[Segment 5 of 6]
--**--
The girls clambered out of the van, stretching and groaning, and began
to explore the clearing, chattering excitedly among themselves.
Somebody called out, "Hey, there's a stream over here!" and they
disappeared en masse. Bendis hovered in the door for a minute, looking
at the long grass suspiciously, before finally jumping down and
disappearing from sight almost instantly.
In the front of the van, Artemis and Itsuko exchanged glances. "You'd
better go keep an eye on them," the woman said softly. "There's a pit
toilet behind the bushes on the west side; let them know, would you?
I'll take care of things here."
"Pit toilet," Artemis muttered. "They'll love that." He glanced back
at the rear of the van, where one girl still sat motionless, and nodded.
"Go easy on her," he suggested, just as softly. "I think there's
something else wrong there, too. Bendis may know; I'll have a word with
her." Itsuko raised her eyebrows, then nodded back. He leaped out of
the van and ran off in the direction the others had taken.
Itsuko sat thinking for a minute or two. Then she climbed down from the
driver's seat and walked around to the back, not hurrying. When she got
there, she sat down beside the remaining girl. Neither of them spoke
for some time.
"So, how long are you planning to go on feeling sorry for yourself?"
Itsuko asked at last.
Beth did not answer. She did not react at all.
"You didn't do everything wrong, you know," Itsuko pointed out. "From
what I can make out, you led the raid quite well. That was a sound
strategy you gave the others at the gate."
"Sound strategy!" Beth spat, still not looking around. "I didn't even
follow it myself."
"You let your enthusiasm get the better of you," Itsuko said mildly.
"I've known other Senshi to do the same thing. Your predecessor, for
example. Or Sailor Jupiter. Or even me."
"Yeah? Did you ever lead the other Senshi on a non-existent mission
that you'd convinced yourself was real?"
She suppressed a grin. "Not that, no." Then, more seriously, hoping
she had judged the right moment, she said, "Beth-chan, why don't you
tell me what the real problem is?"
Beth never moved, but Itsuko felt an immediate withdrawal from the girl.
She had expected that, though, and refused to back off. She simply sat,
waiting.
"I don't want to talk about that," the girl said at last in a low voice.
"I ... I don't know you. You're not my friend."
"No. I'm not here as a friend."
And at that, finally, Beth looked around, and Itsuko knew that she had
guessed aright. "You aren't, are you?" the girl asked wonderingly.
Itsuko shook her head, carefully not smiling. She did not speak.
"I thought _she_ was my friend," Beth said abruptly. "Nanako. I
thought I could trust her. But she lied to me. She'd been lying all
along. And I thought: at least Bendis is still my friend. I can always
trust her." She turned miserable eyes up to Itsuko. "Then I found out
I was wrong again. And ... and that doesn't _leave_ anyone ..."
A variety of comforting responses occurred to Itsuko. She ignored them
all and said, "Tell me about Nanako."
It took some time, and a great many digressions. Beth started to cry
half-way through the story, and Itsuko lent her a handkerchief without
comment. Eventually she got the story straight. A fairly unexceptional
teenage crush, and Beth was just the sort of girl to get caught in it:
bright but naive, somewhat introverted, and with an active fantasy life.
She rather thought that Beth had walked into the situation in exactly
the same way as she'd walked into the fiasco at the warehouse. Though
this other girl, Nanako, and the putative boyfriend certainly deserved a
good shaking for the way they'd handled it ...
"So what are you going to do?" she asked, when Beth was finished at
last.
"What am _I_ ...?" The girl trailed off, and Itsuko saw that she'd won
new respect. She hadn't offered advice. She was letting _Beth_ make
the decision.
"I don't know," Beth said after a moment. "I'm going to have to see
them at school tomorrow. I don't know what I _can_ do."
"I expect they'll both be very apologetic when you see them. You might
want to consider what you're going to say."
Beth thought about that. "I will," she said.
"Good." Itsuko gave her a quick nod. Then she got up and started to
climb down out of the van. Half-way out the door she paused and said,
"Beth-chan? You made some mistakes on Wednesday night. But they were
just mistakes. That's all. You know that?"
For an instant she thought she'd taken it too fast. Then, low but firm,
Beth said, "Yes."
"Well, Bendis made some mistakes too." Itsuko waited, staring the girl
in the eyes, until she saw the slow understanding in her face. Then,
without waiting for an answer, she stepped out and walked briskly away
from the van, not looking back.
After a few minutes, Beth followed her.
--**--
"Is she going to be all right?" asked Artemis.
"I think so," Itsuko replied thoughtfully. "She needed to get a little
perspective, that's all. Give her a while to sort things out and she
should be fine."
"Mm. I suppose." Artemis gave a feline shrug and said, "What about the
other girls? It's nearly noon. Did you want to feed them all now, or
do something before lunch?"
"Well ... it took longer to get here than I remembered." Itsuko
considered for a moment. "Let them relax for a bit longer, I'd say,"
she answered at last. "We'd have a job getting anything serious out of
them right now anyway." Some distance off, there came a startled
shriek, the sound of a splash, and then laughter.
"You think?" he answered cynically. He gazed around the clearing for a
moment or two, then said, "Well, let them run wild for a bit. You
picked a nice spot. Handy, that you happened to know about it."
"Yes, it is, isn't it?"
"Convenient that a place this far out of the city has toilet facilities,
too. Although I thought I noticed a lot of old tyre tracks on the lane
we came down."
"Really?" Itsuko gave him an amused look.
