Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Alone No More - Minako's Story ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: jasonulloa 
Minako finally introduces Alan to Katrina, and Tempest goes searching for Ryoku.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.15.2003 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 234 | Status: Completed
Minako finally introduces Alan to Katrina, and Tempest goes searching for Ryoku.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.15.2003 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 234 | Status: Completed
Alone No More: Minako's Story
by Jason C. Ulloa
Chapter 16
"You two STILL asleep?" Alan asked as he opened the door to their room and glanced inside
at the two slumbering occupants of the room.
"We're tired, Alan...," Ryoku muttered semi-coherently as he rolled over and tried to go
back to sleep.
"Come on, Alan," Minako muttered just as wearily as she shifted under her bed covers,
trying to find a more comfortable position that would let her instantly drift back to
sleep. "It's Saturday...."
"Saturday afternoon," he said, giving the two of them a flat look. "What did you two do
yesterday to get so tired? Or, did you two stay up late last night?"
"She had problems sleeping, so we stayed up talking until she finally did fall asleep,"
Ryoku explained as he sat up. "What time is it?"
"12:30pm," he told them, nodding. "Let me guess. Homesickness?"
"Kinda. She was wondering how her parents were doing, and Hikaru-chan, and her cat,
Artemis." He paused for a moment. "I guess it doesn't affect me very much, since all I have
is Mako-chan, and I know she can take care of herself."
"Mako-chan?"
"My sister, Makoto," he explained.
"Just your sister?" Alan asked. "What about your parents?"
"Dead," he said quietly.
Alan just looked at Ryoku for a moment before deciding to speak again. "I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to bring up any unpleasant memories...."
"Don't worry about it. I'm already used to not having them around. I still have Mako-chan,
and I still have my fond memories of them. That helps, even though I still get sad every
now and then." He paused and shook his head sadly. "Hey, Alan. Once Sleeping Beauty, over
here," he said, nodding toward the still sleeping Minako, "wakes up, why don't the three of
us go out for the day? I think she'd really like that."
"Hmm.... Not a bad idea," Alan said, nodding. "A picnic in the park, perhaps? Sounds good.
I'll start getting everything ready." He paused as he glanced down at Minako. "You sure
she'll be up sometime soon?" he asked jokingly.
"Hai," Ryoku said with a nod. "I just have to find where I put my high explosives and
she'll be up in no time."
Alan blinked in confusion for a moment until he realized that Ryoku was only joking.
"Right...," he said with a laugh. "Well, if you'll excuse me...." With that, he turned and
left, chuckling softly to himself.
"But I was serious...," Ryoku said before shrugging and standing up. He quickly rolled his
blankets up and set them out of the way before getting his clothes out of the dresser and
leaving to go change. Before he left, he saw that Minako was still asleep. Perhaps now
would be a good time to contact Artemis. After all, he didn't get the chance to do so
yesterday since she was having trouble sleeping, not to mention the Dark Agency. Well,
Artemis would understand.
Once he was in the bathroom, he closed the door, turned on the shower, got undressed,
showered, turned it off and got out. As he reached for the towel, he also turned on the
communicator. As he dried himself, a tired Artemis answered his call.
"Nan desu ka?" the white cat murmured sleepily.
"Gomen, Artemis," Ryoku said apologetically. "Were you asleep?"
"I was," he replied groggily. "I was having a pleasant dream about.... Well, that doesn't
matter. I was waiting for you to contact me. What happened?"
"Dark Agency attack last night," he replied. "Minako-chan and I took care of it, as usual."
"I see," he said understandingly. "Anyway, I've got some news for you. Luna's found her
third Sailor Senshi."
"Already?" he asked, his eyebrow raised in astonishment. "That was fast. Who's the new one?"
"Sailor Mars."
"Okay, so we have a Moon, a Mercury and a Mars," he said, thinking out loud. "Minako-chan's
Venus, I'm Sailor Knight.... Na, Artemis... how many Senshi do we have left to search for?"
"Right now, just Sailor Jupiter," he told him.
Ryoku nodded thoughtfully. "One more, then. How're the others holding up?"
"The others...? Oh, you mean the other Senshi. So far, they seem to be doing well enough
against the Dark Kingdom, however, they are gravely inexperienced at fighting and Luna
tells me that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars don't get along too well."
"That doesn't sound too good," he said thoughtfully as he lowered his towel after quickly
drying himself off. He frowned contemplatively as he wrapped the towel around himself.
"Well, I guess we'd better hurry up here, then. It sounds like you may need us sooner than
you think."
"Any news on your end?"
"Not much new, Artemis," he replied. "The attacks are slowing. I'm getting the impression
that the enemy is desperate. I think we've pretty much almost finished them off." He paused
for a moment as a stray thought flashed through his mind. A memory of seeing someone in the
shadows; someone who looked very familiar.
"Somehow, Artemis, I have a very bad feeling - almost like a premonition - that something
terrible is looming just out of out sight," he added pensively.
"Are you sure, Ryoku?" Artemis asked with a touch of concern.
"I don't know." He chuckled slightly, despite how he was feeling. "Maybe I'm just becoming
worrisome... like someone I know."
"I'm not amused in the slightest," the white cat muttered irritatedly. "At any rate, all I
can say is that I hope you both be careful, if your... premonition turns out to be more
than just a bad feeling. I know you'll both look out for each other. I'll be sure to let
you know when Luna has found Sailor Jupiter, if she doesn't before you both come back. As
for me, I'm going to go back to sleep. I've got a few more hours until I have to contact
Luna to give her my latest findings on the Dark Kingdom's activities."
"How is the situation with the Dark Kingdom, Artemis?" Ryoku asked gravely. "Is what we're
doing here having any noticeable effects?"
"None that I can see, but it's certainly better than the alternative, Ryoku."
"That, I know," he agreed as he reached for his communicator. "Thank you, Artemis. I will
keep you updated." He pushed a button and the connection was terminated. He then quickly
got dressed and exited the bathroom.
From outside the bedroom, there was the soft sound of a pillow hitting something, followed
by the subsequent sounds of indignant, yet muffled, exclamations of irritation.
Now, Minako was awake.
**********************************************
Tem pest sighed to herself. The more she thought over last night's encounter, the more
convinced she was that Masked Knight was Ryoku. But, she couldn't be completely sure yet;
especially since she still had some feelings for him left over from her old life as Keiko.
She left the room where the few remaining warriors that they had salvaged from Danburite's
tenure as leader of the Dark Agency were sleeping. It was a sad sight; a mere remnant
remained of their organization - a scant handful at best! - and it seemed as though they
were in a dire situation. Thanks to Sailor V and Masked Knight, all that remained of the
Dark Agency was herself, Quartzite, Kage, Jade, Majutsushi, and Chimei.
Six. Only six left.
Tempest exited the building and glanced over toward the warehouse. Quartzite was more than
likely working on something for the next attack. He had already sent all the energy that
they had gathered up until now back to Queen Beryl since she was starting to grow
impatient. They had delayed sending the usual harvest until now since they had used a good
deal of their initial gathering on empowering Sousha in that short-lived, yet partially
successful experiment. At least she had learned from the mistakes she had made.
Unbidden, her mind drifted back toward the problem of Masked Knight. How could she find out
his true identity? How could she do that without Sailor V getting in the way? That girl she
had no qualms about killing. Sailor V had been a menace since day one. If it wasn't for her
there wouldn't've been any Masked Knight, and she wouldn't be going through this mental and
emotional anguish over the possibility of having to kill someone who might have been her
lost love.
