CHAPTER 2
Karen stared in awe at her reflection for what seemed like hours. She’d pranced around, pretended to be fighting monsters, and generally felt like a little girl who had been watching too many cartoons. She hit the panic button, however, when she heard her mother call for her. “Oh dear,” Karen said as she looked at herself. “Now what? I can’t just waltz out like this!” She took off the mask and inspected her hair to see if it was a wig, but pulling on it was just as painful as her own hair. Then she saw her eyes were no longer blue, but purple. “Oh!” She began hopping back and forth between the floor and her bed, desperately trying to get the clothes off. She could throw her hair up in a towel and make an excuse, but the clothes had to go. They didn’t come off, however, and it only made Karen panic more.
“Karen, are you all right?” her mother called. There was a knock at Karen’s door, and the panicking girl froze, standing on her bed with her hands on her waist and her knees bent from trying to pull the skirt off. Karen’s eyes averted to the door.
“Uh, yes mother I’m fine!” she called back. “I’ll be out in a moment!” She struggled with the skirt again, but it wouldn’t budge. “Come on,” she grumbled, her English mutterings quickly melting into curses. She gave up and started pulling on the shirt. Still grumbling, she had no success. “Come… On!” She pulled up hard, but only succeeded in shifting her right foot enough to slip off of her bed and land square on her back on the floor with her right leg elevated by the bed and caught up in her blanket. The door burst open, Karen’s mother in the doorway with a look of concern. The look quickly changed to confusion for a brief moment, and then to her usual unemotional, uninvolved state.
“Karen, what are you doing?” she asked. Karen looked up at her with a look her father would describe as the “deer-in-headlights” look.
“Um, mom, I know how this looks, and I can explain…”
“You can explain why my lovely daughter is on her back on her floor with her school skirt bunched around her waist in a very unladylike manner?”
Karen lifted her head to look at her clothes, and as she did she felt her long brown bangs fall into place. She brushed them aside to see her school uniform, instead of the colorful Sailor V uniform. “Uh, yeah,” she said quietly as she slowly picked herself up. “I fell… from my bed… I was taking a nap…” She looked back up at her mother, who didn’t look convinced. She didn’t say anything more on the topic, however, as the telephone began to ring. Her mother turned and left her room, and Karen wasted no time closing the door. She turned around and look at her reflection, seeing only herself now. She slowly approached the mirror, unbelieving, and then she noticed the mask was still on her vanity. “So, it wasn’t a dream,” she said softly as she picked it up. She gasped when the mask suddenly turned into the pen she had held before the fiasco had begun. She looked it over again, sitting on her bed, and came to the conclusion that the pen had caused the transformation. “This is wicked cool,” she whispered. “I’m a Sailor Senshi! I could fight crime!” Smiling contently, she tucked the pen safely into her jacket pocket before hanging it up. “I’ll be better than the first Sailor V!”
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“Out of my way!” Usagi shouted as she charged through her home. Per usual, she was late for school, and considering what time it was, she probably would miss half of her first class. For some odd reason, Luna hadn’t been there this morning to screech in Usagi’s ear. In fact, no one had been around to bother to wake her up at all. Usagi didn’t notice, but her mother wasn’t waiting with a plate of toast ready to snatch and eat on the way to school. Her brother wasn’t there to make some comment on her usual lateness. Her father wasn’t there reading his paper and ready to wish her a good day at school. Usagi slipped her shoes on and rushed out the door, and right into her father’s back. She fell backward onto her bottom and looked up in surprise. Her father turned around in surprise, then smiled.
“Well there you are,” he said. He quickly took her unoffered hand and pulled her up, pointing to the sky. “Take a look at that!” Usagi looked and saw the moon in plain sight, as though it were night. Both the sun and the moon were in the sky as though battling for attention.
“Is it a solar eclipse?” Usagi asked.
“I don’t think so,” her father replied. “We’ve been watching the moon move in a most unusual pattern.” Usagi tilted her head and noticed that the moon did seem to be moving right before her eyes. She then began to feel uneasy. Whatever was happening wasn’t natural. Without another thought, Usagi ran past her family and to the sidewalk. As soon as she was out of sight, she opened her communicator to contact her friends, but the communicator was dead. Not knowing what else to do, she ran to the temple.
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The girls were already at the temple, including Michiru, Haruka, and Hotaru. They were all gathered around Rei as she attempted a fire reading. Getting any information out of Ami’s computer was impossible, as it was dead like their communicators. Luna had left a short while earlier to get Usagi. They all figured she was still in bed.
They all watched the fire with rapt attention, as it slowly turned gray, and then blue, and finally red again. Then, Rei gasped and the fire burst as though a can of gasoline had been thrown in. Rei stumbled backward into Makoto’s arms just as the door slid open, framing Usagi as she panted for any breath she could take. “I’m sorry… I’m late…” she gasped. Then she noticed Rei. “What happened?”