Artemis let out an exasperated sigh. "All right, I'll say it, then. Do
I need to be worried about company here?"
She laughed. "No. The, ah, gatherings that happen here are rather
tightly scheduled. The next fair isn't for over six weeks. Even if the
girls tear the place up a bit today, by then nobody will notice."
"'Fair'?" Artemis shuddered. "No. Don't tell me; I don't want to
know." He looked around the clearing again with a jaundiced eye, as if
expecting to see it littered with the sinister evidence of dark, illicit
deeds. There was, disappointingly, nothing but a wide, grassy clearing,
lined with trees.
Shaking his head, he said, "Anyway, that wasn't the only thing I wanted
to talk about. While I've got you here ... there's something I've been
meaning to give you."
Itsuko raised her eyebrows. "Be still, my heart. What?"
He concentrated briefly, then spun about in a circle, as if chasing his
tail. An instant later, there was a muffled thump in the grass.
Artemis nosed the object that had appeared, and after a second Itsuko
bent down and picked it up.
The sudden shock of recognition was almost too much. "A communicator?"
she said.
"Yes. It's, er, your old one. I found it in the palace, after ...
well, you know. The one Iku has is Younger Mars', of course."
She stared at the device, a complex mixture of emotions playing across
her face. "Why?" she asked. "And why now?"
"Oh -- you never know. I just thought, if any of them ever need to
contact you in a hurry ..."
"I see." Itsuko looked at it for a minute or two longer, hardly seeming
to breathe. At last, fumbling a little, she strapped it onto her wrist.
"Thank you," she said, her voice rough.
Then, hastily, she cleared her throat. In a deliberate and very obvious
effort to change the subject, she said, "Actually, there's something
I've been meaning to ask you, too. Can you talk to Bendis for me? If
she's willing, I'd like her to hunt around the Olympus sometime, and see
if she can find who's listening in on the other end of those bugs."
Artemis stared at her. "You wait until _now_ to bring that up? How
long have those bugs been there already?"
"I had to wait until you found Bendis before I could ask at all!" she
snapped. "I can't send you; there's already someone looking for you.
Maybe even the same people. I don't know. Anyway, I'd have asked her
last week, but ..." She grimaced. "You know how that ended up."
"Yes." Artemis looked away guiltily. "I'm surprised you'd want _me_ to
talk to her at all," he admitted.
"Oh, don't you go getting all self-pitying too!" Itsuko exclaimed.
"It's bad enough I have to -- to go mothering Miyo and Beth. I refuse
to hold your paw as well!"
He froze for a moment, then gave a quick snort of laughter. "Terrible
thought," he muttered.
"Isn't it?" She smiled at him, then sobered. "Artemis, Bendis has
made her choice," she told him. "It's high time you patch things up
with her, don't you think? Trusting her with a job you can't do
yourself should be a good start."
He was silent for some time. "Maybe," he said grudgingly.
--**--
Beth found a shady spot on the bank of the stream and sat down. The
other girls were talking and laughing some distance off, but for the
moment she felt no impulse to join them.
Some time passed. The stream was shallow and fast-moving; the chuckling
of the water and the sound of far-off birdsong were very peaceful.
There was a sweet scent in the air, coming from some plant she could not
identify. She felt relaxed, sleepy.
At last she heard what she had been waiting for: the faint, deliberate
rustling sound of a small body pushing its way through the bushes toward
her. She did not look back; did not move at all. "Hello, Bendis-chan,"
she said softly.
There was no reply. The rustling came again, then fell to silence. She
felt a small body arranging itself at her side, a few centimetres away.
They sat, staring down at the water. Neither spoke. The sound of the
other girls' voices in the distance fell away gradually, until the only
noise left was the stream below them. A pair of birds flew into a tree
just across the stream with a flurry of wings and began to call to each
other. A dragonfly skimmed across the water.
"Sometimes," Bendis said, so quietly that Beth could hardly hear her,
"sometimes you frighten me, Beth-chan."
Beth nodded.
"I mean, you never seem to _think_ about things. You just act, and
assume it'll all work out somehow ..."
"Go with the flow," Beth whispered, staring into the water. "You told
me that."
"But where will the flow lead you?" asked Bendis. "If you don't look
where you're going before you dive in, you could end up ... anywhere."
"So, what then?" she asked in reply. "Are you saying I should hold
back, be afraid to get my feet wet?"
"No," the cat answered. "But you could try looking before you leap.
Pick a direction that's going to take you where you _want_ to go."
"Maybe." Beth shook her head. "I ... I don't want to play word-games
any more. -- Why, Bendis-chan? Why didn't you tell me it was a
wild-goose chase? Yes, I know, I didn't want to hear you ... but
afterward? Why didn't you tell me then?"
Bendis was silent for a minute. "Those men at the warehouse," she said
at last. "What were they doing? If they were really Sankaku, where did
they get an 'M' Division Opal?"
Beth shook her head. "I don't know."
"Neither do I. There was something strange going on there, Beth-chan.
You may not have rescued any Senshi, but I think you stumbled onto
something important all the same. And that means it wasn't a wild-goose
chase after all, doesn't it?"
"You should still have told me," Beth said stubbornly.
"I suppose so." The cat sighed. "I may come close, but I'm not
perfect."
Beth smiled, finally. "That," she said, "makes two of us."
