Crossed Paths: Aquarius - Sailor Moon FACETS (Version 1.2) Sailor Moon characters created by Takeuchi Naoko, Based on the North American version adapted by DIC Animation. Starship Aquarius created by F. L. Tatum For more info on Aquarius: See the Aqua_FAQ.wri file at the Tatum Home Page. (It's at http:// members.aol.com/ftatum0118/tatum.htm, for those of you who can't wait to get to the bottom of the file!) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timeline reference: In light of the way Sailor Moon:Sailor Stars seems to end, I want to put this shortly before SS begins. (So that Serena is 16, as is J.J. in this.) That way the Crossed Paths projected timeline, as well as the Templar Knights time line still can function. See the note at the end of this story for what happened. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prologue It was a prelude of sorts, to the battle of, and for, the Silver Millennium. And it was not going well. The forces of the Dark Kingdom were getting the upper hand. And as the news of the fighting reached the Kingdom, the panic among the people was building, and Her Most Serene Highness began to know that the time was at hand. And as if any further incentive were really needed, there was the explosion. It seemed like it had come from several kilometers away, almost near the horizon, below the blue globe that hung in the darkness. But the sound seemed a lot closer. Way too close. From the other direction, The Dark Queen named Beryl saw the immediate effect of Garnat's new toy. While the Weapon, (that's what Garnat called it, and after what Beryl just saw, no other description was needed,) was indeed powerful, once the full power of the Negaverse were under Beryl's control, its power would be way inferior. Still, the pure destruction this Weapon had just wrought, while filling her with with a certain amount of awe, also filled her with an equal amount of dread. "A weapon this powerful, in someone else's hands..." And even before that thought could end, Beryl knew what she was going to do. So, from within the crystal that 'that bitch Beryl' had imprisoned her in, Garnat, the former Captain of the Forces of the Dark Kingdom saw the history of the Dark Kingdom pass before her: Beryl's attack on the Moon Kingdom, the last efforts of Queen Serenity to banish Beryl and the dark forces to the Negaverse, and save her daughter's future, then the long banishment, to Queen Beryl's eventual penetration back, and to Earth, then the sudden release of Metallica, and their just as sudden defeat at the hands of these so-called Sailor Scouts. The tremors of that last battle had been felt all the way to where her eternal crystal prison was stored. The small quakes had started to weaken the molecular lattice of the crystal, her eternal prison, which now did not seem like it was going to last an eternity. And so, very soon, Garnat would be free, and with her supreme weapon, and without Beryl, she, Garnat, would take her rightful place in the negaverse Garnat only seemed to have one obstacle in her way. Or rather five. Next door, in another universe entirely, Earth's Moon is a far more desolate place. No air, temperatures that range from freezing to well done roasting, and not a McD's for 250,000 miles. That hasn't stopped the humans who reside that 250,000 miles from visiting. And until recently there were only twelve sets of footprints, that anybody knew of, that had marred this once pristine surface. That is until the arrival in EarthSpace of the Starship 'Aquarius'. Since then, six years ago, crews from the 'Aquarius' came and went. Mostly out of curiosity. But then that is the nature of the crew, mostly scientific types who view the moon with the eye of expanding one's knowledge. For example: Dr. Ronald Park. recent graduate of astrophysics, and geology. His question had to do with Mascons. Until recently, they had been explained as concentrations of iron or nickel, their mass distorting the local gravitational field. But nobody had the opportunity to really find out. Park got the opportunity because (A.) he became a member of the prime crew of the 'Aquarius' two years ago, and (B.) He was able to convince John Merrick, Commander of the Starship 'Aquarius", that his research had consequences for operations relating to the 'Aquarius'. So here was Dr. Ronald Park, in a lunar EVA suit, hopping around a crater on the edge of The Sea of Serenity, looking for concentrations of any ore that would indicate the site of a mascon. His GP scanner, a piece of 'Aquarius' based technology began to sense something as it rounded the base of the crater. But it wasn't metal. And It wasn't solid. But it was something. Something that had yet to be explained. Something that was not supposed to be there. One: Arrivals For Jonathan Merrick, it would be the second best place to be. The first best would have been the Kennedy Space Center, especially if there was a Shuttle launch. And some day, he would get there too. But for now this would do. The place below him was Tokyo, Japan. The home of Anmie, Mecha, and Video Game Machines. Well OK, so maybe the major animation houses were spread out throughout Japan, but Tokyo would be close enough for J.J. He knew that the Japanese treated animation differently than from home, now he was going to see first hand, maybe by checking out the next "Voltron" or "Robotech". And while Japan was the home of Nintendo and Sega, and while most of the really good game designers were back in the states, he knew that on this side of the Pacific, they were no slouches, either. Oh yeah, the other reason he was here, the official reason: he was an exchange student, spending the summer between the sophomore/junior break, soaking up some of the rich cultural heritage of Japan. He heard the whine of the motors of the landing gear, the stewardess began to make the announcement, first in english, then in Japanese, with the landing instructions. J.J listened to the Japanese, working to match the sounds with the english words he could associate, at least from the classes he took. As he buckled the seat belt, J.J. smiled, and thought to himself, "Time to become ugly American in the land of the Rising Sun." Between Earth and the Moon, in the location astronomers label the L4 or trojan position, The Starship 'Aquarius' slowly wavered as if trapped in this location. But its owners knew what they were doing. And right now, its primary keeper was getting his morning briefing. "...if they don't know what is wrong, Jack says that they may have to go out to Guardian Sixteen and have a look see." "Possible delay?" "Jack says no more than two, three days." "I can live with that." Commander Jonathan Jacob Merrick nodded his head. "Next item." Kevin Braxton fingered the scroll button on his pda. "Astrophysics has nothing new to report on that EM anomaly they found on the surface of the moon thirty klicks southwest of the Sea of Serenity, they suspect that its nothing, they're continuing on with their surface survey." "Nothing new? Nobody spotted anything like it until yesterday?" "Yeah, well Dr. Park said last night that the further tests they did didn't show anything really unusual, it wasn't mascon associated and radar scans show nothing sub surface. He figures that the higher EM readings are naturally occurring, similar readings are all over the site but in way lower concentrations." "Okay, so we didn't find a big black monolith. Darn it!" J.J. let go a mock sigh to which broke up the duo, then sat up in his office chair. "Anything else?" "Actually, yeah. A special request for some technical assistance by the White House from the American Consulate in Tokyo. Seems that there have been these microbursts of energy that have caused some concern, and some considerable damage, no deaths yet fortunately. There have been three such incidents confirmed. Eyewitness reports likened the sound to somebody popping a paper bag. The Japanese Bureau of Public Safety has asked the ambassador for aid, their office referred them to us, asking for us to investigate." "All right, who's on the SI duty roster this month?" "Theta. Lieutenant T.T. Spenser." "Uh huh." J.J. thought for a second, "Kev, tell Spencer and Theta to stand by, but I'm going to take the lead for this. 'Aquarius' Tech needs the good will, maybe seeing the CEO out in the field will make for that good will." "In other words, you need a change of scenery, boss." Kevin smiled and got up to go to the door to get things rolling. Kev was right, J.J. thought. With Teri in college, working on her MD, nothing much was happening. He needed to get out of the office. Tokyo would at least give him the chance. With the help of the exchange program's Japanese administrator, Hikro Mintaka, J.J. is cleared through customs, and makes his way through the terminal. He then meets up with Ms Patrica Haruna the teacher he would be dealing with, and, of course, his sponsor family, The Tsukino's. He bows, as is custom and greets each, Kenji and Ikuko, the parents, Sammy, the younger son, the introduction finally gets around to the girl that seemed to match him in age. "And this is our daughter," Ikuko says. "Serena." "Irasshaimase!" Serena Tsukino bows to J.J. "Welcome to Japan, Merrick-san." "Arigato!" J.J. bows in reply. J.J. looks over the teenager. Good looking, cute. Long, long hair, almost orange in its reddish-yellow tinge. (Dye?) And those bon-bon's. Also cute, but they almost look like... Serena finishes her bow, then offers a more familiar handshake. "A pleasure to be here." J.J. replies. As Mintaka runs through the situation in Japanese for the Tsukino's. J.J. strains to hear, continuing to test his command of the language. "Don't strain your brain too much." Serena says. "My english is probably better than your Japanese." "Thanks," J.J. starts to turn on the charm, "I was hoping to avoid accidently getting shushi instead of an Arch Deluxe." "So what made you pick Japan?" "The history, The culture," J.J. has better reasons though, "The manga, the anmie, the technology." "Manga, Anmie?" Serena is now curious. "How much do you get in Buffalou?" "That's Buffalo, and we get pretty much what we can, which usually is not enough. Manga almost none, I get most of my info from the net. But every once in a while, we get to Toronto. Ontario, Canada. The multiculturial community there tends to find more sources then we can." "Well, then," Serena perks up. "You've come to the right place!" "Don't I know it!" J.J. smiles. On the 'Aquarius' hanger deck, final loading of the HLLV (Heavy Lift/Landing Vehicle, the main cargo and transport workhorse of the 'Aquarius' fleet,) for the Tokyo mission was under way. John Merrick and Tom Spenser were in the thick, coordinating the final details for the loadout. Their, or rather Theta's departure was in three hours. As J.J. answers a series of questions from one of the cargo handlers loading the equipment, Peter LaPerrie, the 'Aquarius' Chief of Scientific Operations, (the fancy version of calling him the chief science officer,) strode up and awaited the end of the discussion. "Yes Peter?" "I downloaded the latest information from Tokyo, in the local CPU on the mobile lab. The flight crew has the flight plan, Tokyo International has a secure facility, the government will let us use for our stuff. And Hikro will have his personnel waiting for your arrival. ETA there now is 8:00am local daylight." "Local meaning Tokyo." "Right!" "Anything else?" "Well, I should still come along," Peter pressed his point, "This is, after all, a Scientific investigation." "Yea, but we still have Park's crew on the lunar surface. I want to know about those energy signatures. Those, and the incidents in Tokyo, even if it is a coincidence, is too much to ignore, and my hunch is, that they're not." J.J. tried to console Peter. "And I need my best man here to interpret the data first hand. 'Sides," J.J. added a smile, "I don't need the speculation that the Aquarius Technology's CEO is another Howard Hughes. I need to be out there in the field, for first hand experience." J.J. evaded his other reason; Sooner or later, the existence of the 'Aquarius' will be revealed. That despite all of the work behind the scenes with the governments of the world, and their own efforts to maintain a low profile. But J.J. believes that his profile needs to be out there, despite his private nature. If they can see the real man behind 'Aquarius' Technology, they will have seen the real man behind what will eventually could be Earth, and mankind's, future in this universe. The world might be a little more comfortable if they see Jonathan Merrick as just another working stiff, someone who seems to know what he's doing, that seems to care about the company's effect on the people, and the world. So this loss of a bit of his privacy is just another one of those sacrifices for the commander of the 'Aquarius'. "If you say so, John." Peter resigned himself to sitting out this one in Aquarius Command, the main operations center of the organization. "Anyway good luck, or Ki-o-tsukete-ne" "Arigato." J.J. smiled. "And you were practicing your Japanese, too." In the Tsukino house, which to J.J. was really no different, from a general architectural context than his house back in the USA, the visitor finally started to unpack. The guest room was modestly furnished. Bed, dresser, closet, desk. Nothing really any different than home. As J.J. laid out his stuff, one of the first things he removed was his father's ThinkPad. This was his main communication link back home, via EMail. Removing and putting away his clothing, J.J. didn't notice the visitor that snuck in to watch him unpack. At least at first. "Hello there!" J.J. saw the small black cat that had come up to him. Bending down, he let the cat sniff his hand, then scratched behind the ears just behind the most unusual marking he had seen on any animal. To J.J. it looked like an upturned crescent moon. "That's certainly a curious mark." Scraping it once with his finger, J.J. then proceeded to run his hand down the back of the cat and returned to his depacking. The cat proceeded to weave through J.J.'s legs, as if marking territory. Then left the room. Its next destination was down the hall. Serena's room. "Well, Luna?" Serena asked the cat as she closed her door. "I'm not sure." the cat replied. "There is something about him that I can't quite pick out." "But is he a threat?" "No. I am certain that the vibes are not evil in nature." Luna racked her brain. The years had not been too kind to her memory, especially to those memories of long ago. "Then he's one of us?" "A moon child? Possibility. The aura is similar." Luna still can't quite get a handle on her sense. "But I can't be that certain. Artemis might, but..." "So why is he here?" "Well, if it's for real, then he's here to learn from us." Luna then realized "or rather from you. Which..." "Now don't start!" Serena cut off any possibility of Luna remarking about her lack of good points. "I don't understand why my parents volunteered me for this." "Because they thought this might be a good experience for you. To build your social skills by helping a stranger in a strange land, so to speak. And I agree." "But with what Raye thinks might be coming..." "We'll just have to make the best of it." Luna couldn't help but think about Raye's vision. The American's presence now, could have something to do with that. But, the question is what. The HLLV touched down on the runway at Tokyo International, and, at the direction of the tower, was led to a secured area, a vacant hanger, where the rear loading hatch opened and two mobile labs rolled out onto the tarmac, followed by Commander Merrick and the rest of Theta Team. As they walked to the side of one mobile, a small group of persons approached. John recognized one of the persons as Hikro Mintaka, whom J.J. had met when he was hired two years ago to establish Aquarius Technology's presence in Japan. "Hikro," John went up to shake his hand, "Glad to see you again." "Wish I could say the same, John." Mintaka replied and gestured to the person standing next to him,"This is Hiro Yashima, Safety Ministry representative." J.J. reached his hand out, adding a small bow. Mr. Yashima returned the handshake and bow, "Welcome to Japan, Mr. Merrick. Thank you for coming to our assistance." "Only glad to be of help," J.J. turned to call out, "Spence!" T.T. Spencer turned and walked over to where J.J. was standing. J.J. introduced "Thomas Spencer, investigations team supervisor," "John?" Mintaka called for J.J.'s attention. "I want to introduce you to Dr. Ami Mizuno, she's our head of computer technology development," J.J. smiled and greeted the woman, she looked somewhat frail, and small, but then so does Peter. "A pleasure to finally meet you Ms. Mizuno. My head of sciences back in the US, Peter LaPerrie has been raving about your work." Slightly embarrassed at the praise, Ami was visibly blushed. "Thank you, Merrick-san." "John or J.J. will be fine." J.J. smiled, hoping to put her at ease. "Glad to have you on the..." The blond haired, long-tailed woman had just tripped and tottered toward J.J. who reacted just in time to catch the falling girl. "Oops, there..." J.J. helps the girl to stand, then she backs away and bowing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "And Usagi Tsukino," Hikro Mintaka sighed, a sign of impatience, "Who will be your liaison to the Japanese Government." Mintaka got out between 'I'm Sorry's' from the obviously embarrassed girl. J.J. scanned the girl. Pretty, not in Teri's class, but still. Reddish orange hair, not pure blond. Interesting pigtail style though, those bon-bon's look almost like... "I'm sorry." Usagi, still bowing just slightly finally manages to greet J.J. who returns the greeting. "Quite All right, Ms Tsukino." J.J. looked down at her feet; High Heels. "Not normally your type of shoes?" "No, but Ami thought that it would make a good impression." She seemed ready to break down and cry, but was fighting the impulse, hard. "Not the way she had intended, did she?" J.J. smiled. "Well, you can change them back at the first opportunity." "Arigato." Usagi replied. "Just hang in there." J.J. gave reassurance. "I'm sure you'll do all right." Serena faded to the background, and started to talk to Ami, in their native language. "I told you, I'm not a good walker in high heels!" Usagi scolded Ami. "OK, so maybe it wasn't a good idea." Ami replied. "Yea, cause now I look like a total klutz! Thank you Miss Mizuno." Usagi sounded dejected, from what J.J. could hear, through the InstaTranslator in his ear. The device looked like a standard earphone. Linked to the computer server on the Mobile lab, the device was able to translate the language in as close to real time as was possible. Well, this girl is going to need a little looking after, J.J. sighed. Two: To Business As Serena walks into Miss Harnua's classroom, she yawns. The classmates who do notice are shocked, after all this is one of the few times that 'odango atama' is actually on time. The reason is behind her, as a strange male boy, near to their age in appearance and obviously American, the USA Hockey sweater a dead giveaway. Ms Haruna