Damn her.
A quick glance inside the warehouse showed that Quartzite wouldn't likely be leaving any
time soon. Her mind made up she turned and headed toward an ordinary looking stand-up
mirror. She had brought it because there might've been a slight possibility that she
would've needed to go out in disguise. After meeting Masked Knight in person... sort of...
the possibility had become a reality. That, and she just liked the mirror; it was very
pretty, in an almost plain sort of way. It wasn't very ornate; the metal was gold-colored
- she highly doubted it was gold - and there was a very simple design etched into the metal.
She turned toward the mirror and concentrated. She made her image grow to a height almost
matching Ryoku's and shortened her hair to just slightly past shoulder length. Her eye and
hair color definitely had to change; Ryoku would recognize her if she kept her red hair and
hazel eyes. After going through one hair color and shade after another, she finally decided
on a bluish shade of black with ashy gray eyes.
She smiled slightly; it was no coincidence that she chose an eye color similar to Ryoku's.
Maybe.... If Masked Knight WAS Ryoku, maybe she could convince him to join their side. He
was a good fighter and Queen Beryl needed all the good fighters she could get. After all,
from what she had seen when she had left with those who would make up the Dark Agency,
there wasn't a lot of skillful fighters in Beryl's ranks. The youma seemed to be mostly
concerned with power, but as Sousha demonstrated, power can only take you so far.
Furthermore, if she did manage to convince him, she could have her love fighting by her
side. The one regret that she had after becoming Tempest was that she had thought that she
would never be able to see Ryoku again.
'Maybe we were destined to be together,' she thought with a smile as she examined her new
appearance. She had also slightly altered her facial features so that Ryoku wouldn't
recognize her, even if he was standing in front of her and looking her straight in the
eyes. 'I hope he still remembers me....'
Seeing her eager, childish grin in the mirror, she quickly composed herself. She still did
not have proof that Ryoku and Masked Knight were one and the same, so she shouldn't be
getting her hopes up like that.
"Well, whether he is or he isn't," she said, mentally preparing herself for the task at
hand, "there's only one way to find out for sure." With one last glance back at Quartzite,
she vanished from sight.
Quartzite's eyes momentarily lifted up from what he was doing and glanced toward the mirror
before returning as a small, almost invisible frown slightly curved his lips.
**********************************************
As Ryoku and Alan started setting up the items for their picnic, Minako took the
opportunity to go exploring the park. She had been so excited about spending the day on a
picnic with Alan - and Ryoku, too, of course - that she had completely forgotten the name
of the park Alan had taken them to. Not that it really mattered, though.
The wind blowing through the magnificent, tall trees made a soothing rustling sound as she
watched the branches, each filled with many different shades of green and yellow, sway back
and forth as if dancing to an unheard melody drifting upon the breeze. She closed her eyes
as she felt the breeze blow across and caress her face, and sighed contentedly.
"Nature's grace in its most elegant form, wouldn't you agree, Minako-chan?" she heard a
voice say behind her. She opened her eyes and turned around to find Katrina standing behind
her. The older woman was wearing a comfortable looking light green blouse and blue jeans.
There was a small book in her left hand.
"Oh, hi, Katrina-oneesan!" she greeted cheerily.
Katrina smiled. So, it was 'oneesan' now, was it? "You seem to be in a very good mood
today."
"Un!" Minako said emphatically with a nod of her head. "I'm going on a picnic with Alan and
Ryo-kun!" she told her. "Alan is the guy who's looking after us while we're here in London."
"I see," Katrina said with a grin. "Sounds like fun."
"Say, what're you doing here, Katrina-oneesan?" she asked.
"Well, since it's the weekend, I figured I'd spend a relaxing afternoon outside," Katrina
explained, gesturing toward the trees waving in the light breeze. "It's a perfect day to
spend reading a good book in the shade of one of these trees.... Or, to have a picnic," she
added with a wink at Minako.
"Oi, Minako-chan!" Minako heard Ryoku call out to her. "You gonna eat or what? You were the
one complaining about being hungry, so come and eat!"
Minako sweatdropped as she turned back toward where the others were at. "Coming!" she
called back, then turned back toward Katrina. "Ne, Katrina, why don't you join us?" she
suggested.
"Well, I don't know...," Katrina said with slight hesitation.
"Come on, Katrina-oneesan," she urged pleadingly. "You can at least meet Alan and say hi to
Ryo-kun."
"All right," Katrina conceded with a small grin. "I'll go say hi to them.
"By the way, Minako-chan," she said as she followed her, "did you and Ryo-kun ever manage
to take care of that one from the Dark Agency that we were chasing yesterday?"
Minako's steps slowed as she lowered her voice so that only Katrina could hear. "We took
care of her last night. It was a total surprise; usually they attack during the day, so
they can gather energy, but...." She trailed off uncertainly.
"Now you're concerned about this change in tactics?" she asked.
"Last night, before the attack, Ryo-kun and I were discussing the recent changes that we've
noticed in the Dark Agency," she explained. "He made a lot of good points that kinda worry
me, but we're both hoping that it's nothing too important." She shrugged as she grinned at
Katrina. "Enough about that. We'd better hurry or Ryo-kun's gonna be really upset...."
"Too late," Katrina said as she pointed toward where Alan was sitting with an apologetic
look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders. Ryo-kun, on the other hand, was standing
with his arms crossed, frowning.
"You complain about being hungry almost the entire way here, then you go and keep us
waiting," he said flatly. "Would it be too difficult to make up your mind and stick with
one, Minako-chan?"
"Gomen, Ryo-kun," Minako said, bowing contritely. "I met up with Katrina-oneesan back there
and we were talking, so I guess I just forgot about being hungry."
His scowl vanished immediately. "Oh. Okay," he said, shrugging it off. He then turned to
Katrina and grinned. "So good to see you again, Katrina-san."
"Good to see you, too, Ryo-kun," she replied, smiling.
Minako grinned as she jogged over to where Alan was sitting and tugged on his arm, pulling
him to his feet.
"Hey! Come on, Minako-chan!" Alan said laughingly as he was dragged to his feet.
"Alan, I want you to meet a friend of mine," she said as she led him toward Katrina. He
glanced toward Katrina and smiled in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head in
chagrin. "Alan, this is Katrina Nagashi."
"Nice to meet you," Alan said, still smiling. Katrina laughed quietly to herself as she
smiled back.
"Katrina-oneesan," Minako said, continuing with the second half of the introductions, "this
is Alan Nelson. Ryo-kun and I are staying with him while we are here in London."
"Ah, you're the 'Alan' I keep hearing about from Minako-chan," she said, grinning at him.
"Oh, so Minako-chan's been talking about me, hmm?" Alan asked, smirking at Minako as he
raised an eyebrow, making her blush slightly. "Nothing bad, I hope?"
Minako almost jumped as she felt something tap her on the shoulder. It was Ryoku, smirking
as he handed her a sandwich. She frowned at him, silently daring him to say something, but
he just kept smirking at he started on the sandwich he had grabbed for himself.
She sighed as she bit into the sandwich Ryoku had handed her. He would have to rub it in,
wouldn't he? Well, at least Alan wasn't upset about it; in fact, he seemed almost... amused
by it. She glanced back toward Alan and Katrina to see that they were already engaged in
conversation.
