Sailormoon Zodiac: #6 - Shouri // Victory By: Janelle Jimenez (miaka@bishounen.org) Official Webpage: http://www.sailormoon-millennia.net/ [http://bishounen.org/smmillennia/] Note: At the very end of this episode is a bonus section. This episode turned out to be incredibly long--so it gets cut off before any action starts :) Sorry ^_^; "Volleyball?" Usagi read as she stared at the calendar of events on the board posted near the entrance-hall to Juuban High School. Minako was busy changing out of her school slippers and into her street shoes, "Don't you want to do that? It'll be so fun!" Minako exclaimed as she tossed the slippers in her cubby hole. "Aren't you already in the volleyball club, Minako-chan?" Mako-chan asked, Minako's face flushed. She hadn't joined...she was actually rather intimidated by the team. It was all upperclassmen...and they were all very good. Normally she wouldn't be so self-concious, but Juuban High School's make up was different than from Shibakoen Middle School. "I haven't...joined yet..." Minako answered nervously, "You should, Minako, Juuban High School's volleyball club is very good." Ami said as she picked up her books, Minako's face turned redder, why must they keep talking about this? she thought. "I...know...anou..." Minako murmured uncomfortably, she quickly changed the subject, "So, do you want to play on this district volleyball tournament or not? Pleeaaasee...do it for your dear friend Minako! I only need five more members!" "I'll do it, I love volleyball!" Usagi said happily stepping out of her school slippers and changing into her shoes. "I guess I will too...I'm not that good, but I can try." Mako-chan said with a shrug. "Ne, ne, Ami-chan?" Minako pleaded, turning to the blue haired girl. Ami smiled softly, "I would be a hinderance rather than an asset to your team, Minako-chan. How about I manage it instead?" Ami suggested. "Alright, manage it. I bet Rei-chan will play too..good, that's four." Minako said counting up the members on her left hand, "Two more, two more..." "How about Michiru and Haruka?" Mako-chan suggested. Minako and Ami warily looked at Usagi, bracing themselves for another negative comment towards the couple. But there was silence. Usagi glanced sideways at Mako-chan, then shifted her gaze towards the open doors. "So, what are we going to name ourselves?" Usagi asked quietly as she continued to stare outside and watch various upperclassmen and underclassmen walk by. "How about...Venus-tachi!" Minako suggested. Mako-chan hung her head in exasperation [Note: Venus-tachi suggests a team name meaning something close to 'Venus and Everyone Else'], "How about...the V-Team?" she counter-suggested. "What does the 'V' stand for?" Ami asked with a smile, she had a pretty good idea, there weren't many English words they all knew that began with a V. "Venus!" Minako piped. Usagi laughed, her happy demeanor returning to her. She turned around and grinned, "No...V as in Victory!" * * * * * Darkness. The shroud of secrecy. "Leadan...you could get in such trouble for what you are doing." Scorpia whispered. He laughed gently in the darkness and held her close, "I will be fine. But you...you must be careful here on Earth, Scorpia..." he said as he kissed the top of her head. Through the darkness, she could see that his silver eyes were worried. "What's wrong, my love?" Scorpia whispered, Leadan held her tightly and was silent for a moment, "You will leave me soon..." he murmured. Scorpia shook her head, but Leadan gazed at her with such tenderness and knowing that she stopped, he must have consulted an oracle to wholeheartedly believe such a thing. "You won't want to, but you will..." he added with a sigh, "Which makes it even worse." Scorpia didn't know what to say. She couldn't argue with a prophecy, they've always turned out to be correct...so she decided to change the subject. "I often worry about the missions the Princess Lithia orders." Scorpia confessed, hoping this would spur a new conversation. Leadan released her and sat down on her bed, "As do I, they seem pointless...schemes that my brother has created in order to attain something, but I don't even know what Arseniru thinks anymore." "I hate him, I truly do. He's selfish and vindictive--and insane." "There is a method in his madness," Leadan said, "You must be careful." "Arseniru cannot hurt me. He's too weak physically to get near me. No, don't worry, I will never be destroyed by Arseniru..." Scorpia murmured reassuringly as her fingers ran gently through Leadan's hair. Their's was true love, but a forbidden one. Captains of the Black Star Army were to take vows of obedience and never allow themselves to feel emotionally attached to anyone else, least they feel more devotion to another person and not to the Black Star Galaxy. "I still worry he may try to harm you..." Leadan whispered in the darkness, he felt Scorpia's gentle kisses on his eyelids. Scorpia smiled in the darkness, Leadan was such a dreamer--though often his imagination dreamt of things that were horrible, yet impossible. But Leadan still worried and pondered these imaginary problems. Scorpia, however, was not going to let Leadan's short stay on