took roll then brought the class to attention, "Boys and Girls, as you know, we have a guest for the next few weeks, I would like to introduce John Merrick, from Buffalo New York, USA." Motioning to J.J. to stand and come to the front. "I'm sure that he would like to say a few words and can answer a few questions." John moves up to the head of the classroom, clears his throat, and begins. "Hello, as Ms Haruna has said, I'm Jonathan Merrick, from Buffalo, New York. Yes, the same Buffalo that's home to the four time straight Super Bowl losing Buffalo Bills." And after the appropriate pause, "Hey, we figured we'll keep on doing that, till we finally get it right!" Out on the grounds of Jubaan Junior High, John Merrick was still holding court as the star attraction. With a few of the students still asking questions, about school in the US, about life in the US, about stuff in general in the US. Several of the students gathered around him, popping questions. Melvin Umino was next to him, working as translator, when J.J. got stuck for the Japanese to English and vise versa. Serena came up to this group to break up the gathering. "Ok, ok everybody," Serena started to shoo away the crowd. "I'm sure you got a lot more questions, but I'm sure J.J. is tired, and he'll be here tomorrow." The crowd dispersed except for the four other girls with Serena, and Melvin. "That means you too Melvin!" Serena added. "But I wanted to talk with John some more about some of the web sites in the US!" "Tomorrow, MELVIN!" "All right Serena." Melvin started off. "I'll see you tomorrow John." With Melvin gone, J.J. could finally take a few breaths, "Thanks Serena," He slid off the bench back that was his perch to stand. "Being the center of attention is tiring." "I knew it was about time." Serena replied. "Yea, you should know about being tired." The brunette in the group remarked, which drew a frown from Serena. "RAYE!" Serena whined, a vocal state J.J. was getting used to. "Anyway, you know Amy and Lita." J.J. nodded to the two girls he already met. Amy Mizuno, small, somewhat shy, brilliant mind, interesting hair almost blue in its blackness. Lita Kino, almost the opposite, as tall as J.J., more developed figure, a body that's built like the proverbial brick house. And from what he's heard, could knock a few blocks off if you get in her way. "This is Mina Aino," Serena introduced a very good looking blond. "And the girl with the big mouth is Raye Hino." Raye shot Serena an angry look, before returning to J.J. with a smile. "Hello." J.J. politely bowed to both, who returned the bow. "Pleasure to meet you Mina, Raye." As the group began to head towards the schoolyard exit, J.J. turned to Raye. "You're the practicing Shinto priestess?" "Yes," That got Raye's attention. "Interesting." J.J. noted the reaction, "I understand that the old ways are still holding out against the modern religions." "There are a few who still believe." Raye replied, trying to measure the American. "Skeptic?" "Well, born and raised Catholic." J.J. replied, "But I like to keep an open mind. I'd like to visit the temple sometime while I'm here. Do a video tour, for home." "Sure, anytime." Raye replied. Noting the aura he projects. Not evil, but strong. As the group approached, what Serena had pointed out to J.J. on the way to school as the Jubaan Mall, Raye suddenly approached Serena and whispered in her ear. Suddenly, Serena turned to face J.J. "I just remembered, we have to check out some prices on some clothes." Serena said, but J.J. detected something not quite right about this. "Do you think you can find the way home by yourself?" J.J. traced the route back to the Tsukino's in his brain. "No problem. Actually, I think I'll do a little exploring." Truth, since J.J. likes to explore on his own, unguided. "Cool, We'll see you later." The last J.J. saw of the girls was as they went through the entrance of the mall. J.J. looked around a bit, still disturbed about the abruptness of being left in the lurch. But deciding to take advantage of the situation. And no better place to learn more about Japan, than in Japan's version of the Walden Galleria. So, John Merrick follows through and enters the mall. At Tokyo International, in the hanger that had been lent to Aquarius Technology, John Merrick, and the members of Theta Team were preparing for what Usagi Tsukino and Ami Mizuno seemed to think could be a long siege. The equipment and long cables that had been strung around the hanger made the cavernous building look like it had come from one of those Sci-Fi movies that came from America. Or a Godzilla or Mothra movie that came from Japan. It all really depended on one's point of view. As the two natives approached the center of attention, a large round table, decked with TV monitors with the main Japanese channels, and CNN Atlanta and International, along with several computers tied in to what appeared to be the Aquarius internal net. (Well there is a small hint as to what the computers were linked to: the background on the screen, the stylized "A", blue and green, with the twin waves.) John Merrick bids the two ladies to join him. As they sit down, J.J. hands to each girl a earphone, part of the InstaTranslator system. The girls see that Merrick is watching NHK's early evening newscast. In Japanese. Usagi sets the earphone into her ear. Through the empty ear, she hears the Japanese of the television, but in the earphone, she hears the echo of the anchor, in english. "Wow!" The exclamation came from Ami. "This is incredible." "It gets better." John replies, both girls hear his voice in the earphone, in Japanese. "I see." Ami was clearly excited. "Total voice synthesis. Same voice, same inflection. Incredible!" Usagi was unimpressed. She was confused with the two voices in two languages in her ears. She removed the phone from her ear. "I really don't need this, Merrick-san my english is pretty good." "Hold on to it, Usagi." J.J. replied, "My Japanese really isn't as good, neither is the rest of Theta Team's. " He swings his head in Usagi and Ami's direction, "And my friends call me either John, or J.J." "J.J.?" Usagi asks. "Jonathan Jacob Merrick. J.J. Merrick." J.J. smiled. "How soon before this is ready to market?" Ami asked pointing to the earphone. "Not very soon," J.J. sighed, "These are tied in to the communications sub-system that's part of the mainframes in the mobiles. A microphone in my communicator," He holds up his watch. "receives the audio and processes the translation from the database, the computers do the rest." Ami studies the TV for a few seconds. "It's almost instantaneous." "Bout a half second delay." J.J. answered. Geesh do I love to show off, he thinks. And if Ami pans out as Peter thinks, boy do I got something to show her. "Usagi," Back to business, J.J.'s mind tells him, "Tell me what the public is thinking about these events. I want to know their mood. Are they afraid, skittish, panicky?" Usagi thought for a moment or so, "Maybe a little of each. There are some people who think that someone is playing tricks, others who think it's the government, others who think it's aliens, and others who think it's a sign of the end of the world." "Christ, I can't escape the X-Files and Millennium over here either." J.J. sighed, "Damn Chris Carter is freaking EVERYWHERE!" Then he adds: "Does pose an interesting question though, is it the Japanese Government, or at least a scientific agency or maybe even private research by someone that hasn't told the Government?" "I couldn't tell you." Usagi asked. Ami nodded. "I have several contacts around the industry, and they have not commented either." "Doesn't mean they would, if they were involved." J.J. said. "Personally I don't think that this has a terrestrial source. But I really can't say from what or where. But don't worry girls, well find out what's going on." J.J. tried the reassurance game. "That's our job, most of the time. The really, really weird." Inside the mall, J.J. is at one of the electronics stores in the upper level. Looking at all the pretty toys. TV's, VCR's, Walkman's and Discman's, calculators and computers. Cool J.J. muses to himself. Only if I had the Yen, but then there's the duty back in to the States. As he checked out the video game platforms, there was one or two that had no equivalent back in the USA, a commotion began to attract his attention. As it grew louder, the shopkeepers began to scatter towards the backroom, shouting something J.J. that heard as "Abunai!" Danger? J.J. slowly exited the shop. Outside the few people who had any sense were running in a direction that J.J. started to move exactly the opposite of. When he got near, he heard a sound that could only be described as unearthly. When he got to the railing, he ducked down, because 'unearthly' was only the beginning. It had to be a 'Youma'. That was the description J.J. had gotten from one of the Internet sites he had scanned in preparing to come to Japan. There were a couple of pictures, but they were nowhere close to what J.J. was seeing. This one was to put it as mildly as possible, butt ugly. Then he saw the bodies, several of them, lying on the ground. And if the net was right, these bodies may not be dead, just drained of life energy. And then... "MOON...SCEPTER...ELIMINATION!" The brightest light John Merrick had ever seen burst forth from underneath his position, and hit the monster dead center. It howled for a few moments before its death scream was finally silenced by the youma turning itself into dust, which settled to the mall floor. John Merrick didn't really have to see who had just done in the monster, but curiosity got the better of him and he peeked over the floor's edge... And saw the five... The Sailor Scouts. Live and in living color. The net had so few pictures, and mostly drawings by sketch artists. But here they were. J.J. watched in awe as the Scouts approached the dust pile which slowly faded into nothing. His vision centered on the one with the long 'pigtales', which by the description could only be Sailor Moon. As he stared at the fuku dressed figure, there were some stirrings of familiarity. Sailor Moon and the Scouts, satisfied that another one had bit the dust, walked towards and under where J.J. was lying on the upper level floor. Around them, the prone bodies started to come around. The Scouts seemed to take that as their cue to leave. John Merrick could not shake the feeling, as he rose from the floor. Sailor Moon looked almost like... "Oh get out of Dodge!" J.J. came to his what he thought were his senses. "You're having a Lois Lane attack. Get real!" J.J. looked at his watch. 5:00pm. I gotta get back to the Tsukino's for dinner. J.J. turned towards the nearest exit, and smiled. So two weeks and I have a Sailor Moon sighting under my belt. WOW! Cool! Commander John Merrick looked at his watch: 7:30pm. Holding one of 'Aquarius' EM spectrum scanners, J.J. scanned the area in the Jubaan Mall where traces of energy were being picked up. By the strength of the traces, Merrick estimated this burst couldn't have happen more than two hours ago. 'We gotta be quicker.' J.J. made a mental note, he's probably going to have to call in some PSV's to fly around the clock with sensor packs. As. J.J. continued to scan the area, as the rest of Theta also did, Usagi Tsukino approached the commander. "Police are asking how much longer." "Well apparently the burst occurred in the air, almost as if suspended in the air. We only have traces. Fortunately again no injuries, and little damage." J.J. considered the situation then shouted something to the upper level. "Spencer! What do you say, maybe another fifteen minutes. I think we got all were going to get from this one!" Tom Spenser called down from the rail. "Yea! That'll play." J.J. nodded then addressed Usagi. "You can tell them fifteen minutes." "Right." Usagi started to walk but halted, "John, you asked about the mood of the people before?' "Yea." "I talked to some of the witness. I think I can sum it up in one word." "Yea?" "I think 'Freaked" fits your language." J.J. arrived at the Tsukino house, just as Ikuko was setting the table. "Hello John, How was your first day at our school?" "All right, Tsukino-san." J.J. replied, remembering to use the proper Japanese context. "I seemed to be the hit of the school." "That's nice." Then Ikuko noticed, "Where's Serena?" Oh Christ! J.J. was still in disbelief at the encounter at the mall that he forgot that Serena and her friends went into the same mall! J.J. wondered if she was all right and began to wonder if she should tell Ikuko about those events, when he heard the door open and Serena came into the kitchen. "Hi mom! What's for supper, I'm starving." I guess she's all right. J.J. mused. Later at the dinner table, J.J. ate, and watched as Serena nearly wolfed down her dinner. "Hey, sis! You wanna leave the tablecloth on the table when you vacuum!" Sammy quipped. While Father Kenji told Sammy to be kinder to his sister, especially while company was present, Serena just gave her usual raspberry tongue shot. Later, as he was getting ready for bed, J.J. stopped at Serena's door and knocked once. "Come in." "Uh, Serena?" John entered cautiously. "Yes J.J.? "I didn't want to say this in front of your mom and dad, but after you and your friends went in to the mall, I went in myself to check out the electronics stores, and while there there was an incident involving a monster." "A monster?" Serena sounded quite calm. "In the mall?" "Yes, and it didn't last too long, apparently," J.J. continued, "Because Sailor Moon and the Scouts were there and destroyed the youma." "You know about the Scouts?" Serena asked. "Yea. It's all over the internet," J.J. replied, "I assumed most of it was speculation. But from what I saw seemed straight forward. Monster causes trouble, Scouts arrived, kick monster's butt, Scouts left." Serena stifles a giggle, filing a thought that she'll have to talk to Amy about this, then returned to J.J.'s attention, "Well we must have left the mall shortly after the trouble began, lucky for us I guess." "Yea, luckily for you." J.J. echoed, "well that answers my questions, I guess, night Serena." J.J. closed the door and headed towards his room. "Luna, you don't supposed he was following us?" Serena asked the cat on her bed. "No," Luna replied. "He has a genuine interest in electronics. And I don't detect any deceit. It's natural that he'd express some concern after today." "Well you didn't give me much choice after you contacted Raye about the Youma." "I know, Serena." Luna replied, "But we have to find out why we're seeing Negaverse Youmas after all this time." "Well," Serena said after a yawn, "You can talk to Artemis about it at the meeting tomorrow, which means we have to come up with another excuse to dump John." Luna sighed and looked towards the door. "Sorry, John, but you did have to pick a busy time to visit." Back at the Hanger where Aquarius Technology had set up shop, John Merrick was sitting at the main conference table, going through the reports of today's sojourn. Tom Spenser is two seats over from his left. They are discussing potential next moves. "You still thinking about the PSV's, Skipper?" "Yea," J.J. exhaled, "We need more coverage. The next time there's a burst, I don't want to know about it an hour and a half later. I'd like to be there as soon as possible. Maybe before." "Can't Guardian...?" "No, Peter tells me that the sensor packages aren't calibrated to this type of energy, so he's working on modifying a standard ECM suite package for the PSV's and should have it by Eight AM tomorrow morning our time. I can detail three craft to fly AWACS orbits around Metro Japan in eight hour shifts. We get enough hits, maybe we can get into a prediction mode." "See a spike building, get there before it peaks." Spenser nodded. "That'll be nice." As the two discuss the situation, Usagi and Ami walk in and sit down at a bench about ten meters away from the conference table. Usagi sees John and brings over a package, "I got you this, Merrick-san, probably don't get to eat much during these operations." J.J. picked up the pack, "This is?" "Oh, nikuman. A steamed bun filled with meat." Usagi replied. "Arigato, Usagi." J.J. opened the bag and pulled out the sandwich. "Arigato." Usagi retreated back to where Ami was seated and they began to talk. "Interesting," J.J. inspected the nikuman, "Could almost pass for a beef on weck. Teri's always telling me to knock off the salt." "That is such an unlikely pair, boss." Tom broached a new subject, nodding over to the pair of girls. "Yeah?" J.J. had a bite of the sandwich. "I scanned their personnel files, they both went to the same middle school. But Mizuno's a A-plus student, while Tsukino barely made it out of high school." John Merrick didn't mention that Peter LaPerrie nominated Ami Mizuno as a 'Aquarius' crew addition. "And what was YOUR grade point average? Mine wasn't all that stellar either." J.J. frowned at Spenser. "Besides sometimes being average beats being a total putz, and Tsukino's really doing all right so far." "Yeah. No major klutz ups." Spenser shrugged and went back to the reports. John Merrick took another bite of the nikuman and returned to business. Three: Major Discoveries Nearly two weeks had passed, and no new incidents of bursts had come across the desks at 'Theta Command', as Tom Spencer began to call their temporary quarters, taking a humorous jab at Commander Merrick. But the Commander wasn't ready to pack it up yet. And as if to reward J.J. for his patience, came the call to attention. "Theta Team Alert. Misters' Merrick and Spencer report to Mobile One Communications." John Merrick rushed into the communications bay of the portable lab. "Whatta you got?" "Increase in energy detected from Sagittarius III. Coordinating and triangulating now." "As soon as you get the co-ord's, relay them to the drivers." J.J. said then shouted, "OKAY, People, saddle up!" "You heard the man," Tom Spenser added, "Lets try to get there before the party's over!" The one problem, for John Merrick, in sleeping in a strange place, like for example, the guest room in the Tsukino residence, is that unless you were really tired, you tended to be a light sleeper. This means that every little sound emitted by the surrounding environment, J.J. could hear, even in his sleep, which usually woke him from it. Normally, he wore a radio head gear, which allowed him to drown out sounds. But in Japan, most of the stations obviously were not english-speaking, so he didn't bother with it. He didn't bother with a tape or his CD player, after all he couldn't bring his entire library. So J.J figured he try to rough it. After all this was only for the summer. But for the last few nights, at about 11:00 at night, J.J. was awoken by a commotion that came from the bedroom next door, Serena's room. This time, J.J. carefully rose from the bed and went to look out the window. A few minutes later he saw Serena bolt around the driveway entrance, not missing her long pony tails. Oh jeese! J.J. thought. Serena out on a midnight stroll. Wonder how she managed to get out without being heard? Okay, serious time. Bigger question, Why? Even