'Looks like Katrina-oneesan isn't going to leave right away,' she thought as she took
another bite of the sandwich.
"Alan, Katrina-san, aren't you two going to eat?" Ryoku asked pointedly as he gestured
toward the food he was now sitting beside. "We can talk while we eat."
"Oh, sorry," Alan replied. "Are you going to join us? Ryo-kun and I made more than enough,
if you care to join us." He then went to go sit down as well.
"Come on, Katrina-san," Ryoku said, gesturing for her to sit down with them. "While we eat,
you and Alan can give us some English lessons, if you both don't mind."
"You'll join us, won't you, Katrina-oneesan?" Minako asked as she sat down next to Alan and
opposite of Ryoku.
"Oh, all right," she relented, as she walked over and sat down between Ryoku and Minako,
and sitting opposite of Alan. "So, what's to eat?" she asked in English. She gave both
Minako and Ryoku a look that made them groan.
Alan grinned as he caught on. Much to Minako's and Ryoku's dismay, the rest of the picnic
was held entirely in English. Fortunately, Alan and Katrina were more than happy to supply
them with the proper Japanese equivalent when they got stuck, but it was still hard going.
'On the bright side, at least my English is improving,' Minako thought later on, even
though all that English was giving her the beginning of a headache.
**********************************************
Tempest stopped, folded her arms, and kept her frustration firmly in check, lest she lash
out at a nearby building and make a few cracks in its walls. She had been searching for
hours, yet she had found no sign of anyone who looked remotely like Masked Knight or Ryoku.
She wished that there wasn't so many people around, but without them, she couldn't drain
their energy to give to Quartzite....
'Now, that's an idea,' she thought to herself as she grinned to herself. Since she was out
and about, she might as well start draining some humans. But first, she had to disguise
herself again. After all, if she was going to use this disguise to look for Ryoku, she
couldn't let it be connected with the Dark Agency or else she'd be easily recognized by
Sailor V and Masked Knight, even in their civilian identities. But what kind of disguise
would she use? Maybe....
She grinned as she remembered something that she heard from Quartzite a long time ago. He
said that sometimes the best way to catch someone off guard was to do something that was
not only unexpected, but impossible. When she asked him to explain what he meant by that,
he merely chuckled condesendingly and smirked saying that she should know what he meant
better than anyone else. She still didn't know what he meant by that, but after thinking
about it, she at least got a good idea of what he meant by the unexpected and the
impossible.
After making her way toward an area where there was no one around to observe her, she
quickly changed her appearance to that of Fluorite's. Now, even if Sailor V and Masked
Knight did catch her, they would be caught be surprise at seeing the impossible: Fluorite
come back to life. That would certainly give her an edge, but she could only use that
element of surprise once... and only for a limited amount of time. That was another lesson
that she had learned from Quartzite. Surprise lasts only so long, so when she had the
opportunity, she had to strike hard and fast.
Hopefully, it wouldn't have to come to that so soon, before she had a chance to check out
Masked Knight.
Disguise ready, she left her secluded area and set out to find her first victim....
**********************************************
"That was great, Alan," Minako said cheerily after everything was cleared from the ground
and packed up in preparation to leave. "You and Ryo-kun made some good food!"
"Thank you, Minako-chan," Alan said with a laugh. "It's nice to hear complements about my
meals." Ryoku merely shrugged off his complements.
"I agree with Minako-chan," Katrina added. "I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the food."
Alan smiled at Katrina and bowed his head slightly. "Why, thank you. I appreciate the
complement and I was more than glad to have you here with us."
"It was fun," Ryoku added. "Maybe we should do this again sometime."
"Hai!" Minako added eagerly. "With Katrina-oneesan, too! That is, if you don't mind,
Katrina-oneesan?"
"Well, I don't see why not," Katrina replied thoughtfully, glancing toward the sky with a
finger on her chin in contemplation. "Sure, that would be nice."
"How about tomorrow?" Alan asked. "Around 10am at the amusement park?"
"The amusement park?" Katrina asked, while Ryoku and Minako glanced at each other in
surprise and mouthed the words 'amusement park' to each other eagerly. "Sounds like fun.
All right, it's a date."
"Date?" Minako asked, blinking in confusion.
"Just a figure of speech, Minako-chan," she explained with an amused laugh.
"Oh."
"Well, see you tomorrow, then," she said as she turned to leave, waving goodbye as she left.
"You two have a very interesting friend," Alan said as he watched Katrina leave.
"She is, isn't she?" Ryoku agreed as he picked up half of the picnic stuff and started
carrying them to the car.
"We're really going to an amusement park tomorrow?" Minako asked excitedly.
"Why not?" he asked, shrugging. "I figured that that would be the best place for the four
of us to spend a day of fun." His grin widened suddenly. "And maybe I'll convince Katrina
to not make you two spend the day speaking English." He paused for a second in thought as
he bent down to gather the other half of the picnic things. "Well, maybe not the whole
day," he amended.
"Alan!" she said bleatingly.
"Oh, don't be so upset," he chided. "You and Ryoku do need the English practice. Not only
that, but you two have been improving in your English dramatically since Katrina and I have
been drilling you two in the language nonstop." He grinned softly. "Just think,
Minako-chan. If we keep up this level of progress, you and Ryo-kun will be speaking English
on the same level as quite a few English teachers back in Japan. Well, maybe not as
fluently, but you two will be able to hold your own well enough."
"You really think so?" she asked, smiling fawningly at him.
"Yes, I do," he said simply as he headed off for the car.
"Alan...," Minako murmured happily as she blushed.
"Oi!" Ryoku grumbled as he grabbed Minako by the arm and started pulling her after him.
"Come on, Minako-chan, before we leave you behind!" He sighed to himself in vexation at
having to deal with the lingering effects of the Aino Minako crush. 'Why'd it have to be
Alan, anyway?' he mentally grumbled to himself. 'Couldn't it've happened to one of the boys
at school, at least? I wouldn't have to deal with it so often, then.'
**********************************************
Kat rina walked down the street, humming happily to herself. The book in her right hand had
been almost forgotten earlier, but there were other times she could read it. Today, she had
the most splendid time with Minako-chan, Ryo-kun, and Alan.
In fact, she was exceedingly grateful for Minako-chan introducing her to Alan. That man was
very interesting. He had an excellent command of both English and Japanese, and didn't have
that horrid English accent that she still had some difficulty understanding from time to
time. Not only that, but his Japanese almost sounded like he was a Japanese native...
Osaka, maybe? Tokyo? His accent was kind of jumbled, as if he was speaking with two
different dialects. Maybe he just learned Japanese from two different teachers with
different dialects.
After talking with Alan for a while, she had found that he had a very friendly personality,
which she found easy to be around. He made he feel comfortable, so it was easy to talk with
him. They had discussed a wide range of topics: her job, his job, his having to deal with
taking care of Minako-chan and Ryo-kun - Ryo-kun chuckled as Minako-chan became a little
miffed when Alan joked about how hard it was taking care of an overly enthusiastic girl
like her - and other miscellenious topics. She almost felt guilty; she and Alan had almost
monopolized the entire conversation, talking to each other, instead of talking with
Minako-chan and Ryo-kun as well.
Almost.
And to be completely honest, he was kind of cute.
Well, she was definitely looking forward to tomorrow. Perhaps she could try to get to know
Alan a little bit better as well....
Her pleasant reflections were cut short as she heard a scream nearby, suddenly cut short.