--**--
When the two of them finally emerged from the bushes it was to a changed
scene. A blanket was spread out on the grass, and Miyo was unloading
food from a picnic hamper. Dhiti was helping her, stealing a bite every
now and then, and talking almost constantly. Suzue was unpacking paper
plates and napkins, while Itsuko brought a cooler full of drinks from
the van. Iku was hanging back a little, watching, apparently unable to
take her eyes off the food. Beth, having tasted Miyo's cooking before,
could not blame her.
Beth and Bendis exchanged glances. "Where did they _get_ all this
stuff?" Beth wondered. "I don't remember seeing any of this in the
van."
"Did you look?" asked Bendis logically.
Beth was about to reply when Miyo called out, "Okay, everyone! Dig in!"
She promptly forgot what she had been going to say. The blanket became
a swarm of activity, and the two lost no time in joining in.
--**--
Dhiti found a position at one corner of the spread, took a plate, and
began to help herself. She had to avoid the chicken -- Bendis had
staked out the plate, and was growling and snapping at anyone else who
tried to touch it -- but there was enough that nobody seemed to mind.
One of Hayashi's meals, even if only a light lunch, was something to
savour.
As she settled back to eat, she glanced around the clearing. This was
kind of nice, she found herself thinking. To be out in the countryside
for the day, surrounded by wild trees and bushes. There were all kinds
of growing things she'd never seen before; birds in the trees that never
came near the city; even the stream had been a novelty. (Her pants were
drying off quickly, thank goodness.) It had been a long time since
she'd been outside Third Tokyo; not since that school trip, three years
ago. But then they'd been under strict supervision.
The others seemed to like it too, she saw, studying the faces clustered
around the food. Except maybe Suzue; she didn't really seem to approve
of all this growing stuff. (And she had been so careful not to get wet,
crossing the stream, that Dhiti had just _had_ to splash her.) Or Iku,
who was so tentative about everything that it was impossible to tell
what she thought about anything at all.
At that thought, her eyes sought Iku out. The girl was an enigma, one
that Dhiti longed to unravel. Even if she hadn't made that bet with
Bendis last week, she would have found her fascinating. How could
anyone be that _shy_?
A shyness which, she noticed a moment later, had its own penalties. She
leaned over and nudged Iku on the arm, and murmured, "You have to help
yourself, you know. If you keep holding back like that, there isn't
going to be anything left."
Iku jerked at the touch with a gasp, and Dhiti shook her head,
tut-tutting patiently. "Now, now. I'm not going to bite you," she
said. "I already told you that once."
The other girl relaxed slowly. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm sorry ..."
"What for? You haven't done anything wrong," Dhiti told her. "Here,
have a drink. -- On second thought," she went on, a sudden glint in her
eye, "maybe you have done something wrong. 'Kodama Iku, you have been
found guilty of diffidence above and beyond the call of duty. As
punishment, I sentence you to be nibbled to death by wombats.'" She
gave a melodramatic sigh. "Now, if only I had a black cap --"
"I ... I don't know what a wombat is," Iku said in a tiny voice. "Are
they dangerous?"
"Oh, absolutely. Some of them grow to be two or three metres long, and
their bite is deadly poison. They live in the jungles of eastern
Arabia, and --"
"Dhiti," put in Miyo, "do you even know what a wombat is?"
"What?" said Dhiti, her eyes widening. "I -- I'm shocked that you could
ask such a question, Hayashi. Here am I, giving Iku-chan sage advice
out of the goodness of my heart, and you accuse me of -- of --"
"Right," said Miyo dryly. "Pay no attention to her, Iku-chan. Here,
try some of the pickles, they're really good."
"Fine," sulked Dhiti. "See if I come to your help next time we're
attacked by savage wombats."
--**--
Itsuko gave them another twenty minutes, then clapped her hands for
attention. "All right, everybody," she called out. "It's time to get
down to business. We've only got a few hours before we have to start
back, so don't waste time, please."
Dhiti shot up to her feet, and saluted smartly. "Aye-aye, ma'am!" she
rapped. "Awaiting your orders, ma'am!"
Itsuko took absolutely no notice. "All of you, transform, please," she
said briskly. "Artemis and I have worked out a few exercises we want
you to try."
The girls exchanged glances. Then Miyo stood and pulled out her henshin
stick. Moments later, the other four joined her.
"JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!"
"VENUS POWER, MAKE-UP!"
"MERCURY POWER, MAKE-UP!"
"URANUS PLANET POWER, MAKE-UP!"
"Mars power, make-up ..."
As the air filled with a whirlwind of light and colour, Itsuko had to
close her eyes. The reminder was too sharp: what she had been, and what
she could no longer be. Then, grimly refusing to give in, she opened
her eyes once more and looked for the one she knew would be among them.
Her replacement.
To her surprise, when she saw the girl standing before her in her short
red skirt, she felt none of the pain and bitterness she had expected.
There was only a brief moment of wistfulness ... and then, somehow, a
quiet satisfaction.
The role, the mantle, might have passed from her. But there was still a
defender; still a champion of the planet of fire. And that was enough.
Even as she realised this, the moment changed again. The five Senshi
had formed into a rough line in the clearing; and as she watched, the
scene suddenly became a kind of impromptu ceremony.
"I am Sailor Jupiter!" the tallest girl cried, in a voice that made the
clearing ring. There was pride in her voice, and strength; an echo of
thunder, and the rushing of the wind in the trees. "Daughter of the
Royal House of Jupiter, and Senshi in the courts of Crystal Tokyo and
the Silver Millennium! With the authority of the Planet of Thunder, I
will fight in the name of the Queen!"