Earth be ruined by Arseniru. She brushed a strand of Leadan's silver hair out of his face, "My love, let's not worry about your brother and instead enjoy what little time we have together." * * * * * "Hotaru-chan, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Michiru asked brightly, but her face was hiding how she really felt. She felt such anguish when she looked upon Hotaru's pale face. Hotaru had really begun to feel like her daughter and like any mother, Michiru couldn't help but feel distraught when she saw how much Hotaru had changed. Gone was the happy girl who had grown up in a loving home, replaced was a broken shell of a girl--frightened of the darkness and acting like a child. "I'm sure." Hotaru whispered, she was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Michiru was heartbroken, under any normal circumstance Hotaru would have jumped out of bed, eager to be out in the beautiful sunshine. "Don't worry, I'll stay with her. You two should have some free time... You have become so stressed. You need to relax." Setsuna said, she was leaning against the doorframe watching Michiru wring a handkerchief. "I'm glad Usagi-chan asked us to play on their team...for a moment, I thought she was mad at us, isn't that silly? Usagi would never be mad at us." Haruka said as she lead Michiru down the hall, out the front door, and into her yellow convertible. "I'm glad Mamoru called us to help them fight the Zodiac Senshi and the Black Star Galaxy...but I cannot help but feel that if he had never asked us, Hotaru would be fine." Michiru said as Haruka started the car. "You shouldn't think things like that." Haruka said after a moment. The two drove in silence, the tension was unbearable to Michiru...but she didn't know what else to say. They drove silently until they got to Aoyamabachi, the park where the outdoor Volleyball festival was going to take place. The park had at least ten nets set up and hundreds of girls seemed to be there, Haruka's eyes widened with amusement, "Who would have thought so many cute girls liked the sport..?" Michiru said coyly, seeing Haruka's expression. Haruka returned a slight smirk as she stepped out of the car, "Haruka-san! Michiru-san!" called a cheerful voice, from the side-view mirror Haruka could see Minako and the others running towards them. "Ara, Minako-chan, you look cute today." Michiru said smiling at them, Minako smiled brightly, she was wearing her school gym shorts and a white shirt with a large "V" on the front. "Hai [Here], these are for you." Minako replied, holding up two more t-shirts with red "V's" on them. "Mm...where's Ami-chan at?" Haruka asked, "Didn't she want to play?" "I...think she's distracted..." Rei smiled with a slight shake of her head. "Ami-chan! Come here and say hi, don't be rude!" Minako called out playfully. On a park bench several meters away, Ami scrambled to get up, she was writing something. She quickly closed her note book and walked over to the ground, "Konnichi wa [Good Morning], Haruka-san, Michiru-san." Ami said politely, "Nee...what's thaaaat?" Usagi asked with an evil grin, before anything else could be done, she had grabbed the notebook from Ami's hands and opened it to the page Ami was writing on. Usagi burst out laughing, Rei quickly peaked over Usagi's shoulder to see what was on the paper. There, in blue ink, was a story--in comic book-style featuring Mizuno Ami and the Kageboshi Ninja. "Oh man...you are soooo enameled!" Minako cooed, "Anou, Minako...you mean...enamored?" Mako-chan suggested. Ami was blushing uncontrollably, "I..I...Oh you guys are horrible!" she exclaimed as she grabbed the notebook out of Usagi's hand. Ami tried to recompose herself, then flipped the notebook to another page. Instead of drawings, there was something of a battle plan. "Okay, I calculated the best way to beat the other teams. You see, statistics say that if we have Minako serve and let Rei-chan start here..." Ami began, eager to change the subject. The remaining girls were quiet for a moment, but then burst out laughing again. Ami looked hurt for a moment, but seeing that laughter is contagious, Ami soon broke her seriousness and laughed with her friends. Michiru and Haruka's worries over Hotaru disappeared, and the Kageboshi Ninja left Ami's mind momentarily. * * * * "I can't believe that you chose this name. Can we be a little more obvious?" Jessica Taylor demanded, she glared at Ameko--it was Ameko's job to get the t-shirts for their volleryball team. "I thought we all agreed that 'Stars' was a good name for us?" Ameko said meekly, she knew that Jessica hadn't liked the name when they voted...but she didn't expect her to be this enraged. "Just go with it, Jessica-san. What are the chances that the girls who are the Sailor Senshi will be here as well?" Mihana asked. Jessica was silent. She knew the odds were against her and complaining wouldn't get her anywhere. "I'm going to go register us in," Ameko said after a moment. She was eager to leave the group, just for a little while. Jessica sighed heavily and leaned against a tree, Tien-Lei, Mihana, and Joanna didn't know what else to do...so they stood near her. No one talked. "Ara..." Tien-Lei