Without thinking, she quickly turned in the direction of the scream and ran toward it. A
few moments after she started running, she realized that if it reason for the scream was
what she thought it was, then she wouldn't be able to do much good without her firearm.
'It's times like these that I wished I followed their advice and carried my gun with me at
all times,' she mentally grumbled to herself as she ran, despite being unarmed. 'I'm only
going to read my book in the park. I don't need a gun to read my book under a tree in the
park. Well, you baka, this is exactly WHY you should carry your gun at all times. Mou!' She
glanced behind her for a moment before turning the corner, looking for two particular
someones.
'I wonder if Minako-chan and Ryo-kun heard the scream as well?' she wondered. 'They were
still in the park when I left....'
She ran up to where she thought the scream came from an stopped. A woman's still body laid
on the ground, her chest was hardly moving, but it was moving nonetheless.
"What happened here?" she asked after presenting her badge and calming some of the
distressed onlookers. One of them had already gone to call for an ambulance.
"This weird fellow wearin' a black robe came outta nowhere and just grabbed 'er arm," a man
said. "Just like that. And a bit later, she falls down right 'ere. Like she's faintin'."
"I know this sounds like I'm seeing things," a woman added, "but I swear to you I saw a
small green light glowing from her hand just before she collapsed."
"Yeah, saw it, too," the man agreed nodding at Katrina. "Seemed as though it came right
from where that black robe grabbed 'er. Came right outta their hands."
"Do any of you know where this black-robed person went?" Katrina asked. She was answered
only by shaking heads.
'Sounds like she had her energy drained,' Katrina thought as she frowned down at the
comatose woman. 'Minako-chan and Ryo-kun aren't here yet. Either they're still on their
way, they can't leave because of Alan, or they don't know about this. I'd better find a way
to contact them, in case they don't know yet.'
"I'll see if I can't find this person," she said as she turned to leave. "Be sure to give
everyone else the same information you gave me." With that, she ran off, looking for the
one who drained the woman on the ground.
**********************************************
"Y ou seem to be quiet all of a sudden," Minako commented to Ryoku in the back seat of
Alan's car as they pulled out of the park's parking lot.
"Just thinking, Minako-chan," he replied without looking at her. His gaze remained outside
the car window, staring at nothing in particular.
"What are you thinking about?" she said curiously.
"Nothing, really," he told her. "Just letting my mind wander."
Minako nodded as she shrugged and turned to glance out her car window as they drove down
the street. As the car turned the corner, she blinked as she saw someone familiar running
down the street.
"Isn't that Katrina?" Alan asked moments after Minako had spotted her.
"Eh?" Ryoku asked, turning from his musings to glance over to where the others were
looking. "That is Katrina," he agreed, nodding to himself. "Looks like she's in a hurry,
too."
Minako rolled down her window and waved at Katrina. "Matte, Katrina-oneesan! Chotto matte
yo!"
'Just the people I needed to see...,' Katrina thought as she slowed to a stop and turned
toward the oncoming car. "Minako-chan! What is it?"
"What's going on?" she asked after Alan pulled the car over out of the way of traffic. "You
looked like you were in a hurry."
"Is something going on?" Ryoku asked from his side of the car.
"A woman collapsed a few streets back after being attacked by someone in a black robe,"
Katrina explained. "She's all right except for the fact that she's unconscious. It's almost
like she had the energy drained out of her," she added, giving a pointed look at both
Minako and Ryoku. The two nodded almost imperceptibly.
"That's terrible!" Alan said, frowning.
"Yes," Katrina agreed. "I was chasing the person before you caught up to me, or rather, I
was trying to find out where the person had disappeared to." She shrugged ruefully.
"Unfortunately, I must've lost the person."
"Don't worry, Katrina-san," Ryoku said, tilting his head and shrugging, "I'm sure that,
with a little help, you'll be able to catch that black-robed attacker."
"That's right," Alan agreed, nodding encouragement. "I'm sorry that you couldn't find that
person you were looking for." He paused for a moment. "If you don't mind, may we offer you
a ride somewhere? You must be tired from all that running."
Katrina looked at Alan for a moment, then grinned. "I suppose so, if Minako-chan and
Ryo-kun don't mind."
"Why should we mind?" they both asked in unison.
"Then, it's settled," Alan confirmed. "Please, get in and we'll be happy to take you to
wherever you need to go."
"I suppose I'd better get to the station first," Katrina said as she got in the front
passenger seat. "After all, they'd want an incident report on the matter, since I just
happened to be the first officer to stumble onto the scene."
"No problem," he said as he prepared to pull back into traffic. "Anywhere you'd like to go
after that? Home, perhaps?"
"Well, I was headed home before all this...," she said, then grimaced. "Yes. Home."
"Long day, ne?" Ryoku asked sympathetically.
"Hai," she sighed tiredly.
**********************************************
" So, you've returned," Quartzite said as Tempest reappeared back at the warehouse. "I take
it from the look on your face that your little excursion didn't turn out as well as you had
hoped."
Tempest sighed as she nodded. "Not exactly," she admitted. "However, I did manage to drain
a woman of her energy, just so I wouldn't come back empty-handed."
"Just one woman?" he asked disdainfully. "Is that all?"
"It's part of my plan, Quartzite," she replied coolly. "I don't want to fight Sailor V and
Masked Knight just yet."
"Oh?" he asked, arching an eyebrow slightly. "So, what exactly is your plan, Tempest?"
"I want to uncover the identities of Sailor V and Masked Knight. That way, they won't be
able to hide from us. We can strike at them whenever we choose."
Quartzite grinned evilly. "I see.... Such a devious plan, Tempest. I'm surprised. And here
I was fearing that the possibility of Masked Knight turning out to be that boy would be
inhibiting you."
A slow grin spread across her face. "I'm glad you finally see that, Quartzite," she said as
she turned and started to leave again. "Unfortunately, I haven't learned anything yet. I'll
try again soon."
"Wait."
"What is it?" she asked as she halted and looked at him over her shoulder.
"Take one of our remaining warriors with you when you go," he told her. "Use the energy
that you've recently collected to aid you. I anticipate Queen Beryl's becoming impatient
soon, so you might as well take the opportunity of an attack to try to learn our enemy's
secret."
Tempest stared straight ahead and frowned. Trust Quartzite to try and use her own plans to
further his plans. Well, in a way, they were one in the same, but the end results weren't
exactly the same. At least Quartzite doesn't suspect anything yet. 'I'd have a hard time of
convincing him to leave off Ryo-chan if he knew that he was Masked Knight... if he actually
is, that is,' she thought as her frown deepened.
"I'll take Majutsushi," she told him as she started leaving again.
"Just don't try to overstep yourself," he said quietly as he turned away from the doorway
and headed back to what he was doing. He had to prepare for when Tempest would return with
new energy to deliver to Beryl. This time, there would be considerably more to send than
last time. There was enough to pacify Beryl; especially considering the string of failures
that Jadeite was experiencing. He felt bad for his... well, he supposed that he could
almost be considered a friend, though friendship was almost a foriegn concept in the Dark
Kingdom. At any rate, any large amount of energy that could be delivered was a boon to the
Dark Kingdom and had, thus far saved his standing with Beryl.
"Whatever you are scheming, it had better not interfere with my ambitions. If they do...
then I will have no choice but to kill you.
"No one will hinder my ambition. No one."
**********************************************
Disc laimer: All original materials belong to their respective owners. Sailor Moon belongs
to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs me, so I would appreciate it very much if you would ask for permission before
posting it anywhere else. Thank you.
