked over to a drinking fountain and took a few sips.

            “This story seems awfully familiar.”

            “Now it gets interesting; these same government types went after her family. This wasn’t the first time and they were prepared. Her family changed their name and went into hiding. They did an amazing job so that not even our agencies could find them. Meanwhile back at the lab, the Feds were going nowhere test after test. She refused to transform and that was seriously starting to piss off the wrong people. Without having the family to blackmail her, with there wasn’t much they could do. So they brought in outsiders. One of which took pity on her and decided to rescue her.” Roll felt refreshed and continued walking. “He simply took advantage of the daily routine everybody had slipped into and simply signed her out to do some field tests. Guards were sent along; they were no match for a Sailor Scout. They made their way to the airport, got on a plane and were halfway to America before any alarms went off. He used his influence and a cell phone and by the time they arrived, she had a new identity as his wife and she lived quite happily until the birth of her daughter.” They where now at the car and Roll began looking it over. When she was satisfied, Roll opened the door and got in the drivers seat.

            “Let me finish: she died in labor and her daughter was brain dead. Her husband was a robotics engineer design specialist; he had already developed a new computer brain and put it in the baby’s head. It worked and she grew up very much a normal woman, a very pretty one at that.” Roll blushed.

            “Pretty good.”

            “Her mother was named Toriko, wasn’t it? Wasn’t her daughter named Mack-o-toe?” Roll sighed.

            “Mah-koe-toe, Makoto. Her name was changed because some Japanese Government Heavies came by asking. He then did something extraordinary: he reprogrammed the growth controls in Makoto’s head so she began to look American rather than Asian.”

            “He sure did go through a lot of trouble for her. Dr. Light must have really loved Toriko.”

            “Yes, Father did.”

            Roll got in the car, belted herself in and turned it over, Allia hurried up and handed Zero a piece of paper.

            “You wouldn’t happen to be going to Capitol Blvd, Ro?”

            “Yes, I am supposed to meet a friend for lunch.”

            “Over at World Fargo, someone just exchanged a lot of Yen for Dollars.”

            “You had Allia hack into bank systems no doubt.”

            “Logical, Japanese girls probably don’t carry much American Money.”

            “I’ll keep an eye out. By the way, don’t call me Ro, if Hanako could be brave enough to bring back her family name after so many generations, maybe I should do the same.” She rolled up the window and took off.

30-Jun-02

            Allia brought her arm up to chest level and view screen popped up from her gauntlet.

            “What is it, Doc?” She asked. Zero peeked in as well.

            “Have you found those girls yet?”

            “No, but we have some leads.” Allia said.

            “We need to them back here, especially Toki; I was only able to put a temporary patch on her. It will wear out soon.”

            “A temporary patch, why didn’t you knit her bones properly?” Zero asked.

            “I didn’t know how, I was designed to repair Repliroids, not humans. Sutako only needed blood, which was easy. I had to consult with several doctors about Toki. She needs to get to a hospital before her sternum breaks again.”

*

1-Jul-02

            “TANYA-SENSEI!” Toki yelled as she ran across the street. Several cars came to a screeching halt just inches away and she never noticed them. Yume and Sutako were just aghast at what she did. They lost sight of her when a bus pulled in front of them. They got up from the bench and hurried over to a crosswalk. Yume noticed Sutako was looking exhausted, so she took Sutako’s arm in hers and help her across the street when the light said they could.

            When they got across, they couldn’t see Toki and Tanya because of a high hedge on their side. They had to walk by it in order to see what was going on. What they saw didn’t surprise them, for Toki is known to do this to people she just met, Toki and Tanya were hugging each other, the cat looked as if it had a question mark over its head, and the waiter had his eyes rolled looking up. Yume put her hand over her face in expiration, and Sutako just smiled. Her smile faded when she got a good look at Toki; she seemed limp. Tanya let her go and sat her down, Toki’s eyes were closed tight, but after a few seconds she relaxed them.

            “There you are, when there’s one, the other two are not far behind.” She said in Japanese with a heavy Russian accent.

            “Konnichiwa, Cain-san.” Both Yume and Sutako said at the time and bowed, Yume had to support Sutako because she nearly fainted.

            “Konnichiwa, Yume-kun, Sutako-kun.” Tanya bowed back at them. “Please join me for lunch, it’s been awhile.” The girls looked up and down the hedge row looking for the entrance. Tanya picked up a chair and handed it over for them to step on and over the hedge. The waiter was protesting all this time. Tanya ignored him until Yume made it over.

            “Make that six for lunch.”

            “I must protest! Bad enough that you brought this, animal, into this establishment; you insist that it sit on the table and eat from regular dishes. Then this girl jumps over the hedge and you let these other two girls over our hedge. After all that, I must ask you to leave.” He crossed his arms and looked resolute.

            “Go ahead and sit down, girls.” Tanya said. They did so but Yume looked worried.

            “Cain-san, I think he sounds upset.”

            “You think, you should know, I taught you three English for over a year. You haven’t been practicing have you?” Yume looked down to hide her embarrassment. “That’s okay, let me handle this.” She looked up at the waiter. “You must be new here, aren’t you?”

            “I have been a waiter for over four months now.”

            “I assume you have a pretty good knowledge of the history of this restaurant.”

            “This restaurant was established over one hundred years ago.”

            “By whom?”

            “By Kalinka Cossack, she was head cook until her death.”

            “Is that her picture hanging up in the main lobby?”

            “Yes it is.” Tanya reached for her hat and put it on. The waiter did a double take.

“You bear a striking resemblance to Ms. Cossack.”

            “I should, she’s my great-grandmother. Imagine that: not being allowed to eat in my family’s own restaurant. My stomach was set on some fine Russian Cuisine that I can’t even get in Russia.” The waiter looked stricken for a moment, but he squared his shoulders.

            “The girls may stay, but the animal must be placed on the ground.”

            “If I continue to refuse?”

            “Please, Ms. Cossack, people are staring.”

            “I like the attention. These are my guests: Ms. Toki, Ms. Sutako, and Ms. Yume. My name is Cain, not Cossack. This is my close friend Comrade.” Tanya reached over to the cat and scratched a cheek. He looked as if he was in heaven. “We would like our menus now, please.” The waiter sighed and walked away.

            “Where have you been Cain-san?” Yume asked.

            “Please call me Tanya. I had to go to Russia to look after the family business there. That’s when I met Comrade here.” They all took a good look at the cat. He was on the small side for one that was several years old. He was gray with black tiger stripes that faded in with the gray. He had white paws and a jaw. On his forehead the black fur seemed to form a four pointed star.

            “You must really think a lot of him to stick up for him like that in front of everybody.” Toki said.

            “You’re Buddhists, right?” The girls shrugged. “Non practicing, as I recall when you die, you are reborn in a new form. I saw this gray tiger kitten on the street and fell instantly in love with him. We have been together for some time now and I truly believe that in a previous life we were lovers. It is hard to explain; maybe we were humans, maybe animals that mated for life. All I know is that we are inseparable now.” Toki looked as if she was going to cry.

2-Jul-02

            “That is just so beautiful, Tanya-sensei. To be reunited with a long lost lover.” Toki burst out in tears and placed her head on the table. Nobody saw her grab her chest and grimace in pain.

            “She hasn’t changed much. What brings you three to America?”

            “We were on a tour, but became separated.” Sutako answered.

            “That wouldn’t have anything to do with the attack on the Maverick Police yesterday?” Sutako and Yume just rolled their eyes up. Then Yume noticed Toki was still had her head on the table.

            “Wake up, you are being rude.” She shook Toki’s shoulder. Toki lifted her head and she looked Tonible; sweat was beading up on her head and her eyes looked blood shot.

            “Gomen Nasai, Tanya-sensei.” They all looked worried. Comrade stood up and walked over to her and rubbed his head on her cheek, Toki started petting him and she seemed to relax. “Tanya-sensei, I remember you said six for lunch, counting Comrade, there’s only five here, so where’s…?”

            “Late, unusual though.” Then a cell phone went off. Tanya took off her hat and reached inside and pulled out a cell phone. She pushed a button and absentmindedly started speaking Japanese and then switched to English. “Trying to find a parking place, about five minutes. Our menus haven’t gotten to me yet, they’re upset at Comrade, and you haven’t met him, have you? Finally, menus are here, I’ll wait for you.” She closed the lid and put it back inside her hat.

            “Who was that, Tanya?” Sutako asked.

            “This should be a treat for you, I know you like the Maverick Police, the Civilian Senior Director of the Japanese Branch is having lunch with us.” The girls attention was riveted on Tanya. “There she is now.” Tanya got up and walked over to Roll who was just entering the outside area. They hugged each other. “This is a special day for me; I’m getting to meet everybody I used to know.”

            “Some old friends of yours?” They started walking back to the table.

            “I used to teach them English when I was in Japan. Girls, I would like you to meet…” They were gone, including Comrade.

            “By any chance these friends of yours wouldn’t happen to be three Japanese girls, one has straight-short blonde hair, one has semi-permed blonde hair, and the other wavy dark brown hair?”

            “Excepts for the short hair, yes”

            “I have to find them, immediately!”

*

            “Quick, let’s duck into this alley.” Yume said. “That was too close.”

            “I should have guessed sooner, as soon as she said her ancestor was Kalinka Cossack. I never knew.” Sutako said.

            “I…keep…trying…to…tell…you, Ruko-chan…” Toki was breathing heavily. They walked down a ways and then turned into another alley. They didn’t notice that Comrade had been following them the whole time. He stopped at the second corner and peeked around.

            “As long as they don’t sick some dogs on us, we should be safe for a while. Here Toki, sit down on this crate.” Yume said. Toki sat down and leaned back against the wall and immediately passed out.

            “I’m sorry, Yume, but this is too much for us in our condition. I’m still too low on blood and there is something seriously wrong with Toki.”  Sutako sat down next to Toki and passed out as well.

            “I need to get you guys to a hospital right now.”

            “Looks as if you girls could use some help.” Yume turned around and saw two men; both wore bandanas, loose fitting jeans, unbuttoned flannel shirts and white tank tops.

            “Terefone, hospitaru.” Yume said in broken English. She made a hand gesture that indicated she needed a phone.

            “We’ll help you out, for a price.” One of the men walked over to Yume, she tried backing up but he put an arm around her. He then place a hand on her buttocks, she slapped him really hard. Both men drew out knives. The one that was slapped tripped Yume and she fell hard to the ground. He then held his knife to her throat.

“STOP RIGHT THERE! How dare you treat a visitor to our great nation in such a disrespectful manner!” At the entrance to the alley stood a woman who was dressed similar to Sailor Ursis except the areas that where dark brown were light brown. Her tiara had two horns at the extreme ends where her temples where. Each horn was about seven inches long and had a ninety degree bend that made them point straight up. Her hair was a deep blood red.

“Who the fuck are you!?” The guy that was standing guard asked.

“As my Japanese friends would say: BISHOUJO SENSHI SEIRA TAURUS!”

“I suggest you shut the fuck up or something bad will happen to these girls here.”

3-Jul-02

            The man who was holding down Yume picked her up moved so that he was behind her, held the knife next to her throat, and then pulled a gun and pointed at the unconscious girls. Sailor Taurus just stood there staring him down, the other started walking over to her waving his knife. Then his partner screamed out in pain. He turned around and saw a cat clawing all over his face he had dropped the knife and was trying to grab the cat. Yume then back kicked her attacker in the groin. He grimaced in pain and then swung the gun around striking her on side of her head dazing her and she dropped down.

            Sailor Taurus wanted to help but she was busy dodging knife thrusts. She backed out of the side alley and went around the corner. The man decided to make a final stab, Taurus dodged in time, she brought her knee to his midsection. He doubled over and then she jammed her elbow below the base of his skull which knocked him out. Taurus spied a sewer cover, she picked it up and dragged her opponent over and dumped him in.

            “Hope the EPA doesn’t find out I did that or I could get fined for polluting the city sewer system. I need to hurry back.”

            “ZODIAC SOUL POWER MAKE UP!” That caused her to pause for a moment. “Could that have been…?” Sailor Taurus ran around in time to see Yume being shoved forward into another girl dressed like her. They hit chest first and fell down and landed hard on the ground. They made no move to get up. The man stood up menacingly over the two. Then the cat jumped on top of them and hissed and made swiping motions with its paw. He brought his knife over his head getting ready to plunge it downward.

            “TAURUS CHARGE!” Sailor Taurus’s body glowed a fiery orange and levitated a foot off the ground and shot forward head first. She struck him in the chest and they flew together back into a wall. The glow faded and she backed up. The attacker was pinned to the wall knocked out with Sailor Taurus’s horns stuck into the wall connected by a golden band. As she walked over to the girls, her tiara glowed and grew a new set of horns. Yume was trying to get up, Sailor Leo just laid there. Taurus knelt and help Yume up.

            “Here, use this; I need to run some more interference.” Sailor Taurus handed Yume a cell phone, and ran out of the alley, the cat followed her. Yume opened the lid, the numbers were not in English and they certainly were not in Japanese. She saw three buttons, one was labeled English in English, the other was in Japanese, and the other was in the style of the numbers. She pressed the Japanese button and the display changed into Japanese. She dialed 911 and the operator came on and started asking questions. Yume answered as best she could in English.

*

            Roll met Tanya on the main alley entrance.

            “No luck either?” Roll asked.

            “I, didn’t see a thing.” Tanya said. Roll looked at her kind of odd.

            “Let’s try the other way.” Tanya gave a glance down to Comrade and he ran back into the alley. He peaked around a corner a saw Yume remove Sailor Leo’s tiara and her sailor fuku fade back to her Charro outfit.

            “I knew it; I just knew there had to be other Sailor Scouts.” He said.

*

4-jun-02

<<JOE: This next scene is supposed to take place before the previous 40 pages. I just kept putting off writing it down.

            “Sutako, explain again why we are here so early.” One girl asked the other as they went through the double doors of the high school. She was half a head taller with blue eyes and curly ash blonde hair that came down to her shoulders. She was wearing a typical school girl sailor fuku or uniform. The top was white; the skirt and cape were blue trimmed in gold. She wore the long sleeve version which was a size too big.

            “Well, Yume, I want to make a good impression on my new teachers before someone messes it up as usual.” Sutako had on the same exact uniform as Yume only it was the short sleeve and it was just the right size. Her eyes were dark brown and her hair came down past her shoulders and was a deep brown with highlighted red naturally permed.

