Sailor Cynic: Swerves of Fate By Beky Sarver Episode 2: Yet Another New Ally Prologue: Last time on Sailor Cynic, the Sailor Senshi, Harley, and the mages spent time practicing and feeling each other out. Now, having had various enjoyable experiences together during the week, they are meeting up at the mall. * [Opening Song: St. Elmo's Fire] [Chibi Usagi, Makoto, Minako, et all growing up; Naru and Usagi giggling together] Growin' up, you don't see the writing on the wall Passin' by, movin' straight ahead, you knew it all [Makoto's parents dying; Rei's father marched off in handcuffs; Naru's father dying; Ami's father leaving; Shots of them alone] But maybe sometime if you feel the pain You'll find you're all alone, everything has changed [Usagi meeting Luna; Ami and Rei's first transformations; Makoto hoisting GMJ shadow, symbol of Jupiter on her forehead; Minako arriving in the darkness] I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin' sky I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels Take me where my future's lyin', St. Elmo's Fire [Fighting poses against youma stolen from the first season (S #0 in continuity) and teasers from the future] Play the game, you know you can't quit until it's won Soldier on, only you can do what must be done [Senshi face generals] You know in some ways you're a lot like me You're just a prisoner and you're tryin' to break free [Harley transforms into warrior gear; wielding the Silver Sword; standing by Zoitan; Talking to Malachite; Setsuna and Jedaite fight back to back] I can see a new horizon underneath the blazin' sky I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels Take me where my future's lyin', St. Elmo's Fire [Senshi, Harley, Setsuna, Jedaite, Zoitan getting tired, then getting up and fighting again.] Burning up, don't know just how far that I can go [Hyperspace meadow with arabian palamino horses grazing] Soon be home, only just a few miles down the road I can make it, I know I can [Mamoru, Jedaite, and Zoitan fighting back to back] You broke the boy in me, but you won't break the man [Xalen, Saeblin, and Faolin observe from the multicolored space of the time warp; Pics of them in warrior dress; Crowns around their heads] I can hear the music playin', I can see the banners fly Feel like you're back again, and hope ridin' high Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels Take me where my future's lyin', St. Elmo's Fire [Big, bright, jagged Z flashes] * Makoto yawned and shut off her alarm clock. Now why was she getting up so early on a Saturday? Oh, that's right. She dressed in casual slacks and a t-shirt. Heading out into the cool dawn air, she smiled. Life hadn't been bad lately. It had been nice having a friend who lived so close by. And without constant attacks, Makoto was able to catch up on some homework. She crossed the street and entered Harley's apartment building, Garden Apartments. She rode the elevator up to the fourth floor. She looked around. The apartment building was much less posh then her own, and it showed. Less expensive, though. Ruff! She was bowled over by 50 pounds of fur. "Woah, Worf. Calm down. Its too early for this." That was the *good* thing about having a less expensive apartment. You could have pets. Harley appeared behind her dog. "It looks like Worf is more anxious to go jogging than the three of us." Makoto petted the dog. "Three?" Harley nodded. "Yes. My friend and I go jogging together ever other morning. Oh, here she comes." A girl with shoulder length blue hair strongly resembling Ami's appeared at the top of the stairs. "Ready, Le-chan? Oh, who is this?" They met at the stairwell. Harley gestured. "This is my dog, Worf. You know, the one who goes jogging with us every morning? Are you going senile?" The girl scowled. "You *know* that's not what I meant." Harley chuckled. "Look, if I ever gave you the information you asked for, wouldn't your think it was an imposter? Besides, we'd have never become friends." The girl to urned to Makoto. "When we first met, I asked her where the bathroom was. She told me that it was most likely in a hallway." Harley filled in, "Then she decided to hit me.... and I was carrying my katana on me." The girl smiled ruefully. "I was unconcious in seconds. I woke up in the bathroom, with Le-chan standing over me. She asked, 'Was this what you had in mind?'