The Question and all stories included are:
Copyright © July 6, 2001 Jason C. Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.
by Jason C. Ulloa
Chapter 16
"You two STILL asleep?" Alan asked as he opened the door to their room and glanced inside
at the two slumbering occupants of the room.
"We're tired, Alan...," Ryoku muttered semi-coherently as he rolled over and tried to go
back to sleep.
"Come on, Alan," Minako muttered just as wearily as she shifted under her bed covers,
trying to find a more comfortable position that would let her instantly drift back to
sleep. "It's Saturday...."
"Saturday afternoon," he said, giving the two of them a flat look. "What did you two do
yesterday to get so tired? Or, did you two stay up late last night?"
"She had problems sleeping, so we stayed up talking until she finally did fall asleep,"
Ryoku explained as he sat up. "What time is it?"
"12:30pm," he told them, nodding. "Let me guess. Homesickness?"
"Kinda. She was wondering how her parents were doing, and Hikaru-chan, and her cat,
Artemis." He paused for a moment. "I guess it doesn't affect me very much, since all I have
is Mako-chan, and I know she can take care of herself."
"Mako-chan?"
"My sister, Makoto," he explained.
"Just your sister?" Alan asked. "What about your parents?"
"Dead," he said quietly.
Alan just looked at Ryoku for a moment before deciding to speak again. "I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to bring up any unpleasant memories...."
"Don't worry about it. I'm already used to not having them around. I still have Mako-chan,
and I still have my fond memories of them. That helps, even though I still get sad every
now and then." He paused and shook his head sadly. "Hey, Alan. Once Sleeping Beauty, over
here," he said, nodding toward the still sleeping Minako, "wakes up, why don't the three of
us go out for the day? I think she'd really like that."
"Hmm.... Not a bad idea," Alan said, nodding. "A picnic in the park, perhaps? Sounds good.
I'll start getting everything ready." He paused as he glanced down at Minako. "You sure
she'll be up sometime soon?" he asked jokingly.
"Hai," Ryoku said with a nod. "I just have to find where I put my high explosives and
she'll be up in no time."
Alan blinked in confusion for a moment until he realized that Ryoku was only joking.
"Right...," he said with a laugh. "Well, if you'll excuse me...." With that, he turned and
left, chuckling softly to himself.
"But I was serious...," Ryoku said before shrugging and standing up. He quickly rolled his
blankets up and set them out of the way before getting his clothes out of the dresser and
leaving to go change. Before he left, he saw that Minako was still asleep. Perhaps now
would be a good time to contact Artemis. After all, he didn't get the chance to do so
yesterday since she was having trouble sleeping, not to mention the Dark Agency. Well,
Artemis would understand.
Once he was in the bathroom, he closed the door, turned on the shower, got undressed,
showered, turned it off and got out. As he reached for the towel, he also turned on the
communicator. As he dried himself, a tired Artemis answered his call.
"Nan desu ka?" the white cat murmured sleepily.
"Gomen, Artemis," Ryoku said apologetically. "Were you asleep?"
"I was," he replied groggily. "I was having a pleasant dream about.... Well, that doesn't
matter. I was waiting for you to contact me. What happened?"
"Dark Agency attack last night," he replied. "Minako-chan and I took care of it, as usual."
"I see," he said understandingly. "Anyway, I've got some news for you. Luna's found her
third Sailor Senshi."
"Already?" he asked, his eyebrow raised in astonishment. "That was fast. Who's the new one?"
"Sailor Mars."
"Okay, so we have a Moon, a Mercury and a Mars," he said, thinking out loud. "Minako-chan's
Venus, I'm Sailor Knight.... Na, Artemis... how many Senshi do we have left to search for?"
"Right now, just Sailor Jupiter," he told him.
Ryoku nodded thoughtfully. "One more, then. How're the others holding up?"
"The others...? Oh, you mean the other Senshi. So far, they seem to be doing well enough
against the Dark Kingdom, however, they are gravely inexperienced at fighting and Luna
tells me that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars don't get along too well."
"That doesn't sound too good," he said thoughtfully as he lowered his towel after quickly
drying himself off. He frowned contemplatively as he wrapped the towel around himself.
"Well, I guess we'd better hurry up here, then. It sounds like you may need us sooner than
you think."
"Any news on your end?"
"Not much new, Artemis," he replied. "The attacks are slowing. I'm getting the impression
that the enemy is desperate. I think we've pretty much almost finished them off." He paused
for a moment as a stray thought flashed through his mind. A memory of seeing someone in the
shadows; someone who looked very familiar.
"Somehow, Artemis, I have a very bad feeling - almost like a premonition - that something
terrible is looming just out of out sight," he added pensively.
"Are you sure, Ryoku?" Artemis asked with a touch of concern.
"I don't know." He chuckled slightly, despite how he was feeling. "Maybe I'm just becoming
worrisome... like someone I know."
"I'm not amused in the slightest," the white cat muttered irritatedly. "At any rate, all I
can say is that I hope you both be careful, if your... premonition turns out to be more
than just a bad feeling. I know you'll both look out for each other. I'll be sure to let
you know when Luna has found Sailor Jupiter, if she doesn't before you both come back. As
for me, I'm going to go back to sleep. I've got a few more hours until I have to contact
Luna to give her my latest findings on the Dark Kingdom's activities."
"How is the situation with the Dark Kingdom, Artemis?" Ryoku asked gravely. "Is what we're
doing here having any noticeable effects?"
"None that I can see, but it's certainly better than the alternative, Ryoku."
"That, I know," he agreed as he reached for his communicator. "Thank you, Artemis. I will
keep you updated." He pushed a button and the connection was terminated. He then quickly
got dressed and exited the bathroom.
From outside the bedroom, there was the soft sound of a pillow hitting something, followed
by the subsequent sounds of indignant, yet muffled, exclamations of irritation.
Now, Minako was awake.
**********************************************
Tem pest sighed to herself. The more she thought over last night's encounter, the more
convinced she was that Masked Knight was Ryoku. But, she couldn't be completely sure yet;
especially since she still had some feelings for him left over from her old life as Keiko.
She left the room where the few remaining warriors that they had salvaged from Danburite's
tenure as leader of the Dark Agency were sleeping. It was a sad sight; a mere remnant
remained of their organization - a scant handful at best! - and it seemed as though they
were in a dire situation. Thanks to Sailor V and Masked Knight, all that remained of the
Dark Agency was herself, Quartzite, Kage, Jade, Majutsushi, and Chimei.
Six. Only six left.
Tempest exited the building and glanced over toward the warehouse. Quartzite was more than
likely working on something for the next attack. He had already sent all the energy that
they had gathered up until now back to Queen Beryl since she was starting to grow
impatient. They had delayed sending the usual harvest until now since they had used a good
deal of their initial gathering on empowering Sousha in that short-lived, yet partially
successful experiment. At least she had learned from the mistakes she had made.
Unbidden, her mind drifted back toward the problem of Masked Knight. How could she find out
his true identity? How could she do that without Sailor V getting in the way? That girl she
had no qualms about killing. Sailor V had been a menace since day one. If it wasn't for her
there wouldn't've been any Masked Knight, and she wouldn't be going through this mental and
emotional anguish over the possibility of having to kill someone who might have been her
lost love.
Damn her.
