If you wish to comment on my story, either positively or negatively, please contact me at treetop@voicenet.com. Sailor Moon and all related characters are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation and DIC. Sailor Sirius is the property of Sharon Williams. Any references to Vulcan are the province of Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Studios. So, please, don't sue me because I haven't any money. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes, not copyright infringement.
The Adventures of Talia and Tanya:
Volley Into Danger
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Chapter Three
Rating: PG
A nondescript, navy blue Nissan Pathfinder followed the six buses full of high school kids from the time they left the city to within a hundred yards of the main gate of the Kitiyama resort.
The two men, hardfaced and mean looking never spoke the entire time. The driver, wearing mirrored sunglasses tailed the buses expertly, never getting too close or falling behind too far while maintaining the prescribed speed limit so to avoid attracting the unwanted attention of highway troopers. The passenger quietly took notes the entire time on a PDA, noting the number of people, broken down into gender along with the number of adults, and the route the caravan took to the resort.
Discreetly hidden near a tree, the two men observed the buses disgorging its human cargo with cold, calculating eyes. The passenger then removed a cell phone and dialed a number. It was answered on the second ring.
"Terada here."
"They've arrived, sir," said the passenger.
"Did you get the information I required?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Go ahead and send the data. Then secure accomodations for us near the resort. The Frenchmen and our crew will arrive by nightfall."
The connection then ended. The passenger removed a slim datalink cable from the breast pocket of his blazer, plugged one end into a port on the PDA and the other to a similar port on his phone. After pressing a few buttons on the PDA, activating its built in modem, the information he gathered was emailed to his boss back in Tokyo. After seeing a confirmation message on the PDA's screen, he unplugged the two instruments and placed them both in the glove box. He then turned to the driver.
"Let's find a hotel. The boss will be up after dark."
The driver nodded. "Roger that."
The Pathfinder left it's shelter and went down the road.
"I don't believe this!" cried a shocked Tanya, staring at a scowling Cynthia. "I absolutely do NOT believe this! How'd you wind up in this cabin?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Cambridge!" Cynthia snapped back. She then glared at Talia and Maddie, her expression one of disgust. "And you've brought your peculiar friends to boot! This is totally unacceptable!"
"Is that a fact? Well, if you don't like it, Miss High and Mighty, you can always transfer out!" said a smirking Maddie.
"I believe I will! The idea of spending a weekend cooped up with a bunch of social misfits is more than I can possibly bear!"
"There is no need for such rancor, Cynthia," said Talia. "I am sure that we can find a common ground that would enable us all to get along."
Cynthia looked at Talia as if she had grown a second head. "Me? Get along with you weirdos? Never in a million years! I will not tolerate having the likes of you in my presence! Least of all Cambridge!"
"That's makes two of us, sister!" Tanya growled. "Go ahead and change your room! See if I care! That darn sure won't break my heart!"
Cynthia glared hatefully at Tanya before spinning on her Blahnik clad heel and storming out.
"A most unpleasant individual indeed," said Talia.
"Yeah! Seriously UN-cool!" Maddie added.
"You can say that again, guys!" Tanya grumbled. "I hope this won't be a harbinger of doom."
It wasn't often that someone actually said 'no' to Cynthia, long used to getting what she wanted, whenever she wanted. Standing at the registration table at the main lodge, the rich girl got a rare tatste of rejection. And she didn't at all like it.
"What do you mean you can't change my room? Don't you know who I am?" she yelled angrily.
"I certainly do. You're one of a hundred high schoolers who've been shoehorned into cabin assignments for this weekend," said a stern-faced, middle aged woman wearing glasses, her tone short and curt. A badge over her left breast pocket read 'Mrs. Slaughter'. "After all the wrangling kids done to be bunked with friends or classmates, I'm not changing anyone now! You'll take what you've been given and like it! Or sleep on a picnic bench! Got it?"
Seated several feet away, Aoki Konno casually observed the confrontation between Cynthia and Mrs. Slaughter. A spoiled brat versus a woman who could've been a Drill Sargeant in a past life, he thought. Grinning slightly, Aoki had no doubt as to who would win that confrontation.
