A Sailormoon story
Decoy
Walk a Mile (The Other Mile)
Yuuchirou's Lodge
Sunday, 2000 December 24
The oni leapt.
An arm grabbed Sailor V around the waist and pulled her aside. The oni
twisted in midair and tried to claw her as it moved past her, but
missed with no room to spare.
"Crescent Beam!" Sailor Venus snapped off a one handed shot as she
carried her twin clear of the oni. The bolt slammed into the oni while
it was still in the air and propelled it into the trees.
Sailor Venus landed and helped Sailor V gain her footing. "What is
that thing?" the elder of the pair asked.
"Soul... eater," Sailor V gasped, "or something like that." She paused
for more air, then cryptically continued. "The legend was vague." The
oni shot into view then, racing toward them, and Sailor V raised her
arms even as she dropped to her knees. "Cres-"
"Love-Me..." Sailor Venus' voice came from behind Sailor V. Her
concentration lost, Sailor V reflexively turned to look. Sailor Venus'
arm shot out in the direction of the oni as she finished shouting
"...Chain!" Following the path of her gesture, a long chain of hearts
whipped around the oni. When two loops of the chain surrounded the
oni, Sailor Venus took it in both hands and yanked it tight.
The oni stumbled to the ground, and its crackling roared louder and
hammered at the two Senshi. With the chain wrapped tight around it,
its continuous transformations had stopped so that it now looked like
a single oni of legend -- its hair was matted, it had a single
bloodshot eye and large tusks poked out of a mouth filled with pointed
teeth.
Every fraction of a second, the oni pulsed as its appearance tried to
shift. Each pulse slammed into the chain around it and sent a wave
rippling through the chain back to Sailor Venus. Her muscles strained
as she fought to keep the chain tight on the oni, but the chain was
taut enough to work against her. Each wave bounced back from Sailor
Venus' clenched hands to join a number of waves running up and down
the length of the chain. Within a few seconds, the waves pulling at
the chain were making it jump and twist as though it were a living
thing, and Sailor Venus was starting to lose her footing from the
sheer force.
Sailor V pushed herself to help Sailor Venus with the chain, almost
colliding as the shockwaves hammered Sailor Venus around. She had just
managed a good grip on the chain when the links around the oni gave
out. The chain exploded away from the creature, and slammed into the
two Senshi.
The two women were flung through the air to tumble across the snow,
and the oni was moving toward them immediately. Sailor V shook her
head, trying to focus, but the world continued to spin. A second
later, Sailor Venus' shout of "Crescent Beam!" reached her ears and
the oni's noise receded again.
Gloved hands grabbed Sailor V and pulled her to her feet. They held
her upright while the world spun around her and brushed the worst of
the debris off of her. "What is that thing?" a woman's voice reached
Sailor V's ears.
"Some kind of soul-eater!" Sailor V's voice responded from far away.
No, wait, that was Sailor Venus, who had just fired another Crescent
Beam at the oni. Sailor V tried to see how far away the oni had been
shot, but her field of view kept jumping to one side and spinning to
the other. Voices echoed around her, and belatedly she realized her
twin was talking to her. "...how do we stop it?" Sailor V's reply was
apparently incoherent as her twin repeated the question in a clipped
voice.
"She said she doesn't know!" The tall brunette holding up Sailor V
translated her garbled explanation. The spinning in Sailor V's head
had settled enough that she could now tell that two women were helping
her; the tall brunette and a younger woman not much taller than Sailor
V.
"Oh, great!" Sailor Venus began. "Duck!" she added, almost
immediately. The tall brunette roughly yanked Sailor V down and out of
the way as the oni shot through the space where her head had just
been. "Crescent Beam!" Sailor Venus fired another bolt at the oni and
flung it away.
"You've got to get out of here!" Sailor V told the crowd as she worked
her way to her feet a moment later.
"This is my family's place!" a man yelled back. "I can't let that
thing destroy it!" Sailor V gathered her breath to respond.
"It's coming again!" shouted Sailor Venus. She began to gesture, then
abandoned that to dodge a rock thrown by the oni. Leaping away from
the rock with centimeters to spare, she flipped backward and landed on
the roof of the lodge. The rock itself, not much shorter than Sailor
V, landed with a wet smack and forced a burst of snow at the crowd
around the lodge. Sailor V found herself knocked to the ground by a
ski-pole as people flung their arms up to shield their eyes.
She twisted on the ground to face the oni as it came charging out of
the trees.
The oni burst into the clearing and one of its legs smacked into the
ski-pole suddenly thrust into its path by a guy with really thick
glasses. Its balance lost, but still with its momentum, the oni
tumbled face first into the rock it had thrown at Sailor Venus. It
flipped over the rock and landed on the other side, face up and
twitching.
Sailor V didn't waste the opportunity, and neither did Sailor Venus.
Oddly harmonious cries of "Cres- Crescent Beam!" and "Love and Beauty
Shock!" filled the air as two attacks slammed into the oni pounding it
against the rock for several seconds, and finally reducing it to a
smear.
For a moment, the area was silent except for the noise of a number of
people gasping for breath. Then everyone started speaking at once.
"Is it gone?"
"Am I all right? All right! I'm all right!"
"Here, let me help you up."
"You're okay? You're sure? Okay.... Wow! This is so cool! Both Sailor
V and Sailor Venus are here!"
"I didn't... cut anything or anything like that, did I?"
"My brain hurts."
Sailor V pushed herself to her feet, wobbling a little as she did so.
Two of the women moved toward her, and the shorter one spoke up.
"Sailor V, are you okay?"
"I passed someone else out there," Sailor V briefly explained as she
started moving. "I have to see what happened."