bigger question, What to do about it? J.J. shook his head, and returned to bed. He had an answer to that last question. He didn't like it. But at least he had one. Usagi Tsukino walked into the hanger, in a slight rush. She had gone home to change and freshen up. But she took a nap and snoozed through several attempts by her alarm clock to wake her. By the time she arrived, she was an hour late. But when she apologized to John Merrick, he just waived his hand. "That's all right Usagi, we've all been putting in long hours here. Easy to forget this is your home. When we're on these long stays, we tend to camp out where the toys are." "Arigato, Merrick-san." Usagi bowed then turned her attention to the reports. "Any new information." J.J. shook his head, "No. Just more of the same. Though some interesting effects at work here." John pointed off to several boxes, VCR's that were stacked on a pallet. The stack has a spherical-shaped gouge as if whatever materialize had dissolved everything around it in an even radius. "Masaka!" Usagi exclaimed. "What could have caused this." John would have said a rough primitive attempt at teleport or quantum/molecular transport similar to the 'Aquarius' system. But John had gotten careful in the six years as Commander, in saying what he thought out-loud, especially to 'Aquarius' outsiders So he lied. "I don't know." In real matter-of-fact, he didn't. Close examination didn't reveal any traces of after effects from a botched transport. And the computer onboard the 'Aquarius', had no answers in its database. Only the traces of an energy source that is becoming all too familiar. "All we have is another data plot." J.J. observed, rather meekly. "Sooner or later, they gotta connect." When the commotion woke J.J., he was ready. Rising, already dressed in as much dark garb as he had, John put his sneakers on and waited near the window, and waited. After a few minutes, he saw Serena and Luna jump out her window and into the street, J.J. quickly leapt out his window and began to follow. Now will see if Sensei Talbot's lessons were valid, J.J. thought as he turned the corner that Serena disappeared around. Sometime after following down several streets, J.J. stood behind the corner as he saw Serena and her cat meet up with four other girls. Reaching into his pocket J.J. scanned the scene, and recognized the girls as the friends of Serena's that he met a few days ago. Mina, Raye, Lita and Ami. This is interesting, J.J. thought, maybe this is just an innocent night out, but at 11PM?. J.J. saw Ami pull something out of her pack, wave it around in several 360 degree sweeps then center on a direction, and began to lead the rest of the group. J.J. picked up the chase. Ami's scanner was leading the group towards a seemingly abandoned warehouse. "The strongest emanations are coming from within that building." she observed. "I feel it too", Luna added, "Negaverse energy." "I was hoping you wouldn't say that." Lita sighed. "I though we had sent the Negacreeps packing when Beryl was defeated. "Would have been nice if we were certain," Artemis noted, "But this confirms our fears." "Well, we have to find out what they're up to." Mina said. "We Do?" Serena blurted out. "Why yes," Luna replied, "If they're Negaverse, we have to be certain." "But it looks scary!" "Scardy Cat" Raye teases. "All right, then. We go in, ready" Serena said, the girls nodded and... J.J. had maneuvered close enough to hear some of the conversation, trying to quickly translate from Japanese in his head when... "MOON...CRYSTAL..." "VENUS...STAR" "JUPITER...STAR" "MARS...STAR" "MERCURY...STAR" ...and as all five girls said the last word... "...POWER!" The transformations began. Right in front of J.J.'s eyes. "Holey!" When the transformation magics completed their spells, instead of Serena Tsukino and her friends, stood Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts. Now John Merrick had some answers to some of his questions. Of course now, J.J. had some new questions. Watching the Scouts enter the warehouse, J.J. looked around for a way to get in. He needed a new vantage point. He noticed a fire escape connected to the building, and noticed an open window next to a door. How convenient. J.J. headed for, and up the stairs. The lone male was reading a textbook when an all too familiar feeling swept over him. A single word formed on his lips. "Serena." In less than a few seconds, Darien Chiba was up and out the door, grabbing a handful of roses from a vase near the door. At the top of the metal stairs, J.J. peeked through the window carefully, mentally invoking his martial arts training. While not the standard training for young kids, J.J. was now thankful for it, and was going to thank Sensei Braddock when he got back. Inside, he saw a floor, but no persons. Checking the door, J.J. found it open. Shrugging at the ease of this, he quietly entered and hand shut the door, making not a sound. Except for his pounding heart. Inside, J.J. found the floor was part of a walkway that ran the circumference of the inside of the warehouse. Several ropes, chains and pulley riggings were strung around, mostly tied to vertical supports. Towards the floor, several crates and empty boxes gave truth to the state of the warehouse's state of occupancy. But there were occupants. A few humans mostly male, and in various clothing styles, were standing but not moving around. J.J. quietly moved towards the front. The change of position, cleared the crates from his view, and he saw the Youma. The first time he saw one, it was only a quick glance, before it had been dusted. This time was different. The net drawings still didn't do it justice. This one really was Butt Ugly. First thing J.J. noted was its skin/fur; A freakish mix of mauve and purple that could only remind him of a certain fictional dinosaur. The body was a perverted misshapen approximation of a human, male or female, J.J. couldn't be certain. The face was hidden as the beast was hunched over a table where several papers were spread out. J.J. stopped, and the beast turned its head when they both heard the voices. "OK you Negaverse Twerp!" J.J. turned to see the voice's owner. "We don't know why your here, but whatever your planning ends here. In the name of the Moon..." "Of Mars!" "Of Venus!" "Of Mercury!" "And of Jupiter!" "We are the Sailor Scouts and WE WILL PUNISH YOU!" The five said in perfect sync. J.J. stifled a impulse to llaugh. He also gave them some credit. They managed to surround the youma in five directions. Nice tactical move. The monster roared then moved to attack. "MERCURY BUBBLES... BLAST!" Amy (no, J.J. she Sailor Mercury now) flung her arms out and the floor level of the warehouse filled with a fog like mist. It hung low, still giving J.J. unobscured view. He heard the voices of Mars, Venus and Jupiter begin their attacks. But before they could get halfway through their mantras, the youma roared and swept its arms out, sending a wave of energy around the room, which struck the Scouts, sending them flying back from their positions, to the floor. Oh, no, J.J. began to voice. Then saw the Youma gain its composure and head towards Serena/Sailor Moon. John Merrick acted fast. His brain cranked up and got an idea. Looking at one of the strung ropes, he quickly went to one that seemed to be in the right position and length. Looking down, J.J. then kicked at the wooden railing, which broke off and fell to the floor. Trying to recover from the blast, Luna's screaming wasn't helping Serena to regain her senses. She looked around, and saw the youma through the mist, heading towards her... Darien Chiba now in his Tuxedo Mask identity, had just walked in at the start of the battle, to see Sailor Moon and the Scouts tossed to the floor. Seeing the youma start towards Sailor Moon, Darien pulled a rose from his cape and made ready to throw... "HEY BARNEY! HEADS UP!" Both Moon and Mask turned to see a figure swinging down from the end of a rope. Stretching his legs out for the impact, John Merrick struck the surprised and stunned Youma in the torso, sending it flying, where it crashed into several empty crates. The impact also had the desired effect of terminating J.J.s trajectory, letting him settle and landing upright to the floor. He looked at the pile of youma and crates, and smiled. "And a solid hit on the Ten pin." J.J. shouted, and gave his typical bowling gesture, then rushed over to where Sailor Moon was. "Are you all right?" J.J. quickly asked, as he shook the downed Scout gently. "Com'n, Serena." The sound of a really pissed off youma alerted J.J. that time was running out. "Wakey, wakey Serena." J.J. lightly patted her face, trying to bring her around. "Wha..." Sailor Moon was coming around but... Pieces of crates exploded from behind J.J. and the youma was up, and angry. Bellowing a scream it moved towards J.J. and Sailor Moon. Time's run out, J.J. thought and set down to a three-point tackle stance. "JUPITER THUNDER...CRASH!" J.J. looked over to see that Lita, er Sailor Jupiter had come around, and launched her attack, which was running through the monster, with electrifying results. J.J.eased up and helped Sailor Moon rise from the floor. He then walked her back, away from the youma. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM, SMASH!" Now Mars and Venus joined the fray, alternately singeing and pummeling the youma from two directions. J.J. turned his attention to check on Serena. "Hello, are you all right now?" "Yes, I'm ok." Sailor Moon turned and realized who it was. "JOHN?!!" "Never mind me," J.J. let go of Moon, "But this sucker needs some finishing off." pointing to the now truly stunned and now doomed youma. "Right!" and from out of nowhere, Sailor Moon extracts a short staff with a grapefruit sized globe at its end and begins to wave it around. "MOON SCEPTER..." and pointing it at the Youma, "ELIMINATION!" From the scepter, a burst of white light energy shot at, and enveloped the youma who with a death cry that rivals a Klingon's, turned quickly into dust. "Game over." J.J. muttered under his breath. "And what are YOU doing HERE!" Sailor Moon started to scold J.J. "Hey, I was just..." But Venus interrupted. "Take it outside please, we got a mess to clean up here." She pointed at the humans who were just coming out of the youma's mind control. From above, Tuxedo Mask smiled and beat his retreat. With the Scouts detransformed and dispersed to their homes, Serena, J.J. and Luna walk home from the warehouse. "Come on Serena, we have to talk." J.J. pleaded, trying to keep up with Serena. "No we don't." Serena shot back, staying in front of the American, then turned with an accusing face, "I can't believe that you followed me!" "No?" J.J. sounded a little irritated. "You sneak out in the middle of the night, doing I absolutely had no idea what until an hour ago. As far as I knew it could have been something your parents would have a conniption fit over." J.J. tried a little humor, his best weapon "If they have conniption fits over here." "You could of asked!" Serena pointed a finger. "Yeah, like what would you have told me? The truth?" J.J. replied. Serena turned with no answer, then spun back with the finger again "Well, maybe then your some kind of Negaverse plant, to spy on us!" "No Serena," Luna replied, "I'm not feeling those kind of vibes from John. They're more like the type I feel with Artemis. Or with the Scouts. Just that he's a special type of person." "You could be mistaken, Luna." Serena sounded unconvinced. "Remember Ami and computer school?" "That was different!" Luna shot back "I didn't have the experience that I do now." "Well, that still means," Serena turns back to J.J. "that I still don't like the idea of you following me." "Hey, your little adventures wake me up in the middle of the night. I get curious. I had to check it out. So sue me." J.J. continued. "If it had been something less than ethical, moral, or just not very nice, I would have confronted you with it and we would be talking about it. Like we are now." "Still, WHY?" Serena asked. "Because even after three weeks, I've come to care about you. Like another sister. I'm always worrying about her and how she's doing. I guess I'm just transferring it off to you." J.J paused to see Serena's anger fade. "I've seen you. Serena, I believe you're really an intelligent girl, but your grades suck big time. I wondered why, and I believe I've started to help, in my own way, but I had absolutely no idea what was really on your mind, until tonight." "Not entirely everything that's on her mind." Luna muttered. "Luna!" Serena whined. " And what's THAT supposed to mean?" Something had just dawned to J.J. "Wait a second. We've been having this conversation, right?" Both Serena and Luna nodded. "And you have had no trouble understanding me and my english, right?" They nod again. "And I'm having no trouble understanding your japanese, despite the fact that my japanese is less that ideal." Serena and Luna looked at each other. "Interesting." Luna replied. "I hadn't noticed that. I wonder why." "Well," J.J. answered "Could be close proximity to your magicial auras, imprinting your brain waves on mine, making it easier for me to understand, and vice versa." "Sounds like an answer Amy would come up with." Serena says. "Just the tons of Science Fiction I read." J.J shrugged. The three began to continue the walk for Serena's home. "So now you know." Serena started the big thread. "What are you going to do?" "Try not to have a lot of sleepless nights about it." J.J. replied. "Who am I going to tell, anyway? Either I get locked up in a rubber room, or I screw up your lives, and I couldn't live with that on my conscience." "How can we believe you?" Serena asked point blank. "I do." Luna simply replied "You do?" Both Serena and J.J. look at Luna in surprise. "Yes. I sense a sort of noble quality in you John. After all, you could have stayed hidden in the warehouse. But you didn't." "That's easy to explain. 'All it takes for evil to triumph is for men of good will to do nothing.' And I don't like to see the good guys lose." J.J. smiled then added "Or are we talking about good GALS here?' That got a giggle from Serena. Four: Visions Slowly, Opal entered the hall that her commanding officer had commandeered when she had awaken from the crystal prison. She was not smiling. The news that she had in her possession did not give her any solace. For the last eight weeks, shortly after Garnat appeared, there seemed to be a rise in the morale of the Negaverse populace. But privately, as her plan came together, Opal saw that Garnat once again was letting power and revenge cloud her judgment. But Opal's mother had told her once long ago, that patience is necessary when one seeks something of real importance. "What is it!" The way Garnat phrased it, it seemed more of a command than a question. "Command and control reports that the tracer on two zero six has stopped sending, as has its energy transmissions. They presume that the Youma may have encountered the Scouts, our scans report energy remnants similar to previous encounters." "So they have come to play" Garnat smiled, "Very well then, are two zero seven and eight ready?" "Another day or so to prep them for insertion." Opal replied. "Good," Garnat nodded, then rose to approach the console of the device that they were using to open the gateway for these incursions, remembering the effort that Garnat had put them through just to find this device. "Soon..." Garnat said, then snapped to. "Is that all? Then go and see to the Youma's." Here we go again. Opal murmured as she left the hall. Through the HandyCam's viewfinder, J.J. scanned the front gate of the Cherry Hill Temple, then took a look at the entrance with his own eyes. The ornamentation was exquisite, John noted, using his artist eyes. As Serena led him through the gate and onto the grounds, J.J. marvelled at the peacefulness that began to surround him, in contrast to the chaos and cacophony outside in the world called Tokyo. As they strode up the hill to what appeared to be a small building adjacent to the main temple, J.J. noticed a pair of poles, or more appropriately totems, with a pair of crows perched atop each. As the crows sounded off Serena just shrugged, "That's just Raye's pets, Phobos and Deimos. They're mostly harmless, unless your evil." It took a while for J.J. to make the connection. Approaching what J.J. guessed was the living quarters, he saw the other girls waiting on the steps with Luna and another, white furred, cat waiting for them. "About time, Meatball-head!" Raye Hino shouted on their arrival. "Will you stop calling me THAT!" Serena fumed. "It's my fault that we're a little late." J.J. offered. "After all, it can't be easy dragging around an American that has absolutely no idea where he's going." Luna strode over to J.J. with the white cat. "John Merrick, this is Artemis, my associate." "A pleasure to meet you, finally." The white cat spoke. J.J. noticed that Artemis had a mark similar to Luna's on his forehead. "I believe that a thank you is in order, for what you did a couple of nights ago." "Yea," Lita Kino added, "We might have been toast if you hadn't shown up." J.J. tried to conceal his embarrassment. "Not a problem." "Yeah, usually it's Tuxedo Mask that saves Serena's butt." Raye adds. "Wonder where he was last night." Serena only stuck out a quick tongue. Tuxedo Mask. J.J. remembered some references about the name, have to ask Luna later, he thought. "So what's the deal here?" Mina Aino steered the conversation to business. "Yea, I thought the Negaverse was a done deal." Lita sounded a little bitter to J.J. "Just because you defeated Queen Beryl and Metallica, only meant that you defeated the then ruler of the Negaverse." Luna began to explain. After the events at the warehouse, Luna had told J.J. the backstory of the Silver Millennium. Since John was a science fiction/fantasy fanatic, the story was still incredible, but easy to grasp. Believe on the other hand... "Well," Raye rose from the steps, "I need to prepare for the reading, Give me a few minutes." J.J. watched the robed girl as she went inside. "So what's with these attacks?" Mina asked. Before either of the cats, or anybody spoke, J.J. did. "Scouting missions." "Makes sense." Amy nodded. "Yeah, from what Luna told me, these have been short attacks, until the last, where they tried to establish a more intense operation." J.J. noted, then explained "At the warehouse, before we had to bail, I noticed that there were a lot of papers, looked like maps and such." "But they have been here before." Lita asked. "Why would they have to send scouts?" "Things change." J.J. simply replied. "And they wanted to see if you were still around, and at what level of competence. Its a good bet that whatever their plans are, the Scouts represent a obstacle to those plans." "You think like a solder?" Lita probed. "One of my friends is a military simulation hacker." J.J. explained. "I like to check out his software now and then, some of it rubs off." "Whatever it is," Artemis began, "We have to be on alert. Whoever is behind this can strike again." "Like I have enough problems." Whined Serena. Sitting at