A quick glance inside the warehouse showed that Quartzite wouldn't likely be leaving any
time soon. Her mind made up she turned and headed toward an ordinary looking stand-up
mirror. She had brought it because there might've been a slight possibility that she
would've needed to go out in disguise. After meeting Masked Knight in person... sort of...
the possibility had become a reality. That, and she just liked the mirror; it was very
pretty, in an almost plain sort of way. It wasn't very ornate; the metal was gold-colored
- she highly doubted it was gold - and there was a very simple design etched into the metal.
She turned toward the mirror and concentrated. She made her image grow to a height almost
matching Ryoku's and shortened her hair to just slightly past shoulder length. Her eye and
hair color definitely had to change; Ryoku would recognize her if she kept her red hair and
hazel eyes. After going through one hair color and shade after another, she finally decided
on a bluish shade of black with ashy gray eyes.
She smiled slightly; it was no coincidence that she chose an eye color similar to Ryoku's.
Maybe.... If Masked Knight WAS Ryoku, maybe she could convince him to join their side. He
was a good fighter and Queen Beryl needed all the good fighters she could get. After all,
from what she had seen when she had left with those who would make up the Dark Agency,
there wasn't a lot of skillful fighters in Beryl's ranks. The youma seemed to be mostly
concerned with power, but as Sousha demonstrated, power can only take you so far.
Furthermore, if she did manage to convince him, she could have her love fighting by her
side. The one regret that she had after becoming Tempest was that she had thought that she
would never be able to see Ryoku again.
'Maybe we were destined to be together,' she thought with a smile as she examined her new
appearance. She had also slightly altered her facial features so that Ryoku wouldn't
recognize her, even if he was standing in front of her and looking her straight in the
eyes. 'I hope he still remembers me....'
Seeing her eager, childish grin in the mirror, she quickly composed herself. She still did
not have proof that Ryoku and Masked Knight were one and the same, so she shouldn't be
getting her hopes up like that.
"Well, whether he is or he isn't," she said, mentally preparing herself for the task at
hand, "there's only one way to find out for sure." With one last glance back at Quartzite,
she vanished from sight.
Quartzite's eyes momentarily lifted up from what he was doing and glanced toward the mirror
before returning as a small, almost invisible frown slightly curved his lips.
**********************************************
As Ryoku and Alan started setting up the items for their picnic, Minako took the
opportunity to go exploring the park. She had been so excited about spending the day on a
picnic with Alan - and Ryoku, too, of course - that she had completely forgotten the name
of the park Alan had taken them to. Not that it really mattered, though.
The wind blowing through the magnificent, tall trees made a soothing rustling sound as she
watched the branches, each filled with many different shades of green and yellow, sway back
and forth as if dancing to an unheard melody drifting upon the breeze. She closed her eyes
as she felt the breeze blow across and caress her face, and sighed contentedly.
"Nature's grace in its most elegant form, wouldn't you agree, Minako-chan?" she heard a
voice say behind her. She opened her eyes and turned around to find Katrina standing behind
her. The older woman was wearing a comfortable looking light green blouse and blue jeans.
There was a small book in her left hand.
"Oh, hi, Katrina-oneesan!" she greeted cheerily.
Katrina smiled. So, it was 'oneesan' now, was it? "You seem to be in a very good mood
today."
"Un!" Minako said emphatically with a nod of her head. "I'm going on a picnic with Alan and
Ryo-kun!" she told her. "Alan is the guy who's looking after us while we're here in London."
"I see," Katrina said with a grin. "Sounds like fun."
"Say, what're you doing here, Katrina-oneesan?" she asked.
"Well, since it's the weekend, I figured I'd spend a relaxing afternoon outside," Katrina
explained, gesturing toward the trees waving in the light breeze. "It's a perfect day to
spend reading a good book in the shade of one of these trees.... Or, to have a picnic," she
added with a wink at Minako.
"Oi, Minako-chan!" Minako heard Ryoku call out to her. "You gonna eat or what? You were the
one complaining about being hungry, so come and eat!"
Minako sweatdropped as she turned back toward where the others were at. "Coming!" she
called back, then turned back toward Katrina. "Ne, Katrina, why don't you join us?" she
suggested.
"Well, I don't know...," Katrina said with slight hesitation.
"Come on, Katrina-oneesan," she urged pleadingly. "You can at least meet Alan and say hi to
Ryo-kun."
"All right," Katrina conceded with a small grin. "I'll go say hi to them.
"By the way, Minako-chan," she said as she followed her, "did you and Ryo-kun ever manage
to take care of that one from the Dark Agency that we were chasing yesterday?"
Minako's steps slowed as she lowered her voice so that only Katrina could hear. "We took
care of her last night. It was a total surprise; usually they attack during the day, so
they can gather energy, but...." She trailed off uncertainly.
"Now you're concerned about this change in tactics?" she asked.
"Last night, before the attack, Ryo-kun and I were discussing the recent changes that we've
noticed in the Dark Agency," she explained. "He made a lot of good points that kinda worry
me, but we're both hoping that it's nothing too important." She shrugged as she grinned at
Katrina. "Enough about that. We'd better hurry or Ryo-kun's gonna be really upset...."
"Too late," Katrina said as she pointed toward where Alan was sitting with an apologetic
look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders. Ryo-kun, on the other hand, was standing
with his arms crossed, frowning.
"You complain about being hungry almost the entire way here, then you go and keep us
waiting," he said flatly. "Would it be too difficult to make up your mind and stick with
one, Minako-chan?"
"Gomen, Ryo-kun," Minako said, bowing contritely. "I met up with Katrina-oneesan back there
and we were talking, so I guess I just forgot about being hungry."
His scowl vanished immediately. "Oh. Okay," he said, shrugging it off. He then turned to
Katrina and grinned. "So good to see you again, Katrina-san."
"Good to see you, too, Ryo-kun," she replied, smiling.
Minako grinned as she jogged over to where Alan was sitting and tugged on his arm, pulling
him to his feet.
"Hey! Come on, Minako-chan!" Alan said laughingly as he was dragged to his feet.
"Alan, I want you to meet a friend of mine," she said as she led him toward Katrina. He
glanced toward Katrina and smiled in embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head in
chagrin. "Alan, this is Katrina Nagashi."
"Nice to meet you," Alan said, still smiling. Katrina laughed quietly to herself as she
smiled back.
"Katrina-oneesan," Minako said, continuing with the second half of the introductions, "this
is Alan Nelson. Ryo-kun and I are staying with him while we are here in London."
"Ah, you're the 'Alan' I keep hearing about from Minako-chan," she said, grinning at him.
"Oh, so Minako-chan's been talking about me, hmm?" Alan asked, smirking at Minako as he
raised an eyebrow, making her blush slightly. "Nothing bad, I hope?"
Minako almost jumped as she felt something tap her on the shoulder. It was Ryoku, smirking
as he handed her a sandwich. She frowned at him, silently daring him to say something, but
he just kept smirking at he started on the sandwich he had grabbed for himself.
She sighed as she bit into the sandwich Ryoku had handed her. He would have to rub it in,
wouldn't he? Well, at least Alan wasn't upset about it; in fact, he seemed almost... amused
by it. She glanced back toward Alan and Katrina to see that they were already engaged in
conversation.
'Looks like Katrina-oneesan isn't going to leave right away,' she thought as she took
another bite of the sandwich.
"Alan, Katrina-san, aren't you two going to eat?" Ryoku asked pointedly as he gestured
toward the food he was now sitting beside. "We can talk while we eat."