"I do! But you'll hear from my father's law firm once this deplorable weekend is over! You can count on that!" Cynthia growled.
"Remind me to be afraid. I AM a lawyer," said Slaughter. "Now get on your way, young lady. I have more important things to do than cater to someone who never took the silver spoon out of her mouth."
Cynthia's face flushed beet red from outrage at having been publically insulted. Stamping her foot, she turned and stomped away. Aoki slyly noticed everything.
It's starting to look like the Inspector's hunch about the Van Buren girl is dead wrong, he thought. But then, there's her brother, Chris. I'll keep an on him for awhile and see what happens.
Back at cabin 13, Tanya, Talia and Maddie had just started unpacking when they heard a knock at the door.
"You don't think that's Cynthia, do you?" Maddie asked.
"Doubtful. The only person she's polite to is herself," said Tanya, walking to the door. When she opened it, her eyes widened and she gasped out loud at seeing Cynthia's handsome twin brother. "Chris?"
Chris smiled warmly at the surprised Tanya. "Hi, Tanya. Long time, no see. Wow! You're even more beautiful than I remember!"
In spite of herself, Tanya blushed and she felt her heart beat faster. She hadn't at all anticipated seeing Chris again. Memories of her past, and her experiences with him flooded into her mind. She felt both happy to see Chris again, and saddened because so much had changed in her life since she parted from him, changes that made this reunion bittersweet. "Uh, thanks. It's good to see you too, Chris. What are you doing here?"
Chris held up a petal pink cosmetics case. "Dropping off Cindy's makeup. She left it in the trunk of the limo."
"Limo? Wow! Ti was right," Maddie said with a chuckle.
"Well, it's one of the advantages of wealth," Chris joked. He turned to face Maddie. "Hi. I'm Chris Van Buren, Cynthia's much better half."
"Hi! I'm Maddie Suzuki! Whoa, mama! Cynthia never told me she had such a cool hunk for a brother!" said a drooling Maddie.
"Thanks for the compliment. I do as best I can," said Chris with a chuckle. He looked at Talia and immediately liked what he saw. He held out his hand to her. "And who is this incredibly exotic beauty?"
"My name is Talia Kirk. It is a pleasure to meet you," said Talia, clasping Chris' hand. She found his charm to be intriguing.
"Chris! What are you doing at this camp?" Tanya interrupted.
"Volleyball of course. I'm captain of the boy's varsity team at Stamford Academy," Chris explained. "While I've never been much for tooting my own horn, I was recently named the State Player of the Year. I'm dying to rub shoulders with the U.S. and Japanese teams."
"And Cynthia?" Maddie asked.
"She loves the sport too, despite her miserable attitude." Chris then gasped and his eyes widened as something occurred to him. "Good Lord! Don't tell me you guys are bunking together!"
"Unfortunately, we are!" snapped Cynthia from behind him. "Got a problem with that?"
Chris chuckled. "Not in the slightest. Still, seeing how you and Ti don't exactly get along, I figured you'd switch rooms."
"You're right. I tried, but I couldn't! So I'm stuck with this motley crew for the weekend!" Cynthia grumbled.
Tanya gave Cynthia an insincere smile. "I love you too, Cindy!"
"GGGRRRRRR! Don't call me Cindy!" the rich girl yelled. Snatching the makeup case out of Chris' hand, Cynthia stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.
"And that's what I have to live with all the time," said Chris, rolling his eyes. "Consider yourselves lucky you only have her for the weekend. I can't wait until I turn eighteen and move out."
Chris then walked up to Tanya and squeezed her shoulder. "Maybe we can get together later and relive old times. Interested?"
Tanya, a look of sadness on her face shook her head, then backed away. "I'm sorry, Chris, but I can't. I shouldn't. I'm going steady with someone."
Chris' face fell, disappointment plain for all to see. But he recovered quickly and smiled at Tanya. "Oh, well. Can't say I'm surprised. No way a foxy babe like you would be unattached. Your boyfriend is one lucky guy."
"Thanks," was all Tanya could think to say.