the low table, with his legs crossed, John Merrick watched as the Priestess of the Hikawa Temple poured the tea into his cup. J.J. bowed in thanks and lifted the cup to his nose to catch the scent. Next to him, Tom Spenser watched as the tea was poured into his cup. Politely he thanked the Priestess, but privately, he wished for coffee. Actually, he wished he was back at the hanger. After a couple of days of nothing, and when Usagi and Ami had invited J.J. and Spenser to the Hikawa Temple for a fire reading, Spenser thought that it was all a bunch of bullshit. Where he comes from, superstition and supernatural hocus-pocus had no place in this investigation. And he did point this out to his commander. But John asked him to have an open mind. Add to the fact that he couldn't sit at a decent table. On the other hand, John Merrick was absorbing all of this with fascination. The architecture of the temple, its ornamentation, its beauty(?) tugged at his art training. Then there was the conversation, mostly one sided between Usagi, Ami and the Priestess, to whom John had been introduced as Rei Hino. While the girls had chatted away in Japanese, J.J.'s earpiece still translated the conversation, which mostly consisted of reminisces of teen years. "So, Merrick-san," The priestess finally addressed him. "How do you like Japan?" "I like!" J.J. smiled. "Even though this country is a twenty-first century country, it still has its contrasts, like this temple." "I would think that a person such as you would not be interested in the religious traditions of a country like Japan." "On the contrary, it's learning and finding out about the differences on our own planet that fascinates me." True, J.J. thinks, even though a whole universe awaits. "I sense that your colleague does not share the same view." The priestess nods toward Spenser. "Forgive me, Ms Hino," Spenser replied. "But I'm a scientist. I need explanations, not superstitions." "Maybe we can convince you, then." Hino-san said as she excused herself for the moment. As the priestess left the room, Usagi and Ami scowled at Spenser. "What I say, What I say?" "A PICNIC?" Luna was screaming. "SERENA! HOW CAN YOU THINK OF FOOD AT A TIME LIKE THIS?" J.J. now knew better, and as an aside to Mina: "Dumb question." Mina stifled an urge to giggle. "LUNA! I didn't mean right now!" Serena whined, "I meant this Sunday!" "Oh." Luna still seemed a little tiffed, then walked away mumbling something. J.J. realized what was happening, Serena going off on one of her tangents and not keeping her mind on the true perspective. "It's a function of denial." J.J.'s said directing his voice to Luna, which got the cat's attention. "What?" "Serena is fighting to stay more of a normal girl than the heroine that she must eventually become." J.J. explained as Artemis had joined Luna by now. "Hey, were sixteen years old. We see what our parents are, and what they do, and we're thinking 'we have'ta become that?' Another brick in the wall? Nooo way!" J.J. pauses for breath, "Seriously, eventually we all know that we have to grow up, to become adults, but some of us have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming. And then on top of everything else, you're trying to tell Serena that not only does she have to grow up, but..." J.J. didn't have to finish, the cats understood the angle. "I know, John." Luna sighed, "But still..." The black cat looks over at Serena. "...And I can invite Darien, ooo!" Luna just shook her head. Artemis was impressed with J.J.'s analysis. "A student of human nature, John?" "Naw." J.J. quickly replied. "I think I listen to way too much daytime talk radio back in the states." Serena continued to firm up plans as Raye returned and bid the group to follow her into the temple. The fire changed the nature of the shadows that flickered on the walls of the room. John Merrick, Tom Spenser, Usagi Tsukino, and Ami Mizuno, in counter clockwise order sat on the floor in a semi-circle around Rei Hino as the priestess performed the pre-reading ritual. Raising a ceremonial staff, Hino-san waived it before the fire, its paper fronds waiving in a counter dance to the flickering of the flames. J.J. watched as the priestess, raised her wand then laid it at her knees. For a few moments, she seemed to gather her concentration. Then with slow, determined movements with her hands, Rei spoke: "RIN...PYOU...TOU...SHA...KAI...JIN...RETSU...SAI...ZEN!" With the last, the priestess threw her hands, palms flat to the flames, and her eyes seemed to fly open. At that point, J.J. looked towards the flames. He didn't expect to see something. But he did. What he saw seemed to be two John Merricks. After the ceremony, Rei Hino explained what she saw in the flames. "The base nature of these events are not of, what you would call true evil, intent, but the origin has some sense of negative force connected to them." "And the two of me." John asked. "I am at first surprised that you saw that part of the image. Usually only real sensitives, trained in the art can see." "Yeah, well I have been known to surprise a lot of people." J.J. sheepishly grins. "But two images of me?" "There are several possibilities. Conflicts within yourself. Or a confrontation. And not necessarily a fight." The priestess replied. "Well, I'm sure that the spirits never come out with a straight answer. Mostly they like to tease. Which forces us to learn, mostly about ourselves." John Merrick smiled. After Raye discussed the fire vision with J.J. and the girls and cats, the meeting then shifted to what the Dark Kingdom could really be up to. J.J. sat listening, but his mind began to drift to what he saw; twin John Merricks. Raye had some ideas as to what the vision meant, but that doesn't mean that J.J. bought in to them. "Do you have any ideas, John?" Amy's voice brought J.J.'s mind back to the here and now. "Well excuse me for not paying that much attention, so if this covers previous ground, stop me. Putting myself in their shoes, the first thing I'd do is what we have seen. Short visits to scout, and to test you, see how powerful you are. Assuming that now they know, the next phase is to try to take you out. In short, this fight has only just begun." "So what have we accomplished with this visit?" Tom Spenser asked the question as the group left the temple and made for the van. "If anything," John Merrick began, "It took our brains out of thinking about what we are doing here, and gave us a look into the minds of a group of people that we will eventually have to deal with in the future. Don't take this lightly, Spense. The Japanese have a culture that is rich in tradition, Shintoism is a part of that. And for a culture that prizes its traditions, it requires that you pay a little respect." "Didn't do anything for me." Spenser muttered. "Still, Maybe we got something we can use," J.J. said as he opened the door to the van, "If only we have the real intelligence to figure out what it is. And before it's a little too late." Five: A Pair of Jokers With the arrival of another Sunday, John Merrick rose, not having to worry about a school day and came downstairs for breakfast. After eating and talking to the Tsukino's, J.J. went upstairs to compose a Email on the ThinkPad for sending back home. What he wrote was a little boring, what with having to leave out the real events of the last week. Still there was enough to tell them that he really was having an exciting time, without really telling them exactly how exciting. While typing, at about 11:00 am, he finally heard the commotion from next door, as Serena woke up and scrambled to get ready for the trip to the park. A little later, Luna sauntered into J.J.'s room and leapt up to the table. "Morning, Luna." "Good morning, John." The cat slid to rub its body on the side of the laptop's screen/lid. Instinctively J.J. took a hand and scratched behind the feline's head. But then suddenly withdrew it. "What's wrong?" "I suddenly realized that you are what we sci-fl-ers would call a sentient being. You have as much intelligence as a human but in an alien form. And to top it off, you are female, the opposite sex. I probably shouldn't be fondling you like that." "That's all right, John." The cat replied. "This is the way I am. And I have gotten used to being manhandled, and I can let you know when you are crossing the line." For emphasis she looks at a paw as the claws extend. "Besides, usually the place that humans usually pet us is the one place we can't scratch often enough." "Cool, but I'm certainly not going to look at Spot the same way again." "Spot?" "Sorry, I watch Star Trek The Next Generation, so sue me." "Oh, right." "Anyway, what time are we supposed to meet the girls for the picnic?" "Twelve o'clock." Luna replied. J.J. looked at the clock on the screen. 11:32:16 Commander John Merrick was typing a document out on a terminal. He glanced at the time display, noting that back in the Eastern time zone it would be 9:30pm, shortly after dusk. The second shift on the 'Aquarius' would have two hours to go, but after two weeks in Japan, Theta Team had adjusted to the time difference. So now J.J.'s stomach was growling in anticipation of lunch. Which was Usagi's cue to drop a large chest cooler on the conference table. "Hello?" J.J. yelped in surprise. "What's this?" "Well, I have a friend who's a chef and she makes some great food, and I thought you might like some." Usagi began to unpack the cooler. Then a second cooler descended on the table. The person who carried the cooler was a tall statuesque woman with brown hair done into a ponytail. At least, she had a visitor's badge pinned to her chest, but J.J. was frowning: "Excuse me, Usagi, this is supposed to be a secured area, only authorized personnel on the cleared list." "I'm sorry, Merrick-san, but I needed help with these coolers." "Could have gotten one of the carts." J.J. said with a smile. Then he remembered his manners. "Pardon me, John Merrick, Aquarius Technology." And offered a hand to... "Makoto Kino." The visitor bowed then took the hand. "Forgive me if there are any broken rules, but someone should have said something." With the last, Makoto shot an accusatory glance at Usagi. "Quite all right. At least we don't have too many top secrets lying around." J.J.'s joke put the tall woman at ease. "You're gonna like some of her cooking, boss." Usagi started to piece on some of the fixings. As J.J. scanned some of the dishes, some had a familiar look to them. "Well, this doesn't look like Japanese cooking." "I spent a couple of years in America, learning American cuisine, then came back and opened an American restaurant." Ms Kino explained. J.J. noted that's why her command of english is excellent. "Yeah, got four of five stars from the Ashai Shibun." Usagi added. "I'd rate this at four out of five." J.J. tried to say while chewing the rest of the bite of the chicken that he was eating. He swallowed then continued, "Not bad Lita, this is really good." Naturally, J.J. and Serena was thirty minutes late. J.J. tried his American excuse again, but the girls weren't buying. Serena ignored the sniping, because her 'Muffin' was there. Darien Chiba was tall, taller than J.J. which seemed like an abnormality for a Japanese. He also was older, by three Maybe four years older than J.J. was. Not that it made J.J. nervous, nor did it irked him, as Luna explained who Darien was. But to see Serena drape herself over Darien like a lovesick puppy. It seemed to embarrass Darien. J.J. knew that it would embarrass him if Teri started to fawn over him like that. But this was nice, at least after the weirdness of the last week. J.J. had a chance at least, to slow down and let the events of the last few days soak in. J.J. was in the process of devouring a tasty piece of American-style fried chicken breast when the loud-speaker broke in. "All personnel, alert status, will Commander Merrick report to the operation center." J.J. sighed for two reasons, one because he had to leave this feast, second, he's got to talk to his people about using his 'Aquarius' title. "I'm sorry, Ms Kino. Hate to eat and run, cause the food is delish, but we have to be on the move." J.J. gestured to Usagi. "See her out, please Ms Tsukino, Ms Kino we'll make sure you get the coolers back as soon as possible." As J.J. headed to one of the mobile labs, he called back, "Thanks again, Ms Kino!" And disappeared into the van. "Repeating, all personnel..." J.J. absorbed the peacefulness of the park, noting only in the back of his mind, that the downtown Tokyo skyline was only a few klicks away. "So how do you like Japan?" Darien Chiba startled J.J. for a bit. "It's incredible." J.J. regained his senses. "Sometimes the similarities to home are startling. This park for instance. It's about the same area as Schiller Park. Not as crow-barred." "Homesick?" "Not as much as I figured. Last two weeks have had a lot of distractions." "I know." Darien smiled, "And I want to thank you for your timely rescue the other night." "Wha?!" J.J. snapped his head. "How did you..." "Serena told me." Darien lied as he realized that this stranger may not know who he is. "Oh." J.J. settled down. "Well I would have been a lousy guest if I hadn't butted in." It was Raye who interrupted the festivities. "Wait everybody." She looked around with apparent nervousness. "Luna, do you feel that?" "Yes!" the dark furred cat stood alert, its back arched. "Negaverse energy. And close." J.J. felt something but dismissed his misgivings to empathic feelings. "Meaning trouble?" "Afraid so." Raye replied. "Yes. Everybody be on alert." Luna replied. A distant scream broke through the air, and soon the fleeing forms of panicked persons told the group that something unpleasant was up. "Com'n guys," Raye started to run toward the source of the trouble. "Raye, wait!" Serena called, but the black-haired teen was already halfway down the path. Serena, Darien and the others started after her, leaving J.J. alone with the picnic gear. "And what am I?" J.J. mused. "Chopped Liver?" and began to go after his friends. "Waitaminit, around here, that probably ought to be chopped sushi." The girls had reached the duck pond, but there were no ducks. Raye looked around as the other four girls, Luna and Artemis caught up to Raye. "Well, Hothead." Serena quipped, "Where's the fire?" Raye Hino ignored Serena, mostly because she was trying to concentrate her extrasensory powers in a attempt to locate the source of the Negaverse aura. She sensed a large source but... "Come on, guys. This way!" Raye led them towards the Pagoda. The information gleaned from the sensors aboard the PSV circling Tokyo led Theta to one of the city's numerous skyscrapers. With a police escort, the two vans containing members of Theta Team pulled up to the tower's entrance. "Lovely." Tom Spenser began as he got out of the van. "Anybody home." "Probably just a security guard." John Merrick guessed. "Maybe a few doing some overtime. Lucky. Had this been a weekday, we could have had some serious trouble." John went up to the door, which was locked. Inside, a uniformed guard saw the activity and came out to investigate. J.J. made his way down the path that led to a small pond. Once there, J.J. looked around for signs of anything, but none appeared. Not wanting to shout out, lest he alert someone, or considering the situation, something, J.J. continued to search by listening. Using his ears to scan for sounds. At first, he heard nothing, but then he heard the cries that could only be children. And that was where J.J. headed for. But at the Pagoda, the girls found what they were looking for. A Youma. Doing what youmas usually do. Zapping the nearby humans of their lifeforce energy. And wrecking up the place. "Man, you'd think they would let us have a peaceful day in the park." Mina groused. "No rest for the weary, or the heroic, I guess." Amy noted. "So what are we waiting for." Raye added. "Yeah! Let"s dust this sucker." Lita finished. "Right!" Serena nodded. And so... "MOON...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "VENUS...STAR...POWER!" "JUPITER...STAR...POWER!" "MARS...STAR...POWER!" "MERCURY...STAR...POWER!" Meanwhile, J.J. followed the sound of the cries to a playground. On arrival, he saw several of the children, kneeling at their parents bodies, trying to wake them up. And off to on end of the clearing, near a set of swings, a youma was threatening a group of obviously scared kids. J.J. acted quickly. Scanning around, he saw a stick about the size and mass of a broom handle. Moving quickly and quietly, J.J. went over to pick up the handle, then quietly took a position behind the monster. J.J. then tapped the monster on its shoulder. "Excuse me, but would you be so kind as to pick on someone your own size?" J.J. then proceeded to twirl the stick and wacked the youma in the face, right on the nose and between the eyes. Naturally, the youma was stunned, either by the sudden pain or by the sheer insolence of this human. J.J. took the opportunity to run about fifty meters, before turning to see his results. As the youma cleared the shock from its head it fixed its gaze on the human. J.J. stuck out his tongue. "Well, come on you Bozo! What are you waiting for! Catch me, If you can, furball!" The monster raged and started after the human. "Was this trip really necessary?" J.J. muttered under his breath, as he ran. "MOON...SCEPTER...ELIMINATION!" Immediately after the incantation, Sailor Moon aimed the scepter at the freezed and fried youma. Its energies streamed towards the monster who gave a last roar before turning to dust. "Very good, girls." The praise came from Artemis. "That was quick team work." "I guess practice does make perfect." Sailor Moon smiled. "But these monsters are no contest," Sailor Jupiter observed, "This was too quick." "Mercury," Sailor Mars began, "Scan the area. I'm still sensing something." Sailor Mercury touched her earring, which activated her VR visor. She made a slow turn until facing a direction back towards the interior of the park. "There's another one, about fifteen hundred meters, near the playground and moving." "Great," groused Sailor Moon, "A Sailors work is never done." The Scouts ran off in the direction of the new target. Finally gaining entrance into the building, Theta Team was scanning the interior. The readings lead them to the elevator core. John Merrick pointed his scanner at the row of five elevators. "Inside the shafts?" he asked Tom Spenser. Spenser pointed to one of the other persons with scanners. "End of the hall." After a few scans at both ends of the row. "Yep." He nodded. "Shaft three, about twenty meters." "Beautiful, just beautiful. Usagi." John called. "See if we can contact the building superintendent." J.J. saw one of the policemen attach_d to assist pressed the buttons for the lifts. But the elevator doors to car five opened. "Ami, you can tell him that probably won't do us any good. Elevator system protocol." At this rate, J.J. thought to himself, we'll be lucky if there is anything useful left by the time we get there. J.J. was finding this cat and mouse game tiring. He was also finding that playing the mouse wasn't all fun either. At least he was keeping his distance of the monster. For some reason, this youma was the slow, lumbering type, and not very fast. That gave J.J. a slight advantage. But at the same, J.J. had not lost it through the chase, so either its endurance was better or its persistence, which meant that as John was leading his pursuer on a grand tour, he was getting tired, and that could end this chase real fast. As he threaded his way through another set of bushes, J.J. looked back, checking to see if the monster was still on his... WHAM! The collision knocked J.J. and the colliding object down. J.J. quickly rolled up and looked around, then looked and started to apologize to whomever he had ran into. Once again the source pictures on the Net did not do its subject justice. Those pictures showed a almost silly looking person in a tuxedo and a cape. The figure standing before him carried himself in a more secure manner. Ding went the bell in J.J.'s head. Tuxedo Mask. Only one difference. No mask. J.J. was looking at the face of Darien Chiba. "Oh geese, sorry man," J.J. then realized what he was seeing. "You?" Before Darien could say something, the rustling in the bushes alerted the two to something a little more important. Tuxedo picked up his mask and followed J.J. as they ran through the bushes. Popping into a clearing, J.J. slowed down a bit as Tuxedo Mask ran past him. Behind them the Youma broke through. Tuxedo turned and threw something at the monster. J.J. turned his head, trying to follow the trajectory of the object, but only saw it for a fraction of a second, before the youma roared out in pain and anger. 