Sailor Venus jumped down to land beside Sailor V and opened her mouth
to speak, but a shout from one of the men cut her off. "Hey! Where's
Minako?" His exclamation was followed by a few other similar queries.
A pained expression crossed Sailor Venus' face, and she addressed her
twin. "You go ahead, but...." She trailed off as Sailor V nodded and
ran into the trees.
For a moment, Sailor Venus looked torn, then with a disgusted mutter,
she found a place out of sight to change back and rejoin the others.
"Minako!" Makoto exclaimed, being the first to spot her friend's
return. She and the others rushed over to Minako. "Where were you?"
"I got out of the way of the fight. Didn't you see me? You guys were
looking straight at me." Minako put on her best puzzled expression,
and after years of practice, it was rather convincing.
"We were?" Rei asked.
"But Mina-chan, I didn't see you at all!" Usagi protested.
Minako stared at Usagi for a second and decided that Usagi meant that.
Then she shook her head. "Never mind that, did anyone get hurt?"
A chorus of 'no's were the only response.
"So the monster is gone, and we're all okay?"
"The same as usual," Gurio dead-panned.
"Except that Sailor V was here again and I didn't get to thank her or
get her autograph or anything!" Usagi wistfully sighed. "She was my
idol when we were little, you know."
"Well you've only mentioned that a thousand times," Rei grumbled,
earning a momentary view of Usagi's tongue. She responded in kind, and
the ritual complete, continued. "But Sailor V and Sailor Venus teamed
up? Is this new Senshi training week or something?"
"Huh," Makoto noted, "they do dress a lot alike, maybe they're
related."
"Yeah, like Sailor Venus is showing her kid sister how to fight
monsters?" Rei's voice was tinged with sarcasm, but Minako started to
sweat nervously in spite of Rei's manner.
"Hey! Are we going to stand around all day like drooling fanboys? Or
are we going to ski?" Minako demanded.
"I don't think that really applies in our case," Ami said.
"Particularly so as none of the men here collect Manga."
"Oh yeah!" Usagi exclaimed. "I almost forgot, Rei-chan, I've got that
stack I borrowed from you in the car."
Ami ignored the interruption, and continued, "but that does raise an
interesting point, was the original Sailor V really Sailor Venus in
training?"
"Hey!" Minako demanded as she gestured wildly. "So what if this is the
first Senshi sighting in five years. Let's hit the slopes!"
"Okay, okay! Don't blow a fuse, dude." Yuuchirou grinned at her.
Rei tapped Yuuchirou on the top of his head with her ski-pole. "I
think that trip to California had a bad affect on you."
"Like, no way, dude."
The near huddle broke up and everyone began to make their way up the
slope in groups of two or three.
A little while later, at the top of the slopes, Minako found herself
out of earshot of the others, and with Luna next to her. She bent
down, as though she were adjusting her ski, and spoke quietly to the
cat. "Is it just my imagination? Or are we walking around in the
twilight area?"
"That's 'Twilight Zone'," the cat offered. "And yes, I've noticed it
too."
"It's spooky." Minako continued to be fascinated with her boot. "It's
like they've all forgotten who we are. I mean, when Usagi said she
didn't see me during the attack, she meant it; she's not usually a
ditz anymore, but she's not that good of an actress."
"Is everything okay there?" Gurio asked as he was skiing past Minako.
He paused to watch her work on her boot.
"Yup," Minako affirmed, looking up and smiling, "just got a rock in my
eye."
"Uh," Gurio paused, "shouldn't that be 'shoe'?"
"Right, that's what I said." Minako looked down for a second, then
looked back up at him. "I'll be moving again in just a moment."
"Okay," said Gurio, and he raised his ski-poles to get himself moving
again.
"Okay, I'll do that," Minako confirmed as Gurio moved to start down
the slope. She blew air through her cheeks and spoke softly to Luna
again. "As I was saying, I've never seen anything like it."
"Actually, you have," the cat reminded her.
"Uh..." Minako's face scrunched up in an expression of distaste.
"Back in '93? Right after the end of the Dark-" Luna continued, but
stopped at Minako's gesture.
"I'd rather not think about that, thanks."
"You can't pretend it didn't happen, Mina-chan."
"Sure I can! We've been doing that ever since then!"
Luna reluctantly pulled away from being petted, and turned to look at
her friend.
"Okay," Minako said after a moment, "I'm sorry I snapped at you."
"You'll have to face it sometime, please don't keep it bottled up."
Minako nodded sadly. "I'll- later, okay?" Luna hesitated for a second,
then agreed. "Okay, anyway, so everybody's acting like... back then."
Her face scrunched up in thought. "But why now? Did they forget over
the last year or so, or what?"
"I don't think that's it. I suspect that oni's... noise had something
to do with it. Did you know you took an unusually long time to
change?"
"I did? I mean, it felt long, but I thought that was just my
imagination." Again, Minako stared into the distance. "It felt like
days."
Luna shook her head. "It wasn't quite that long, but it was long
enough for the oni to almost reach you. If it hadn't been for Sailor
V.... But I'm getting off track.
"You took extra time to change, everyone seems to have forgotten who
they are, and you even kept forgetting to go off and change."
Minako stared left at a twig lying in the snow and nodded in agreement
as she recalled the events. "When that noise started I kept thinking I
should change, and then I'd... get distracted.... The only thing that
reminded me was Sailor V shouting. It was just so... wrong."
Luna gave Minako a little cat smile. "It was, wasn't it?" She sobered.
"In any case, everyone else seems to have forgotten their identities.
So now what do we do?"
Minako blinked at the cat for a second. "What are you asking me for?"
Luna shook her head. "You're of age, Minako. Artemis and I are no
longer your guardians, we're advisors now, more or less, and we
can't... um, we need to treat you like who you are."
