From: "James Champagne"
			    THE FLASH POINT

(Flashman, Sakura and Trident are sitting in the theater.  Sakura is 
rubbing some sort of goo on her neck as Flashman fumes in anger over 
something.)

Trident:(Confused) Is something the matter?
Sakura: Ah, don't worry about it.  In the MVFC Anihilation Royal 
Rumble I was bit by Dimitri.  Rimiru gave me this antidote for the 
poison and now I gotta keep rubbing this stuff on my neck for a week.

Flashman:(Low in his throat) I wouldn't have minded you losing Sak-
chan, if someone worthy had been voted the winner... (shouting) BUT 
TO MAKE THAT *JOBBER* GUY WIN IS COMPLETLY REPULSIVE!!!!
Trident:(To audience) To those that do not know the term, "Jobber" is 
used to describe an athlete, usually in boxing or wrestling, who 
never wins.
Sakura:(Grins seductivly) "Sak-chan?"  You DO like me then, don't you?


(Flashman jumps back to the far side of his seat.)

Flashman:(Stammering) W-w-well... I mean... y-y-you're a nice... that 
is I... you see...
Trident: Perhaps, we should start the review.
Flashman: Y-yeah... let's do that... let's get... ah... get... 
started... yeah, that's the ticket.
____________________________
Well, what do you know? Less than 24 hours after writing my  first 
story for the List, here's my second.

[Flashman: Fast sucker, isn't he?
Sakura: Sorrta like you when you first joined up.
Flashman: Oh come on, I wasn't THAT fast.
Trident: Ten chapters of TRIO released in one month?]

Sudden, irrepressible inspiration, or just the incredible willpower 
that can be summoned up by someone really, really determined  to put 
off working on his term papers? You decide.

[Flashman: I can agree with the latter.]

Seriously, this is dedicated to the nice folks who wrote back to say 
they liked my first story. I can personally guarantee that anyone who 
does send in comments will receive in return a beautiful, hand-
crafted...er...e-mail...whether you like what I write or not.

[F/S: We'll be waiting.]

Apologies if this has already been done before. I'd be surprised if 
it hasn't. Hope you enjoy it.



The New Girl

[Flashman: Debbi Gibson?
Trident: She wishes to be called DEBORAH now.]


Lunchtime at Crossroads Junior High.

[Sakura: Let the feeding frenzy begin.]

Serena was boooooored.

[Flashman: So this is a person only exposed to the NA dub.
Sakura: Says the guy whos only exposure to the originals is the 
movies and the first four episodes of R.
Flashman: I didn't mean anything bad by it, I was just pointing it 
out.]

She wandered the school grounds, wondering where to eat her lunch, 
and with whom. Amy was inside, working on some extra credit project 
in the computer lab. Raye...oh, Raye went to a different school 
entirely. And Molly...Serena's spirits drooped further.

Molly, for all she knew, was still in bed, still in the fetal ball 
she had curled up into when the three of them had brought her home a 
few nights earlier, after Nephlyte vanished...<No, after he died,> 
she corrected her own thought. <We can't pretend it didn't really 
happen. That wouldn't be fair to him. Or to Molly.> She couldn't 
quite remember how the three of them had changed back to normal and 
got her home without any questions being asked. But they could 
probably have detransformed right in front of Molly at the time 
without her even noticing, she was so lost in her grief and her guilt.
 Amy had stayed with Molly in her room for a while. She wanted to 
make sure she didn't slip into shock. Serena and Raye had comforted 
Molly's mother, telling her...something. She accepted everything they 
said with a nod, but without really understanding, tears in her eyes. 
<We weren't very fair to her, either.>

[Flashman:(Hands a tissue to Sakura) Here.
Sakura:(Wipes her eyes) Thanks.
Trident: You must give DIC a little credit for leaving the fact that 
Nephrite died in the dub.]

Serena sighed. Why did it have to be so _hard_ to help people, 
sometimes? Sometimes there was nothing you could do, and nothing you 
could say, to make anyone feel better, and it didn't matter that you 
could change into someone else who was better at fighting monsters 
when you couldn't help your real friends when they were hurting.

[Flashman: Oh god.  Not ANOTHER Dark SM fic.
Sakura: I know, is there a bargan sale on these things or what?
Trident:(Confused) How do you sell fanfiction?]

She shuffled her feet in the grass. <I need to do something to cheer 
myself up. I need to cheer someone _else_ up. Maybe that'll help.> 
She brightened a little. <Yeah. Just talk to someone. Listen to them. 
Make a difference to someone I _can_ help.>

[Flashman: Now THAT sounds like the Usa... err, Serena-sama we know 
and enjoy.]