'A rose?' J.J. thought. Then he and Tuxedo Mask started to run again. The roar tore through the park. It scared most of the visitors, already skittish from earlier attacks. But not the five Sailor Scouts who were also running through the park. "Hear that?" Yelled Sailor Jupiter. "Yeah!" Sailor Mars replied. "This way." And the five ran towards the direction of the roar. The dangling cables in the elevator shaft told John Merrick more than he wanted to know. Standing at the open doors of shaft three, on the third floor. J.J. looked down the two floors to the top of the elevator car, now only held there by its emergency systems. The burst had not only taken out the pulling cables, but the guide rails for both the car and the counterweight. "Any other day, and this would have been a tragedy." Tom Spenser made his observation as he ran the scanner up and down the shaft, using the scanner's targeting laser pointer to locate areas for special attention. "Yeah, I know." J.J. nodded. "Had this been a weekday, had the car been on one of the upper floors, or worse, been here..." J.J. simply shook his head. Just what was going on here? The Youma continued to chase after J.J. and Tuxedo Mask into another clearing. J.J. was really starting to get tired, despite the dumping of adrenalin. Wonderful thing fear, mused J.J. Halfway into the clearing however J.J. heard some yelling: "DUCK, GUYS!" Not a problem, thought J.J. and let his tired body fall to the ground. "MARS...CELESTIAL FIRE...SURROUND!' Sailor Mars released the spell which swiftly attach_d itself to the monster, which roared its disapproval. "MOON...SCEPTER...ELIMINATION!" Sailor Moon waisted no time in reducing the youma to dust. After the last of the monster fell to the ground in molecular dust, the five girls and two cats surrounded the two young men. Tuxedo Mask recovered quickly, but J.J. seemed to take his time. "Are you allright, John?" "Yeah," J.J. got out between breaths. "Need a little time to recover. That was a fun run!' "Com'n." Sailor Jupiter spoke. "We gotta get out of here before the police come." The Scouts and Tuxedo Mask returned to their normal identities and Lita and Darien help J.J. off the grass and to his feet, leading the group back to their picnic site. As Theta Team were being driven through the streets of Tokyo, John Merrick and Tom Spenser were examining the end cuts of elevator cable. "No signs of cutting, melting, phasering," Spencer just shook his head. "with the exception of our phaser that we used to cut the thing." "I want some of the samples kicked upstairs." J.J. said. "I want Peter to take a look. No transporter, use a PSV." "That'll take a little while." Spenser noted. "Time for a PSV to depart Aquarius, trans-parking coast to LEO, de-orbit, re-entry and flight to Tokyo, packing, liftoff and flight to insertion-to-LEO burn, LEO to trans-ship injection and coast, rendezvous to L4 and back on the Aquarius." "Is one long trip." J.J. sighed. "But I want a clean read of this, no contamination, which our transporter system could cause." J.J. looked at the end of the cable closly. "For this, I can be a little patient." J.J. took the drink of water from Lita, gulping it down. "Thirsty?" "Yeah?" J.J. replies, "Well, run around with a monster chasing your butt and see if you don't get a little parched." He reaches for the water jug. Darien explained what J.J. had done, telling the girls and cats about the playground. "You acted before I could move in." "Well, sorry for butting in, but I hate to see some 'thing', just bully little kids like that." J.J. took several glups from the jug. "Still, you could have been injured, or worse." Serena seemed to scold J.J. with the tone of her voice. "You can't be the hero all of the time." "Like, that's supposed to be our job." Mina noted. "I'll try not to let it happen again," J.J. replied, "But I make no promises." Opal was tempted not to bring the news to Garnat, but that would be betraying the command structure that she had long subscribed her life to. Entering the great hall, she went directly to the podium where Garnat held court. "Captain, I have news." This was not going to be pretty. Six: The Calm Before Five days passed, with no further activity being sensed by any of the equipment in and around, or even over, Tokyo. Aquarius Technology Special Investigations Team Theta relaxed under the seeming pause in the analomy that brought Theta to Japan. With every day that elapsed with no incidents, the same question was asked; Are they over? John Merrick couldn't answer that, for sure. The possibility did exist, after all, that the incidents would stop before they could find a concrete answer. Never the less, J.J. promised the Japanese Government that they would hang around for three weeks after the last reported incident. Just in case. That of course meant that John Merrick had a crew of thirty or so technicians and scientists either standing around, or sitting, either looking and testing, or doing nothing. And in a city as exciting as Tokyo, that was not good for moral. So, J.J. started to allow limited shifts the opportunity for a little sightseeing. Which is why he was seeing the latest batch of Theta members returning from the latest sojourn. J.J. didn't practiced what he preached though. After all with the technology of the 'Aquarius' at his disposal, he had better ways to amuse himself. Which is why one of the video monitors set to receive local broadcast was tuned to what appeared to be a very familiar robot fighting a really dopey looking monster. J.J. seemed to be laughing his head off. Tom Spenser went over to investigate. When he saw what the commander was laughing at, he joined in. This scene of hilarity is what Usagi and Ami walked in after their tea break. "What's so funny guys?" Usagi asked. All J.J. had to do was to point at the screen. It took a while for the robot designs to register in Usagi's brain. "Oh. It's 'Kakuranger'." Usagi noted, then asked, again, "What's funny about it, I mean I know the Monsters are dopey-looking but..." "You really have to see what it's been turned in to." "You mean like the movie?" Serena asked. J.J. had been caught red handed in his own brand of elitist ignorance. He had forgotten about that stupid movie back in 1995. "Yeah." He quickly replied. The Tsukino family was sitting in their living room, enjoying an evening's television. J.J. was explaining what certain sentai series had been "Morphed" into in the US. "I have to admit, that the special physical effects are extremely well done, its just that it's slapped together with a swiss plot, with cottage cheese sets, and limburger for monsters and villains. Star Trek it ain't!" "Interesting. What else have you seen?" What Happened? Opal continued to ask the same question for the last five days. Two youmas inserted, less than forty minutes later the termination signal received. She kept coming up with the same answer, they had inadvertently sent the youmas in too close to the Scouts location at the time. Most of the other denizens in the division were shocked however that two youmas were dispatched to dust so easily. Not Opal. And not Garnat, it seemed. For when told of the incident, she simply nodded and told Opal to ready the next youma. Curious. In actually, Garnat was furious, but held her anger. No need for the minions to see that she was pissed. The Scouts were now an official pain in the butt, and Garnat was thinking of the best way to pull these thorns. Permanently. "John Merrick report to the communications pod." John Merrick broke from the conference table and made his way towards Mobile One, where the comm pod was located. The Communications Pod was for the use of one man or woman for secure communications, primarily from the 'Aquarius'. J.J. climbed into the vehicle, and made way to the back of the crammed tech mobile. Sitting down in the lone chair, J.J. shut and secured the door, then spoke "Commander here." In quick response the single large screen lit up with the face of Peter LaPerrie, 'Aquarius' Chief of Scientific Operations. "Hello Peter. What do you got?" "Well I have an interesting mystery." The screen split into smaller windows, as graphics started to play out. "We scanned the piece of cable wire you sent us. Took us a while to narrow down the energy remnants on it, but this is the particular signature we were looking at." J.J. saw the pattern. "And?" "Well, while the remnants of this energy is almost a thousand times, aw heck, here." Now several screens popped up, each labeled for source. J.J. scanned the elements. And slowly got the picture. "No way!" J.J. said, but privately checked himself. Sometimes, he said to himself, in the universe, there are simply no such things as coincidences. Later, J.J. was walking upstairs towards his room when he heard a cry of despair from Serena's room. Knocking on the door, "Serena, is there a problem." "Yea, several." He heard from behind, "All algebra!" "Are you decent? May I come in?" After a few seconds, the door opened and Serena, dressed in pajamas decked out in Babs Bunny, allowed J.J. in. Luna was lying in the bed, seeming exasperated. "Sorry if I'm disturbing anything," J.J. said, "Maybe I can help." "Are you any good?" "Not if my grades were any indication. See I failed my first two times at bat. One regular, one summer." "What happened?" asked Luna, sensing there was more to this story. "No motivation, until I made the connection that this was the math involved in computers, then I cruised-controlled through, ignored the teacher's pace, and learned on my own. Just aced the final exam, 93, which is the only score that counted." J.J. smiled. "See Serena," Luna tried to use J.J. as an object lesson, "what can happen if you put your mind to it." "Yea Luna." Serena sighed. J.J. seized the initiative however. "Let's see where you are." Looking at the textbook, however, its in Japanese, "Show me the problem..." "Just how can the energy bursts here be related to the ones on the moon?" Tom Spenser asked. J.J. brought Theta Team around the conference table, after explaining to Usagi and Ami that this discussion was amongst Aquarius Tech personnel, and instituting mobile security protocols that lock out any possible leaks. "At this point, Peter isn't even sure. Computer data is telling him that if you factor the decay of the trace over a thousand years, that the sources are ninety nine percent identical." "You know that brings up some very ugly questions, Commander." Paul Lally commented. "I know," J.J. held out his hand, "and right now our only job is to find these sources and if we can find out the eventual source, if necessary and or possible, to shut it down." "Easier said than done, skipper." Spenser replied. "And what do we tell the others?" J.J. knew that Spenser meant the people working with them, like Ami, and Usagi. "As close to nothing as possible. At least they don't need to know where the additional info came from. Until then we have two weeks and two days. Nothing happens till then, we pack it in." "And leave with a mystery destined for the next millennia." Tom Spenser dropped his pen on the table. "Lovely." Seven: Storm Front It had been a quiet few days in the Negaverse. But now it was over. Garnat called for Opal. The Lieutenant entered the hall where the Captain held her court. "At your command." Opal reported. "I have decided on the next move." Garnat began, "We have been at a disadvantage." "How so?" "We have been fighting them on their terms, and on their turf." The Captain smiled. "Its time to change that. Two more days pass without incident, and J.J. started to settle into a routine, not interrupted by encounters with monsters, that satisfied him somewhat. Getting up, going to school, getting out of school, checking out the sites, getting home, checking his e-mail, and going to sleep, wondering if all the film and tape he was exposing wasn't going to trash the Merrick family fortune. Today as he exited the school, he waited for Serena, and on their way home got distracted at the Crown Arcade where Serena spied the latest Sailor V game. Bumming some coins from J.J. Serena plopped down to the console to play, leaving J.J. to watch over her shoulder with Andrew Motoki, who ran the arcade. "Fighting games not to your liking." "Well..." J.J. hemmed a bit, "A couple of exceptions, 'Fatal Paws of Fury' Maybe. I have a computer at home, so I usually spend more time at tactical, role playing games, and puzzles. This isn't real hand to hand combat. It's simply learning repetitive patterns of joystick and button movements. You can't transfer what you have learned from one game to the next. And there's only so many times you can recreate the genre, you know." At the hanger, J.J. was trying to sneak in an afternoon nap. 'Trying' being the operative word here, since all the noise of personnel working here seemed to really intrude on a sleep session. But was that any worse, J.J. tried to reason, than sleeping with the street noise back home, or for that matter the background noises of the 'Aquarius'? So John Merrick, Commander of the Starship 'Aquarius' simply has had to learn another talent. Sneaking in a few Z's any way he can. Sitting alone at a terminal at the conference desk, Tom Spenser took care of the paperwork, looking over the individual reports of the rest of Theta Team. For a few moments, he reared back, basically to give his eyes a rest from the terminal screen. And looked over at the Commander, laid out on the bunk, seeming to sleep. Thinking back, he was a little angry that he came along. After all he was the assigned Commander of Theta, this was his mission. But at the same time, he is the Commander. This is as new to him as it is to me, Spenser realized. And he is an extra brain, even though he outranks me. And I don't really envy him in the least, cause when this is over, we get a vacation, he has the 'Aquarius', and the Organization, to run. That responsibility is not for me. Spenser heaved a breath, then returned to the screen. Entering the gateway to the Cherry Hill Temple, Raye Hino walked up the pathway to the living quarters. Going immediately to her room, She changed out of her school uniform and put on her more comfortable kimono. Raye then checked that her grandfather was staying out of trouble, then set about her chores around the temple. In the midst of her automatic routine, her psychic senses began to ring alarm bells. Heeding this call, Raye begins to search. "Alert Status. All Personnel." John Merrick quickly walked into the vehicle designated Mobile One. "What do you got?" "Burst source, triangulating now." The tech replied, then added, "Strange, this one hasn't faded, its still present, at a low power level." J.J. waited for a printout as another tech handed him a belt, containing among other things, the compact power source for the Orion Armor, the thin exo-skeleton frame that the key Theta members wore under their regular clothes, like underwear. Getting the belt on the tech handed him the printout. J.J. studied the print carefully. Then let out a low whistle, and called out "Usagi!" Usagi Tsukino ran up to the mobile unit. "What?" "Is this where I think this is?" Usagi studied the map print. "Kuso!" "Thought so," J.J. replied, "Com'n, Let's go." The Commander headed towards the transport. Behind him Usagi muttered, "Ki-o-tsukete-ne Rei." Raye turned the corner into the courtyard of the main temple. There it stood, one Youma. And that is what it was doing, standing. Not looking for anything to drain of energy, or to destroy. Just standing. Raye reached for her transformation pen and then checked herself. No need to show this monster her true self. Finding a secluded corner she then raised the pen and spoke: "MARS...STAR...POWER!" As soon as the transformation had finished, she raised her wrist and activated her communicator: "Attention all Scouts!" At the Crown Arcade, Serena was almost ready to crown the sixth level boss on the game when her wrist signaled for her attention. J.J. heard the tones and stepped closer to where Serena was sitting. The distraction had cost Serena dearly as the boss fatally struck her digital avatar, and "GAME OVER" began to dance on the screen. "Problem?" "Maybe," Serena replied. Then turned her attention to her wrist, "What, Raye?" "There's a youma here at the temple. Get over here." "I'm coming, hang on!" Serena grabbed her things and started for the door. J.J. said bye to Andrew, and followed. Out on the street, Serena met a waiting Luna and told her about the call. "Well we better get over there right away!" Luna replied. "How?" Serena cried. J.J. spotted how. Sammy, Serena's brother rode up to the Arcade on his bicycle. "Perfect." He went up to Sammy, "Sam, can you do us a favor, and let Serena and Me use your bicycle?" He pulled out a couple of yen. "Here. You can play a few on me." Sammy was a little perplexed, but not enough to turn down a couple of yen. "Sure, but..." "We'll get it back to the house, don't worry." J.J. replied. "OK." Sammy replied, and headed into the arcade. J.J. took the bike and got on. The bike was like a banana seater. Getting over to Serena and Luna, he said "Com'n, let's saddle up." Serena took the hint, and picking up Luna, took the seat behind J.J. "All right, we're off!" And J.J. pointed the bike in the direction of the Cherry Hill Temple. In the van, as it drove through the streets of Tokyo, Usagi was trying to call the Temple on a cell phone to warn Rei and to tell her that they were coming. But all she heard was the response tone of the other end of the line still ringing. "Come on, someone pick up!" Usagi urged. "Hang tight," Tom Spenser replied. "ETA Three minutes." "Lot could happen in three minutes." Usagi shot back. Sailor Mars stood with her head just peeking around the corner of the building, looking at the youma, who was still doing nothing. She wanted to wait until one or two of the other Scouts arrived to help. But her patience was running out, and she was just itching to toast this Negamonster for spoiling a seemingly peaceful afternoon. J.J. was trying to keep the bicycle on course for the temple. Not an easy task, with a set of wheels a little short for him. Still they were making good time, and with no other problems, were about three minutes away from the Temple. Almost as soon as the van stopped, the door slid open and Theta team started to file out, led by John Merrick. The team grouped together, then started in through the temple gateway. Halfway in, the group were met by an acolyte, who was babbling almost incoherently. J.J. grabbed for the young female, as Usagi came up to the person. "Rei? WHERE"S REI?" The female pointed towards the direction of the main building. Usagi started for the temple, but J.J. released the acolyte and started for Usagi, "Hold up a minute, Tom what do we got?" "Energy source, holding steady in power, one hundred eighty meters east." "OK. Let's take it slow and easy." J.J. tried to take the edge off the excitement. No need for this to get out of control. Of course, that is exactly what is going to happen. J.J. and Serena arrive just as Mina with Artemis, Lita, and Amy do. They are met by Sailor Mars who quickly explains the situation. "Well come on!" Lita says, "Let's pound some NegaTrash!" and proceeds to pull her transformation wand. "Hold on a sec here." J.J. interjects, "It may not be blatantly obvious, but this may be a trap." "I agree," Luna nods. "We should be very careful." "Right," Amy agrees. "Still, we can't face the youma like this." Mina notes. Obviously a cue. Three girls raise transformation pens. One just raises her hand. "MOON...