"Oh, um." Minako's face was red. "Thanks, um..."
"So, as the ranking Senshi here, what do we do about this? On the one
hand, this is the first time all of you have been together in two
years, and it would be a shame to waste it; Artemis and I could
restore their memories tomorrow or the day after that. On the other
hand, I can't say for sure there won't be more monsters, and-"
"And we may need all the help we can get." Minako suppressed a sigh.
"Okay, how about I try to get everyone past you one at a time to
restore their memories."
Luna nodded. "Okay, I'll- meow, mew, purrrr."
Minako froze. "Luna?" she asked, but Luna continued to act like a
normal cat.
"Is your ski okay?" Shingo asked from behind Minako. He was rewarded
with the sight of her jumping up and yelling at him.
"Gah! Don't do that," complained Minako.
"Sorry." Shingo grinned at her. "You were taking so long that I
thought I'd see what was up. So, is your ski okay?"
"Erm," Minako began, glancing around for a sight of Luna. She did
manage to catch a glimpse of her, and noticed that the cat was
gesturing her head toward the lodge. "Um, yeah," she finally answered
Shingo, "I just wanted to make sure of it."
"Okay then... race you to the bottom?" He offered, turning his skis a
bit toward the beginning of the slope.
"Um, sure," she agreed and skied next to him.
"Usagi mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about setting up
something on campus." Shingo mentioned as the two of them positioned
themselves at the top of the slope.
Minako blinked for a second, then grinned. "Yeah! How about getting
Yuuchirou's band in a concert?"
"Hey! That'd be cool," Shingo matched her grin. "Can we talk about it
later, though? I want to ski now."
"Okay, we'll talk when we get inside then. Ready?" Minako asked, and
getting a nod from Shingo, continued. "Go!" The two of them shot
forward and raced down the slope.
_________________________________________________________________
"Okay, this is weird," Sailor V commented aloud to herself. She
dropped the trenchcoat and cane she had been examining back onto the
duffel bag where she had found them. Turning to Juliana, who was still
lying unconscious in the snow, she continued. "Lady, if this is your
stuff, you have an odd fashion sense." She brushed her hair back over
her shoulders and fruitlessly tried to get some of the dirt smears off
of her uniform for a moment before giving it up as a lost cause.
"Okay, let's get you to some shelter then, okay?" Sailor V
rhetorically asked the unconscious woman. She stuffed the trenchcoat
and cane as best as she could into the duffel bag, then flung the
whole thing onto her back. Moving carefully, she then bent down and
picked up Juliana. Her legs wobbled a bit as she did so, but she
managed to get upright. Carefully cradling the larger woman in her
arms, Sailor V made her way down a trail toward shelter.
Some time later, the wind above Sailor V started to spiral. "This
looks bad," she commented quietly and set Juliana down so she was
leaning against a tree. Sailor V shucked off the duffel bag and
dropped it just as the noise became unbearable and the spiral
collapsed into a snow monster.
The obake screamed incoherently at Sailor V and started to lumber
toward her. Sailor V dropped to one knee and brought her hands up,
pointing at the monster. "Crescent Beam!" she yelled, as the obake
started to scream its own attack. The familiar yellow glow failed to
materialize around her hands, and Sailor V gasped in surprise. "Oh
sh-" she began, but cut herself off and dodged the obake's sonic
attack.
Twice more, Sailor V dodged the obake's attack. Then she managed to
land next to the duffel bag while the obake was navigating around some
trees. Acting quickly, she reached into the pocket of the trenchcoat
and pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. The monster began to scream
another attack, and Sailor V dodged again. Ducking behind a rock for
momentary cover, she flipped open the pad and began to scribble. A
second later she screamed in frustration. "Frozen? Argh!"
The obake lumbered into view and Sailor V dodged again. Seconds later,
she was scrambling at the trenchcoat again, and this time was rewarded
with a crayon. She dived for the same rock, but the monster was onto
her this time and cut her off with a screaming blast.
Crayon and paper in hand, Sailor V dodged away from the obake. For the
next moment, she made sure it was more interested in her than Juliana,
but kept as far away as she could. Then, finding another rock, Sailor
V dived behind it and scribbled out a European style ward. The
characters were sloppy, but legible, and earned a muttered "doable"
from Sailor V.
The obake screamed from the other side of the rock, and Sailor V's
cover exploded. She was flung through the air, and slammed back first
and upside down into a tree. Her impact jarred loose some snow in the
branches, and she dropped into the snow at the base of the tree with
most of the snow from the branches landing on top of her.
Sailor V poked her head and one hand up from the snow, and saw with
relief that the ward was still intact. She concentrated for a second,
and was somewhat surprised when the ward instantly flickered to life
and covered the paper in an odd yellow-purple glow. Holding the paper
carefully, she heaved herself out of the snowbank and turned to face
the obake.
"Okay, noisy, let's finish this!" she screamed at it.
The obake screamed back and lumbered toward her. Its awful screech
built up as it readied another shot, but Sailor V ran directly at it.
Ducking under the arms of the thing, she slapped the ward into its
torso.
The whirlwind exploded.
Dimly, Sailor V was aware that she was moving through the air. Small
branches and twigs in the tops of trees were ripped away by her
passage, but the crashing and tearing was minor in comparison to the
monster's screech. Then she hit the trunk of one of the trees.
_________________________________________________________________
Swish!
"Oops! I'm sorry Ami-chan!" Usagi's face reddened and she brought up
one gloved hand to cover her mouth. Ami suppressed a sigh and wiped
off the spot of snow on her cheek, and shook off the rest of the snow
that had resulted from Usagi's less than elegant stop.
Smiling for her embarrassed friend, Ami reassured her. "Don't worry
about it Usagi, there's no harm done, see? Just give yourself a bit
more room to stop and you'll be doing great."