Serena's walk became more confident with each step. <Right! I can 
_do_ this! Now...who do I know whose day needs a little sunshine?>

A spectacled spectacle of broomlike hair and pimples burst up from 
behind a shrub just beside her. "Hi, Serena! I have to warn you about.
..Urk!"

"WAK!!! Melvin!!" She bounced back up from her startled fall--that 
was _Melvin's_ fault, and not her own clumsiness--and shook him by 
the collar like a rat. "How many ways can I say it...NEVER SNEAK UP 
ON ME!"

[Sakura: Although it's a nice mental image, I don't think that Serena 
would be so... physical with Melvin.  She'd just get in his face and 
yell.]

"B-but, a-all I w-wanted was to w-warn you," he gasped, his teeth 
still rattling, "to keep your distance from the new girl. She's 
supposed to be a karate maniac."

[(All raise eyebrows.)
Flashman: I see, a retelling of the first apearence of Mak... err, 
Lita.]

"Oh, yeah?" This got Serena's interest. She'd heard about this girl. 
"The transfer student?" It was almost unheard of for a student to 
change schools in the middle of the semester like that.

"A _disciplinary_ transfer." Melvin checked his memo book. "Kicked 
out of her old school for fighting. Rumor has it that she got some 
people seriously hurt. Wild stuff about brawling and damage to school 
property."

"Do you know which one she is?" Serena looked around for an 
unfamiliar face among the lunchtime crowd.

[Flashman: Look for the one with the slight pituitary problem.
Sakura:(Blasts Flashman with a Hadoken) Jerk!  I thought you LIKED 
Lita.
Flashman:(Smoking) Owwwwieee.  I do like her.  It doesn't gloss over 
the fact that she's a little... overdeveloped for someone of only 
fourteen years.]

Serena saw dark hair, slumped shoulders, and a pretty face-- eyes 
down, mouth opening and closing around forkfuls of food. She was 
chewing with a vengeance, and even at a distance Serena could tell 
that her jaws would be clenched tight with anger if it weren't for 
having to eat lunch. She was a bit of an expert when it came to 
eating, and when it came to moods, and she knew how to read the signs.
 This girl was almost rigid with suppressed hostility.

Perfect.

[Flashman: Uhhh... Serena-sama... somehow I get the feeling this 
might not turn out like the cannon.  You may want to back off.  Lita 
wasn't quite THAT mad when she first showed up.]
 
"Are you sure that all that about her is true, Melvin?"

Melvin adjusted his glasses, pouring an ocean of wounded pride into 
the gesture. "Serena, you should know by now that there's _nothing_ I 
take more seriously than my gossip. You...hey, wait. What are you 
doing? Come back! Don't go over there!" He watched in horror as 
Serena smiled and walked over to the new girl. <This is what I've 
been looking for!> she thought. She remembered Amy telling her how 
lonely she had been during her first days at Crossroads, how she had 
thought everyone was against her, talking about her behind her back. 
Amy had told her how grateful she had felt when Serena just came up 
to her and talked with her; it had been her first really happy moment 
at the new school...

Melvin, still behind the bush, frantically waved, trying to call 
Serena back, but she was off in one of her own little worlds...<Oh, 
well. Trust Serena to hit it off with a martial arts psychopath.>

[Flashman: So far, no major changes.]

She had her fingers crossed behind her back, a bright smile on her 
face, and prepared a spontaneous speech. <Hi! My name's Serena!...> 
Well...she'd make up the rest of it as she went along. She thought 
she was walking pretty quietly--for once. Not quietly enough, though. 
The new girl spun around before Serena got within ten feet of her. 
She had half-raised herself on one hand, the other drawn back in a 
fist, before she stopped herself, seeing the quaking schoolgirl in 
front of her was no threat. "What do you want?" she growled.

"Er...I..hi. M-my name's..." The other shoe dropped (and not on that 
creep Darien's head, for once). Both girls stared at each other in 
surprised recognition.

[All:(Snicker)
Trident: I see this author shares the majority of the FFMLs opinion 
of that man.]

"You?"

"You!"

"You're the girl I..."

"You're the one who..."

They both stared a moment longer, then relaxed. The dark-haired girl 
even smiled.

[Sakura: Okay, still no major changes.
Flashman: Wait for it...]

"Well, if I'd known you were going to Crossroads, I would have walked 
the rest of the way with you. You didn't have any more trouble with 
those guys, did you?"

"No, they didn't hang around for seconds." Serena took it as an 
invitation to sit down. At least the new girl didn't stop her. As she 
looked closer, Serena saw what she had missed before from her vantage 
point--this was the girl in the strange uniform who had scared off 
those bullies this morning.