            As they walked down the hall, both doors flew open. Sutako and Yume turned around and saw who it was. Yume grimaced and Sutako smirked. She stood in the doorway legs spread, her arms held up at a forty-five. She brought her hands down to her hips. She too had on a sailor fuku but it was different from the other girls’: the top was sleeveless, black, and the trim was silver. She had brown eyes and yellowish blond hair which she kept it short but feminine.

            “LADIES, LADIES, LADIES! TOKI DAISUKENO IN THE HIZ-HOUSE…HEY!” The doors closed on her. Sutako and Yume looked at each other with sweat drops.

            “Does she have to do that every year?” Yume asked. One door opened back up and Toki came through. She walked up to the other two put her arms around their waists. Yume removed her arm. Sutako made no move to do so. Sutako was just a hair taller.

            “So much for your dramatic entrance, Toki.” Sutako said.

            “I keep forgetting about those timers on the doors. You two look good in your Senior Fukus. I still have to wear black, but now I’m a Junior.” Toki reached behind her neck and pulled up the cape to show off the trim. “Yume, if you at least wear the right size.” Toki let Sutako go and put her arms around Yume and bunched up the cloth in back making the front taut. “That’s better, I’d let you borrow mine but it’s the wrong colour, maybe Sutako could loan you one.”

            “I must say, she is right.” Sutako chuckled. Yume brought her fist up and hit Toki on top of her head.

            “Ow, that hurt.” Toki let Yume go and rubbed her head. “You’re so mean to me, your own sister.”

            “If you’re my sister, then why do you hit on me all the time?”

            “I’m just trying to get you to open up a little. You always dress so conservative. You have a lot more than me or Sutako to show off.”

            “Yume.” Sutako said. Yume then hit Toki on the head again.

            “Now you’re being mean to me.” Toki looked as if she was going to burst out crying. Sutako went over to her and hugged her.

            “It’s getting time for everybody to show up, let’s find our classes.” Sutako tried to let go. “Toki, I need air.” Toki let go but placed her arm back around Sutako’s and Yume’s waist, this time Yume just left it there. They walked down the hall.

            “What are you doing here so early, Toki?” Yume asked.

            “What I always do: scope out the action.”

            “To find all the other girls with short blond hair.” Sutako quipped. “Like that one up there.” Sutako pointed with her free hand to girl up the hall, she wore a similar sailor fuku that had a blue long sleeve top and white trim. As they got closer, they made out more detail: she was just over four foot tall, white hair that only came down to the middle of her neck.

            “She’s much too young, she’s about eight or nine years old. That’s a third through fifth grade fuku for this school area. I’d like to see her in another ten years, though you never know.” The other two backed away from her. Then the girl collapsed in a heap.

5-Jul-02

Yume rushed ahead and started looking her over. She picked the young girl up and placed her on a nearby bench. She placed two fingers on the girl’s neck.

            “Get the School Nurse, I can’t feel a pulse!” Toki started beating on the door next to them. It just happened to be the nurse’s office. Nobody answered and Yume began mouth to mouth and CPR as Sutako went to find a phone down the hall. She found a pay phone and was dialing the emergency number when Yume crashed into her.

            “Yume! What happened?”

            “Someone grabbed me and threw me all the way down here.” They ran back and saw Toki being held up by the lapels by someone that literally looked as if they came from a manga: she wore a bluish-black body suit with white halter top; knee high white boots and white elbow length gloves. She also wore a white helmet that hid her head and dark blue glasses that hid her eyes.

            “Leave my sister alone!” Sutako yelled. She pulled a red oval gem on a gold chain from around her neck. She took the gem out of the gold frame and placed it on her forehead. “CONSTELLATION SOUL POWER MAKE UP!” Gold bars grew out of the gem forming a tiara and a bright flash replaced her school uniform with a new one similar to it: white leotard with halter top, the skirt came down just below her hips and was made of dark brown fur. Her knee high boots, gloves except for the hands, and cape were also made of fur. She immediately went on the offensive.

            “GRIZZLY CRUSH!” The attacker threw Toki over to Yume who caught her and Sutako grabbed the attacker around the waist and squeezed. She showed no signs of it having any effect. Her hands were free and raised them in the air and both were surrounded by a geyser of water that froze, and then exploded in a shower of ice crystals. Yume and Toki covered the young girl, but the shower missed them entirely but took out the walls around them. They peek up and the attacker was standing over the prone form of Sutako. Toki ran over to face her down. The armored girl faded left and reappeared in front of Yume and knelt down beside the white haired girl, Yume backed away not wanting to get thrown again. A gloved hand was placed over the heart of the girl and a white glow surrounded them both and in a bright flash the attacker disappeared. Yume cautiously leaned over and checked out the unconscious girl. She looked surprised.

            “She seems to be okay now. Toki, how’s Sailor Ursis?” Yume looked over and saw Toki hauling up Sailor Ursis. “Wait a minute, do you think she saw…?”

            “No, I stuck my hands over her…uhm…eyes, I think. I’ll be back.” Toki placed one of Sailor Ursis’s arms around her shoulder and help her down the hall and into the restroom. Then a team of police officers burst through the main doors and surrounded the two girls.

            “Miss, what happened? Looks like a bomb went off in here.” One said.

            “Hey, Sarge, there’s ice all over the place.” Another said. They looked at Yume and all she did was shrug.

            “What’s with all the cops?” Toki asked as she came back down with a half dazed Sutako.

            “Someone dialed the EMT and left the phone hanging so the operator put a trace on it. I think you three should come with us.” The officer said. He grabbed a microphone and spoke into it. “Area clear, send in the medics.” After only a few seconds two men with a stretcher came in and placed the young girl on it and carried her out.

            “So much for your good impression, Sis.” Toki said.

*

7-Jul-02

            Most people don’t even think much about it. Sure, we learn about in school, but after that, not much. Maybe you might be into your horoscope, but like the evening news, they tell you all the facts and are always wrong. If you live in the city you can’t see it, the country folk now have GPS and all sort of technical gadgets so they don’t need to look up any more. Ask a ship’s captain to point out the North Star and they’ll probably have to call NASA.

            Space was big hit in the Twentieth Century: Moon landings, space stations, satellites out the wazoo, and every imaginable sci-fi TV show. Why go out and look at the stars when you can stay in the comfort of your living room? The twenty-first century ushered in a Moon colony and towards the end a Mars colony. Most people paid no mind. Only technicians whose specialty it was to repair the machinery necessary to keep your butt safe really applied. Most of the Earth Bound was concerned with their everyday life: going to and from work, groceries, laundry, getting a date on Saturday Night, and so forth.

            The only people who looked to the stars were the scientists looking for life. They found many another planets orbiting far off stars. They look at them with over priced telescopes and underpowered satellites. They never saw a thing, mostly because the aliens who stopped by did a good job of keeping themselves hidden. They knew what would happen if anybody found out: they’d get hit on the head and their ships taken for a joy ride across the solar system. The only reason they came was to study the humans in an attempt to find out more about themselves at that stage in their own development, plus Earth was the only place to get decent order of braughtwurst and cheese fries.

            Studying humans was pretty easy, until they went up in space. Then there are those spy satellites, and let’s not get started on those pesky video cameras that every redneck had all of the sudden. Things got really tough, so most went on to the next solar system that had cave dwellers. Preferably one out of range of those TV singles. The only thing that irritated them more was that crack pot leaving the big black rectangles where ever he went; the intergalactic equivalent to “Killroy Was Here.”

            Those humans who paid attention noticed a sharp drop off in UFO abductions and sightings in the early Twenty-Second Century. They had no idea why. Word had spread amongst the alien visitors that They were coming. That was a capitol ‘T’. It was bad enough they (small T) had to hang back for a far off look; They were coming into the picture. You don’t mess with Them. They were the boss in this sector of space. They rarely ventured forth from their home systems, but when They did, that meant They were pissed. Nobody went and made Them upset without some sort on consequence. Some of the scientists waited until the last possible moment trying to get in the last little bit information from Earth. They (not the They) wondered what the hell it was the Humans did that could cause Them to travel all the way to Earth. What ever it was, they hoped the Humans had sufficient population on their colony worlds. They (humans this time) had better hope that the colonies aren’t wiped out as well.

            While getting ready to leave, one ship had a near miss with Them. It was in Jupiter’s Orbital Plane. Everybody was looking towards Earth at the time. The scanner operator looked at the collision indictor. The other ship was several hundred kilometers distant, but that was too close.

            “Captain, we are in deep shit.” The operator said.

            “What’s that?”

            “An Earth phrase, meaning trouble, but that’s not important now. See this.” He pushed a few buttons on the control panel and the image of the other ship appeared on the main screen. It was big, about a kilometer long, three hundred meters tall, and three hundred at the widest point. It had three distinct parts: a saucer, body, and dual engines. It was steel gray and pock marked with all sorts of scorch marks. It moved slowly at about half the speed of light.

            “Is that what I think it is, First Officer?” The captain asked the woman seated at the navigation consol.

            “Yes sir I believe so. The computer has confirmed the shape but cannot find any markings and no beacon signal is being detected. So a positive identification is not forthcoming.”

            “Have they spotted us?”

            “Yes, they just scanned us. Weapons remain inactive. They are continuing on course for Earth and are ignoring us other wise.”

            “Good, let the Humans and their machines handle the Provovians. We’ll watch, from a distance. Commo set up a line with nearest local commander and pipe it to my office.” The captain got up from his seat and went through a door off the side of the bridge area. “Not everyday they just fly without so much as a warning shot.” He thought.

*

8-Jul-02

            “They are maintaining course and speed, Admiral.” The man at the Ops consol said.

            “They must be keeping in communication with their high command. Not like that last one. What class was it?” The Admiral was an imposing man. He stood over six and a half feet tall and had broad shoulders. He kept his curly dark hair short so it didn’t look too unkempt. Wore the regulation uniform of an officer: black boots and pants, black long sleeve top that came down to his hips, it had four pockets and above the top right one was his name: Ballade. Above the left pocket was pinned three four pointed stars indicating his rank as an Admiral.

            “The computer identified it as a Silus Light Explorer Class. Two saucers and bodies, and four engines.”

            “So this is where our Markeian friends are now using them. They finally figured out they are no match for us.”

9-Jul-02

             “Keep an eye out, I’m going back off duty, you have the Com.” The Admiral said. He turned around and walked over to a set of doors marked ‘Lift”. They automatically opened and he walked in. He pushed some buttons on a panel next to the door. The lift moved down and stopped at the next floor and several people got on. He nodded at them and they stood at attention until he said to carry on. One pushed a button on the panel. The lift moved down several more floors and stopped. He got off when the doors opened. He traveled all over this ship so much he could tell where exactly he was and not have look at any of the labels that indicated locations. He made a left turn at a door and it opened right up. After the door closed back up after he went he unbuttoned his top and threw it on the couch. He walked towards the bedroom. He could hear the sound of heavy breathing indicating some one was asleep. He sighed and walked in.

            Lying on his bed was someone whom he knew was a woman, though if you saw her for the first time you’d think she was a man. She had no chest to speak of, skinny, and she kept her curly black hair short and in the shape of her head. She laid on the Admiral’s bed in her slip with the lower half of her body under the covers. He sat down on the bed and reached out and stroked her hair. He was very used to her natural appearance; it was the changes that slightly unnerved him still: above each eyebrow was a silicon hole that was only a few millimeters big. There were ones one the outside of her eyes and on her cheeks below her eyes.

            He thought about the incident that required the appurtances. She was the captain of this very ship when it was attacked by their former enemies. During the battle the navigator was killed when an energy backlash hit him from his control panel. She took it over and then it sent a shower of sparks in her face when the enemy ship scored a direct hit. He was manning the weapons consol when it happened and in a rage he fired the whole inventory of weapons destroying the attacking ship and several others. They retreated and he had to pick up the pieces. The ship had to be in dry dock for over a month, he got a slap on the wrist reprimand for wasting ammunition, but she lost her eyes. Reconstructive surgery fixed her appearance but she needed implants and at the time they required a large visor that covered a most of her face. She was then forced to retire from the fleet by her mother. She fought it, but lost. She took the hint when she was reassigned as captain of the Palace Guard. Her mother had such power because she was queen of the capitol province of the planet Provovia.

            It was a tradition of the royal family to serve in the armed forces for a short period of time. Most started out as high ranking flag officers and served in positions close to home. Not Princess Cameron Quintet, she came in as an enlisted person. She started out as the lowest enlisted rank and made it up to senior enlisted, then switched to the officer corps. Same thing there, started low and worked her way up. That inspired her brother Don Ballade. He too started low as you could go and made it all the way up to three star admiral.

27Jul 02

After spending so much time with her, the only thing that really unnerved the Admiral was the fact that his sister was always in his room. She lazily opened her eyes, he no longer blanched at the sight, and then she quickly grabbed for her visor and placed it over her face.

 “I hate it when people see me like this.” She sat up and swung her legs over the edge.

“Then wear something different, you don’t have to wear that nitey.” He knew she was very self-conscious about her appearance, so he would tease her about something else to distract her. “Or you could just grow your hair out.”

“That is not me.” It seemed to work every time.

“I’m surprised that you of all people are asleep at a time like this.”

“It’s past my bedtime, and we’re not missing much.”

“You missed a close call with the Markeians.”

“They didn’t attack?”

“No, they just scanned us and took off. We can only hope that Quintessian Intelligence hasn’t cracked any new Markeian codes.”

“Even if they have, we don’t have any thing worry about; Mother won’t send any body after us. We’ve said our goodbyes.”

“It didn’t seem like that when we left.”

“It was awhile after we escaped.”

“Oh yeah.” He remembered the strong psychic link the females of his family share. “Right now we are about halfway between Mars and Jupiter. Let me show you.” They got up and walked into the living room area.

“Computer, bring up the current map of the Sol System.” Over the coffee table a holographic image appeared, it showed the Sun and all nine planets. “Enlarge inside of Jupiter Orbit.” It did so. Jupiter and Mars were on the opposite side off the system from Earth. The Moon was between Earth and Mars Orbit. “We couldn’t have timed it better: the Mars Colonies won’t see us, the Earth won’t if we come in like so.” He pointed his finger and traced an imaginary line to the dark side of the Moon. “Engineering finally fixed the cloaking device so we can get a lot closer now.”

“After all this time, I’m finally here.”

“I’ve asked you this before, but, what is so important about this moon that we had to sacrifice everything, even this ship?”