"Well I just- Hey! Did you hear what Mina-chan and Shingo set up?
Yuuchirou's band is going to do a concert!" Usagi paused for a second,
then qualified her statement. "Well, if they all agree, that is." She
continued more excitedly. "If it works out, we should all be able to
go see! You'll be there, right?"
"Well," Ami hedged. "That'll depend on when it happens. Pre-med is not
exactly something that gives me a lot of free time, and graduation is
coming up this spring..."
"Oh, c'mon," Usagi pleaded. "Say you'll come with us. I'm sure
Mina-chan can work something out for the schedule."
"Well, okay, I guess..." Ami blushed fractionally as she gave in.
Mamoru coasted to a stop next to them. "Good afternoon, ladies." He
smiled in greeting.
"Good afternoon?" Ami returned his greeting. "Goodness," she exclaimed
looking at her watch, "how did it get to be so late without you-" She
paused at the sudden crunch and looked up to see Usagi biting into an
apple that had mysteriously appeared.
"She has you well trained, doesn't she?" Ami teased Mamoru, somehow
managing to keep a straight face. Mamoru just reddened as he produced
a small bag of cookies.
"Just one for each of us," Mamoru explained as he offered one of the
cookies to Ami, "or it'll spoil lunch." Ami thankfully accepted the
offer and bit into the cookie as Mamoru took one for himself. She
found her eyes watering a bit at the intensity of the cinnamon in
them.
Ami swallowed her bite. "And the rest for Usagi-chan?" she asked, just
before Usagi finished her apple and accepted the bag from Mamoru.
Usagi paused and looked innocently at her. "Did you want another?" she
offered.
"No. Thanks anyway, though." Ami waved the offer away and continued to
nibble on the cookie she already had. "These are rather strong, aren't
they?"
"Wow, that's got some bite," Usagi exclaimed as she bit into her first
one. She turned to face Mamoru directly, and incidently took the
opportunity to stare into his eyes. "Where'd you get these,
Mamo-chan?"
"Given the abundance of spices," Ami began, "I'd say Minako?" She
queried Mamoru, who just smiled at shook his head negatively.
"I'm sure this is one of Mako-chan's recipes." Usagi noted, now about
halfway through the bag of cookies.
"That may be," admitted Mamoru. "But she's not the one who made
these."
"Okay, I give up," Usagi declared. "Who made these?" she demanded.
"Well," Mamoru started to drag things out, then relented, "they're
Hotaru's."
"Really?" Ami asked, getting a nod from Mamoru.
"We'll have to get her and Mako-chan to team up some day," Usagi
noted.
Mamoru laughed and shook his head.
"What?" Usagi asked. "What's so funny?"
"I'll tell you later." Mamoru promised.
"Oh, hey! Look!" Usagi pointed up the slope.
Makoto and Minako were racing down the slope, and it appeared that
neither could get much of an advantage over the other. They were also
skiing quite closely, and were barely avoiding a collision.
"I wonder which one of them started that," Mamoru stated.
"I wonder what whomever started that offered to get the other to
agree," Ami voiced her curiosity. She absently rubbed at her ear.
Usagi noticed and turned to Ami with concern on her face. "Is your ear
still bothering you?"
"Hmm? No, but the noise that oni made irritated it a bit; it itches a
bit now."
Usagi started to respond, but cut herself off and waved to Rei. "Hi,
Rei-chan," she greeted the raven-haired woman coasting to a stop next
to them.
Greetings were exchanged, and the group turned to watch Minako and
Makoto race again. "Am I imagining things," Rei asked, "or is Minako
acting funny today?"
"What? Did she try to get you alone or something?" Usagi asked. Rei
nodded in reply. "That's weird, she tried the same thing with me."
"She tried to get me alone, too." Ami noted.
Mamoru spoke up. "I haven't seen anything funny."
The three women looked at him. "I mean, she hasn't tried to get me me
alone or anything like that!" He hastily corrected himself.
"She was out of sight during that oni attack earlier." Ami noted
thoughtfully.
"Hmm," Rei looked thoughtful herself. "You're right! Maybe she got
possessed when we weren't looking."
"Ooh! So now she's possessed by something that wants to soul-drain
other girls?"
"Usagi-chan, you don't need to sound so excited about it," Rei
commented, earning a view of Usagi's tonsils.
"Do you have anything with you to deal with that sort of stuff?"
Mamoru asked. "I mean, just in case the Senshi have already left the
area?" Rei responded by unzipping her jacket and pulling a small case
out of an interior pocket. She flipped it open and selected a sheet
from about a dozen small strips of paper.
Usagi blinked at this. "You carry that all the time?"
"Hey! You never know when something like this will be necessary."
"There hasn't been a monster attack in five years," Ami pointed out.
Rei shrugged.
"That's not all they're useful for." Rei tucked the case back into the
pocket and zipped up her jacket, while the others greeted Makoto and
Minako. "Perfect," she commented with a little smile.
The two racers coasted to a stop beside the group, still gasping for
air after their race. "Hi!" Makoto managed. Minako just worked on
breathing.
Rei whirled around and slapped the ofuda on Minako's forehead. "Evil
Spirits Begone!" she demanded.
Minako reached up and pulled the ward off of her face.
"Uh? Did I miss something?" Makoto asked.
"Well, that wasn't it." Ami commented.
"What was that for!" Minako demanded, glaring at Rei.
"Sorry, Mina-chan, we thought you might have been possessed, or
something." Usagi explained. Minako sputtered at this. "Well, you've
been trying to get each of us alone with you, so what were we supposed
to think?"
"I have not been trying to get each of you alone!" Minako protested.
"Oh?" Ami asked.