"Oh, sorry," Alan replied. "Are you going to join us? Ryo-kun and I made more than enough,
if you care to join us." He then went to go sit down as well.
"Come on, Katrina-san," Ryoku said, gesturing for her to sit down with them. "While we eat,
you and Alan can give us some English lessons, if you both don't mind."
"You'll join us, won't you, Katrina-oneesan?" Minako asked as she sat down next to Alan and
opposite of Ryoku.
"Oh, all right," she relented, as she walked over and sat down between Ryoku and Minako,
and sitting opposite of Alan. "So, what's to eat?" she asked in English. She gave both
Minako and Ryoku a look that made them groan.
Alan grinned as he caught on. Much to Minako's and Ryoku's dismay, the rest of the picnic
was held entirely in English. Fortunately, Alan and Katrina were more than happy to supply
them with the proper Japanese equivalent when they got stuck, but it was still hard going.
'On the bright side, at least my English is improving,' Minako thought later on, even
though all that English was giving her the beginning of a headache.
**********************************************
Tempest stopped, folded her arms, and kept her frustration firmly in check, lest she lash
out at a nearby building and make a few cracks in its walls. She had been searching for
hours, yet she had found no sign of anyone who looked remotely like Masked Knight or Ryoku.
She wished that there wasn't so many people around, but without them, she couldn't drain
their energy to give to Quartzite....
'Now, that's an idea,' she thought to herself as she grinned to herself. Since she was out
and about, she might as well start draining some humans. But first, she had to disguise
herself again. After all, if she was going to use this disguise to look for Ryoku, she
couldn't let it be connected with the Dark Agency or else she'd be easily recognized by
Sailor V and Masked Knight, even in their civilian identities. But what kind of disguise
would she use? Maybe....
She grinned as she remembered something that she heard from Quartzite a long time ago. He
said that sometimes the best way to catch someone off guard was to do something that was
not only unexpected, but impossible. When she asked him to explain what he meant by that,
he merely chuckled condesendingly and smirked saying that she should know what he meant
better than anyone else. She still didn't know what he meant by that, but after thinking
about it, she at least got a good idea of what he meant by the unexpected and the
impossible.
After making her way toward an area where there was no one around to observe her, she
quickly changed her appearance to that of Fluorite's. Now, even if Sailor V and Masked
Knight did catch her, they would be caught be surprise at seeing the impossible: Fluorite
come back to life. That would certainly give her an edge, but she could only use that
element of surprise once... and only for a limited amount of time. That was another lesson
that she had learned from Quartzite. Surprise lasts only so long, so when she had the
opportunity, she had to strike hard and fast.
Hopefully, it wouldn't have to come to that so soon, before she had a chance to check out
Masked Knight.
Disguise ready, she left her secluded area and set out to find her first victim....
**********************************************
"That was great, Alan," Minako said cheerily after everything was cleared from the ground
and packed up in preparation to leave. "You and Ryo-kun made some good food!"
"Thank you, Minako-chan," Alan said with a laugh. "It's nice to hear complements about my
meals." Ryoku merely shrugged off his complements.
"I agree with Minako-chan," Katrina added. "I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the food."
Alan smiled at Katrina and bowed his head slightly. "Why, thank you. I appreciate the
complement and I was more than glad to have you here with us."
"It was fun," Ryoku added. "Maybe we should do this again sometime."
"Hai!" Minako added eagerly. "With Katrina-oneesan, too! That is, if you don't mind,
Katrina-oneesan?"
"Well, I don't see why not," Katrina replied thoughtfully, glancing toward the sky with a
finger on her chin in contemplation. "Sure, that would be nice."
"How about tomorrow?" Alan asked. "Around 10am at the amusement park?"
"The amusement park?" Katrina asked, while Ryoku and Minako glanced at each other in
surprise and mouthed the words 'amusement park' to each other eagerly. "Sounds like fun.
All right, it's a date."
"Date?" Minako asked, blinking in confusion.
"Just a figure of speech, Minako-chan," she explained with an amused laugh.
"Oh."
"Well, see you tomorrow, then," she said as she turned to leave, waving goodbye as she left.
"You two have a very interesting friend," Alan said as he watched Katrina leave.
"She is, isn't she?" Ryoku agreed as he picked up half of the picnic stuff and started
carrying them to the car.
"We're really going to an amusement park tomorrow?" Minako asked excitedly.
"Why not?" he asked, shrugging. "I figured that that would be the best place for the four
of us to spend a day of fun." His grin widened suddenly. "And maybe I'll convince Katrina
to not make you two spend the day speaking English." He paused for a second in thought as
he bent down to gather the other half of the picnic things. "Well, maybe not the whole
day," he amended.
"Alan!" she said bleatingly.
"Oh, don't be so upset," he chided. "You and Ryoku do need the English practice. Not only
that, but you two have been improving in your English dramatically since Katrina and I have
been drilling you two in the language nonstop." He grinned softly. "Just think,
Minako-chan. If we keep up this level of progress, you and Ryo-kun will be speaking English
on the same level as quite a few English teachers back in Japan. Well, maybe not as
fluently, but you two will be able to hold your own well enough."
"You really think so?" she asked, smiling fawningly at him.
"Yes, I do," he said simply as he headed off for the car.
"Alan...," Minako murmured happily as she blushed.
"Oi!" Ryoku grumbled as he grabbed Minako by the arm and started pulling her after him.
"Come on, Minako-chan, before we leave you behind!" He sighed to himself in vexation at
having to deal with the lingering effects of the Aino Minako crush. 'Why'd it have to be
Alan, anyway?' he mentally grumbled to himself. 'Couldn't it've happened to one of the boys
at school, at least? I wouldn't have to deal with it so often, then.'
**********************************************
Kat rina walked down the street, humming happily to herself. The book in her right hand had
been almost forgotten earlier, but there were other times she could read it. Today, she had
the most splendid time with Minako-chan, Ryo-kun, and Alan.
In fact, she was exceedingly grateful for Minako-chan introducing her to Alan. That man was
very interesting. He had an excellent command of both English and Japanese, and didn't have
that horrid English accent that she still had some difficulty understanding from time to
time. Not only that, but his Japanese almost sounded like he was a Japanese native...
Osaka, maybe? Tokyo? His accent was kind of jumbled, as if he was speaking with two
different dialects. Maybe he just learned Japanese from two different teachers with
different dialects.
After talking with Alan for a while, she had found that he had a very friendly personality,
which she found easy to be around. He made he feel comfortable, so it was easy to talk with
him. They had discussed a wide range of topics: her job, his job, his having to deal with
taking care of Minako-chan and Ryo-kun - Ryo-kun chuckled as Minako-chan became a little
miffed when Alan joked about how hard it was taking care of an overly enthusiastic girl
like her - and other miscellenious topics. She almost felt guilty; she and Alan had almost
monopolized the entire conversation, talking to each other, instead of talking with
Minako-chan and Ryo-kun as well.
Almost.
And to be completely honest, he was kind of cute.
Well, she was definitely looking forward to tomorrow. Perhaps she could try to get to know
Alan a little bit better as well....
Her pleasant reflections were cut short as she heard a scream nearby, suddenly cut short.
Without thinking, she quickly turned in the direction of the scream and ran toward it. A
few moments after she started running, she realized that if it reason for the scream was
what she thought it was, then she wouldn't be able to do much good without her firearm.