“I made it plain that when we left, we would never return home. The Sol System is our home now and fore ever. I have no idea why that rock is so important.”

*

03 Aug 2002

The shuttle craft hovered a few inches over the Moon’s surface. It looked like nothing more than a box with pontoons. It stopped in the middle of no where. A door opened up on the side and Ballade and Cammy carefully stepped out. They wore battle armor which protected them from the vacuum of space. Each was designed from their personal experiences. Cammy had relatively few injuries so she used little; gray spandex which didn’t do much to accentuate her femininity, red helmet, gauntlets that could transform into particle cannons, and boots. Ballade had been in quite a few battles so his armor covered his whole body. It was colored royal blue, on his helmet was two spines that came out at a forty-five from the central forehead, a one piece chest protector, particle cannons mounted as part of the shoulders, just above his wrists were raised sections that were the real cannons.

They hovered above the Moon’s surface using anti-gravity generators in their boots. The shuttle then disappeared in a wave of an invisible curtain.

“We only have about three hours before the cloak is lost.” Ballade said as he looked at a display on the underside of his gauntlet. “Where are you going?” Cammy had floated over several meters.

“Right here, there’s an access cover. Somebody did a good job of hiding it. Unfortunately they didn’t count on me looking for it, plus a small meteorite struck it.” Ballade floated over and held his hand over the panel. He thought it was odd that she knew exactly where to land and found this door within a few seconds. He turned his arm over and looked at the display.

“A security system alright, dead now. There’s a tunnel heading that way and angles down. Very sharp too, about a kilometer.” He pointed his other hand out across the Moon’s surface. “Looks as if it was damaged a long time ago, nobody paid it any mind, sloppy.” Ballade floated upside down and started brushing away moon dust until he found a slot towards the middle. He pulled on it and the doors opened out. As he righted himself Cammy floated right on in, he mumbled and went in also.

“I can’t see anything; turn on your helmet lights please.” Cammy asked. Four slots popped out on his helmet on bright light shone down in a beam. They continued to float down the tunnel.

“This was definitely was hand made. Not very long ago, about five Earth years it seems.” Ballade was reading his display again. “Odd, I’m not getting any readings about five meters down this passage.”

“Is your scanner running out of power?”

“No, it has a range of one kilometer.” As they got towards where the scanner couldn’t read, they saw, nothing. It wasn’t an end, just nothing. Ballade’s lights didn’t even reflect.

“What do you see?” Cammy asked.

“Nothing, no rock, no anything. It looks like a black wall that doesn’t show up on the scanner.” He reached out and touched it, it was solid enough. “Don’t tell me some one left one of those damn things here. Everywhere we go black rectangles, what is with that guy?”

“Wait, I don’t think so.” Cammy also reached out to touch it, but her hand went through, something compelled her and she floated through. Ballade looked on in disbelief. Then he reacted by yelling for her and pounding on the wall. He calmed  himself down and looked at his scanner, all he had to do was think about the commands and the data from the last few minutes appeared; it showed him and Cammy in the tunnel and then her life signs drop to zero at the instant she went into the wall.

*

Cammy was falling, she panicked at first, but then mentally turned up the power on her anti-gravs. It didn’t kick in on time and she hit an out cropping, she tumbled in mid air until she just floated down slowly for almost a kilometer. She was dazed while floating an inch off the ground. She looked up and around, nothing, even with her electronically enhanced eyes. She turned on her infrared, nothing again. Her body heat didn’t reflect off the ground.

“What can I do now?” Her brain was catching up with her instincts. “I got a scanner too.” She tried to lift up her arm and let out a blood curdling scream at the pain in her broken shoulder. As she screamed, something let out a bright flash. It continued to pulse, it distracted her, and she totally forgot the pain. She floated over to the blinking light. As time went on, more and more points of light of different sizes began blinking. It traveled in a circle from the first one she saw.  Lights began blinking beneath her feet; she bent over to get a closer look.

“I don’t believe it, Litanium! Here of all places.” Then the pattern of the central light slowed down. That struck her as odd; then she realized it was in time with her heart beat. She was drawn to it; something inside of her knew this was the reason why she was here. As she got closer, she could only see the rocky pedestal it stood on, it came up to her waist, and sitting on top was what she thought as a perfectly round crystal. Upon inspection, it had thousands of facets, the blinking continued but now she could see that it also had a shimmer to it. She reached for it, but she used the hand with the broken shoulder and the pain flared up again. For some reason she couldn’t explain, instead of using her good arm, she continued with her bad one. The pain was intense and she ground her teeth together, but she finally touched it. The blinking stabilized and the pain in her shoulder went away. She totally forgot it was ever broken. The shine faded and the Litanium crystals quit blinking.

“This looks like nothing more than a lump of glass.” She thought. Her attention was riveted on the crystal as she floated up and over to the entrance she originally fell down. She went through the entrance and finally looked up into the double barrel of a laser cannon pointed right at her.

“HOLY SHIT!!!” She ducked and rolled a split second before it fired a stream of high intensity light into the cave. The black wall disappeared when Cammy came back through. The cannon then contorted to form the humanoid shape of Ballade.

“MY GOD!!! Are you alright?”

“Barely. Thank you for caring so much. I know how transforming hurts you.”

“I felt your pain.”

“What pain?”

“Your shoulder, it was practically shattered.”

“No it wasn’t.” She moved both her arms in wide circles. He scanned he body and found no trace of an injury. He was sure his sister was hurt, but decided it was his own worry after seeing her disappear.

“What is in there?”

“Litanium, lots of it. That cave looks to be a kilometer square.”

“That’s big enough to put the ship in, if we could get it through a kilometer of rock. Let’s go back. The shuttle’s power is probably getting low.” They hovered out of the tunnel, closed the door. Got on the shuttle and went back to the ship. After decontamination they walked back to their rooms. Ballade had noticed that she was staring at a crystal she brought back with her.

“That’s not Litanium is it?”

“No, I don’t know what it is, but it is very important.” She started to go through the door to her room when Ballade stopped her.

“Your room is down there.” She just walked down and turned into her room. Ballade didn’t go into his room until she went into hers. When Cammy entered her room, she immediately went to her bedroom and took off her armor and tossed it at the foot of the bed. Then she took off her spandex and tossed it on top of her armor and climbed into bed. She took off the visor and picked up the crystal and ‘stared’ at it. She could picture it clearly in her mind. After only a few minutes she was asleep.

She dreamed she was walking about a garden of flowers. The garden was in a Grecian-like acropolis. She was self aware of herself in her dreams and took in all the details and compared them to previous dreams. She had dreamed of this place many times during her journey to Earth, and it was the only one that was in normal view instead of the computer generated ones she had since the accident that took away her eyes. She was always perplexed at the way the surroundings were bright as day but the sky was dark as night filled with stars. A new feature that showed up this time was a planet in the horizon. It was blue and cloud covered. She realized it was Earth and that she was on the Moon.

“This has taken a weird twist. The only city that the Terrans built on the Moon looks like nothing like this.”

“It was our ancestors that built the palace you see now.” Cammy spun around and saw a woman standing a couple of meters away. Cammy had never dreamed of any one else in this garden before. The new person was six feet tall, wore a strapless dress that came down to below her knees, she had long white hair done up in a double pony tail.

“’Our ancestors’, who are you?”

“I don’t have much time, I just want you to know that I don’t bare any malice at all to you or your ancestors.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you?”

“I must leave now, but I want to give you a gift.”  The woman walked over to Cammy and cupped her jaw in her hands and gently kissed her on the cheek and vanished.

“Finally she’s gone.” Cammy spun around again. This time it was a shadow. Feminine in shape, it drew a shadowy sword from the side of its waist and ran at Cammy. The blade went through her heart and she woke up screaming. Ballade came charging in to her bedroom and sat down on her bed and picked her up and held her tight.

“It was just a dream, Sis. I’m here.”

“It was so…so… I can’t remember now.”

“I felt your fright and came running.” Even though it was usually only the females of his family that had the psychic bond, on the rare occasion a male sibling could home in on intense feelings of his sister. The only other times he could really remember were earlier in the cave and the deep depression after she lost her eyes.

“I’m okay now. We need some sleep. There is some serious planning to do in the morning.” He let her go and used the special access way back into his room. She got out of bed went into the bathroom. After she used the toilet she washed her hands and dried them off and started to walk out when it hit her. She quickly went back to the sink and looked into the mirror.  She saw herself for the first time in many years.

*

10-Aug-02

            She opened her eyes and had no idea who the woman holding her hand was. The woman had light brown shoulder length hair and eyes. After thinking about, she did look familiar.

            “Have we met before?” The woman choked and tears started streaming down her face. She then buried her face in the girl’s shoulder. The girl had a very puzzled look on her face. A man walked into the room, he was just shy of six foot, spear bald, wore a white lab coat. His facial features where very different from the woman’s.

            “Ms. Daisukeno?” The woman looked up and wiped her eyes; the girl looked up as well but didn’t know why. “What’s your name?” He said in Japanese.

            “Hanako.”

            “Not you, her.” He pointed at the girl. She just stared at him.

            “How old are you? Who’s the President, no wait, who’s the Emperor?” She looked up towards her forehead thinking about it, and then shrugged. “What year is it?” She shook her head no. “What is your favourite TV show?”

            “What is a TV?”

            “Count to ten.”

            “Uhhhm…” He held up his index finger and she looked up. He waved his hands no and then held up his index and middle finger. She returned the Victory Salute. He then held up his ring finger as well.

            “Oh…” She looked as if she had no clue.

            “How many sisters do you have?”

            “Three.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “That V thing.”

            “I get the point Doctor.” Hanako said.

            “I was doing some informal tests. We’ll go through the whole battery of memory tests when she’s rested up some more.” He walked over to the bed and sat down in a chair on the other side. “As you can tell she has amnesia. Not uncommon after receiving such a strong trauma to the head. Couple that with the tumor that had to be removed, and the only option was the procedure I used which unfortunately also exacerbates the amnesia.”

            “Will she ever regain her memories?” Hanako asked.

            “Honestly, no. The good news is that with the enhancements she’ll be able to relearn fairly easily.”

            “Enhancements?” Hanako wondered.

            “That is the phrase often used by those who have them; most don’t like using the name microchip for some reason.”

            “How good are they?”
 

            “Very good, I have them. I am also the personal physician of three others who have had the most extensive surgeries. Their progress has been excellent. I need to talk with you a moment alone Ms. Daisukeno.” The doctor and Hanako left the room. She thought back to earlier the previous day when she arrived to learn about what happened. Yume, Sutako, and Toki had been found in an alley by the local fire department and brought to this hospital for treatment. She was by met Dr. Edger almost immediately. He said that Yume had a ruptured tumor in her brain and that a significant portion of the memory area was affected. He said that he could remove the tumor but the damage had already been done. He could try to make repairs using implantable microchips. Hanako readily agreed to anything to save her daughter.

            “Please step into my office so we can talk in private.” They walked in and Dr. Edger sat down behind his desk and motioned for Hanako to sit down in a chair in front. “I’ll be blunt, your daughter is very lucky. It looks as if the operation took and she is well on her way to a full recovery.”

            “Lucky, what do you mean?”

            “I’ve seen cases where the patient showed no improvement or became a vegetable.” Hanako gasped. “One case was a police officer, top in her field, but fell and hit her head and had the implants and is now really clumsy.”

            “You told Yume…”

            “I’ve been a doctor for a long time; one of the first things I learned is that you don’t say such things in front of a patient. Especially one I don’t know and need to cultivate a long term relationship with. I have been through this many times. This is what I need from you: I need you to be a shield for Yume. You probably know her the best so it is up to you to get her back to normal as possible.” Hanako slumped back in her chair and sighed.

            “I’m going to need a lot of help.”

            “Your other two daughters will be a great help and I can help as well. Nice things about having some chips in my head, I also have a degree in psychology.”

            “How soon can we start?”

            “A couple of days, then we’ll do the basic knowledge tests to see where her mental level is currently at.”

            “I hate to be rude, Doctor, but I need to see my other daughters as well.”

            “So do I, I have some questions about their conditions.”

            “Oh?”

            “Toki had a fractured sternum. It appears to have been recently knitted but re-broken. It also appears that she is also low on blood. Sutako was also low on blood, dangerously low.” Hanako got up and Dr. Edger followed suit. They walked back up the hall.

            “You said there are others under your care.”

            “Yes, would you like to meet them?”

            “I would, please.”

            “I can arrange it only if they agree.”

            “Thank you.” They came upon the room with Toki and Sutako in it. “Please, I need to speak with them alone.” He nodded yes and she went inside. She saw Sutako and Toki in bed together. Toki was sleeping with her arm across Sutako’s lower chest and Sutako was watching TV.

            “She was sleep-walking. I think she was trying to go to Yume’s room, I redirected her to my bed.”

            “Good thinking. Wake her up we need to talk.” Sutako rubbed Toki’s shoulder and she lazily opened her eyes and blushed.

            “Gomen.”

            “Don’t be, Toki-chan.”

            “Cover your ears.” Hanako said. They looked up and saw their mother holding two bed pans out to each side. They put their hands over their ears and Hanako slammed the stainless steel pans together making a loud crashing sound.

            On the other side of the door Dr. Edger bolted up and pulled the stethoscope from his ears and closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He didn’t notice the woman walk up to him.

            “I said are you okay?” She said in a loud voice.

            “I’m okay, Roll. What brings you here?”

            “For my annual check up.”

            “You’re a month early.”

            “I had to come to the States on business so I decided to drop by. I may not be able to come again in another month.” They started walking down to his office.

            “Does it have anything to do with that attack on Maverick Police Headquarters the other day?”

            “Could be.”

            “I just performed an enhancement. They are interested in talking with you.”

            “You didn’t tell them it was me, did you?”

            “No, no, I didn’t give your name. I said I need your permission first.”

            “No, and don’t ever make any such suggestion to me again.”

*

17-Aug-02

            “Where’s the uhm…room with the thing about this tall.” She indicated height by holding her hand a few feet off the top her mattress; thus started her rehabilitation. She swung her legs to the side of her bed and stood up and just stood there. Her mother thought she had a head rush. A minute later, Yume got this panicked look on her face. Her mother went over to her and then her daughter took off in a run to the bathroom. A couple minutes later the facet was turned on.

            “Don’t forget to flush.”

            “How?”