With her usual sense of timing, she had been late for school again. 
And with her usual grace, she had plowed straight into a trio of 
neighborhood toughs while rounding a corner. They were as shocked as 
she was at first, but when they realized the blonde schoolgirl 
stammering an apology to them was alone, they shifted into 
intimidation-mode. They were pretty good at it, in fact. Serena was 
wondering if she would get a chance to transform before things got 
_really_ ugly when a girl with dark hair had appeared seemingly out 
of nowhere. She blushed a bit remembering the language in which the 
girl made her... uhh... challenge to the bullies. The middle one 
strutted up to her and started walking around her, making his own... 
err... intentions clear in an equally colorful vocabulary.

<SNIP>

[Flashman:(Cleaning out his ears) Whoa.  I thought this was a G rated 
fic.
Sakura: Not anymore.]

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I think so. You were...great."

"Huh."

"You're a really good fighter."

"Yeah. Whatever."

"I mean it. I've never seen anyone move that fast."

The girl flushed a bit. Not with pride. "You don't get around enough. 
Take care." She turned and walked away without another word.

And now that same girl was sitting in front of her, waiting for her 
next move.

[Trident: Still no change.
Flashman: Wait for it...]

Serena was at a loss. She tried to remember what she was out here for.
 "Um, at least now I have a chance to thank you for helping me out 
this morning."

"No problem."

Serena waited a moment. No takers for that conversation-starter? 
Going...going...she looked into the new girl's chilly stare. Gone. 
<What can I talk to her about? Her hair? Her clothes? Ah!>

"I would probably have asked to walk to school with you myself if I'd 
known you went to school here. You're still wearing your old school's 
uniform...?"

"The new one's not ready yet."

[Flashman: Yeah, I guess they would have to modify it to fit certain 
diment... (stops as he sees Sakura readying a Sho-o-ken)]

More silence.

<Ohhh-KAY. I really, _really_ didn't want to do this, but I guess I 
have to. It might not cheer her up, but at least it'll get her 
talking to me.>

She took a deep breath. Her voice squeaked a bit with nervous tension 
as she launched into exactly the wrong subject to bring up with this 
particular new girl. "So, I hear you were kicked out of your old 
school for fighting..."

[Trident: Not a wise choice of converstaions to start.]

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and waited for the explosion. What 
she heard was a long-drawn, hissing breath, followed by a slow exhale.
 Serena peeked. No fists. The girl's arms were in fact crossed on her 
knees, which she had drawn up and was hugging. There was a quirky 
smile on her lips.

"Thanks. I guess I was curious about how long it would take for that 
story to get around. I was just scared to find out for real."

"Word gets around," Serena agreed. <Whew. Still alive.> "No-one seems 
to know too much about you other than that. If you'd like, you could 
start setting them straight...beginning with me?"

"I don't think so. I don't think I'll be making too many friends here.
 Probably won't be here long enough before they send me off again."

"You know, this isn't such a bad place to be. There are a lot of good 
people here, if you'd just give them a chance." <This isn't quite 
going the way I'd hoped!>

"No thanks. Don't get the wrong idea." She looked over at the wilting 
Serena. "I don't have anything against you personally. In fact, I 
ought to be the one thanking you for this morning."

Serena blinked. "Huh?"

The ice came back into the new girl's eyes. "For giving me a chance 
to take out a few frustrations before school. I'm sure I'd have 
collected a couple of detentions so far today if we hadn't met those 
three."

[Sakura: Hmmm.  It seems as if this reality's version of Lita is a 
bit more violent then usual.
Flashman: Something isn't right here...]

It was Serena's turn to be quiet for a while. "Do you _like_ to fight?
" she asked, not sure this was the best thing to say, but sure she 
had to follow this through to the end.

The dark-haired girl sighed again, and actually put her forehead down 
on her knees. "I...did. I do, I guess. Or I used to think I did, and 
now I've convinced myself I do. I don't know."

"You're good at it."

This earned a laugh. "Not as good as you think."

"And at your old school? You got into a lot of fights there?"

"Nearly every day. But it wasn't my fault! It was always some stupid 
thing or another."

"So you were defending yourself."

"No. Not really. Most of the time it wasn't really serious. But one 
thing led to another. The fighting...it was something I was always 
good at. Well...it was something I _wanted_ to be good at. But it...
took things away from me. First it was just time. I'd always get to 
school late because of my fighting. Then it started getting in the 
way other things I liked doing. I couldn't go out with my friends or 
do anything just fun without something happening to start a fight. 
And even when I wasn't the one starting anything, it all just seemed 
to follow me around, like trouble knew who I was and where I lived."

[Flashman: I reiterate, something seems REALLY wrong here.
Trident: If memory serves, Lita was simply defending herself in her 
fights and was so good that she ended up hurting people by mistake.]

Serena thought about this.

"I know what you mean," she said, quietly. "It's sometimes like that 
for me. Crazy stuff...just happens. And it comes up just when you 
think you can relax and be happy with your friends. You can't get 
away from it. It's not your fault. It's just stuff that happens to 
you."