The others stared at her, wide-eyed, for an instant. Then, by her side,
a dark-skinned girl cried out, "I am Sailor Mercury, heir to the power
and the authority of the Planet of Water!" Her words were clear and
strong; there was the pulse of the sea in her voice, and a quicksilver
glitter like ice in her eyes. "Chosen to be a Senshi of the Queen, I
will fight in her name, on behalf of the planet Mercury!"
"I am Sailor Uranus," declared the girl next to her, softer, but no less
determined. The sky reflected in her cool grey eyes as she said, "With
the blessings of the Lady of the Moon, and the strength and the dominion
of the planet Uranus, I will fight in the name of the Queen, and at her
command!"
There was a slight pause then, and everyone's eyes went to the fourth in
line, a tall girl with her hair in a long braid. But she hesitated for
only a moment before saying, "I am Sailor Mars. And --" She did break
off then, stumbling over her words, and swallowed heavily. "I'll
fight," she finished in a low voice. "In the name of the Queen. I'll
fight." And in her words, thin and distant but present nonetheless ...
was there a hint of fire?
So to the last. The fifth Senshi's head was erect, her voice crisp and
proud, and the gold tiara on her brow glittered in the sunlight as she
declaimed, "I am Sailor Venus: a champion of justice, and guardian of
the power and the authority of the Planet of Love. In the name of Venus
and the honour of the Queen, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil!"
As she finished speaking, a silence seemed to fill the clearing. Itsuko
stood facing the five girls. Some kind of answer was required; an
acknowledgement of their oaths, at the very least. But what could she
say? Did she even have the right to reply at all?
"I cannot answer you in the name of the Queen," she told them. "Much
though you all deserve it. I can only say that if she were here, I
think she would be proud. And that _I_ think that all of you are worthy
to be called Senshi. I'm proud of you. All of you."
She started to turn away -- there was a suspicious lump in her throat --
then looked back at them. "One more thing," she said. "I don't think
any of you would doubt it anyway; but at least I can tell you that the
Queen _will_ return. I've seen it, in the Fire and in my dreams. There
will be a Sailor Moon to lead you once again." She studied their faces,
and added, "I don't know who she'll be. But I don't think you'll have
to wait much longer."
--**--
The five Senshi watched as Itsuko turned to speak to Artemis for a
moment. "A new Sailor Moon!" exclaimed Venus. "At last. I wonder what
she'll be like?"
"I wonder if she'll think she's a cat?" said Mercury innocently.
Venus gave her an irritated look. "I wonder if she'll be frightened of
venomous wombats?" she shot back.
"Now, now," Mercury purred. "There's no need to be ... catty."
The other girl glared at her for a moment longer, then suddenly laughed.
She raised one hand, her fingers hooked like claws, and made a tearing
gesture. "Meow," she said.
Mercury clutched her heart dramatically. "She got me!" she cried out,
windmilling her arms wildly and almost catching Mars in the eye. "Oops.
Sorry, Mars-chan. Didn't see you there. Better be careful, though, or
the dreaded killer pussy-cat here'll get you."
To her delight, Sailor Mars actually smiled back. "Are pussy-cats as
deadly as wombats?" she asked.
"Hmm, very nearly, I believe. Ah, but enough of this gay banter. Come,
my lovely but slow-witted friends --" Mercury dropped into a sinister
accent and draped an arm about Venus and Mars' shoulders. "Let me ply
you with thick Turkish coffee and bedazzle your deepest secrets from you
with my effortless charm. Tell me, where is the secret enemy base, and
how long until the aliens launch their invasion fleet ...?"
A short distance away, Jupiter and Uranus stood watching. Sailor
Jupiter was grinning. Sailor Uranus was not. "What ... is she talking
about?" asked Uranus, baffled.
Jupiter shrugged. "You know Dhiti. She's not talking _about_ anything.
She's just talking."
"It's not right," Uranus said, shaking her head. "A minute ago she was
swearing allegiance to the Queen. Now she's talking about ... about
crazy things! If she can't take something that important seriously --"
"Umm. Sometimes I wonder, though. She's always performing, one way or
another. So maybe she's being silly now _because_ she takes it so
seriously ..." Jupiter scowled. "No, skip it. I'm not making sense.
Anyway --" She shifted uncomfortably, looking for a way to change the
subject. Then she brightened. "Talking about swearing allegiance ...
what was that you were saying before? 'With the blessings of the Lady
of the Moon'?" She laughed. "Better be careful there, Suzue-chan. You
almost sounded like one of the Loonies."
Uranus gave her a long, thoughtful look. "Did I?" she said. "Well,
we can't have that, can we?"
--**--
"All right," Itsuko told them all. "We'll keep this fairly basic at
first. I want you to work in pairs for now: Jupiter with Mercury, and
Uranus with Venus. I'll take care of Sailor Mars."
At her side, Artemis spoke up. "We'll leave physical combat training
for later. To begin with, I want you to get more experience with your
attacks. There are three things I want you to look at to start with:
accuracy, speed and strength. Pick a rock or a tree and use it for
target practice. Once you get the hang of it, try hitting it while
you're on the move. Then try hitting a moving object: one of you throw
a target and the other, try to hit it. That will also test your attack
speed and reaction time.
"Finally, you need to practise with your attack strength. How hard, or
how softly, can you hit a target? Itsuko and I will offer tips where we
can. And Jupiter, too; you may have lost access to your higher attacks,
but apart from that I expect you remember well enough."
Jupiter gave a wry grin. "Oh, yes."