            “Push the silver handle.” Another minute passed by and the mother walked into the bathroom and saw her daughter trying to push the handle into the pipe. She sighed and pushed down on the handle and the girl jumped at the sound.

            The next test came when she was formally introduced to her sisters. They came into her room. The one with brown hair looked nervous and the other with long blonde hair avoided looking at her. Her mother pointed who was who.

            “This is Suzy and Toni. Girls, this is Becky.” Becky got a very thoughtful look on her face. “Don’t think about it to hard, you’ll blow out the chips.”

            “Really?”

            “No, I just don’t want you to think about it. This is hard on us all, but it must be done if we are to survive.” Becky was given an abridged family history. Suzy was born nine months almost to the day Becky first came home. A year later their mother’s sister and her husband left their baby daughter with her so they could go on a ‘date.’ Unfortunately they were hit by another car that ran a red light and were killed. Toni was then quickly adopted. They lived normally for about ten years until their father was killed when a group of terrorists tried to take an airplane. He led the other passengers in revolt. Recently they immigrated to America to get better job and education opportunities. They had been here for only a day when their mother was in an interview and the girls were exploring the city when they were mugged.

            Becky’s reeducation was going at a fast and seemly strange rate. With the memory chips in her head, she learned English exceptionally fast, Toni did okay while Suzy and their mother Heather struggled. When she tried to write English, it was interspaced with Japanese Text. Walking took weeks while running was instant. After which she was allowed to go home. Things got a bit weirder. One time the DVD player broke and Becky fixed it. Then she put the disks in upside down. She laced her shoes towards her toes. Everybody thought it was a joke, but Becky look serious the whole time. She became very literal minded. While doing dishes, she was told to hit the on button on the garbage disposal, she hit it with the frying pan she had in her hand.     

*

            “What did the doctor say?” Suzy asked they walked back home after visiting Dr. Edger.

            “He said I’m doing fine and that I should start school soon.”

            “We’ll probably start when the next school year begins, we’ve lost too much time. Toni’s been going to school, so she will be in the same grade as us.”

            “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about her.”

            “Something wrong?”

            “I’m not sure, she doesn’t seem right.”

            “You can say that again.” Suzy quipped but then seriously said: “She’s changed. I never see her smile any more.”

            “Remember when you told me to use the remote instead of getting up and walking to the TV to change the channels and I threw it at the channel button.”

            “You have good aim, you changed the channel alright.”

            “You and Mother started laughing but Toni picked up the remote and showed me the buttons and went to her room.”

“Do you ever find her in bed with you?”

            “No, why would I?”

            “She used to sleep walk. I haven’t seen her in my bed at all recently.” They were walking past a salon and which gave Suzy a bright idea. “Come inside, this should cheer her up.”

            An hour later they walked out, both had similar styled short blonde hair.

            “How’s this going to work?” Becky asked.

            “Toni likes short hair blondes.”

            “You mean she’s gay!?”

            “No, she just hasn’t decided.”

            “How about you?”

            “I assure you I won’t try to bed my own sister. Are you uncomfortable?”

            “I’m not sure.”

            “We’re not going to tell you what’s right; you have to make your own choices.”

            “Okay, but first, what does ‘gay’ mean?” Suzy face-faulted at that question.

            “I’m going to let Mom do her job and explain that one, again, and to an eighteen year old.”

            “Excuse me, do you have the time?” A male voice asked from behind them.

            “It’s two o’clock.” Suzy replied as she turned around looking at her watch. She looked up at him and choked. “Quick, this way.” She whispered to Becky. They rounded a corner into an alley.

            “I don’t think he recognized me.”

            “Who was that?”

            “Maybe my voice is disguised as well.”

            “What are you babbling about?”

            “That guy in the Civil War looking uniform is Jedite, a guy we used to have problems with.”

24-Aug-02

            “Uh-oh, she doesn’t remember Jedite?” Suzy thought. “She probably doesn’t remember anything about Sailor Ursis or Leo.” Jedite walked into the alley smiling evilly. “Damn, can’t transform in front of him.”

            “Good afternoon, ladies. Let me introduce myself, I am Jedite, future ruler of this pitiful planet. But, I do need your help.”

            “Our help?” Becky asked.

            “Yes, I need your life energy.” He raised his hands and sparks cracked between his fingers. Suzy stepped in front of Becky arms spread out to try and to protect her. She then felt woozy as a stream of white smoke emanated from her body. She dropped to her knees and passed out. When she came to, Becky was standing at the mouth of the alley peering around the corner. Suzy pulled a red gem from the necklace she wore and placed it on her forehead.

            Becky saw a section of ground in front of the alley light up for a second. She turned around. Her sister was gone and another girl with long curly brown hair was standing there. Her clothes reminded of what Toni wore to school, only furry and very skimpy.

            “Who are you?”

            “You don’t recognize me, how about my voice?”

            “What about your voice?”

            “I am Sailor Ursis; I’m here to save you.”

            “Too late.” She thumbed around the corner. Ursis walked up to the entrance and looked around. Jedite was hovering thirty feet in the air shooting energy bolts from his hands at another girl doing her best to avoid them. Once in awhile she would jump and take a hit at Jedite, and he would move out of the way and continue the barrage when she landed. Ursis thought the girl looked familiar, she wore a dark green body suit and her boots, gloves, halter, and helmet were a dark violet. On each side of her helmet where her ears would be where what looked like antennae. Her eyes were covered with dark goggles.

“That looks like, EIMI!? What is she doing here?”

            “Who’s Amy?”

            “Never mind, let’s go.” Ursis grabbed Becky’s hand and led her back into the alley. “Kuso, it’s a dead end.” She looked up for a fire escape but there wasn’t any.

            “Where’s my sister at?”

            “Are you sure you don’t recognize me?”

            “NO I DON’T!” Ursis rolled her eyes. She then spied a sewer cover. She walked over to it.

            “We can escape this way.”

            “That thing is way too heavy for us to lift.”

            “Not for me.” Ursis stuck her index finger in a hole and pried it up enough to get her other hand under the lip and slid it off to the side. “You first, hurry.” Becky climbed in and Ursis followed closing the lid.

*

            Jedite noticed that his opponent was becoming increasingly sluggish. He held his wrist up to mouth and spoke into the watch.

            “Is she running out of power?”

            “No, she has plenty of energy, but the external control is fading fast.” Jedite looked at the alley and didn’t notice his opponent bounding up the side of two buildings across the street from each other until she made contact with an uppercut to his abdomen.

*

<<JOE: I just have to cut in with my own comment here. Have you ever noticed that in Anime, whenever there is a battle of some sort, there are no bystanders?

            “Just don’t hit me this time.” Zero said as he held out his sword to his side. X aimed his arm cannon at it and prepared for a fully charged shot. Allia, Douglas and other Maverick police officers were keeping the crowd back. X fired and the energy was absorbed into Zero’s sword. He then ran down the road at a semi-transparent barrier. As he neared it he swung his arms giving it all. Right before contact was made, the barrier disappeared catching Zero off balance causing him to face fault into the road. The other Maverick Police Officers had a large sweatdrop on the side of each of their heads.

            “You two maintain control here while Zero and I check out the area.” X said. Zero was dusting himself off when X ran past him. Zero soon caught up with him. “Do you think this is related to the attack on headquarters from a while back?” X asked.

            “Think so, Signas described a similar barrier surrounding the area which prevented him from helping.”

<<JOE: Does the word ‘contrivance’ come to mind?

            “What do you expect to find?”

            “Lots of damage, an animated wooden statue of Gutsman, and a furry cheerleader.”

            “A what and a what?”

*

            “Phew, it stinks down here!” Becky said. They had been wandering around for some time now. The tunnel was about as wide as a street and much taller than the two girls.

            “We should be safe. Wait, damn.” She had glanced back and saw a light coming at high speed towards them. As it got closer she could see it was Jedite. “I can’t fight him, I’m still too weak and Becky will get hurt.” She thought. Then she looked up at the ceiling.

            “Stand back, I have just enough power.” She balled up her right fist and jumped up and punched the ceiling. Unfortunately Jedite had spotted them also and sped up by flying. He stuck Sailor Ursis with his fist in her chest. She flew back into Becky and the roof caved in on top of Jedite burying his legs trapping him. Ursis had quickly recovered, helped Becky up, and started to run away. Jedite was readying another blast from his hand when X and Zero stepped on his head chasing after the two girls. They had fallen in the sewer when the roof collapsed. His adversary from earlier was standing by the rubble now.

            “Good, now help… where are you going?” She took off down the sewer as well.

*

            Becky and Sailor Ursis reached an end with street access, so had two more.

            “Stay away from us.” Ursis said.

            “I got a lot of questions for the both of you.” Zero said.

            “Did you having anything to do with that disturbance earlier?” X asked.

            “No, she did.” Becky pointed behind them.

            “Like we’re going to fall…” Zero was saying when he felt a hand on his shoulder, both he and X turned as saw another person. She had her other hand on X’s shoulder and pushed them apart so hard they slammed into the nearby walls. They came back fist first but she quickly avoided contact by fading forward and they punched each other in the face instead dazing them selves.

            “FULL MOON CLOAK!” Ursis yelled, but nothing happened. “I must be too low on energy. C R A P!” Jedite ran into view. He was visibly disturbed.

            “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO WHAT I SAY, BITCH!”

            “Get out of here.” Ursis whispered to Becky. She climbed up the ladder but was stopped by the sewer cover.

            “I can’t lift this thing.” Ursis wasn’t paying attention. She was mentally channeling her remaining power. She quickly began glow red, cocked her arm back. She said something under her breath in Japanese.

“FINAL NOVA!” She shouted and thrust her fist forward.

*

            Signas was the Maverick Police Commissioner whose main task it was to be a liaison to the local, state, and federal policing agencies. He was the same rank as X, Zero, and Roll, but they usually differed to his advice when having to deal with the other bureaucracies.

            Today he was inspecting the repairs to the North American Headquarters when a call came in that downtown was under attack. He joined in on the team formed by the also visiting X, Zero and a platoon of Repliroid soldiers. They where stopped by a barrier that didn’t show up on the scanners. Allia and Douglas were then called in to investigate. Now they were securing the area around the hole in the road.

            “Wasn’t this whole road replaced just last year?” Douglas asked.

            “Yes it was. All the way down to the sewer level after a large section collapsed.” Allia answered. “The other damage is nothing like this.”

            “This came from below, not above. It doesn’t even look like a weapon caused this. It just caved in.”

            “We need to back away, NOW!” The other two turned and saw what Douglass was looking at: sewer covers in the middle and side of the street were flying up in pillars of flame, coming very quickly towards them. They moved away from the hole and watched the procession. Their computer brains did some calculations on the time and distance between the flames and when they would occur. They came to the same conclusion: the last one before the large hole would happen right about now, at their exact spot. They looked down and saw they were standing around a cover. It erupted. When the flames dissipated they where blackened. Then the cover landed on Signas and stayed there.

            “Never give up, the ship.” He fell back. Allia and Douglas just blinked a few times.

*

            X and Zero blinked a few times. All anybody could see was their eyes. Jedite and the other girl were gone. So were Sailor Ursis and Becky. Zero coughed and started dusting himself off.

            “Don’t tell Makoto.”

            “Makoto? You mean Roll?”

            “She insists.”

            “What did you do to piss her off?”

*

            “We should be safe now.” Sailor Ursis said after climbing out of the sewer. She and Becky had snuck around X and Zero and found another exit. Ursis turned around and received a hard slap across the face. It stung but not as hard as what came next.

            “I SURE AS HELL HOPE I’M SAFE, FROM YOU! Dragging me around underground and nearly killing me twice when you knocked down that roof and that, what ever it was. Just stay away from me, YOU FREAK!” Becky then stormed off. Ursis felt the spot where she was hit. She then heard Becky calling for Suzy off in the distance. Tears formed in her eyes.

            “Yume-oneisama.” She removed the tiara from her forehead. The gold bands faded away and her uniform changed back to her street clothes. She walked in the direction Becky went and found her shortly. Becky ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

            “I’m so glad you’re okay, Sis. I was afraid you might have been hurt. What happened to your hair?” She reached up to touch Suzy’s hair and noticed her hand was covered with blood. “My God! Turn around.” There was a spot of blood on lower left side of Suzy’s t-shirt. Becky pulled the tail of the shirt from Suzy’s pants and found a gash near her rib cage.

            “I need to get you home.” Becky placed her arm around Suzy’s waist to apply pressure to the wound and they started walking. “That bitch Sailor Ursis must have caused that. Next time I see her I’ll rip her head off and… and…” Becky stopped talking when Suzy put her arm around Becky’s side and held her tightly. It was all Suzy could do to keep from bursting out in tears.

*

27-Aug-02

REFIT

            After any battle, there is a period of time dedicated to making repairs to equipment, performance reviews, and healing. It is generally called return to readiness. People handle it differently.

            Physically, Suzy was in luck. Heather was a registered nurse who now works at the very same hospital Becky was first treated at. So she had a large amount medical supplies at home. She cleaned up Suzy’s wound and sewed it closed. Emotionally, Suzy was a wreck, but didn’t show it while Becky was around. Suzy and her Mother had to listen to Becky talk at length about the battle and how she would tear apart Sailor Ursis if she ever saw her again. The only thing Suzy said was that she got the gash when she fell on a broken bottle. Becky immediately blamed Ursis.

            “Becky, would you please go check dinner for me?” Heather asked. Becky saw Toni standing in the hallway by her room; she went inside and locked the door. Back inside Suzy’s room, she had broken down and her mother was holding her.

*

28-Aug-02

            “How do you feel, Jedite?” Cammy asked him. They were in sickbay; she was looking at a readout beside his bed.

            “I feel like a comet landed on me. What does that machine say?”

            “Nothing, as usual.” She turned it off. “No matter how we program our scanners, we just can’t pick up your life signs.”

            “How did I wind up here?”

            “Sailor Scorpion brought you back.”

            “Do you have to call it that?”

            “Yes.”

            “Where’s my jacket?” He sat up and got a head rush. When his head cleared he noticed Cammy looking at him.

            “Is there something on my face?” He said in an annoyed voice. Cammy shook her head then reached under the bed and pulled out a uniform similar to the ones worn by her crew.

            “Yours was fried, so you can wear one of ours.” She handed it to him.

            “I’ll fix that.” He held it up and streaks of energy raced across and it and was transformed into the uniform he normally wore. “Now, if you don’t mind.” Cammy took the hint as her face turned red and walked away and closed a curtain.