“We have a new enemy,” Rei said stubbornly as she stood up.
“A new enemy?” Ami asked. “What did you see?”
“The night sky, painted red,” Rei said as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes, envisioning the image in her head. “The stars were shining with a strange force, and not just any stars, either. It was a constellation, but I don’t know which. There was also the moon…” she paused. “Well, half of it anyway. The other half was gone, and there was a sailor senshi with pink hair in a strange green uniform, standing over…” Rei opened her eyes.
“Over what?” Hotaru asked. “What was she standing over?” Rei’s eyes looked up at Usagi.
“Princess Serenity,” she said softly. “And there was blood, a lot of it.” Usagi grasped her hands as she gasped and stepped back in shock.
“Me?” Usagi asked. Rei nodded.
“I don’t know anyone else with hair like yours in a white dress,” Rei said. “Someone is here on Earth, and we have to make sure nothing happens to you.”
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“Have you ever seen anything like it Karen?” Tenka stared up at the moon as it slowly moved in the bright day sky. She and Karen were standing in the schoolyard, where half the school was watching in awe. When Tenka got no response, she looked at Karen, who seemed preoccupied with something other than the moon.
“Huh?” Karen quickly looked up at Tenka. “What did you say?”
“I said have you ever seen anything like this?” Tenka repeated. Karen shook her head and looked up. Tenka looked up too and continued. “Just imagine what kind of havoc this will have on the tides.”
“Still hanging out with your walking encyclopedia?” asked a nasty voice. Both Karen and Tenka turned around to the sight of the most popular girls in school, the exchange student from Texas, Amber Dallas. Her posse of popular wannabes, who answered to her every whim, surrounded her on either side.
“She has a name,” Karen replied, “and yes, she is still my best friend.” Amber tossed her hair over her shoulder with a smile.
“Just checking,” she said with an overly sweet voice. “The invitation to ditch her and join us is still open.” With that, Amber turned and walked away, her posse following in step. Karen scoffed and looked at Tenka. Her face was very red and she was clutching the handle of her school bag very tightly with both hands.
“Don’t worry about her,” Karen said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m not worried about her,” Tenka said quietly as wetness formed at the corners of her eyes. “Karen, do you think you’d ever go with her?” Karen’s eyes widened and she laughed harshly.
“Ha! That’s funny,” she said. “Honestly Tenka, what do you think? Could never be friends with her, and I’d never want to be anyway. You are my best friend, Tenka, and you always will be.” To emphasize her words, Karen placed a hand on Tenka’s shoulder. Tenka looked at her, and then smiled after a moment.
“Thank you,” she said. Karen nodded, but she stopped as her eyes caught movement on the roof. Something was up there, and for some reason she felt she had to see.
“Say Tenka, I’m going to go back up to class,” she said as she walked past Tenka. She never took her eyes off of the roof, even though the figure had disappeared from her sight.
“Karen, wait!” Tenka shouted. Her voice was lost as Karen’s walk turned into a run.
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All the way up Karen went until she was at the roof. She opened the door and looked around. She didn’t see anyone, though they could have already left. Karen sighed and turned to go back down. However, her path was blocked. A tall slender figure stood in front of the doorway. It was covered by a long cloak, and stood so still it could have been the shadow of a statue, but it wasn’t. Its shoulders shifted, and the cloak moved to the side to reveal a slender body beneath it dressed in a blue-and-brown dress. There was gold fishnet covering the right arm as it moved up to place its hand on its hip.
“I didn’t think anyone could see me,” the figure spoke in a sultry, hypnotizing female voice. “I didn’t think humans could see things that moved so quickly.”
“It’s human nature to be full of surprises,” Karen said in a low voice that caught her off guard. While Karen pondered her strange voice, the figure snapped into a defensive stance.
“What did you say?” the figure asked, the voice becoming sickeningly sour.
“I don’t know,” Karen admitted as she stepped back.
“Liar!” the figure shouted as it vanished in a puff of grey smoke. Karen jumped at the snap it made, but then felt her body lift up and fly forward. She landed and skidded on her right cheek until she stopped at the roof access door. She looked up and saw the figure in the black cloak. It stood now where Karen had been, and in its red gloved hands was an orb of light that swirled in blue, black, and gold. Karen gasped as the figure made to throw it at her. She lunged for the stairs, successfully tumbling down them and avoiding the explosion the orb made on the top of the stairs.