"All right, then. Any questions? Good. We'll give it a couple of
hours and see how you're doing. So -- to work, everyone!"
--**--
Uranus watched as the last of her stones bounced away through the grass.
"Well," she said, "I suppose there's no question about your accuracy or
reaction time."
Venus smirked. "Thanks."
"I'm not sure about strength, though. You can hit targets, but you're
not actually doing anything to them. It's hardly an _attack_ at all."
The other girl's face fell. "Um," she said. "But it's, you know, just
a chain. It ... chains things. What do you expect? I've talked it
over with Bendis-chan, and I can knock small objects around with it, but
it's not like I can split boulders or anything. If I could just work
out how to do the Crescent Beam thing I'd --"
"Have you tried?" said a voice at her side. She looked down and saw
Artemis. "Splitting boulders, I mean," he added.
"Err. Not as such. There weren't too many boul--"
"Well, try it now, then!"
Venus shrugged. "Sure. VENUS CHAIN TH--" She saw their expressions
and rolled her eyes. "Oh, all right. VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"
The chain spun forth, hissing and arcing with energy. It struck the
rock she'd been aiming for dead-centre and skittered off, throwing
sparks in all directions.
"You see?" she complained.
"Lady Aino used her chain as an attack," said Uranus slowly.
"Well, maybe I got the low-power model, then," Venus retorted. "It's
like that when I hit a vitrimorph, too. Just a few sparks. On the
other hand --" She grinned. "If I can wrap it around a vitrimorph, I
can hold it pretty well. Maybe the rest of you guys can finish it off
then. And me and Bendis have worked out all sorts of tricks, too --"
"Low-powered, but versatile," muttered Artemis. "Why does that sound
familiar?"
"It didn't look all that low-powered to me," Uranus objected. "When she
fires it, there's all that light and --"
"That's mostly the power lattice discharging as the chain forms," the
cat replied absently. "Still, it's got a fair bit of latent energy
bound up there, all right. I suspect an enemy would have to be
incredibly powerful to be able to break the chain, once formed."
"Really?" said Venus, delighted. "Cool!"
Artemis winced. "Anyway," he said, "you two are getting side-tracked.
Uranus, it's your turn. I've noticed that it seems to take you a few
seconds to recover after using your attack. You need to modulate your
power, so that you're not draining yourself dry every time you use it.
Now, I want you to start by ..."
--**--
"Try it again," Itsuko ordered. She watched intently as Sailor Mars
began the attack, and at the same time tried to reach out with her mind
to _feel_ what the girl was doing. She saw the swirl of energy, sensed
the veins of power that spiralled in toward their target. Like ants
running across her skin, a chill of recognition down her spine ...
The light of the burning Mandala faded, and she stepped forward to
examine the target: a small piece of dead wood. It was barely warm.
"Nothing, again," she announced.
The eighth attempt had been the same as the first. Nothing Mars could
do seemed to affect the outcome in the slightest. If she worked harder
at her attack, the lines of energy in the Mandala glowed brighter -- on
the third try, she put so much force into it that it became almost too
bright to look at, and left her reeling from the strain -- but the end
result never varied.
Mars flinched away from her words. "I'm sorry --" she began.
Itsuko waved her quiet, shaking her head. "I don't understand it," she
said. "I can feel the power, sense it building up ... but I can't see
where it's going." She looked down at the piece of wood ruefully.
"It's certainly not coming out as heat."
"What about the Opal, though?" said Bendis from nearby. "I told you
what she did to that."
"Yes." She cocked her head to one side, considering. "That's going to
be harder to test, though. I don't keep spare Opals up my sleeve."
"You could get her to aim for the van," Bendis suggested. Then she
blinked. "Wait a minute. Maybe not."
"Maybe not," echoed Itsuko dryly. "Unless you _want_ to walk home.
I'll think about it, though. Next time we can try to check it out. But
for now ..." She frowned, and looked back at Mars. "Suppose we work on
some physical training, instead? Trust me, getting a few good combat
manoeuvres down can be a big help in a fight."
They might also, she did not say aloud, help the girl to get a little
more self-confidence. Indeed, she half-expected her to back away from
the suggestion. But Mars only nodded obediently. Itsuko considered for
a moment longer, picking some simple moves that she ought to be able to
handle, and they began.
The next two hours proved an exercise in frustration. Mars was willing
enough, and doggedly persistent; she threw herself into the exercise
with a determination that Itsuko had to admire. But she was strangely
awkward. Not outright clumsy, as Sailor Moon had been so long ago, but
stiff and unresponsive. She hesitated before making any move that was
even faintly offensive, and when Itsuko aimed any blow at her in return,
even one that would obviously miss, she either shied away from it or
froze completely.
It did not help that Bendis hovered on the sidelines, making continuous
helpful suggestions. Before long, Itsuko could cheerfully have
throttled the cat. She began to gain a whole new appreciation for
Artemis' attitude toward his great-granddaughter.
At last, her temper wound almost to the breaking point, she slipped.
She had reverted to lessons that were as basic as she could think of;
she was aiming a simple, direct blow at Mars' shoulder, moving
exaggeratedly slowly, her body language plain and clear. All Mars had
to do was take hold of her wrist and pull, stepping aside as she did so,
and Itsuko's own momentum would leave her sprawling on the ground.
A ten-year-old could have done it. This was their fourth try.