            “So what do you think of the test?”

            “Excellent, except for two areas: I couldn’t use my full power and she refused to obey my orders.”

            “Good thing you held back because she doesn’t have any distance weapons or any shielding installed yet. On the other issue, I took control when the main unit was too far away.”

            “You left me buried under all that rubble.”

            “You got yourself out. Overall the test went fine; it was about what we thought.”

            “When will the next test be scheduled?” Jedite came out from around the corner.

            “That is on you. When can you get your end ready?”

            “Her next appointment is in two weeks.”

            “Good, that’s enough time refit Sailor Scorpion.”

*

            Zero was sitting as his desk looking over reports he had off his upper armor while Doc applied bandages to his left arm. He already had bandages around his chest and right shoulder. He was sipping on some coffee when Allia came in. She was wearing grey slacks and her black leotard because her armor was being cleaned and repaired.

            “There’s a call for you, sir.”

            “Who from?” He then took another sip.

            “Makoto.” Zero spit his coffee out over his desk.

            “She said Makoto?” Zero said as he wiped his mouth.

            “Makoto? What did you do now?” Doc asked. Zero just frowned at him. “That will be all for now, be sure to see Dr. Edger as soon as you can.” He then left the office.

31-Aug-02

            “Put her on screen.” Zero sighed. Roll’s face appeared on the large TV panel on the wall. “Hello, Mako-chan. What do I owe the pleasure?”

            “I see you finally learned one Japanese word.” She said very annoyed. She noticed Zero’s condition. Several seconds pass and Zero decided to tease her.

            “Is there something on my face?” Roll blushed and turned her head away.

            “Don’t shorten my name.” She muttered.

            “Why don’t you admit you like him, Okai-sama?” Roll’s face turned bright red.

            “MISAO!”

            “Konichiwa, Ojii-sama.” Misao said as she appeared on screen.

            “Did she just call me, grandpa?”

            “Yes, but I would like to call you otousama. Why don’t you come over and I’ll arrange everything?”

            “MISAO, wait outside please.” Misao chuckled as she left the screen. Then a door was opened and closed. “That’s a hobby of hers; arranging dates. She’s actually very good. Most people she hooks up stay together.”

            “I see that you are in a better mood.” Zero said.

            “I was until I heard about the incident earlier today.” A large sweatdrop formed on the side of Zero’s head.

            “What incident?”

            “The one in which you and several other police officers where fried by a girl in a furry, short-skirted sailor suit.”

            “Who told you?”

            “Ekkusu-oniisan.” Misao said off screen. Roll picked up a bean bag paper weight and threw it off screen. Misao closed the door before it hit.

            “Missed me!” She said really quickly by poking her head back through.

            “That girl, she’s more like a sister than a daughter. Any way, the purpose of my call is to inform you that I am sending someone over to help out with the search for the Daisukeno Sisters.”

            “What makes you think we need any help?” Zero said.

            “The fact that you have put no effort into locating them.”

            “I put my best people on it; those girls are just too good at hiding.”

            “Right, that’s why I’m sending my best investigator.”

            “Whatever. Who is this person you’re sending?”

            “You know her, taller than me, but shorter than you. Jet black hair that goes down to her lower back. She has two bangs that start from her hairline and frame her eyes. About ten percent skin tone. She had enhancements installed after a nasty fall.”

            “You don’t mean…?”

            “Hey, James, you are not going to believe who just transported in.” X said as he entered the office. He was followed by a woman fitting the same description.

            “KIYOSHI FITZGERALD!” Zero and Allia said at the same time. Kiyoshi was walking to Zero’s desk when she tripped and fell. She quickly got up and saluted.

            “First Investigator Fitzgerald reporting as ordered, Sir.” Zero returned the salute and she went to at-ease.

            “Just to remind you, you are still under MY jurisdiction.” Roll said. “Don’t let these guys push you around. Plus, you’re a civilian, so knock it off with the military courtesy.”

            “But it’s so much fun.”

            “You saluted wrong anyway. You used your left hand.” Zero said.

            “You’re one to talk, you did it wrong too.” Roll said. “Allia, could you please demonstrate the salute for us.” She did a perfect salute. “I thought so, probably because she is an NCO. Jazz, what do you think.” X wasn’t paying attention. He was squatted looking at a spot on the floor. “Have fun.” The screen went blank.

            “Before I start my investigation, I have one request.” Kiyoshi said.

            “Anything to get you out of my office before something happens.” Zero said.

            “May I borrow her for a while?” She pointed at Allia.

            “Sure.”

            “COLONEL?”

            “Do-it-sergeant.” Zero said through clenched teeth. Allia saluted and started walking out with Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi stumbled and fell on top off X. He on his back and she on his chest, they met eye-to-eye. She jumped back up and bowed.

            “Gomen nasai.” And hurried out the office. Allia helped X up. She looked at him for a second. X detected a sense of concern in her face. She then left. X walked over to another spot, squatted down and stared at nothing. Zero got up and went around to X.

            “What are you looking at?”

            “There’s nothing there, what does she trip on?” Zero then walked out.

            “Where are you going?” X said as he caught up with Zero.

            “To see Dr. Edger to get my head examined.”

*

3-Sep-02

            Allia was watching Kiyoshi point at various spot on a map. Occasionally she would ask what it was. She immediately understood what Kiyoshi was doing; she was trying to draw a circle of the general area. The boarders where defined at points where the Daisukenos where seen.

            “On Capitol there is World Fargo and Cossack restaurant, but what is on Main Street?” Kiyoshi asked herself out lowed.

            “Dr. Edger’s office. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

            “I think we should have a look for ourselves.”

            “I have a question, why did you request that I work with you?”

            “It was Roll’s idea. She said you were the best investigator here, but they keep you locked up. So now you can get the field time you need.” Then she thought “Plus Roll said you are good bait.”

            “’Bait?’”

            “Did I say that out loud?”

            “BAIT?”

*

            “Is the doctor in, Sammy?” Kiyoshi asked the receptionist. She and Allia were in Dr. Edger’s office the next day.

            “I’m afraid not, he didn’t tell me where he was going.” Allia spied the sign in roster. She picked it up and looked it over but none of the names looked familiar. She set it back down.

            “Thank you for your time.”

            “Aren’t you about due for an annual?” Sammy asked Kiyoshi.

            “I’ll make one later, bye.” Allia caught Kiyoshi as she tripped going out the door of Dr. Edger’s office. They walked up the street in silence. They came to the large hole that closed this section. Already a crew was making repairs.

            “Where is all this rubble going?” Kiyoshi asked.

            “It’s going to a makeshift lab and then to this contractor’s recycling facility.”

            “According to this report,” Kiyoshi was reading off a computer pad, a handheld screen about five by five inches. “X and Zero were about at the edge to our left when they felt a shock in the ground. By the time they stopped running they were right in the center when it collapsed. Considering the level of power that Sailor Ursis used against X and Zero, I have no doubt that maybe she caused the road to cave in.”

            They walked up the street some more and came to some more damage. A crew was also working here as well. All they had to do was cut out square sections around the pot holes and refill with asphalt.

            “Is this going to the lab as well?”

            “Yes.”

            “Any idea what caused it?”

            “Signas was too far away to see.”

            “Who is Jedite?” Kiyoshi was looking at the pad again.

            “Old enemy, we thought he was gone but X and Zero saw him and a new Repliroid in the sewer back down the road.” Kiyoshi sighed at this.

            “Let’s go back down this way.” As she turned around someone caught her eye. Allia caught her again as she fell.

            “What do you trip on?”

            “See that girl over there?”

            “Which one?”

            “The Asian one; in the sailor suit; watching the construction.”

            “There are five.” Kiyoshi too saw the others, and then saw several more walking up the street. She went up to the nearest one. She started speaking Japanese to her but got a puzzled look instead.

            “Anybody around here speak Spanish or something?” The girl asked

            “I do.”

            “Wait, wait, I speak English. It is Japanese, not Spanish. I just want to know why you are wearing that uniform.”

            “School policy, it sucks.”

            “Where is this school located at?”

            “End of the road, take a left, can’t miss it.”

            “Thank you.” Kiyoshi and Allia walked down to the end of the road. They came to a large arch that had its legs on either side of the road. Smaller versions are normally found outside Shinto Shrines. On the top rung was the name of the area in Chinese script and on the bottom rung it was in English.

            “’Welcome to China Town.’” Kiyoshi looked at Allia rather flatly.

            “I wanted to personally come down here and look, but Zero insisted on sending someone else.”

            “Who?”

*

            “We pull entirely way too much guard duty, Fred.”

           *

            “I don’t know.” She lied.

*

            “This is your fault, you know that, Nobby?”

*

            “Zero wanted me to help Doc analyze the battle damage.”

*

            “My fault? You and that damn dictionary.”

            “They gave me this dictionary, how was I supposed to know? It said that ‘kutabare’ meant something else. You didn’t do much better trying to find three Japanese girls in China Town.”

*

25-Sep-02

            Becky came down to breakfast; her mother noticed she was apprehensive.

            “You didn’t sleep well last night?”

            “I had a strange dream. I don’t remember much, only one name is still clear: Toki.”

            “Do you remember anything about her?” Heather asked.

            “Not much now. Only that she was full of anger, and then she became real sad.”

            “If you look in the nightstand next to your bed, you should find a journal. You used to write down your dreams in it.”

            “That’s a good idea. It might make some sense out of messed up memories of mine.” Becky went to her room and found the book right where she was told. She opened it up to the first blank page and wrote down what she remembered. For some reason that she couldn’t explain, she never read the entries that came before.

*

23-Sep-02

            “Why are you mopping floors in the middle of the day?" A girl asked Kiyoshi.

            "I'm the janitor."

            "What's a janitor?" Kiyoshi looked at her perplexed.
           
            "How long have you been going to school?"

            "I'm in the tenth grade, why?"

            "You don't know what a janitor is?"

            "Well, no"

            "A janitor cleans the school."

            "I get it. I just came from Japan and it is the students whom clean the classes." She walked away after that. Kiyoshi thought about for a while, and then realized the way she was going about trying to find the Daisukeno Sisters
was wrong. She memorized what they looked like from the surveillance tapes from Maverick Police HQ. Next she and Allia went through the student log and found no matching names or pictures. So it was decided to do a face to face search of every female student. This was going quite slow because of the fact it was an all girls’ school.

24-Sep-02

            “Hello, open up. I know you’re in there. Allia, Kiyoshi?” Allia looked up from the monitor and turned her head to the back of the van.

            “Who’s there?”

            “It’s me, X.” Allia got up and opened the back door, grabbed X by the collar and dragged him the van. He was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt; she was in a grayish white sweat suit.

            “Sorry about that, Colonel. You were attracting attention.”

            “Excuse me then. James said you and Kiyoshi were working down here somewhere. Since I would be down here anyway, he asked me to pick up the status report.”

            “Nothing to report, sir. We switched tactics; we’re studying the behavior patterns of the students.”

            “Switched tactics? What were you doing before?”

            “We were looking at each student up close. It proved to be too difficult. They’re running around too much to get a good look.”

            “They don’t run around in the class room.”

            “The school only allows teachers and students in the classes during the day. We tried to install cameras, but we only can do one class at a time. That is what I’m doing right now, scanning faces. Today it is Kiyoshi’s turn to play janitor.”

            “So what is this new tactic you are using?”

            “Kiyoshi, by chance, discovered that new students, especially from Japan, act differently than ones who lived here all their lives.”

            “Especially Japanese?”

            “For instance; the uniforms. Japanese Transfers wear their old ones, or if they have this school’s style, they are brand new, and they wear them right.”

            “Interesting, what else have you observed?”

            “Everybody brings her own lunch, but only new students use chopsticks. The Americans have forks and spoons. New students tend to speak in their native language. These are just a few of the things we can easily see from a distance. It has worked. They stick out, especially to me and Kiyoshi. If the Daisukeno Sisters are in this school, we will find them.”

            “Sounds like something Kiyoshi would come up with. Good luck, I don’t want to keep Dr. Edger waiting.” Allia watched him leave.

            “Hello, Earth to Allia.” Kiyoshi said over the intercom.

            “Allia here.” She said in a startled voice.

            “Could you pick me up?”

            “On my way.” She got in the driver’s seat and started up the van and took off. She soon saw X walking up the street, and a black hair girl in a sailor suit. She was looking up the street away from Allia when she stepped out. Allia hit the brake and X grabbed and pulled her back.

            “Are you okay?” Allia asked out the right side window.

            “I’m fine.” Is all she said.

            “Why on Earth didn’t you look the other way?” X asked.

            “I’m sorry.”

            “Always look both ways.”

            “Yes sir.” She walked across the street then. X and Allia continued on their own ways as well. X came up to Dr Edger’s office. He told the receptionist that he had an appointment and then signed in. He sat down next to a girl in the waiting room reading a magazine. He guessed she was Japanese from her facial features. She had permed brown hair. She wore short jeans and a white turtle neck sweater.

25-Sep-02

            “Excuse me; I haven’t seen you here before. Do you have an appointment?” X said in Japanese.

            “No, I don’t.” She said in English.

            “I’m sorry, you must get that all the time.”

            “Actually I get more people trying to speak Spanish for some weird reason.”

            “Is a friend of yours here to see Dr Edger?”

            “My sister.”

            “You don’t want to talk about it. I understand; I don’t like talking about the chips in my head in public. In here, I feel more comfortable. It is so rare for two people with enhancements to meet in his office.”

            “It is? Now that I think about it.”

            “It’s probably because people don’t like to talk about it, even with each other; so Dr Edger schedules people far apart.” Another girl walked out a door. She was wearing black leggings and halter; she had a towel around her shoulders. She looked like she had been exercising vigorously. The girl X was talking to got up and went over to her. X sees that the other one is a head taller and has short wavy blonde hair. At that time, the front door opened and the girl X stopped from walking out in the street entered.

            “Toni, what are you doing here?” The brown hair girl asked.

            “Mom wanted me to find you two.”

            “So, your name is Toni?” All three turn to look at him.

            “How rude of me, my name is Susan and this Rebecca.”

            “My name is Jazz; I hope to see you later.”

            “Jazz?” Susan asked.

            “My father had a weird naming convention. I have to see the doctor now.” He went in the inner office and the girls left.

            “Why did you introduce us like that?” Rebecca asked Susan.

            “I want to keep it formal until I get to know him better.”

            “He was kind of cute.”

            “He has chips in his head as well.”