"Well, ladies, it's time for me to fly. I wanna change and go for a run," said Chris to the others. "It was great meeting you two."
"Likewise," said Maddie.
"Indeed," Talia replied.
With a jaunty wave and a smile, Chris walked out the door. "See ya around, kids!"
Once Chris left, Maddie turned to face Tanya. "Hey, Ti! Sounds like you and Chris were an item! What's the scoop?"
Tanya shrugged from indifference. Yet, she felt a stab of pain in her heart. "It's no big deal. Really. We hung out back in junior high, but it never went any further than that. Ancient history, guys."
Talia, seeing the melancholy look and Tanya's face was immediately concerned. "Are you sure?"
"Yup. One hundred percent. You have to trust me, Tal."
"You know I do, Tanya. One hundred percent."
"Great! Why don't we change and hit the courts?" Maddie suggested. She then grinned at Talia. "Ti and I have to teach you how to play volleyball, Tal!"
"That's a fact!" said Tanya, getting into the spirit of the moment. Anything to take her mind off Chris. "Stone face, before this weekend's over, we're gonna turn you into a superstar!"
Talia allowed herself a small smile. "I look forward to that."
Lake Kitiyama was one of the largest freshwater lakes in all of Japan, stretching for miles from the resort to the Pacific Ocean and, even near land, it was astonishingly deep, going as far down as four hundred feet in places.
As a saltwater lake, it had its fair share of marine life, most of which having migrated in from the Pacific to set up a niche in its warm waters. However, not all the life in the lake was benign. Deep in the depths of the lake, one such resident had been asleep for ages, longer than even it could imagine. At one time, this resident was the ruler of the oceans, a ruthless predator to whom everything that swam in its watery kingdom was prey. And the resident was always hungry.
Then, things changed. The oceans grew increasingly colder. The resident's prey, unable to handle the freezing cold of the oceans died out. Even the resident's own kind begun to die as they struggled to deal with the sharp and sudden downturn in its food supply and slowly starved to death. But it refused to die like the others. In its tiny mind, it considered itself invincible, beyond death. The resident decided that it would swim away from the cold, find a new, warm place to call its own.
The resident swam for hundreds, thousands of miles in search of that warm new place to live, but the going was long, hard and perilous. It could feel its blood starting to congeal from the terrible cold, but it refused to give in to death, it was far too stubborn to die. It yearned to live, to hunt, to kill. After a long, tortuous journey, the resident found itself in the Pacific, off the coast of what would one day be the Japanese Islands. But it was dangerously weak from its long journey.
The resident, its strength fading, swam up into a natural river where it found the warmth it so desperately sought after. There was food as well, but it barely had the energy to eat its fill before settling into a slumber in a trench several miles from shore and it settled into what would be an incredibly long sleep, a sleep that would end up lasting millions of years. Had it not been for the shifting of ocean currents, steadily warming the lake, the resident would have stayed asleep.
But the resident did finally awake into a brave new world that teemed with life. It was content to prowl the lower depths of its new home, but the need to explore brought it upwards to the surface. Up from the depths, the food it craved was more plentiful, and it ate well, hunting mainly at night where it enjoyed the element of surprise. Some time ago, the resident discovered a new source of food, a smallish, pink hued animal whose soft flesh and sweet blood it found delicious.
Now, the resident could hear the chatter of noise, noise unlike anything it had ever heard since it had awakened. Even from the inky depths of its lair, the noise reached it, assaulted it, angered it. The resident would soon need to deal with the noise. Deal with it forcefully. Devour it, like it had everything else in its lengthy existence.
"Okay, Tal. Bend at the knees, extend your arms downward with your fists together. Like this," said Tanya, set in a crouch on one side of an outdoor volleyball court, one of many that had been set up by the resort staff. Talia looked on and Maddie stood on the other side, a ball tucked under one arm.
All three girls were dressed in red polo shirts and tan colored shorts while Tanya sported kneepads and Maddie wore her goggles. For the last half hour, Tanya and Maddie taught Talia the basics of volleyball. "From this position, you'll be in an ideal position to return a serve. Maddie! Serve it to me!"