Karen’s descent stopped at the bottom and she promptly picked herself up. She was worried someone would see, but everyone in the hall was on the floor with wide eyes and ghastly skin. Karen could feel her own skin turn colors as she stared at them. She glanced out the window to the schoolyard and saw that all of the spectators of the strange moon movement were still moving, but looked like they were tied to the ground. She ran to the window and watched as they slowly collapsed and took on the appearance of their peers in the school. Karen’s hands were now visibly shaking against the window. She pressed herself forward onto the cool glass, resting her scratched cheek on the pane as she contemplated the unreal situation. She pressed her body to the pain as though seeking support from it, but felt something hard press against her breast. She pushed herself away and looked at her pocket. The strange pen she had found the day before was still there. She lifted it out, looked at it, and then lifted it up with a shout. “New V Power, Transform!” Praying for the same results as the night before, and maybe a few powers to go with it, Karen felt her clothes vanish and be replaced by the uniform of Sailor V. The pen was gone from her hand and she saw her faint reflection in the window. She nodded at herself, touched the mask for good luck, and charged back up the stairs to the roof.
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“Hurry up Sailor Moon!” Sailor Mars shouted as she practically headed the sailor team to Sougyokyuu Gakuen. The explosion on the roof was only the more recent reason to go there in full uniform. Mars had felt the presence of the senshi from her dream emanating from the school. They finally reached the gate of the school and found it bound together by ropes of blue, black, and gold energy. Through the ropes and bars, they could see students in the yard tied to the ground by the same energy ropes. Half were fallen, and the rest were following. With a quick leap, the team was over the gate. However, they quickly found themselves being tied up by the energy ropes. They struggled, but the more they struggled the tighter they were wrapped. Uranus summoned her sword into her free hand and tried to cut away the ropes, but a few separate ropes took her sword away. The team found their energy waning as they struggled unsuccessfully. They, their attention were drawn to the top of the school as two bodies suddenly plummeted from the roof.
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She had to leap over the crater made by the explosion, but she landed with surprising grace and looked around for the figure. She found it standing on the top of the chain link fence that surrounded the roof, watching over the attack in the yard. “Stop what you’re doing!” Karen shouted. The figure turned in surprise to her.
“Who are you?” it asked.
Karen froze up for a moment, and then held her hand up to the sky. “I am the protector of Sougyokyuu Gakuen and the next generation of super heroes! I am Sailor New V!” To Karen, no, to Sailor New V’s surprise her empty open hand was suddenly filled with something she didn’t recognize. She brought her hand down and looked to see two fish shapes, one following the other, around a small blue-green sphere. The two fish were the same color, but were very shiny, almost like a mirror. She could see her reflection in the fish, and in that moment she felt a faint burning on the back of her head. She then looked up at the figure that still stood on the chain link fence. New V lifted the mirror to the figure, reflective side out, and shouted, “Twin Beam!” From each of the two fish shot a beam of light that struck the chain link fence. The figure jumped up and landed behind New V.
“I thought I felt power here,” the figure said. “I didn’t expect a Sailor Senshi, but this is good fortune for me!”
“What are you talking about?” New V asked as she turned around.
“My assignment is to collect energy,” the figure said, “and now I can take back the energy of a Senshi!” The figure lunged at New V, grabbing her by the shoulders and throwing both of them through the fence and down to the school yard far below.
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The senshi watched as the two figures plummeted. Then, one of them leapt away, leaving the other to fall. The one that leapt away landed on the ledge of a window on the building. The other landed with a heavy thud. The senshi could only assume it was another student. Then, to their surprise, the figure on the school vanished. It reappeared in front of them. “More senshi?” she asked. “How delightful. Master will surely be pleased.”
“Who are you and why are you doing this?” Sailor Moon asked. The figure laughed and took a hold of its hood. Before it could pull it down, however, twin beams of light struck its back. It turned and saw Sailor New V standing on shaky legs across the yard where she had landed. The senshi looked at New V in confusion as the figure yelled and lunged at her.
“Twin Beam!” New V shouted again. Her attack shot at the figure, hitting it head-on. The figure tumbled backward, head over heels, and landed flat on its back. Its hood was still on, but the cloak was splayed open. The gold fishnet was now black, but fluctuated between that and blue. Then, the figure vanished in a puff of gray smoke. New V stood defensively, waiting for the figure to reappear, but it didn’t. Instead, the ropes of blue and black energy vanished. The senshi were released, as were the students. The students slowly came to their senses and the first thing they noticed as Sailor New V.
“Sailor V!” one student shouted.
“That’s not her,” another shouted, “the colors are all wrong!”
“You’re right, I’m not Sailor V!” New V shouted over the growing clamor. “I am the protector of Sougyokyuu Gakuen, Sailor New V! From now on, I promise to protect this school from evil beings! In the name of New Justice, I promise!”
“Sailor ‘New’ V?!” Venus shouted as she jumped up. “Who does she think she is? There is only one Sailor V!” The senshi quickly contained Venus’ rant and watched as Sailor New V ran to the school and disappeared inside.
“Her aura…” the senshi turned to look at Mars, who had a misty look about her. “Her aura is the same as that senshi from my vision!”
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