            “Then I will want to get to know him better.”

            “Oh Becky, you are becoming quite the flirt!”

            “Nothing like that, I just want to talk with someone who has gone through the same thing as me.” Suzy hopped in front of Becky stopping their walking. She threw her arms around Becky’s neck and mimicked Becky’s voice.

            “Oh it is so great to find another who understands what it is I’ve gone through and can talk to me about it; and is handsome too!” Becky decided to add her two cents in. She put her arms around Suzy and spoke in a husky voice.

            “I have been looking all my life for a soul mate and I have finally found her.” Becky leaned over and just touched her cheek to Suzy’s.

            “Knock it off! People will think…”

            “Can’t I show a little love to my sister?” She switched back to her normal voice.

            “Let’s go home already. Toni? Where did Toni go?”

            “There she is. Why is she running?”

            “She’s not very fast; I’ll catch up with her.” Suzy took off after Toni leaving Becky. Becky walked down the road until she came to a narrow alley that she went into.

*

            Suzy caught up to Toni about a block away. She threw her arms around Toni’s waist and put on the brakes. As they stopped, Toni’s hair whipped around in front of her hiding her face.

            “Toni…Toki, what’s wrong?”

            “Please, leave me alone.”

            “I’m your sister, you can tell me anything.”

            “Sister; that is just an illusion I’ve been living under. Did anybody tell Becky that she was adopted?”

            “What do you mean by illusion?”

            “Did anybody tell Becky she was adopted?”

            “It doesn’t matter if she was adopted, you yourself have said that a million times. She is just as much a sister as you and I are.”

            “Becky is not my sister; she died that day…” An explosion went off back up the block. Suzy turned to look and Toni didn’t.

            “That happened near Dr. Edgar’s office, it’s probably Jedite. We’ll talk later; right now we need Sailor Ursis and Sailor Leo.” Suzy led Toni by the arm down some steps that led to the sub floors of an apartment complex. She pulled the gold chain from around her neck and removed the gem secured in the center. She placed it on her forehead and murmured under her breath her transformation command. When it was done, she looked at Toni who was looking down.

            “Do you have your gem?” Toni pulled up the sleeve of her uniform top revealing the pewter bracelet that had a red gem on the face. She pulled it from the mounting and held it in front of her face. She looked up and swung her head to move aside some hair so she could get a clear view of it. Sailor Ursis thought she saw tears on Toni’s cheek.

            “Catch up to me when you’re done.” She took off. A thought crossed her mind: “Is it me or does she seem lighter than normal?”

            Toni tried to place the gem on her head but couldn’t bring herself to do so. She placed it back in the bracelet and took the bracelet off and dropped it on the ground.

            “Go to Hell for what you made me do to Yume, Sailor Leo.” She walked up the steps and then home. After she left; a gray and blacked striped cat jumped down into the landing. He picked up the bracelet in his mouth. He looked to the top off the stares for a moment, and then his head followed a straight line down. It seemed as if he was following something only he could see. He was now looking straight up when out of nowhere Sailor Taurus appeared. She picked him up and he immediately climbed up to her shoulders. She held up her hand and the cat dropped the bracelet.

            “This doesn’t look good at all.” He said.

            “I have a mission for you.”

            “Yes?”

            “It will mean a prolonged separation.”

            “I will jump off the Earth if you so ordered me.”

            “Nothing so drastic, please go and comfort her.” She petted him once and he jumped down and ran up the stairs and went after Toni. Sailor Taurus strapped the bracelet around her gloved wrist and too ran up the stairs and down the street to the explosion.

*

12-Oct-02

            X was lying in a tilt back chair and Dr. Edger had his nose buried in a computer screen. A small cord was attached to the side of X’s head and went to the computer.

            “So Doc, who were those girls?”

            “Hmmm?”

            “You know, that blonde you just examined.”

            “Her? I didn’t realize you two were scheduled so close. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

            “I mean what’s her name?” X already knew; he was trying to get Dr Edger to reveal more information.

            “You know I can’t tell you…” He looked up from the screen and got a thoughtful look. “Her name is Becky, she had a tumor removed and I installed some chips about a month ago. I was having her go through an exercise regimen to see if her chips could take it. She performed admirably.”

            “Admirably huh?”

            “Purely professional.”

            “Doc, I’m surprised, I usually can’t get you to tell me about James and Makoto.”

            “Makoto; what did you do?”

            “James, actually.”

            “Not surprised. I just remembered that Becky’s mom wanted to talk to someone who had the same operation. I tried talking to Roll and she bit my head off so I forgot about it.”

            “Roll doesn’t like talking about it.”

            “I’ve always wondered why you and pretty much everybody else don’t. It almost borders on technophobia.”

            “I don’t, I know that Roll doesn’t even talk to Misao about it. There is something about Becky; I would like know her better.”

            “Jazz?” Dr Edger said with a raised eyebrow.

            “Purely professional. I’m sure she is having a tough time adjusting and I just want to give her some words of encouragement.”

            “She’s eighteen.” Dr. Edger said. X got a thoughtful look on his face.

            “Purely professional.” He said with a smile. Dr Edger stuck his nose back in the screen. A few minutes later X interrupted him again.

            “There’s somebody walking outside your window.”

            “Probably just Samantha.”

            “I don’t recall her ever walking out there on any of my visits. Wait a minute, now there’s two more. They just appeared; I didn’t hear them walk up.”

            “I’ll take a look.” He got up and went to the window. “You’re right; they look like friends of yours.”

            “Friends of mine?”

            “One’s a repliroid for sure. Another is female-ish in a furry cheerleader uniform. The third looks like a Civil War re-enactor.”

            “A Repliroid, a cheerleader, and a Civil War re-enactor?”

            “Look for yourself.” X unplugged the wire and went to the window. X did a double take; then ducked down dragging Dr Edger with him.

            “Jedite again. I don’t think he saw us.” He said in a whisper.

            “Who’s Jedite?” He whispered as well.

            “Some jerk I had a run in with last week. That short haired blonde looks like one of the girls Roll is looking for. I’d swear that is Eimi.

            “Roll is looking for a short haired blonde named Amy?” X turned and looked at Dr Edger with a sour expression and a sweat drop. “Far be it from me to make a judgment on someone’s personal life, what she does is her business.” The sweat drop on X’s head gets bigger.

            “No, the reploid is named Eimi. The blonde, I don’t know her name.”

            “Amy is not a common name. Finding a blonde named Amy could prove to be difficult. Her hair could be dyed.” X put his hand over his face.

            “Never mind.” A noise came from the window. They looked up and saw the repliroid crouched in the window.

            “So, how’s Roll these days?” Dr Edger asked.

*

            Kiyoshi and Allia were approaching Dr. Edger’s office in the van. Kiyoshi was driving and Allia was on the passenger side. She had her elbow on the window jam and was resting her head in the palm of her hand.

            “I nearly forgot my appointment with Dr. Edger today, thanks for picking me up.” Kiyoshi said. Allia acted as if she didn’t hear her. Kiyoshi glanced at Allia for a second. A devilish smile played across her lips.

            “So who’s the lucky guy that stole your heart?”

            “Ja…” She started to answer but caught herself. “I don’t have a heart, I have a fusion reactor.”

            “You know what I mean: you’re in love.”

            “I’m not programmed for such emotions.” Allia turned to face Kiyoshi.

            “The first sign: Denial.”

            “I’m a robot.”

            “You’re a woman, like any other woman you want to be with a guy. You do want to be with a guy, don’t you?”

            “No.” Allia said; Kiyoshi got a sweat drop.

            “That’s okay,” she said nervously, “there’s this guy where I work who is not interested in women. Just to let you know, I’m not interested in other women.” Allia looked at her odd. “I’m already spoken for. I really shouldn’t say that, he doesn’t know that I like him.”

            “You think I’m a…”

            “THAT’S TOTALLY YOUR BUSINESS!!!”

            “I’m not either way. I’m a robot.”

            “So you can’t do it.”

            “It?”

            “You know, it.”

            “No, I don’t.”

            “I mean, you are not functional like a human woman.” Kiyoshi was starting to get flustered.

            “I don’t breath, eat, perspire…”

            “HAVE SEX for Christ’s sake!”

            “I can do that.”

            “You can?”

            “Yes, most humanoid repliroids are built sexually functional to better interact with humans.” They were now at Dr. Edger’s office. Kiyoshi parked the van in front.

            “Have you?”

            “Have I what?”

            “Done it?”

            “It?”

            “HAVE YOU HAD SEX WITH A MAN OR WOMAN?”

            “No and no.”

            “So you are a virgin?”

            “That would be the proper term, yes.”

            “How old are you?”

            “I’m 57 years, six months, and 23 days.”

            “What: no hours and seconds?”

            “Colonel Zero says that annoys him.”

            “Are you frigid?”

            “What’s frigid?”

            “You don’t like to have sex.”

            “Like I said earlier, I’m not programmed for such emotions.”

            “Trust me girl, nobody can program love. Though I have had a couple of boyfriends that seemed they were programmed for nothing but sex.”

            “Can’t program love.” Allia said softly.

            “Except for maybe my sister, she thinks she is some scientific genius. She’d have a field day with you.”

            “If you don’t mind me asking: who you do you like?”

            “Well, I…” Kiyoshi started tapping her index fingers together. “I don’t know if he even likes me. What if he has a girlfriend? He is much older than me.”

            “Who?”

            “Colonel X. I can’t believe I actually said it! It’s so embarrassing!” Kiyoshi put her hands up to her face and blushed. After a few seconds of giggling, she looked at Allia; she had her head turned away, but not enough to hide the sad look on her face.

14-Oct-02

            Allia jerked her head towards the office a second before a loud explosion. Something slammed into the side of the van causing it to turn over. Allia brought her upper body out the window and looked over the scene. The front entrance was a smoldering mess. Then she looked for what hit the van: it was X.

            “COLONEL!” She started to climb out to help him when she heard Kiyoshi moan. Allia looked and saw that Kiyoshi was apparently knocked out. Allia was torn, she had no idea whom to help first. A movement from X caught her attention, he was pointing towards the office.

            “…Dr…Edger…” he barely squeezed out. Allia pushed herself out the window into a squat and then pushed off with her legs high into the air. She went into a fast spin and glowed. When she landed her sweat suit was replaced with her armor with a mouth cover and visor. Before she could continue running to the office, four people appeared from the smoke. Allia recognized Jedite, who was carrying Dr. Edger over his shoulder, and Sailor Leo. She didn’t have any idea who the fourth one was, it was female, and Allia guessed she was a repliroid from the armor she wore.

            “Did you have blow the place up, Jedite?” Leo coughed. Jedite just smiled until he saw Allia.

            “Doesn’t take them very long; Sailor Scorpion, kill.” Sailor Scorpion charged at Allia. Allia side stepped but Scorpion stopped, and did a jump and back flipped so she was behind Allia. Scorpion grabbed Allia under her chest and picked her up and slammed her onto the concrete. Scorpion held up her right arm, it glowed and a device appeared on her forearm. On the end above her hand was a scissors shaped pincher. She plunged the sharp ends into the concrete around Allia’s left arm. Allia grabbed Scorpion around her bicep and tried to push her off. Allia heard a loud pop come from Scorpion’s elbow. She released all pressure. Allia had sparred with X and Zero before, their joints made the same exact noise when they were dislocated.

            “You’re human, aren’t you?” The only part of Sailor Scorpion’s face that was visible was her mouth. Allia saw no emotion. The pincher began to close cutting through the concrete and Allia’s arm. Allia scream out in pain.

            “Wait a second.” Sailor Leo said as she walked over. When she got there she bent down and removed Allia’s visor. “I want to see her expressions.”

            “Toki, why are you doing this?” Leo stood back up and placed her foot on Allia’s cheek.

            “You’re a robot, do you really feel pain, or are you just programmed to feel pain?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “Let’s find out, Scorpion.” Sailor Scorpion quickly cut through the rest of Allia’s Arm. Allia screamed out in agony, her battle protocols turned off the pain she was feeling and brought a foot up to Scorpion’s chest, Allia guessed that when the pincher closed it was no longer anchored to the ground and applied enough pressure with her leg to push her attacker away. Allia nipped up, which unbalanced Sailor Leo, spun around and was going to backhand Leo but stopped herself and inch away from her face.

            “That ‘must not harm humans’ law getting in the way, huh?”

            “I don’t have any such reservations.” X in his battle armor said as he pushed Allia out of the way and suckered punched Sailor Leo. She doubled over holding her gut. “I don’t care if you are a little girl, you hurt my friend.” X looked at Allia to see if she was alright and saw she had a look of longing.

            “That is just so cute, makes me want to throw up.” Jedite said. “I won’t fall as easily as my comrades.” Sailor Scorpion jumped in front of X and Allia and picked up Sailor Leo and jumped back over to Jedite. Several phaser blasts bounced off Jedite. They came from Kiyoshi who was propping herself on her elbows out the window of the van. She had a Japanese Government Issue phaser pistol aimed at him. She put it down to get a clear view and saw that it had no effect on him.

            “Let me show you how to do it.” Jedite held his hand out and an energy ball formed. When it got to be the size of a basket ball, he shot it at the over turned van. It didn’t make it because Allia jumped up and took the blast in her chest.

            “ALLIA!” Both X and Kiyoshi yelled.

*

            Sailor Ursis couldn’t see what was going on inside the yard of Dr. Edger’s office because of the semi opaque energy barrier. She beat on it with her gloved fists to no avail. She backed up a few steps and charged at. She hit it elbow first and simply bounced off. She backed up to ready another charge again but someone grabbed her around the waist. She looked back and was surprised it wasn’t Sailor Leo.

            “Who are you?”

            “My name is Sailor Taurus. I heard an explosion and came here to check it out. There are less painful ways of getting through this barrier. Look, he has the right idea.” She was pointing at the shield.

            “What are you pointing at?”

            “Look that way, now blink.” Ursis did so and for a split second she thought she saw Zero cut in half. She blinked again and saw nothing. She tried again and she saw more of him. After a few seconds she got the pattern down. Zero’s motions looked as if he was in an animation pencil test. It looked as if he was climbing out of the road.

            “How did he…?”

            “The sewer, this barrier doesn’t extend below the ground.” Ursis immediately looked down at the street and found a sewer cover. She went over and picked it up. Taurus jumped in. Ursis looked around at the gathering crowd.

            “Hurry up!” Taurus called from the sewer.