Perhaps it was her frustration that made it happen. Perhaps it was her
irritation at Bendis. But as she moved in, her arm swinging forward --
as Mars reached out to seize it, for a wonder looking as if she were
about to get it right -- Itsuko's foot skidded in the grass. Just a few
centimetres, but it was enough to throw her off balance. Her fist aimed
itself, much faster than she had meant, directly at Mars' face.
Later, she was not sure if she had imagined it. But in the last instant
before the impact, she half-thought she saw Mars stand frozen, a curious
look of resignation on her face, and close her eyes and wait patiently
for the blow to land.
Then the sound of fist meeting flesh was in her ears, and Mars was lying
on the ground in front of her. The girl never made a sound. She simply
lay there, cradling her cheek.
Later, Itsuko would think about what she might have seen. Later, she
would realise that the blow could not even have been very painful, not
to a Senshi. For now, shame and remorse were what mattered. "Are you
all right?" she cried out, kneeling at the girl's side and reaching out
to probe gently at the injury. Mars jerked away from her hand, and she
withdrew it quickly.
"I'm fine," Mars said in a somewhat muffled voice. Then, absurdly, she
added, "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?!" exclaimed Itsuko. "What for? It was my fault! My
foot slipped and I --" She broke off and counted silently to ten. "I'm
the one who's sorry, Iku-chan," she said quietly. "You didn't do
anything wrong. In fact, it looked as if you were about to get it
right."
Sailor Mars was silent.
"We can stop now, if you like. I won't be upset. Or ... if you're
willing, we can carry on."
Itsuko waited. The silence seemed to stretch unbearably. At last Mars
looked up and said, almost inaudibly, "All right. I'll go on."
They tried the exercise again; and rather to Itsuko's surprise the girl
did it perfectly the first time. She demonstrated another move,
slightly more complex, and Mars got that one right the first time, too.
The rest of their session was a roaring success.
It bothered Itsuko a little, though, that something in the Senshi's face
had changed. Before, she had been an open book, her nervousness and
lack of confidence plain. Now that she was getting it right, Itsuko
would have expected her to look satisfied, at least. Instead, there was
nothing at all. Her expression was blank, closed. Whatever Kodama Iku
was feeling, she was keeping it firmly to herself.
--**--
At around mid-afternoon, Artemis called a break. The five Senshi
collapsed on the grass, breathing hard and talking about what they'd
been doing. Itsuko went to the van and brought out a cooler full of
drinks.
Mercury lay back contentedly. She'd never quite realised how stern a
taskmaster Hayashi could be. The attack practice had been fun at first,
but after two solid hours it became pretty hard work. Being able to
relax at last was sheer bliss.
"So how are you finding it?" said a voice at her side. She turned her
head lazily and saw Artemis.
"Not quite what I was expecting," she admitted. "... You know, it's
weird how fast you can get used to seeing a cat talk."
"I wouldn't know," he answered dryly. "What were you expecting, then?
An automated assault course? A secret underground training room where
you fight against robotic enemies?"
"Hey, that'd be cool." Mercury lifted herself up onto her elbows. "Did
the old Senshi really have something like that?"
"No, not really. In the Silver Millennium, each Senshi taught her
successor everything she knew. That included combat training, of
course. A Senshi in training was expected to invent a new application
of her power before she could take over from her Elder." He blinked at
her slowly. "The Outer Senshi used to do survival training on Io, now I
think of it. I suppose that's almost like an assault course in itself."
"Yeah? Hayashi mentioned something about Io, once. Is it really that
bad there?"
Artemis shrugged. "That's what they say. I never went there myself."
"Rats." Mercury saw something moving out of the corner of her eye and
hitched herself up onto one elbow to look. "What is that girl doing
now?"
"Who?" Artemis looked around. "Ah. I've given up trying to understand
those two, I'm afraid."
"Oh, now you're just being grouchy. She's -- what _is_ she doing?"
Some distance away, Bendis and Sailor Venus were sitting in the middle
of the clearing. They appeared to be arguing about something; but even
as Mercury watched, Venus rolled onto all fours, drew herself up into a
half-crouch, and took a curious little hop forward, catching herself on
her hands.
They argued some more -- Venus seemed to be objecting to something --
and then, to Mercury's lasting delight, the girl crouched again and
suddenly exploded across the clearing in an eerie, half-feline motion:
landing on her hands and then launching herself again with a quick
thrust of her legs. She ended with a somersault that left her on her
feet, one fist outstretched to strike an unseen opponent.
"Cat training," Mercury said. Her grin was so wide that it almost hurt.
"She's doing cat training."
Artemis muttered something incomprehensible.
"Oh, come on. Don't you think it's adorable? At least you could go
over there and show them the right way to do it."
"I _don't_ think so."
"Spoilsport." Mercury got to her feet. "I can't let this go, though.
I just can't."
"You're going to stop her?" Artemis sounded almost hopeful.
"Don't be silly." Mercury gave him a beatific smile. "I'm going to
embarrass her."
She started toward the two, noticing as she went that everyone else
seemed to be watching as well. Perfect, she thought; these things
always went better with an audience.
As she approached, Venus dropped to her knees in the grass. She and
Bendis were arguing again. "-- Told you, I don't want to do the cat
thing any more," Venus was saying.
"Yes, but I didn't think you actually _meant_ it," Bendis told her.
"After all, why on earth not? Who wouldn't want to be a cat?"
"Just about everybody! Have you seen the way everyone else looks at me
when I do that stuff?"
"They're jealous. Come on, none of the others can do even half of what
I've taught you! And you have to admit, a lot of those moves have been
useful. It would be a total waste to let it all go now --"
"Yeah, well, maybe if I'm not trying to act like a cat all the time I'll
be able to --"
"Bendis is right," Mercury interrupted. "It would be a terrible waste
for you to stop now."