'It's times like these that I wished I followed their advice and carried my gun with me at
all times,' she mentally grumbled to herself as she ran, despite being unarmed. 'I'm only
going to read my book in the park. I don't need a gun to read my book under a tree in the
park. Well, you baka, this is exactly WHY you should carry your gun at all times. Mou!' She
glanced behind her for a moment before turning the corner, looking for two particular
someones.
'I wonder if Minako-chan and Ryo-kun heard the scream as well?' she wondered. 'They were
still in the park when I left....'
She ran up to where she thought the scream came from an stopped. A woman's still body laid
on the ground, her chest was hardly moving, but it was moving nonetheless.
"What happened here?" she asked after presenting her badge and calming some of the
distressed onlookers. One of them had already gone to call for an ambulance.
"This weird fellow wearin' a black robe came outta nowhere and just grabbed 'er arm," a man
said. "Just like that. And a bit later, she falls down right 'ere. Like she's faintin'."
"I know this sounds like I'm seeing things," a woman added, "but I swear to you I saw a
small green light glowing from her hand just before she collapsed."
"Yeah, saw it, too," the man agreed nodding at Katrina. "Seemed as though it came right
from where that black robe grabbed 'er. Came right outta their hands."
"Do any of you know where this black-robed person went?" Katrina asked. She was answered
only by shaking heads.
'Sounds like she had her energy drained,' Katrina thought as she frowned down at the
comatose woman. 'Minako-chan and Ryo-kun aren't here yet. Either they're still on their
way, they can't leave because of Alan, or they don't know about this. I'd better find a way
to contact them, in case they don't know yet.'
"I'll see if I can't find this person," she said as she turned to leave. "Be sure to give
everyone else the same information you gave me." With that, she ran off, looking for the
one who drained the woman on the ground.
**********************************************
"Y ou seem to be quiet all of a sudden," Minako commented to Ryoku in the back seat of
Alan's car as they pulled out of the park's parking lot.
"Just thinking, Minako-chan," he replied without looking at her. His gaze remained outside
the car window, staring at nothing in particular.
"What are you thinking about?" she said curiously.
"Nothing, really," he told her. "Just letting my mind wander."
Minako nodded as she shrugged and turned to glance out her car window as they drove down
the street. As the car turned the corner, she blinked as she saw someone familiar running
down the street.
"Isn't that Katrina?" Alan asked moments after Minako had spotted her.
"Eh?" Ryoku asked, turning from his musings to glance over to where the others were
looking. "That is Katrina," he agreed, nodding to himself. "Looks like she's in a hurry,
too."
Minako rolled down her window and waved at Katrina. "Matte, Katrina-oneesan! Chotto matte
yo!"
'Just the people I needed to see...,' Katrina thought as she slowed to a stop and turned
toward the oncoming car. "Minako-chan! What is it?"
"What's going on?" she asked after Alan pulled the car over out of the way of traffic. "You
looked like you were in a hurry."
"Is something going on?" Ryoku asked from his side of the car.
"A woman collapsed a few streets back after being attacked by someone in a black robe,"
Katrina explained. "She's all right except for the fact that she's unconscious. It's almost
like she had the energy drained out of her," she added, giving a pointed look at both
Minako and Ryoku. The two nodded almost imperceptibly.
"That's terrible!" Alan said, frowning.
"Yes," Katrina agreed. "I was chasing the person before you caught up to me, or rather, I
was trying to find out where the person had disappeared to." She shrugged ruefully.
"Unfortunately, I must've lost the person."
"Don't worry, Katrina-san," Ryoku said, tilting his head and shrugging, "I'm sure that,
with a little help, you'll be able to catch that black-robed attacker."
"That's right," Alan agreed, nodding encouragement. "I'm sorry that you couldn't find that
person you were looking for." He paused for a moment. "If you don't mind, may we offer you
a ride somewhere? You must be tired from all that running."
Katrina looked at Alan for a moment, then grinned. "I suppose so, if Minako-chan and
Ryo-kun don't mind."
"Why should we mind?" they both asked in unison.
"Then, it's settled," Alan confirmed. "Please, get in and we'll be happy to take you to
wherever you need to go."
"I suppose I'd better get to the station first," Katrina said as she got in the front
passenger seat. "After all, they'd want an incident report on the matter, since I just
happened to be the first officer to stumble onto the scene."
"No problem," he said as he prepared to pull back into traffic. "Anywhere you'd like to go
after that? Home, perhaps?"
"Well, I was headed home before all this...," she said, then grimaced. "Yes. Home."
"Long day, ne?" Ryoku asked sympathetically.
"Hai," she sighed tiredly.
**********************************************
" So, you've returned," Quartzite said as Tempest reappeared back at the warehouse. "I take
it from the look on your face that your little excursion didn't turn out as well as you had
hoped."
Tempest sighed as she nodded. "Not exactly," she admitted. "However, I did manage to drain
a woman of her energy, just so I wouldn't come back empty-handed."
"Just one woman?" he asked disdainfully. "Is that all?"
"It's part of my plan, Quartzite," she replied coolly. "I don't want to fight Sailor V and
Masked Knight just yet."
"Oh?" he asked, arching an eyebrow slightly. "So, what exactly is your plan, Tempest?"
"I want to uncover the identities of Sailor V and Masked Knight. That way, they won't be
able to hide from us. We can strike at them whenever we choose."
Quartzite grinned evilly. "I see.... Such a devious plan, Tempest. I'm surprised. And here
I was fearing that the possibility of Masked Knight turning out to be that boy would be
inhibiting you."
A slow grin spread across her face. "I'm glad you finally see that, Quartzite," she said as
she turned and started to leave again. "Unfortunately, I haven't learned anything yet. I'll
try again soon."
"Wait."
"What is it?" she asked as she halted and looked at him over her shoulder.
"Take one of our remaining warriors with you when you go," he told her. "Use the energy
that you've recently collected to aid you. I anticipate Queen Beryl's becoming impatient
soon, so you might as well take the opportunity of an attack to try to learn our enemy's
secret."
Tempest stared straight ahead and frowned. Trust Quartzite to try and use her own plans to
further his plans. Well, in a way, they were one in the same, but the end results weren't
exactly the same. At least Quartzite doesn't suspect anything yet. 'I'd have a hard time of
convincing him to leave off Ryo-chan if he knew that he was Masked Knight... if he actually
is, that is,' she thought as her frown deepened.
"I'll take Majutsushi," she told him as she started leaving again.
"Just don't try to overstep yourself," he said quietly as he turned away from the doorway
and headed back to what he was doing. He had to prepare for when Tempest would return with
new energy to deliver to Beryl. This time, there would be considerably more to send than
last time. There was enough to pacify Beryl; especially considering the string of failures
that Jadeite was experiencing. He felt bad for his... well, he supposed that he could
almost be considered a friend, though friendship was almost a foriegn concept in the Dark
Kingdom. At any rate, any large amount of energy that could be delivered was a boon to the
Dark Kingdom and had, thus far saved his standing with Beryl.
"Whatever you are scheming, it had better not interfere with my ambitions. If they do...
then I will have no choice but to kill you.
"No one will hinder my ambition. No one."
**********************************************
Disc laimer: All original materials belong to their respective owners. Sailor Moon belongs
to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs me, so I would appreciate it very much if you would ask for permission before
posting it anywhere else. Thank you.
The Question and all stories included are:
Copyright © July 6, 2001 Jason C. Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.