"Comin' at ya!" said Maddie, tossing the ball upward and hitting it with an overhand serve. Tanya, shifted slightly to her left, getting under the ball as it came at her. With a skill from hours of practice and game play, Tanya hit the ball upward, sending it over the net where Maddie hit the ball in Talia's direction.
Talia, watching the ball come her way, shifted to her right so she wasn't completely under it. The Vulcan girl executed a picture perfect bump pass, sending the ball upwards in Tanya's direction, the pretty black girl saw that the ball was in positioin for a spike, and, grinning, Tanya leaped up and, with a windmill motion, slammed the ball, bouncing it off the ground. Both Tanya and Maddie was pleased with what they had seen.
"Not bad, Tal!" said a grinning Tanya. "You're picking this up fast!"
Talia nodded, inwardly pleased with her efforts. "I pride myself on being a quick study. This is quite an entertaining game, Tanya. I look forward to eventually exceeding you at it."
"Oh, that again! Hey, Maddie! Girlfriend here thinks she can top me at my game! What do you think?"
"Well, Tal certainly doesn't lack for confidence," said a smiling Maddie. "I think that's cool! She's already got the fundamentals down. Give her some practice, and she'll rock!"
Talia looked puzzled. "Rock? Is that a good thing?"
Hearing that, Tanya giggled. "Yeah, you pointy eared numbskull! That's a good thing!"
"Ah. Then I shall do the very best I can to rock." Tanya and Maddie laughed out loud at the deadpan expression on Talia's face when she said that.
"Awww! Isn't that sweet? The Three Stooges enjoy a good laugh together!" came a voice, heavily laced with sarcasm. The girls whirled around to face Cynthia, flanked by two taller girls: one a brawny blonde with a buzzcut, the other, a lean muscled brunette.
"If we're The Three Stooges, what does that make you? The Marx Brothers?" Tanya inquired. She looked at the girls flanking her and sneered. "Tell me, sweetie, did you just make friends with those two, or did you buy them off like you do everything else?"
The brawny blonde glared menacingly at Tanya and moved forward. "I don't like what you're insinuating, runt! Maybe I should punch your lights out!"
Talia stepped in front of Tanya. The eyes of the Vulcan girl narrowed to slits while her fists slowly and repeatedly clenched and unclenched. Tanya saw that and gulped, knowing the Vulcan girl's all too human, and fearsome anger had been aroused. Tanya remembered the last time she had seen Talia angry, when she nearly shot one of Evelyn Hunsacker's female agents in cold blood.
"Maybe you should not," Talia said, her voice icy. The look on her face bordered on demonic. "I will not tolerate anyone threatening Tanya. If you value your health, I recommend you cease your anti-social behavior at once."
Despite the menacing look on Talia's face, the blonde stood her ground. "And if I don't?"
"I will kill you." The flat, emotionless tone of Talia's voice was chilling and deadly in its seriousness.
"Hey! Hey! Enough!" cried Tanya, stepping between the two girls. She was worried more for the blonde because Talia, overly protective of the people she loved was not above murder when enraged. And with her strength, easily equal to that of a grown man, Talia could snap the girl's neck like a twig. "Look, Cindy! The reason we're all here is to have fun! Not butt heads!"
"Yeah! Why don't you and your buddies take off! Nobody wants this crap! It ain't cool!" Maddie added.
"Not so fast, Cambridge," said Cynthia. "I'm here for two reasons. One: to get noticed by the U.S. Volleyball team, and two: to beat you, once and for all. I've never forgiven you for stealing my place as captain of our school team! And I want payback!"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Oh, for Pete's sake! That was three years ago! It's old news!"
"Not to me! It will always be a fresh wound in my mind!" Cynthia retorted. The rich girl then sneered at Tanya. "In the spirit of competition, let's have a game, right here, right now! Me and my friends, versus you and your friends. You up for it? Or are you chicken?"
"Chicken? Congratulations, Cindy. You just hit my mad button! No one calls me that and gets away it!" Tanya growled. "You're on!"
"But we'll need a referee," Maddie pointed out.