            “I’m waiting for…”

            “If you wait, people could die.” Taurus didn’t want to tell Ursis what Toni had done. Ursis sighed and climbed into the sewer and closed the lid. Several people tried to follow but they couldn’t lift up the cover.

*

            Zero peeked up over the side of the van. He saw the back of Kiyoshi’s head. He wanted to lift himself up so he could see what was going on beyond the van; but that would expose his presence to the enemy. He decided to use Kiyoshi.

            “Kiyoshi, pssst, Kiyoshi, it’s me, Zero. What’s the sitrep?”

            “Why did she do that?”

            “Who did what?”
 

            “She did it for me. She jumped in the way of that energy blast. She sacrificed herself for me.” Zero figured it would be quicker to look for him self. The first thing he saw was Jedite, the new repliroid, and Sailor Leo standing in front of the ruined entrance of the building. Jedite had a body slung over his shoulder and Zero guessed it was Dr. Edger. He looked at the yard and saw X kneeling on the ground with Allia’s upper body resting on his lap. Zero forgot about trying to hide and ran around the van and behind X.

            “X, get her out of here.”

            “She’s barely hanging on. If I move her, the power leads will sever and she will die.” Zero got angry and ran up to the trio. He hit Scorpion with in the chest with his forearm so hard she went flying over a hedge to his left. He grabbed Sailor Leo by the collar of her uniform and drew his sword. Jedite was quicker and hit him with another energy blast from the hand that was securing Dr. Edger. He went flying back but Leo didn’t because Jedite held her with his free hand. The front of Leo’s uniform tore off.

            “We got what we need, let’s go.” Jedite said.

            “Don’t mess with the Sailor Scouts!” Was all Leo said as she vanished.

*

            “How is she, X?” Zero asked.

            “Not good, we need Doc.” X said. Zero brought his arm up to his chest and the communications port opened up.

            “Get Doc down here, now!”

            “Allia, try to hold on.” X said. “You should have let me take that blast, my armor is strong enough.”

            “I couldn’t allow a human to be harmed protecting a robot. Colonel, please don’t look at me.” She said. “I don’t want your last image of me to be this.”

            “What are you talking about, Doc is on his way. You’ll be alright.”

            “This is just a reminder of why I can’t lo…” she was interrupted by Kiyoshi’s outburst. She was kneeling on the ground holding Allia’s hand.

            “DON’T DIE! YOU GOT SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR! YOU STILL HAVE TO TELL THAT SPECIAL GUY YOU LOVE HIM! WAAAAAAAA!!!” Everybody looked at her with rather flat look with a large sweat drop on the sides of their heads.

            “Uhm, Kiyoshi, could you hold her other hand?” Zero asked.

            “Huh?” She looked up blankly, holding Allia’s hand to her chest. She noticed that Allia was quite a few feet away from her. Kiyoshi looked at the hand and raised it up so she could examine the arm; then noticed that it wasn’t with Allia. She got a shocked look and tossed the arm away. She bowed down with her arms outstretched.

            “GOMEN NASAI GOMEN NASAI GOMEN NASAI!!!!”

            “You’re funny.” Allia smiled and chuckled. She looked up into X’s eyes. Her smile faded and her eyes turned from blue to gray. X closed her eyes and wiped his. Zero bowed his head and Kiyoshi sat up and stared. She crawled over to Allia.

            “It’s him, isn’t it? Come on girlfriend, don’t give up now. We have to compete for his love. Don’t, don’t…” Tears were running down her face. X was the first to notice a muffled sobbing sound coming from his left. He looked over at where it was coming from and didn’t see anything.

            “Who ever is over there, show yourself.” They slowly faded in; it was Sailors Taurus and Ursis. Ursis was crying into Taurus’s shoulder. Zero immediately drew and activated his sword, but nobody paid any mind. Then he felt something warm in his other hand. He sheathed his sword and looked at his hand, in it was the fabric torn from Sailor Leo’s uniform and a round multi-faceted crystal on a gold chain wrapped around his fingers. It was glowing. Taurus put her hand up to her chest.

            “Do you feel it, Ursis?” Ursis lifted her head then felt her chest.

            “What is this? Something in my…”

            “…chest, my chest is on fire!” Kiyoshi said. She clutched her chest. She stood up and swooned. Zero caught her, as he did; the crystal swung and touched her. She was then enveloped with a bright white light that blinded everybody. When they could see again she was clad in an all white sailor scout uniform. Sailor Taurus and Leo’s uniforms had changed to the same as Kiyoshi’s as well. She held out her hands and beams of light shot out to Allia. Allia’s eyes fluttered open.

            “Where am I?” Kiyoshi kneeled down next to Allia and held her hand.

            “I don’t know how, but I saved you. Now tell him.”

            “Tell who what?”

            “Tell him,” She was nodding in X’s direction, “that you love him.”

            “I’m just a robot.”

            “After all this you still don’t get it?”

            “Who are you?”

            “It’s me, Kiyoshi!”

            “Kiyoshi?”

            “Give her time; she just came back to life. She didn’t see you transform so she doesn’t know you.” Taurus said. “This is strange, it takes four scouts to activate the crystal, but there’s only three here.”

            “My God, Yume, where’s Yume?” Sailor Ursis asked. “She was here somewhere.” She ran inside the office. Zero started chasing after her but Taurus beat him to the building and blocked the way.

            “MOVE IT!”

            “Leave her alone.”

            “You Sailor Scouts are nothing but trouble. Because of Sailor Leo, Allia nearly died, Dr Edger has been kidnapped, and who knows what has happened to Samantha.”

            “Sailor Leo caused this? That’s impossible.” Taurus looked over at Kiyoshi, she nodded yes. “I’m afraid it is time to awaken our leader, Sailor Orion.” She touched the gem in her tiara and disappeared.

*

            “Yu...Becky, thank goodness.” Suzy found her sister wandering around in an alley behind Dr. Edger’s office. She went up to her and hugged her. Becky reacted very bitterly, Suzy hadn’t de-transformed.

            “Get off me, bitch.” She tried to push Ursis away but her arm painfully buckled. “What did you do to me? My arm and chest hurt like hell.” She turned around and walked away holding her elbow. Ursis leaned up against a wall and cried for a very long time.

*

            “Okai-sama, Mother.” Roll immediately jerked awake at the sound of Misao’s voice. Misao was holding her chest.

            “Are you having a heart attack?”

            “No, something in the center of my chest feels real warm.” When she said that Roll felt her chest, it was warm too.

            “Did you see Eimi?”

            “No, it feels like something, I don’t know what.”

            “If you want, you can sleep with me tonight.” Misao bowed, Roll moved over to let her in bed. Roll put her arms around Misao and she snuggled up close to her mother.

            “This is what it feels like.”

*

            First there was a scratch, then two, then three in a row. Next there was a frantic series of scratching on the window, no response from the girl. Then the cat started meowing really loud. Finally she stood up while reading a text book and opened the window. The cat jumped up to her shoulder and started purring. The girl jumped, the book went flying and the cat held on for dear life. When she calmed down, she grabbed the cat and held him up to her face with both hands under his front legs. The book landed square on his head.

            “I’m sorry, wait a minute, you’re…” He looked her right in the eye. “You are so cute, what’s your name? I hope Mama will let me keep you.”

*

25-Oct-2002

            “I now see the merits of her name; and dressing yourself as that scout was just the icing.”

            “Now the Maverick Hunters think that the Sailor Scouts are the enemy. The only variable that might derail my plan is the sudden appearance of that new scout.”

            “Who is she?”

            “I have no idea; that took me totally by surprise.”

            “For some reason I doubt that. The last time you didn’t tell me about Sailor Leo, how do I know you’re telling me the truth now?”

            “Tell you what, give me your jacket.”

            “What?”

            “Give me your jacket. I need to walk to my room and I would like to do it with some dignity.” Jedite just stared at her wondering at what she was talking about. “So, do you like what you see?” Jedite hadn’t realized he was staring right at Cammy’s chest which was partially exposed due to the rip in the front of her Sailor Leo disguise. Jedite took off his jacket and handed it to Cammy. She put it on and was dismayed at how much bigger it was and how it barely hung on her shoulders. She put a look of disgust on her face. They walked out of the transporter side by side. They didn’t say anything as they walked down the hallway. When they came to her room, she gave him back his jacket.

            “I’ll be sure to wash this.”

            “I’ll be sure to fumigate myself, good night.” She went in her room and Jedite walked to his room. Cammy was greeted by her brother.

            “You look, weird, with your hair dyed like that.” She was annoyed at that comment, but felt secure in his presence so that she felt no need to cover her chest. In fact she started removing her ruined disguise.

            “I have a problem, they have my crystal.”

            “Whom exactly?”

            “Colonel Zero. He must have been trying to capture me but got the crystal instead.”

            “Do you think they could use it, like you can?”

 

            “No. I don’t know why I can in the first place, but by cloaking ourselves instead of beaming out right away, I learned it takes four Sailor Scouts to activate the crystal the way I can.”

            “Safe to assume that Zero now has it deep in Maverick Police Headquarters; and our only operatives have been stuck on…” Don rolls his eyes trying to remember the words. “…CQ.”

            “How is the production on the drones coming along?”

            “We now have twenty production model drones. Why not just send in Jedite?”

            “I can’t risk him getting his hands on my crystal. I need it, I feel empty with out it.” Don noticed his sister getting agitated and went over to her and put his arm on her shoulders.

            “Here is some good news: several more of those Sailor Crystals have been found and the prototype repliroid bodies are now being constructed.”

            “Thanks.”

            “And, there is someone who wants to see you. He’s over there.” Don nodded his head toward her bedroom, He a slight look of disapproval. “He might appreciate you dressed like that.” He looked her up and down just to tease her and kissed her on the cheek. She returned the kiss on his cheek and wished him a good night. He left to go to his room and she went into her bedroom. Lying on her bed was a man who was about five and a half feet tall, shaved bald, and wore a business suit with a lab coat. She sauntered over to him and climbed into bed and straddled his waist.

            “So, how long before someone tries to rescue me?”

            “Hopefully for not another hour or so.”

*

27-Oct-02

            Tanya Cain stood outside the Tokyo Bureau of the Maverick Police. She thought it odd that there was even one here. The reason for having such a police force was to investigate and control any robot or repliroid that had become destructive, or maverick. Of course, the Japanese were never too far behind any body in any field of development.

            All robots are programmed with several fundamental rules when relating with humans. The prime directive being: “Do not harm a human.” Sometimes a robot would lose its programming and cause much destruction. Three things could cause a robot to turn maverick: a bug in the programming code, virus, or human intervention. A fourth theory that scared developers was that the robots themselves were reprogramming their protocols. Originally used as fodder in sci-fi and fantasy, but in the real world, the consequences were grave. A humanoid robot (for some reason, android was never accepted by the robots themselves,) can be equipped with any type of weapon from super strength to phaser cannons. Man discovered the hard way that his creations outstripped his ability to stop them by conventional means, e.g. bullets. Robots were fast enough to dodge or were tough enough that it toke an Army Battalion to stop them.

            To overcome this discrepancy in fire power, the Maverick Police was commissioned. Teams of robots charged to put down insurrections by other robots. The task wasn’t easy; first there was the political opposition. The first argument against was there was no need for another bureaucracy. There was already the FBI, CIA, and the military. The military took the stand that it wasn’t allowed to be involved in civilian law enforcement. The FBI and CIA had been hamstrung by Congress for years so they were inadequate for the task. The other argument was that it would result in the loss of civil liberties. When you create a department of law enforcement, these people believed that basic rights would be lost. Never realizing that without some form of order, you have no rights to defend.

            Then there was funding. Every one on the political spectrum said that the manufacture of a robot army would drain the budget. It was calculated one robot cost as much as five human careers in the military to their death long into retirement. Some argued that taxes would have to be raised, and then others said government programs would have to be drastically cut.

            It was a private company that stepped up to the plate: JPI, the premier robot parts manufacturer in North America. JPI set up the Maverick Police as an internal security for research and production. After a while, they were called upon to intervene in external robot altercations. There of course were protests and then investigations over what appeared to be a private army. After a hundred years, the results were clear: a robot police officer saved money in the long run. They didn’t have a need to eat, drink, sleep, and they live far longer than a human. As Congresses and presidents were elected, public opinion changed so that the Maverick Police became a fully funded federal institution. The first headquarters opened up in America were JPI was located; then a second in Washington DC. Soon there was at least one bureau on each continent. Even on the Moon, and there was talk of creating one on Mars. The activities of the Maverick Police quickly branched out from investigating robot crimes to helping local law enforcement as well.

            Tanya thought about all that as she walked down the hallway to Roll’s office. Her family and Roll had been close friends for over a hundred years. When Tanya was a little girl, she thought Roll was a robot, like the ones her great-great-grandfather had made. No human lived that long and could still look so young. Tanya found out when she was play wrestling with Roll and one of her finger nails scratched so deep that blood appeared on Roll’s arm. At first Tanya thought it was her own, and even accused Roll of being a Maverick for harming her. But Roll smiled and showed her the scratched and explained her existence as a cybernetically enhanced human. Roll told the young Tanya that her computer brain kept her looking the way she did by constantly repairing the genetic damage done by old age. Tanya was further surprised to find out Roll even had a daughter and grandson. Tanya apologized to Roll for what she had done and said and they became close friends as her great-grandmother had years earlier.

            Tanya had finally come to the door to Roll’s office, she paused her hand before it even touched the knob.

            “Do I really need to do this to my best friend? My life has been in constant turmoil, I don’t want to do this. I wish there was another way.” She thought as her mind traveled back to when her life was forever changed.

*

29-Oct-02

            It was dreary day in Moscow, Russia. The pelting rain had finally let up into just a chilled drizzle. The young woman lifted the umbrella a little so she could get a better view of the onion topped domes of the Kremlin. She was in her mid twenties; dull carrot red hair cut shoulder length. She had it tied in a bun under the Cossack Hat she wore on her head. Since it had been rain raining she wore a black all weather trench coat.

            “I’m glad I finally took a day off,” she thought. “They still haven’t finished renovating the old Kremlin yet. It just looks so sad with all those catwalks around it. Hopefully in another year… Hopefully I can find someone to replace me. Dad should have picked somebody else to run the museum. I know nothing about…”

            Her thoughts were broken by a cat’s hiss and some children’s screams. She ran in the direction of the noise and soon found two kids squatted down on the sidewalk. One was holding an umbrella so that it was covering something between them. Their backs were getting wet trying to keep whatever it was dry.