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "VENUS...STAR...POWER!" "JUPITER...STAR...POWER!" "MERCURY...STAR...POWER!" Even though he was a lot closer for this one, J.J. still was bowled over to see five Sailor Scouts standing before him. "Now can we go in and trash something?" Sailor Jupiter asked. "Let's take it slow," Venus replied, "And let's split up, with a three pronged attack. Mars, Jupiter and I. Moon, and Mercury, hang back." "I'll hang way back for this one." J.J. reminded and watched as the Scouts entered the grounds, then followed well behind, with Luna and Artemis. The psychic link between Serena/Sailor Moon and Darien Chiba/Tuxedo Mask kicked in just as Darien was arriving in his apartment with a bag of groceries, after college class. In no time, Darien was in his Mask garb, and out the window, flying towards Cherry Hill Temple. Well inside the temple grounds, and about seventy meters from where sensors told them the energy source was still, Theta Team ran into a group of people, members of the temple. Usagi immediately spotted Rei Hino and ran over to her. "Are you all right Rei-san?" she spoke in Japanese. "Yes, but..." The priestess seemed stunned. John Merrick entered the conversation, "Was there anybody near the burst?" "I do not know?" Hino responded. "Try to get a accounting of your people, while we take a closer look." J.J. motioned for his team to move in. At fifty meters, John Merrick could see what the chase was all about. Pointing the sensor told him where it was. It seemed to be a spherical shimmer of the space about three meters in diameter. Occasional specks of light flickered around the surface, giving it a a physicality, almost like the holographic cloaking effect on the PSV's. J.J. neglected to notice that Usagi was right behind him. John Merrick saw this from fifty meters from the youma: "JUPITER THUNDER...CRASH!" "MARS FIRE...IGNITE!" "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM...SMASH!" The three attacks, launched by Jupiter, Mars, and Venus, from thirty meters intersected the Youma. But after the energy played themselves out, the youma seemed unaffected. It did however get the monsters attention. "Well, I see that you have come to play." From forty meters, Sailor Mercury activated her visor. Sailor Moon readied to attack with her tiara. Visor's analysis complete: holographic projection. "I suppose you have come to try to destroy us?" Moon spoke. "No" the youma replied, "I am only here to open the door, to your doom." BOOOOM! The explosion and shock wave rocked the temple grounds, and knocked the Scouts back away from the epicenter, but only for a second. That's when the vortex kicked in. As Theta Team started to edge closer to the energy aura. Paul Lally, holding a sensor unit, spoke "Energy levels rising rapidly, Commander. Approaching upper scale limit." J.J. had begun to give orders when... BOOOOM! The explosion and shock wave rocked the temple grounds, and knocked Theta Team back away from the epicenter, but only for a second. That's when the vortex kicked in. The vortex began sucking everything that wasn't tied or nailed down, and at this point that included the Sailor Scouts. With nothing to grab onto, all five Scouts were swept into the vortex in a matter of seconds. But Luna, Artemis, and J.J. were a safe distance away. That is until Luna bolted for the vortex. Artemis yelped, but J.J. started after Luna, hoping to catch the cat before they got too close. Most of Theta Team were well away from the vortex when it began inhaling. But Usagi wasn't one of them. She had grabbed on to some bushes and tried desperately to hold on. J.J. saw this and knew that he had to play his trump card: He yelled "ORION ARMOR ON LINE!" The call activated circuits and systems carried on his person, the Orion Body Armor/Weapons System, which began to rezz up around him, forming a metallic exo-skeletial armor frame over his body. But by the time the armor became solid, the bush's roots had tore from the earth, and Usagi was flying towards the Vortex. John then took one deep breath and launched himself towards the flying Usagi. Luna was far too fast for J.J. and reached the vortex's event horizon before J.J. could cut her off, leaping into the opening. At that point J.J knew he was in big trouble, because he too began flying towards the vortex. Off in the distance, about 500 meters above the fray, Tuxedo Mask saw all this and started towards the vortex. Figuring he was close enough, he dived for the opening. Pointing his right arm, J.J. fired the Orion Armor's thought-guided tether at Usagi, which reached her and wrapped its end around her waist. Fine, J.J. thought, but now he had to save the both of them. Reaching out with his left arm, he tried to grab a railing, but he misjudged both the strength needed to grasp, and the timing, because when he tried, the tension of the tether snapped his body away from the rail, and flung him through and into the vortex. Seeing that the Commander was on his way in, Tom Spencer, called to the Theta Team, "Well, last one in ..." Spencer, with Caren Talbot and Paul Lally, and without any hesitation, on their part, followed the Commander and Usagi in. Tuxedo Mask was in mid air, expecting to enter the portal, when just as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished. With nothing to enter, Tuxedo Mask finished his arc and tumbled to the ground, landing on his feet. Artemis ran over to Tuxedo Mask just in time to hear him say "No! Serena..." With the disappearance of the Commander and Theta Team Leader along with Miss Tsukino and two other members of Theta, Lt. Mary Huggens took two very controlled breaths and tried to remain calm. As the occupants of the temple approached, Huggens ordered the remaining Theta team members to wave everybody back, But Rei Hino managed to evade the round-up and approached Huggens. "What happened? Where is Merrick-san?" Rei asked. "Damned if I know, but I think its high time to call in the A-Team." Mary raised her wrist and activated her communicator, "Aquarius Command this is Theta Team, Priority One Emergency." "Theta Team, Command, Braxton here, Report." "This is Lieutenant Huggens, The Commander, three of Theta and our civilian liaison just disappeared." Eight: The Other Side of the Looking Glass As Commander John Merrick recovered his senses, the first thing he saw was the form of Usagi Tsukino in front of him, through the Orion's visor. The visor's data feed was telling him that she was alive, so he ordered the tether to unwrap itself. Looking around while this happened, he saw three other Orion suited bodies near him, then began to take a look around at where he was. Merrick saw darkness divided by a relatively smooth, featureless plain. But in one direction was a glow that appeared to be a city. Looking down from the glow, however he saw the forms of six persons: Five female, all wearing the same type of uniform and one male. He approached the fallen bodies, ordering his scanner suite to run its medscan program. Scanning the bodies one at a time the visor started to relay information. Six, no seven lifesigns. Seven? I'm counting six bodies here, what are you... Then Commander Merrick saw that one of the life signs was smaller than the others. Concentrating on the image he saw that it seemed to be a ... cat? It was near the male figure. Ok that's seven. Merrick then approached the females for a closer scan. The dresses looked like naval uniforms, sort of like those he saw on some schoolgirls he saw back in Tokyo. But one of the girls caught his eye. She was face down, but she had almost the same hair, and style... Bad move, because Commander John Merrick never heard the groan from the tallest, auburn haired girl, as she regained her senses. And he certainly didn't hear her run up to him, at least, not until she yelled in mid-kick. "HAI!" "Ooofff!" Merrick felt the impact of the kick through the Orion Armor, and fell to the ground. He instinctively rolled to face in the direction of his attacker, who spoke: "All right, you NegaDweeb! Lay off my friends!" Whoa! This girl is serious! John Merrick knew the combative look, and he only had one way to diffuse it. "ORION ARMOR OFF-LINE!" The armor immediately derezzed from around his body, leaving Commander Merrick essentially and seemingly, unprotected. "Hold it! It's all right! I'm a friendly!" Sailor Jupiter held her ground, but not just because the voice, but with the armor gone she knew the body. But she looked over and there HE was, just getting up. "Who the hell are you!" "My name is John Merrick." More confusion. "You can't be John Merrick," Jupiter pointed to the figure that was sitting up. Commander John Merrick saw a face that he really hadn't seen in six years, his own. "You must be a Negaverse trooper." "Negaverse?" Merrick started to put two and two together. And quickly used his best weapon. "No, My name IS John Merrick, I'm Commander of the Starship Aquarius. We were investigating a series of energy disturbances in Tokyo, Japan." "Easy, Jupiter." A new voice entered the fray. "I just scanned him, he's not a denizen, he's human." Commander Merrick turned to see "Ami?" It looked like Ami Mizuno, only younger. She was wearing a visor similar conceptually to his Orion Armor's visor, which disappeared as she touched an earring. On the other hand, Sailor Mercury was having a slight feeling of deja-vu. First Greg, now this stranger, though he looks like John, although older, who seems to have no trouble at all in seeing through the tiara's crystal identity magic. Then several things happened at once. Like the rest of both groups regaining consciousness. And everybody getting good looks at John Merrick staring at Commander John Merrick. And then there was Sailor Moon, standing next to Usagi Tsukino. "Double takes, anybody?" Tom Spenser quipped. "What's going on here?" Sailor Moon asked the real question, as she eyed her older self. "This is way past weird." "Yea, well I think we are in real Twilight Zone territory, here." The younger J.J. understated." "No." The cat spoke. "Actually we're in the Negaverse." "A talking cat?" Usagi spoke. "NOW we're in Twilight Zone territory." Gradually, the three people who had the most sense of what was really going on, both J.J.'s and Sailor Mercury, put it all together, after comparing a few notes. "Obviously, we're from parallel universes." Commander Merrick started. "Well, not quite parallel." The younger J.J. added. "Aside from the age differences, we have Scouts, you have a starship." "But we all got pulled to here." The Commander pointed to the ground and continued. "You, as a trap. But us, by accident? Why?" "Good question?" Mercury noted. Commander John Merrick looked off towards the lone light on the horizon. "Could the answers be there?" "Good as place as any to find some." The younger Merrick shrugged. Mercury also nodded. "Then its agreed, that's where we go." Commander Merrick rejoined his group. "Ok, people. Looks like we got a bit of hiking to do." "What's the story, Commander?" asked Spenser. "Apparently we may be here as a result of a trap primarily set to catch the Sailor Scouts. But, we're here. And whoever set that trap has a way to get to our dimension. They may not know that, but that's irrelevant, because if they find us, they may find that out. So that means we have a stake in the outcome of this. We are going to that light source on the horizon. Looks to be about five, maybe six klicks. Hopefully the answer's there." Commander Merrick noticed the three members of Theta still were in Orion Armor. "Better power down, kids. May need it later." "What about me, Merrick-san." Usagi interrupted. John shrugged. "I'm sorry you were dragged into this." "I still don't know what in the hell is going on." Usagi vented her frustration, "And who's she supposed to be," pointing to Sailor Moon, "Me?" John searched his mind for a way to explain this. "Did you ever read Alice in Wonderland?" Usagi sort of nodded, "I was fond of the White Rabbit." She smiled. "Well if you look in the mirror, you see a reflection of our universe. And reality or at least common sense, always tells us that there is nothing on the other side of that glass. But real science has postulated and conceded the possibility that other dimensions do exist, like the one we're in right now." "Well it ain't possibility any more!" Spenser quipped. "More like absolute certainty." "Quiet, Lieutenant." J.J. snapped a bit, then returned to Usagi. "And beyond where we are now, and where we come from, is another universe, where they exist. The person we met as Sailor Moon may be physically identical to you, down to the DNA. But she is different, as unique to her universe, as you are to ours." John Merrick took a deep breath and continued, "Right now, we have to find out why this has happened and find a way to get back home. I know there is nothing you can really do to help us. The only real orders I can give you right this minute, is to stick with us, there is safety in numbers." "And if the shit hits the fan, to duck." Spenser realized his breach of etiquette, especially after his Commander gave him a look. "Sorry, that had to be said." John sighed, "He's right though, we could get into a firefight, so if we do, find cover fast." Usagi nodded, but still had the look of uncertainty. For that matter, so did the John Merrick of the 'Aquarius' Universe. Over in the Sailor camp, the Scouts, the John Merrick of the Sailor Universe, and Luna were also discussing the situation. "First girls," Luna began, "We don't seem to be in immediate danger, so you better return to normal." Which the Scouts did, returning to their normal identities. "So what's going on here?" Lita asked. "Well I think we have an very interesting instance of almost parallel universes." J.J. explained. "That explains the older versions of Serena and I." "Well why are they here?" Raye asked? "Can't have been on purpose." J.J. noted. "cause we know you guys are the real target. Whatever force is in play here must have accidently dragged them here as well." "Will they help us?" Mina wondered. "Of course," J.J. replied. "Obviously, my counterpart is their leader, and if I know myself..." He didn't have to finish. "But where do we go?" "Towards the light source." Amy said. "It's the only feature visible." "Yeah. And it's the only thing pointing 'Hey! Check me out here!'" J.J. added. "I don't like this." Serena sounded unsure. J.J. faced up to the leader of the Scouts. "I'm afraid we don't have any choice, Serena. We're here, and somebody went to an awful lot of trouble to get at least you guys here." "And I'd like the chance to pay back the Nega Twerp for the favor." Lita sounded peeved. "John is right, this is the Negaverse's doing," Luna voiced her opinion. "It's up to the Scouts to find out what their plan is, and to stop them." "Do I have to remind you what happened the last time we went toe to toe with the Negaverse, Luna?" Serena almost wailed. "You are not alone Serena." J.J. said, "I'm here." And pointing to his counterpart, "in duplicate." So the Scouts readied themselves for the hike. J.J. then asked Luna. "So what happened the last time?" "They died." Luna simply replied. "Geese! Did I really wanna hear that?" J.J. sighed, and started toward the light. Nine: In Transit The information pleased and confused Garnat. Long range scanners indicated that the vortex the Weapon generated had captured the Scouts. But it had also brought six others. "Who were they?" Opal hazarded a guess, "Probably some innocent bystanders. They all seem to be headed for the position." That confirmed that they were heading towards the location where the Weapon was brought. That was enough for Garnat, and sent Opal to the staging area, to wait. "Whoever these other humans were, if they want to meet death with the Scouts, then that is no problem." with that, Garnat looked at The Weapon, and simply smiled. Commander John Merrick, of the Starship 'Aquarius' did the math in his head as he walked: Six Kilometers. That's less than three and a half miles. Not too long a distance, if it finds an answer to this. Now he at least had one of those answers, at least the where part. Obviously this 'Negaverse' was the source of the bursts. But who what and why, Well hold it, a sec. The why is a little clear, the opening act to an invasion? The target universe would be where his younger doppleganger resides, but if they could reach into my universe, then either they would get around to us when they finished, or if they found the "Scouts" universe too tough... "Merrick-san?" Usagi Tsukino broke his thought. "Yes Usagi?" J.J. felt sorry for the young woman, thrust into a situation that seems incredible. But she seems to be holding up well. "I was going over the initial conversations from back there. Starship Aquarius?" "Uh, yea." J.J. took a deep breath. "Yes, you heard right. There is a Starship. In orbit." "Oh wow, like Star Trek?" "Well its technicial base is comparable to the Enterprise-D." J.J. laid it out. "But there is a slight difference; we're real." Usagi started to ask more questions, but J.J. cut her off. "Listen, I'll tell you the whole thing, when we get home." "If we get