." Makoto grinned. "Sounds like Harley to me. So are we jogging or talking?" They walked down the stairs, and Makoto held out a hand. "Makoto Kino." "Akane Tendo." The trio and dog jogged all over Nerima and Juuban that morning, enjoying their time together. Makoto and Akane fit together well, and Harley was.... well, Harley. As they stopped off at the Tendo Dojo, Harley asked, "So, do you think we had a sucessful bonding experience?" Makoto blinked, but Akane was evidently used to this frank review of life. "Sure. See you tommorow, Harley. Maybe you could join us more often Makoto?" Makoto smiled. "Yeah, sure!" Harley glanced at her watch. "We ought to get to the mall. Reina will have a fit." Makoto looked at her curiously. "What is my name in Zephyran? You never use it." Harley smiled. "You'd thank me if you knew." Makoto was puzzled. How bad could it be? "Come on, tell me!" Harley shrugged. "Mokarena." With that, she ran off into the distance. Makoto cocked her head. What? Suddenly, she made the connection. "What! I'm named after a stupid song!" * The huge bird shook his head as if trying to clear it. Last it remembered, it had been happily eating cloysters. Now it found itself above an endless metal jungle. But the bird didn't take time for philosophical conjecture. It's only concern was that of every animal: eating. It searched for prey. * Minako looked up from the bench she was sharing with Rei. She saw Rei jolt upright. "Something... wrong approaches." "Hey guys! What's up?" Usagi bounced into the park, Mamoru following about ten feet behind. Rei glared. "Something bad's coming! Get down, meat ball head!" Then Minako saw the head of a gigantic bird, made seemingly of rock. It's beak started to close on Usagi. Minako jumped up and ran for her friend. She was beaten to it by Rei. Usagi gasped as Rei launched herself through the air, knocking Usagi out of the way of the huge beak. The bottom portion swiped her side viciously, and blood began to seep out. The head retracted for the moment. "REI!!!!!!!!" Harley's anguished scream rang out, and in moments she was by her sister's side. She gestured, and a white box fell into her hand. Usagi leaned forward, concerned about her friend. "What..." A hand on her shoulder pulled her back. Sailor Pluto said quietly. "I would not do that, were I you." Jedaite nodded from beside her. He was dressed in his practice uniform. "Yes. I'd say that Harley has the situation under control. You should transform." Usagi nodded worriedly and reached for her broach. Pluto's hand blocked her once more. "Attempt to do so without it." Usagi and Minako exchanged confused glances, but nodded. Usagi closed her eyes. "Moon Crystal Power!" She wasn't sure where the phrase came from, but she was too busy to care. Minako followed her lead. "Venus Crystal Power!" Minako felt her clothing change, and she surged with energy, but there was no light show. Her transformation took barely a second. She blinked. "Wow. That is *much* better." Sailor Moon nodded seriously. "Yeah. Let's get him!" Ami had arrived. "Get who?" Minako gestured. "The giant bird that did *that* to Rei." Ami gasped as she viewed her fallen friend. Harley had opened the white box and had revealed it contained about fifty crystals, color coded. She was manipulating them around Rei. Ami rushed forward and found herself within hearing range. Having seen the others transform, she to did away with the henshin stick and light show. She lowered her visor. Rei's vital signs weren't good. She leaned in for a better look... and got a gentle push away as an answer. She looked at Zoitan, puzzled. "Am... Sailor Mercury, please don't. Liana already has an emergency kit and is tending her. You must understand, Liana is quite protective of her friends... and especially her sisters." Mercury nodded and backed off. For the first time, she listened to what Harley was saying. "Yeah, sure Reina. Just up and leave me again. I don't think so. I didn't work that hard bringing you to life to have you die." She took a pink/red crystal and placed it on Rei's chest above her heart. Rei's form jerked. Harley smiled. "That's better. Now, get your butt back to the world of the living, Rei. If you don't I'll have to spend lots of money on emotional therapy." Rei blinked, her eyes opening. She stared at Harley. They seemed to communicate for a few moments. Rei smiled. "Thank you." With that, she fell asleep. Harley relaxed. "Good. Sleep the battle away, why don't you. Always shirking responsibility." She got up and adressed them. "Reina should be alright. She just needs some sleep." There was a sigh of relief. Ami noticed that everyone had transformed except for Harley. Harley's eyes burned. "Now, let's kill that thing." In moments she was in her gold, brown, and green fighting mail and tunic. The Silver Sword was slung across her back. "Caw!" The scream filled the air. They all formed up in a circle surrounding Rei's sleeping form. The bird, at least 10 feet across and 15 feet long, came in for an attack run. Sailor Jupiter, who had arrived when no one was looking, opened fire. "Jupiter Thunderclaps Zap!" Her lightning crossed the birds wing and made no impact. It didn't even turn towards her. Jedaite and Zoitan nodded to each other. "Fire Ring!" they cried in unison. The fire blast hit the bird, but again the impact was minimal. It did grunt a bit. Mercury frowned. "What can hurt it?" Moon frowned and pulled off her tiara. She threw it, and (as usual) it turned to energy and struck the monster. And bounced off. And lay on the ground. Hmm. Zephyr's eyes lighted up. "Water! Only water conquers rock. Mercury, only your attacks will be effective. Do you remember 'Mercury Aqua Rhapsody?'" Merury searched her mind frantically. "Got it." Zephyr nodded. "Here, then." She closed her eyes, sending her power into Mercury. The others caught on quickly. Moon frowned, for she had never transferred her power to anyone else. Rei, barely awake, seemed to read her mind. "Send your power into the crystal and hand it to Mercury, meatball head." Moon nodded, and did so. She handed it to Mercury, feeling faint. "Jupiter Power!" "Venus Power!" "Pluto Power." The two mages added there energy. Mercury felt the power within her grow. Was this how Usagi had felt? She gathered it. