This is chapter 1, written over two one hour challenge sessions. It's somewhat
complete, but think of it more as a teaser for a series I have yet to write
most of.
Sailor Moon: Strategy and Tactics
by Ken Arromdee
Boy, what a *mess*! Usagi had just met Ami, and then Ami turned out to be
Sailor Mercury. That was really pretty cool. But then the cram school was
trashed. Usagi was glad that she wasn't the one who would have to clean that
mess up. "That's why I don't go to cram school", said Usagi, indicating the
disheveled post-battle state of the room.
"You don't go to cram school because you don't want to be attacked by
monsters?" wondered Ami.
"Ah, eh. No, I mean because it's so draining. Even if there aren't any
monsters it's as hard on the students as if there were!"
From the look on Ami's face, Usagi wondered if Ami didn't think she was
making sense. She dismissed the thought; it really wasn't any different a
look from the ones Naru gave her sometimes. And Naru was a good friend,
right?
* * * * *
"Wake up, Usagi!"
She heard the voice dimly, but it barely mattered to her. She would much
sooner keep her eyes closed and stay with this nice soft pillow.... "Mmmmmmf."
she muttered.
Luna trotted over to Usagi's ear and yelled. "Wake up Usagi!"
The teen screamed, shot up a meter into the air and fell back down onto her
bed. Her head landed on the pillow again (squashing one odango) and her
blanket fell into exactly the position it was in before. Within a few seconds
she was asleep again.
"Usagi, we should be going", said Ami's voice. "We're supposed to be
shopping today."
At the sound of the word 'shopping', Usagi stirred and got up. "Hello...
Ami", she said after a yawn, "I didn't know you know how to pick locks..."
"Luna let me in" replied Ami. She pointed to Usagi's head and added "By
the way your hair's flat."
Usagi felt around. "It is!" she said, touching a half-unravelled odango.
"It really isn't smart to sleep like that", said Luna. "Ami probably never
has hair problems like you do."
"That's because she doesn't have hair like that..." said Usagi, looking at
Ami.
It occurred to Usagi that Ami had two choices. Take Usagi's side or take
Luna's side. Whose side would her new friend take? Usagi suspected that it
would be Luna's side, but hoped against hope that it would be hers.
For once, something that Usagi hoped for had happened. "Luna", said Ami,
"if she takes out the odango at night she has to fix them every morning. If
she doesn't, she fixes them when they get ruined or when she comes out of the
shower. It's once a day either way, so she doesn't lose anything by not taking
them out."
Luna grumbled. Usagi beamed; Ami would be a really good friend, she
thought, from what little she had seen of her. Never mind asking for help
on exams, *that* was why it was a good idea to be friends with a genius.
And suddenly an idea occurred to Usagi. That wasn't as unusual event as
some people would think--even Usagi sometimes got ideas--but this one would
eventually make a far bigger difference in everyone's lives than Usagi would
suspect. "Ami, you're smart... I've never had a really really smart friend.
Could you do me a favor?"
"All right." Usagi knew Ami would trust her.
"Okay, Ami... if I say something dumb or do something dumb, could you
tell me? If I got to be smarter like you I could talk back to Luna better
too."
Ami giggled. "What a silly idea. You're you. You don't need to be like
me, you just need to wake up earlier, get better grades, not eat your lunch
during class, and use some common sense."
Usagi got ready to yell. She just met Ami but surely Ami was a good enough
person that she could handle a little yelling, right? But wait... didn't Ami
just do what Usagi had asked her? Usagi wanted Ami to tell her when she did
something dumb. And it was pretty stupid to do all the things Ami just
mentioned. She always knew she was a little lazy, but it was so much easier
not to really try to change. But if she tried just a little bit, for the
next week or so....
* * * * *
Ami greeted Usagi as she ran in, huffing and puffing. "That's good, Usagi.
You're really getting better."
"Really?" said Usagi. A piece of toast dropped to the floor from her mouth
as she spoke.