home." Usagi noted, forlornly. "Positive attitude. When." J.J. said firmly. "I hope so." Usagi sighed. Gerry Walters had a real stern look on his face. He had reason to. Peter LaPerrie was scanning the area with one of his sensors. He then walked back to where the Lieutenant Commander was standing. "Well?" Gerry asked rather curtly. "Best guess at this point, is an interdimensional gateway." "Well, where is HE?" "He could be anywhere within a thousand thousand universes. Even if we could isolate it to a handful we barely have a handle on how, technologically, we could access any of them." "So we just stand here and do nothing?" Gerry shook his head. "I can't do that, He's my friend, and I don't want to hafta tell Teri what happened, especially when I don't KNOW!" "Damm it, he's my friend TOO!" Peter snapped, then calmed down, "There may be a way, if I can isolate the resonance frequency, Maybe we can punch a subspace pocket into the dimension. On the other hand, it is John were talking about," Peter shrugged, "He might be working the problem on his own." Usagi was worried, as the group walked towards gods know only what. Yes Merrick-san seemed confident to her, all the Aquarians seemed that way, like they go through this every day. Even the girls walked with the confidence of, samauri? No she thought, that was movies, television. this is real. "Are you ok?" Usagi turned to face her own face. Well that of what she looked like Maybe six years ago. It was the girl named Serena, the one the rest of the girls called Sailor Moon. "I don't know." Usagi shook her head. "This really isn't my job." "Well, don't worry." Serena tried to cheer her mirror image, "We Sailor Scouts will handle anything the Negaverse can throw at us." "Speak for yourself!" Raye shot back. "You couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag, if they gave you a head start and perforated the bag!" "RAYE!" Serena cried. But a smile crossed Usagi's lips: Wow, she's just like my Rei when we were their age. "Flame for brains!" Serena shot back. "Meatball Head!" "STOP CALLING ME MEATBALL HEAD" It was two voices that yelled back. At the point, John Merrick of the 'Aquarius' Universe, asked John Merrick of the Sailor Moon Universe, "Does that happen very often with them?" "Don't ask me, I'm only a visitor," The younger Merrick replied. "To Tokyo at least." "So how did you get mixed up in this?" Commander Merrick asked his double. "Wish I knew." J.J. shook his head. "This was supposed to be an exchange student trip. See the sights, learn the culture. Must have missed the fine print about fighting creatures from another world." The sun was low in the western sky over the temple grounds. Artemis was pacing back and fourth. But Darien simply sat slumped against a tree, looking forlorn. "Don't worry." Artemis said. "I'm sure they're all right." "Then why are you weaving to and fro like a storm bound ship." "Because I'm frustrated as all hell that I'm not with Mina to help her!" Artemis yelped. Darien shook his head. "Same here." Then looked off towards the spot where the Scouts disappeared "Please be safe, my Serena." After nearly an hour, the combined 'Aquarius'/Sailor Scout group approached the source of the 'beacon'. To both J.J.'s as well as Amy Mizuno, it looked like a small crater, nearly one hundred fifty meters in diameter. But at nearly ninety degrees intervals around the lip, chunks were carved out to allow access to the inside. Inside the crater a plateau raised the center of the floor up by nearly ten feet with a diameter of thirty meters. The end effect was like a stadium, an arena. Almost like a Greek theater. At the dead center, or as near to center was the only object that was not natural. A metal platform held a device that certainly looked like some kind of weapon. "Welcome to my parlor." Tom Spencer mused. "Well it ain't for a U2 concert." Replied Commander Merrick. "I guess our hosts want the end game to be played out here. Let's not disappoint the crowd." "First girls, time to transform." Luna added. The five nodded and made the appropriate gestures. "MOON...CRYSTAL..." "VENUS...STAR" "JUPITER...STAR" "MARS...STAR" "MERCURY...STAR" "...POWER!" Commander John Merrick watched in awe as five girls transformed into the Sailor Scouts. "Cool." "You get used to it." J.J. replied. "Yea, right." John knew better. "OK, so I lie." J.J. smiled. The group walk through one of the entrances, across the floor, to the plateau. "Usagi, Maybe you better stay here in cover." John Merrick told the girl, who took the Commander's advice. J.J. also hung back as the group continued up the plateau's face. Helping each other up, the group started towards the platform at the center. A voice stopped them in their tracks. "SO PRINCESS SERENITY, YOUR TIME HAS COME." "Who's this Princess Serenity?" Asked Tom Spencer. "I am." Sailor Moon replied. "Well I knew we weren't on the guest list." Spencer quipped. Ten: The Battle A figure appeared, female, dressed in some type of uniform. "And who are you?" Asked Sailor Moon. "I am Garnat. Captain of the Dark Kingdom, and once I rid the universe of you and your friends, a hero of the Negaverse. And the Negaverse shall finally reign supreme!" "Well, in the name of the Moon..." "...of Mars..." "...of Jupiter..." "...of Venus..." "...and of Mercury..." "...we will punish you!" Garnat laughed then turned her attention to the older John Merrick. "And what of you, Human. You are human? Certainly you're not going to cast your lot with these Scouts." "If it stops an invasion of our world, by the likes of you, then my answer is real simple. ORION ARMOR ON-LINE!" Behind him, the other three Aquarians repeated the command and four suits of armor formed around their bodies. Well behind the group, a thought tugged in young John Merrick's mind. "Very well then," Garnat took position behind the Weapon's controls, "Prepare to die, then." "Again?" Sailor Jupiter shouted. "Not without a real fight!" Garnat fired the first blast. Which hit the rock floor twenty meters in front of Scouts and Aquarians. That sent the two groups scattering back to cover at the edge of the plateau. Once shielded by the rock, Commander Merrick used the radio link to command his troops, "Particle Cannons people!" The Particle cannon was the most powerful weapon in the Orion's available arsenal. Under normal circumstances, and in theory, a single cannon should reduce an Abrams M1 Battle tank to so much slag iron in a New York minute. Only problem, nobody here was in New York. And they weren't facing a A1. All four Aquarians fired at the platform where the weapon stood. Only to have the salvos impact on a shield that radiated from the Weapon. From across the way, the Sailor Scouts saw this attempt. Jupiter called to her friends, "Let's see if WE can put a dent in it." The four Inner Scouts got serious. But first they needed to change modes. "VENUS...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "JUPITER...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "MARS...CRYSTAL...POWER!" "MERCURY...CRYSTAL...POWER!" Subtle changes took effect as the Inner Scouts shifted to Super Scouts. Then: "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" "JUPITER OAK EVOLOUTION!" "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" The four launched their attacks, but on impact had about as much effect as the Orion Particle Cannons. Sailor Moon saw the result. Then from behind her appeared the Moon Scepter. "MOON...SCEPTER...ELIMINATION!" Pointing the Scepter at the Weapon its energy had the same effect. "Oh dear." Garnat resumed fire at the Scouts, who ducked back down into the rocks. Stalemate. The John Merrick of the Sailor Moon universe saw the way this fight was going, and so seemingly out of the blue, came an answer, that he simply had to believe in. Between blasts, the young J.J. managed to crawl over to where Sailor Mercury and Luna were shielded. "If we're in the Negaverse, or what's left of it as you think, Luna. Then what is the nature of the energy here?" J.J. asked. "What do you mean?" Mercury asked back. "Well, is it possible that the base of this energy is magical." "I don't know." She touched the jewel in her right ear which brought up the VR visor linked to her computer. Then rose up and took a quick look before ducking down from a shot towards their position. The computer made a quick analysis. "Yes, the energy is magically based. But what..." "Then," J.J. pressed, "It can be controlled, by someone who can focus their mind. Application of mind over matter!" Mercury saw the possibility, "Its possible... Luna?" "Maybe, but it's got to be someone who has total self control. One self doubt and it could be disastrous!" J.J. watched Mercury and Luna start for the other Scouts, but wasn't paying that much attention. Somewhere, way in the back of his mind, a voice was absolutely screaming, "ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS! Why are you trying to get yourself killed, YOU STUPID ASS!" But Jonathan Merrick didn't have any time for this. NO room for self doubt, the majority of his brain was thinking. He HAD to push everything away. He had to remember everything he was taught. He had to. If this, if any of us, was going to have a chance. Garnat was beginning to get irritated. With the hated Scouts and her new allies, where ever the hell they came from, hiding in the rocky crevices, The Weapon was almost useless, all it could do was blast away at the earth until there was no place for the Scouts to hide. No matter, Garnat smiled. She had that much patience. But that is when she saw the lone figure rise and start toward her. She looked through the Weapon's scope. Male, not one of the Scout's. Well, Garnat at least welcomed the challenge, short though it may be, and began to target the Weapon on the lone figure. Tom Spenser saw the figure rise out of the cover and start towards the plateau where the enemy was. "Commander!" On the plain J.J. saw the lone figure as it strode towards the gun platform. What in the hell is HE doing! Commander John Merrick could of phrased that as 'What in the hell am I doing?' just as easily. As soon as John finished with Sailor Mercury about the weapon, The tech Scout scrambled over to discuss the possibilities with the other Scouts and Luna. That discussion seemed to get nowhere. Sailor Moon's hand touched her locket, where the Silver Imperium Crystal was stored. "No Sailor Moon," Luna warned. "you don't know how much energy it will take to bring down the shield." As the argument continued, Sailor Mars took a look out onto the plain and saw John walking towards the platform. "Oh NO!" Mars cry got the attention of the other Scouts. Sailor Moon looked out and saw J.J. "JOHN! NO! COME BACK!" Commander John Merrick tried to reason with why his dimensional counterpart would do this. "This is just plain CRAZY!" was the only thing he could think of. Tom Spenser had a better idea. "Well we better give him cover fire! Target on the platform!" and began to fire with his Particle cannon. The other two Orion suited Aquarians also began to unleash their weapons, and soon Commander Merrick added his firepower to the mix. John was about one hundred meters away from the rock ridge where the Sailor Scouts and Luna were shielded. Mars and Jupiter were holding on to Sailor Moon who was trying to get John's attention. "NO John! Come BACK! YOU HAVEN'T GOT A CHANCE!" Serena was pleading, but the youth continued. When the Aquarians opened fire, Sailor Mercury saw the possibilities, "We have to add our powers, it might keep Garnat busy!" "But what about J.J.?" Sailor Moon yelped. "I think I know what he thinks he's doing, and if we keep Garnat busy, maybe we can give him the time!" Mercury shouted over the noise. All five of the scouts rose up as Sailor Moon yelled. "LET'S DO IT!" John noticed that the battlefield had fogged over, 'must be Mercury's doing.' then quickly set his mind back to the task at hand. Garnat too noticed the ferocity of the attacks had stepped up, but the shield the Weapon was generating showed no sign of buckling, so in comfort, she kept the target lock on the approaching human. He can be the first, if that is what he wants, thought Garnat and pressed the firing trigger. The blast hit John Merrick, and drove him to one knee. Commander John Merrick saw the beam hit his doppleganger, and saw him go down. But then, almost miraculously he stood back up, seemed to steady himself, then continued on. For the first time, Usagi poked her head up from where she had been crouched behind the rock face. As frightened as she was, she figured that if most of the 'Aquarius' people were firing at something, then she could finally see what they were shooting at. But she really had no idea, at least tactically, what she was looking at. But she did see the human form that she recognize as the other universe's John Merrick. And she did see him take a blast from whatever the hell was being shot at them. And Usagi Tsukino said a silent prayer. At least, it couldn't hurt. He should be dying. He should be racked with pain, the flesh burning from his bones. He should be disintegrating into dust. But that's NOT what was happening. His mind would have none of that talk. He took the first blast, felt the energy, felt the confidence grow from within and continued with the purpose at hand. Luna saw J.J. take the first hit, then stand up. "Incredible!" Sailor Moon was as stunned as the rest of the Scouts when she saw the person she had come to know as John Merrick take the first blow. And then, the second shot hit J.J. Garnat was also shocked. Here coming towards her, and the ultimate weapon of the Negaverse was a human, of all people who has taken two blasts! And still he comes towards me! This is impossible! Garnat, in a near panic fires again and again. But the human still comes. By now, John Merrick has taken six blasts. He begins to feel the burn of the energy he holds, as he approaches the base of the shield. Garnat is furious, and slides the Weapon to full blast mode. But the status readout balks and replies "Target in Minimum Range - Safety Interlock Now Active!" A built in safety system prevents the weapon from discharging a full power blast at literally a point blank target. Garnat pounds at the control console and yells: "This is impossible! You're just an ordinary Human!" John Merrick, through the haze of what his mind had set up, heard that. And he knew what his reply was, and lifted his head to look at the adversary. Garnat then saw that the forehead of the human was glowing. She barely had time to recognize the icon when the human spoke... "OBVIOUSLY... I'M... NOT... JUST... AN... ORDINARY... HUMAN! SO...FUCK...OFF! With that, John Merrick shoved a fist into the shield and released the energy he had stored within him. Dumping the stored energy all at once, the shield overloaded and shattered, sending a shower of sparks flying everywhere. Part of the blast fed back into the Weapon's systems disrupting the power flow. After the discharge, J.J. fell to his hands and knees. Garnat was screaming, "NO! NO! THIS CAN"T BE HAPPENING! This weapon is invincible!" and tried to fire but got nothing but the empty sound of the clicking trigger. That is when Garnat realized her inattention on the battlefield had been a fatal error and heard the last words of her life. "MOON ...SCEPTER... ELIMINATION! Sailor Moon, holding her Moon Scepter had finished her incantation. The blast tore through Garnat, slowly turning her into dust as she screamed. It was the fading sound of that scream that seemed to be music to the young John Merrick's ears, before he totally collapsed, and everything went black. Luna started to run towards where J.J. had dropped, as soon as the shield shattered. As she got to his head, she saw the fading glow on the forehead, but saw the symbol for only a few moments before it faded completely. Is it possible? She wondered as she examined the fallen boy closer. The Scouts and the 'Aquarius' team had both ran to the fallen body after Garnat had been dusted. Sailor Moon had knelt down next to John, and Commander Merrick derezzed his Orion armor and also knelt as he righted the body of his younger twin. Paul Lally held out a sensor as Sailor Mercury scanned the body with her visor. Both came to the same conclusion. "No bruises, no broken bones, no burns, no wounds, he's unconscious, but he's all right." As they gathered around, the young J.J. regained conciseness. and saw the worried faces around him. "Yo! Anybody get the jersey number of that youma, Ref? Ought to be at least worth fifteen yards and ten minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct." "You're... all right?" Serena, transformed from Sailor Moon, asked, nearly with tears in her eyes. "Got a headache I don't think even a ton of Tylnol could clear, otherwise, I guess I'm still here." J.J. groaned out. Serena seemed pleased, then got angry, "What in the hell did you think you were doing!" "Yeah, I'd like to hear the answer to that one!" Commander John Merrick added. "Well," J.J. began. "I figured that on this plane of existence the nature of the forces in play here were magical, which a mind, with strong belief, could control." "But how did you know that you could contain and control it." The Aquarian J.J. asked. "I just knew," The youth replied, "I remembered what my sensei taught me about focusing my chi. And we needed a breakthrough. I had to believe in myself, for me, for my friends." Commander Merrick gave out a little laugh that startled Serena. "What's so funny? He could have been killed!" The Aquarian smiled, "Oh, I just remembered a time, when I made a similar decision on just as crazy a hare-brained scheme." He remembered that decision, the one that set him on his path to what he is. Addressing the youth with a congratulatory look on his face, John Merrick said "I think you passed, kid!" From a distance, Opal observed the defeat of Garnat. Outwardly, she show no trace of emotion. Inwardly, there was relief and maybe a smile. "We got to get out there." A soldier cried. "No!" Opal replied. "But, the Weapon!" "They won't use it. At least not as a battle weapon." The Lieutenant counseled. "They have another use for it. If we assault the arena, we might drive them to use it against us. We don't need those kind of losses." She nodded towards the crater, "Let them play this out. We can pick up the pieces when they leave." Both Mercury and Commander Merrick examined the Weapon. Mercury examined the controls, while John took a look at what seemed to be the power source. "Well I think I found my answer." J.J. pulled his head from the hatch. "For what?" "Well, this crystal seems to have two distinct resonating frequencies." J.J. replied. "If, as you think, this Garnat used this weapon as the source for the portal, when she opened one to your universe, some of the weapon's power backwashed into ours, probably in the same spatial coordinates in both universes." "We'll give me a few minutes, and I can modify the programming to correct that, then I can open portals back into both universes." "Excellent!" Commander Merrick replied, beaming "You have our thanks, which I'll show your counterpart when we're home. There is