The two looked around, startled. Then Bendis said, in a gratified tone,
"I'm glad _somebody_ can see the --"
"After all," Mercury went on, suddenly unable to keep the smirk off her
face, "we wouldn't want to lose the team mascot, would we?"
There was a sudden silence. "Mascot?" repeated Venus.
"Of course! And such an adorable little kitty, too." Mercury laid a
hand on Venus' head and began to stroke her hair. "See? Isn't she just
the sweetest thing? Who's a perfect precious little kitty, hmm? Who's
a sweet widdle adorable pussykins? Ohhh, she's so cute! C'mon,
cat-girl, you know you like it. Purr for me!"
Venus stared at her, wide-eyed, and for a moment Mercury thought she had
overplayed the joke. Then, suddenly, Venus grinned. She arched her
back, leaning into the pressure of Mercury's stroking. "Purr," she said
in a sultry voice.
"There, you see? I knew it. Ooh, you are a sweetie-pie. Do you want
me to scratch your ears? Do you? Awww, that's so adorable. I've gotta
find you a ball of string, that'd be just too perfecYAAAHHH!"
Suddenly, a hand seized Mercury's ankle in a vice-like grip. She looked
down in shock, and had a bare instant to see the grin on Venus' face.
Then the other girl surged upward, lifting her in one mighty heave ...
and Sailor Mercury found out what it was like to fly.
A second later, she found out what it was like to splash down face-first
in the stream.
She struggled back to the surface, spitting out a mouthful of water, mud
and some unidentifiable weed, and saw a whole row of Senshi grinning
back at her. "O-o-o-kay ..." she mumbled.
"Now that," said Bendis in a tone of great satisfaction, "she had
coming."
--**--
"She just doesn't know when to stop, does she?" Itsuko was not
laughing. Not quite.
"Dhiti? Never," said Jupiter fondly. "She doesn't even know when not
to start. You just have to learn when to thump her, and when to ignore
her." After a moment she added, "You're off to a good beginning there,
actually."
"Oh?"
Jupiter grinned. "When she saluted you, and you paid no attention. At
school, it took some of her teachers _weeks_ to learn that."
Itsuko smiled back. "I had a lot of practice, learning to cope with a
certain odango-haired princess."
--**--
"So," said Mercury. "Tell me about this cat-training thing."
"Yeah, right," said Venus.
"Oh, come on. I teased you a little and you got me back, and I promise
I won't mortally humiliate you again for at least a day, okay? But I am
interested in all this training you've been doing. Honestly."
"Oh-ho," said Bendis. "I knew the rest of you would see the light
eventually."
Mercury grinned. "Well, I do seem to remember a certain cat telling me
she didn't think much of Artemis' methods, once."
Bendis rolled her eyes. "Well, look at all this stuff he's got you
doing today! It's so ... basic. What you really need is a little more
creativity."
Schooling her expression into one of careful attention, Mercury said,
"Creativity? What did you have in mind?"
Venus shook her head. "You have no idea what you're letting yourself in
for," she told Mercury sadly. All the same, there was an unmistakable
glint of interest in her eye.
"Well," said Bendis, ignoring her, "I did have one or two thoughts about
that attack of yours. Ice Spear, right? Tell me, is there any kind of
recoil when you throw one?"
"Recoil?"
"Well, you're shooting a lot of ice off in one direction. Is there a
recoil in the other direction? Does it push you back?"
"I ... hadn't noticed. Why?" Mercury blinked. This _was_ interesting.
"Oh, I just thought ... say you're making a long jump. If you fire your
attack downward, would that give you any extra lift? Could you get more
distance out of it that way?"
Mercury stared at Venus. Venus stared back.
"Let's find out," Mercury said.
She stood up and glanced around. Nobody seemed to be paying any
particular attention. With a quick nod, she took a deep breath, ran
forward, and jumped as high and as hard as she could. In mid-air, she
yelled out, "ICE SPEAR!" and saw the burst of ice lance downward.
Moments later, she hit a tree, face-first.
When the ringing in her ears subsided, she picked herself up and walked
back toward Bendis and Venus, brushing off pieces of bark and ignoring
their laughter with as much dignity as she could muster.
"No recoil," she reported coldly. "Definitely no recoil."
"First rule of cat-training," giggled Venus. "Look before you leap."
"No, but seriously," Bendis said. "It _could_ have worked."
"That's a great comfort, thanks," said Mercury, rubbing her nose. "I'll
try to remember it always. 'It could have worked.'" She blinked
suddenly. "I wonder what would happen if I fired upward, instead?"
"Um. Better step out of the way afterward, before it comes down again."
"Not straight up, dummy!" Mercury turned and checked that there was
nobody else in the way. Then she launched her Ice Spear again, firing
it upward at a sharp angle.
It travelled along a steep parabola, rising perhaps thirty metres before
falling to strike the ground not far away. "Hmm," she said. "Not too
bad. I think I could hit something on the other side of a wall with
that."
"If you can get the aim right," said Bendis dubiously.
"No, wait a minute," Venus said. She got up and went to stand a little
behind Mercury. "Do that again, but aim a bit lower," she ordered. "I
want to try something."
Mercury shrugged, and fired her Spear again. As she did so, she heard
Venus shout out her own attack.
The Ice Spear was a few metres off the ground when Venus' Love-Me Chain
struck it. The ice exploded with a sharp _crack_. A hailstorm of
splinters and slivers hissed down into the meadow in front of them.