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" She targeted the water blast at the approaching bird. A tsunami erupted from her hands, shredding the bird to a mere shower of dust. Mercury slumped, then stared at the dust. "My god." Harley quickly detransformed. "Well, wasn't that a stimulating experience. Rei-chan, how are you doing?" Rei stood. "I feel fine. What did you do?" She winced. "Well, maybe not *perfectly* fine." Ami nodded. "I would also like to know what you did." Harley sighed. "I suppose you don't remember first aid kits either, huh? Remind me to append it to the long list of topics we have to discuss. For now, we have to get Rei some medical attention." A short time later, an imaginary person by the name of Megumi Takahashi was treated in the emergency room of Juuban Hospital for blood loss. Megumi was sent back to her home in Osaka. * A few days later, Harley, Rei, Makoto, and Ami were enjoying lunch at the Nekohanten. The ramen was extremely good, and it was actually a fairly quiet day in Nerima. Well, until a large crab appeared outside and began attacking the populace. Harley frowned. "That's not normal Nerima craziness. Let's check it out." Ami grinned. "You actually *want* to have a fight, mmm?" "In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!" Rei chuckled. "Sounds like the meatball head is here already." They whispered their respective phrases and were instantly transformed. They exited the restaurant, only to see that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were getting beaten badly. Mars sighed. Typical. She aimed at the crab. "Burning Mandala!" Her flames struck the crab's side and fizzled. "What the hell..." Mercury analyzed the situation. "This creature must be like the stone bird. His weakness is... electricity." Jupiter grinned. "No problem." Tux and Moon had gotten around to joining them. Mercury nodded. Then she transferred her power into Jupiter. The others followed suit. This time, Moon didn't have to use the crystal. Jupiter grinned, feeling the voltage inside her increase. "Jupiter Thunder Dragon!" The superpowered lightingning flowed into a dragon, then into the crab. Several seconds later, the crab exploded. They detransformed, and everyone congratulated Makoto. She smiled. "See?" Akane walked into the scene, having observed the whole fight. And detransformation. She turned to Makoto. "Makoto, how in the world did you do that?" Makoto was speechless. Rei sputtered. Ami sweatdropped heavily. But Harley just shrugged. "Don't you recognize a chi attack when you see one?" The three blinked, but Akane nodded. "Oh, cool." There was a relieved pause. "What about the clothing change?" The others sweatdropped once more, but Harley shrugged. "We're superheroes. We can use more chi than even, say, Ranma, but we can die more easily from overload." The three girls were still staring in astonishment at Harley. She grinned. "I'd planned on asking Akane to join us anyway." Akane blinked in confusion. "Really?" Makoto finally got her mind in gear. She gave the girl a hearty wack on the back. "Of course! You'd make a great Senshi!" Ami noddded. "Certainly." Rei's eyes unfocused. Inside, she raged. Harley cool alto answered. Rei considered. Harley mentally sighed. Rei sighed. She focused once more on the outside world. "We could sure use the help to keep Usagi from eating!" Usagi was just recovering. "Hey! Take that back!" Rei grinned internally, then blew a rasberry. "Will not!" Usagi retaliated, and soon they were going full at it. Meanwhile Akane wondered what she'd gotten herself into. * The training resumed. Only now Akane was with them. Harley looked around. Each Senshi had met Akane at least once, and thankfully they were giving the hot tempered girl a chance. Harley and Setsuna had gotten together with Akane earlier that week, and discovered that she would at some point be able to draw upon the power of Earth. For now she could project her own energy or use it to power her martial arts. Different teams had formed up this time. Rei, Ami, Akane, and Jedaite versus Harley, Zoitan, Setsuna, Makoto, Usagi, Mamoru, and Minako. They were all in uniform save for Akane, who assured them that she'd be fine. Jupiter aimed at Mercury. "Jupiter Thunder...." Her attack was halted by her encasement in ice. Pluto Mage followed it up. He pointed at Zephyr. "Blind!" The spell hit her, knocking her out of the fight as she felt her vision fade. Moon got in her piece. She