"You've got one," a voice piped up. Chris, wearing a dark gray jogging suit sauntered up to the group. Tanya gulped while Cynthia glared at her brother.
"I thought you were out jogging?" Cynthia said.
"I was, but I couldn't help overhearing you sniping at one another. Boy, talk about the good old days," Chris said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm offering my services as a ref."
"How do we know you'll be impartial?" Tanya asked suspiciously.
Chris put a hand to his heart and feigned a hurtful expression. "My dear Tanya, you wound me. You think I'd show bias to Cynthia? No way. The only thing we have in common is our last name."
"Well, you and Cambridge were buddy-buddy back in junior high!" Cynthia pointed out sourly. "Will your feelings for her influence your rulings?"
Chris glanced briefly at Tanya who could've strangled Cynthia on the spot for mentioning something better left unsaid. "Nope. Ti and I were acquaintances. Nothing more. She made that quite clear to me a short time ago. So, ladies, am I in?"
Tanya and Cynthia looked at each other, then nodded in unison.
"Sure," said Tanya, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Fine with me," Cynthia replied. "Let's play!"
As the two teams prepared to start the game, Tanya walked up to Talia who looked to have calmed down. Concern was written all over the ebon beauty's face. "You okay, Tal?"
The Vulcan girl nodded. "I am fine. I apologize for....losing control."
"Don't sweat it. It happens to the best of us."
"Hell! I was kinda hoping you would've whacked that butch looking floozy," said Maddie.
Tanya shivered. "Trust me, Maddie. You wouldn't."
Maddie gave a shrug of her shoulders. "If you say so. Anyway, no one's perfect, Tal."
"Thank you both for your understanding. I hope I will not embarrass you."
Tanya smiled and clasped Talia's shoulder. "Don't worry, you won't. I have faith in you, partner."
"You said it, Ti! After all, you had us to teach you!" said a grinning Maddie. "You'll be cool! Ladies, let's kick some rich girl ass!"
Talia returned the girls' smile. "I am eagerly looking forward to that."
Aoki, standing behind a tree thirty feet away watched as the two teams prepared to play. He had followed Chris from the time he left his cabin to jog. The young cop had trouble following Chris without being spotted, but managed to keep him in sight, watching for any sort of suspicious activity, yet, nothing happened. While it was still early, Aoki was beginning to think he was on a wild goose chase. With a sigh, he sat down in front of the tree to watch the game.
"Might as well entertain myself," he muttered. "Given how much Cynthia and that black girl dislike each other, this should make for quite a game."
Tokyo....
Inside a small, dingy warehouse near the Tokyo waterfront, Terada looked on as ten of his Yakuza soldiers packed gear and weapons for their trip north.
He was annoyed that four of his men had been captured by the police yesterday while one had been killed. But he was determined to go through with his plan. The money Rainer would dump into his lap would go a long way towards lining his own pockets instead of his gangland masters while furthering his own plans. But that was the distant future. He had the present to concern himself with.
"Watashi! How many rounds do we have for the weapons?" he asked the man closest to him.
"Not much, boss," the man replied. "Only one eight round clip was provided for each weapon. We've already used four in testing, and we lost one when Tama was busted yesterday."
"Leaving us with nineteen," said Terada, stroking his chin. "No need for the Frogs to know how much firepower we've got. Here's what we'll do. Only five of us will bring the launchers, but they'll get two clips each. That'll leave nine in reserve until we can get our hands on more."
"Works for me. Say, boss, when you make your ransom demand to Van Buren, why not ask him for more grenade rounds?" Watashi asked.
Terada chuckled. "You know, that's not a bad idea. I'll keep that in mind. Let's get ready. Rainer and his men will be here soon. We've got a busy weekend ahead of us."
Lake Kitiyama Resort....
The three on three game between Tanya's team and Cynthia's team turned into a highly spirited, hotly contested battle.
Cynthia and her brawny teammates relied on nothing more than brute force while Tanya, Maddie and the novice Talia used speed, agility and expert placement for return volleys. Talia, her reflexes faster than a normal human proved to be a pivotal player on her team's back row, digging out spikes sent to the rear baseline, rarely missing a volley from the other side. Meanwhile, Chris, standing near the side of the net proved himself to be as impartial an arbiter as promised, judging equally for both teams. That annoyed Cythina who had hoped family ties would win out.