Minako looked around, then leaned forward and motioned for the others
to huddle, when they leaned in, she spoke. "Well, what I was doing,
was-"
"Hi guys!" Gurio's voice came from outside the huddle, and Minako shot
a step away from the others.
"There's nothing to see here!" Minako told him. "We were just, um..."
"Hi, Umino-kun," Usagi said, turning to greet him. "Say, do you know
when Naru-chan is going to get here? It's getting kind of late."
"It's barely noon," Rei muttered.
"Well, she left the office already, but I um... I think I..." Gurio's
voice trailed off into a mumble.
"Huh?"
"I, ah, I think I forgot to put gas in the car. I tried to call her to
let her know, but she's got her cell phone turned off."
Usagi frowned. "I hope she'll be okay."
Makoto spoke. "I'm sure she'll be fine, Usagi-chan. She'll call if she
needs a hand or something, right?" Gurio nodded, and Makoto continued.
"Mina-chan, what were you saying?"
Minako glanced at Gurio, and smiled sweetly at the group. "Um, well,
that is, I-"
"What's this all about?" Gurio asked.
"Well," Makoto explained, "when we got here, Rei hit Minako with a
ward, 'cause she thought Minako had been possessed or something." She
turned to Rei, and added. "Why didn't you go try to find the Senshi or
something? We know Sailor V and Sailor Venus are around."
Gurio waved a hand. "Let me guess, the Senshi can't be everywhere at
once, so sometimes us ordinary types have to lend a hand, right?"
Usagi grinned at this. "Like when you dressed up as Tuxedo Kamen to
save Naru? She told me all about that, that was so sweet." Gurio
blushed.
"Ah! True love!" Minako posed dramatically as she dabbed at her face
with a handkerchief. "Say! It's almost time for lunch, and I need to
freshen up!" She vanished into the lodge.
Makoto looked at where Minako had been standing. "Do we try to corner
her when we're inside?"
Rei frowned and nodded. "That may be our only chance."
_________________________________________________________________
"Silver Millennium," Artemis said to himself as he crept through a
lightly wooded area. "Beryl," he added after a moment's thought.
The cat paused a moment to sniff the air, then snorted it out, leaving
a trace of condensation in the air. The woods around him were quiet,
but not unnaturally so; birds fluttered around in the branches above
Artemis, chirping occasionally and making him reflexively look at
them. There were signs of other animals around as well, and the cat
did catch glimpses of something small that fled before he could
identify it.
Artemis found a spot free of snow and took a moment to sit down. His
tail curled around his legs, Artemis looked around and listened.
"Frozen," the cat muttered when a light breeze ruffled his pale fur.
"No, I was frozen," he corrected himself, and added, "Senshi...."
Artemis sniffed the air again, with his head turning to catch
different portions of the air. He stopped suddenly in mid sniff, and
said, "familiar, something familiar." The cat got up and faced the
source of the scent. His tail twitched, and he began to stalk the
source of the scent.
"Galaxia," he began speaking to himself again as he moved, and
shivered at the name.
_________________________________________________________________
Sailor V lay on her back in the snow. One arm was flung out, while the
other was resting against her side and with her hand on her stomach.
She had lost her bow and now her hair was splayed on the snow around
her head in a golden halo. Dirt smeared her uniform and face, and pine
needles and twigs were embedded in her hair, now somewhat matted with
solidified sap.
Artemis approached carefully, noting with relief that her chest still
rose and fell in a steady rhythm. "Sailor V!" he said when he got
close, and noticed her twitch. "Sailor V," he repeated and pawed at
her arm.
"Just one more minute, mom," Sailor V muttered groggily.
"Wake up!" Artemis demanded, directly into her ear.
Sailor V's eyes flew open. Inhaling so sharply it was a hiss, she
jerked upright to a seated position and sent Artemis tumbling as she
pulled her hair out from under him. She stared blankly at the
landscape for a second, then clutched her head and groaned. "Did
anybody get the number of that boat?" she added after a second.
"Truck," the cat corrected. Having righted himself, Artemis shook off
the damp snow and re-approached Sailor V. "Are you okay?"
Sailor V turned to face Artemis and gingerly worked her way to her
knees. "That depends," she began. The last of the clumps of snow
cascaded off of her as sunlight and her own body heat melted them.
"Are you a cat?" she queried.
"Well," Artemis hesitated and sat in front of her. "I'm a Moon Cat."
"Then my eyes are okay," Sailor V admitted. She felt the back of her
head and winced.
"Are you okay?" Artemis repeated, his tail lashing a bit.
Sailor V brought her arm back into view. There were a few
reddish-brown flakes on the tips of her gloved fingers that quickly
drifted away on a zephyr. "Am I still..." she trailed off and turned
so the cat could see the back of her head.
Artemis winced at the sight of the mess in her hair. "It doesn't look
very... pleasant, but it's- Oh. It's just tree sap."
Sailor V touched the back of her head again, and winced. "It's still
kinda sore."
"Well, don't poke at it then. Let a doctor or-" Artemis paused, and
blinked for a second. "Or a nurse check it," he finished slowly.
"What is it? You had a faraway look for a second."
"I was just remembering a bit of something."
"Oh? You remember stuff? My head feels kind of empty right now...."
Sailor V's stomach gurgled. "So does the rest of me for that matter,"
she admitted sheepishly. A bit of color came to her cheeks for a
moment. "Are you hungry, too, Moon Cat?"
Artemis looked away and muttered something. "I'm fine," he said to
her.
He faced Sailor V again. "What happened to you?" he asked.
Sailor V frowned, "I'm... not sure. It's all kind of a blur." She
paused for a second. "I was fighting some kind of snowthingmonsterman,
and it went all to pieces on me.... And there was another, um, thing
before that that kind of looked like... a sharp toothed, random eyed
man-ape."