murmured under her breath, "Who is that?" Jessica quickly looked up, she saw a raven haired man walking in their direction. "Kage Masaya is much cuter than that." Joanna said, she had recently found out the name of the handsome blonde haired man who she watched daily and since then she couldn't stop saying his name. "Masaya is cuter in a different way..." Tien-Lei replied, "OH! He's coming this way!" she squealed. But the man was not coming that way. He was actually in deep thought, he didn't even know he was about to pass by a group of young girls. He murmured something under his breath, then bent down to tie his shoe. The four girls stood dead still, he glanced at them and raised his eyebrows at their awkward poses, then continued on his way. He didn't even notice when the box that he was carrying in his pocket fell onto the pavement. Wordlessly, Jessica bent down to pick it up. It was a small velvet box, the kind that you carry necklaces in...or maybe rings... "Oh! Thank god you picked that up!" the man said, he had stopped and turned around, Jessica didn't see him since she was busy about to open the box. She shrugged and handed the box back to him, "Can I please have your name?" he asked with a gentle smile. His deep blue eyes seemed to be piercing her, "My name is Jessica Taylor." she replied, "I'm Zan Tien-Lei!" Tien-Lei exclaimed, jumping in front of Jessica. "I am Joanna McMahon, nice to meet you." Joanna said, putting out her hand to shake. "My name is Hayashino Mihana..." Mihana added quietly, she was nowhere near as daring as the other two. The man seemed overwhelmed by the sudden attention he recieved, but he seemed pleased. "Well, I am Chiba Mamoru. Nice to meet all of you. Thank you, Taylor-san for picking up this box for me." he smiled, "I would have lost three months' salary if someone else had found it. It would have been horrible if I lost it since I'm going to return it." "That's nice." Jessica said icily, she didn't care at all. Mamoru's face turned cold as he stared at Jessica harder. "Well, thank you anyways. Goodbye and good luck!" he said to the other three girls before walking off. "Oh...that was the most embarassing thing in my life! You had him, but no...you had to be mean..." Tien-Lei wailed, "Worse off, you were about to open that box." Mihana commented, wondering if that was standard practice in America. "Which contained a wedding ring..." "Yes, because so many other small items in velvet boxes cost three months salary." Joanna said sarcastically, Mihana looked down--were all Western girls so rude and brash? She didn't want to start an argument, so she internalized Joanna's snide comment. "I wonder why he was returning a wedding ring..." Tien-Lei sighed, in her mind she was dreaming up a romantic reason...perhaps he had found another love because he was forced into a marriage by his parents...or maybe... "Did I miss something?" Ameko asked, bounding towards the group. She had in her hand a slip of paper, "Who's the other girl on our team?" Jessica asked, much more relieved that she could stop talking about that guy. She didn't know why, but she always felt guilty when men talked to her, even if they were just being friendly. "Let's see her name is...ah..nou..." Ameko began, she stared at the name. That was...odd...she couldn't figure out what the kanji she was reading said, "Tenshi...Nami...Umm..." she stumbled, she blushed horribly. She knew she wasn't too great at her vocabulary, but what she saw on the paper didn't make sense to her. What she read wasn't a name... "Well, what is it?" Jessica demanded, "Tenshi...something..." Ameko mumbled, Mihana took the paper from her. In a matter of seconds she looked as confused as Ameko had. "Well, let's just meet her--we can ask her what her name is then." Joanna suggested. They agreed and walked over to Court 4, where their first match against GLAY Girls was going to take place. Already waiting for them at the court, was a short girl with medium length white hair and glasses. "Hello, my name is Jessica Taylor. I'm the captain of the Stars, the team you were assigned to." Jessica said, the girl seemed relieved. "Ah, my name is Haato Tenshi. Nice to meet you all." she smiled, she had a small voice. Haato? That says Haato? Ameko thought. At the same time, Jessica was thinking, how are we ever going to win with this girl? She doesn't even look like she could hit a ball! The group introduced themselves and began to talk a bit, but before anything of value could be said, it was announced that the tournament would begin. From the very start, the GLAY Girls made sure every return was sent to the weakest, most unathletic looking person on the team. This person, of course, was none other than Tenshi. She missed every ball which came to her, luckily, the other team wasn't very good either. Near the end of the match, the score was tied. "You better not mess this up." Jessica said in a low voice, narrowing her eyes. Mihana sighed, this is unbelievable, she thought, first she was about to open a stranger's gift, now she's threatening someone she just met! Sure enough, the ball went flying towards Tenshi...but...for some strange reason instead of landing right