tried out a new attack, aiming for Pluto's Mage. "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" He ducked, but was caught with a glancing blow. Unfortunately, his evasion put him right in the middle of Pluto's Dead Scream attack. He was knocked out. "Usako!" Tux screamed as he knocked Moon out of the way of Rei's fire blast (a Mars Fire Ignite, to be exact). It did catch him. Moon turned to Mars angrily. "Moon..." She looked up to see a blue chi enhanced fist crashing towards her face. She squealed. "I give up! Don't hurt me! Akane grinned. "No problem, Sailor Moon." She turned to her next target, but Mercury had already trapped Pluto in ice. She felt Zoitan touch her on the shoulder, and her legs ceased to function. She glared and punched him hard in the stomach. He fell over, wondering why his paralyzation spell hadn't quite worked. It was now a blind Harley and an angry Venus facing an undaunted Mars, Mecury, and Akane. Venus truly did her best. "Venus Meteor Shower!" The attack took out Mercury and weakened Akane. As she fell from their return attack, she shrugged. "Sorry, Zephyr." Akane, unable to walk, and Mars faced Harley. She grinned and drew her katana. "Who's up first?" Mars answered confidently, "It wouldn't be fair to Akane to..." Her voice was cut off, for Harley had honed in on it and struck. Akane did not make the same mistake, but she couldn't really move. So she needed to create a trap. She cautiosly dragged a hand on the ground, leaning back and getting ready to strike. Zephyr brought her sword in a wide arc, which Akane had to use all her strength to block. This continued, and it became clear that the impaired girls were equally fighting to a stalemate. But then the still concious (yet encased in ice) Pluto and Jupiter sent their energy to their teamate. It broke the spell, and Harley could see once more. She smiled. "Sorry, Akane-chan." She brought the hilt of her sword down on Akane's head. Akane simply grinned. "No, *I'm* the one who's sorry." She threw her friend into low earth orbit. Then she realized the maybe Le-chan was not *quite* as durable as Kuno or Ranma. "Oops." She needn't have worried. As Zephyr rapidly approached the earth, she grinned predatorily at Akane. "Zephyr Petrification!" Akane turned to stone, and Zephyr landed calmly upon her. "Thanks, Akane." She turned to the others, who were lying about in various painful seeming positions. "We win!" They unfroze themselves. Untransformed, they began to socialize as usual. Akane was one of them now. * Ami was sweating. Her pulse was heavy. She was more nervous than she had ever been before. She swallowed. How was she going to do this? She felt Setsuna's reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He doesn't bite, you know." She smiled. "Well, at least he didn't used to bite." Ami mock glared, but the comment lightened her mood considerably. "Thanks, Setsuna. Where's Jedaite?" Setsuna smiled. "Jade-chan is at a bar with Zoitan, absorbing some 'local color'." Ami grinned. "You mean he's leaving us to do this for ourselves." Setsuna inclined her head. "Essentially, yes." Ami chuckled. "Don't you ever give a straight answer?" Ryo's voice could be heard. "Not usually." He walked out calmly. "I know why you're here." Setsuna smiled. "I would be disappointed if you didn't." He grinned. "Thanks, oneechan." Then he turned to Ami. "Since that night in the park, I've known this day would come. You told me I could change the future. Really, *you* can change my future." Setsuna grimaced. "Not exactly. That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Things are not quite so simple as they appear." He raised an eybrow. "Really? Come in and tell me all about it." He turned towards Ami. "Could...?" Setsuna frowned. "If she promises to be close mouthed on the matter. It is the business of the time walkers." He nodded. "Ami, please swear not discuss this with anyone else." His eyes unfocused. "Except Harley, when she becomes aware of the situation." Ami was feeling very daunted, but agreed. He smiled. "The lets go. Sister, my talisman." Setsuna nodded and gestured. "Here it is." The object she handed to Ryo greatly resembled a fountain pen, but it was made of garnet stone. Ami opened her mouth to speak. "Why...?" Ryo smiled. "Since I am Mercury's First Knight, I felt it appropriate to have a talisman more Mercurial in style." She smiled. "I appreciate it." His eyes twinkled. Then, in a brief fit of nausea, the three disappeared. * What Ami discovered that day would be a mystery for episodes to come. * Sailor Cynic Says: : : : Author: Well, it seems that Harley doesn't want to make an appearance today. Xanth: That's okay. Whenever you don't know how to solve a problem, you bring me in. I can do a great SCS. Author: No! No! You will keep your nose out of this story! Xanth: Oh. So telling the audience that Akane's... Author: Shut up! The audience will figure it out. (Aside) Sorry about this, folks. I'm sure we'll have a SCS next week. Bye for now! Xanth (gagged): MMmmmph! Mmmmph!