"Yes. You got here about five minutes before the start of class. You've
obviously been running, and you didn't have time to eat, but you did have
enough time to make the toast. And drink the orange juice that's still in
your breath. You must have gotten up ten minutes earlier than usual, compared
to what everyone tells me about how you usually arrive."
"I guess I'll never be like you, Ami."
"It's all right", interjected Naru. "Everybody's a different person.
Some things are just harder for some people to do than others. Maybe if you
try really hard you can find something that you can be smart at."
Usagi wondered. Throughout the day, she tried thinking of what she could.
If Ami could be smart, so could she. Her thoughts went mostly to her job
as Sailor Moon and what she could do to make it easier, shorter, and less
troublesome to her free time. It occupied her thoughts until class let out.
She ended up having to stay after school when Miss Haruna chastized her for
the eighth time for not paying attention to the lessons.
* * * * *
"I have some ideas!" explained Usagi to Luna.
"What?"
She lifted the cat up by the neck, so she could talk to her face to face,
and said "I have some ideas!"
"Prt mr drwn" gasped out Luna, clawing at Usagi, who dropped the angry
feline. "Now", said Luna, "what are those ideas?"
"I wrote a whole bunch of things on paper when I got home that might make
it easier to be Sailor Moon so it doesn't have to take so much time!" exclaimed
Usagi. She handed Luna a notebook. "Ami said it's called brainstorming.
You think of a whole lot of ideas without thinking of what's wrong with them,
and maybe one of them will work."
Luna opened the notebook and read. "I will pay attention during class.
I will pay attention during class. I will pay attention during class...."
"Not that one!" Usagi turned a few pages and showed Luna the right one.
Luna began to read. "'Send in Godzilla against the monsters.' Umm,
Usagi..."
"I know it's a bad idea because Godzilla's a movie! But you're supposed to
have some bad ideas in this."
"'Make me a magic item that lets me get a bigger allowance'. Usagi, I
can't do that."
"It was worth a try."
"'Check and see if Mamoru is really Tuxedo Mask. He has the same height,
same hair, same voice, and we never see them both around at the same time.'
Usagi, where are you getting these ideas? Do you know what the odds are that
out of the millions of people in the city you should happen to know Tuxedo
Mask?"
"It can't be any worse than the odds of being in the same place as all the
monsters!"
"'Look up in the phone book all the people whose names start with the kanji
for the planets.' Why would anyone want to do that?"
"Oh, I didn't write the reason. That's because they might be the other
Sailor Senshi. It works for me and Ami, maybe there are others."
"'Tell me everything you remember about the moon princess so I can look for
her.' All right, you have one. But I don't think it'll help. 'Give me all
my magic items now instead of waiting for when you think I need them'. Usagi,
why would I do that?"
"Because it makes sense! You could have given me my pen right at the
start instead of waiting...."
"But there's hardly anything left. Just the moon stick."
"The moon stick?"
"Anyway, Usagi, somehow I don't think this is going to work."
"I bet Ami thinks some of these ideas are pretty smart."
"You're no Ami, Usagi. Even if you are Sailor Moon."
* * * * *
"Let's go to a bookstore!" said Ami.
"But we're shopping!" replied Usagi. "Why do you want to go to a
bookstore?"
"To shop for books...."
Usagi thought about it a bit and realized that it *was* possible to shop
for books, after all, even though it wasn't what she usually thought of as
shopping. Oh, well, everyone has their little quirks. She could still come
along with Ami and get some manga.
Usagi and Ami laughed a little when they each discovered what the other
had bought. There purses were running low by then, but maybe, Usagi wondered,
there was still someplace they could go... "There!"
"What?" wondered Ami.
"That store over there!"
"What?" wondered Ami.
"That store over there!"
"What?" wondered Ami yet again. Usagi wondered herself why Ami couldn't
figure out what she meant. She wasn't being *that* unclear.
"That store! It's a new store, they're selling clocks. Maybe they have
some kind of opening sale. We could buy something then! Just as long as we
don't run into a youma in there."
Luna whispered, as loudly as a talking cat could whisper, "Usagi! You
can't go looking for youmas everywhere."