"Well, I'm not sure what they were, but if I correctly remember the
tales you showed me, I'd say the second was an oni, while the first
was an obake, or perhaps a tenma, or something; I can't think of the
other terms right now."
"Huh?" Sailor V asked, obviously confused, "I don't remember any
tales." Her stomach gurgled again, and she looked apologetically at
the cat.
"It was a... long time ago." The cat looked suspiciously at her. "As
for the obake and oni, I'm sure you fought the obake first, and then
the oni showed up."
"It's gonna take forever to get this out of my hair." Sailor V quietly
commented as she examined the dried sap.
"Are you listening to me?" Artemis demanded, getting Sailor V's
attention again.
Sailor V looked surprised. "Huh? Oh, sorry." She started to shake her
head, and winced. "Can we get something to eat?" Her stomach made its
demands known again. "I'm starving."
The cat suppressed a sigh. "Okay," he agreed, and stood.
Sailor V followed suit, though with some effort. "You're not kidding
about needing something to eat," Artemis remarked, noting how much she
had paled in getting to her feet.
"Whoa! Dizzy," Sailor V remarked and froze for a second, stabilizing
herself . "Okay, where to, Moon Cat?" she asked, still sounding a bit
winded.
"I was hoping you knew," Artemis admitted, almost causing Sailor V to
fall over. "But I think I can find something."
The two of them started walking, with Artemis leading the way. As they
started, the cat spoke up. "You don't remember who I am, do you?"
Sailor V stopped, and a little plastic smile hit her face. Her head
twitched from side to side in a negative motion.
"My name is Artemis."
"Artemis, huh? Sorry, that doesn't press any bells." Sailor V started
moving again.
"That's okay," he paused and hopped over a branch, "I have to admit
that I can't remember your name at the moment either."
"Huh? You've been calling me by it all along," she smiled, "'Sailor V,
the...' um, something." Sailor V's grin momentarily slipped into a
frown.
"I mean your secret identity."
There was a pause.
"I have a secret identity?"
Artemis stopped at looked at Sailor V. "What's the earliest thing you
remember."
Sailor V took a lock of her hair and played with it in her fingertips.
"Um, that would be getting attacked by the oni."
"But nothing before that?"
Sailor V's eyes lost focus. "I pulled on my boot.... Nothing."
"But you remember fighting the obake," insisted Artemis.
"That was afterward, I was... something... helping someone to safety
who got knocked out in the oni attack?" Sailor V's tone was slightly
questioning. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Ohmigosh! That lady! I set
her down...." She bit her lower lip and circled her arms while a
furrow set itself on her brow.
Artemis paused, blinking. "Hold on, Sailor V, calm down!" he demanded,
taking a moment to enforce the order. "Was she hurt?" he asked.
"I don't know!" Sailor V held herself.
"Now, don't panic!" the cat demanded. "I think I know where to find a
bunch of people to help if she's hurt. Do you remember where you set
her down?"
Sailor V twitched her head negatively. "No," she said quietly.
"Okay, um...." The cat looked around.
Sailor V duplicated the maneuver. "It looks like something tore
through those branches over there." She pointed.
"Let's take a look," Artemis commanded and made his way over to where
she had indicated. The two of them spent several minutes looking at
the damage to the landscape, noting signs of Sailor V's footprints,
until they found treads left by someone else.
"Well, that's a woman's boot, all right, but it's too big to be
yours," Artemis declared. "It looks like the mystery woman is okay, or
maybe someone else came along and helped her...."
"Or maybe it was another monster in disguise and it's-"
"Stop that!" Artemis demanded. "If you keep that up, you'll panic
again and you don't have the energy left for that." He looked at her
with a concerned expression. "I think we really should go to where I
think the nearest people are, and see about getting some help for
you."
Sailor V's stomach made its demands known again. She looked at the cat
sheepishly. "I guess I wouldn't be able to do much, huh?"
"Right," Artemis agreed. "Now, follow me."
_________________________________________________________________
Gurio stepped back from the newly constructed snowman. "It's missing
something," he declared to Ami and Shingo, who had also been working
on the snowman.
"You're right!" Shingo exclaimed. "It needs eyes!" he declared and
reached toward Gurio.
"Whah!" Gurio shielded his glasses from Shingo's slow motion grab.
"Eyes! Eyes!" Shingo moaned and moved like a zombie.
Ami stepped up to the snowman and stuck several dark rocks into its
face. The now grinning snowman stared blankly back at her and she
turned to the others. "But it already has eyes."
"What?" Shingo turned to look, and dropped the zombie act. "Oh, well
then.... Wait, where did those... oh, skip it."
"What about- um." Gurio stopped as Shingo started to grin. "Carrot! We
need a carrot."
"Carrot!" moaned Shingo. "Carr- That doesn't work nearly as well," he
complained.
Ami grinned. "There should still be a few inside; I'll go get one."
She went into the lodge.
Hotaru and Minako joined the pair by the snowman. "You're done
already? I thought you guys just started." Hotaru critically examined
the figure. "It's missing something," she decided.
"Carrot! Carrot!" Gurio exclaimed, and he and Shingo burst out
laughing.
Minako shook her head at them. "You guys are weird." She glanced over
at the snowman. "But I think you're right." She paused. "And it needs
arms; I'll go grab some branches." She ran over to the trees.
"Hi guys!" Rei waved at the crowd around the snowman as she,
Yuuchirou, Usagi and Mamoru approached. The two men in the group were
carrying most of the quartet's ski gear, and Usagi was tiredly leaning
on Mamoru.
As the quartet closed in on the snowman, Usagi looked at it and spoke.
"It's missing a nose."
"Carrot!" Shingo and Gurio chorused.