Mercury and Venus stepped forward gingerly to look. The shards had come
down hard and fast, and the turf had been torn to shreds over a wide
area in front of them.
Venus glanced over at Mercury. "Could be worth remembering that one,"
she said casually.
Mercury gave a slow nod. "Could be," she echoed.
"You see?" said Bendis. "A little creativity, that's all you need. I
told you my training was better."
--**--
"You'd better end the break soon," said Artemis. "Otherwise they're
going to kill themselves relaxing."
"That could be worth watching ... no, maybe not." Jupiter rubbed her
legs with a mock-groan. "More exercise. Hooray."
"Tired already?" Itsuko smiled. "And you a senshi."
"Yeah, well, you haven't just been on the move for two hours!" Jupiter
retorted. Then she blinked. "Yes, you have, and you're not tired.
Damn, I didn't think I was that out of condition."
"Well, I am teaching classes at a gymnasium," Itsuko purred.
"Okay, that does it. I'm going to have to start martial arts training
again."
Itsuko raised her eyebrows. "Why did you ever stop?"
"I never did it at all, this life. Never even thought of it. I wonder
why not?" Jupiter's face grew pensive.
Itsuko remained silent. Jupiter looked at her, and read in her face the
answer that her friend did not want to say. She looked away quickly,
and said, "Well, anyway. Starting tomorrow --"
"Be careful," Artemis warned her. "You may remember the moves, but if
you try them without some serious training you're likely to pull
muscles."
"Oh, joy." Jupiter rubbed her legs once more and grimaced. "This is
going to be so much fun."
--**--
Itsuko gave them all a couple more minutes, and then clapped her hands
for attention. "All right," she said when the five Senshi had gathered.
"The afternoon's getting on, so let's not waste time. Now that you've
got a better idea what your powers can do, Artemis and I thought we'd
give you a chance to practise your skills with a little ... contest."
"Oh, great," Mercury muttered.
"We'll split you into two teams," Artemis said. "This arm of the forest
is enclosed by a bend in the stream. We'll use that as the contest
boundary. One team will go into the forest; we'll give you a
five-minute start. Then the others will go after you. The last team
standing wins."
"This is an exercise in strategy and tactics," Itsuko told them. "But
it's also an exercise in judgement and the careful use of your powers.
Be careful, please; I don't want anyone getting hurt. Low-power attacks
only; by preference, don't use your attacks at all. Experience with
hand-to-hand combat will do you good. Remember, a few bumps are one
thing; serious injuries are another."
"Everyone clear?" said Artemis. "Stay in the forest, but don't cross
the stream. Low-power attacks or hand-to-hand only. Out-thinking the
other team should be just as important as out-fighting them."
"Any questions?" Itsuko asked. There were none. "All right. Let's get
you split into teams --"
"You and me, Hayashi?" said Mercury.
"No," said Artemis before Jupiter could reply. "You two know each other
too well. Let's make it ... Jupiter and Uranus on one team, and
Mercury, Venus and Mars on the other. An astronomical split," he
finished, sounding pleased with himself.
Jupiter shrugged. "Who goes first?" she asked.
Itsuko grinned, and pulled out a coin. "Heads or tails?" she said.
"Tails."
"Heads," Itsuko announced a moment later. "Mercury, Venus, Mars ... you
have five minutes. Go!"
"Wait a minute," protested Mercury. "You said strategy and tactics.
Don't we get any time to work out what we're going to do?"
"_Combat_ strategy," said Itsuko, still grinning. "Think on your feet.
You now have four minutes and forty-five seconds left."
Venus swore. "Come on, you two, let's go!" she said. The three of them
disappeared into the trees.
"Isn't this a bit unfair?" asked Uranus diffidently.
"Not at all," said Artemis. "How often do you expect to have time to
plan out your strategy when an enemy's attacking? You need to be able
to think fast and plan on your feet."
"The best way to get that skill is experience," added Itsuko. "I might
point out, for example, that right now _you_ have time to be planning
your strategy. Unless you'd rather stand around talking --"
"Excuse me." Jupiter grabbed Uranus and hauled her away. "Let's plan,"
she hissed.
Itsuko and Artemis waited until the two were out of earshot before they
laughed.
--**--
"Right," said Venus rapidly as they ran through the trees. "This is
going to be tough. Obaasan will be hard to beat; she's pretty strong
and experienced. Uranus is pretty strong, too, and she's smart. We
need to take them by surprise somehow."
"Okay," Mercury said, making silent note of the 'smart' comment. "Hide
in the bushes and jump them as they come past, then? Or we could use
your chain to trip them."
"The chain'll only work if they're running, and they're bound to be
ready for a sneak attack from the bushes. I think we should hit them
from above."
Mercury glanced up. "Won't they be expecting that, too?"
"Probably, but we don't have a lot of time to get fancier. Anyway, I
was reading this psychology book the other day ... people tend not to
look up all that much. If their attention is split between the bushes
around them and the trees above, they'll subconsciously pay less
attention to above."
"Interesting choice of reading matter, there."
"Oh, well, I've been trying to study things I ... you know. Might need
to know as a Senshi. Most of it's pretty dull. Anyway --" She grinned
suddenly, and there was a gleam in her eye. "Leaping down from above
has got to be cooler, don't you think?"
Mercury hesitated. Then she grinned back. "You have a point there.
But I have an idea that might help --"
--**--
[End of segment 5 of 6]