in front of her, the ball stopped in midair and slowly began to hover upwards into Tenshi's waiting hands. The ball flew up into the air with such speed and velocity that it defied the basic laws of physics considering the light tap Tenshi had given it. The ball fell to the ground with a thud, everyone was stunned. However, no one even thought to ask questions. The magical hovering ball HAD to be due to the wind. Match after match went similar to the first one. After four matches, the only other team which was undefeated was...The V-Team. The two teams met with each other on Court 3. The moment Rei saw who they were playing she let out a groan, "If we have trouble today, you know who you can blame." she muttered, "Who?" Usagi asked, she was retying her shoe. "Jessica 'Sailorleo' Taylor." Rei said dryly, "Oh Rei, you don't know she's Sailorleo." Ami said, she was doodling again. The playbook had turned into a forum for her 'Ami + Kageboshi Ninja' doodles. "Well, you know...we can find out if it is them." Michiru murmured, she turned her back and held apart her hands. The Deep Aqua Mirror appeared with a gentle flash of light, she turned towards the sun to look into it. Usagi, from behind Michiru began to mimick Michiru's actions, but Mako-chan jabbed her in the ribs. Michiru glanced over her shoulder to see what the commotion was, Mako-chan and Usagi stared innocently at her. She smiled slightly, then returned her attention to her Talisman, "Deep Aqua Mirror, tell us...who are the 'Stars'?" * * * * * "Methania..." Leadan whispered, it was late night in the Black Star Galaxy. He had returned home without incident--neither of the Princesses were aware he had left. Sulfiria was touring the Kingdom with advisors and Princess Lithia and Arseniru were...busy. From the shadows of his den appeared the beautiful Methania, he smiled at her. Her hair was styled as it was always styled, blue hair with green streaks hanging loose. Her green eyes were a perfect match to her hair, "My precious Methania," Leadan smiled, he sat down in his chair and picked up some papers which had been laid on his desk. Methania stepped forward and poured him a glass of wine, she set the goblet on his desk. "I was unable to fulfill the mission Princess Lithia gave me." Methania said without emotion, Leadan stopped reading and looked up at her thoughtfully, "That is a good thing. You are not to be Lithia's murderer...Especially when what she asked of you was actually my brother's orders. He uses seduction to get what he desires. It's so childish." Leadan replied, shaking his head gently. He looked up towards the roaring fire, above the mantle was a portrait of his beautiful Scorpia which he had comissioned hundreds of years ago. It was amazing to him that she had been with them for almost three thousand years...it didn't seem that long. "What am I to do, Master? My mission is now nonexistant." Methania said. "Methania...I have a new mission for you...you are to protect Scorpia with your life. Make sure no harm comes to her...I couldn't bear it if she was hurt." Leadan said seriously as he stared at Methania. His creation. His Experiment. Yes, Leadan the Dreamer thought he could create a living being, so he tried and he succeeded. It was his only experiment which had turned out as planned, "Yes, Methania, please. I know how Arseniru feels towards her...he hates her. I fear it will be he who takes her away from me, like the Oracle said. Make sure this doesn't happen, I'm depending on you." ****************** BONUS SECTION ****************** I haven't mentioned this yet, so I figured I would do it now. :) As you may or may not know, what you are reading is the Rewritten Version of SMZ. To those of you who didn't know before, certain names have been changed. If you are really interested, then read the Sailormoon Zodiac Explained file. :) Anyhoo... Sailorleo --> Jessica Taylor (no changes) Sailoraquarius --> Janie Lee --> Nakayama Ameko [Rain Amidst the Mountains] Why did I change her name? Having entirely Western people was ridiculous. I changed her name to reflect what her powers do. Her last name is a very common Japanese last name. Sailorsagittarius --> Veronica O'Riley --> Zan Tien-Lei [War Heaven Lightning] The name seems nonsensical because it's actually Chinese. I wanted the Zodiac Senshi to be more international. I had Chinese friends help me come up with a pretty name which related to her Zodiac form. I put in Zan because it sounded cool together. ^_^; Sailortaurus --> Alana Johnson --> Hayashino Mihana [Beautiful Flower of the Woods] Taurus is very nature based, so I made up a name that fits with her. Plus, I think Mihana and Alana sound similar (sorta ^^;) Sailorcapricorn --> Joanna McMahon (no changes) Oh yes, I bet you noticed the first team the 'Stars' played was called the GLAY Girls. I bet you are wondering, what the heck is that supposed to be? Well, GLAY is a Japanese band made up of really hot guys who Japanese girls really dig. Kind of like how Backstreet Boys were a rage amongst teenyboppers... except GLAY is popular with all high school aged girls, pretty much. They're fanatical. Fanatical enough to name their volleyball team that. ^^;