only one thing left, well two actually. Spencer, Tallboy, Lally." The three armored Aquarians approached. "Call up your T-30's." Merrick explained what he was about to do. "High explosive charges. We can't let this weapon fall back into the hands of whatever. It's a danger to both our universes." "Agreed." replied Mercury. Tom Spencer handed J.J. three packages, which he placed around the device, adding his own pack. "I'll link the packs together, so they will detonate at the same time." "OK people, time to say Sabbat da." Tuxedo Mask and Artemis were pacing the grounds of the temple, when a new portal opened. Bracing for the worse, the two were pleasantly surprised when The Scouts, Luna and John Merrick exited the portal. Serena ran to Darien to hug him. "Are you all right?" "Yes, Muffin. Were fine." Serena said, then hugged and kissed Darien for what seemed to the rest of the group like forever. At that point, a muffled explosion forced everyone to turn to see the portal implode, without a trace. "So what happened?" Artemis asked anxiously. "Nothing much." J.J. replied. "Nothing!" Raye and Lita both exploded. "You save our butts and to you that's nothing?' Raye shoots. Lita adds "I'd like to see what you would call something!" "Not me!" Mina yelps. "Nor do I." Amy adds. "Not right now, at least." "Yea! We really need some rest," J.J. notes. "Tomorrow is a school day." That's the last thing Serena needed to hear "OHNOOO! I've got homework to do!" Ah, so much for saving the world from evil, J.J. could only smile. Several techs were pacing the temple grounds, scanning for readings when someone shouted, "I've got something!" Gerry Walters and Peter LaPerrie rushed over to look for themselves. Peter took a look with his scanner. "Energy signature match, increasing in intensity, GANGWAY!" He shouted, and ran, which was a real sign for everybody else to scatter. Just in time too, for a portal appeared, and everybody turned to see John Merrick, Serena Tsukino, Tom Spencer and the two other 'Aquarius' personnel step out of the portal. "John, are you all right?' Peter asked. "We're fine." John looked at everyone, "no problems." At that point, a muffled explosion forced everyone to turn to see the portal implode, without a trace. "At least not any more." J.J. added, hopefully. Eleven: Post Game Activities The trio stepped out into the mid-afternoon sun, joined by an attach_ from the American Embassy. Usagi followed John Merrick and Tom Spencer down the steps of the Government Building. "I have a question, Mr Merrick." The attach_ asked. "Are you sure that whatever created these energy surges is destroyed." "Truth? Not one hundred percent." John Merrick replied, "But I know that we set the device to project its portals, which it should have done until it was either destroyed or shut off. But since I was the last through and I set the charges to detonate fifteen seconds after I left, I have a high certainty that whatever caused the incidents here is rubble." "And trust me," Tom Spencer added, "One of our High Energy Explosive Packets, can level a sizable two-story dwelling." "Well I hope you are right. I'll tell the Ambassador, though he'll still want to talk with you personally." "Not a problem. He can call our office here in Tokyo. The message will get to me." J.J. assured the attach_ as he left to tend to his own agenda. "Yeah. And we have the thanks of the people and Government of Japan." Tom Spencer sarcastically mused. "Doesn't seem like much after what we went through." "Get used to it." J.J. sighed. "In our position, we are probably going to do a lot of jobs that will earn the thanks of nobody. On the up side, at least for Aquarius Tech and the organization, this gives us a few chips from all around, that we can cash in in the future." The group head for a van, "Come on," J.J. looks at Usagi, and smiles. "I have a promise to keep." The knock on the door startled J.J. for a couple of moments before he remembered his manners. "Nani?" "It's Me." Serena says as she enters the room. When the two of them had gotten home, it was way past supper, so J.J. took the brunt of the blame, despite the fact that Sammy knew where they had gone. J.J. had ate, then went to their respective rooms, mostly without saying a word. "Come on in." J.J. answered as the girl came in, dressed in her usual sleepware. Luna followed behind. "How are you feeling?' "All right, I guess." J.J. studied the expression on his host's face, "Why?" "Because, while we were in the Negaverse, you were the first to figure out what was going on, with our doubles, then there's the way you took on Garnat and her cannon. How did you know you could do that?" J.J. was surprised. Two reasonable questions from a girl who's attention span could sometimes be measured in milliseconds. "To answer the first." He began, "You don't watch 'Sliders', over here do you." "You mean that show with that hunk Jerry O'Connell?" "That's the one," J.J. nodded, "Well I'm not that much of a fan, but I am familiar with the theory of other universes, so seeing another version of me wasn't too much of a stretch." J.J. took a deep breath. "As to your second question, right now, I couldn't tell you why I knew that I could do what I did, never mind if I could even tell you how. It's just that then, in the heat of battle, while we were being shot at, and here I am stuck in the middle, and all of a sudden, I knew, and before I could talk myself out of it, I did it." Luna seemed to stare at J.J. intently, but he did not notice it. "Well the girls think you are a hero." Serena said. "And so do I." J.J. shook his head. "No, I'm not a hero. You are the heroes. You face that kind of stuff more than I do. To use a hockey analogy rather badly, I just made three saves, your save percentage is more phenomenal." "Well," Serena seemed to blush a little. "We do it because it's our jobs. But it's always nice to have a little help, now and then." Serena then leaned over to kiss J.J. on the forehead. "Thank you, John." Now it was J.J.'s turn to blush. As Serena left the bedroom, J.J. tried to return his attention to what he was doing before. Not noticing that Luna was still staring at him. Needless to say, the mood in the Negaverse was not a happy one. After all, once again, they were on the losing end of a battle with the Sailor Scouts. Now the remaining command was once again rallying their support for their own commands to fill the void. But Opal was busy cleaning up the mess Garnat left behind. Standing in the arena with what was left of the Weapon A group of soldiers were combing the terrain, looking essentially for scrap metal. And there was a lot of it strewn across the crater. A couple of techs had their attention focused on a pile of debris. One of the techs seemed to be handling a piece of crystal, carefully putting it in a box, for safekeeping. "Once again, those cursed Scouts." A subordinate remarked. "Not totally, the Scouts." "You can't seriously believe that those additional humans..." "No, But if there's anyone to blame for this fiasco, its Garnat. Her egotistical attitude clouded her judgement in tactical matters. She thought that only she could take out the Scouts. And she trusted in her Weapon a little too much. You can see how much use her toy is now." In the hanger, Theta Team was working out the final reports. It will be two weeks before they pack it up for home, ie The 'Aquarius'. Until then, there was the paperwork, the analysis, and some sightseeing for the rest of the team. On the other hand there is a last bit of business for John Merrick. As Usagi Tsukino and Ami Mizuno approach. "Ah Ami, Usagi." J.J. drew a deep breath. "I want to tell you that I am pleased with both of you. Ami, your technical work with us was most excellent. Usagi, you too, was of great assistance, and for that, I have decided to give you both a promotion upstairs." "Wow!" Usagi and Ami smiled at each other. John Merrick tapped the face of his watch. "Aquarius Commander to Aquarius Command." "Command here, go ahead Commander." Both girls were a little confused, as they watched Merrick-san. "Three for transport, when ready." "Acknowledge, stand by." "Usagi, I said I'd tell you the whole story later." "Yes?" A couple of seconds later, a strange feeling overtook Usagi, and when it cleared, she, along with Ami and John Merrick, were no longer in the hanger. "Later has just arrived." John Merrick smiled. The three were standing on a transporter pad aboard the Starship 'Aquarius'. For Usagi Tsukino, a new adventure was just starting. Twelve: Departures Well, this was it. Everybody was here to see John off to the airport, The girls, some of the class, including Melvin and Molly. So was Luna, and Artemis. "We should tell him." "Come on, Luna. You said you were not sure of what you saw." "Still, he should know." "Know what? "That he's at least a Lunar." "Luna, if he is one of the court, we would remember, and it may not be his time to know." "Maybe you've talked to Pluto too much." One by one, Lita, Mina, Raye, and Amy hugged J.J., who gave Amy a piece of paper, with his Email and snail mail address. Finally John got into the car with Serena, and her parents, and with one final wave, it was off to the airport. The drive was quiet and uneventful. At the airport, the group reached the gate. It was time for the final good-byes. After thanking the Tsukino's for their hospitality, J.J. finally turned to Serena. "I guess this is 'Sayonara'." Serena said with a degree of sadness. J.J. shook his head, "If you have been listening, I never say good-bye. Because I'll always be here." J.J. points to his head. "So I'll always be here." And points to his heart. "And so you will be." Serena replies, and hugs the person who was there when she needed him. The call to board separated the two, as J.J. made his way through the gate he waved back to Serena, to Sailor Moon. "Like I said, never good bye. Ja-ne, Later!" "Later," Serena yelled back, then whispered "My Knight!" Gee, thought Serena, now where did that come from? Way weird! "So Peter and Gerry tell me you had a big adventure in Japan." Teri Martine sat down next to John Merrick in his stateroom. On a break from her studies, Teri was on one of her occasional visits to the 'Aquarius'. "Ok, what did they tell you." J.J. prompted, with a smile. The two compared notes. J.J. related the whole story, up to and including the time in the Negaverse. Along with the part concerning his younger counterpart. "Interesting, it seems that in two universes, the John Merrick's are kind of special." "Maybe." John looks at Teri for a second. "I just wonder what kind of life he has coming to him." Finally home, in his own bed, in his own bedroom, after the six weeks he has had, John Merrick laid down with a big sigh of relief. The chaos of the last hours since he landed at the airport, all the things he did in Japan, of those that he could actually tell his parents and siblings, the unpacking, the sorting of video tapes and film for developing, the calling of Teri Martine, to set a date to see her. And he still wasn't finished. The next few weeks, he needed to collate all this, sort out the relevant, toss the irrelevant, not to mention the unmentionable, all for a report on what he did on his summer vacation. "Boy, what I could TELL THEM!" J.J. said with a wispher. Putting on his headphones, John eventually winded down and started, slowly to fall asleep. And that's when the dream started to take shape. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors notes: Well that's it. My first SM/'Aquarius' fanfic. It was intended to be the ONLY one, but you know how characters get out of hand... Originally I tried to set Facets at the end of SM-R, foolishly thinking that two years of Japanese eps equalled two years of age. (Which is why the Outer Sensei, nor Chibi-Usa/Reeny are here.) The problem now (If I've read the summary on Hirioshi Doi's page right) is that Serena is 16 at (or near) the end of SM-SS. This means that I have one of two courses. Either I set this before the events of SM-SS, which requires minimal changes, or after, which means small changes. Either way, eighteen month window between 'Facets' and the first episode of "Templar Knights" remains intact. So I choose the former, so that Sailor Stars occurs Maybe a few months after this. The next chapter, Now titled "Refraction" will occur after the Sailor Stars storyline. (Of course now with the end of the series, anything after that will be a blank slate.) But first, a little time off, then I got BirthKnight Earth, and Maybe some more chapters of 'Aquarius' to shove through the net. So like J.J. said "Later!" For the 'Aquarius' Impared: 'Aquarius' is a story about coming of age, for a group of high school seniors, and maybe for humanity. Set in as near to present day as present as conditions allow, the main setting is the Starship 'Aquarius', nearly a kilometer long craft, with a technological level equal to that of another fictional starship, Star Trek TNG's Enterprise-D. The 'Aquarius' is a gift to the people of earth by the Catacians, a highly advanced civilization, in order to help these terrians gain a foothold in their sector of the galaxy. Entrusted to the care of a core group, The Aquarius Organization is working first to establish a cooperate alias from which it can disseminate parts of the technology base, while secretly trying to keep the planet from tearing itself apart. 'Aquarius' is led by Jonathan Jacob Merrick, whose immediate love of Science Fiction, gives him the ability to quickly understand the technology, its capabilities and dangers. He does have doubts about his situation and if he can, will listen to the advice given to him by his colleagues before making the decisions. Aboard the Starship, he is the Commander. Aiding him are Maria Teresa Martine, 'Aquarius' chief Medical Officer, rank Lt Cmdr., and his signifigent other, currently on leave obtaining her Medical Doctorate. Gerry Walters, Lt Cmdr., first Officer, Peter LaPerrie, Lt Cmdr, Chief Science Officer. The fact that 'Aquarius' is 24th century technology means that we have transporter technology, weapons, highly advanced sensor and analyzing capabilities, and a computer that far outstrips anything you can build now. Its technical and medical storehouse is a prize that any country would give anything to get. The capabilities of the spacecraft, air, land and even sea vehicles will put to shame the fleets of even the superpowers. And there is of course, The 'Aquarius' itself; it represents the next great leap outward for mankind. In short, the 'Aquarius' is a treasure to be guarded, to be protected, to be kept from those who would misuse, who would pervert its secrets. John Merrick and his crew holds the keys. They are the ones who must deceive which secrets they will give up. Because John Merrick knows that the 'Aquarius' is the platform that can lead mankind into the 21st Century. Provided that they want to be lead. The Orion Armor/Weapons system is basically borne of "Captain Power and the Solders of the Future." and the Power Suits. In that series, the suits were basically exoskeletons which when charged and activated (POWER ON!) created body armor (from what!) around the wearer. I needed to give the Aquarians protection in extreme cases, Orion provides that. The difference is that instead of an exosleleton, the system uses replicator technology along with the sophisticated technology inherent to the 'Aquarius' to create armor and weapons for the user. The system obtains the matter form the nearest convient source. It scans the area for dense matter (rock, ore, even water) then dematerlizes it, manipulates the atomic structure to create what is required, then rematerializes it for the user. The armor can take hits short of cannon balls, its energy shielding can reinforce the natural armor to an extent. Weapons include standard blasters, missiles, and high energy projectors (Phaser, photon, particle). The armor also has scanner and image mapulation, medical telemetry and some anti-grav capablities (it can fly, or more approaetly cut the mass of the user, letting him jump to or fall from great heights). In my fanfics, I use a hybrid of the DIC and Japanese names for the Sailor Moon characters so Serena has a last name (Tsukino as in the Japanese version). You will note that as this story jumps between universes, In the 'Aquarius' Universe segments, I'm using the Japanese names, but so far I'm only planning on using three, maybe four of the SM characters in the AU. And I'm also making a lot of big assumptions here: That the school year is slightly longer in Japan than it is here in the US (primarily in the Buffalo school system, which runs from Labor Day week to the second week in June. I believe that they use a full year schedule in Japan. That you can grasp most of the 'Aquarius' concept literally sight unseen, based on the clues in the text. And that your head won't hurt while I ping-pong you between universes. Why Crossed Paths? It's my title for any 'Aquarius' cross over with another popular fictional universe. I usually can play with anybody, but at this point, I'm not touching Star Trek, or Babylon 5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- And now, thanks to all who make this possible. First to Naoko Takeuchi for creating the SM Universe so that we can play... Then to Roland Sybing, who's Operation Reality Check fanfic gave me the idea to borrow my 'Aquarius' characters. To the Tux Boys: Kamen (http://log.on.ca/users/helm/anime/fap.htm) who hosts Will (Wolfshol) keeper of the archives. And to "Luna and Artemis" at Central Command (Main "SM Romance archive at http://ctdnet.acns.nwu.edu/~aerdnahu or the weekly new stories at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9897/) where you will find work from yours truly, and many more fine stories that will keep Sailor Moon alive for a long time... To WWTK (http://kitten.hsc.edu/students/kayserc/) where I found the NA script archive. A very helpful resource. To Canwest Global; (I see it via a CIII LP/UHF repeater out of Fort Erie, ONT. CA.) Seems that they're giving Serena and friends a rest, at least weekdays, but the Saturday feed is still online. Hopefully I might get to see the end of R. :) To Intel for creating the x86 platform. And to the gods of the Internet, for letting me play in their backyard. And you, reading this. I write for me, but it's you guys that tell me how much fun your having. So don't sit there, tell me: FTatum0118@aol.com. (That's ZERO-One-One-Eight if your displaying text that doesen't use a filled zero.) You might want to check out my Home Page, for info on "Aquarius" and everything else (You get to download zipped .WRI files with my true feelings!!) Address is - http://members.aol.com/ftatum0118/tatum.htm . Sailor Moon is copyrighted by Toei Animation and Kodansha, with North American variant by DIC. I'm only borrowing them for a while. The Starship 'Aquarius' characters are mine (,or more formally, Tater Productions Ltd.), if you want to borrow em, ask first. And if your gonna sue, don't bother, its really not worth it. F. L. Tatum 4/4/97 (8/20/97) nd activated (POWER ON!) created body armor (from what!) around the wearer.