Hotaru moved away from the pair. "I don't know them, really."
Yuuchirou shook his head and carried his bundle of ski equipment to
the lodge. Mamoru followed him a second later after getting Rei to
take his spot in being there for Usagi to lean on.
"Why don't you get the rest of the parts then?" Rei asked Gurio and
Shingo.
"Ami and Minako already went to get them," said Shingo.
Yuuchirou and Mamoru returned, and Usagi shifted her weight to lean
against Mamoru again. "That looks like a good idea," Rei remarked, and
fell against Yuuchirou. One of his arms flailed for a second as he
adjusted his balance, but he remained upright.
The door to the lodge opened, and Ami stepped out. "Okay, I've got-"
The snow under her feet erupted with a screech and Ami's face
contorted in pain at the noise. A whirlwind whipped up around her and
pulled her into the air. It held her inside of itself as it expanded
and reformed into a vaguely humanoid shape.
"Ami!" Hotaru and Usagi screamed.
Two men stepped around the corner of the lodge. One had short, sandy
blond hair and a very close-cropped beard. He had his right arm in a
sling and a red stained bandage was wrapped around his right shoulder.
He held a glass figurine in his left hand and was staring at it in
rapt concentration. The other man was clean-shaven and had shoulder
length brown hair. His freckled, round face gave him something of a
boyish look, but it was spoiled by his frown.
"Right," the brown haired man said in English. "Let's try the hostage
approach to things this time."
_________________________________________________________________
"That's the place you were thinking of?" Sailor V asked Artemis as the
two of them approached the lodge. Through the trees they could see a
crowd forming around a newly constructed snowman. A woman in the group
made the snowman's eyes and then rushed into the lodge.
The cat nodded in response, and looked up at her. "You should probably
turn back to normal before we go there. It would look strange for
Sailor V to just walk in."
"Right." She paused. "How do I do that?"
"Uh," Artemis began, then Sailor V softly beeped. The cat blinked, and
Sailor V fumbled with the watch she was wearing.
"Fifteen minutes?" she said with a puzzled expression as she looked at
it.
"What?"
Sailor V suddenly crouched behind a tree and inhaled sharply. "Look!"
she hissed and pointed. Two men were standing out of view of the group
around the snowman, and a humanoid whirlwind was standing silently
behind them. The brown-haired one of the pair was using a mirror to
carefully view around the corner of lodge, while the other stared at a
tightly clutched figurine with rapt concentration.
"Who?" Artemis asked. As they watched, the obake flattened itself
against the ground, and flowed around the corner.
"The villains." Sailor V practically spat out her observation. "The...
little statue... figurine that guy is holding is controlling the
obake." She looked at her watch again. "In for a penny, in for a
mile," she muttered under her breath.
"Huh? Wait, can you hit the obake from here?" Artemis looked at Sailor
V, who shook her head.
"I am so out of power. And I'll bet you anything that messing with
that blond guy's concentration will send the obake on a rampage."
"I'm not going to make that bet, because I agree with you."
"So what do we do?" Sailor V asked the cat.
"Give me moment!" Artemis snapped and stared at the scene. As they
watched, other joined the crowd around the snowman and Artemis blinked
as a blond joined the group. He looked over at Sailor V, then back to
Minako and blinked again.
"What is it?" asked Sailor V as she noticed the cat's distracted
behavior.
"..." said Artemis.
Minako left the cluster around the snowman and ran towards the trees.
"Uh oh," muttered Sailor V.
"This helps, actually."
"What?" Sailor V said incredulously and stared at the cat.
"But we still need some way to deal with the obake."
Sailor V started to snap her fingers, but stopped before she made any
sound. "I have an idea," she whispered to the cat. "I hit one of those
with a ward earlier and it exploded. So if I gave you another one,
could you sneak up on the obake? I know I can't."
"Where are you going to get- Never mind. It's worth a shot. And go to
the blond- why is she getting branches?" The cat shook his head.
"Anyway, she can help. So go to her if you need a hand."
"Okay... I need a hand, I don't have any paper left."
"Right. Where's the obake now?"
Sailor V blinked. "I thought you were watching it."
"I thought you were." The two stared at each other for a second, then
they scrambled over to where Minako was critically eyeing branches,
all the while doing their best to stay out of sight.
"Psst," Sailor V hissed from behind a tree when she was almost next to
Minako. "Hey, lady, over here."
Minako let go of the branch she had been breaking off of a tree and
slowly turned around. "Sailor V?" she asked, disbelief written all
over her face.
"Um, could I have some paper? I'm fresh out."
"I'm dreaming this," commented Minako as she pulled out a small
notepad and handed it to Sailor V. "That's it, this is all just a
dream, I'll wake up-"
"And a pen or something?"
"-any minute now and this will have all just been some really weird
dream." Minako pulled out a pen and handed to the girl, who proceeded
to scribble on one sheet. Sailor V then carefully pulled the paper
loose from the notepad and concentrated, being rewarded with a faint,
yellowish glow after a second. She handed the pad and pen back to
Minako, who queried her. "How did you do that?"
"I learned it from a priest in London.... Say, there's an obake
creeping around on the ground somewhere around here...." She looked
toward the lodge. "You wouldn't happen to see it by any chance, would
you?"
Minako shook herself and looked frantically at the ground. "An obake?
What?"
"They're normally a kind of humanoid snowstorm, but this one got
turned into a pancake." She pointed towards the lodge, where the brown
haired man was just visible from where they stood.
"Wait a minute!" Minako hissed. "Who are you and what are you doing
here?"
"See that guy around the corner? That's the level boss- I mean, that's
the master villain." Sailor V hurriedly whispered. "He's got a friend
with him who's controlling an obake so it sneaks around instead of
mindlessly attacking. And I'm Sailor V." She posed briefly and then
held out the ward to Artemis, who carefully gripped one end with his
teeth.