"But I'm trying to think about things. I don't want to miss any youmas
and have to fight them later when they get really strong and hurt me a lot."
"If you're going to think about something, there's always your schoolwork.
Besides, why would there be a youma here?"
"Well, umm... Luna, that fortune telling place was new. Nobody ever
heard of it. It had a youma in it. That new radio program had Jadeite and
a youma. That health club that we *never* heard about before had a youma.
So did the pet shop with the Chanels and the Crystal Seminar. Luna, every
time there's been a new store around it had a youma! There has to be some
reason. Maybe the bad guys need a lot of money for something, so they keep
opening stores."
"Maybe the schoolwork is a better idea, Usagi. If they're opening stores
to get money, where would they get the money to open the stores?"
"Ami!" Ami would support her, wouldn't she? "Ami-chan, why can't we go
in there and look for a youma before buying anything? It wouldn't hurt, would
it?"
"Not much..." said Ami.
"It's still the silliest idea I ever heard", said Luna. "Besides, neither
of you have any special ability to detect youmas...."
Usagi stopped walking and a grin appeared on her face. She glanced at Ami
and then looked directly at the cat. Not seeing any movement from Ami, she
glanced over again at her. Somehow, Ami caught what what she was intending
and when she looked at the cat a second time, so did Ami.
At the grin on Usagi's face and the supporting smile on Ami's, Luna began
to turn and run.
"Not so fast!" said Usagi, grabbing Luna into her arms. "When we found
Ami, you said you could sense energy. You thought it was Ami but it was the
youma. All you have to do is feel for youmas again!
The cat tried to tiptoe into a position that would let her leap off of
Usagi. Not this time. Usagi held the cat back and said "You're scared!
That's what it means to be a scaredy-cat!" Luna let out what sounded like a
sigh; Usagi wondered what that meant. Of course her joke was pretty funny, so
could the cat be losing her sense of humor?
"What would I be scared of?"
"You're scared I'm right. You're scared that you won't be able to tell me
what to do if I know it better than you."
"That's ridiculous. If you feel that strongly about it, let's go."
Usagi was happy. This was a lot of fun. She just hoped Luna wouldn't
think Usagi was picking on her too much.
* * * * *
Ami and Usagi, holding the cat, entered the new clock store.
"So do you sense anything?" whispered Usagi to the black bundle in her
arms.
"As a matter of fact, I do. There's some kind of evil energy in all these
clocks and that woman over there is a youma."
"Are you just saying that because I asked you to look, or is it real,
Luna?"
"Usagi, you're right! You made a lucky guess and you're right. Does that
satisfy you? Now, we'd better go attack her."
"Wait", said Ami. "Just a moment. I think she is going to leave."
"So we can chase her!"
"If you're going to do a sneak attack on a youma", said Luna, "do it
right". To Usagi, it didn't sound like Luna's usual kind of advice at all.
She wondered if maybe Luna was trying to think of things Usagi couldn't think
of so she could keep telling Usagi what to do. "Now, go outside and
transform." whispered the cat. "Then come back and attack just before the
youma opens that door...."
The two girls quickly left. From outside could be heard the sounds "Moon
prism power, make up!" and "Mercury power, make up!" and a moment later, the
Senshi arrived.
The youma was still nowhere to be seen. Sailor Moon twiddled her thumbs
while Mercury watched the door. As soon as footsteps could be heard, Sailor
Mercury began her attack. "Shabon...." and the door flew open at exactly the
moment Mercury uttered the last syllable.
Fortunately, it was indeed the youma, who didn't see the attack coming at
all. In front of the Senshi was standing a frozen woman, a really surprised
look on her face. Usagi caught her breath and threw her tiara at it. "Moon
tiara action!" she yelled heartily, and smashed the youma into bits.
The world wavered around everyone. Sailor Moon looked around, and saw
only a vacant space where the store once was. Sailor Mercury and Luna were
with her, as well as a zillion confused customers. "We did it!" yelled Sailor
Moon.
"Now I can go home and do my homework", said Ami.
"I never will understand smart people", replied Usagi.