The dark-haired girl nodded.

"Can I tell you something?"

Serena looked up, distracted from her own personal inner scrapbook of 
monsters and battles.

"Yeah. I mean...yes. I'm listening."

"It's all true about me. Everything you've heard. Everything."

Serena opened her mouth to say something, but the new girl waved her 
into silence.

"I hurt some people. Badly. At the time it didn't seem like such a 
big deal. We'd been though it all before. It was like a kind of 
routine we followed. I didn't start it. But that didn't matter. If 
you'd asked me at the time, I'd have told you that the people I hurt 
even deserved it. They didn't. They were my... friends. And I never 
really realized that until after I'd done things to them I'll never 
forgive myself for." She paused. "After it happened... well, everyone 
just seemed to decide that it would be better for all concerned if I 
'got a fresh start' at a new school. I can't blame them, I guess. 
They wanted to get me away from where it happened, from the people 
who knew me. I suppose it's for the best. I couldn't really have 
faced them, once they knew what I had done. I can only imagine what 
they had to tell the principal here to get him to accept me."

[Flashman: Wow.  Harsh.]

Serena's mouth was dry. She tried to swallow, clear her throat, do 
anything to dislodge the awful feeling that she was about to start 
crying. The dark-haired girl noticed this, and tried to smile. "I'm 
sorry. I didn't mean to bring you down so far before you've even 
eaten your lunch." She offered Serena a napkin.

[Flashman: TRUST me.  NOTHING can stop Serena-sama from eating.]

"That's...alright. You know," she sniffed a bit and wiped her eyes, 
"I think there are more people around here who would understand what 
you're going through than you might think."

The new girl gave her a look. "Something tells me I've already found 
one."

[(Flashman and Sakura dab their eyes as a small smile ends up on 
Tridents face.)]

The two sat silently for a moment before the new girl gestured to her 
lunch. "Would you like to share? Usually when I'm angry I eat a ton. 
I guess I'm not quite as angry as I thought I'd be when I packed 
lunch this morning."

"Would I?!?" Serena shouted before forcing down her natural reaction 
at the offer of food. "I mean...sure I would. Your lunch looks 
great!"

"Here...would you like to try one of these muffins? I made them 
myself."

The new girl barely had time to hold it out before Serena snatched it 
up, opened her mouth wide and bit off fully half of it.

And turned green.

[(All three reviewers go wide eyed.)
Sakura: Flash-san... you were right, something is REALLY wrong here.
Trident: Taking into acount what we have just heard...
Flashman: Is this who I think it is?]

The dark-haired girl's eyes began to frost over again as Serena 
desperately chewed, trying to wad the horrible mouthful small enough 
to swallow in a single gulp without tasting more of it than she 
absolutely had to. She was turning purple when the offended baker 
asked in a carefully flattened voice, "What's the matter? You don't 
like it?"

[Flashman: Oh... NO!  This could only be...
Sakura: SHO-O-KEN! (Nails Flashman) Don't ruin the surprise.
Trident: Around this time, anyone with half a brain cell could figure 
it out.]

"Nnnaaarrg....nnnurrkh..." <gulp> "N-no. It's..." The lump splashed 
into her stomach, which roiled around it, trying to decide whether to 
pass it on without comment or send it back up with loud complaints. 
"It's ffff-ff-fine."

The dark-haired girl watched Serena's barely suppressed gasps and the 
tears in her eyes, and made a decision. She passed her a juice box 
wordlessly.

"Th-thanks." <slluuuurrrp. Whew.>

She gave the new girl a more genuine smile and held out her hand. "My 
name's Serena Tsukino. Do you want to be friends?"

The dark-haired girl smiled back and took her hand. "Sure. I'm Akane 
Tendo."

[(All the reviewers facefault.)

Flashman: AKANE as Sailor Jupiter?!?!?!
Sakura: It makes more sense then who you fused her with in Dragon 
Moon 1/2.
Trident: And just when are you planing to write more of that?
Sakura: Yeah, not to mention more of TRIO...
Trident: And Animania...
Sakura: And that fight scene you promised Megane 6.7...
Trident: And when do you plan to deal with "him"...
Sakura: Not to mention you FINALLY trying to write a Lemon...
Flashman: ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!  TOO MUCH!  TOO MUCH!  MUST FLEE!!!!

(Flashman jumps out of his seat and bolts out of the theater, without 
bothering to open the door and leaving a Flashman shaped hole.)]

The End.
(unless anyone is really interested in seeing where this idea might 
go from here...)
________________________

Sakura: I for one, who has been Sailor Jupiter once, would like to 
see where this goes.
Trident: Even if it's only to hear...
Sakura:(Imitating Akane) REI NO BAKA!!!! (WHAM!)

The Flashman

May The Spirit Preserve You!