The spirited battle eventually drew onlookers as curious kids and counselors lined the court to watch the game, some choosing sides while everyone cheered each and every point, volley, save and spike. After the teams had played for nearly half an hour, Tanya's team was up 14-12, the next point would mean victory for her squad. With the exception of Talia and her above normal stamina, the other five girls were all panting, their faces slick and their clothes damp from sweat. They had poured everything into their battle and were exhausted. Yet, neither side was willing to give in.
"Your serve, Cambridge," growled Cynthia, tossing the ball over the net to Tanya. She felt the pressure of trying to defeat Tanya, and was frustrated because, despite the best efforts of her team, she was losing to her rival yet again. "Let's see what your freakish looking friend can do."
"Gladly." Tanya tossed the ball to Talia who was glaring at the rich girl. "Say, Tal! Care to show Miss Snooty what you're made of?"
"Tanya, nothing would give me greater pleasure," Talia replied. Tossing the ball in the air, the Vulcan girl delivered a powerful, line drive serve that streaked right at Cynthia's head like a bullet. With a screech of horror, the rich girl dove out of the way as the ball hit just inside the baseline.
"In! Point to Tanya's team! They win!" shouted Chris. Despite his promise of impartiality, it was hard for him to keep from chuckling at the humorous sight of his sister diving for cover from Talia's devastating serve. Cheers went up from the impromptu crowd that had lined the court.
"Wow! That serve looked like it had been shot out of a cannon!" said an awed Maddie. "That was just too cool for words!"
"I am glad to have played well," Talia replied modestly. Secretly, she enjoyed watching the panicked Cynthia bailing out for dear life, which had been her intention when she served the ball. While she tried her level best to hide them, Talia had feelings and didn't like being called a freak.
"Are you kidding? That was awesome!" cried Tanya, throwing herself into Talia's arms and hugging her tight. "And to think you learned all that from me! Can I cook, or can't I?"
"You bitch! You lousy bitch!" roared Cynthia, hopping to her feet. She stomped up to Talia, her eyes filled with fury. "You tried to kill me!"
"That, Cynthia, is an illogical accusation. It was never my intent to injure you. My serve was well within the boundaries of legal play," Talia calmly replied. "Our arbiter would have ruled otherwise if it was not. It is not my fault you lacked the proper intestinal fortitude to return the serve."
"Intestinal fortitude?"
"Cajones," Chris explained as delicately as possible. It took all his willpower not to laugh. But, more than a few kids, and counselors did laugh. That infuriated Cynthia who once again felt the terrible sting of embarrassment at Tanya's hands. Just like three years ago.
Talia nodded to Chris. Even she understood what that meant. "Thank you." She then turned to Cynthia's brawny teammates, startled from the force of Talia's serve. They had never seen anything like that before. She pinioned them with her piercing blue eyes. "Do you ladies wish to add anything to the conversation?"
The two girls, too stunned to speak, shook their heads and shuffled off.
"I thought as much," said Talia smugly.
Tanya grinned like the Chesire Cat. Well, whaddaya know? Looks like Tal's developing an attitude! The old Cambridge charm is rubbing off on the sphinx! Gotta love it!
"No! It can't be! You beat me again!" Cynthia, beside herself from frustration yelled at Tanya.
"Yup. Sure looks that way," said Tanya with a nod. "That must really stick in your craw, doesn't it....Cindy?"
Cynthia, too upset to speak, could only glare evilly at the ebon beauty. Talia then approached her.
"Regardless of what just happened, I hold no animosity towards you, Cynthia," the Vulcan girl said. "Perhaps we can put our differences aside and attempt to get along. After all, we are bunkmates."
The look of rage on Cynthia's face was a terrible sight. "Never! I hate you! I hate all three of you! And I'll make you pay for humiliating me!"
The crowd went silent as Cynthia turned and stomped away.
TO BE CONTINUED