"Okay, 'Sailor V', how can you be here? I- you were last seen in
London years ago." Minako crossly asked her younger twin, then gave a
double-take when it clicked that the cat next to them was Artemis.
Sailor V opened her mouth to answer, but that was when the door to the
lodge opened and Ami stepped out.
As Minako and Sailor V restrained themselves from rushing out from
cover at the obake's capture of Ami, Artemis narrowed his eyes at the
figurine held by the blond man, and he crept toward the villains.
Sailor V and Minako listened to the brown-haired man's demands for a
'Sailor Scout' in exchange for the 'innocent bystander', and then
looked at each other. "So much for that plan." Sailor V remarked. They
listened again as the villain demanded that the group around the
snowman sit and tie themselves up. "Do you have any ideas?"
"Why don't you shoot it with a 'Crescent Beam'?"
"Do you have any idea how many of those I did today? I'm all out right
now."
"Now that you mention it, you are looking a little pale."
"And I hit one with a ward earlier and it exploded; I don't want to do
that when it's holding someone like that."
"Well, we'll have to do something soon; Ami looks like she's starting
to turn blue." Minako bit her lower lip.
"Friend of yours?" Sailor V mirrored Minako's expression.
Minako nodded. "Yes, I've known her for years."
"Okay, I have an idea.... Where did- that cat go?"
Minako looked around quickly. "I don't- wait, what's your idea?"
"Could I have more paper? And borrow your pen again?" Sailor V asked,
and Minako pulled out the items again. Sailor V quickly scribbled out
a ward and hid it in the bow on her fuku, right over her heart.
"You're not activating it? What are you planning?"
Sailor V smiled sadly at her elder twin. "I'm going to give them a
'Sailor Scout'," she quoted the English term, "and charge the ward as
soon as I'm inside that thing."
Minako scowled. "It's Senshi, the term is Senshi. Get it right if
you're going to look the part." Minako gave her twin a double take.
"Wait, won't it explode?"
"Yeah, but...." Sailor V sat up straight and looked fierce, and for a
second, the mark of Venus appeared on her forehead. "If that's what it
takes to save your friend, that's what I'll do!" She stood up, this
time without her legs shaking. "Cover me."
"Wait!" Minako hissed, but Sailor V leapt from their cover to present
herself to the villains. Minako started to reach for her henshin pen,
but froze when she spotted Artemis.
The cat crouched in the snow, the ward still clutched in his teeth,
and looked up at the blond man who was lost in concentration on the
figurine.
Everything suddenly happened at once. The brown haired man whipped his
head around to stare at Artemis and he opened his mouth to speak. As
though the motion were a signal, Artemis leapt and slapped the ward on
the figurine. Minako whipped a handful of snow into the air and
shouted. "Go, Sailor V!" Sailor V sprang forward as though fired by
her twin's shout, and reached out for Ami, who was turning blue from
the cold.
The figurine flashed as the ward discharged into it, and the blond man
dropped it with an exclamation of surprise. When the figurine flashed,
the obake wavered and thinned out, just in time for Sailor V to leap
through it and grab Ami. As that was happening, the brown haired man
dived for the figurine and caught it. He stared into it, and the obake
started to thicken around Sailor V's legs and stomach. Ami was
entirely clear of the obake by now, cradled by Sailor V as much as the
latter could with one arm -- her other arm was caught by the
thickening obake.
Minako's thrown wad of snow smacked directly into the face of the
brown haired man, and he dropped the figurine. At that second, the
obake reversed its change again and started to thin, but this time the
change was slower and its arms reached for the two that had just been
inside of it. Sailor V, still stuck fast and awkwardly keeping Ami
from dropping, managed to shift her trapped hand so the piece of paper
she held was no longer folded.
Sailor V charged the ward, and with a violent burst of noise, the
obake exploded.
Shifting to shield Ami, Sailor V was the one who hit the snow. The two
of them skidded a bit and came to rest with an unconscious Ami lying
on top of the Senshi.
Sailor V managed to work herself to a seated position, and was
shifting to lift Ami when Minako reached them and lent a hand. "She'll
be okay once she's warmed up," Sailor V declared.
"Let's get her inside."
"Okay- ah!" Sailor V looked up and noticed the brown-haired man was
gone. "The Level Boss! He's getting away."
"Go catch him, I'll get Ami inside." Minako picked up her friend.
"Go," she commanded. "You can't do anymore here."
"Can't?" Makoto looked up from where she was untying the others. "What
do you mean 'can't'? She can help me untie the others here; these
knots are really tight."
"No kidding." Rei snapped.
Nervous perspiration beaded momentarily on Minako's head. "Okay, you
can help everyone get free first." She took a step toward the lodge
and turned her head back to her twin. "And Sailor V?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." Minako's characteristic smile flashed at Sailor V, then she
was inside the lodge.
"Anytime," Sailor V smiled back at her.
"Well?" Rei asked as Makoto busied herself with untieing Hotaru.
"Oh, sorry." Sailor V took a moment to help get the others untied.
Inside the lodge, Minako set Ami near the fireplace and rushed to get
more blankets. As she returned from her trip, she spotted Artemis
sitting next to Ami, keeping an eye on her.
Minako dropped the blankets and looked crossly at the cat. "You and I
are going to have a talk about that stunt you pulled today."
"Uh, okay."
"But it worked, so I forgive you." She smiled warmly at him.
"Oh, good."
For a moment, Minako busied herself with wrapping Ami in blankets,
then she paused and looked over at the cat. "Artemis? I saw the sign."
She tapped her forehead. "Whoever else she is, she really is Sailor
V."