30-Oct-02

She was able to take a peak between the children and saw that it was a kitten. It was not even a month old; its matted fur was grayish black. Every time one of the kids tried to touch it, the kitten would hiss and growl.

            “What’s going on here?”

            “OH, Ma’am!” The children were so absorbed they didn’t notice the woman walking up to them. “This kitten’s mama cat died,” he pointed into an alley towards the carcass of a dead cat. “We want to take him home but he won’t let us.” They stood up to talk to her. The kitten started mewling and walked over to the young woman. She squatted down to get a good look at it. The kitten looked up at her, their eyes met. Something about this kitten seamed so familiar to her. She reached inside her trench coat and pulled out a handkerchief and picked up the kitten and wrapped it up with one hand and placed it in her coat. She then walked off leaving the two boys staring slacked jawed.

            “What do you make of that, Tom?”

            “I have no idea, let’s take care of that dead cat before…FINN LOOK, it’s gone!” He pointed at the now empty spot in the alley.

*

            She set the kitten down on the kitchen table in her spacious studio apartment. She left and returned a minute later with a towel and bar of soap. She had removed her coat revealing hip hugging faded jeans and a purple turtle neck sweater. She turned on the faucet and filled the sink a couple of inches with warm water. She picked up the kitten and set him in the water. To her surprise, it didn’t try get away.

10-Nov-02

She pushed the sleeves of her sweater up above her elbows and commenced to lathering the little kitten up. After only five minutes she rinsed it off and started drying it with the towel. As she was rubbing the kitten with the towel, she went into the living room and sat down in a chair facing a large TV screen in the wall.

            “TV on, e-mail.” She commanded. The screen blinked on and in under a minute menu popped up saying she had over thirty messages. “I’ve only been gone a few hours, let’s see what we got: ‘see teenage girls naked, see teenage boys naked, see teenage hermaphrodites naked,’ yech, ‘Barnyard Follies,’ not again, ‘Lesbo Party Video,’ whatever, ‘You May Already Be a Millionaire,’ at least it’s not another porn site, ‘see naked millionaires,’ God, ‘consolidate credit, yadda yadda…” She woke up with a start, looking at the time display in the screen’s system tray; about an hour had gone by. All but a few e-mails had been deleted. The ones that remained were from the museum and her friends.

            “What the heck happened?” After that day, she never received another piece of spam mail again.

*

            The next day she came home with cat supplies: food, litter, litter box, two bowls, and toys. She realized too late that the kitten was too young to eat the brand of food she bought. She cut it up and soaked it in warm milk; the kitten took right to it.

            “I really need to come up with a name for you.” It just popped in her head. “Comrade? Where did that come from?” I guess that’s your name, Comrade. My name is Tanya. I’m talking to a cat, I must be stressed.” The kitten grew up in a couple of months, but he seemed to be on the small side. His was the typical gray and black tiger striping, with white mixed in. Tanya noticed that he was always acting peculiar; he only used the litter box when she was home for the day. She knew he had to be going somewhere, but where? She looked; she didn’t want to loose her deposit.

            “Why must he sleep on my keyboard?”

 One day she took apart her wire-less keyboard to clean and it was full of cat hair. After it was clean, she then put it in a cabinet over her computer. A week later she took it out, as she did, she sneezed on it and a plume of hair came out of it. She set the keyboard down.

“Comrade, where are you? I’m going to shave you!”

The strangest thing though happened one day: Tanya was getting out of the shower and saw Comrade sitting on the toilet. He suddenly jumped straight up in the air, when he landed he made a bee-line out the door. This caught Tanya by surprise. She walked after him and soon saw Comrade on the couch lying down. He looked over at her and then put his paws over his head.

“Where you blushing? What do you have to be so shy about? I’m just as naked as you are, silly cat.”

The shock of Tanya’s life came one night. She woke up after a strange dream. She got up and stumbled her way into the bathroom. She reached for the waist band of her panties and couldn’t find it. She could feel some sort of fabric, then she felt the hem of her nighty, it was furry.

“LIGHTS!” She commanded. She was blinded until her eyes adjusted; she looked in the mirror and saw she didn’t have on her usual night wear.

“I KNEW IT!” Tanya heard the voice come from her lower left; she looked down and saw Comrade. “I bid you welcome, Sailor Taurus.” Tanya collapsed against the bathtub, Comrade jumped on the closed toilet lid.

“I wanted to make contact sooner, but I had to be sure. Now we have to train because if we have been reborn, that means trouble is coming.”

“If this isn’t a dream, tell me how to take this thing off.”

“’Thing off?’”

“This Fuzzy Japanese School Girl Outfit so I can pee.”

*

“I became self aware the moment I saw you, I don’t remember any thing of this life before then.” Comrade said. He was sitting on the coffee table. Tanya was in her chair now wearing a robe.

“You said something about being reborn.”

“I don’t have a lot of memories of my past life. Apparently you have none. That is really how I knew you are Sailor Taurus, that bit I remembered.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t happen to know why the school girl thing?”

“It’s the battle dress of the Sailor Scouts.”

“But why a Japanese School Girl uniform?”

“The Japanese based it off of the British and American Naval uniforms. I believe the Russian Navy uses a similar style.”

            “I know that, I taught English in Japan for two years. I meant why do I have to wear it? It doesn’t seem very functional.”

            “It is more functional than you think; for one thing, nobody can recognize you when you have it on.”

            “You did.”

            “To tell the truth, I knew you were Sailor Taurus, but I didn’t know it was you, Tanya, until you undid your transformation.”

            “So I could conceivably call up Roll and she wouldn’t recognize me.”

            “Possibly, who’s Roll?”

            “She’s my best friend, I helped teach her daughter, great-granddaughter actually, Russian. My God!”

            “What’s wrong?”

            “Jesse was there, that’s what happened to him. I saw him, and a shadow struggling over a light source. Above them were the veiled images of four women hovering over them. Jesse disappeared and so did the shadow, then three of the women faded leaving one with long white hair, as she allowed herself to be sucked into the light, she looked right at me. That’s when I woke up.”

            “I guess you were dreaming of current event that also triggered your transformation.”

            “Not likely, Jesse disappeared five years ago.”

*

            “That little memory happened five years ago.” Tanya thought as she pushed open the door to Roll’s office. Roll wasn’t there, in fact, nothing was in there, just a desk and some chairs. Tanya went outside; she grabbed the first person that was available by the lapels.

            “Where is she?”

            “Seiro-san? She resigned.”

            An hour later Tanya was outside Roll’s house. She pressed her thumb against the thumb print scanner and a tone indicated access was denied. A few seconds later a Japanese man answered the door.

            “Can I help you?” He said in broken English.

            “I must have the wrong address.” Tanya said in Japanese

            “Who is it, Ken?” A woman said from within.

            “It’s a friend of the former owner, Kaoru dear.” Turning his attention back to Tanya. “Moved in yesterday, that we did.”

*

23-Dec-2002

            "You have noticed that I'm writing rather sloppy, I dislocated my elbow, I have know idea how, so I have to use my left hand for a while. It's too painful to use my right.

            "This dream was just as strange as all the others. I was in what looked like the engine room of the Starship Enterprise. E, I think. Toni and some girl with red hair were dressed in what looked like that uniform that bitch Sailor Ursis wears. They were behind the warp core. Red was shooting arrows at some woman with light blue hair whom was behind a computer. Out of nowhere, this girl with pink hair appears when an arrow stuck her in the shoulder. I clearly heard Blue call Pink mother, though she seemed kind of young. Then a rabbit jumped on Red. I saw Pink pull the arrow out of her shoulder and Toni throw the rabbit over to Pink and Blue. Now it gets really weird; Blue got the rabbit and it coughed up a tiara and Pink stuck her hand into its mouth. At that point I woke up." Becky reread the section she wrote and realized something. She wrote it down also.

            "I wrote that entire entry in Japanese. My right hand is English and my left is in Japanese. Weird! I need to tell Dr Edgar about this if he ever comes back."

*

05-dec-03

<<JOE: What the hell happened? Well there was this comic and a little deployment. Hopefully maybe I can get a bit done this month

            Roll and Misao were about an hour outside of Hawaiian airspace in a new runabout. Roll was taking her time flying so as to think her next actions through, and to make sure her driving didn't upset Misao. Roll noticed that Misao didn't say anything when she was told they were leaving, probably for good. She seemed, non-chalant. As if Misao knew it was coming. Roll had been very afraid to make such a drastic change in their lives. Any stress put upon her sickly daughter might have caused Misao to go permanently over the brink. Roll was constantly more worried about this one than any of the other children she raised. Misao was at an age where she should have been living her own life, but because of her heart, needed the constant supervision only someone who loved her deeply could afford. Only the advent of Misao's 'guardian angel' relieved Roll of some stress.

            "Roll, what was Toriko like?" Misao asked.

            "She was very shy at first, but opened up after..." Roll thoughts had been taken off track and she began giving an answer before she realized how the question was asked. For the first time ever, Misao hadn't called Roll 'Mother.' Roll turned and looked at Misao. She was looking out the window at the ocean below.

            "I am very sorry I did this to you, Misao. But I have to go to America and I couldn't leave you all alone this time." Misao turned to look at Roll now.

            "Huh?"

            "Would you please forgive me?"

            "What are you talking about?"

            "I know I'm not your real mother. But I love you just as much as Linda and Jesse. I love you as much as your real mother Jeimi would have."

            "I have no doubt you love me, I love you, Mother. I just wanted to hear from Roll what Toriko was like." Roll became very perplexed.

            "She died when I was born. I was brain dead as well. Dr. Light implanted chips in my head..."

            "I know all that. But Roll knows more than Makoto could ever know." Roll became very nervous all of the sudden.

            "I go by both names because I am all the same person. Makoto is my original Japanese named given to me by Toriko. While Roll was used because you know why."

            "Makoto means truth, and you are not facing up to it." Misao reached down into a bag between her legs and the seat and pulled out a ragged leather bound small book. Roll's eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped.

            "Where did you get that? I thought it had been lost in the lab fire."

            "Being the daughter of the Chief of the Maverick Police has its privileges. On one of the many trips to the American headquarters I took a tour of JPI's research labs. They had just found a capsule on the grounds of the old lab. A message in the computerized lock said that only the descendants of Dr. Thomas Light were authorized to open it. One drop of blood later this book was in my hands." Misao handed the book to Roll. Roll put the car on auto pilot and started flipping through the book. "You have always told me that it was just chips augmenting your brain. That book says something different. In fact..."

            "'Dr. Light, if it would save your daughter, take my brain. Use the silicon in my matrix to bring Makoto to life. I know that it is advanced enough to handle a human body. Please Dr. Light, as a robot I can't sit idle as another human dies without just cause, especially a newborn baby, especially your daughter.'"

            Misao had tears in her eyes, Roll didn't. Though she wasn't any less affected. Her voiced wavered and broke some what when she spoke next.

            "'The operation was made easier for several reasons: the main is because the sections of Makoto's brain that operate the automatic body functions are working properly. The other is because of the extra effort used to make Roll's neural matrix. She is the sixth and most advanced of all my robots. Even though the manufacturing process was more advanced for her, essentially her hard ware and and operating kernel is the same as Rock's and Blues'. What could have made her make such a quantum leap such as ignoring the self preservation protocol? Somehow Toriko would know. She would probably say it was love. The kind of love that would cause a young school teacher to reveal her inner powers to save her students. The kind of love that would allow someone to overcome set limitations. The kind of love that may just save my child.'"

            Roll looked over at Misao, she had tears streaming down her face. Roll leaned over and gave her a tight as she dared hug.

*

18-jan-04

            A few hours later just past Hawaii, Misao finally spoke again.

            "So, Mother, what is up with that dress?"

            "Don't you like it?" Roll looked down at her dress. It was a simple sleeveless summer dress. Dark red with a miniscule intertwined floral print. It also conformed to her contours accentuating all her curves.

            "I do, but don't you think it's a little high?"

            "I admit that it shows some leg..."

            "I can see your underwear." Misao said flatly while pointing at Roll's hip. Roll grabbed the hem and pulled down covering up the exposed area.

            "I'm sorry if I..."

            "I'm not offended, Mother. I just wanted to know why you all of the sudden you wanted to wear something so sexy. I've never seen you wear anything like that before. Those guys at the rest stop in Hawaii were staring at you like you were a piece of meat."

            "I did notice, it actually made me feel kind of good to have guys looking at me at my age. As to the why, well, there are times when an adult must do things they normally wouldn't do."

            "In other words, you're going to seduce someone." It took a few seconds for those words to sink in.

            "MISAO! I...I... am."

            "Ojii-san?" Misao said hopefully.

            "No."

            "You want to?"

            "No."

            "Ma-ko-to..."

            "Okay, yes, I'm just pissed at him for the way he treated those girls, and the way he treats you."

            "Don't be, I'm not mad at him. It's not his fault. It's just the way he is programmed."

            "What do you mean. He has is own will, like you or me."

            "Wrong, he does have free will to do what he wants, but he was programmed by Wily-enso, not Light-enso. Wily program his robots to abhor mistakes made by man. Ojii-san considers Papa to be a mistake and anything Papa does is a mistake."

            "How did you come about this?"

            "Isn't it common for when a woman to get pregnant for it to be called a mistake?"

            "You are not a mistake, Misao. I love you so much. I know your father does, and I know James does too, he just has a really shitty way of showing it."

            "I know, I love him too. He'll come around eventually. I'll give him a big hug when he does."

            "That's my girl. You know, you sounded so grown up..."

            "That will happen when it happens. Now, who is the lucky guy you're going to shag?"

            "Oy! I can only tell that this person will sleep with someone they implicitly trust. I want them to trust me so that I can help them. I am not particularly proud of what I'm going to do, but sometimes  it is necessary. I just want you to understand a decision like that should not be taken lightly. But as you know I've never raised you to be a prude..." Roll had turned towards Misao, but she was gone. Roll twisted around to look in the back seat and she wasn't there.

            "OKAI-SAMA!" Roll could have sworn she herd Misao's voice coming from right in front of her, slighty muffled. Roll slowly turned back around and her eyes bugged out. Misao was on the hood of her car. Holding her from behind was a much taller girl dress in blue tinted battle armor.

            "Do what you have to do, Okai-sama. Eimi is just taking me to see Papa." They just simply vanished. Roll could only simply continue the drive to America.

*